My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

Really nice. Both look better (you and tank) :thumbsup:...
I did change my led back to hqi lamps. Now I saw your Led...damn it looks good.
It´s really good that you can adjust to different values ​​in different colors. Have to start read more Led stuff and stop looking your thread. :lol2:
 
I saw these led units on Bennytheblennie's build too. I like that without optics there is more of a natural shimmer from these units, less intense. Not to mention the nice spread allowing less units. Nice work, nice videos too as always.
 
Where did you get your supplies to build your light track? I've seen others use similar aluminum track and just wondering where you picked it up?

Thanks
 
TimIA said:
Where did you get your supplies to build your light track? I've seen others use similar aluminum track and just wondering where you picked it up?

Thanks
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The manufacturer is EZ Tube. They make the extrusions as well as the connectors. They are the best source. I got mine from McMaster as they had local inventory which satisfied my need for instant gratification. I did end up paying a bit more for than though.

TimIA said:
Love following your progress and the tank looks great by the way!
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Thank you very much!
 
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As an experiment, I decided to try a little test of evaporative cooling. I have to admit, I have been sceptical of being able to do a damn bit of good cooling my tank with fans. With summer coming I decided it would be a good time to set my scepticism aside and see if it was possible.

A few days back I went to walmart and picked up a couple little clamp on 6" fans. My plan was to use one under the tank blowing on the pumps to help keep them cool and one above the tank clipped to the light rack blowing on the water. The one under the tank didnt do much. Since it was warming up again out here in L.A and summer was on the horizon, I figured it would be an interesting experiment and hooked the one up on the light rack. Lets just say I am very surprised.

My tank was still running below my 81 degree set point on my chiller so I was happy about the fact that my chiller hadn't run in over a week. When I hooked the fan up and turned it on, my temps dropped about a degree in about 2 hours. I was pretty well shocked that one cheesy 6" $10 walmart fan would do that. I set my apex up to turn it on at 80 and off at 79.2 and its done the job amazingly well for the last few days. Next thing to do will be to hook the second one up above the tank and see how much faster the temp drops. The chiller dropped it a little over a degree an hour. I think I can do the same with fans that dont even regsiter on my power consumption.

I'm now thinking that I wasted some money on that new chiller. Between the LED's, raising my chiller turn on set point to 81, my ventilation change under the tank, my switching to the gold series pump and the little fan, my chiller hasn't run in nearly 2 weeks and my temps haven't exceeded 81.2! Matter of fact, the last time my chiller turned on was 5/14. Its now the 28th. This after turning on 6-7 times a day for an hour each time.

My electric bill came in on the 26th. It was only $300! From my last meter read, it reflects a little over one week of no chiller and about 3 weeks of LED's. At the rate things are going, my next bill should be around $250 which will be about 75% less than it was a year ago. I only wish I knew then what I know now.
 
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I told you that few months ago that I don't have no chiller, just 15 fan from walmart
That is why apex save me so much on electric bill
 
So it looks like you have used internal loops and have now added power heads in your tank. What would you tell someone that is builing a large tank like yours? Go with internal loops with maybe some eductors? Go with all power heads? Mix? Just want to get your thoughts on this. the tank would have some SPS corals in it so I would think it would need to be a fairly large flow rates. The other tank I like is bullitr's tank. I know he uses tunzes in his and is happy. Just looks like you can spend 2k pretty easily with power heads where you can do a closed loop for much less. Don't have experience with either so that is why I'm asking.
 
TimIA said:
So it looks like you have used internal loops and have now added power heads in your tank. What would you tell someone that is builing a large tank like yours? Go with internal loops with maybe some eductors? Go with all power heads? Mix? Just want to get your thoughts on this. the tank would have some SPS corals in it so I would think it would need to be a fairly large flow rates. The other tank I like is bullitr's tank. I know he uses tunzes in his and is happy. Just looks like you can spend 2k pretty easily with power heads where you can do a closed loop for much less. Don't have experience with either so that is why I'm asking.
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I have one closed loop that draws from the back of the tank and sends the water back into the tank below the aquascape through a manifold that circles the overflow. I could have eliminated that entirely but I like having the flow below to rocks to insure that stuff doesnt settle down there where I cant access it to clean.

Personally, I like the combination of the closed loop and the power heads. In particular the Tunzes are nice because of the wave motion. Vortechs would do the same thing. Yes, you can spend a fortune of Tunze's or Vortechs in a large system but the benifits beside a more natural water flow are reduced power consumption and less heat transfer.

That said, I would never go back to having 2 or 3 closed loops on my tank like I did in years past. I much prefer the power head approach, largely becuase of the power savings and less heat in addition to reduced noise and less maintenance/replacement costs. Before I had the tunze's, I replaced 2 of my closed loops for Koralia's which at least gave me flow like a closed loop for a fraction of the cost.

