Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

[jason2459]

Well, this is interesting.

Before I was running ozone through my Eshopps psk-100h skimmer (not the best reactor I know) and going full blast (50mg/h) I could get my ORP levels up to around 200. With out the ozone running my ORP would fall to around 120. pH was always around 7.8-8.2.

Since switching over to this new sro lx2000s skimmer I have not been running any ozone as I'd like to create a much better reactor (thinking of doing the RHF tube reactor). My ORP initially crashed down to the 120 level but after over a week now with the new Skimmer with massive air draw, compared to the old skimmer, I'm up to a solid 220 and I haven't seen my pH dip below 8. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

BTW, I did end up getting a 400mv ORP calibration solution and after 10 minutes my probe finally climbed up and read 400 on the dot. After 15 minutes it read 403. Which is good because I've always let the probe sit in the tank for around 10-15m before reading it.

 

[mr9iron]

Jason, how do you think SRO preforms to other skimmers like the Remora, Euro Reef or other HOBs? I'm trying to decide between a couple of different skimmers and want to get the most bang for my buck.

 

[jason2459]

dbl post

 

[jason2459]

Jason, how do you think SRO preforms to other skimmers like the Remora, Euro Reef or other HOBs? I'm trying to decide between a couple of different skimmers and want to get the most bang for my buck.

I don't have any experience with the Remora (other then hearing that it's very noisy and you need to find the right pump for it) or the Euro Reef (other then they are out of business and I don't really like their venturi design).

The performance of the sro lx2000 has been very good in pulling out some very nasty smelling skimmate. It is getting slightly darker now but still very wet. Still wondering how long the break in period of this thing will be. Could be several weeks.

I've used a octo bh-100, coralife ss65, and an eshopps psk-100h. Oh and for a very short period a seaclone. I've read up on a lot of skimmers over the past year or so as well. I find them very intriguing. I'd love to try out a SWC HOT Extreme, ATB Multi-Use, or a Warner Marine Hx2. All three look like power houses as well as having some great reviews on them.

Octo bh100 was very basic. It worked but the 55g I have probably maxed it out. Not to noisy but the small collection cup was a pain as I had to watch it to make sure it would not over flow. I also didn't like the o-ring adjustment.

The seaclone was just an awful design. The microbubbles did not have anywhere near enough contact time to really do anything productive.

The coralife ss 65 was not a bad skimmer. The rio-1100 was a noisy pump though. It was a cheap skimmer and did produce some decent skimmate. I did have an issue of it overflowing while it was breaking in the first week or so. After that never had an issue with that. Never had any problems with needing to constantly adjust either that some say they need to. Again I think my 55 with a decent bioload was maxing it out. I ended up tweaking that thing out to it's max as seen earlier in this thread.

The Eshopps psk-100h is a great skimmer. I'd say it is a good fit for this size of a tank (55g). Break in period was extremely quick and with in 1 day was pulling nice dark skimmate.The design is much better then the Coralife SS 65 and includes some great features for a cheap skimmer. It is also the quietest skimmer I've used. Review on that also earlier on in this log. Just not to big of a fan of the mesh wheel. As I was having a hair algae die off I needed to clean out the mesh a lot more often then I'd like. 3x in a two month period I believe.

So, right now I'm going total oposite of the spectrum and trying out what I believe is the most powerful HOB skimmer out there in terms of water flow and air draw. This doesn't mean it will be the best out there if the body of the skimmer can't take advantage of the pump. So far that's up in the air. The skimmate is getting slightly darker like I said above and the microbubbles are calming down a bit. It's still one of the loudest HOB skimmers I've used right up there with the coralife SS 65. I can definitely see this being able to easily handle a 100g plus system with my 55g way low on the spectrum of what this thing should be ran on.

 

[Aquarist007]

So, right now I'm going total oposite of the spectrum and trying out what I believe is the most powerful HOB skimmer out there in terms of water flow and air draw. This doesn't mean it will be the best out there if the body of the skimmer can't take advantage of the pump. So far that's up in the air. The skimmate is getting slightly darker like I said above and the microbubbles are calming down a bit. It's still one of the loudest HOB skimmers I've used right up there with the coralife SS 65. I can definitely see this being able to easily handle a 100g plus system with my 55g way low on the spectrum of what this thing should be ran on.

Can you post some pictures of the skimmate it is drawing.
The remora pro is a good skimmer but on both remoras there is no air adjustment--you just raise the skimmer cup--which IMO is rediculous

 

[Aquarist007]

Don't think I've mentioned this yet in here but I have repositioned my K4's yet again and think I've found a permanent place for them. I kind of have them behind my rock work and pushing water through two openings I have built up around the pumps. One on the left and one on the right and deflecting right off the front glass. Makes some good water flow and movement in the tank. Plus it kind of hides the K4s.

