Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[melev]

Hi Bart,

If you would like to come over to talk in person, that is fine with me. I'm in the s/w corner of Ft Worth.

Once your tank is stable, you can put your livestock in. As you know, SPS want rock solid numbers around the clock whenever possible. If your tank is cycled with a clean up crew, and you don't add a bunch of fish, I don't see why you couldn't add SPS next. Nothing will be polluting the water like fish would, so that part would be pretty easy to control. You'll need your calcium reactor and auto-top off to care for those needs, and get your temperature to stay solid around the clock. If you can meet these standards and your test kits back them up, it should be okay.

After all, you have quite a bit of experience behind you. Try to watch things closely so you can catch any issues early on.

Congrats on the huge reading. You've done well. :thumbsup:

 

[huge1day]

Well I guess that is my problem. I do have a regal, two purples and one yellow tang along with a couple percula clowns and 5 green chromis. They are in a 400 gallon vat in my foyer along with my lps corals. I am going to put a half dozen of the corals back into tank along with the fish this week. I know that I will have to wait so that the bioload is not too much. I guess in simple terms the water won't be "perfect" for a period of time.

I do have a 1hp chiller, top off is done and a large diy calcium reactor. I really think it is the water quaility issue only.

You also have a pm from me...

Bart

 

[melev]

With a 'new' tank, the LR and DSB needs time to adjust to the bioload. As you read in my thread, the 280g was a transplant and about 9 months later I was really fighting phosphate issues. I still get them and my bioload is less than half of what it was back then.

You aren't doomed from the start or anything, but you'll want your skimmer working at its peak performance every day. Running enough phosphate remover right from the start should help as well.

PM replied.

 

[vanmo92]

Marc you really have a BEAUTIFUL tank.

 

[melev]

Thank you.

 

[JTEAGUE]

Mark can you take a look at my help please thread in reef chemistry on 10-20-06. I am becoming frustrated with my set up as I try to improve I seem to be going backwards.

 

[AVALover5498]

I love your tank...so nice...and i love reefcast..i tried to start a thread but they closed it!!!! Probably because everyone thought i was a girl( Which i'm not)...lol.anyways..nice tank. good luck with it.

 

[Snakebyt]

where has Marc been? Havent seen him post in a few days.. Maybe finishing the woodwork on the tank? probably not
where ya at Marc

 

[jnarowe]

Probably stripping.

 

[melev]

I'm here. Just been posting in other threads.

 

[Lunchbucket]

how dare you not post in your own thread!

woodwork...woodwork

Lunchbucket

 

[NuclearReefs]

maybe he's Cooking some wood in a vat of Saltwater....

 

[melev]

Nope, you guys are way off. What do you think I'm working on?

 

[BrianPlankis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8388438#post8388438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Nope, you guys are way off. What do you think I'm working on?

Definitely not the woodworking

Hey, btw...I still owe you that beer!

Brian

 

[Lordhelmet]

Your pecs?

 

[melev]

That was yesterday.

 

[invincible569]

melev, i heard you had a euro reef rc500 skimmer. I skimmed back a couple pages, but couldnt find any pics. How do you like it and do you have pictures? thank you.

 

[melev]

What I have is the Euro-Reef 12-2, which is the previous version of the RC500 I believe. Here's mine:

And here's the one you are referring to that I saw at MACNA.

The most notable difference, ignoring the recirculation method, is the way you can remove the collection cup. On mine, there is an enormous Sch 80 collar that you have to unscrew about 5 twists. On the new version, you twist the cup about 30 degrees and it lifts off. Pretty cool method.

Looking at the picture closer, I see three pumps instead of two, and they must be eheim pumps rather than Sedras.

That being said, I love my skimmer. I tested it with a Kill-O-Watt device and its two pumps are only pulling 81w of power. The skimmer has overflowed a few times due to something I did in the tank, but since it is in-sump, this wasn't a disaster. It runs silently and pulls out waste as it should.

When my tank was fully stocked with fish, it used to pull out 1.5g of skimmate a day. Now that I have far less fish, it pulls out .25g each day.

 

[jnarowe]

With all thiose pumps in-sump, I guess you wouldn't need a heater!

 

[melev]

Eheims are known to run cooler than most pumps. My Sedras are the same. Last year when I switched skimmers and return pump, the tank dropped 2.5 degrees.

During the winter, I submerge my calcium reactor in the sump so that I can utilize the heat coming off the Mag 7 circulation pump. Why pay for heaters when I've got a heat source available?