Lukinrats 75 gallon tank thread!!!

[lukinrats]

I have been trying to get a thread started on my tank for some time now!
I have been plotting & planning!
Thinking & Re-Thinking!
Waiting on equipment, and waiting on motivation!

Then, after I finally got the tank set up like I wanted it, and got ready to start adding to my thread.....
I realized that I can't use the "Lukinrats old and new 90 gallon" thread, because I do not have a 90 gallon tank.

So, here I am, starting another thread just because I never thought to double check the LFS that sold me my 90 gallon... They sold it to me as a 90 gallon, and then I went in his store the other day, and he had my tank (exactly) for sale as a 75... I asked him what the hell!!! He said that the company who makes his tanks for him, was selling him the tank as a 90, and just recently he thought to check them and realized they were wrong... Anyway, it is all water under the bridge now

HERE is the original thread... It has all the info about my history with this tank, and the equipment planning... It is not a long thread, so if you are interested to know about it, it will not take very long to look it over

Now... I want to go ahead, and give some of the details about the tank in it's current state

75 gallon oceanview (glass) aquarium... 48" x 13" x 30"
Here are a couple of pictures of the tank when I drilled it for the overflow (sort of a ghetto calfo style)

Part of the plumbing(rear)

20 +/- gallon sump w/ refugium... Here are the front and rear views of the sump before it had any water in it

Sump (rear)

 

[lukinrats]

Still posting on the equipment:

Here is the skimmer that I decided to go with, after spending a couple of months on This... Study of Skimmers... Let's discuss!!! thread and a thread related to it called Poll of most popular skimmers... Please give opinions in thread!!
What I realized was, I wanted some qualities that several different skimmers had, but did not combine into one... So, I called ORCA or www.proteinskimmer.com, and had them build me one with the features and hopefully performance that I wanted

The next part of the puzzle that I had to decide on, was lighting... I wanted to go with T5, but had a lot of trouble finding a system that would work, because of the unique measurements of my tank... I had to find something that was under 12.5" front to back, but it also had to be strong enough to reach deep into the 30" tall tank

I finally decided to take a lesson I learned from my skimmer, and have someone build a unit to my specs... That decision really limits your options, since most T5 units that I know of, are a specific size without any other options... I found Catalina Aquarium and began to do some research on RC about the company... I got mixed reviews, with some saying they loved their units, and some that hated them... I was very short on options, and decided to go with it
I called them, and told them I wanted an 8 x 54 watt T5 retrofit that was only 11.5" front to back...James said it was no problem, and they built me one with individual reflectors... It really is a nice fixture, and I can't complain about the unit one bit
Never the less, I decided to pull the stock individual reflectors off, and replace them with Icecap SLR's... This was an interesting decision since that meant I would only be able to put a total of 4 SLR reflectors on my unit... 2 bulbs per reflector

Here are the pictures of that little mod

Now, I know some might say that you are not supposed to do T5's that way, but all I can tell you is, I disagree (at the present time)

I had this fixture about 6" above the surface when it had the stock reflectors on it, and it really did not seem like I could have been getting very much PAR... This is what made me do the mod
So, I ordered the SLR's, and a new canopy... I modded the reflectors into the fixture, and attached it to the top of my canopy... This put the fixture 13" above the surface instead of 6"... All of the sudden, my corals started turning white, and so did all the coralline algae on my rocks... The important thing to take into account here, is that I had the fixture 6" above the surface with the stock (individual) reflectors on it, and had no problem with bleaching... After the mod, I moved the fixture up 7", and it made such a difference that everything started to bleach... Obviously I did not know that it was going to cause such a dramatic improvement, or I would have acclimated the livestock better... I figured moving the fixture up 7" would be enough
It was then that I realized how huge the Par must have been... So, I decided that I really needed to find out, so I bought a Par meter... I did a good amount of the readings last night, so I am going to put the pictures in the next post

 

[lukinrats]

Unbelievable PAR from a cheap T5 fixture

Unbelievable PAR from a cheap T5 fixture

Ok... these pictures should be pretty self explainatory, but I will try to add some detail, as to where my PAR readings were taken in the tank... Here goes, and most are not going to beleive this
I know that the Grim Reefer did not, until I talked to him the other night, about my lighting

6" below the bulbs

This reading is 6" below the water's surface, and taken from the middle of the right half of my tank

