Bigjoe2531
Premium Member
Wow, love that purple growth....what kelvin lighting was he using? I wonder......
New tank, sump location question
- Thread starter jcw
- Start date
jcw
Active member
I'm not sure what kelvin lighting he had but it was MH for sure and LED I think.
I purchased two American DJ power strips. These things are GREAT and cost about as much as a higher quality power strip but have the added feature of each outlet being switched. Heavy duty, too. Have I said they are GREAT? And Guitar Center has a $4 protection plan for 2 years. Break it and they replace it. Not bad.
I've been dripping kalk about 1 gallon every two days. I checked the alkalinity and it was a little high. Checked pH and it was a little high. I've got to watch this kalk dripping thing a little more closely. Maybe that's why some of the torch colonies aren't as robust as others and the montipora is doing so poorly. (Although there is a rainbow monti I got from Mai that is looking very good.)
I ran a filter sock for the first time on one of the three drains for two days. Man is the water column clean. I'll remove it and clean it but I think this will be a regular thing. 2 days per week.
I thought about running an old Eheim canister filter with a carbon filter pad as well, but if the filter sock does that well, I think I'll forgo it.
I purchased two American DJ power strips. These things are GREAT and cost about as much as a higher quality power strip but have the added feature of each outlet being switched. Heavy duty, too. Have I said they are GREAT? And Guitar Center has a $4 protection plan for 2 years. Break it and they replace it. Not bad.
I've been dripping kalk about 1 gallon every two days. I checked the alkalinity and it was a little high. Checked pH and it was a little high. I've got to watch this kalk dripping thing a little more closely. Maybe that's why some of the torch colonies aren't as robust as others and the montipora is doing so poorly. (Although there is a rainbow monti I got from Mai that is looking very good.)
I ran a filter sock for the first time on one of the three drains for two days. Man is the water column clean. I'll remove it and clean it but I think this will be a regular thing. 2 days per week.
I thought about running an old Eheim canister filter with a carbon filter pad as well, but if the filter sock does that well, I think I'll forgo it.
jcw
Active member
My alkalinity has been dropping about 0.1 meq/L a day and is at KH of 7.9 today.
The calcium level is 400-410.
I was thinking about increasing the alkalinity to KH of 9-10 to aid coral growth so I purchased two little fishes' two part additive.
I think I'm going to restart the kalk drip and check daily to see what kind of drip rate would keep these numbers.
On a side note, the HA is all gone. I'm wondering if the last little bit was maybe due to phosphates that precipatated out when I started dripping kalkwasser. A nice side effect.
The calcium level is 400-410.
I was thinking about increasing the alkalinity to KH of 9-10 to aid coral growth so I purchased two little fishes' two part additive.
I think I'm going to restart the kalk drip and check daily to see what kind of drip rate would keep these numbers.
On a side note, the HA is all gone. I'm wondering if the last little bit was maybe due to phosphates that precipatated out when I started dripping kalkwasser. A nice side effect.
jcw
Active member
Calcium is up 410-420
Alkalinity 7.9-8.0
Magnesium 1300
I've got the kalk dialed in to about 125cc/hr. I'm not using that much at all. Coralline algae is starting to deposit on the tank walls. Small spots of pink crusty on the glass.
Main tank has been amm/nitrite/nitrate free (relatively) for the week after adding the 5 small fish fish despite feeding fairly heavily three times a day. The bioload was taken up very nicely.
A side effect of the heavy feeding is a boom in the bristleworm and amphipod populations. So much that some of the rockwork are just teeming with them like an anthill. I'll try to get a pic or short vid.
I'm going to try a LFS purchase again. 5 Anthias split between two QT tanks. They are peaceful varieties dispars and ignitus. They will be in there for as long as I can stand keeping up with water changes, etc. Hopefully 6 weeks.
Which leads me to a question and experiment...
I have been SO impressed with vodka/vinegar dosing, I thought maybe this can be used to speed cycle a QT tank.
Bacteria grow fast, so I assume the rate limiting step in a tank cycle is available nutrients for the bacteria.
I'm going to add a few drops of vodka daily to a cycling QT and see what happens. The scientist in me can't wait.