Along with putting up the screen around so fish can't jump out I also need to paint those ATO pvc covers for the float valves. They really stick out like a sore thumb right now.

be interesting to see how the surface of the sandbed does with this arrangement.

 

[jason2459]

Can you post some pictures of the skimmate it is drawing.
The remora pro is a good skimmer but on both remoras there is no air adjustment--you just raise the skimmer cup--which IMO is rediculous

Here's about a day and a half of skimmate. It's pretty wet but it is the smelliest skimmat I've ever smelled. It's gotten a little darker as it's starting to break in. In another week I'll take another picture of it.

 

[jason2459]

be interesting to see how the surface of the sandbed does with this arrangement.

The left one has moved a little bit of the substrate but not much. The right one hasn't moved any of it. Though I do have a dolomite gravel and not a fine sand.

 

[jason2459]

Here's my first and hopefully last attempt at jump proofing my canopy. I had a firefish once that jumped and hit the side of the canopy and got stuck. So I have put screen around the back and the inside. Hopefully now if a fish jumps it will just slide back into the aquarium. I was wondering at first how I would support the screen in the back but I have so much stuff back there now it pretty well supports the screen. I just used a staple gun to attach the screen to the canopy.

In the last photo you can see the autofeeder I just got. Will use that to feed dry foods at around noon and then when I get home I'll feed some frozen foods.

 

[ROB2005]

In your present pic of the skimmer Jason, are you wet skimming for the time being?

 

[jason2459]

In your present pic of the skimmer Jason, are you wet skimming for the time being?

Didn't have much of a choice. I had the collection cup raised all the way up. It was foaming so much it was a wet skim no matter what. Just the past day or so now that has completely stopped and looks like I will now need to start lowering the collection cup which is a good sign. The microbubbles in the tank are greatly reduced but still slightly present. Looks like it is starting to finally break in. I was worried for a bit there that the pump was way overpowered for this skimmer and there wasn't going to be any choice but to have a very wet skim. I like a slightly wet skim but not a very wet skim. :lol: Does that make sense?

 

[blrrobinson21]

That's what she said??

 

[jason2459]

:bigeyes:

 

[Aquarist007]

Didn't have much of a choice. I had the collection cup raised all the way up. It was foaming so much it was a wet skim no matter what. Just the past day or so now that has completely stopped and looks like I will now need to start lowering the collection cup which is a good sign. The microbubbles in the tank are greatly reduced but still slightly present. Looks like it is starting to finally break in. I was worried for a bit there that the pump was way overpowered for this skimmer and there wasn't going to be any choice but to have a very wet skim. I like a slightly wet skim but not a very wet skim. :lol: Does that make sense?

There are reefers that do a water change that way--using their skimmer:idea:

 

[jason2459]

There are reefers that do a water change that way--using their skimmer:idea:

I was reading that thread before. I've been doing a quick 1 minute or less water change of about 1-2 gallons just about every day. I'll miss a day here or there but don't worry about it. I have two lines running to my basement. One to the drain and the other to my saltmix container with a mag 1800 in it.

On the drain tubing I have a siphon/priming pump (like you see on some boats for priming an out board engine). I just pump it once and it starts draining. I have a small mark at 3g/5g/10g on the back corner of my tank. I just let it drain quickly to about half way to the 3g mark. I pull the tube and plug in the water pump. I ran an extension cord down to the basement too so I can just plug in the water pump and unplug it upstairs with the tank. It fills up pretty fast. Entire operation is just under a minute.

I figure if I do it at least 4 days a week assuming I forget or miss a day here or there, which I do, I'm doing around a 24 gallon monthly water change. I fill the brute can once a month and add salt. :beer:

In the post above with the screening you can see the water supply line I have hanging right on the skimmers intake that goes in the tank. Its the first picture.

 

[jason2459]

Well, one negative thing about putting that pregnant peppermint shrimp in the refugium is that over the course of the past few days it has wiped out my aptasia back there.

Yes, I know most people would like that but I was harvesting them as my peppermints seem to be voracious aptasia eaters. I'd take a rock out from back there about once a month and put it in my main tank. The next morning all the aptasia on it would be gone and I'd put it back in the refugium to get repopulated. I haven't seen a single aptasia in my main DT since I got those peppermint shrimp.