I also have a pair of 1" seaswirls on my return lines which helps in adding chaotic flow.
 
I also saw the UV hooked up in one of the videos. Have you been able to fire that up yet? Wondering if you have used ozone in the past. Seems like they do similar duty. Do you think a tank benefits from having both or could you get by with one or the other? If so, which one would you choose?
 
Hey Scott, your tank is really coming along, but I was wondering if you have or have any plans to start fully stocking your tank again. Do you plan on adding a large amount of tangs anytime soon? Any plans for large SPS colonies? Also I would love a "Current Livestock List", and I'm sure everyone else on the forum would too.
 
Also, I have a pic on my computer, that looks almost IDENTICAL to your tank, even has multiple Vlamingi and Unicorn Tangs I know you once had, but it's FULL of corals, clams, and lots of other fish and and I was wondering if you ever plan on making your tank like this someday.

Screen-shot-2011-05-23-at-9.01.42-PM-e1307145818165.png
 
Hey Scott. I got a question. Lately in the news they are talking about saving reef across USA and also there is even some people her in Oregon that own a sushi business trying to buy real reef 100 kilometers of shore in Bahamas actually (good luck with that))))…. ))) And are you in any Reef Keeping societies. You guys are lucky in LA Here in Oregon we have some enthusiasts that get together but in general we learn here from you guys (thanks for that), So my question is-since government talks about saving reefs, is government going to help reef owners to get together subsidies some peoples projects and simply help those with grate ambitions like You and Jim. And since a lot of people on this site are marine biologists I think they need to get help. I herd they are saying Reefs Got till 2048 then they will be gone. I know Jim is all over the place ask him maybe he knows if there are programs like that in development? I know it is important to all of us to keep reefs healthy, but some people I know running tanks barely on 10$ in hour job (unbelievable) which is to me heroic to me. I don’t know how they are doing that. I think for many it is not just a hobby. I just want to know if we somehow can make a difference for people that are in the same streem as us.
 
TimIA said:
I also saw the UV hooked up in one of the videos. Have you been able to fire that up yet? Wondering if you have used ozone in the past. Seems like they do similar duty. Do you think a tank benefits from having both or could you get by with one or the other? If so, which one would you choose?
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The UV has been up and running for nearly a year. Some of the benifits of UV do overlap with ozone. Since I am running it at the higher flow levels that its rated for, most of my overlap is water polishing. The Ozone should in theory improve the sterilization among other things. I ran ozone years back as well. If I had to choose between one or the other it would definately be UV as its simple and much more safe and very effective.

TheFishTeen said:
Hey Scott, your tank is really coming along, but I was wondering if you have or have any plans to start fully stocking your tank again. Do you plan on adding a large amount of tangs anytime soon? Any plans for large SPS colonies? Also I would love a "Current Livestock List", and I'm sure everyone else on the forum would too.
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I do have some more tangs coming but I am also working on a home for my large Vlamingi as I would prefer a bunch of smaller tangs since the big one eats a lot and really increases my bio load as a result. I already have a pretty decent amount of fish though. I will work on a stock list. As for SPS colonies.. No plans for them at present. I will likely add some frags down the line once I get rid of the remaining bryopsis. I really like the simplicity of soft corals and the fact that they are much more hardy.

TheFishTeen said:
Also, I have a pic on my computer, that looks almost IDENTICAL to your tank, even has multiple Vlamingi and Unicorn Tangs I know you once had, but it's FULL of corals, clams, and lots of other fish and and I was wondering if you ever plan on making your tank like this someday.

Screen-shot-2011-05-23-at-9.01.42-PM-e1307145818165.png
Click to expand...

Nice tank! One day mine might look like that. I do love clams and plan on adding some in the near future once I am done with the light acclimation.

jansonnick said:
With great respect Nick from Oregon
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jansonnick said:
And Scott there is a web site you can visit. LED don't like power spikes i was told by somebody (don't know if this is the case)
http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=29#anchor1
I got one at work, there are running Hydrogen Peroxide Sterilizer (Sterred) on one of thees, great thing and price is right too
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Good point! I actually have a couple APC UPS's here for power backup on my pump circuits. A surge protector on my lighting circuit wouldn't be a bad idea either. Fortunately I have pretty clean power here and never had any surge issues anywhere in my house but I will give that some serious consideration as it would be very simple for my to implement.
 
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))) i had an 100 years old tree fall ones next to my house i wasnt home an was unexperiance with my tank 55 gallon on the carpet ))))) tree busted powerline...
 
i got pic of my 125 G in the past in my folder on Reef Central and i am going to use tank as fish only aventualy, but want to build overflow (like guys have over....Silent and Failsafe Overflow System... thread ) i need to cut out 1 f groove i gues so the water have a way to get in to overflow now i am stuck what do i use to cut glass with??? Dont want to bust the tank
 
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