Alkalinity 7.9-8.0
Magnesium 1300
I've got the kalk dialed in to about 125cc/hr. I'm not using that much at all. Coralline algae is starting to deposit on the tank walls. Small spots of pink crusty on the glass.
Main tank has been amm/nitrite/nitrate free (relatively) for the week after adding the 5 small fish fish despite feeding fairly heavily three times a day. The bioload was taken up very nicely.
A side effect of the heavy feeding is a boom in the bristleworm and amphipod populations. So much that some of the rockwork are just teeming with them like an anthill. I'll try to get a pic or short vid.
I'm going to try a LFS purchase again. 5 Anthias split between two QT tanks. They are peaceful varieties dispars and ignitus. They will be in there for as long as I can stand keeping up with water changes, etc. Hopefully 6 weeks.
Which leads me to a question and experiment...
I have been SO impressed with vodka/vinegar dosing, I thought maybe this can be used to speed cycle a QT tank.
Bacteria grow fast, so I assume the rate limiting step in a tank cycle is available nutrients for the bacteria.
I'm going to add a few drops of vodka daily to a cycling QT and see what happens. The scientist in me can't wait.
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jcw
Active member
ICH!
From a DD purchase (I think). The only fish I have ever had in the DT are from them. I purchased one LPS coral from a LFS and some other SPS/LPS, live rock and clean up crew (snails only and a hitchiking crab) from 2 other members here. Always discarded the other person's water. Even quarantined the DD purchase for 1 week to make sure they got through the transportation OK.
Now, I have 2 hospital tanks going with hyposalinity. One quarantine tank with 4 anthias. And a wrasse I can't catch in the DT that looks ich free but probably is not.
Already lost one chromis and another looks like he's on his way out. The bellus angelfish looked near death last night but is better and eating today.
I'm out of water, I'm exhausted and am VERY disappointed with DD.
Basically what I've learned is that purchases from that site are NOT disease free. Just eating for the time they have them. Assume nothing.
From a DD purchase (I think). The only fish I have ever had in the DT are from them. I purchased one LPS coral from a LFS and some other SPS/LPS, live rock and clean up crew (snails only and a hitchiking crab) from 2 other members here. Always discarded the other person's water. Even quarantined the DD purchase for 1 week to make sure they got through the transportation OK.
Now, I have 2 hospital tanks going with hyposalinity. One quarantine tank with 4 anthias. And a wrasse I can't catch in the DT that looks ich free but probably is not.
Already lost one chromis and another looks like he's on his way out. The bellus angelfish looked near death last night but is better and eating today.
I'm out of water, I'm exhausted and am VERY disappointed with DD.
Basically what I've learned is that purchases from that site are NOT disease free. Just eating for the time they have them. Assume nothing.
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jcw
Active member
2 chromis dead.
Angel doing better and eating well (for now. I know it can change in an instant)
wrasse still won't jump in the net. he's still in the ich infested DT. So my fallow peroid can't start.
A major issue I noted doing hyposalinity.
It is MUCH MUCH easier maintaining pH by adding saltwater premixed to 1.009 than adding straight RO water.
At 1.009, there's still enough salt and buffer to naturally set the pH to 8.0+ after mixing overnight. At one point I added pure A&H baking soda (na bicarb) and the pH went down not up.
I think I might have lost one chromis to pH swings trying to add RO to tank water. Who has time baking that stuff in the middle of the night setting up and emergency QT for carbonate?
BTW checked the water in the DT last night. Everything is still 0. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.
Angel doing better and eating well (for now. I know it can change in an instant)
wrasse still won't jump in the net. he's still in the ich infested DT. So my fallow peroid can't start.
A major issue I noted doing hyposalinity.
It is MUCH MUCH easier maintaining pH by adding saltwater premixed to 1.009 than adding straight RO water.
At 1.009, there's still enough salt and buffer to naturally set the pH to 8.0+ after mixing overnight. At one point I added pure A&H baking soda (na bicarb) and the pH went down not up.
I think I might have lost one chromis to pH swings trying to add RO to tank water. Who has time baking that stuff in the middle of the night setting up and emergency QT for carbonate?
BTW checked the water in the DT last night. Everything is still 0. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.
jcw
Active member
Day 1 of the fish trap :rolleye1:
I'm starting to have ammonia and nitrites show up in the anthias QT. A couple 40-50% water changes are in the works. I'm seriously considering throwing some live rock or rubble in there. I'll have to slow feeding down as well.
