New 220 gallon build

No, never heard of that one Shaun. Thanks though will check it out.

I tried the brace I installed and it seems 'kind of sturdy' but not like the walls I put in for baffles. Will be finishing the stand for the 75g on Saturday, need to get the sand in there at the very least. Will add more supports after getting a better glue.
 
Yeah, siliconing acrylic works great with baffles cause there really isnt much weight or force to support there. The baffles pretty much just sit in the tank and you only have to support the weight of acrylic. However a top brace of the tank, especially a big one, has to support perhaps even hundreds of pounds of force. Different application ;). The brace on my 65 was replaced with a 1/4" piece of glass instead of acrylic :)
 
I am going to order some stronger glue, Mike your right it does not seem too be solid.

Finished plumbing the Ocean Motion 4-way today, just turned it on. I am very pleased with the "Dart" pump its extremely quiet.

Also finished cleaning up after the party...many left overs, anyone want a beer...some chicken..burger..italian sausage?

Left the lights on yesterday because of the party, had them on from around 8:30 am until midnight, not a good idea a bit of algae showed up in the tank.
 
Well, the sand bed ended up deeper than I wanted it so will most likely be siphoning some of the sand out of the tank...but here is a new occupant in the sand bed

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I will try to get some time to take a few new photos and update this tonight.

I have started a couple other threads asking about UV filters...do you use one, which one, do you like it kind of questions and have gotten no replies. Have been thinking of adding one to this system but have never used one before, looking for any input I have no experience at all with them.
 
Or an Ozone? Not sure about that one, have no clue what they do but it was mentioned in a reply to another post.
 
Took this shot while installing the new lights, see the difference in color between the Hamilton 10K on the far right and the Reflux 12K on the two left bulbs.

_D207975.jpg
 
Maybe the color from the photo is not accurate but the Hamilton's are obviously yellower and brighter while the reflux's are bluer. The thing is... is that while the Reflux's are bluer, they look less natural. I have the same thing going on. It's all personal preferance I guess. I have a Hamilton 150w 14k with two 96w Caralife actinics. My tank is blue!!! When I set up my 180, I will certainly go less blue.

Other than my opinion... you tank is coming along really well!!! It looks great!!
 
I personaly dig the Reeflux 10ks. I think that they give a more "natural" blue light off.

For a cool look try moving the Hammy to the middle.
 
Kurt

How do you like the lumenarc's? I set one up at the store the other day and it is a noticable difference IMO. Downside is that they are very bulky. How much room do you have above the fixtures? Are they hanging or did you bolt them in? Also, did you have to make the hole in the top of the reflector bigger to fit the eyelet? Take a picture of how you mounted them. Thanks


Chris
 
I would like something between the two color temps, at least that was my initial response. My sand looks whiter under the 12k lights and more yellow under the 10k lights, I am leaning toward the 12k.

I have all three 12k's on now as well as all three luminarc fixtures. Chris, I mounted them with screws into a 1x8 board that is attached too the old window header with nails. I did not enlarge the hole in the top of the luminarc housing but may be changing it from being held up with screws to going with an eyebolt of some sort and then wire too the units so they can swing a little bit for better access. They are large and need a tank of at least 24" wide to allow any access past them but seem to toss the light down quite well.

I will take another shot later today, the lights would have had time to get too their "real" color after burning for 4 days these were taken immediately after the second luminarc was installed and turned on so the bulb on the far right was on for perhaps 10 minutes and the one in the middle for 2 or three.

Woke up this morning to a power outage, had to wake the neighborhood by powering up the generator.....Yeah, first time I have needed it since the October Storm :)
 
Oh, one other reason for thinking of the eyebolts and wire were too get the lights closer too the water. Right now (will have to measure) but guess the bottom of the fixture is about 6" off the water which places the bulbs about a foot up...

What would the ideal height above water for these things be?
 
I had the 105mm on camera but wanted to grab a couple shots from in the cellar, will go back down with a wider angle today.

Does this look like a deep enough sand bed for the refugium?
:p
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Close up of the Octopus
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Newest addition too the tank, he/she is feeding well and seems to be fitting in with all the other fishes quite nicely however I do not think the kids have named it yet.

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Thanks Mike, yesterday picked up a 40w Pentair Rainbow UV unit just for her/him...hear they are prone to Ich. So now have that assembled...also have the Phosban reactor hooked up and running.

So currently in the cellar we have water draining into main sump and into the refugium (old 75g display) which I now need to get some cheato for as what I had died with no lighting on it for a month...but I digress, in the 300g sump we have the Octopus skimmer running off a Mag9 (or is it 9.5?) and just outside the sump a 40w UV light running of a maxjet 1200 (guessing 140gph for good "kill") and Phosban reactor running off a maxjet 600 with a ball valve to trim the flow. The lines that drain into the sump both have media such as carbon in media bags and socks as well as the line that is coming out of the refugium. After seeing the phosban reactor in action may pick up a second one, looks like a very efficient filter wish it came in a larger model. All of this is then being sent back up too the main display with a Barricuda pump.

I have been getting quite a bit of algae on the glass after installing the (3) 400w bulbs, checked my parameters yesterday (after the phosban had been operating for 24 hours) and both Nitrates and Phosphates are at 0 or very close too it, Ca was kind of low at 350ppm, ALK was very low at 1-1.2 need to do more of my 2 part dosing than I have been doing or get the Ca reactor up and running. Temp at 76 and salinity at 1.024 (used too run the tank at 1.025 but have decided too drop it a bit for no real reason just the figure decided upon) PH was tested at 8.6 and no signs of ammonia.

I did not do the iodine test, do not have a magnesium test kit...

So, can the low alk/ca cause algae blooms? Could it have simply been from not having the skimmer on for 24hrs? (needed to buy some more flexible tubing to re-attach the pump) Seems like the items that I would normally associate algae growth with are all well into the areas they would need too be.

I am hoping a good side effect of the UV unit is less of this algae.
 
Just got off the phone with my wife, she says the amount of algae on the glass is "significantly less" than the past couple days...which may mean no new algae growth as I did not clean it last night.

:D

I will blame the UV sterilizer, allowing me to think it was a good purchase.
 
Prolly a combination of both skimming and the UV tbh. When you algae scrape, lots of that stuff goes into suspension in the water column and the skimmer/UV will remove/kill off a lot more of it. I'd be most concerned about that alkalinity :eek2:
 
I wish I knew why the ALK dropped so low, its been steady after I raised it back up via water changes and some buffer. Did not test yesterday or today however...guess I need too.

Having a system that constantly tests these things would be nice.

Algae on the glass has come pretty much to a total halt, well worth the $200. I spent on the UV unit. I still have not completely 'dialed in' on the skimming, some times its a nice thick skimmate other times it is very liquid.

Here is a shot of the cluttered basement, need to take a few hours too really clean it up now that most items are where they will remain. Need to also pick up some float switches and set up a auto top off as I have been doing it manually still.

_KJS8468.jpg


Need to work on the hood that sits over the refuge, so the pipes coming into the top from the overflow of the main tank goes under them. Also need to disconnect the UV unit and use PVC cement on the fittings that attach to it, its dripping a leak from simply being seated.

_KJS8466.jpg


Lots of room for some SPS growth

_KJS8483.jpg


_KJS8464.jpg


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Wish they grew faster

_KJS8448.jpg


Also wish I could remember their names, I think this one has a new branch starting:



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