my new 175 oceanic BOWFRONT!

[Steve Ruddy]

On the lighting I agree with Jeremy. If it were my tank I would use the LumenMax 3 instead of the Elite. As Jeremy had stated he got some bleaching when using the Elite. This is because the Elite has a more focused footprint than the Max which can result in making placement more difficult. Definitely no need for 400w bulbs when using these reflectors with 250w de bulbs. I would also add 2 VHO actinic bulbs as this will help develop and show off those fluorescent pigments. Let me know if you need any help with the lighting.

 

[blazing]

shaneh- hey if u dont mind me asking how much did u pay for the tank? there was a place in san jose thats was having a big sale too. i bought my aga 72 bow w/overflow for $171

 

[shaneh]

thanks for the info, mine came with the overflow kit so I don't need to make one and looking at the tank I am having second thoughts about drilling it....it is just so pretty I don't wanna mess it up.

Hey guys sorry for not posting this weekend, Saturday was very hectic I drove to pick up my jet skis (my other love) then had to pick up the tank and stand. I felt very happy with the tank in the back of my truck and the skis on the hitch =). I was driving like a grandma to make sure I didn’t hit any hard bumps that might crack the glass. But I have a short story about the tank pick up now.

I went into exotic aquariums in Pittsburg and the store looks like it is closing, boxes everywhere, tanks are in the middle of being taken down, like 40 tanks not just 2 or 3. So you can tell they will not last much longer or they are moving one of the two. But I walked in with my buddy to get the tank and found it in the crate; the tank was fine as I looked very close for cracks or any damage before I took the tank. Then moved to the stand.....I opened the box and the stand has two black windows in the front....one window is missing!

The fish store did not open the stand until the night before I came to pick it up and I asked them to make sure everything was good before I made the drive. Well we found the window in the bottom of the box but it had a broken hinge and the glass scratched the bottom of the stand. So it was not really bad scratching but if you pay that kind of money for something you expect it to be in perfect condition. So the store owner is contacting oceanic for a possible discount and a new hinge. I've had bad luck with getting new fish stuff...dented chiller...broken skimmer cup....scratched and broken stand.....I hope that is the end I’m starting to get sick of dealing with customer service stuff.

So I got to the house and me and my buddy got the stand pretty easy (150 lbs) but the tank was 350 lbs so I grabbed two neighbors and with careful planning we got it around the 90 degree turn and up 8 steps to the front door and onto the floor.

I took some pics just have not had time to put them up yet as I have been toying with my 55 bow front a lot.....I learned a secrete....less rock and more flow solves a lot of problems with your corals and red slime. The corals already look better and the slime is gone.

 

[shaneh]

-Also just to answer the above I paid over $2,200 for the tank and stand and overflow kits. This is $1300 less than a quote I received other places you can probably guess some of the higher places. That is the reason I went to Pittsburg.

-And does everyone agree that LumenMax 3 would be the best reflectors to get?

-Doing some more reading on if i should do all 250MH or (2) 250 and (1) 400MH. What do you guy think?

-The overflow kit comes with ABS bulkheads, should i switch them out for haward or do you guys think these are fine?

-The tank is very nice and so is the stand, I don't think i want to drill it now. I love the height with the tank on the stand; it is about 5'1 maybe 5'3. So i need to get a stepping stool to reach the bottom. No more bending over to look at the coral and fish.

 

[carne.espada]

Shane, I would use the bulkheads that came with it. There is 0 pressure on the overflow. No added expense. I was wondering if you are going to use those contraptions in the overflow kit in the overflow section? I allow my water to flow down to the bottom of the overflow with nothing but the bulkhead fitting. I get no gurgling and I also have no mechanical crud to deal with. The noise is kind of pleasant. Masks the mechanical noise from below the tank too! Have had no problems in 7.5 years. Are you familiar with Sea Swirls? I have them on my tank and love them. I also have NO power heads in my tank or hanging on the outside, etc. They are quite expensive and do hang off the back, not allowing me to put the tanks flat against the wall. Check them out. You would need 2-1" or 3 or 4 -3/4" for the return of 2 pumps. Have you decided on the pumps yet? Now that you aren't going to drill, I strongly suggest 2-GenX 4(?) pumps. You really should come up and see/hear my system.
Don't get bummed out by the damaged stuff that you always seem to get. I once bought a Flounder and it was missing an eye on one side and had two eyes on the other, bummer!
Call or email!
Rob

 

[shaneh]

Oh good call on the sea swirls I didn't think of that. I have the mega flow overflows so the holes are top, middle and bottom; if I didn't us the overflow kit wouldn't it just keep draining into my sump till the water got to the bottom slot of the tank? I plan to use check valves on the pumps so that will stop the flow as soon as the power is shut off.