Angel still doing well. Did a 20% change in the 55gal tank.
I don't know if I can handle this for 4-8 weeks...
I'm starting to have ammonia and nitrites show up in the anthias QT. A couple 40-50% water changes are in the works. I'm seriously considering throwing some live rock or rubble in there. I'll have to slow feeding down as well.
Angel still doing well. Did a 20% change in the 55gal tank.
I don't know if I can handle this for 4-8 weeks...
jcw
Active member
Tanks 1 and 2: Hypo/QT- I'm thinking of taking the chromis out of the 20L and into the 55 with the bellus.
I'm amazed how well the bellus and chromis look. They swim and eat almost like they did in the DT. The only difference is they seem to attack food just a little slower. Otherwise, they seem to be completely at home.
Thinking long term, I'm thinking of adding a protein skimmer to the 55g. Reason is 8 weeks fallow in the DT means a long time with just a floss filter in QT. I'll be back to normal salinity in these QT for 4 weeks. Also, reading reefkeeping.com article on oxygenation, it seems a protein skimmer does an excellent job oxygenating tanks.
HOB or insump, that's the question.
Stay tuned...
Tank 3: QT/no hypo- The lyretail and resplendent anthias are eating like pigs. The two ignitus anthias are most active in the tank mouth alot of food but actually eat less.
I put together 3 40-50% water changes one a day and the fish look happy. I haven't rechecked ammonia, but if it requires more water changes than that, they'll just have to suffer.
This tank came with a sump in the stand that I'm not using at the moment. Eventually, I'll have to figure a way to get it set up.
DT: Three days of the fish trap and the wrasse refuses to go in. He's hungry enough to pick at the bottom of the bottle, but won't go in. I think I'll try for 1 week. If no luck, I'll move rock around and try to net him out. Otherwise, I don't feel like I can start the fallow tank timer.
I keep bleaching the nice coraline on the rock that are closest to the LED lights. But it's now growing on the walls and other parts of the tank. The tank looks great otherwise. The frogspawn and hammer are looking very good (frogspawn's my favorite). The acro under the LEDS continue to grow. The receeding monti is making a slight comeback away from the LED light and the superman monti is growing slowly. I have a small patch of a red/pink monti growing as well on one of the LR pieces. I never would have thought SPS coral would be easier to care for than fish.
I've got two (used) Vortechs on each side of the tank. They are nice to have. Best part about them is you can turn a knob on the controller and lower the flow.
Moved the Tunze behind the rocks to help circulation there. Moved the heater to the sump. Everything is set, expect that wrasse. :furious:
:wavehand:
I'm amazed how well the bellus and chromis look. They swim and eat almost like they did in the DT. The only difference is they seem to attack food just a little slower. Otherwise, they seem to be completely at home.
Thinking long term, I'm thinking of adding a protein skimmer to the 55g. Reason is 8 weeks fallow in the DT means a long time with just a floss filter in QT. I'll be back to normal salinity in these QT for 4 weeks. Also, reading reefkeeping.com article on oxygenation, it seems a protein skimmer does an excellent job oxygenating tanks.
HOB or insump, that's the question.
Stay tuned...
Tank 3: QT/no hypo- The lyretail and resplendent anthias are eating like pigs. The two ignitus anthias are most active in the tank mouth alot of food but actually eat less.
I put together 3 40-50% water changes one a day and the fish look happy. I haven't rechecked ammonia, but if it requires more water changes than that, they'll just have to suffer.
This tank came with a sump in the stand that I'm not using at the moment. Eventually, I'll have to figure a way to get it set up.
DT: Three days of the fish trap and the wrasse refuses to go in. He's hungry enough to pick at the bottom of the bottle, but won't go in. I think I'll try for 1 week. If no luck, I'll move rock around and try to net him out. Otherwise, I don't feel like I can start the fallow tank timer.
