Lots of water, or What the heck are you thinking

[Northside Reef]

There are other ways of replacing lost trace elements than water changes.

8 Ball thanks for your opinion.

Nutrient export will be done the same way my last tank was setup, through cultivating macro algae and the use of a skimmer.


They're breaking ground next week, and this is the way the system will be. If you feel a need to pop in every so often to tell me it won't work it's your time.

take care,

Frank

 

[8BALL_99]

LoL wasn't saying it won't work. The only reason to post a build thread in a forum is for people to point out what they think are flaws, or to show how you delt with certain issues/problems. If all you want is oohs and ahhs RC isn't the place.. You already got mad and said you were leaving RC when someone pointed out humidity issues and how you just had so many tanks packed into your laundry room. The points they made were very valid You just didnt' like what they said. The issues with the lids on the livestock tanks as well.. Pretty much every issue people posted with were good points and valid problems. But you just kind of said whatever I'm doing it this way.. So your right I won't post with my Concerns on your thread anymore since you have it perfect. I will leave it to the new guys to oohh and ahh over the 1100 Gallon system :rolleye1: Have fun and Good luck..

 

[Northside Reef]

Thanks for the best wishes 8 Ball,

I was just pointing out to you that I don't need to do a 100 gallon weekly water change just to replace trace elements.


Hopefully if there are any “new guys” reading this thread they know that now too.


Good luck yourself.

 

[jnarowe]

So is it that you feel water changes are just to replace trace elements, or do you see any other reason for doing them? Do you not do water changes at all? I have heard of people running systems like that, but have never seen a sucessful one in person.

 

[Northside Reef]

No Jonathan, I think water changes are important to maintaining a healthy system. My point to 8 ball was I don't need to change 10% of the system water weekly just to replace lost trace elements when the total system is going to be around 1400 gallons. Of which I am only using 280 for the display.

My belief, (and yes I could be wrong) is changing 10% (of the dispaly volume) or roughly 30 gallons a week should be fine. If I need to add trace elements I can.

Do I need to build it like this? Of course not, there are plenty of beautiful systems with far less volume that are working just fine.

This is the way I would like to build this system. I think I will be able to stock a little heavier, and feed a little more and still maintain the system.

Systems like the one that bstone and Reefski's are building are unique. I don’t think any of us are saying “hey you guys need to build one like this” I think it’s more like “checkout how I skin this cat”.

It’s fun to blaze your own trail sometimes.

Peace.

 

[jnarowe]

true. I change out about 85g/week or roughly 7%. My only reservation about your build (of what I can see) is that you may find it difficult to remove detritus from certain types of veesels or ones in positions that are tough to get to. This has been my biggest challenge so far.

When I started up I had a bunch of rubble in my sumps to aid in filtration, but the net result was a large amount of detritus in and under the rock, really creating a negative impact on my water quality. I am not real certain why you want several vessels rather than a couple big ones, but I would think that would be an opportunity to build different zones into the same system. For instance, a cryptic zone for spongs. Maybe a tank with low flow for delicate fish/seahorse etc., and maybe even get to keep some kind of cool agressive animal while not having it tear up your reef.

Seems like a bummer you can't use that old sump too, but I have a big one not in use as well. I prefer stock tanks anyway just for their durability.

Regarding trace elements, if you were going with an expanded version of the balling method, it wouldn't matter anyway. Profilux is releasing a sweet multi-pump dosing system that you could incorporate to dose calcium, magnesium, strontium, and alkalinity to very exact standards.

 

[Northside Reef]

Thanks Jonathan,
That response is the exact reason I did (re) start this thread.
Detritus build up in the two large reservoirs is a concern. I am hoping a low cost method to move it around would be a few SEIO’s in both of them pointing into the corners.

The three Rubbermaids is where I will be growing the macro and will probably need to be vacuumed every so often. They are also my refugiums.

The biggest mistake I made the first time around when I tried this was not giving myself enough room to work in those tubs. I made sure that this time I will have plenty of head room.

As far as why so many vessels; Well when I started this I was limited in space. Now since I already have all of this stuff I want to use it


Here's the front shot showing the head room of the tallest tank.

 

[jnarowe]

what about access to the one on the lower level right side? That's gonna be a beyatch to keep clean!

 

[Northside Reef]

nothing is going to be in there but water.

that's why I want to put some SEIO's in there to keep as much as possible suspended.

 

[Northside Reef]

hmmm still at work so fired up Solid works to take a look. yeah that's only 8" I might want to move those tubs up. 20" is still a lot of room if I move the whole works up 7" more that would give me 15" to at least peek in there.

 

[jnarowe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13335993#post13335993 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Northside Reef
nothing is going to be in there but water.

that's why I want to put some SEIO's in there to keep as much as possible suspended.