So far I've been about to count at least 3 of the 4 that I had before. I could have the fourth in there someone still but don't know. Seems like most all the inverts survived the lack of flow and oxygen.

 

[jason2459]

HOT DOG!!!! (yes, I've been watching way to much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!)


My mandarins are still alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :celeb1:

They just appeared out of no where tonight. I'm super excited about this. I thought that they were gonners. Both of them are just hovering around picking at the rocks and glass like nothing happened.

Wondering if the UGF might have saved all the critters that were bottom dwellers and were able to get under the rocks? Only fish that were not bottom dwelling fish that survived were the Clowns.

Can't wait to get the fish downstairs out of QT and into the tank. So far they all seem fine and are eating everything I throw in there.

 

[jason2459]

Time for an inventory break down again I think.

DT Equipment
- 55g tank w/ custom stand and canopy

- 2 50w rena smart heaters

- 4 bulb 54w T5HO retro fit into canopy (Front to back ATI Aquablue Special, UVL Actinic White, ATI Blue+, ATI Blue+) Also two 4" fans to cool bulbs.

- 2 plate UGF each being fed by a 53gph quiet one pumps

- HOB refugium about 8g of total water added there / 18w CFL eco clamp lamp

- Marineland c220 Canister (220gph) filter feeding the HOB refugium. (also just added some BRS pellet GFO till the po4 goes back down after the last disaster)

- 2 Koralia 4s (1200gph each)

- Super Reef Octopus lx-2000s HOB Skimmer w/ bubble blaster hy-2000 pump (about 500gph water flow and taking in 1300lph of air)


- Reefkeeper Lite controlling heaters, all lights, and fan for heating and cooling

- redsea ozonizer 50 (not in use right now but will setup again later)

- 5 gallon Bucket for ro/di top off water

- aqualifter conected to three float switches for ATO. Two redundant switches to tell it to stop when the tank is full and one switch to tell it to stop if the tank is draining for water change or even worse a leak.

Water turn over rate @ 3120 gph turn over

Last set of tests done last weekend
Temp around 79f
35SG
Cal: 480
Alk: 11dkh
Mag: 1380
pH: 8.1
ORP: 220
A/N/N: 0/0/5
po4: off charts for API kit

Power failure
- 2 azoo battery backup air pumps (one for HOB refug and one for DT) to turn on when they sense power outage (says it will last 20+ hours)

- APC SmartUPS 1500 (should last at least 2-4 hours) w/ canister filter plugged in and backup air pumps to kick on when UPS runs out of juice

- 1500w power inverter to plug into car lighter and 100' extension cord

- Education on how to turn off alarm on UPS and not unplug everything then turn off UPS....

Basement Water Supply and Mixing
- BRS 150gpd 5 stage plus RO/DI
- 32g Brute trashcan
- Seio p530 powerhead
- some 300w heater that probably needs to be replaced
- whisper 60 air pump
- mag drive 1800 (50' extension cord run to upstairs tank)
- two runs of vinyl tubing (one from DT to drain w/ priming pump and one from mag drive to DT)
- 200g boxes of IO Reef Crystals

Mixing pretty much 24/7. Change out about 1-2 gallons each day to every other day and takes just under 1 minute to perform and can stay upstairs with the tank. Change out about 24 gallons a month this way.

QT Tank in Basement
- 20 gallon long w/ metal stand
- tight fitting hood w/ single standard florescent
- two small powerheads with sponge filters
- 1 50w rena smart heater
- HOB whisper powerfilter w/ carbon (carbon not used during medication)
- some PVC piping cut up

Live Stock (Some are still in QT)
- Pair of Clownfish
- Pair of Mandarins
- Yellow Watchman Goby and Tiger Pistol Shrimp
- Mystery Wrasse (QT)
- Pair of Long Fin Fairy Wrasses (QT)
- Pair of Sharknose Gobies (QT)

- Fire shrimp
- 3 or 4 Peppermint shrimp (only seen 3 so far but I'm putting money on still having 4)
- several blue leg crabs
- 1 red leg crab
- several nerite snails
- small hand full of Nassarius snails
- many dwarf cerith and a had full of Florida cerith snails
- quadradouple magazillion various pods
- 75lbs of live rock
- dolomite gravel substrate

 

[blrrobinson21]

Sounds good, now where is the updated tank picture? LOL

 

[jason2459]

Sounds good, now where is the updated tank picture? LOL

:thumbsup:

This was from about two weeks ago after I got back and after the power outage disaster.

I'll get some more pics in once I get the new additions added from the QT. Right now there's still quite a bit of cyano but that is slowly starting to go away now since I started running GFO to take up all the extra po4.