Join me for a strange one...
- Thread starter kcress
- Start date
kcress
New member
That's an important tip redfishsc! Thanks for that.
I carefully checked the bottle for any extra ingredients prior to purchase. The bottle stated only "10% ammonia hydroxide". Shaking makes no bubbles. Whew.
Now then how are things going? They're not! The ammonia hasn't budged. The Nitrites have not left the station. The Nitrates are completely no-show.
I've put 5 full cups of crushed coral out of my current nitrate factory tank into this tank. So far with no changes. This is becoming puzzling to me. The piece of live rock I put in covered with feather dusters days ago, still looks happy.
I carefully checked the bottle for any extra ingredients prior to purchase. The bottle stated only "10% ammonia hydroxide". Shaking makes no bubbles. Whew.
Now then how are things going? They're not! The ammonia hasn't budged. The Nitrites have not left the station. The Nitrates are completely no-show.
I've put 5 full cups of crushed coral out of my current nitrate factory tank into this tank. So far with no changes. This is becoming puzzling to me. The piece of live rock I put in covered with feather dusters days ago, still looks happy.
srusso
Active member
Kress a cycle happens on its own... As you know...
We would all hate to see the hard work go to waste. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say, you are getting to do things that most reefers only dream on doing... I mean... come on "Adjustable hight tank?!"
Put some live rock in the damn thing and walk away for a month...! It's been so long now, like cheating on the last 40 feet of a marathon....
FYI I think raw shrimp is what is normally used.
Hang in there... Don't get too excited, but I must say, if my tank was having issues, I would want to rush the new one also...
We would all hate to see the hard work go to waste. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say, you are getting to do things that most reefers only dream on doing... I mean... come on "Adjustable hight tank?!"
Put some live rock in the damn thing and walk away for a month...! It's been so long now, like cheating on the last 40 feet of a marathon....
FYI I think raw shrimp is what is normally used.
Hang in there... Don't get too excited, but I must say, if my tank was having issues, I would want to rush the new one also...
tahiriqbal
Sialkot
I predict big ammonia spike on Thursday...... :bounce1::bounce1:
Tahir
Tahir
kcress
New member
OK, Ok, Okay, ooOOH Kay. I hear you all..
"Patience Grasshopper" is the counsel put forth.
I think I have definitively proven that there's no other life in The Universe if it's this hard to get some bacteria going in a previously sterile biosphere.
H20ENG: It's looking more like a 4.7MHz 8088 at the moment. Or maybe a NVIDIA GTX 8800 quad SLi with a 10W power supply - Lots of potential just not running at all.
tahiriqbal; Turkey based? I have dual core fried 22lb turkeys lined up. I hope I don't burn the place down as then The Cycle will be a moot point anyway.
If you're actually talking about my tank, heh heh, I presume you mean a nitrite spike since the ammonia has already hit about 10ppm (I'm estimating). Next up would be nitrite.
I yanked the shrimp(2") just now as I sure as heck don't need more ammonia. The three large shrimp were reduced to about one and three quarters. There's also all sorts of slime and bits swirling around in the sump. Something will be happy to find all this soup soon.
Thanks folks for the support. It's like waiting in a maternity ward... It's a.
"Patience Grasshopper" is the counsel put forth.
I think I have definitively proven that there's no other life in The Universe if it's this hard to get some bacteria going in a previously sterile biosphere.
H20ENG: It's looking more like a 4.7MHz 8088 at the moment. Or maybe a NVIDIA GTX 8800 quad SLi with a 10W power supply - Lots of potential just not running at all.
tahiriqbal; Turkey based? I have dual core fried 22lb turkeys lined up. I hope I don't burn the place down as then The Cycle will be a moot point anyway.
If you're actually talking about my tank, heh heh, I presume you mean a nitrite spike since the ammonia has already hit about 10ppm (I'm estimating). Next up would be nitrite.
