Photo journal of my MCA 120

[kimoyo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6314989#post6314989 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
what you think of the yellow eye kole tang? i love mine..great personality. just a fun fish

Lunchbucket

Sorry Lunchbucket, I missed this before.
Yeah the kole tangs are cool but mine was kinda wierd. My tank is right next to my desk. He pick this one spot in the back right corner which is in my field of vision when I'm working on my computer. And all he would do was go up and down about a foot all day. I would try to scare him away but he would come right back. It was sooo annoying, lol.

 

[kimoyo]

BigEasy - Yeah I know, thanks.

mvandepeer - thanks.

 

[Lunchbucket]

LOL he just liked you

Lunchbucket

 

[kimoyo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6359169#post6359169 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
LOL he just liked you

Lunchbucket

Lol, I kept saying "shoo, shoo" but he kept coming back :lol:.

 

[nanokeeper]

Kimoyo, Beautiful setup. Please update if you can. Thanks. After seeing that tank I'm going to contact Midwest for a quote.

 

[MyMonkey]

Any updates or recent pics?

 

[kimoyo]

Thanks guys,

I will update the thread but it won't be for a few months. I got a new chiller and I'm getting new lights, new skimmer, new sump, live rock and adding sand. Hopefully all by next month, so it will be pretty different. I did get a lot of frags but I want to wait to show them.

 

[MyMonkey]

Cool... I may need a chiller in a few months as well. Thanks.

 

[kimoyo]

If you don't need the chiller in a separate room I would get a drop in; no need for an extra pump. I got this model from premium aquatics on clearance.

Cost me $720 I think.

 

[melev]

Paul, you won't update the thread for a few <u>months</u>? Why not post some stuff now, so we can see how nicely they've grown when you do the big update?

 

[maxxII]

Why did you switch to the drop in from the in-line?
How does the drop in perform in relation to your previous In-line?

Nick

 

[NexDog]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6930041#post6930041 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Paul, you won't update the thread for a few <u>months</u>? Why not post some stuff now, so we can see how nicely they've grown when you do the big update?

Sometimes a tank won't change that month in a few months. I know mine hasn't changed in a month at least (waiting for live rock to cure etc).

 

[kimoyo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6930041#post6930041 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Paul, you won't update the thread for a few <u>months</u>? Why not post some stuff now, so we can see how nicely they've grown when you do the big update?

Frankly, I'm disappointed with my rocks and don't want to show off the tank until I get new ones. I wouldn't recommend land-mined rock to anyone because its full of phosphates. The rocks basically turned green. If you look around the majority of people using land-mined rock like mine have green rocks in their tank. Once its covered in coralline you can't see it anymore but that takes some months. My rocks are starting to cover up but I still don't like it. I think getting the tank running made me realize what I did want in my tank. I want to get some big show pieces, like 4-6, with holes so I can create caves and the rock can extend further up in the tank. It won't take long for me to do but I'm waiting on my new skimmer and sump.

 

[kimoyo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6930100#post6930100 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maxxII
Why did you switch to the drop in from the in-line?
How does the drop in perform in relation to your previous In-line?

Nick

I exchanged my chiller for a few reasons. I live an older building in manhattan and the management company doesn't want to upgrade our wiring. So the basic reason was that I couldn't support the amp draw of a 1/3hp chiller.

But I did some things to the tank that made the heat intake of it less, I'll explain later.

Inline chillers next to the tank are a contradiction for me. If you plan to have your chiller outside or put it in another room then they are cool. But if your going to have your chiller a few feet away from the tank you might as well get a drop in. The bigger the chiller, the faster flow thru rate it will need. So why get a high flow pump, that will add heat into the tank, to power a chiller to take heat out; it really seemed counterproductive to me. And being in an apartment (and having the tank in a certain room) there really is no resonable way for the chiller to go outside.

Aqualogic chiller are awesome, probably the best and most reliable on the hobbyist market (unfortunately also the most expensive). But the older design made it hard to put in different places. With the new design the chiller sits vertical and the cover is solid. So during the summer I can really just put it in window. I'm actually planning on building an exhaust for it after I finish the other upgrades so I don't have to worry about it going in the window. I might even build a vibration isolation / noise dampening cabinet with an intake and exhaust for the chiller. But to me thats the best of both worlds. No pump adding heat/electricty to the tank (or my power bill) and my chiller still exhausting to the outside.

