Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

[jason2459]

For a while now I've been thinking about cleaning out my mixing container (32g brute). Its about 5 years over due. I think I got it some time around 2008-2009 after I lost my first one in that 2008 flood along with everything else in the house.

I'm far to lazy and decided it was easier to just replace it. I found a 45 gallon storage tote that fits perfectly in the spot I had the brute. Made from the same ldpe so should be safe enough. Hope it holds the water ok with out busting out the sides. Guess I'll find out. Good thing there's a floor drain right next to it.

I like the extra water storage too. Good to have more on hand or be able to make more at a time for emergencies. I'll still make a full new batch every couple weeks but I have even more leeway now to miss a few days and still have plenty. I could probably go around 3 weeks now if I wanted too. But I do like having more on hand.

I may just replace my ATO 29g container with one too. They are nice and narrow(19.5" wide") and could fit two side by side in the small space I have.

Here's the old brute. Its had this browish residue in there ever since I used Reef Crystals years ago. Never caused issues so never worried about it.

Getting the new tote plumbed up

 

[jason2459]

Yep totally bowed out. But no spillage. So I'll mix up some salt in it and use it up then look for something else. I'll clean it out and use them for storage so no money lost. Only drilled out that one small hole to start to fill it up and check its ability to hold water so its not ruined.

 

[jason2459]

Got a replacement already. I was at a home depot and they had large 50 gallon gray commercial brutes in stock. Now I just have to use up what's in the bowed out 45g tote. So, now I'll have even more. I won't be able to upgrade my ATO container as the brute takes up more space. I'm fine with that.

 

[jason2459]

Went ahead and got the tote and bin swapped out. I had a couple extra of the 45g totes and just pumped the water out into one of the extra ones, took the tote out, and put the 50g bin in. It just barely fits but it fits. It gets wider on the top just at the right place to be able to still have that 29g tote next to it for ATO. Its square and the round 55g brute wouldn't fit. The 44g might. But this 50 square brute is just right. Also has an attached lid.

I filled drilled it for the float valve and it works perfectly. The float valve is adjustable and did adjust the level to go a bit lower next time as the water level is right at the valve now. I like it to be just a hair below.

I put through the intake strainer and tubing for the automatic water change. The way the container is setup its a little higher in the back then the front so was able to drill the hole through the side and not the lid. It would over flow the front before reaching the hole in the back side. Which I like better because the floor drain is right in front of the bin.

I lost the clip for the weight and will look for it later. But I'm not sure I need the weight. I clipped the float to the front of the tote and that should be good enough. As the water gets lower it will just go down with it and eventually shutoff as it can only go so low with it clipped in place.

So I have it all set back up, water added to make up the extra room I have now over the 45g totes, and dropped a pump in to mix in some salt to bring the salinity back up.

Big Float clipped in place on the front. And you can see which brute I got.

Water level is a hair high and can see the big float floating and the AWC tubing in the back right side.

And down below is the pump I'll pull out soon and next to it the weighted strainer with tubing I got with the stenner for AWC.

 

[jason2459]

The anemones are doing great and it looks like the green one maybe thinking about moving up a little higher towards where the twins are. He's been reaching up that way quite a bit recently but still attached under the bottom of the pile.

 

[jason2459]

Finally making some new saltwater. Looks like that big brute lasts a little over a month. Not bad. The stenner dual head seems to have gotten louder so I'm thinking how to insulate the noise from it. Maybe make some kind of housing for it. Just need the time I don't have to do something about it.

That green bubble tip has of course moved again. Its back on the inside of that cave and on the other side of it.

I did get a new little clown fish and he's paired right up with my original one quite quickly. Only took about a couple days of the big older one rushing the new little guy. They now stay pretty close together. Not by the anemones of course.

Everything else has been doing great even the yellow Fiji which is also always doing something different but doesn't stress me out anymore. Just wait and watch is all I do now.

My skimmer is still awesome and consistently producing the same thick smelly nog all the time.

The only issues I've had and just this past week is that avast peristaltic pump stopped working. Kind of frustrated about that. I need to contact avast about replacing it. I think there's a warranty on them. If not I'm going with a spectrapure as they have stand alone pumps now.

 

[jason2459]

Couple updates....

Watched my Yellow Belly Blue Tang put a nice gash into the belly of my red velvet fairy wrasse yesterday. :uzi:

Got the fairy wrasse out into QT with some antibiotics to help reduce any infection. It wasn't hard to catch as it was laying at the bottom of the tank against the glass breathing hard. Next morning it was dead.


Other then that I have a few new things coming that I was going to update on later when they came but then the slaying happened and figured it noteworthy now. I'd have to look back in this journal to see exactly when I got the Yellow Belly but it's gotten so much bigger since I got it a couple years ago smaller than a quarter.

First new thing that should be coming, hopefully, is a Turbo Algae Scrubber. Been thinking about it for quite a while and have been waiting for one to get built for me. Originally I decided to have one put together by someone else thinking it would be much faster than me finding the time to get something together... But it's finally getting built and I still have very little time so it works out well.