As for pumps I was thinking a sequence pump but then again I have not read a lot of reviews on too many pumps. But I do have a Gen-x40 for the skimmer...so I need to do some more reading to see what is most reliable, quite and low on watts. I'm planning on running two pumps too.

Maybe I can stop by your place before the next meeting and carpool to the meeting. Assuming it will be in SR.

 

[carne.espada]

Carpooling is a good idea. The overflows, unless they have been drastically redesigned, are set up to, in theory, draw water from the different level but ultimately flow over the top. Tank level should never drop below the slots on the top of the overflow. Otherwise there would be no point in the overflows going all the way to the top of the tank. Check valves are a bad idea. They are mechanical and will get fouled somehow, guaranteed! Diaphragm types have springs and tiny pieces and swing checks will foul quick with crustaceans. Then when they don't work the are useless in the system. If you have to have to have something, I suggest a vacuum breaker. I haven't pursued this before but think it is the better option. I personally just make sure that one of my returns is only an inch or so below the water to break the siphon action. Remeber, you are going with two pumps which will negate a single pump failure and the siphon thing will only happe in a power failure. Now if you have a UPS........

 

[shaneh]

Hey guys sorry it has been a few days since I gave an update and I still don't have the pics up yet. but it has been a rough few days with my tank...about 4 days ago I kept getting ammonia and I couldn't figure out why...my corals started to look like crap so I took all the rock out of the tank thinking a fish died somewhere and I couldn't see it....not in the rock....it was in the overflow....my prized mandarin got sucked into my overflow box and with the dark acrylic I couldn't see him. I even had a screen over it; the only place he could have gotten in is a small slot on the side with no netting. He was really sucked in there it took me an hour to get him out banging on the overflow. After I got him out I did a massive water change and added ammonia blocker stuff.....ameque (sp)...you know the stuff to take out ammonia. But my coral were now 25% dead gurrr....my softies look ok but my hard coral has all gone to the dogs now about %50. I'll do another 20 to 30 gallon water change today to make sure my water is clean. And yes I will try to get the pictures up soon, I have been building a water holding table that looks pretty cool and I should finish it today.

 

[shaneh]

hey guys i have been busy so i have not had much time for the tank but ihave been doing alot of research. I will post some pics as well on this thread to show the tank and stuff i have for the tank.

the tank:

skimmer:

this is what the skimmer puller from my 100 gallon system:

1/2 HP chiller with LCD screen and heat control:

box filter with carbon that is running on my 55 right now but will be switched over

water filter 75 GPD, booster pump, flush kit, PSI, TDS, RODI 5 stage

sump: i need to get a better pics so you guys can help me plan plumbing.

my reef abalone!!

i need to get some bettter pics to give you guys a better idea of what i have and what i need help with, it will be int he next few days. But like i said i have been doing alot of research on LED lighting. I have come to the conclusion that on a 30inch deep tank and a large 7 foot long tank it will not give enough PAR to grow some of the stony coral. I think i may still stick with the MH lighting and wait for LED to produce a better PAR. In the mean time i need to wait on some more funds to roll in before i will work on the plumbing and lighting.

 

[shaneh]

Also i got a 300 O-Zone unit and it was the best thing i have ever added to my system, i don't have any alage anymore!!!! you should all get one! I'll take more pics soon and post more info...jsut waiting on more funds for the most part. The tank was a hit to the bank acct.

 

[shaneh]

I'm starting to work on this again after a few month break.

Since we have the BRS discount till Monday I'd like to use it to buy.

my bulkheads and fittings

mag solution

and

dosing pump or cal reactor

I still need to decide which way i am going to go. I will need a dosing pump for my mag anyways right? I was looking at the BRS one but i could do the Litermeter 3 if i want to use Cal / Alk and Mag.

I've been doing a bit a reading trying to decide if i should go dosing pump or cal reactor. I use Kalk in top off now and it works ok but not as good as i want it to. So What is the club opinion?