I did make some changes to the tank. Because of an ich issue I tore down the tank at the beginning of the year, so I was able to experiment with the tanks temperature without fear of harming livestock. I looked at all the electricity the tank was using. I realized that the streams were awesome in regard to heat but my t4 return, halides and uv were not. So I swapped out my t4 return (I got the larger one to power my chiller also :lol: ) for a blueline 20 (which was 1/3 of the wattage) and took the chiller offline, remember nothing was in the tank. Right away my temp started dropping. Went from 81-82 down to 78 and stayed steady. Then I turned off the uv and it dropped down to 75 but I didn't want it to go to far so I turned the heater back on. So the return pump and uv were adding a lot of heat the tank. I'm still keeping the uv but during the summer I'll have it shut off before the chiller comes on.

 

[kimoyo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6930175#post6930175 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NexDog
Sometimes a tank won't change that month in a few months. I know mine hasn't changed in a month at least (waiting for live rock to cure etc).

I agree, I don't think I will see much improvement in the next month. But I might see a serious improvement in corals very quickly after i change everything around. I will take shots right before I make the changes to show the difference.

I'm changed the sump for very simple reasons. To make room for a calc reactor, add an auto top off, etc.. I'm changing the lights and skimmer because I feel I have a better understand of how I want my system to work. With SPS, light makes the coral limit the zooxanthellae population but nitrates take away that control the coral has on the zoox. Understanding those two concepts gave me a much better perspective on why some hobbyists tank look the way they do. And since I'm keeping mainly sps I decided I wanted t5 lighting and an oversized skimmer.

With t5's you don't get shimmer lines, it might be harder to keep softies and LPS, and I might have to pick my sps more carefully. But I like the idea of having uniform light across the tank and better heat dispersion.

For the skimmer I decided to get a barr sk5220. I know I was just talking about conserving energy, but as you start to go bigger with needlewheel skimmers, they require more pumps and therefore more energy. But with the new tunze pumps, they pump extremely hard on low watts and are very quiet. That right there will eliminate many of the cons related to beckett skimmers. Secondly, with larger skimmers I think that barr skimmers are the best skimmers (both performance and appearance) on the hobbyist market hands down. I'll talk more about this after I recieve my skimmer.

 

[Ginzo]

Hey Kimoyo !

Great thread, I can't believe I just uncovered this one !

Actually, we have quite similar tanks with the external overflow, except mine is made out of Starfire glass. The funny thing is that I had negociated a price with Chris from MidWest (about 20 emails back-and-forth) only just to go with Miracles because I was worried about the shipping of the tank to Canada and also about the potential scratches.

My tank is going to take some time to setup, but atleast it's in the progress It's nice to have somebody with similar dimensions and to see how he managed to "fit everything underneath the stand". Also, I live in a loft/appartement, so everything needs to be dead silent.

Here's the link to my thread if you want to see:

<a href="http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=744431">Ginzo's 118g Tank</a>

 

[kimoyo]

Wow, I just finished reading your thread and its amazing how we are designing our tanks so similar. I actually talked with Derek and was going to go with Miracles but glass scares me. And living in an apartment I couldn't take the chance. I got the 1" acrylic for the look but I could swing a bat at it and it wouldn't break (althought I would be pretty mad).

Actually, I think I was the first person Chris made an external overflow for. I told him I wanted the whole back to drain but he wanted to make sure the integrity of the tank wasn't comprimised. He made it just like you are having Miracles do.

Now that I have a good physical understanding of what happens in a tank, I'm doing the ssb thing now also. I've seen the bb and dsb people say ssb are bad, but the best looking tank I've seen in person, I mean no algae whatsoever and great corals, was a ssb tank with a big skimmer. Personally, I feel you get the look without the worry of it leaking nutrients.

I see your trying to decide what skimmer to buy and the best advice I can give is don't believe the hype. In fact, I wouldn't believe what most people say on RC to you in regards to this. Find some people who have the skimmers you want and go see them in person and better yet find someone who has several of the skimmers you want hooked up to the same system and visit. Also look a pictures of skimmate in good lighting. I was right where you were at a few months ago trying to decide between a deltec 702 and bk300 ext. You really should read this thread on my local reef club; most of us know each other and its an honest discussion with some really experienced hobbyist.