I yanked the shrimp(2") just now as I sure as heck don't need more ammonia. The three large shrimp were reduced to about one and three quarters. There's also all sorts of slime and bits swirling around in the sump. Something will be happy to find all this soup soon.
Thanks folks for the support. It's like waiting in a maternity ward... It's a.
salty joe
Active member
Well I was just going to ask that very question. Definitely one of the very most interesting and entertaning builds. I'll be watching to see how long your amoniia cycle takes. Still planning to bring sunlight down the chimney and using an algae filter?
gmate
MASC Member
I thought the walls and plates were ugly as sin for the first 25 pages of this build thread. I hated it. I thought you were ridiculous for even thinking of going that route.
Then it all came together quite nicely. Great job. And bravo for having your 'finished vision' and working hard to get there. /applause
Then it all came together quite nicely. Great job. And bravo for having your 'finished vision' and working hard to get there. /applause
kcress
New member
Thanks salty joe.
Oh, I can report. Forever!!
You betcha!! The plan is to:
1) Finish the wave.
2) Build a high powered LED based ATS.
3) Design and build the dual heliostats.
Thanks for confessing.
Interesting. I certainly had my doubts a few times. It took a while but actually making the 'art' was a lot of fun. Putting it in was the hardest part. I'm not completely sold on the two towers yet. I'll see how they sit with me after a bunch of livestock are added.
kcress
New member
Thanks Nate.
Reverond; WOw. Like watching a train wreck unfold in slow motion eh?
UPDATE:
T.Giving day I successfully serially fried two 22lb turkeys so I was a little busy. In fact I just finished cleaning up the carnage.
I did have time to measure the nitrite and it had doubled to 0.5ppm. No sign of the ammonia going down though. Still off scale.
Today:
The nitrite doesn't seem to have changed so I added a nitrate test to see if the camel has gone from a dromedary to bactrian yet. But, the nitrate still shows goose eggs. However the ammonia seems to have crept towards coming into range. Still isn't but it seems a slightly less absurd color now.
Stay tuned for a mini-overflow-on-a-standpipe-build.
Reverond; WOw. Like watching a train wreck unfold in slow motion eh?
UPDATE:
T.Giving day I successfully serially fried two 22lb turkeys so I was a little busy. In fact I just finished cleaning up the carnage.
I did have time to measure the nitrite and it had doubled to 0.5ppm. No sign of the ammonia going down though. Still off scale.
Today:
The nitrite doesn't seem to have changed so I added a nitrate test to see if the camel has gone from a dromedary to bactrian yet. But, the nitrate still shows goose eggs. However the ammonia seems to have crept towards coming into range. Still isn't but it seems a slightly less absurd color now.
Stay tuned for a mini-overflow-on-a-standpipe-build.
fishmonkey
Member
All I can say is WOW! This is such an inspiration. Truly a work of art.
The anticipation is killing me! I hope to see some fish in this soon! SUBSCRIBED
The anticipation is killing me! I hope to see some fish in this soon! SUBSCRIBED
kcress
New member
Since my tank is not going to be run full - I have a dilemma.
The original skimmer is not available for use. I still need to skim the top somehow. So, I've pressed the left 2" standpipe into that function. I can set the tank depth by how high the standpipe reaches above the bottom.
I screwed a standard strainer on the top for the moment. Of course the noise was bad. To cure the noise issue I throttled the big ball valve, seen in prior pics, that's just after the bulkhead. This makes the standpipe almost full to the top. Unfortunately from the valve to the sump is NOT full so the noise radiating out of that pipe was crazy.
This led to me putting another 2" ball valve, I had laying around, under water in the sump. Now the entire pipe is flooded and the noise is very minimal. More importantly it actually sounds the same as ocean surging thru rocks. Which I love. It's a very random sound that comes and goes and continually changes in subtle ways. The noise is absolutely natural sounding. It's da bomb!
Special note. Pumping the sump completely dry can't come close to overflowing the display tank so I don't have to worry about that and don't need any safety or emergency overflows. If the throttling valve clogs it's not a problem. So don't sweat that.
