JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system

thirschmann - the company that provides the solar panels organises the credit for the actual loan so there is no real startup if you go that route. Obviously you have to have a good rating and all that jazz but one telephone call was all it took and rates were very reasonable. The electricity company is also legally bound to buy spare electricity back off you but I doubt there will be any spare. :) I've been following your thread as it progresses. Very nice sketchwork!

My focus now is to sort out the water and maintain it. Once I've done that I'll attack SPS again.

pcostanzo - been reading your thread and good luck with the makeover. I actually want to do the same but not sure when it will be. Biggest complaint from me is inconvenience of access. If something is hard to get to it will be neglected (in my case). I want to build an extension off the dining room section of the kitchen and relocate my office there. I then want to convert my office to a tank room, move teh tank across so it will be in-wall in the hallway right next to the porch area. That means I'll need to relocate the downstairs toilet and shift the bathroom 90 degrees which means another small extension - all so I can enlarge the hallway, put sofas and such there.

But I need to work hard and grow my business a biy before I can afford all that. But it would be super pimp styly to have the in-wall tank right near the front door with a sofa right there etc. :)

clekchau - thanks for the kind words. :)
 
We discussed this recently over on DFWMAS:
http://www.dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=35235

If you'll scroll down to some of my posts, I think it will answer your questions to some degree. Look those over and then I'll answer any more you have. My tank was 3.0 at one point (2005) so I know what you're going through. I've tried plenty of products during that war, and believe you'll be able to solve it. How aggressive you get is up to you.
 
ther are identical products to RowaPhos for about half the price. I run a large canister of it with my Ca effluent running through it.
 
I spent several hours today reading this thread. I appreciate the honesty and humility expressed, and the amazing perseverence that I would expect from a successful, risk taking entrepreneur.

Two overwhelming themes I have seen, however, is advice ignored, and a focus on fancy equipment rather than fundamentals. We have all been guilty of a bit of both, I suspect. I cringed with some of the new posts, knowing the inevitable (Mandarins, for example)--because I have made many of those mistakes myself, or have friends who have done the same. The tragedy is that it resulted in the loss of life and thousands of dollars--an expensive lesson on many levels.

The source of the micro bubbles may not be located, but it is obvious--it's one of the gazillion plumbing interfaces creating a venturi. All those connections and right angles is also a huge source of unneccessary resistance and heat.

Strangely absent from the list of expensive equipment in an SPS dominated tank was a calcium reactor and chiller--probably an investment of less than 10% of what has been spent, but two incredibly important pieces of equipment. This, in addition to new RODI gear and lighting, would be a great step to rehabilitating this tank.

I believe that this tank will rise again, and can be back on track in 6 months, with close observation from Marc, and several others here who want to see this tank reach its potential. Best of luck, and thanks for sharing your experiences.
 
Thanks for taking the time to read the thread and thanks for the comments. You are quite correct that I have sometimes ignored advice and taken a "find out for myself" approach. But often I do follow advice. :)

The return plumbing I'm sure needs to be redone. I just suck at plumbing and the thought depresses me, heh.

As for the chiller, it's another piece of equipment to maintain, more plumbing and more electricity bill. I don't think my heat problems have been that bad and they are now under control at least.

As for the Calcium Reactor, you make a good point and what follows are my excuses. :D

Firstly, I only just realised (or was only informed a few days ago via another thread on RC) that a Calcium Reactor helps maintain alkalinity. I've never had problems maintaining Calcium so thought I could do without the Calcium Reactor until I had lots of corals.

Also, I'm cringing at the prospect of acquiring a CO2 can/tank in my little town in rural Japan. First having to explain what it is and then finding a place where I can get one with my limited Japanese is going to quite a task. But I now realise that I need one.

I'm in this for the long haul and it's going to be loooong. I also feel extremely limited to what I can do because I have no space. Get a Calcium Reactor sounds great but I'm dreading placing it. Where there's a will there's a way I'm sure. :)
 
There are other ways too, like dosing pumps etc. Ask in the water chemistry forum to get a synopsis of the various ways to maintain alk and Ca.
 
You don't need a Ca reactor--especially now when you have no corals. I'd resolve the more pressing issues first. The Randy's homemade is a cheap alternative if you can find the ingredients--I've been using it and kalkwasser exclusively for the last 2 yrs in my SPS tank and it works great and is super cheap.
As far as a CO2 tank goes, don't Japanese people drink carbonated beverages too?
 
Jonathan, maintaining Ca was always easy with Kalk and the Osmolator's Kalk Dispenser.

grallster - I remember that from a while ago but thought it would be too difficult to get the ingredients here in Japan. I could go the dosing pump route I guess but I think it would need to be a huge pump. And using the B-Ionic 2-part isn't exactly economical when you need 1 gall Alk per month at least. But before I add more coral I need to get PO4 under control and find a way to maintain Alk whether it be homemade, reactor or dosing pump.
 
CO2 availability

CO2 availability

Hi Nexdog,

You should be able to get CO2 from a local shop that re-fills fire extinguishers. They can also probably supply you a tank but it might not be as nice looking as the aluminum tanks sold by the aquarium shops. However, the regulator is probably better purchased from an aquarium shop; they will be cheaper.

The first time I filled my CO2 tank, I went to a specialty gas supplier and it cost me ... the next time, I found a local shop that fills fire extinguishers and it only cost about $12 CDN for a 10 pound tank refill. The shop I found also refills tanks, including O2, for the local firestations so I knew they would be quality.

Regards,

Hesham
 
Thanks Hesham. Does the regulator not normally come with the Calcium Reactor? If I get one it will probably be a Deltec but I'm not certain of that yet.
 
Thanks for the link, interesting read. Judging by that it does seem that with my size system I need a Calcium Reactor so it's on my "to do" list. :)
 
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