Leopardshark´s new tank project (finally!)

This is a shot below the branch rock in the middle that made the bridge. Underneath the rock work it is hollow. Only if you try, you will see the eggcrate so I think it is very good to avoid stagnant water and rottening sandbed.
 

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Tank looks great! How do you like the skimmer so far? I'm looking at getting the external version for my build.
 
James404 said:
Tank looks great! How do you like the skimmer so far? I'm looking at getting the external version for my build.
Click to expand...

So far I REALLY like it.

To give you a little bit of context, my first skimmer was a Top Fathom 300, which was a "decent" skimmer but not one I would buy again.
Then I bought an AquaC EV400 which was a very good skimmer but due to its design, it needed a very big pump to run it properly, so I bought first a Mag18 and it was a crap, then, I upgraded to an Iwaki and it worked great, but Iwaki´s are known to be big power consumers.

So after being out of the hobby for 11 years and with my not-so-good previous experience, this skimmer is in another league for me.

So with this skimmer, the design is really cool, the pump is awesome and you can dial it in regards of how much water flow you want it to deliver (not by restraining it with a gate valve) and you can put it in pause for 15 or 60 minutes. Also it is very, VERY silent.
It didn´t take not 1 single minute to break in and start producing foam and their support service is top notch.

I´m now looking for a calcium reactor and based on the performance/build of the skimmer/pump I´m seriously considering Reef Octopus CA200. The other option is GEO´s calc reactor which I´ve hear very good things also.

So I would say, go for it!.
 
Leopardshark said:
So far I REALLY like it.

To give you a little bit of context, my first skimmer was a Top Fathom 300, which was a "decent" skimmer but not one I would buy again.
Then I bought an AquaC EV400 which was a very good skimmer but due to its design, it needed a very big pump to run it properly, so I bought first a Mag18 and it was a crap, then, I upgraded to an Iwaki and it worked great, but Iwaki´s are known to be big power consumers.

So after being out of the hobby for 11 years and with my not-so-good previous experience, this skimmer is in another league for me.

So with this skimmer, the design is really cool, the pump is awesome and you can dial it in regards of how much water flow you want it to deliver (not by restraining it with a gate valve) and you can put it in pause for 15 or 60 minutes. Also it is very, VERY silent.
It didn´t take not 1 single minute to break in and start producing foam and their support service is top notch.

I´m now looking for a calcium reactor and based on the performance/build of the skimmer/pump I´m seriously considering Reef Octopus CA200. The other option is GEO´s calc reactor which I´ve hear very good things also.

So I would say, go for it!.
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Thats great! I'm a huge Coralvue/Reef Octopus fan, I ran their XP-3000 skimmer on my old 225g SPS tank and was super impressed. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with their cal reactor. I know GEO makes really high quality reactors too.
 
Earthquake!

Earthquake!

Hello all,
Well yesterday, at 11:50 pm I suddenly woke up, go figure why and then, 1 minute later the ground started to move. As in many other times I just wait for it to pass and then I continue sleeping, I´ve done that many times.
But this time was different, the quake wouldn´t stop and in fact it was getting worse, much worse.
So after realizing this was turning into something really worse I got up and went to the fish tank room (where else would I go? :spin1:) only to realize that water was coming from the tank and the quake wouldn´t stop!
Fortunately the GFCI tripped so there was no risk of electrocution and I could walk over the water.
By the time I could place a wood board on top of the tank, the quake had passed.
After drying floor and equipment for 2 hours, everything went back to normal.
Hope this never happens again.
Regards
 
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Wow, sorry to hear that! So the water loss was from the top of the tank sloshing around? Sounds like you got lucky!
 
Wow. I heard about that quake in Mexico 8.1 or 8.2. And many aftershocks.
I hope everything does ok and I hope the damage isn't too severe.
Good luck!
 
reefmutt said:
Wow. I heard about that quake in Mexico 8.1 or 8.2. And many aftershocks.
I hope everything does ok and I hope the damage isn't too severe.
Good luck!
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Thank you, 8.4 more precisely. What is going on with our planet? :fun5: but it´s our fault for poisoning it.
 
Another 2 earthquakes? c´mon!

Another 2 earthquakes? c´mon!

As you probably know, on September 19, exactly 32 years after September 19 1985 when an earthquake devastated Mexico City... we had another huge earthquake which destroyed many buildings and damaged hundreds more, and 4 days after we had another one but this last one was a medium one.

So for the one of Sept 19th, I was at the office so I came home as fast as I could to find that aprox 10 gallons went out of the tank, and instead of going to the drain located 9 feet from the tank, the water went into the wood floor of the living room (damn engineers who build my building! :worried2:)

Anyway, after moping the wood floor for more than one hour, I went to the tank room to continue cleaning. To my surprise, all 3 Radions, 12" above the tank were dripping water! I cannot imagine how strong the earthquake was to push the water upwards!

Result: 3 Radions after being cleaned and dryed with a fan, worked to perfection the next day. Also Vortechs were working like a charm, skimmer OK... but APEX dead.

After cleaning the APEX and drying the 832 Module, it was dead and main unit couldn´t be calibrated and disconnected from wifi.

So the APEX is on its way to Neptune to get fixed and the tank is doing great.

Lesson learned, I´m taking out all electrical devices from below the tank, including the APEX and pumps controllers.

Attached some pics of the calcium reactor, a GEO 618 which was very easy to install.

Kind regards to all
 

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And some acros. BTW for those with LED lighting, how do you manage to make pics represent the real colour?I hate all my pics look purple even at 10K
 

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Usually people shoot the images in "RAW" format and then adjust the white balance in photoshop (or similar) after the fact. Some cameras come with pre-sets that you may be able to get better color out of though.
 
What a sh!t run of luck with earthquakes! I hope all your family and friends and safe and healthy mate :)

I think moving your equipment is an excellent idea and it's good to hear you only lost the apex and everything else was fine :) Also, solid choice on the Geo! I don't think you'll regret it at all!!

Are you taking your picture with a camera or your phone?? If it's your phone get the app called Snapseed, it's fantastic! And if you're using a camera there's a program called "paint.net" that is a basic photoshop and it's what I use for all my pictures! :)
 
Ok, thank you for your info, I will try to take better pics from now on.

About the Geo reactor, my previous one was a Lifereef and this one is so much better built and you can see that it exudes quality. Lifereef was good but too much trouble to keep it working.

Regards!
 
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