I have a deltec ap600 and I've seen a few bk's. The bk's are awesome, they are silent, if you look at the bubble movement its not chaotic which I feel is important, and they look really nice. When I think about skimmers now I look at bombardment rate (how much air), contact time and bubble movement. Obviously recirculating needle wheel skimmers work, they increase contact time by recirculating the water (goes back thru the NW pump). You want the contact time to be longer so that the bubbles have time to draw the organics from the water thru attractive forces. But I don't know if going back thru the NW pump is best where the water and air after already being in contact, are exposed to some other serious forces and collisions.

That was the theory, but practically, I've seen a bk300ext get wrecked by a barr sk4220 and it wasn't even close. Then the guy added an ap701 to the system (600g heavily fed) and the sk4220 wrecked them both together. So that my my decision easier, but there is a serious wait time for a barr.

 

[kimoyo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6930776#post6930776 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ginzo
My tank is going to take some time to setup, but atleast it's in the progress It's nice to have somebody with similar dimensions and to see how he managed to "fit everything underneath the stand". Also, I live in a loft/appartement, so everything needs to be dead silent.

BTW, don't be in rush to fit everything under the stand, like I did at first. There are some key things I left out by doing this. Firstly, an auto top-off is necessary for me. I just added frags in the tank at the start of last month. And then I got a new job at the end of last month so my schedule changed. During this time I let the salinity shoot up to 1.031 (I also added saltwater not thinking for top off) and I lost 9 frags, so ATO is a must for me. Secondly, I decided to get a calc reactor. This is not so important at the beginning because I don't have big corals but it is easier for me than remembering to add 2-part every other day. Lastly, I was so fixed on getting everything under the stand that I limited my skimmer options. I'm planning on building a structure to house my skimmer, topoff container, and maybe my chiller. I'm also into coffee (but happily not addicted to it), so I want to incorporate my grinder and espresso machine into the design. Kinda make a coffee bar infront of the skimmer cabinet and to the right of the tank. Hopefully it will turn out nice.

I was also trying to fit a lot of stuff into the sump at first. I haven't posted pics but I got a larger sump and put my skimmer and phosban reactors on the inside. I can't pinpoint why exactly, but that kinda bothers me because I don't even like putting my hands in the tank, and when I'm cleaning or moving stuff I just don't like it.

 

[Ginzo]

Hey Kimoyo,

Thanks for the advice ! Don't worry, I'm in no rush of putting up my tank, in fact I'm pretty much minded that when I get my tank (I should receive it next weekend) that it will take a full year before I even put saltwater in it.

For my skimmer, I have the following 5 essentials requirements:

1) That it be the most silent possible
2) That it be safe (no overflowing because the skimmer went crazy!).
3) Easy maintenance
4) Low power consumption
5) Powerfull skimming

The only skimmer in my mind that can accomplish these 5 requirements is the Bubble King 300 internal. The reason for internal is that, if the skimmer goes crazy that alteast it will overflow into my sump and not on the floor and in my neighbours ceiling. Also, it should fit like a charm under my stand. Also, since my tank will be a few feet away from my bed (I live in a open loft), it needs to be dead silent.

If I had a house, where I could have all my equipement in a different room, the I would definitely look at the Barr Aquactic skimmer since the price is right and it's performance is great !

I'm also going to get a Calcium reactor for my setup. For sure, it's going to be the Schuran JetStream 1.

It's quite funny, because I was so close to ordering my tank almost a year ago with Chris, with an external overflow exactly like yours. I would have been the first to have one from him hehe

 

[Ginzo]

Hey Kimoyo,

Just started to read that thread on the skimmers and I saw the following that somebody posted regarding the SK4220:

pros - great skimming power, air flow gage, quick disconnect banjo fittings, awesome craftsmanship.
<b>cons</b> - very finicky and requires lots of fine tuning with the gate valve after any changes in the tank, need a huge pressure pump to run this beast.

I would hate to have to always play with the skimmer to get in running correctly. The BK is pretty much "plug and play" from what a lot of people are saying.

One question I forgot to ask you: what does <b>ssb</b> mean ?