This is 12" below the surface, just under the one above

18" below the surface

@ the Sandbed

This one is still @ the sandbed, but a little bit over to the left from the one above

I took this one because I figured that the PAR would be a good bit below the other readings, with the sensor to the side and under the end of the bulbs... Still seems to be pretty good

 

[lukinrats]

Now, over to the left half of the tank


6" below the surface

12" below the surface, and also shows what PAR that Acro colony is getting... This was the only SPS I had that did not bleach from the lighting

18" below the surface

@ the sandbed

 

[lukinrats]

The Grim Reefer, and I, had a discussion about all of this the other night... I am putting this part of my results in this thread, so that Grim, or anyone else who has an idea about them can chime in.
Grim and I discussed how cooling the ends of T5 bulbs will supposedly help with the PAR... I thought I understood that cooling the bulbs would create more PAR, and not less... Well, I got a different result with my unit

Here is a picture I took when the bulbs were fully heated up, and had no cooling what so ever, Par reading was taken from the sandbed, and right in the middle of my tank

This picture was taken after I turned the fan on the supposed cool spot on the T5's... I waited 5 minutes, and then checked the PAR.

Now, I can fully understand the theory behind cooling the bulbs, and I understand that it probably helps... The only conclusion I can come up with here, is that the heat must actually help my setup in some way
Can anyone else comment on what may be going on there... That is almost a 100 point drop, in PAR

 

[lukinrats]

I know, this probably should have come earlier, but I was giving details on my equipment... So now, here are the parameters @ this point

Salinity- S-35 (refractometer w/ pinpoint calibration fluid)
Temp- 80-82 dg
ph-8.2-8.4
Ca- 430
dKH- 9.5-10.5
Mag- 1300
NO3- 5-10 mg/l
PO4- .25 ppm or less (find out today prob... got a dif. kit)

My water level is controlled with an ATO, and I top off with limewater
Flow is provided with 1 x Vortech set at about 1500 gph, and 2 x Maxi mod 2100 gph props

I run carbon in a filter bag in the sump... That area of the sump has another maxi mod in it for increased circulation.... This helps the carbon in the media bag, and it does a very good job
I run GFO in a reactor

Livestock: 2 x skunk shrimpsies, 1 x RBTA, snails and crabs, several colonies of pulsing xenia, and anthellia
fuzzy sinularia, sun coral, florida rics... I have got to get that anthelia and xenia out of there, but have not gotten around to it yet

SPS: 2 frags of orange digi, 1 x green slimer, 1 x neon green cap, 1 x monipora spongodes... 1 colony of A. Tenuis (sp.?)

About 125-150 lbs live rock

I currently do not have any fish my tang got ich when I moved the tank this last time... I was also not happy with the fish that I had in there besides the tang, so I took them all out... I plan to start buying some more fish in about 3 weeks... I want to let the tank be fish free for 11 weeks, so that hopefully, all ich will be gone... I finally caught the last 2 fish, last night, after I took the par readings

 

[lukinrats]

In this post, I want to mention a couple of issues (w/ pics), and hope that I can get them solved

The corals that I have bleached with the lighting, have all colored back up, and are growing nicely... The only one that still seems to be having a problem is the SPONGODES... I have them at the bottom right hand corner of my tank, in a tray... It is growing at a rapid rate, but still seems like it can''t color up... I am hoping that someone has some experience with this coral, and can tell me about it's lighting requirements... I took this picture, with the PAR meter's sensor, sitting right next to the coral in the tray... I forgot to add the Par picture to my photobucket, but it was 215... I am going to put this picture so that you guys can get a good idea about the way the frag looks... below it will be a picture of it when I first got it... You should be able to see the growth

Ok... So I have that problem, and I know that it will probably be ok pretty soon... I mean, the coral has good growth, and good PE... The color just has not come back

 

[lukinrats]

The only other problem I have that bothers me is some sort of algae... My nutrients are really pretty low, and I have cheato in my fuge that seems to indicate this... It will not grow, and I freakishly test my NO3 and PO4... I know that they are not high, and really I think they are even lower than what I indicated in my post about param's... However, I have some sort of algae growing on my rocks, and some other things... It does not seem like hair algae, cause believe me, I have had hair algae... HA grows very quickly, and is bright green IME... This algae is not even really growing... It has pretty much been in the same places, and has been the same length and color for weeks... The only thing I can figure is that it is Bryopsis or Diatoms... Bryopsis because that is what it looks like to me, and maybe Diatoms, because I have all new sand, and I am sure that may be causing some

Here are the pictures... Tell me whether you guys think it is Bryopsis, and if it is, should I use the Elevated Magnesium treatment?