I keep bleaching the nice coraline on the rock that are closest to the LED lights. But it's now growing on the walls and other parts of the tank. The tank looks great otherwise. The frogspawn and hammer are looking very good (frogspawn's my favorite). The acro under the LEDS continue to grow. The receeding monti is making a slight comeback away from the LED light and the superman monti is growing slowly. I have a small patch of a red/pink monti growing as well on one of the LR pieces. I never would have thought SPS coral would be easier to care for than fish.
I've got two (used) Vortechs on each side of the tank. They are nice to have. Best part about them is you can turn a knob on the controller and lower the flow.
Moved the Tunze behind the rocks to help circulation there. Moved the heater to the sump. Everything is set, expect that wrasse. :furious:
:wavehand:
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jcw
Active member
After reading this article, I think the new plan is everyone is going into the 55gallon hyposalinity tank for the 8 weeks fallow period (at least 1 month at hypo). I've already started lowering the salinity in the anthias tank.
Lowering metabolic demand, decreased osmoregulation demands, help in healing injuries to fish, treating certain disease including ich, and less stress to fish! Not to mention saving money on salt particularly with the labor intensive quaratining procedures water changes.
It sounds like hyposalinity is the perfect environment for acclimation and quarantine.
Very interesting article by Terry D. Bartelme. Changed what I think of hyposalinity (alleviating stress rather than creating it). And watching the angel and chromis really do very well thus far is making me a believer.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fish#
Wrasse is still in DT.
Lowering metabolic demand, decreased osmoregulation demands, help in healing injuries to fish, treating certain disease including ich, and less stress to fish! Not to mention saving money on salt particularly with the labor intensive quaratining procedures water changes.
It sounds like hyposalinity is the perfect environment for acclimation and quarantine.
Very interesting article by Terry D. Bartelme. Changed what I think of hyposalinity (alleviating stress rather than creating it). And watching the angel and chromis really do very well thus far is making me a believer.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fish#
Wrasse is still in DT.
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jcw
Active member
I've decided to approach these qt/treatment tanks like a FO tank.
I've got an eheim pro cannister filter on the 30 gallon cube and an eheim pro2 on the 55 gallon.
I'll plan to running a hob deltec skimmer on the 55. For the oxygenation and hopefully filtering once out of hypo.
The ignitus anthias look to be losing color. But the lyretail and resplendent eat well and look healthy.
The bellus is eating very well and it's color is back. The last remaining chromis has fin rot on its tail. But otherwise is eating well.
On the DT, I purchased a used larger 1050 ATB cone skimmer with the recirc mod. It came missing the air line and with an eheim 1260 with a cracked housing. Nothing fit snugly like on my V2 econocone 840. The cup sat loose on the cone and leaked, the pump fittings were somewhat loose, the discharge pipe into the center of the skimmer was loose and slipped out. Overall I'm kicking myself for buying this used. :rolleye1:
I tried to salvage the situation by fitting the 840's sicce pump cause I thought the eheim was vibrating too much and got hotter than the same two pumps I have for returns in my sump. The flow from the sicce pump was actually about the same as the eheim.
It's working OK other than the leaky cup which probably can be solved with a new gasket. I'll see how things go.
On the up side, it fills it's section of the sump with an inch to spare (less than 1/2" if I used the 1260). And is physically the largest ATB skimmer I'd be able to use.
Eventually, I've got to break down and just net the wrasse out of the DT. It just won't get in the trap.
On the other hand, it's healthy and eating like a pig and has never shown any signs of ich.
I've got an eheim pro cannister filter on the 30 gallon cube and an eheim pro2 on the 55 gallon.
I'll plan to running a hob deltec skimmer on the 55. For the oxygenation and hopefully filtering once out of hypo.
The ignitus anthias look to be losing color. But the lyretail and resplendent eat well and look healthy.
The bellus is eating very well and it's color is back. The last remaining chromis has fin rot on its tail. But otherwise is eating well.
On the DT, I purchased a used larger 1050 ATB cone skimmer with the recirc mod. It came missing the air line and with an eheim 1260 with a cracked housing. Nothing fit snugly like on my V2 econocone 840. The cup sat loose on the cone and leaked, the pump fittings were somewhat loose, the discharge pipe into the center of the skimmer was loose and slipped out. Overall I'm kicking myself for buying this used. :rolleye1:
I tried to salvage the situation by fitting the 840's sicce pump cause I thought the eheim was vibrating too much and got hotter than the same two pumps I have for returns in my sump. The flow from the sicce pump was actually about the same as the eheim.
