OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef

[jnarowe]

Well guys the catastrophe is now over. All equipment is now running as it is supposed to and I have fixed (at least temporarily) the SW mixing tank. The reef looks OK and I don't see any signs of stress with the exception that the GBTA apparently decided to relieve itself during all this.

I think that my idea for my SW and RO/DI tubs is slowly looking worse and worse and that I need to find new vessels. Something that will hold 100g within certain dimensions and not flex so much. Anyway, the floor is dry and the fish are happy!

 

[tinygiants]

55 Gallon Food Grade barrels are available at Kitsap Lumber for a fair price. That is what I am using. I use 1 for holding RO/DI and 1 for mixed SW. You could easily plumb 2 in series to get the 100 G you are after. The best part is they are designed to hold liquid.

dale

 

[jnarowe]

Yeah but I don't have the room for 4 of those in the tank room. It's a good thought though. I wonder if I could rig them outside, but then I would have temp. problems 9 months out of the year.

Aside from putting a snowflake eel in your tank you are a fairly smart guy! :lol: (j/k)

 

[tinygiants]

Stack them. I have mine installed on its side. I would put the storage vats on top of the mixing vats. Now you are only using the foot print of 2.

Another option is the stock tanks.

You do have a lot of room under the tank for storage if you are willing to pump the water from place to place.

Dale

 

[jnarowe]

So if I stack them laying down, how do I mount the heaters, airstones, etc? No real room under the tank because of all the structure of the stand.

 

[tinygiants]

Heaters, airstones in your storage vats......?

Stand them up on a custom table. Put the mixing vats on a custom platform. You can put a drain valve from the storage vat to the mixing vat. For the mixing vat, I just cut the top out. I just dangle my heater and pumps inside. You could easily fabricate a holder for them.

The reason for putting the mixing vats on a platform, is so you can install a bulkhead in the bottom for the drain to your return pump intake.

Dale

 

[jnarowe]

I do have an 800W heater in my RO/DI holding tank because I have 200 feet of 1/4" supply line coiled inside to bring up the temp. of the raw water before it gets to the RO/DI filters. I suppose I could re-rig it so that the supply line is in the mixing vat, but I did it this way to make it easier to clean the mixing vat. Right now it is set up so that I can drain the mixing vat, disconnect it, and wheel it outside to wash it down. I have been getting some residue in the vat and felt from the beginnning that I would need to be able to easily clean it.

If your mixing vat is on its side, how do you dangle the heater & pump inside it?

 

[tinygiants]

Put that coil in the sump, and quit wasting heat.

 

[jnarowe]

That's a good idea but the sump is not warm enough. In order to get the incoming water up to temp. I need a higher temp. water. I suppose i could just lengthen the feed line too, but I would rather not have that spaghetti in my sump...I'll have to ponder that one a bit.

 

[tinygiants]

Coiled neatly, you would never know.

You are heating the water as a means of improving efficiency. At what expense? A lot of wasted energy to heat a vat of water as a means of heating water. If that is truly the goal, get an inline heater and heat the water directly instead of indirectly. Aquatic eco sells canisters for standard aquarium heaters. They look like a filter housing.

I would have a hard time justifying 800watts of energy 24/7 to make my RO/DI more efficient.
The loss of efficiency by using the sump would be made up for by the power savings.

Dale

 

[jnarowe]

Good points Dale. I thought about an inline heater but I was thinking about a home one not an aquarium one. I'll have to look into that and see if one could be rigged to 1/4" line.

 

[jnarowe]

New snails from CirolanidHunter. Sorry this is such a bad photo but I just didn't have the patience tonight.

Brian shipped them in a thermos and as far as I can tell we have 100% survival.

 

[Hop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7395185#post7395185 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Brian shipped them in a thermos and as far as I can tell we have 100% survival.

So whatcha gonna do with the thermos?

 

[jnarowe]

:lol: uhhhh...hadn't thought about that. I opened the wrong end so it's not in the best of shape I think but it certainly could be used a few more times. Got any suggestions?

At last flashlight check all but one seem to have moved along so we have a very successful transfer of about 40 young snails via US Priority mail.

The flashlight also seemed to attract some small worm-like creatures that were flailing around like they were being electrocuted. Based on my reading that may be a reproductive dance...so I may be headed for some kind of reef doom!

 

[BrianPlankis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7395284#post7395284 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe


At last flashlight check all but one seem to have moved along so we have a very successful transfer of about 40 young snails via US Priority mail.

Jonathan,

I'm glad to hear they made it fine, I was a bit concerned they might not make it until tomorrow, but still an excellent survival rate for such a long trip.

I'm really surprised the TINY ones in the shipment survived. All the conventional wisdom I've read says that the really small snails have a hard time adapting to changing temp and salinity of shipments and have a poor survival rate. 100% survival on the TINY snails is a suprise to me, I guess this is an example of testing conventional wisdom and beating it over the head with a big stick, or in this case tiny snails :lol:

Glad they made it and thanks for the data

Brian

 

[jnarowe]

yeah I just did another flashlight check and all the tiny strombus are fine. Some are 3 feet from where they landed. Some of the turbos look like they are under stress and have not moved much which I find interesting. Many of them are long gone though.

 

[jnarowe]

I can now confirm 100% survival. All snails have moved along and the ones I can find look great.

 

[BrianPlankis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7396996#post7396996 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
I can now confirm 100% survival. All snails have moved along and the ones I can find look great.

AWESOME They should grow pretty rapidly in such a large system. Did you split them between your main tank and sump, or everything into the main tank?

Let me know when you find any egg masses. Strombus (Columbellid) should lay on glass pretty easily, but the Turbo sp. prefer to lay on the underside of rocks.

I know this is total snail nerd of me, but I have an appointment with one of the curators of the Natural History museum in Houston to try to ID my snails to species. I get to see their huge collection

Brian

 

[jnarowe]

Very cool...I'd like to corner those guys with 3 worms I cannot ID...they make me much more nervous than snails!

The strombus are all over the glass already and most of the turbos have headed for the rock. I tell ya I have found some really cool nerites in my system. Their shells are highly variable both in markings and color. I have tried to take pics but none have come out decent yet.

 

[BrianPlankis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7397469#post7397469 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Very cool...I'd like to corner those guys with 3 worms I cannot ID...they make me much more nervous than snails!

The strombus are all over the glass already and most of the turbos have headed for the rock. I tell ya I have found some really cool nerites in my system. Their shells are highly variable both in markings and color. I have tried to take pics but none have come out decent yet.

Did you buy the nerites or were they hitchikers?

Brian