Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
1.9? dang!
Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank
- Thread starter jason2459
- Start date
jason2459
Well-known member
Yeah, I wonder how much food fits in the AFS feeder. lol It was pretty much empty when I got done with playing around with the programming that day. Not a week before or so I think PO4 was around .06 if I remember right.
jason2459
Well-known member
Looks like the last one I logged was on 7/13. I swear I checked it more recent then that but I usually log that kind of stuff in this thread so I can look back if needed like this.
jason2459
Well-known member
Also, I only did one test last night. I'll test again tonight before I put the GFO online but I don't expect it to be under .1 but I do expect that 1.9 to be a false reading.
Edit: hmmm... and now that I'm thinking of it I'm wondering if I read .19... I wasn't totally with it when I was checking it late last night. HA! Either way it's higher then normal maintenance levels.
Edit: hmmm... and now that I'm thinking of it I'm wondering if I read .19... I wasn't totally with it when I was checking it late last night. HA! Either way it's higher then normal maintenance levels.
jason2459
Well-known member
Well I realized on the way home I don't have a reactor anymore. The BRS one I have is been repurposed as a CO2 scrubber and working perfectly for that. I'm happier with itnas that then I was as a GFO reactor. The GFO constantly clumped up very quickly with the amount I use for the 180 which is about 2 cups. Probably would be fine for a smaller system using a lot less GFO. The reaction chamber is just too narrow.
Ive also used a TLF one and hated it. But was going to go and pick one up at the LFS. They had one but also had a nice Next Reef one and picked it up...but then I came across a really interesting concept that looked perfect for me. I'm really getting cramped in my fish room and wasn't looking forward to knocking against one more thing. I picked up a full sized innovative marine minmax reactor. A pump fits right underneath it and it sits right in your sump or tank if you want. I have a corner in my drain section I think this will fit in perfectly. Space solved. It's also a about a 4" reaction chamber and can hold 1L of media which is more then enough for my needs. Always fun to play with new toys.
http://innovative-marine.com/auqa-gadget/mini-max.html
Will see how it goes and will get that setup tonight and take a PO4 reading again
Ive also used a TLF one and hated it. But was going to go and pick one up at the LFS. They had one but also had a nice Next Reef one and picked it up...but then I came across a really interesting concept that looked perfect for me. I'm really getting cramped in my fish room and wasn't looking forward to knocking against one more thing. I picked up a full sized innovative marine minmax reactor. A pump fits right underneath it and it sits right in your sump or tank if you want. I have a corner in my drain section I think this will fit in perfectly. Space solved. It's also a about a 4" reaction chamber and can hold 1L of media which is more then enough for my needs. Always fun to play with new toys.
http://innovative-marine.com/auqa-gadget/mini-max.html
Will see how it goes and will get that setup tonight and take a PO4 reading again
Last edited:
jason2459
Well-known member
Another late night testing but I'm pretty sure I read it right this time and making note of the reading tonight instead of tomorrow after I had plenty of time to mix up where the decimal point was.
PO4 reading this time was .21
So I have full confidence in my inability to remember things and believe last nights reading was .19 Still high and above my target range which is under .1 or more like between .04 and .09 and my system is easily able to maintain that level without the usage of GFO.
I shouldn't need to run GFO very long. But I do like having a reactor handy for times like this or in emergencies like last years tank nuking by cleaning supplies and used lots of GAC.
And here it is the full sized minimax that fit perfectly in the corner of the drain section of my sump. It's filled not quite half way with 2cups high capacity GFO.
It's quite the setup and holds 2cups very nicely. The reaction chamber slides right into an outer tube the pump fits under and drives the water up into the reaction chambering. To adjust flown you adjust the entire reaction chamber.
The adjustment turns easily but its not a very easy way to fine tune the flow. It quickly goes from not enough to allow a slow churning on top to all of a sudden a chaotic tumble. But after going back and forth on the knob on top for a bit I did get it to a perfect slow rumbling on top.
The pump is supposed to push 211gph which is slower then the mj1200 I've used before that just wasn't enough flow to push through the cement that the GFO would turn into with in a day. That could have been from a few things like the chamber being to narrow or because I dose vinegar the bacteria was rapidly taking up residence in the GFO, etc
But there is no head pressure or not nearly as much as the mj1200 had to endure to get up over the side of the tank, through a narrow chamber, and back over again into the tank. So, time will tell if the 211gph pump can keep up the rumble. It would only take 3 days before I had major clumping issues with the BRS and mj1200 combo.
