Randy's 180G Reef-Photo Journal
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jay24k
Active member
Looking good. I ended up making my magnesium mix. I think you were part of it of us being told to be careful with it. I mixed it up and it didn't release any heat at all. Only thing I did notice is I put 4 gallons of water in a bucket and after mixing almost all of it, I was pretty well over 5 gallons in total volume. So you might want to mix either a half gallon of water with the mix and topping off or if you do the 5 gallon method like me, mix 3 gallons and then top off after you mix.
It doesn't mix well at all. I had to stick a powerhead in there.
It doesn't mix well at all. I had to stick a powerhead in there.
cerreta
Premium Member
Conda, I have the EV180 and the water level is setup as Marc has stated. There is a baffle about 1" below the top of the black box. My water level is about a 1/4" below that.
The sump water level is right below the output port (90 degree elbow which is pointed down). The water level is also 4.5" below the top of the black box. I removed the gate valve, no point using it if you have a properly matched pump and proper design. Manufaturers include them to make the skimmers idiot proof, but proper design supercedes its requirement.
I placed the skimmer atop a stand built of black eggcrate. The Mag pump sits nicely below the eggcrate stand.
I run the air intake fully open. It is quieter that way too.
Here is a link to my 110gallon Tall (48x30x18). Boy, it feels like I am in the infant stage.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=779606
Here are a few pics:
The sump water level is right below the output port (90 degree elbow which is pointed down). The water level is also 4.5" below the top of the black box. I removed the gate valve, no point using it if you have a properly matched pump and proper design. Manufaturers include them to make the skimmers idiot proof, but proper design supercedes its requirement.
I placed the skimmer atop a stand built of black eggcrate. The Mag pump sits nicely below the eggcrate stand.
I run the air intake fully open. It is quieter that way too.
Here is a link to my 110gallon Tall (48x30x18). Boy, it feels like I am in the infant stage.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=779606
Here are a few pics:
rdmpe
New member
Hey Conda, if it is steady but too wet, AND it seems to be burping, try cutting back the air valve slowly until you begin to see a difference in the bubble size and less burping. It should also cause the foam to go more dry as well. So if you get the bubble size finer with the air cut back a little, then let it sit for a while or even a day. Then if it needs a slight tweak to the wet or dry, just make a small adjustment to the gate vavle. That's sort of how I did it. I got it in the ballpark with the bubbles looking right, then made slight adjustment to the water level with the gate valve to get the wet/dry level where I thought it should be.
Jay, I didn't really know what to expect with the MgCl. My experience with dow flake was that it can get very hot when mixing with water. When I mix it up for my pool I do about 5 or 6 lbs in a 2 gallon aluminum pot and it gets too hot to put my hand into it. I agree that the mix for the aquarium isn't a big deal at all.
I didn't have to make any giant adjustments. So I only mixed about 100 grams or so at a time, in a gallon of topoff water. That got my levels up around 1350 which is about where I want it.
I haven't tried mixing up the Randy Holmes-Farley recipe yet...
Hey "good one", welcome to my tank thread
I do get a lot of flow out of this system. I'm guessing about 3000 gph from the closed loop and maybe 2000 or 1500 gph from the sump return. Hard to say for sure though 
Unfortunately, I also get a lot of heat out of this system.
My temperatures have been seeing too large of a swing I think. So I messed around with the fan settings so that the fans would cut off a little earlier thinking maybe the tank would not cool off so much but would stay about the same max. But the house got a little warm today and the tank actually got up to 84.7. That's a little warmer than I want. I'd like to keep things under 84.0 AND keep the range of variation down a bit. But I'm not doing a very good job of it.
Here is a very interesting article by Dr. Ron Shimek on the subject of temperatures among other things:
What are Natural Reef Salinities and Temperatures...Really...and Does It Matter?
That article gives me some hope that I'll be OK... On our honeymoon, my wife and I had the good fortune to be able to scuba dive around Taveuni Island in Fiji, and those waters were quite warm, easily in the low to mid 80's. And no lack of reef life...
In any case, it is what it is for now. I am going to continue to operate sans chiller and will see what happens.
