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

[slief]

I could see if Jim were getting some income from advertising or something. Myself, I like to see the buildup and birth of new tanks. It's like watching your favorite genre of movie, and never having to experienced a sequel that sucks.
Daniel. :wildone:

Sadly, any income he gets from advertisers in his videos is negligible at best and certainly not worth the amount of time he puts into them. I never really understood his desire to continue doing those videos with little to nothing in return other than the notoriety. He spends countless hours, filming, editing and then doing voice overs on them which to me is insane. I could understand if it generated an appreciable income but it doesn't. I guess it's just one of his many passions that in this case grew beyond his expectations and is not much unlike an addiction.

 

[calistyle]

I learned a lot from this thread, thanks for sharing!

 

[slief]

I learned a lot from this thread, thanks for sharing!

Glad it helped! It was great meeting you yesterday! Thanks for taking some chaeto off my hands!

 

[dotcommer]

BTW. Next time you see your buddy Jim, gently tell him his recent vids are becoming really boring. I'd rather see him scrape the glass, and do water-changes for 20 minutes than the stuff he tapes now.:sad2:
Daniel.:wildone:

Sad you feel that way. I really look forward to seeing his videos as I do with others taking the time to provide quality reefer content. I enjoy laying in bed with my Apple TV at night and watching all the You Tube reefer channels. I think he does a great job and I like how he goes behind the scenes. One thing I think he could do more of is going over to people's home like Slief and documenting and interviewing the people behind the tanks.

Either way, I know that creating a 1 hour show takes a lot, lot & lot of time. I hope he continues and can make it a profitable side business.

 

[slief]

Sad you feel that way. I really look forward to seeing his videos as I do with others taking the time to provide quality reefer content. I enjoy laying in bed with my Apple TV at night and watching all the You Tube reefer channels. I think he does a great job and I like how he goes behind the scenes. One thing I think he could do more of is going over to people's home like Slief and documenting and interviewing the people behind the tanks.

Either way, I know that creating a 1 hour show takes a lot, lot & lot of time. I hope he continues and can make it a profitable side business.

I'm sure Jim would appreciate your kind words! Sadly his videos are anything but profitable. He doesn't really make any money from them. It's more of a thankless hobby than anything for him. One with absolutely no return on his investment. But he does or at least did like doing them and I hope he continues. I've been encouraging him to go back to the old format as the shorter segments are a much easier undertaking than these long ones.

Time will tell if he takes my advice..

 

[scubadan206]

Yes, his old format is preferable.
Daniel. :smurf:

 

[pmrossetti]

I see Radion Pro's and a BK SuperMarin on this tank.
Great tank Scott.

 

[slief]

I see Radion Pro's and a BK SuperMarin on this tank.
Great tank Scott.

LOL.. You're killing me... You some sort of mind reader? I've actually been looking long and hard over the last week at the BK Supermarin. Just not sure if I should go with the 250 or the 300. I'm thinking the 250 with the RD3 will be more consistent where as the 300 may be a bit oversized. I actually sent a PM to Klause from BK yesterday. I've been running the Alpha 300 for years which works great but I think it may be oversized for my system as I've got a lot of biological filtration between the 1000 or so pounds of live rock, deep sand bed, massive amount of Chaeto and all my soft coral. As such, I think the Supermarin may be a bit more consistent for my system.

As for the Radion's.. That may well be in the future but my Reeftech's are still working real well for the tank and my soft coral seem to grow like weeds. As much as I'd love to have the Radion's, the total price is the deturrent. I'm getting away with 4 Reeftech's right now and I think I would need at least 6 Radion's to give me the same coverage.

 

[pmrossetti]

Those new SM's with the adjustable pumps look awesome.
Would look great in your sump.
Looking forward to the pics.

 

[slief]

Those new SM's with the adjustable pumps look awesome.
Would look great in your sump.
Looking forward to the pics.

:thumbsup:

 

[pmrossetti]

Can't wait to see that new Super Marin RD3!!

 

[slief]

Can't wait to see that new Super Marin RD3!!

Stay tuned. Updates to follow Tuesday when it arrives. :dance:

 

[pmrossetti]

Unboxing. Unboxing!

 

[slief]

Unboxing. Unboxing!

LOL.. It just arrived at my office not 5 minutes ago and I just opened the box. I will install it tonight. Not as big as my Alpha but with the new RD3 pump, I bet it's going to be perfect. Tomorrow my new lid for my Aqua Driver SCH will arrive. I got the one with their built in wash down so I don't have to make a new wash down like I did for my other lid.

 

[pmrossetti]

Man, that looks awesome Scott.
Congratulations and thanks for the pics.

 

[pmrossetti]

I think you should go home early today.

 

[slief]

I think you should go home early today.

LOL.. Yes, I left a bit early today. Skimmer is all set up and running and my Alpha 300 is soaking in a bleach water mix. I also had to make templates for the new lids for the sump. Well actually half lids as you can see from the photos below. The old lids wouldn't work with the new skimmer because I had to change it's orientation to fit properly despite the fact that it has a slightly smaller footprint. I just dropped the templates off at my acrylic fabricator who happens to be a few blocks from my house. All too convenient. Those should be ready tomorrow. Also due to arrive tomorrow is the new lid for my Aqua Driver self cleaning head. This one is going to include their wash down which saves me from having to make that again like I did for my Alpha. All I will need to do is screw the motor/wiper on to it and plug it back in. As such I will update again tomorrow.

In the mean time, below are a few more photos. The skimmer has been running for about 2 hours and already has a nice foam head. Obviously I've got a ways to go (probably a week) before the skimmer is broken in but I'm pleased with the fact that it's already skimming nicely and the foam head is already dark looking. It's kind of tough to swallow the fact that this skimmer looks smaller as it's kind of counter intuitive but as I said before, sometimes less is more and I'm confident that despite this skimmers slightly smaller form factor, it will carry a bigger punch.

 

[pmrossetti]

Yeah, it definitely looks smaller. One pump too.
Maybe because the reaction chamber is a tube instead of all cone it handles more.
Beautiful skimmer.

 

[scubadan206]

Yay for the cone shaped pooper-scooper!!!!!:wave::celeb3::wave: I want one toooooooo.
That a DC pump on that thing? Will help in your never-ending quest to bring down your electric bill...

 

[slief]

Yay for the cone shaped pooper-scooper!!!!!:wave::celeb3::wave: I want one toooooooo.
That a DC pump on that thing? Will help in your never-ending quest to bring down your electric bill...

It runs off of a Red Dragon RD3 DC Style pump that's made in Germany. Right now it's burning 45 watts as I backed the pump off a bit from it's 50 watt max to adjust the foam a bit..The pump can be adjusted from 1-99 points compared to most DC pumps having 5 points. It should make it really easy to dial the skimmer in and or make quick adjustments. My Alpha would have been burning about 68 watts so power savings won't be noticeable as that skimmer is pretty darn efficient even with the two pumps.