LUNATIC FRINGE-Duel 500g tanks, 1600g total

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

So while I am waiting....

Mary Ann or Ginger; Keynesian Economics or Austrian Economics and of course Closed loop or power heads...

Going to take a shot at the last one...
I spent some time reading up on this debate... and I have come to believe and have now convinced myself that.....

Power Heads without a doubt moves much more water, has more options, lower cost, lower electricity and no holes in the bottom.

However..... they are an eye sour to me. a BIG one.

Closed loop takes some time to get right, is harder to move around, figure out plumbing, returns, how many.....valve here....a vavle there...... A few big holes in the bottom.....

However.... they can be hidden much easier, once you get things set for the most part you can set it and forget it once everything is where you want...which takes more time than the PHs..... And as pump technology continues to improve you can swap out pumps provided that you put some valves in the right places.....

So I went with both. I have 2 PHs on each tank in the far back cornders...so the left tank has 2 on the far back right wall.... The right tank has them on the far left back wall.... I also have a 2" drain that goes to a pump..(more on that later) and 3 returns.... For the most part it is hard to find or at leas I feel I have limited any tank pollution, aka equipment in the tank

 

[Robb in Austin]

Mary Ann. Always.

 

[canyousee]

Closed loop. Austrian Econ. Staying with your final answer both Ginger and Mary Ann, thanks for asking. I have enjoyed your thread lots of good stuff...

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Thanks everyone...

Ok...been away a bit....wow a bunch has happened. Not sure where to start...Ill guess Ill start with some pics....



FISH ROOM:

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Floor drain....going to clean up edges around floor later.

Big difference in life of filters and amount of water produced with the addition of the booster pump.

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

There is a cubby hole to the left of the blue 200 gallon water container and it has another 200g green container. If I were to do these guys over I would have made sure they were opaque....I have problems seeing the water level on them.

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Ok, the good news is the gold tank or reef tank is doing great. I have had fish in there for about a month...no problems.. everything looks great.

However, the garnet tank FOWLR got crushed about 10 days ago. I woke up to a very cloudy tank out of nowhere. I immediately did a 25% water change....made it worse. Next morning the tank was wiped out. I was and am still crushed that I didn't figure out what I should have done till after the fact. The water was very cloudy...grey color. I should have figured out that it was either a massive bacterial bloom or an algae bloom. Now I don't have my lights hooked up yet...they were damaged in shipping.... but both tanks get natural non direct sun light. I believe that the bloom moved so quick that it depleted the oxygen overnight and killed everything.

I then left for a rare vacation (KEYS) and decided to let the tank run its course as most blooms solve themselves. Got home last night...this one hasn't. Originally I thought this was a bacterial bloom but now the water has a slight brown tint to the cloudiness...so I am thinking algae bloom.

The water parameters are and has always been great. I even took my own tests, then headed up to the LFS and they tested it..."perfect" was the response I got....Of course I am thinking...NOPE. Anyway, Vortex doesn't make a diatom filter anymore (or at least I cant find one) so I have a mag250 coming and going to use it as a diatomaceous earth filter and try and get the water cleared.

Most interesting thing about this whole event...both tanks have been treated identical...same water source, salt, water changes, etc...etc..... However, somewhere I hit a tipping point on the FOWLR.....

 

[Sonicboom]

That really sucks about the tank, do they both have the same water flow? I specifically added an extra drop in my plumbing to the sump to help with aeration.

 

[worm5406]

WOW... Interesting.

Anything get dripped/dropped in the tank?

Sugar or anything?

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Each system is self contained but all other things are equal...same water source...salt....temp..... all testing parameters are identical.... Did something get in the tank? Not to my knowledge but it is just another reminder of the subtle balance of a small ecosystem.

Originally I though it was a bacterial infection because the color was milk white for 2 weeks. However, in the last 3 days it has now got a brownish tint.... Can a bacterial bloom morph into an algae bloom?

 

[worm5406]

Well when it dies off... What is the skimmer doing?

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Each system is self contained but all other things are equal...same water source...salt....temp..... all testing parameters are identical.... Did something get in the tank? Not to my knowledge but it is just another reminder of the subtle balance of a small ecosystem.

Originally I though it was a bacterial infection because the color was milk white for 2 weeks. However, in the last 3 days it has now got a brownish tint.... Can a bacterial bloom morph into an algae bloom?

You have proven that with all the items you stated above, that no two tanks will have the same results.

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Before....

During....

After

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

The during picture above was about 24 hours into the diatom powder clean up....I didn't take a picture when I started it but you could not see the black pump when I started...

So.... I tried to find a Vortex xp pump....they are an old design but great great diatom filters....couldn't find one...

So I purchased a magnum 350.....and put dp powder into it.....did a GREAT JOB. I could see a difference in hours..... I would put the dp powder into the styro box with water and put both the intake and out take tubes into the styro box. It took about 10 minutes for the powder to coat the filter before I could put both tubes into the tank water. In the future I want to try using a turkey baster to slowly put the dp powder into the intake and see if that makes the process shorter.

I have always loved dp filters and I think everyone should own one of these....

*makes the water sparkle
*drop it in when cleaning glass....sucks everything up
*pop it in when something foreign gets into the tank
*use it when you are cleaning the sand base....

Magnum 350...it is a bit clunky, sometimes a pain in the rear to get it primed....the lid sometimes takes a few minutes to get it on ...but for $80 you cant beat it. I found it works much better when the filter is placed below the aquarium and not on top as the tubes will slowly bend and restrict water if it is above the tank....

anyway...3 complete days and back on course.

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

[/IMG]

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

So after I got the FOWLR tank cleaned up...I put new dp powder in and moved it to the reef for a few hours after I cleaned the sand.....

I glanced up while watching tv and got a small black surprise....can you see it???

Cabinet plans are done..... they should start making the cabinets next week.....may take 3-4 weeks.

 

[Genesis Corals]

Silly nemo trying to escape...glad you caught that though.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Maybe he was trying to dirty the tank.

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Still need to close up the roof...but I did put some sound boards up there and I also have some more drilling to do...

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

Things are starting to come together.

Garnet sump is 88"L x 24 x 24... Gold is 96L x 24 x 24

The glass company only had 1/4 plate glass...so I went with that....the glass calculators said I have a 1.7 times strength coverage.... However, late one night I heard an explosion out back...turned on all the lights...couldn't find anyone.... next morning I found that the Gold long glass window had exploded.... it was filled for a week. However, I think that it shattered not because of strength but because it was 98 degrees during the day and then quickly cooled down because of rain at night... I put in the center brace which wasn't in at the time and had the glass company order 3/8 glass... Seems fine now.