Second thing is a spectrapure setup. I'm getting a few filter system for a pool and it can use a pump injection for the chemicals. Well, I already have the perfect pump for that in the Stenner. Then I also still haven't gotten around to calling Avast to get a replacement peristaltic pump that went out. So, add the two together and that equals the perfect chance to try out a spectrapure solution that seems to always get great reviews for reliability and being very quiet. So, that also solves the need to build some kind of sound insulated box for the stenner.

I just need to look into exactly what I need for the water changes and the kalk/top off. Then figure out how to calibrate the water change components which is one thing I really liked about the dual head stenner and not having to do. Then I can take the Stenner outside and eventually get around to calling avast about warranty and if there is one I'll have it on standby for a backup.

 

[jason2459]

I got all the spectra pure pumps in needed for the ATO and AWC.

I posted this last night in spectrapure's subforum

Yep, all three pumps are there. Don't have time to play with the AWC setup but I did hook up the stand alone pump for the ATO. <br />
<br />
I didn't expect to have to "fix" it out if the box but there was a read me first warning and Alan wrench for it. I plugged it in and it didn't turn at all. So, I unplugged it and used the Alan wrench to take the top off to readjust the rollers. Not something I enjoyed doing at midnight fumbling around with rollers and screws falling out of my hands while expecting plug and play into the same outlet I had my ATO controller setup for. <br />
<br />
But after that the pump took off. Much faster then I expected and quite. I wouldn't say silent but still very quite compared to many other peristaltic pumps. Stenner being by far the loudest. Then the BRS 50ml/m one. The Avast wasn't that bad but also only lasted a few months before dying on me just like the BRS one did twice at about the year mark. Just hope this one lasts me a few years longer then that. I think the spectrapure also has a 5 year warranty which is better then the others as well. So well worth a few more dollars. <br />
<br />
I'll get the AWC setup soon hopefully.

Also, the roller head assembly is quite a bit different from the other peristaltic pumps I've used so far. The rollers just lay in the head unit freely and pressed through I guess through friction. I guess it works since they have a 5 year warranty on them and many people have used them for years with no issue.

 

[jason2459]

I didn't get around to setting up the spectrapure pumps for AWC tonight because I got the Turbo L3 algae scrubber.

He sent an email with the instructions but I didn't see it until I already had it setup and running. It was pretty straight forward to setup that I figured it out with out the instructions. Very nice looking and professional finished off quality to it. I really like the entire design and thought that is put into it. From the dual back up drain system, false bottom to reduce noise, how the lights/heatsinks are mounted seamlessly to the sides, and everything that revolves around reducing any kind of light spillage out of the unit.

So basically I'm very happy with the finished product. It took a long time to get and he's got a waiting list but from the quality and design alone it was worth the wait. Now to see how it performs on my system of many methods mashed together.

Methods in no particular order in place on my system and where I first got their ideas from:
1. Constant daily automatic water changes - thanks randy
2. Reversed under gravel filter with dolomite in sump - thanks paulb
3. Ozone - paulb/water keeper/randy
4. Skimmer (a good one): mojo
5. Sump and quite redundant drain - beananimal
6. Periodic tsunamis in tank with diatom filter - paulb
7. Algae harvesting of some type - paulb, randy, and turbo floyd
8. Vinegar or carbon dosing of some kind - Randy and half the chemistry forum
9. lime water still reservoir ATO - randy

I'm sure I've missed something up there like I guess just having rock in the tank is a form of bio filtration. And many tanks and people I've gotten a lot of help from not mentioned above. Reefcentral has been invaluable.

Really the only thing above I haven't been doing recently (past few years) has been harvesting in some way some kind of algae. So, this is my start with a new way (for me at least) to do it with the ATS.

 

[jason2459]

Reposting this here for easier reference

From floyd r turbo in the algae scrubber sticky

...
Usually after the second cleaning, the screen will have developed a foundation upon which algae will be able to form a good bond. What type of algae will grow next is dependent upon factors stated in the first paragraph of this section. Regardless of the type of growth, the screen will continue to mature to the point where if and when a thick mat of algae grows, it will stay firmly attached to the screen. This is usually attained around the 4-6 week point, and can be verified when algae grows inside the "˜squares' of the screen and does not come loose during cleaning.

My screen break-in cleaning technique progressed as follows:

Week 1: Rinse with slow running tap water

Week 2: Same, except used fingertips to rub screen

Week 3: Rinse off with running water, then rub with fingertips

Week 4: Same

Week 5: Same, had to use backs of fingernails in some places

Week 6: Algae firmly attached. Used back of fingernails across entire screen (now I use a plastic scraper)

Every scrubber will have slightly different growth progression, but the guideline above gives you an idea of what to expect. See "œAlgae Growth Types" for some additional information.