Here's the current strainer. It's just your typical strainer unit.
There's a problem though... This standard strainer provides NO skimming AT ALL. The water actually rises above the local surface as it runs thru the screen. To solve this I decided to build a more conventional mini overflow.
Here's a base plate for the standpipe overflow. I routed it to fit the OD of a 2" PVC adapter. The outside is cut as a polygon with N=20. I routed the little teeth to be 1-1/2" tall.
Here's with all the teeth glued on.
From above.
Here's the finished result:
Another.
Installed and running. I could see massive skimming occurring with surface debris racing across the surface from the farthest corners of the surface. This underlined the fact that the original strainer isn't cutting it.
Noise?
What?
Say again?
I CAN"T HEAR YOU!
That 2" pipe is like a trumpet. I dropped a spherical cup on top and the sound was reduced by about 90%.
OH! One thing to watch out for.
I just put in the 300W heater right? Well I had it set to 73F. The new strainer raised the water in the display enough to drop the level in the sump about 10". Unnoticed that uncovered the heater's remote temperature sensor. The heater went on as it was trying to raise my living room AIR temperature up to 74F (It's 68F). Before I noticed the tank was driven up to 77F. No harm done but I have to get used to remote sensing heaters!
A vertical of the "glory hole" (look that up if you don't know what that means)
I'm open to any suggestion you folks might have for skimming with the constraints I have. Don't forget, whatever we do, will have to work with BIG surges too.
The original skimmer is not available for use. I still need to skim the top somehow. So, I've pressed the left 2" standpipe into that function. I can set the tank depth by how high the standpipe reaches above the bottom.
I screwed a standard strainer on the top for the moment. Of course the noise was bad. To cure the noise issue I throttled the big ball valve, seen in prior pics, that's just after the bulkhead. This makes the standpipe almost full to the top. Unfortunately from the valve to the sump is NOT full so the noise radiating out of that pipe was crazy.
This led to me putting another 2" ball valve, I had laying around, under water in the sump. Now the entire pipe is flooded and the noise is very minimal. More importantly it actually sounds the same as ocean surging thru rocks. Which I love. It's a very random sound that comes and goes and continually changes in subtle ways. The noise is absolutely natural sounding. It's da bomb!
Special note. Pumping the sump completely dry can't come close to overflowing the display tank so I don't have to worry about that and don't need any safety or emergency overflows. If the throttling valve clogs it's not a problem. So don't sweat that.
Here's the current strainer. It's just your typical strainer unit.
There's a problem though... This standard strainer provides NO skimming AT ALL. The water actually rises above the local surface as it runs thru the screen. To solve this I decided to build a more conventional mini overflow.
Here's a base plate for the standpipe overflow. I routed it to fit the OD of a 2" PVC adapter. The outside is cut as a polygon with N=20. I routed the little teeth to be 1-1/2" tall.
Here's with all the teeth glued on.
From above.
Here's the finished result:
Another.
Installed and running. I could see massive skimming occurring with surface debris racing across the surface from the farthest corners of the surface. This underlined the fact that the original strainer isn't cutting it.
Noise?
What?
Say again?
I CAN"T HEAR YOU!
That 2" pipe is like a trumpet. I dropped a spherical cup on top and the sound was reduced by about 90%.
OH! One thing to watch out for.
I just put in the 300W heater right? Well I had it set to 73F. The new strainer raised the water in the display enough to drop the level in the sump about 10". Unnoticed that uncovered the heater's remote temperature sensor. The heater went on as it was trying to raise my living room AIR temperature up to 74F (It's 68F). Before I noticed the tank was driven up to 77F. No harm done but I have to get used to remote sensing heaters!
A vertical of the "glory hole" (look that up if you don't know what that means)
I'm open to any suggestion you folks might have for skimming with the constraints I have. Don't forget, whatever we do, will have to work with BIG surges too.
BIG_KAHUNA
New member
XD lol
