Mhucasey's SPS obsession

I'm a huge fan of my gyres. They move huge water, have a low profile and in terms of water volume to noise ratio, I think they are very quiet.
Matt, I'm jealous of your tank. It's looking awesome and I have never seen that type of pe on a tort!! Crazy!
Please give me and anybody else interested, a full run down on how you are using your aio pellets.. Amount of pellets, type of reactor, system size, amount of fish and amount of food given. I'm very curious...
I was using them to great effect in my tank but then when I began adding fish and food, my nutrients
Dropped so dramatically, I removed them..
I wasn't using them in a re circulation reactor, though. I was using them in a fluidized reactor with full flow going right into my skimmer section.
Curious to know how you are using them. Sounds like it is as per glenf, I think..
 
Hey mate, definitely pickup those two acros. That Pink millepora should look much deeper in colour after being in your tank for a few months and under high light.
 
reefmutt said:
I'm a huge fan of my gyres. They move huge water, have a low profile and in terms of water volume to noise ratio, I think they are very quiet.
Matt, I'm jealous of your tank. It's looking awesome and I have never seen that type of pe on a tort!! Crazy!
Please give me and anybody else interested, a full run down on how you are using your aio pellets.. Amount of pellets, type of reactor, system size, amount of fish and amount of food given. I'm very curious...
I was using them to great effect in my tank but then when I began adding fish and food, my nutrients
Dropped so dramatically, I removed them..
I wasn't using them in a re circulation reactor, though. I was using them in a fluidized reactor with full flow going right into my skimmer section.
Curious to know how you are using them. Sounds like it is as per glenf, I think..
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words, I'm very happy with how everything is doing in the tank, i seem to find something new everyday:)
The Pellet reactor was originally a flow through vertex reactor I turned into a recirculating model. I made it with parts I already had:
Reactor1_zpsfcdf9f2d.jpg

Basically I drilled through the side in the middle and the top. I Had a Tunze Silence pump that i used to plumb it. The inlet is in the middle of the side and the pipe goes down to about 3/4" off the bottom. The outlet is at the top and I put a strainer on the inside of the chamber. On the inlet of the pump there is a tee that has one side connected to the sump, the other side connected to the pump inlet. The top of the tee is connected to the reactor outlet line and there is a gate valve on the pipe. The outlet of the pump goes through a second gate valve and into the reactor.
Reactor2_zps29bf43e1.jpg

Its pretty sexy, obviously:P
The pellets tumble nicely in the reactor with the water jetting at the bottom:
Pellets_zps6837911b.jpg

I blocked off one of the original outlets on the cover of the reactor, the other outlet has a ball valve and the water flows out through vinyl tubing to the skimmer supply pump:
Reactoroutlet_zps97119206.jpg

I use an external skimmer, so water has to be pumped into it. On the skimmer supply pump inlet, I put an elbow and a tee on it and a strainer on the side leg of the tee. The other opening of the tee points up and has an open pipe at the surface of the sump it is in. The water from the pellet reactor enters there:
intoskimmer_zps7ed05fc1.jpg


I have a pretty big bioload and I feed at least twice a day, usually one pellet feed and one frozen or live food. I try to keep a good stream coming out of the reactor. Full open is a pretty strong jet so it is throttled back some. Last time I measured it was about 160LPH through the reactor but I adjust it down if I see an up tick in cyano. There is about a liter of the All-in-one pellets in there.
 
I based my reactor set up off Lunar's, he has a 200gallon display and flows 500LPH through it. I tried letting the outlet just flow into the same chamber as the skimmer supply rather than directly to the inlet but there was distinctly more cyano that way. Other than that its pretty well set it and forget it:)
 
sahin said:
Hey mate, definitely pickup those two acros. That Pink millepora should look much deeper in colour after being in your tank for a few months and under high light.
Click to expand...

