Matt's 5000ltr Display
- Thread starter d3hree
- Start date
d3hree
New member
Thankyou Rick
Thanks Mike/Terry
Thanks SB, The decals were off Ebay LINK
Youre Welcome and thankyou
Come on Matt give us an update
OK....
Sorry I have been AWOL for a long while, I have been so busy with work commitments that I just havent had much time. This same time limitation unfortunately leads to a less than satisfactory update.
The tank has been handing my a$$ to me from the get go with numerous "teething" issues that I shall now try and document.
The first problem encountered was phosphate. I set the system up using a slow flow po4 remover. I had used it on previous tanks with a degree of success and so never even gave the choice a 2nd thought. Its a different ball game with a system this size and so the slow flow media use meant that the tank was only getting turned over once every 86 days.
When the system is matured I dont see it as a problem but with a new system using a lot of reef bones there was far more po4 being added via food and leeching from the rocks than the media and flow rate could deal with.
This excessive po4 meant the tank soon began to look like a rain forest.
I have swapped the media and returned back to rowaphos pushing 6000lph through the reactor. My tests are somewhat skewed due to the algae growth but the po4 is on the decline.
The next issue to present itself was the flow in the tank. The OM stopped working after just a few weeks. I am in discussions with Paul about a replacement but there have been numerous miss communications that means I am still waiting on a replacement.
After losing 3 millies to what I put down as flow issues I added a wp60. I am very happy with this and may add another 3, even when the OM is up n running again.
Next i had surge issues...well kind of.
I started to lose another colony and couldnt figure out why...then another..and another. The 3 colonies were in a direct path of the surge stream. As we all know the corals love the flow but not pointed directly at them. The surge flow is pretty wide and it seemed odd that the corals would object as they did. Nevertheless I diverted the flow but recession continued. A friend of mine then pointed out that it maybe a temperature issue.
Initially the surge was set up and was running well, in september. But come November the weather had taken a turn for the cold and there was a definite possibility that the surge water was a few degrees colder than the system.
The surge tank is outside, its insulated reasonably OK but its still outside. The surge fires every 7 minutes so the 26 degree water has a dwell time of 7 minutes which will give it the chance to lose a couple of degrees in extreme cold weather. So I added 2 300w heaters to the surge tank.
Next up has been a nutrient issue. The tank has a 6" DSB and I also have a 600ltr RDSB. Due to this i cannot get a nitrate reading. I have been going through tubs and tubs of sps food and feeding 20-30 cubes of frozen a day. i havent been running a skimmer for about 5 weeks and still nothing.
To combat this I have been adding fish. The tank has 30 + fish in there and another 30 are due to go in from QT in the next week or two.
Two of the recent additions are a pair of crosshatch triggers that will happily eat a huge amount of krill
I have had electrical failures, but only when I am out of town.
I was at a aquatics conference in October, a trade show that kept me out of town overnight. i returned to find one of the electric circuits had tripped leaving the two QT tanks at 11 degrees C. and fish dont like that. They show their objection by dieing on mass.
Most recently I have had the MH lights above the tank trip the electrics when they fire. I specifically bought socket timers rated for 3kw for when the ballasts fire but still they trip and melt...again only when I am not at home.
I have also had the tank's ATU fail 6 times and the QT ATU is currently knackered.
I think that pretty much covers it. I will sort some pics out as soon as I get chance. My biggest issue of late has been working 100 hours a week and issues that have arisen havent been given my full attention, or have gone un noticed for too long.
d3hree
New member
^^ I forgot I had another issue. Salinity.
I started to notice white tips on some of the colonies followed by what i can only call extreme RTN from the top down. i initially thought this could be a potasium issue but checked it with an Elos kit and it was right on the money. Next I thought it could be a salinity issue so recalibrated my refractometer using 0 tds and all was fine.
To be on the safe side I bought some 35ppt calibration fluid. That was the problem. My refractometer is 10+ years old and calibrating at zero meant that when it got up to 35ppt (1.026) it was about 7 points out!!
I started to notice white tips on some of the colonies followed by what i can only call extreme RTN from the top down. i initially thought this could be a potasium issue but checked it with an Elos kit and it was right on the money. Next I thought it could be a salinity issue so recalibrated my refractometer using 0 tds and all was fine.
To be on the safe side I bought some 35ppt calibration fluid. That was the problem. My refractometer is 10+ years old and calibrating at zero meant that when it got up to 35ppt (1.026) it was about 7 points out!!
FuzzyZipperbaum
New member
Im about 7 months up and running on my two 500G's and it seems we have some very common problems....and the same sense of humor about it....LOL.... love the thread...
d3hree
New member
Thanks fuzzy...there is little point getting wound up about it. I will fix the current issues and no doubt the tank will through some more at me
LOL Mr. Murphy has gills, for sure! Cheer up, it's all down hill from here.
Dave.M
He has dave...gills and a mean and cruel streak
Just a fluidised reactor with 10 litres of rowaphos
bikeboss11
New member
Beautiful setup man. It took me all day to go through your thread, I didn't want it to end. Everytime I took a break the computer keep drawing me in.... Keep it up and good luck with the hiccups.
flyingclay
New member
Man, I just spent the last hour checking this out. I thought my 220 was a large and complicated tank but this is amazing. If I had half of the skills you've got I would have an even better tank, Thanks for sharing and looking forward to seeing it all grown out.
NICE
NICE
d3hree
New member
Thanks for taking the time to read the thread guys and your compliments, you're too kind
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Hang in there Matt - you know what they say "adversity doesn't build character, it exposes it."
We've no doubt that your rain forest will become glorious reef in time!
We've no doubt that your rain forest will become glorious reef in time!
d3hree
New member
I'm still just putting out fires. Both impellers on both of the skimmers recirc pumps decided it was time to shear. I sold a kidney and got two new ones from deltec. One of the return pumps started to splutter so I've swapped in a spare so I can get it serviced.
I swapped out 10litres of rowa today and harvested a mountain of hair algae. The tanks "skewed" reading is 0.12, hopefully a fresh batch of rowa plus the continuous harvesting will see a positive change over the next month.
Thankyou
Cheers mike/ terry. I am confident that I will have better news in a month or so
Hi Matt
Sorry to hear about your problems, I'm sure the algae / phosphate issues will settle with the use of rowaphos and as the tank matures. I have been very busy at work over the last few weeks and have noticed how the tank sulks :worried: But life goes on and other things sometimes have to take centre stage. Keep up the up dates .
Cheers Martin
Sorry to hear about your problems, I'm sure the algae / phosphate issues will settle with the use of rowaphos and as the tank matures. I have been very busy at work over the last few weeks and have noticed how the tank sulks :worried: But life goes on and other things sometimes have to take centre stage. Keep up the up dates .
Cheers Martin
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Helloooooo?
Hellooooooo.....is there anybody in there?
Hellooooooo.....is there anybody in there?