I think a cal reactor has more problems than a dosing, but i have never used either. I like the keep it simple method. The less gadgets the better and less can go wrong. But i am using this on a "large" 200 gal system. Jason and Ken using doing and the tanks look great. Any opinions for the CAl reactor? Maybe i have not done enough research.....


Also for lighting i am leaning towards LED on the big tank....my PGE will be a lot less, less heat, but i know i may have less coral growth.

If i did go MH i want 3 250 radium's with lumenMax reflectors, 2 VHO actinic and 2 t'5. I still need to build the canopy if i am going to do MH. But if i go LED i think i may use hanging arms or from the ceiling to give a more modern look.

 

[Reef Bass]

Shane, might I suggest instead of buying mag solution, just purchase epsom salts from the grocery store and dissolve a 64oz package (1/2gal milk carton size) in enough (hot) RO/DI water to make one gallon total solution.

I choose to go with dosing pumps instead of a calcium reactor. To me, it is very easy to test the water and add or subtract a few minutes from the time the pump runs to dial in the appropriate level. I dose all three supplements - alk, ca and mag - with Drews doser pumps controlled by my ReefKeeper. My RKE doses each supplement 4 times a day (every six hours) which helps give me a more stable level of each. This helps control pH fluctuations as well.

I do have to mix each dosing solution more frequently than one would need to recharge reactor media. It's easy enough but one could consider that less convenient than a dialed in reactor.

I don't think the calcium reactor will help with magnesium levels. You'd have to dose mag separately I believe.

Calcium reactors are obviously good and arguably better for larger systems as one wouldn't need to mix dosing solutions as often. Tom uses a reactor which I believe he built and his tank is awesome. I know Mike and Jeff also ran reactors.

Maybe some reactor owners could chime in too.

Don't forget Tom G from Lumenarc will be at our next meeting at Steve's house to speak about lighting!!! I strongly suggest everyone attend this meeting. Not only will you see the greatest number of corals and most gallons of reef water in our club but you will hear from an expert on illumination.

LEDs are way cool and probably will be a viable light source in the next few years. At the moment my understanding is that they are no where near the intensity of MHs yet and while they may be good for softies currently, in order to get the intensity SPS require, one would need to deploy a very expensive number of them. I certainly would like to have a cooler, more efficient light source for my corals than my MHs.

 

[shaneh]

Ken how often do you need to fill the CAl ALK and MAG? If you have a 100gal mine will be almost double.

I didn't knwo about the epson salt idea, i have some and can do it tonight. do i need to know anything else? will it affect salinity? or anything else, it was at 1000 for MAG so i need to boost it a bit. BTW MAG tests are a pain in the you know what

 

[Reef Bass]

My water system is now about 150g with my lps tank plumbed in.

Each dosing pump dispenses a slightly different quantity so it's a good idea to measure the output of each one when you get it. Plug the pump in and dispense RO water into a measuring cup (provided with Drews Dosers) for 10 minutes. Divide the amount in the cup by 10 and you have the flow per minute for that pump. My three pumps measured out at 1.5, 1.6 and 1.8mls per minute.

I have determined the proper amount for dosing each supplement by testing and adjusting the amount of time each pump runs until my levels are dialed in for my current number and size of corals.

My tank uses more calcium than anything else. I have lots of sps, including that gigantic Idaho Grape Monti cap calcium sponge which is now over 11" across (just got out the ruler). I am currently running the calcium dosing pump (1.8ml/min) for 35 minutes 4 times a day. That's 140 minutes x 1.8ml/min = 252mls / day.

A gallon is roughly 3785mls, divided by 252mls/day equals roughly 15.02 days. So one gallon of calcium supplement lasts me 15 days with my current coral load. A gallon of alk supplement lasts a few days more than that and a gallon of mag supplement lasts about a month.

I haven't noticed any specific weirdness / conditions / gotchas for dosing magnesium.

I use the Salifert mag test which is a titration just like alk and Ca, so it's basically the same procedure (mix tank water with various reagents, then add drop, swirl, look for color change, add drop...)

When I tested my water four days ago my alkalinity was 9.1dkh, my calcium 410, magnesium 1335, nitrates 2.5 and phosphates 0.01.

 

[shaneh]

Ken i think i will order a dosing pump for the Mag. At least i can get one and see if i want to use it for cal and alk. I think the cal reactors can mess up a tank much quicker than a pump. I just want simple and easy.