It's working OK other than the leaky cup which probably can be solved with a new gasket. I'll see how things go.
On the up side, it fills it's section of the sump with an inch to spare (less than 1/2" if I used the 1260). And is physically the largest ATB skimmer I'd be able to use.
Eventually, I've got to break down and just net the wrasse out of the DT. It just won't get in the trap.
On the other hand, it's healthy and eating like a pig and has never shown any signs of ich.
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jcw
Active member
some more pics...
coral doing nicely
bubble algae took out a section of this acro, but the rest looks great. In fact it keeps looking like it wants to recolonize the dead area.
this monti has been growing although slowly.
forgot what this is.
hammer coral and frogspawn are doing fine. The head on the hammer that isn't opening was like that when I got it.
new skimmer :thumbdown with old/new pump
here's 1/3 of the chaeto in the sump just past the buble trap.
this algae (Bryopsis? :uzi
is growing right next to a monti that was bleached by the LED lights before I knew what it's requirments were. It is slowly making a come back.
coral doing nicely
bubble algae took out a section of this acro, but the rest looks great. In fact it keeps looking like it wants to recolonize the dead area.
this monti has been growing although slowly.
forgot what this is.
hammer coral and frogspawn are doing fine. The head on the hammer that isn't opening was like that when I got it.
new skimmer :thumbdown with old/new pump
here's 1/3 of the chaeto in the sump just past the buble trap.
this algae (Bryopsis? :uzi
is growing right next to a monti that was bleached by the LED lights before I knew what it's requirments were. It is slowly making a come back.
jcw
Active member
Set up the deltec HOB on the 55 gallon QT/hypo tank.
I like it. Simple design, not much to adjust. I removed the airstone and will likely transfer the anthias into this tank eventually.
It's been 2 1/2 weeks and so far so good in hypo. The bellus is amazing and looks like he's growing in thickness in the past 3 weeks. The chromis is OK. Hides most of the time but does come out to eat. I'm not sure if he's gonna make it.
The anthias continue to do well in the 29gal. The lyretail and resplendent could likely be fed once a day but the ignitus are such picky eaters only going for the smaller food particles and then only the ones that taste "right." No wonder they need 3+ feedings a day. Unfortunately, the feedings are worrying me in terms of water quality. I'm changing water like crazy.
1 1/2 weeks more in full hypo then slowly back up. Hopefully by that time, the DT will have been fallow long enough. 6 weeks.
I like it. Simple design, not much to adjust. I removed the airstone and will likely transfer the anthias into this tank eventually.
It's been 2 1/2 weeks and so far so good in hypo. The bellus is amazing and looks like he's growing in thickness in the past 3 weeks. The chromis is OK. Hides most of the time but does come out to eat. I'm not sure if he's gonna make it.
The anthias continue to do well in the 29gal. The lyretail and resplendent could likely be fed once a day but the ignitus are such picky eaters only going for the smaller food particles and then only the ones that taste "right." No wonder they need 3+ feedings a day. Unfortunately, the feedings are worrying me in terms of water quality. I'm changing water like crazy.
1 1/2 weeks more in full hypo then slowly back up. Hopefully by that time, the DT will have been fallow long enough. 6 weeks.
jcw
Active member
First hiccup in hypo. A big one.
One of the ignitus anthias started breathing fast and stopped coming out to eat. I moved him into a 5 gallon hospital tank.
I don't see any sores or lesions.
I've read about uronema in hypo. Anthias being less tolerant of hypo. And ammonia problems.
I'm wondering if it's an ammonia problem. It started after I switched from reef crystals to IO. There's a chart somewhere that shows that IO has a significant amount of ammonia newly mixed.
Not much I can do now. Tommorrow I'll get some other brand and see if I can save the guy.
One of the ignitus anthias started breathing fast and stopped coming out to eat. I moved him into a 5 gallon hospital tank.
I don't see any sores or lesions.
I've read about uronema in hypo. Anthias being less tolerant of hypo. And ammonia problems.
I'm wondering if it's an ammonia problem. It started after I switched from reef crystals to IO. There's a chart somewhere that shows that IO has a significant amount of ammonia newly mixed.
