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

[bleedingthought]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10763637#post10763637 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Click on the red house to see all pics of my system. All 3 lamps are 1000W 20K Ushio SE and they range from 8 - 12" off the surface.

I had been to the site but somehow missed the pictures.

Man, that IS an enormous tank! Very nice! Got any recent close ups or any new FTS?

BTW, your skimmer is awesome!

 

[jnarowe]

no recent FTS or close ups. Will be a while as I am battling a fierce brown algal bloom.

 

[dhnguyen]

How's the sugar dosing coming along J?

 

[jnarowe]

seems to be working. slowly...

 

[dhnguyen]

BTW... A company finally jumped on the MJ mod bandwagon and released a kit
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...&Product_Code=AF-SF1600&Category_Code=Maxijet

I ordered 2 kits and got them in today and just finished testing them

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10767518#post10767518

Well designed product IMO and cheap to boot

 

[jnarowe]

That's interesting. One question: How does the swivel stay in place with the force of the pump? The MJ1200 mod you did for me can actually launch out of my tank if I bump it while cleaning. Yes, it HAS happened!!! :lol:

Also, I need a shroud mod identical to this one, but with a 12" section of PVC to blow off my rocks. Not hard to make right? BTW, where are you getting gray PVC? I cannot find any around here.

 

[dhnguyen]

You won't be able to find dark gray SCH80 PVC like that in any local HW stores J.

I ordered some a while back from Mcmaster.com

I might have enough for a 12" shroud. Let me look around in the garage and see.

 

[dhnguyen]

Yes the swivel will stay in place. They did a pretty good job designing it, there is enough tightness and resistance in the swivel to keep the MJ pump in one place.

 

[token]

I ordered those too. I also got the magnets and the ph's haven't moved much though there is a bit of wobble due to the less perfect fitting between the adapter and the magnet's mount.

The flow seems as great as the MJMods kit and infinitely easier to use with the added benefit of being 100% reversible.

 

[dhnguyen]

I didn't use their magnet mount but bought these and glued them on instead.

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BX0X06BR

 

[token]

For future reference, does anything need to be done with those magnets prior to attachment? ("Black Rubber Coating" bodes poorly...)

And thanks for that link! Great prices and variety!

 

[dhnguyen]

Nope. I just glue them on.

 

[dhnguyen]

You could use these instead which are epoxy coated if you rather

http://www.gaussboys.com/ndfeb-magnets/D3706.html

 

[jnarowe]

well, my rock cleaner doesn't need to be from gray PVC, but I am getting ready to install two Penductors and would like to use gray PVC for the risers. I found the pipe at US Plastic, but they dont have 90 deg slip x FMPT elbows...

I do see that McMaster has all kinds including Black schedule 40. I don't really need schedule 80. Which do you think would be best? Black or gray? The penductors are a VERY dark gray if not black.

 

[dhnguyen]

Black will be less visible than dark gray IME. I used the dark gray in my MJ mods before to match the same gray that is on the MJ pump no other reason really.

 

[dhnguyen]

a few quick snapshots of the new MJ kits and my tank. Oh yeah I just got a powder brown tang (for $25 ) to help with the grape caulerpa outbreak in my tank

 

[jnarowe]

it'll be very happy in there! rics look sweet D!

 

[jnarowe]

Well, just a quick update:

I vacuumed more sand/algae out of the display today and water clarity is quite good. I swapped out all media yesterday and there's nothing like fresh carbon to kick it in gear. For those of you who are keeing count, I use 1.5 Black Diamond 3.65L canisters each time I fill the carbon chamber, and 1 full 795g PhosLock for the GFO chamber.

The brown algae is slowly receding and I am dosing 2 tblsp sugar every other day. So I think my response to this issue has been slow and methodical, but not radical and destructive, and that is allowing the situation to improve without killing off everything. One GBTA came back out today so that is a good sign as well.

 

[pcostanzo]

Did you start to have water clarity problems when you first disrupted the sand bed? When I started to re-do everything in my tank and pulled out part of the sand bed and sucked out gallons of crud, my clarity suffered bad. Its been over a month now and it still has a tinge to the water, not crystal clear. It didn't help when I had the sump off line for a couple of weeks and no skimming. I have been running carbon.

 

[jnarowe]

not really. the water quality issue is not from vacuuming out the sand but from a nutriet/algal problem. Theway I vacuum doesn't really let anything get into the water column.