Maybe someday I'll dig a really deep hole and make a geocooling system :thumbsup:
Jay, I didn't really know what to expect with the MgCl. My experience with dow flake was that it can get very hot when mixing with water. When I mix it up for my pool I do about 5 or 6 lbs in a 2 gallon aluminum pot and it gets too hot to put my hand into it. I agree that the mix for the aquarium isn't a big deal at all.
I didn't have to make any giant adjustments. So I only mixed about 100 grams or so at a time, in a gallon of topoff water. That got my levels up around 1350 which is about where I want it.
I haven't tried mixing up the Randy Holmes-Farley recipe yet...
Hey "good one", welcome to my tank thread
I do get a lot of flow out of this system. I'm guessing about 3000 gph from the closed loop and maybe 2000 or 1500 gph from the sump return. Hard to say for sure though Unfortunately, I also get a lot of heat out of this system.My temperatures have been seeing too large of a swing I think. So I messed around with the fan settings so that the fans would cut off a little earlier thinking maybe the tank would not cool off so much but would stay about the same max. But the house got a little warm today and the tank actually got up to 84.7. That's a little warmer than I want. I'd like to keep things under 84.0 AND keep the range of variation down a bit. But I'm not doing a very good job of it.
Here is a very interesting article by Dr. Ron Shimek on the subject of temperatures among other things:
What are Natural Reef Salinities and Temperatures...Really...and Does It Matter?
That article gives me some hope that I'll be OK... On our honeymoon, my wife and I had the good fortune to be able to scuba dive around Taveuni Island in Fiji, and those waters were quite warm, easily in the low to mid 80's. And no lack of reef life...
In any case, it is what it is for now. I am going to continue to operate sans chiller and will see what happens.
Maybe someday I'll dig a really deep hole and make a geocooling system :thumbsup:
rdmpe
New member
I have two external sequence darts, one on the CL the other on the sump return. Then I have a mag 9.5 internal running the skimmer. That's it for pumps. All of the pumps are running wide open and no significant plumbing restrictions afaik. The darts and lights really keep my water toasty. I've also heard that the more water, the better it holds heat due to less surface area to volume ratio.
Whatever the reason, the heat is there. My fans keep up with it somewhat, but the lights kick it up more than I like, causing the swing to be more than 3 degrees sometimes.
After I get the lights hung from the ceiling, I will add a little fan setup that blows across the top of the tank between the light and the water surface, it will come on with the lights. That should help some I hope.
Whatever the reason, the heat is there. My fans keep up with it somewhat, but the lights kick it up more than I like, causing the swing to be more than 3 degrees sometimes.
After I get the lights hung from the ceiling, I will add a little fan setup that blows across the top of the tank between the light and the water surface, it will come on with the lights. That should help some I hope.
conda
New member
When I run my CL, my temp goes up 2 degrees. I keep my water temp at 78, then run the CL to get it to 80. 
Regarding temperatures. I recently heard this guy on reefcast say that the reef temp should be 81 when people always recommend 78. I forget who it was, buy he lurks around here somewhere.
And thanks for the skimmer tips, I don't want to hijack here, but I think I have it set. When the skimmer bubbles are at their lowest, they bubble just below the black box of the risor tube, but above the internal platform. This seems to work best. Now I will tweak the air intake like Randy suggested.
Regarding temperatures. I recently heard this guy on reefcast say that the reef temp should be 81 when people always recommend 78. I forget who it was, buy he lurks around here somewhere.
And thanks for the skimmer tips, I don't want to hijack here, but I think I have it set. When the skimmer bubbles are at their lowest, they bubble just below the black box of the risor tube, but above the internal platform. This seems to work best. Now I will tweak the air intake like Randy suggested.
rdmpe
New member
Just got home... AC is off, nobody was home. The thermostat on the other side of the house is reading 78 (the room with the tank is warmer I'm sure), the tank is reading 84.7. I think if we keep the house a little cooler I'll be OK until I can hang the lights and get a fan blowing across the water surface. Then I will be on the warm side but OK I bet. But this time of year, we have the heat running one day and the air conditioner the next day...
msuzuki126
New member
nice work with the tank it looks great.. how many watts is your refugium light and how many hours a day do u keep it on?
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