Not much I can do now. Tommorrow I'll get some other brand and see if I can save the guy.
jcw
Active member
RIP. 
I went ahead and moved everyone into the 55g hypo tank. The anthias tank was originally an observation tank at normal salinity but I decided to treat them in hypo. Reached 1.010 a couple days ago and since I was removing one of the anthias, I thought it was as good a time as any to make the move.
At this point, I'm pretty much exhausted. But at least I'll have to maintain only one qt, now.
I went ahead and moved everyone into the 55g hypo tank. The anthias tank was originally an observation tank at normal salinity but I decided to treat them in hypo. Reached 1.010 a couple days ago and since I was removing one of the anthias, I thought it was as good a time as any to make the move.
At this point, I'm pretty much exhausted. But at least I'll have to maintain only one qt, now.
jcw
Active member
Finished with hypo (4 weeks). Returning the qt tank back to normal salinity.
Currently at 1.012 about. And the Deltec skimmer is kicking in and making skimmate.
Ammonia has been about 0.25 or less each time I check and so far these fish are tolerating it well. water changes are 2 gallons daily with reef crystals as I think the Instant Ocean version of their salt mixed with more ammonia.
I've cleaned the cannister filter twice now (once every 2 weeks) and there is very little detritus build up and light to moderate staining of the filter. I'm assuming there's little if any significant biological filtration.
I think I'll start adding live rock from the DT sump to help with the last 2-4 weeks of fallow period in the dt. Which really isn't fallow with the wrasse still in there.
Thus far, hypo has been a pleasant surprise. It was very easy to maintain the spec grav 1.009-1.010 in a 55g tank without an ATO even though it's not a covered top. But I did do the daily water changes religiously with 1.008 water.
The bellus angel and the three remaining anthias are VERY active. The color of all the fish are excellent. They eat aggressively even the shy ignitus anthias. (pics to follow)
I'm a believer in lower salinity to ease the stress of introducing new fish, now. It really wasn't until the anthias got down to less than 1.010 that I lost one and it might have been due to the particular salt mix and ammonia.
Currently at 1.012 about. And the Deltec skimmer is kicking in and making skimmate.
Ammonia has been about 0.25 or less each time I check and so far these fish are tolerating it well. water changes are 2 gallons daily with reef crystals as I think the Instant Ocean version of their salt mixed with more ammonia.
I've cleaned the cannister filter twice now (once every 2 weeks) and there is very little detritus build up and light to moderate staining of the filter. I'm assuming there's little if any significant biological filtration.
I think I'll start adding live rock from the DT sump to help with the last 2-4 weeks of fallow period in the dt. Which really isn't fallow with the wrasse still in there.
Thus far, hypo has been a pleasant surprise. It was very easy to maintain the spec grav 1.009-1.010 in a 55g tank without an ATO even though it's not a covered top. But I did do the daily water changes religiously with 1.008 water.
The bellus angel and the three remaining anthias are VERY active. The color of all the fish are excellent. They eat aggressively even the shy ignitus anthias. (pics to follow)
I'm a believer in lower salinity to ease the stress of introducing new fish, now. It really wasn't until the anthias got down to less than 1.010 that I lost one and it might have been due to the particular salt mix and ammonia.
jcw
Active member
Everyone is in the DT now since Thursday.
Bellus angel, 3 anthias (ignitus, resplendent and maldives lyretail), and the no name flasher wrasse.
So far so good.
The wrasse has really been showing off since the fish arrived, coloring up to a deep red almost purple and flashing a lot.
The lyretail has the best colors under the DT lights. But all the anthias have good color. Feeding them mysis, Rods, mixed with vitamins and zoecon and garlic.
The bellus angel has grown some short streamers in QT and I like how he looks.
Everyone gets along OK. Angel chases the lyretail rarely, lyretail chases the resplendent occassionally. The wrasse tries to generally avoid trouble.
Bellus angel, 3 anthias (ignitus, resplendent and maldives lyretail), and the no name flasher wrasse.
So far so good.
The wrasse has really been showing off since the fish arrived, coloring up to a deep red almost purple and flashing a lot.
The lyretail has the best colors under the DT lights. But all the anthias have good color. Feeding them mysis, Rods, mixed with vitamins and zoecon and garlic.