The worst spot of it is in that first picture, on a piece of Marshall's Island rock I have... It is the only one in there, and has never been able to grow any coralline, so that is where NA usually starts

Thanks,
Nathan

It scrubs off pretty easily with a toothbrush, but even then there will still be some left... Also, if you scrub it down, it will come back... The only strange thing to me is that it will only grow to the lengths you see (so far)... Now, I call it strange, because I have never dealt with it... It may actually be typical
That's why I am hoping you guys can give some clues

 

[lukinrats]

I want to add, that this will be my one and only tank thread, from here on out... I will post everything pertinent to my tank here, and do my best to document situations, results, and basically anything about my tank... I hope you guys will follow along with me!!!!

Thanks,
Nathan Smith

 

[lukinrats]

Oh... One last thing for right now... This is the only FTS I have right now... It is not very good, but I wanted to post it, so you guys can give me some input on it... I think I want to do my rocks a little different, but I do not have many options, because of the small amount of room (front to back) that I have
Anyone have any advice/suggestions? Maybe even based on experience... I know it is an odd size, but I was thinking that if I broke my rock into smaller pieces, that I could do more with it

Iphone shot: 2 x 54 watt T5's only... 1 x B+, and 1 x 10,000k

 

[lukinrats]

Just in-case anyone is curious about how my skimmer performs... Here is a picture of 24hrs worth of skimmate, or about 4 cups I think

 

[hahnmeister]

That is a wicked amount of PAR for that fixture. I wonder what about that fixture is causing that. What bulbs are you using anyways?

As for the air cooling... too much could be overcooling the bulbs. Also, depending on the bulbs, you may not even have a 'cold spot' to cool... KZs and ATI's to name the couple I know w/o a cold-spot. Usually, this is done for less mercury content in the bulb. On the upside, the lower mercury doesnt make the bulb 'lesser', but rather, the phosphors have been engineered to withstand higher heat... so cooling these bulbs at the cold spot might be taking a good step back.

The good thing is, you have a PAR meter... so you can dink around and get the best results.

 

[lukinrats]

Wow!! Sorry about not posting bulbs

Front:
Blue+
Sfigoli super act.
Blue+
Aquablue
Blue+
GE 3000k
CA act.
CA act.
Back:

 

[lukin]

I don't think I ever heard lukin go into rats....that would be great.Very nice tank btw

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13045969#post13045969 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
That is a wicked amount of PAR for that fixture. I wonder what about that fixture is causing that. What bulbs are you using anyways?

As for the air cooling... too much could be overcooling the bulbs. Also, depending on the bulbs, you may not even have a 'cold spot' to cool... KZs and ATI's to name the couple I know w/o a cold-spot. Usually, this is done for less mercury content in the bulb. On the upside, the lower mercury doesnt make the bulb 'lesser', but rather, the phosphors have been engineered to withstand higher heat... so cooling these bulbs at the cold spot might be taking a good step back.

The good thing is, you have a PAR meter... so you can dink around and get the best results.

According to Gregg Morgan in that other thread he was told by a lighting engineer that all fluorescents have a cold spot. NARVA and a few other companies supposedly have a extended cold spot which is the reason for the dark area at the one end. Between dealing with computer viruses and Tek refurb project I havent played with the different lamps to varify that yet but it's on the agenda.

 

[hahnmeister]

Right, they all still contain mercury for cooling purposes, but the phosphors are engineered to withstand higher temperatures to less mercury is needed.

 

[lukinrats]

Hahn & Grim, I put a different fan on the bulbs, and it did not seem to impact the PAR quite as drastically... I think I will do some more tests with this particular fan, when I have a little more time to control it.

