Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread
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melev
Well-known member
I've been editing my pictures from the trip since I had to do a presentation at our meeting last night. Even with all my efforts, I'm only about 50-60% done with them.
Phyl! So close, yet so far. :lol:
Poukie, my tank isn't that big. Not when you compare it to Fiji, the Great Barrier Reef, Solomon Islands... you get the idea.
Phyl! So close, yet so far. :lol:
Poukie, my tank isn't that big. Not when you compare it to Fiji, the Great Barrier Reef, Solomon Islands... you get the idea.
PoukieBear
New member
hmmmmm..... I think I've heard this line before... :eek2:
melev
Well-known member
Brat. Fly down here and measure for yourself. LOL
Okay, time to share a few MACNA pictures... The bulk will be posted in the official MACNA picture thread, but here are some:
The highlight of the trip for me was to go here again.
Seeing the amazing Ocean Voyager tank - it just isn't something you can be blasé about.
Okay, time to share a few MACNA pictures... The bulk will be posted in the official MACNA picture thread, but here are some:
The highlight of the trip for me was to go here again.
Seeing the amazing Ocean Voyager tank - it just isn't something you can be blasé about.
bubbletip2
Premium Member
Get your generator primed just to be safe. I am sure you have already done that. And chain that bad boy - you never know if someone might want to grab that out of your garage
Good luck Marc!
crvz
Team RC
Yup, I left as my house is at about 16' elevation, and we're hearing a 20'ish storm surge. So my tank is on it's own! If I don't flood, and can get back to my house after the storm (late tomorrow), I'll get the generator on it, but I'm not holding my breath. Hope you get through it unscathed!
melev
Well-known member
I really feel badly for those in Galveston and Houston. The news today was discouraging, but I've not heard from anyone specifically. I saw homes on fire in the midst of an ocean of water, and no-one there to stop the blaze nor protect nearby homes on either side.
It seems like the storm is not much of a problem now, pretty much just a storm with wind to the east of Dallas. Aaron called from Austin, and said nothing happened in his area.
I always chain up the generator when it is running. No reason to give it away.
It seems like the storm is not much of a problem now, pretty much just a storm with wind to the east of Dallas. Aaron called from Austin, and said nothing happened in his area.
I always chain up the generator when it is running. No reason to give it away.
melev
Well-known member
Since coming back from MACNA, I've been watching the tank closely for any ramifications. While I was out of town, my son fed 6 cubes of frozen mini-mysis daily. The brown crap on the glass was discouraging, as that means lots of PO4 in the water. I cleaned the skimmers that night, and used Blue Life's Phosphate Control to erase any PO4 in the water.
And still, days later the brown stuff is still present. The reef looks happy, but I'll have to scrape away the crud after all. On a hunch, I checked Alkalinity last night, and it was 13 dKH (tested twice). For now, the CO2 tank is turned off to the Calcium Reactor to let that dissipate. I hope the corals won't freak out from the change. Looks like I fixed the reactor a little too well.
And still, days later the brown stuff is still present. The reef looks happy, but I'll have to scrape away the crud after all. On a hunch, I checked Alkalinity last night, and it was 13 dKH (tested twice). For now, the CO2 tank is turned off to the Calcium Reactor to let that dissipate. I hope the corals won't freak out from the change. Looks like I fixed the reactor a little too well.
bubbletip2
Premium Member
I am sure Ike left a bad mark on Texas. That is sad to hear. I have been up since 3am because our garage was floded 1/2 foot and was about to get into the basement. I had 4 sump pumps going, two eventually burned out from all the crud that wa sin them - totally overheated. I finally got them all running and the garage is as dry as can be and the rain has stopped pouring dowwn. It poured from 1am last night until 4pm this afternoon and hard. Sewers just could not keep up and Menards, Home Depot, and Lowes sold out of every sump pump in the area. Crazy stuff.
Anyway Marc, when you say you got your reactor going to well, Mike and Jeremy both had similar situations in which they cleaned their reactors put in new media and their alk skyrocketed. I am new to reactors but it really seems as though when replacing media the reactor has to be re-dialed in otherwise it will be putting out as much alk is if it work working hard ot keep up but there is a ton more media to break down. What do you think?
Anyway Marc, when you say you got your reactor going to well, Mike and Jeremy both had similar situations in which they cleaned their reactors put in new media and their alk skyrocketed. I am new to reactors but it really seems as though when replacing media the reactor has to be re-dialed in otherwise it will be putting out as much alk is if it work working hard ot keep up but there is a ton more media to break down. What do you think?
melev
Well-known member
That makes sense, Jim. However, in the past, I just change the media and all is well. In this case, I did a serious breakdown and cleaned out quite a few orifices in the check valves, bubble counter, etc... and with the pH controller in charge, I didn't expect such a change.