The bellus angel has grown some short streamers in QT and I like how he looks.
Everyone gets along OK. Angel chases the lyretail rarely, lyretail chases the resplendent occassionally. The wrasse tries to generally avoid trouble.
jcw
Active member
1 1/2 weeks back in the DT and the fish are all ich free (visibly) and doing well. I hope I dodged the ich bullet.
New LED lights are up and look good. The 3 month old 60W LED unit now lights the fuge and basically makes the 29 gallon tank look like the surface of the sun. It's a little overkill HOWEVER, the chaeto is growing fast.
I'm in the process of setting up another remote fuge for the tank. This will be housed in a closet, filled with live rock and will be kept dark.
I picked up some large thick plastic rain barrels (55g I think) with a screw on top. Really quite nice. I've got a spare if anyone is interested. $90 pickup only.
Basically, I got the idea from a link to an incredible setup that had two huge water containers 100+g that simply increased the capacity of the system. I'll be able to conviently add and remove water from here as well.
Pics to follow...
Lastly, I've set up the 30 gallon cube I picked up a while ago with a sump/skimmer and live rock for a cycled qt/observation tank. And the 55 gallon, I've set up to cure some live rock. About 80-90 pounds worth.
New LED lights are up and look good. The 3 month old 60W LED unit now lights the fuge and basically makes the 29 gallon tank look like the surface of the sun. It's a little overkill HOWEVER, the chaeto is growing fast.
I'm in the process of setting up another remote fuge for the tank. This will be housed in a closet, filled with live rock and will be kept dark.
I picked up some large thick plastic rain barrels (55g I think) with a screw on top. Really quite nice. I've got a spare if anyone is interested. $90 pickup only.
Basically, I got the idea from a link to an incredible setup that had two huge water containers 100+g that simply increased the capacity of the system. I'll be able to conviently add and remove water from here as well.
Pics to follow...
Lastly, I've set up the 30 gallon cube I picked up a while ago with a sump/skimmer and live rock for a cycled qt/observation tank. And the 55 gallon, I've set up to cure some live rock. About 80-90 pounds worth.
jcw
Active member
A little more work on the barrel.
The clear tube is a level checker.
There's a 1" bulkhead near the top is for the drain from the DT. On the inside it attaches to a hose that quietly dumps the water to the bottom of the barrel.
There's a 1" bulkhead near the middle that attaches to a durso pipe inside the barrel. This will go to the sump.
The top of the barrel has a hard plastic drain material that would make it easy to fill and ventilate.
I'm finally understanding bulkheads and gaskets. The gasket HAS to be on the side of the non-moving flange. If it sits in the screw side, the water can come through the screws and the nut and right past the gasket.
Unfortunately, the upper bulkhead leaked no matter where the gasket was and I've had to silicone it.
The lower one that is on a curved surface, interestingly, does not leak.
Having this in the closet with the basement sump drain allows me to do my water changes here, drip kalk, dose if need and increases the water volume and amount of live rock.
I just have to figure the best way to plumb it.
I just finished cleaning up a spill of the nastiest skimmer junk from the live rock tank. It was only about 1/8 cup that spilled but now the basement smells like a sewer.
The clear tube is a level checker.
There's a 1" bulkhead near the top is for the drain from the DT. On the inside it attaches to a hose that quietly dumps the water to the bottom of the barrel.
There's a 1" bulkhead near the middle that attaches to a durso pipe inside the barrel. This will go to the sump.
The top of the barrel has a hard plastic drain material that would make it easy to fill and ventilate.
I'm finally understanding bulkheads and gaskets. The gasket HAS to be on the side of the non-moving flange. If it sits in the screw side, the water can come through the screws and the nut and right past the gasket.
Unfortunately, the upper bulkhead leaked no matter where the gasket was and I've had to silicone it.
The lower one that is on a curved surface, interestingly, does not leak.
Having this in the closet with the basement sump drain allows me to do my water changes here, drip kalk, dose if need and increases the water volume and amount of live rock.
I just have to figure the best way to plumb it.
I just finished cleaning up a spill of the nastiest skimmer junk from the live rock tank. It was only about 1/8 cup that spilled but now the basement smells like a sewer.
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