I am not sure that I don't need to cool them, and let them lose a little par... Hell!!! 261 @ the sandbed, does not leave me many places to put a lower light critter

I am expecting some more frags pretty soon, so we will see how I do with them, since I know a little more about the lighting

____________________________________________________

So, I am assuming that we do not have any identification on the algae... I really hope that someone will be able come up with one... I think I know that it is Bryopsis, and I read about that Solution to bryopsis thread... I just hate to boost my mag, and then it turn out to be some other crazy algae

____________________________________________________

Tonight I mowed down several large patches of Anthellia, and Xenia... I just have a couple more in there now, but my wife thinks the stuff is pretty, so until I can get some other corals in there I will just have to keep some... If I ever do get it all mowed down, then I am going to keep a syringe of Kalk paste by the tank, blast every last little piece I see

Later,
Nathan

 

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13047610#post13047610 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lukin
I don't think I ever heard lukin go into rats....that would be great.Very nice tank btw

I have always wanted them to play Lukin, and then in a creative sort of way, transition into Rats... To my knowledge, they never have, but we can always hope... I have had that handle since probably 99... Nathan Smith it pretty common I assume, and it was hard for me to pick out user names when I joined sites... I knew I would have to come up with something that would have very small chance of being taken... LUKIN-RATS was born, LOL!!!

BTW, I got to see them last month in Tampa... 2nd ROW CENTER BABY!!!
I have some really nice pictures if you ever want to check them out
Maybe they will get that new disc out, so they can get back on a full blow tour

Thanks for the comment on the tank... I call it my "Special Tank" cause whoever built it had to be a little crazy, or a little stoned... Probably the latter... I hope that I can get it like I want it pretty soon... I am not happy at all with the way the rocks look, and I will be re-scaping pretty soon... I just have to come up with some way to make it look something other than a wall of rocks

Later,
Nathan

 

[lukinrats]

I decided to give Tropic Marine's PO4 kit a try... Has anyone else?

I decided to give Tropic Marine's PO4 kit a try... Has anyone else?

I recently decided to try out another PO4 kit, in hopes that I could squash the urge to buy a Hanna meter... I have already owned an Elos PO4 kit, and although it is very nice, I found that it was not very different from most others on the market... My criteria was that it had to read fairly low on the scale, and it needed to be something that did not cost me 150-190 bucks... There does not seem to be very many PO4 kits out there that read down to .01 ppm... So, I was looking around Marine Depot, and found out that the Tropic Marine kit did... So I decided to give it a try!!!

Right out of the gate, I noticed that the kit was different than the others I have tried... First of all, there are two test vials involved in the reading... The kit comes with the following:

2 test tubes
1 tube cap (very nice and tight I might add)
1 syringe (6 ml)
2 reagents
1 control or known sample
2 different color charts for reading the sample (1 salt, and 1 fresh)

The other kits that I have used, have a color chart that is based on the color blue... I guess that is Ok, but sometimes it makes it hard for me to figure out what I have at the end... The Tropic Marine kit starts @ .01ppm, it then goes to .03, .05, .1, etc etc... I think that the first 2 levels of reading are good for what we are trying to accomplish... The difference in the TM kit, is that the first 3 readings are based on a sort of tan or kacky color... Then by the time you get up into the higher numbers, the sample starts to turn blueish... I feel like this, at the very least, gives us a great way to distinguish between a borderline low reading

Like I said earlier, you use 2 vials in the test... You fill both up with 5ml of tank water... Next you add 10 drops of reagent A, cap and shake... Then add 3 drops of reagent B, cap and shake... That is all there is to the titration part of it
The really cool thing (IMO) here, is that you use both tubes in reading the results... The vial with just tank water in it, sits on the color chart, on top of the colored dots... The tube you are reading from, sits on the corresponding white dot, just below the other.
What you are doing is trying to match the 2 tubes in color... You sit the plain water one on the first colored dot (.01ppm), and sit the tube with the test in it on the white dot just below it... Next you look from the top down, into each tube, and see if the 2 samples match... I find it so much easier to decifer... If your colors do not match then you just slide the 2 vials over to the next dots going right, until you find that they both look the same

I have been using Hagen PO4 kits, and although they have worked very well for me, I will now be using the TM... I have always know that my tank water had less than .25 ppm of PO4 in it... I just did not know how much... Today when I got my TM kit, I checked it, and gave me a reading of .01 ppm.
I feel like I can live with these 2 methods of measurement... They are fairly economical, and the TM kit allows me to be much more precise

Just wanted to let everyone know my experience, since I was unable to find any input through searches on RC

Later,
Nathan

 

[melev]

Glad to see you posting again. It looks like you are having all kinds of fun.

The new Tropic Marin (not Marine, right?) kit sounds a lot like the D & D / Deltec kit I have. It too uses two vials and you look through both to read the colors.

That PAR information was very interesting. Chalk it up to better reflectors. Did you read about my PAR testing?