Also, something surprising happened to the built-in bubble counter on the reactor. I never use it, but the tubing connects to each end. It's been like this for years. When I cleaned the reactor recently, I removed the bubble counter and noticed some cracks in the acrylic tubing. Age-related, I'd assume. Anyway, I came back from my trip, and it has 50+ cracks in it, both vertically and horizontally. Absolutely nuts. I took it out of the equation for now, and will post a picture later.
Sorry to hear about your rain, and the need to pump out your basement. That sounds like unpleasant work. Did you have anything down there that was ruined?
Also, something surprising happened to the built-in bubble counter on the reactor. I never use it, but the tubing connects to each end. It's been like this for years. When I cleaned the reactor recently, I removed the bubble counter and noticed some cracks in the acrylic tubing. Age-related, I'd assume. Anyway, I came back from my trip, and it has 50+ cracks in it, both vertically and horizontally. Absolutely nuts. I took it out of the equation for now, and will post a picture later.
Sorry to hear about your rain, and the need to pump out your basement. That sounds like unpleasant work. Did you have anything down there that was ruined?
bubbletip2
Premium Member
The basement was fine actually. I twas the garage that was flooded. It almost got in the basement. My next door neighbor had to rip up his whole hardwood floor and cut a bunch of dry wall that was sagging. He actually came home to it early this afternoon. He was 30 minutes away and it was not raining hard there so he did not think anything of it.
It seems with a reactor if the media goes down real low that in order to keep up with alk demand you would have to boost the effluent and the bubble count to keep up. So if for some reason you had to tweak it to keep up before you replaced media and did not reset it, the alk would shoot up because there is more media to break down. Maybe this is not the case here but this is the third time in a month I have heard this scenario. Being a novice in using a reactor scares me quite a bit after these few incidents...
It seems with a reactor if the media goes down real low that in order to keep up with alk demand you would have to boost the effluent and the bubble count to keep up. So if for some reason you had to tweak it to keep up before you replaced media and did not reset it, the alk would shoot up because there is more media to break down. Maybe this is not the case here but this is the third time in a month I have heard this scenario. Being a novice in using a reactor scares me quite a bit after these few incidents...
Alaska_Phil
New member
Hey Marc! Welcome back. Great photos, looks like a good time was had by all. And I think your tank does count as a nano compared to that one in Atlanta.
Also, an update on that darn predatory worm, I never did catch the bugger. Couple of near misses though. However, since I recently dosed my tank with flatworm exit I haven't been able to find him! Not sure if the 2 events are related or coincidence, but thought I'd pass it along. I'm still hunting the tank late at night with the red flashlight. Finding all sorts of cool stuff, but no nasty worms.
And to all you Texans, hang in there. Suddenly an Alaskan winter doesn't seem so bad.
Phil
Also, an update on that darn predatory worm, I never did catch the bugger. Couple of near misses though. However, since I recently dosed my tank with flatworm exit I haven't been able to find him! Not sure if the 2 events are related or coincidence, but thought I'd pass it along. I'm still hunting the tank late at night with the red flashlight. Finding all sorts of cool stuff, but no nasty worms.
And to all you Texans, hang in there. Suddenly an Alaskan winter doesn't seem so bad.
Phil
melev
Well-known member
I think I may have found the problem on the reactor, but I'm not positive yet. Yesterday, the pH in the reactor was 6.7 according to the pH controller. I turned off the CO2 tank, but the regulator still had some CO2 gas in it. I left the reactor running so I didn't have to deal with stagnation issues. I expected the pH to rise in the reactor over the next 24 hours. Today it was still 6.7. Hmmm. The output is very slow, but that seems tough to believe it would maintain such a low number for so long. I'll watch it again over the next 24 hours and see what happens. I also need to check the alk tonight before I go to sleep.
Hey Rae - all is well up here in Dallas / Ft Worth. It looks like Galveston and Houston were the ones that got hit the hardest. Many people were evacuated and almost everyone lost power. I have a bad feeling about many reef tanks crashing with their owners away and no-one to run generators. And of course, homes and businesses were lost as well. I saw some images from one website, and again big buildings in downtown had all their windows blown out, not unlike what happened in Ft Worth in 1999/2000, or Atlanta ealier this year.
Phil - I hope you do catch that worm. It would be awesome if Flatworm eXit killed them, but seriously: what are the odds of that happening? :lol:
Hey Rae - all is well up here in Dallas / Ft Worth. It looks like Galveston and Houston were the ones that got hit the hardest. Many people were evacuated and almost everyone lost power. I have a bad feeling about many reef tanks crashing with their owners away and no-one to run generators. And of course, homes and businesses were lost as well. I saw some images from one website, and again big buildings in downtown had all their windows blown out, not unlike what happened in Ft Worth in 1999/2000, or Atlanta ealier this year.
Phil - I hope you do catch that worm. It would be awesome if Flatworm eXit killed them, but seriously: what are the odds of that happening? :lol:
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