Only real negative so far is that little pump is loud. I'll give it time to quite down but its going to get replaced of it doesn't.
PO4 reading this time was .21
So I have full confidence in my inability to remember things and believe last nights reading was .19 Still high and above my target range which is under .1 or more like between .04 and .09 and my system is easily able to maintain that level without the usage of GFO.
I shouldn't need to run GFO very long. But I do like having a reactor handy for times like this or in emergencies like last years tank nuking by cleaning supplies and used lots of GAC.
And here it is the full sized minimax that fit perfectly in the corner of the drain section of my sump. It's filled not quite half way with 2cups high capacity GFO.
It's quite the setup and holds 2cups very nicely. The reaction chamber slides right into an outer tube the pump fits under and drives the water up into the reaction chambering. To adjust flown you adjust the entire reaction chamber.
The adjustment turns easily but its not a very easy way to fine tune the flow. It quickly goes from not enough to allow a slow churning on top to all of a sudden a chaotic tumble. But after going back and forth on the knob on top for a bit I did get it to a perfect slow rumbling on top.
The pump is supposed to push 211gph which is slower then the mj1200 I've used before that just wasn't enough flow to push through the cement that the GFO would turn into with in a day. That could have been from a few things like the chamber being to narrow or because I dose vinegar the bacteria was rapidly taking up residence in the GFO, etc
But there is no head pressure or not nearly as much as the mj1200 had to endure to get up over the side of the tank, through a narrow chamber, and back over again into the tank. So, time will tell if the 211gph pump can keep up the rumble. It would only take 3 days before I had major clumping issues with the BRS and mj1200 combo.
Only real negative so far is that little pump is loud. I'll give it time to quite down but its going to get replaced of it doesn't.
jason2459
Well-known member
And this also happened tonight.
Very very easy to setup. Pop the lid on a 5g bucket, shove the pressure tube in the top, the other end in the switch, get a tube ran from the skimmer cup to the input. Then let it rip.
I got that 5g bucket from Lowe's. I can see the liquid level, how much was removed so I can adjust water change to compensate, and a nice handle. I had some 1/2" vinyl tubing laying around and used it for the skimmer cup drain to the locker.
I hooked up the pressure switch to the Apex BoB in the basement and implemented the DJFull and vLockerF programming from above. Eventually I'll get another switch in the top and make it the dump me now before full switch.
The skimmer right now will shut off if that pressure switch opens. I tested it and pulled it out and blew into it. Took the 2s delay and shutdown the skimmer and emailed me an alert. Stopped blowing and the skimmer deferred the 2m and started right up.
Just on the off chance the tubing gets obstructed I still have the air intake shoved into the top of the skimmer cup lid and pushed it further down. This is like how the life reef skimmers are setup which will prevent overflow and effectively shutdown production.
If the switches fail and I somehow don't visually see the bucket getting full during my morning and nightly checks it will just overflow into the floor drain next to it. It will smell bad but able to recover and clean up from.
Very very easy to setup. Pop the lid on a 5g bucket, shove the pressure tube in the top, the other end in the switch, get a tube ran from the skimmer cup to the input. Then let it rip.
I got that 5g bucket from Lowe's. I can see the liquid level, how much was removed so I can adjust water change to compensate, and a nice handle. I had some 1/2" vinyl tubing laying around and used it for the skimmer cup drain to the locker.
I hooked up the pressure switch to the Apex BoB in the basement and implemented the DJFull and vLockerF programming from above. Eventually I'll get another switch in the top and make it the dump me now before full switch.
The skimmer right now will shut off if that pressure switch opens. I tested it and pulled it out and blew into it. Took the 2s delay and shutdown the skimmer and emailed me an alert. Stopped blowing and the skimmer deferred the 2m and started right up.
Just on the off chance the tubing gets obstructed I still have the air intake shoved into the top of the skimmer cup lid and pushed it further down. This is like how the life reef skimmers are setup which will prevent overflow and effectively shutdown production.