As for lighting I have an idea of a combo lighting kit. Are you ready for this....LEDS, MH and VHO. Anyone ever seen or heard of something like this…I figure best of all worlds.
Use two of these kits:
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-32/48-Premium-LED-DIY/Detail
1 (250) MH with EVC 20k bulb and LumenMax 3 reflectors in the center
And (2) VHO blue actinic.

I have never seen a combo lighting. This way i can save money on PGE, less heat, still have my SPS under the 250 and softies and LPS under the LEDs. What do you guys think? I may not have as fast growth under the LEDs but I

Any one used this LED kit before?

 

[shaneh]

Maybe i wasn't clear on my thought. If i put (1) MH in the center of the tank. Then 2 LED kits on the sides of the tank. With a blue actinic VHO in front of all this. I'll try to draw a pic on google sketch so you guys can get what i am talking about. I'm thinking maybe the MH will make the center of the tank really bright and the sides look dim with LEDs. Or Maybe i am just thinking crazy......The point of this thinking is to avoid a $500 PGE bill and still have a nice tank with less heat in the house.

 

[shaneh]

ok...after talking to Tom, one of the best on lighting...i think i will skip the LEDs. They would be cool but i son't wanna do all that work and then regret it later. Here is his e-mail to me:

"LEDs are nice but I don't think it has caught up with halide yet. I havent seen a LED system that look better than halide yet either. So LED is not comparable to halide.

As for VHO and t5, VHO is hands down better than t5 when it comes to actinics. the only thing that I like from t5 is the blue plus bulb, this buld add another dimension to the vho and halide combo.

Having one bright spot is not very nice at all, you will hate it. you either go all led or all halide and then supplement them with vho and t5 blue plus. led do make great moon light though I think soon they will come out with better leds at that time it might rival halide, but for now am not sold on led yet.

If you worry about energy then you might try 175watt iwaksaki 14k halides, these bulbs have the same par as the 250 watter and have a nice white blue tint color. If you pair them with vho and t5 your system will be sweet.

But on the other hand, you might be on the cutting edge about the led that I don't know about so please don't let me talk you out of it."

The 175 set up sounds good.....i just want to avoid a $300 PGE a month. back to the think tank.....

 

[shaneh]

just bought my reflectors: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1713750
Sunlight Supply Lumen Max 3 Pendants w/Phoenix Bulbs $75 each

 

[Western_reefer]

Its lookin' good!! Keep up the good work!

 

[shaneh]

hey guys I have been collecting equiptment for the last couple months so i have not had much updates. So here are some pic

The first is the sump and the pumps i picked up. Here is are my pumps and plans for each

pumps Gen-x40 for the XL-2 PM skimmer,
Gen-x30 return pump rated at 985 go up to the 1" sea swirl,
Iwaki 40-XLRT rated at 1250 flow through chiller then up to the 1" sea swirls.

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/?action=view&current=fishgrandopeningracing160.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/fishgrandopeningracing160.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/?action=view&current=fishgrandopeningracing163.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/fishgrandopeningracing163.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

1" sea swirls

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/?action=view&current=fishgrandopeningracing164.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/fishgrandopeningracing164.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/?action=view&current=fishgrandopeningracing161.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/fishgrandopeningracing161.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

So i need some help figuring out how i am going to use this sump i piced up and if it is going to even work.
It is a 40-45 gallon cutom acrylic sump. I will try to explain where the existing holes are located. At the large end of the sump is a huge 2 1/2 inch bulk head that has been capped by the guy i bought it from. I thinking of just getting a plug for this to take off the white cap or plumbing my skimmer pump Genx40 to it to clean the dirty water.

At the other end i have a hole for 2 inch bulkhead and 1 inch bulk head. I would like to use these for my returns. On the side i have another 2 inch bulkhead hole, I would like to use for my skimmer return but maybe i should plug it.

This is hard to explain and maybe i need to take better pics to show you guys or have some of the reef smarties coem over and tell me the best options. If i have to i can get a new sump but it was a good deal.

Also i have ordered all the new bulkheads and true nuion ball vales for the tank from bulk reef supply. I would like to so black PVC or at least dark SCH 80 gray to avoid white.

Also i would like to incorporate a 30 fuge into this some how with a 30 tall that i have.

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/?action=view&current=fishgrandopeningracing160.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss38/shaneh2009photo/fishgrandopeningracing160.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

maybe this sump was a bad idea....any ideas guys?

Oh the black acrylic units onthe top of the sump are 4" sock holders.