I have my name on the wait list for the first one, the only reason I haven't picked up the pink millie is I will need to drive down to San Diego to pick it up. If it is still there by the weekend its mine:D
 
Ok ouch, initial quote came back for the tank upgrade. 3/4" starphire rimless 66x32x22, built-in external overflow, drilled, etc. 5000 bucks :fun5:

I may need to go eurobraced to swing it. Opinions on where to place the eurobrace? I like the look of the brace at the top of the glass so that the top of each wall is flush with the brace, but I see lots of tanks with the brace about an inch down the wall, I guess to keep splashed water in the tank.
What do you reccomend?
 
Thanks for the description, Matt.
Nothing like seeing a fine piece of German engineering turned into a ghetto monster!!
Love it! :)
I'm going to try something a little more simple with my deltec..
So, you use a full litre of pellets? On a 90'gallon tank.. What's the volume of your system?
I guess when the pellets are used this way, the volume is less important since you are restricting the flow of tank water through the reactor.
I didn't have a full litre on my 300 gallon system and nutrients had bottomed out..

By the way, I can't wait to see those new sweet pieces in your tank!
 
Ouch, indeed..
Whether the brace is at the top or down a little, it's still going to reduce splashing..
I'd put it up at the top.. Allows for full water height in the tank. Keeps it out of the way..
 
reefmutt said:
Thanks for the description, Matt.
Nothing like seeing a fine piece of German engineering turned into a ghetto monster!!
Love it! :)
I'm going to try something a little more simple with my deltec..
So, you use a full litre of pellets? On a 90'gallon tank.. What's the volume of your system?
I guess when the pellets are used this way, the volume is less important since you are restricting the flow of tank water through the reactor.
I didn't have a full litre on my 300 gallon system and nutrients had bottomed out..

By the way, I can't wait to see those new sweet pieces in your tank!
Click to expand...

Yep, I put a full Liter in the reactor in October, then topped off the reactor a few weeks ago with 500 MLs more.

The total system volume is 120gallons, the sumps and conical tank and huge skimmer help increase the system volume. I don't think that the exact volume matters too much when you are using a recirculating reactor. The nice thing about these pellets is they don't kill the foam head in the skimmer. Regular pellets seem to kill the foam at first but there is a nice consistent foam with these from the moment they go in. I suspect it has to do with whatever they are using to reduce phosphate coming off the pellets.
 
reefmutt said:
Ouch, indeed..
Whether the brace is at the top or down a little, it's still going to reduce splashing..
I'd put it up at the top.. Allows for full water height in the tank. Keeps it out of the way..
Click to expand...

The nicest Eurobraced tanks I have seen have it at the top, so Im leaning that way as well.
 
reefmutt said:
Nothing like seeing a fine piece of German engineering turned into a ghetto monster!!
Click to expand...

I just realized I have an almost new Nextreef MR-1 XL that I am not using, I can mod that one to have a bigger reactor for the upgrade tank! Muhahaha!

The reactor partially looks so rough because everything wants to grow inside it, I have found Serpent stars, copepods, amphipods, chitons, Featherdusters, and Aiptasia...it always cracks me up when people state that pumps kill plankton.
 
Today I took a little drive down to the big acropora store down in San Diego, about a 40 minute drive each way. This place is massive and they have an amazing selection of across, but today there were more than I have ever seen.
I have a hard time resisting the urge to empty the bank account whenever i go there:
StoreTank1_zpse6464a8f.jpg

StoreTank2_zps23339173.jpg

StoreTank3_zps2243a978.jpg

StoreTank4_zpsb2484e45.jpg

StoreTank5_zps7766c4f7.jpg

StoreTank6_zps8f57a688.jpg

StoreTank7_zps0e3e44fc.jpg

StoreTank8_zps426d72e2.jpg
 
I ended up getting a pink Millie with blue tips:
Pinkcoralintank_zps9703c75f.jpg


I think its going to be a real stunner, My picture could be better:
Pinkcoralintanktop_zpsf2b7a520.jpg
 
Wooow!!!!
That place is huge!!
I am jealous.
Nothing like that in Montreal for sps.
That Mille should be amazing!
 
Wow,
Just got done reading your thread, and I find it very inspirational, can clearly see your love for living creatures, and your skills and passion for the hobby are refreshing. Keep up the great work, your tank is amazing and your coral colors are insane! Thanks for the information regarding your tank. Your doggies are also really cool too :)
Regards,
 
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