If the switches fail and I somehow don't visually see the bucket getting full during my morning and nightly checks it will just overflow into the floor drain next to it. It will smell bad but able to recover and clean up from.
jason2459
Well-known member
Woo hoo hit 366 this morning. Getting those big jumps again it seems. Almost wonder where it would be at if I didn't dump all that food in which would fight to lower the ORP. I'm curious when or if it ever hits 400. It's still mind blowing to me my ORP levels being this high and from just having an ATS. It's the only thing different from anything I've ever had or done in the past.
jason2459
Well-known member
I should of thought of this before getting a screen capture from the webcam in the canopy showing the spread of the cyano. Its a good angle to see it or at least it was before. It's receeding quite a bit now and a lot of that white sand you see was covered. Now you can still see some areas. Right now is about its peak grow out for the day. At night it shrinks back even more. I have never had an issue showing off problem areas of my tank. 
I think the worse shots were of my 55g after I filled it with pukani dry rock and every square inch was covered in multiple types of algae including multiple types of bryopsis. Those were fun times.
note that water agitation is provided by a single vertically mount gyre 150 with only half of it going the right direction as I do alternating gyre mode. I love that pump. The agitation looks even more dramatic if watching the live footage and not a single frame capture.
I think the worse shots were of my 55g after I filled it with pukani dry rock and every square inch was covered in multiple types of algae including multiple types of bryopsis. Those were fun times. note that water agitation is provided by a single vertically mount gyre 150 with only half of it going the right direction as I do alternating gyre mode. I love that pump. The agitation looks even more dramatic if watching the live footage and not a single frame capture.
jason2459
Well-known member
Cleaned out the skimmers collection cup tonight and slapped together the Swabbie and placed on top. Hardest part is making sure the lid is centered.
Reminding me of my frankenskimmer I started out in this journal with.
I really wish this skimmer didn't perform so well. I would really like an excuse to try out a new skimmer BUT I just haven't found one yet.
I did turn the fine tuning dial three rotations which isn't much and here's one day of slightly wetter skimmate down to Davy Jones Locker.
Reminding me of my frankenskimmer I started out in this journal with.
I really wish this skimmer didn't perform so well. I would really like an excuse to try out a new skimmer BUT I just haven't found one yet.
I did turn the fine tuning dial three rotations which isn't much and here's one day of slightly wetter skimmate down to Davy Jones Locker.
jason2459
Well-known member
There was a small dip in the ORP last night around 3am but overall the increase gained higher again and hit 395. Not sure what the dip was from but I'll assume something died. lol
For the past week pH and ORP have been reacting normally and so has the overall trend with pH not being near as drastic. Here's a 7day graph from reeftronics giving a good view of the two with pH slightly trending down and ORP climbing strongly.
And of course the big drop in ORP towards the beginning there was the mass dropping of food.
For the past week pH and ORP have been reacting normally and so has the overall trend with pH not being near as drastic. Here's a 7day graph from reeftronics giving a good view of the two with pH slightly trending down and ORP climbing strongly.
And of course the big drop in ORP towards the beginning there was the mass dropping of food.
jason2459
Well-known member
I always forget this little guy is in the tank. I think it looks like its doing good?
I also picked up and added the Predator yesterday
Always wanted a porcelain crab and now I've got some anemones for one to live in.
And the foaming machine just keeps chugging along and dumping into the locker below. It's weird not cleaning it out. The swabbie is now running for two minutes to get almost two full rotations in. It moves very slowly. Which I ran it manually and notice it really doesn't nock down the foam production at all it moves that slow. I read somewhere someone is experimenting with running the swabbie 24x7.
I did find out I can get a neck extension for the SRO3000sss but its a custom order and like $70. I'm thinking about it because the hy3000 pulls just a little to much air and the neck extension would help I think. Other issue is I would have to buy a new pump as the one I have is failing which is another thing I'm not so happy about with the SRO series as they aren't cheap and I've had several fail now.
I also picked up and added the Predator yesterday
Always wanted a porcelain crab and now I've got some anemones for one to live in.
And the foaming machine just keeps chugging along and dumping into the locker below. It's weird not cleaning it out. The swabbie is now running for two minutes to get almost two full rotations in. It moves very slowly. Which I ran it manually and notice it really doesn't nock down the foam production at all it moves that slow. I read somewhere someone is experimenting with running the swabbie 24x7.
I did find out I can get a neck extension for the SRO3000sss but its a custom order and like $70. I'm thinking about it because the hy3000 pulls just a little to much air and the neck extension would help I think. Other issue is I would have to buy a new pump as the one I have is failing which is another thing I'm not so happy about with the SRO series as they aren't cheap and I've had several fail now.
jason2459
Well-known member
Can't edit above but ORP actually hit 397 by the time it was done climbing this morning. I will assume it will hit 400 tonight!! :crazy1:
