Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[melev]

Hi Chris. No, not really. Due to the shape, it is very hard to get anything underneath. I know kwl1763 made a two part sump, where the taller one was his refugium. It was difficult to work under the tank even to access the skimmer. If you think it plausible, you might consider the "side sump" listed on my site. The person made a matching stand next to the tank to hide the sump, and it opened both in the front as well as allowing the top to be flipped back to gain full access.

<i>In other news...</i>

Today I drove to the other end of the metroplex and beyond, and picked up two 150w Aqua Medic pendant fixtures from a club member that recently upgraded. So I can finally set a nice light fixture over the propagation section of my sump. I need to figure out how to use the wire hanging system and make sure I can get to the frags once that light is in place. The other fixture will probably be used in a future project or be kept as a backup.

Each pendant has a 14,000K XM DE bulb. One is 8 months used, the other 4 months used.

I noticed how two of the wire cable retaining pins are missing some ballbearings. If anyone knows what size I need to get, or a source for the ball bearings or perhaps the pins themselves, please let me know.

 

[melev]

Observation - Day 7

Observation - Day 7

I dosed a few vials of Prodibio seven days ago. The water is quite clear. The algae that grows on the glass was 'thin', enough of an eye sore that I used a cleaning magnet to scrub it off. It was a little harder to remove than usual, but I don't think I've cleaned the glass in a week.

Coral-wise, the livestock looks good and even areas that Tucker has chewed up are regrowing tissue. Some nuisance algae that was growing on one Scripps acro is now receeding, to maybe 25% of what it was. Other corals look good to me. The fish seem the same. No diatoms on the sand; it looks clean. The skimmer isn't pulling out as much skimmate as it has in the past.

No further dosing is required until a week from tomorrow according to my spreadsheet.

 

[agarza]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7116139#post7116139 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Okay, the front plate is 19" long, but the actual unit is 17" long. The unit is 1.75" tall, and it is 4" front to back, not including the rocker switches on the front. If you measure the unit from front to back, including the rocker switches and the plastic that protrudes from the back where the plugs go in, it is 4.5" wide.

Thank you very much, that's exactly what I needed.

Cheers!!

 

[melev]

For those of you that would like to see the nightly feeding, here is a 1 meg animated image. Click when ready.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/06/04/feeding.gif

And for those that would just like to see a full tank shot, here it is with the center 400w 20,000K MH bulb turned off. What you see is lit with two 160w actinic VHO and two 250w 10,000K ReefLux bulbs.

 

[melev]

Here is the new lighting setup I got. Due to their small size, I might even put both over the propagation section. I've not decided yet. So far, I'm really happy with what I purchased.

The fixture is around 9" long (by looking at this image).

It uses a Double Ended (DE) Metal Halide (MH) 150w bulb. This particular bulb is a 14,000K (Kelvin) spectrum bulb.

The ballast has a cooling fan just like a computer case uses, and the pendant cord plugs into it. The on/off switch is available, but typically it is set to on and the timer turns it on and off as needed.

A couple of small reflector fits slide in, to help keep the light directed into the tank and out of the eyes.

Here it is after it was burning for a few minutes, taken with flash. It was very bright.

And this is the part I need to fix. The one in the back is perfect, but the one in front is missing two ball bearings. <b>If you know how to fix this, please let me know.</b>

And one last image for tonight, at feeding time. You can see the three BTAs (Bubble Tip Anemone - for those of you learning acronyms in my thread) more readily.

 

[Cprowler]

Do you clean your back glass?

 

[melev]

No, I don't. My snails do.

 

[Cprowler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7121018#post7121018 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev

Wow, mine has only been running for 3 months and it's covered. You have had yours 18 months and it's clean, I must not have as many snails or mine are lazy.

 

[melev]

It's been said that MH lighting prevents coralline growth. I know I had some on the back wall, but figured the urchin was consuming it. Since I moved it into the refugium over six weeks ago, you'd think I'd see some now. I really don't see much of any, except down in the sump, on powerheads and in the shaded areas near the base of the rockwork.

Perhaps my water isn't balanced quite right.

Your SPS are nice and colorful. Looks great!

 

[gkarshens]

I've only ran MHs in my tank and my back wall is covered.

 

[Cprowler]

I have been using Purple Up also.

Now that I finished my stand/cabinet I can't wait for my frags to grow.:crazy1:

 

[richfavinger]

From what I have read for coralline to grow, you need a stable pH 8.1+, slightly high dKH (10 to 12), stable Mg, and proper levels of Strontium.

I to use Purple Up, but am not totally convinced... I will have some Kent Turbo Strontium by weeks end (along with my new CPR AquaFuge :thumbsup: ) so, I will add some Strontium and see what happens.

Kents Turbo Strontium is just that, and that I know of has no Molybdenum, like there other version. It, along with there Turbo Calcium is considered there "Pro" line.

How ever, I now use Randy's 2-part home made Ca / Alk, with his part 3A, Mg.

 

[melev]

To be honest, I'm not really concerned that I don't have coralline in the tank. As long as the corals are growing, why should I worry? After all, it would be one more thing to clean.

 

[Lordhelmet]

last october my coralline covered everything. if i didn't scrub the front i think it would have been a purple box. then around dec/jan it just kinda stoped growing, everything else was fine. now in the last 2 weeks it has exploded again and i have to scrape the front acrylic every other day it seems i have no idea why it did that.

 

[steve68]

ur tank has 400w MH thats why & u are right i woulnt worry about it.
tank looks great Marc one question what tipe of algae do u feed ur tangs?

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7076190#post7076190 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Keith, I agree about the cost in the closet. I bought my Sequence Dart at MACNA as it was a special price ($175), and had to add it to my luggage. Still, if my return pump were to fail and I had to get a new one that day, you can bet I'd pay $225 or more depending where I could get it. I'd prefer to save the extra money by being prepared and have the insurance.

Sorry to resurrect something from a few pages back, but I have an interesting suggestion for a "backup" pump. I had a sequence 4200 return pump that recently developed a bearing problem and went in for warranty repair. After a few days with the tank limping on a Mag5, I received a loaner pump from Sequence - a FW Cimarron model. They told me it would work fine for saltwater duty, but the seals were not built to hold up to long term use in saltwater. When all was said and done, they offered to let me keep the Cimarron for $100 ($85 in my mind since I would have paid $15 to ship it back to them). This pump is essentially a Dart without the saltwater seals. On azponds, they go for about $115. Not bad at all if you're just holding one for emergency use.

 

[Mogrash]

Hey Marc,

Finally found the end of the thread...what 5 splits? Anyways, I was wondering why you have your Tunze mounted on the same side rather than opposing each other?

Regarding the Ocean lights. I have three and am unsure what part has the bearings you are missing. My guess is the part that attatches to the reflector rather than the ceiling? You should be able to order replacements for those from any store carrying the lights (likely special order). If not I think the items are fairly standard fare for light suspension cabling and IKEA might even have them (given the lights are German and Ikea is swedish..)

I need to get some of those mini reflectors that slide in on the bottom...do you think they reduce the spread too much?

IF you want coralline algae...remove your cleanup crew and don't scape your glass for 3 weeks.... I'm still scraping off the algae after my trip to Italy...

 

[melev]

<b>Steve</b> - I'm feeding a sheet of Nori to the tangs once or twice a week. I fold it up multiple times until it is the size of a matchbook, then clip it to the glass and they go nuts for 5 minutes.

My skimmer has hardly been pulling anything out lately. As of last night, it didn't skim a drop overnight, and that was after I turned off the pumps and fed the suncorals PE Mysis and ReefRoids from PolypLab.com

So today I poured in a healthy amount of Formula One pellets in the tank as well as the Mandarin Diner, and a sheet of Nori. Nori is the stuff they use to wrap sushi with, also called Algae Wrap.

<b>Jeff</b> - always glad to find out there is an alternative. Would it be possible to buy the saltwater seals for $35 and convert the pump to long-time use? That is what they cost for the Sequence, I think.

<b>Mogrash</b> - this is Chapter 6 - but who's counting? The reason I have both Tunzes at one end is because I didn't want anything obscuring my viewing panel on the right side. It has been this way for the past 1.5 years, but about two months ago I put a VorTech on the viewing side and it hasn't been an eyesore. From time to time, I move it around a little, but with it being about the size of a hockey puck with a cord, it doesn't bother me like the Tunze Stream w/ magnet would.

Thanks for the suggestion on the light kit pin. I didn't want to have to buy an entire kit when all I need are those little pins. I might even check Home Depot since they sell Halogen lights now. The pin goes in the section screwed to the top of the pendant, and the thin wire goes through it. The ballbearings act like a zip-tie, in that you can pull the wire more to raise the light up, but it won't drop unless you unscrew the cap to release the tension caused by those ball bearings. It's a nice system that I've admired for years, but never understood exactly how they work.

I can't answer on the fins as I've not actually used them yet, but the tank I was visiting yesterday had a 4' long version with the fins, and I wasn't blinded by the lighting. They act as a nice shield and according to the reefer I visited, they bounce some stray light back down toward the tank instead of washing out into the room. Since he's been using these lights over the past 8 months, I figured he knows.

 

[Mogrash]

Hey I was counting the amount of times it split, not the actual threads (chapters)! Regardless the number is seriously out of control. Perhaps start your own forum? :smokin:

Thanks for the info about the Tunze. Did you find the flow was very linear before adding the Vortech or was there plenty of bounce back from the Tunze-less side of the aquarium? I'm asking because I can never get quite happy with the placement of my own Tunzes... Placing them on the backwall removes the eyesore as they fade into my black background...but I don't like the flow as much...too many dead spots. Recently I have put one on the left side towards the front and one on the right side towards the back. Seems to give tons of flow and there is enough collision of the streams to create some turbulence...but still far too laminar IMHO still.

I see that you actually dismantled the piece I was talking about! Yea I have heard of those pieces failing (which is why there is the included stopper) though I have had no problem yet. Good luck finding them at Home depot. I know from AM they are like 30 bucks...ouch.

 

[melev]

No forum at this time. I've got my hands full. And I do think this is the 6th split of this thread.

Getting the perfect pattern of flow is tough. Random is always better. If you have a controller, you can ramp them up and down, switch back and forth, pulse, run in chase mode, etc. The VorTech has better flow imho since it doesn't have the restrictive screen the Tunze has. I have to clean the Tunze covers because as they clog up the flow drops as much as 50% (estimate). I can see when they are restricted because the BTAs stop swaying and stand up all perky like a Ritteri anemone.

See, I knew you were going to tell me that part was $30, probably for a kit. I just need a few ballbearings. I may go to a bicycle shop in search of the perfect ones.