No such thing. Even with 100% mechanical filtration, crap will still settle out. And I personally would not put any powerheads inside that thing on a permanent basis. Too much possibility of malfunction and that means FIRE!! No I am not kidding.

If you have decent flow through, you can plumb the system to take each vessel offline while you shop-vac it out. That is what I would do just to have a plan B.

Another method would be a weekly or so stir up using what I call a Reef Blower:

This is a Maxi-Jet 1200 modded by the Great Dahn Nguyen, and FWIU the newer commercial mods may work too. I just notched the pipe to fit inside the shroud and let me tell you, this thing kicks freakin' butt. It will strip the algae right off the side of your tank, but care is to be taken around sand beds.

This is NOT a toy and not made for small tanks so all you guys with 55g RRs...forget about it. You will end up with fish all over your house.

 

[Northside Reef]

I like that idea, just add it to the weekly maintenance.

Good deal.

 

[Northside Reef]

Well it took a bit longer for the contractor to get the filtration shed up. We got a lot of rain it seemed every time they wanted to get going on this thing.

anyhow here are a couple of shots of the shed finally being built.



This is most of the shell in place. You can see how tall it is by looking at the construction worker. If you look close at the right side bottom you can see it's missing a post. They had to re-pure one of the footings. the post will be added soon.

an inside shot of the roof. I decided to go ahead and add a few solar tubes that will come down right over the Macro algae tanks.

Here is an outside shot of the roof. They are getting the siding up and it's starting to blend into the house pretty well.

it's kind of hard to see the double door in this pic. There is a bob cat right in front of the shed. But that is a 5' double door, large enough to get the large reservoirs inside there.

They will have the whole thing done sometime next week (barring more rain). But I have a lot of work to do on the two rooms they added before I can really get going on this thing. It's just nice to see it finally coming together.

 

[lilmonster]

That is So Amazing! And a great idea for lighting the tanks.

 

[jnarowe]

smart deal on the solar tubes.

 

[Northside Reef]

They should help, at least during the day. but I will still have florescent for night.

They are actually almost done with the shed now just a few pieces of siding and some steps.

a buddy of mine is working on the stand for the algae tanks. but I have to get the inside of the shed done before it can go in there. And as I said, the wife would frown on me doing anything until the two bedrooms are done.

Oh well I have waited this long what's a few more weeks.



I am thinking about using an ATS as well as the refugiums.

here is an idea design for one. I don't think I want to do the dump bucket ones.

easy enough to build and the motor is pretty cheap:

http://www.servocity.com/html/dayton_gear_motors__12v_.html


One day I will be out of the idea stage.... One day

 

[GoBigOrGoHome]

Very nice-looking ideas man. Can't wait to see it finished. I think its great that you've got so many bodies of water and such a large water volume for the 280 display. That means you can pack a ton of fish and inverts (barring territoriality) into a smaller tank, making it something that will really attract attention.
Plus, you've got different bodies of water to hold different types of organisms. Like was said before, you can have low flow zones for sea horses, a spot where you house something that you've always wanted but is too aggressive for the reef itself, sponges, macros, propagation pretty much everything imaginable. Personally, I would turn those two 325 reservoirs into fuges as well, but I understand that you already had the equipment, and thus wanted to use it.

Anyway, I think what you've got going is a great idea, and it should be pretty successful, provided, like said before, you don't have a problem investing in a little extra salt here and there. In theory, your fuges can remove all nitrates, and dosers can replace trace elements, but it just seems to do good to get some new water in there from time to time. I'm thinking of doing something similar to my 75-gal display that already has a 40-fuge, obviously not so large scale, but I'm thinking of adding 3x33-gal's and a 100 tub as well.. I'll definitely be watching to see how this turns out.

 

[P.Kelly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13333768#post13333768 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 8BALL_99
LoL wasn't saying it won't work. The only reason to post a build thread in a forum is for people to point out what they think are flaws, or to show how you delt with certain issues/problems. If all you want is oohs and ahhs RC isn't the place.

That's a rather narrow view. Please stay out of my thread then. A build thread can be a place to share. Sharing doesn't need to include only negativity.

My $0.02

 

[jnarowe]

can you explain that a little more? what is that for?

 

[Northside Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13487796#post13487796 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
can you explain that a little more? what is that for?

It's an Algae Turf Scrubber.

the algae screen would go in the "teeter-tooter" area and move up and down by rotating the shaft connected to the motor.

There is a long roller coaster thread in the lighting and filtration forum section.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1424843&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

It gets pretty heated and opinionated but there is still some good data in there on how they work and what possible benefits one might have on a system.

The one in the mockup is just kind of an idea I have been kicking around for making one.

here is a dump bucket sketch miwoodar posted:

on the design I am tinkering with I can change how much the teeter-tooter goes up and down by moving the linkage pin closer to or further away from center.

it's just one more filtration tool I am thinking about.