Then start scaling back cleanings based on performance. Maybe 10-14 days between cleanings.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Initially, you can let the screen grow for a while, depending on the growth. Every system is different so it's a big tough to nail down a firm guideline. Generally, if you get nothing but slimy growth, clean that off by swiping the palm of your hand across each side of the screen, lightly rinse, and put back in. Typically you want to wait until the 10-14 day time frame to do this initially if you can. Essentially you want to wait as long as you can between cleanings initially, but you do want to clear off any growth that looks "slimy" so that the green hair can anchor to the base.

If you get bare growth in the middle, and more growth around the edges, this is somewhat normal and it will fill in over time. Make sure the flow is not too high initially as this can wash away any growth trying to attach (you can knock it pretty far back).

 

[jason2459]

Thanks for the help. When I get home I'll scale back the flow as it's wide open right now. Is the light schedule still recommended to start at 9 hours on? I have it set to 12 on right now but read in the basics write up led with dual sided can do 9 hours.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yes, initially you really don't want any more than 9 hours, after a week or 10 days you should be able to tell if this is still too much. There have been instances where people have needed to break up the photoperiod into smaller segments like 2 on/2 off/2 on/2 off etc in order to get past the initial break-in stage. Typically this is the case with a low nutrient tank, and sometimes when the tank has a really bad hair algae problem and the tank algae is sucking all the nutrients out of the water first.

 

[jason2459]

I scaled the flow back a bit but enough that the screen was getting flow over it. Cut back tonfar and large parts wouldn't get any flow. I also adjusted the lighting schedule to 9 hours 11:30pm to 8:30am.

Almost think I would get something with out doing that though. I took off the side light and definitely noticed a light browning on a lot of the screen. See some of in the picture but can see it more in person.

Day 1 and adjusted back now

 

[jason2459]

Oh yeah, can see the difference in picture too comparing this last picture to the one up top with a very white screen.

 

[jason2459]

Looks like I now have triplets.

 

[jason2459]

I finally got around to setting up the two other Spectrapure pumps for the AWC. Almost didn't do it tonight as I didn't really want to fiddle around with it and expected it to be a lot harder then it was but reading the manual first was key to that I think. After skimming through that the setup was really easy. What made it take a long time was running the pumps for 20 minutes each not in parallel as only one could run at a time to break them as as they were both new.

After that I just took all the tubing from the Stenner and hooked them up to the two spectrapure pumps. The main litermeter controller pump is setup to pull the old water from the sump to the drain. Then the remote unit on port B of the controller is setup to pull new saltwater to the sump.

Getting the two pumps calibrated was really easy as long as my measuring to 500ml was close to accurate. That's the part I didn't have to do with the stenner. The main head unit is running at 194ml/m and the remote pump is running at 162ml/m. Then I have it set to do 8 liters per day. Which I guess it does that spread out over 150 times through out the day. It also doesn't run both pumps at the same time but will run pump A first and then will run pump B and if there's a pump C would run that one.

I still have multiple failsafes on top of failsafes to try and make sure the new saltmixing container doesn't run dry or the sump isn't overfilled or pumped dry as well.

I guess this is where most of the complexity comes in and was or is there regardless of what pump or pumps I'm using.

So, to recap what I have in place:

The remote pump is plugged into the liter meter III controller which is then plugged into an ATI tsunami water level by pressure controlled outlet which is my last ditch sump ultra high water mark and is never submerged so no growths or critters can interfere with it.

Plugged up and out of the way of any water catastrophes

Tube to deliver the water pressure to the pressure switched outlet zip tied to a drain.

Which then that is plugged into a piggy back plugged controlled by a large tethered float switch in the new salt mix to make sure it doesn't run dry

The large float switch and that blur of a white thing is the float valve connected to my RODI that I manually turn on but use the float valve as a backup to my memory to shut down the rodi if I don't get to it in time to manually turn it off.

Then that feathered float switches piggy back plug is plugged into a reef keeper controlled outlet. The reef keeper then uses several in sump high and low switches to allow that outlet to be on or off. This is my first line of defense.

The low level is in my return pump chamber and is a dual inline switch setup that is also used for the ATO which the ATO is also plugged into another tsunami at1 outlet for a ultra high safeguard in the return pump section.

Sorry didn't realize this pic was this bad.

Then I have the high level switch connected to a baffle in the middle of the sump. This also won't let the skimmer run if that water level hits that float switch so the skimmer doesn't overflow.

 

[jason2459]

The ATS is a more consistent light brown across the screen which is consistent with the slower flow allowing for the water to be more evenly spread across the screen.

Day 2

 

[jason2459]

Not sure if it can be seen in pictures but the ATS screen is a bit darker brown.

Day 3

 

[jason2459]

I found one issue with using the spectrapure pumps for the automatic water changes. I was used to hearing the Stenner and thinking cool I'm doing a water change. Even at its quietest I could hear it when in the basement. Now I can't hear a thing anywhere.