ReefWaters' 220 Sun Room Reef

Well its been a heck of a couple of weeks. I had my wisdom teeth pulled two weeks ago so that put me out of commission for a solid week. Then, just when I was starting to feel normal again, I pulled my back out. I can barely walk, let alone work on the tank. :rolleyes:

Oh well. That's life I guess. Hopefully I'll be feeling better in the next day or two and can get some work done over the weekend.


Another question about the AC Pro: Will the PH probe from the AC Jr work on the Pro? They do not look identical but Im pretty sure they have the same connection. Also, I plan on running a probe in the main sump to read the tank PH and then a second probe in the calcium reactor chamber. But I will have to run about 15 to 20 feet of wire to get to the reactor from the AC Pro. Do they make an extension cord? Or would I have to do one of the expansion boxes?
 
You will need an expansion box anyway to utilize the second pH probe. I have about the same setup. If the probes have the same connector, you should be fine, but keep in mind they DO NOT have an infinite lifespan. 1 - 2 years at the most, depending on the "grade" you buy.
 
How can you tell when a probe is shot? Use an occasional test kit?

I also thought you could use the dissolved oxygen connection on the controller to run a second PH probe?
 
That may be possible regarding the DO but I have not heard that before. I would talk to Curt about that.

Probes are easily plated even when new so they require quite a bit more attention than what is commonly assumed. And I don't know how much of "lifespan" is actually marketing. I have had 3 conductivity probes that didn't last long at all, and this is easily noticed when the values drop dramatically without cause.

For pH, that's another story. It may be more of a "feel" thing, but I am not very trusting of the ones I have now. I recently replaced one but have noticed that the one on my reactor does not seem to be registering much when the reactor is on. That's on my list today. I will re-calibrate it and see how it behaves, and if I get to a point that I don't believe it any more, then I will put on a new one.
 
I hate to hear that you have problems with the conductivity probe. I really want to be able to keep my salinity more spot on than I have been. But its not like taking a refractometer test is real hard or anything. :rolleyes:

Even though it would take an elaborate set up to "control" your salinity with the Pro, you can at least tell it to send you an alarm message if the salinity drops below a set point right? That way you can check the tank and determine at that point if the drop was caused by normal loss of salt (skimate, creep,spills, etc) over time or if it is being caused because of too much fresh water being dumped in the tank by your top off. Am I on the right page here?
 
yes, BUT, that page is very wrinkled! :rolleyes:

When I first set up my system I relied on the cond probe and it seemed to go well for a while, but as the system aged, I noticed the probe screwing up. I discussed it with Weast and he very pointedly told me that they were not good for much and I should always check using a refractometer that has been properly calibrated.

I have not had a properly working cond probe on my system for over a year. I clean them, calibrate them, and they start showing a dropping value with a couple of days. This could be due to system issues like stray voltage but I have isolated the probe, installed a bunch of grounding probes etc. with still poor results.

So, I check salinity every day with a refractometer. I had originally used it to control top-off but it was just way out-of-spec. all the time. Now I use a LiterMeter III tied into the AC Pro to dose fresh kalkwasser based on pH and water level.
 
Subscribed and I'm along for the ride. The system is looking great, and I'm loving your fishroom. "Any updates?" and "post more pics!"
 
I am moving along....very slowly.....as usual.....

I have all the plumbing finished for the main display, water change sump, and main sump. I have water tested this with fresh water and fixed the few leaks I had in the plumbing. I am EXTREMELY pleased with the the fact that the floor didn't fall in. :rolleyes: With the display and two sumps underneath it filled, I can jump next to the tank and I don't even get a ripple. I have already drained the fresh tap water out of the tank and will start filling it with RO pretty soon here.

I'm in the process of cleaning out all the unnecessary crap from the fish room (tools, plumbing parts, etc) and will then hopefully be able to wrap my head around the details of finishing this thing up.

As always, I am having to find time between work, my house, my girlfriend, and a little bit of me time. So its getting done 5 minutes at a time.

I've got to get the controller set up and installed. Plumb the feed pump and drain for the skimmer. Fill the display, WC and main sump with RO, then salt, and then get the parameters right. Once I have this all in line for a few days and nothing seems to be going haywire, I will transfer the rock and corals over to the display. I will probably just place my 10 gallon fuge in the WC tank for a while. I'm going to get a handle on the system for a few weeks before I try to add the fuge and prop tank to the system. The hardest part of that project will be assembling the tanks.

That's about where I am....... :smokin:


As some of you may or may not know, my current cube crashed several months back. This was completely my fault. I stopped almost all maintenance on it because, a) I was bored with it and b) I was spending my free time on the new tank. I have been doing what I can to get it back in line but it has not recovered. I have stabilized the coral plague and stopped the incessant death, but I am left with some sad coral specimens and a forest of bubble algae. I'm trying to decide how I'm going to deal with the bubble algae. On one hand, I want to completely clear the tank of it before I move to the new system. However, I am in no mood to mess with that system anymore. My wood floor is already ruined and more water damage wont do any good. The tank has a small leak up at the top. The floor is making the whole thing lean. I can barely get a hand in the tank to work on it. I cant get my hands in the overflow to clean it.....etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

So I guess where I am at is trying to figure out my plan of action on how to minimize the transfer of bubble algae to the new system during the move. My initial thought is to remove all the coral from the rock during the move and place it in the new display on egg crate. Then I would scrub all of the rock to get rid of any bubble algae, but I'm not going to cook it or anything. Then I was thinking I would place all the rock in the sump for a few weeks so it would not receive any light, and hopefully hinder any bubble algae growth.

Anyone have any other thoughts on that subject?
 
If you aren't feeding that tank too much, you might drop in a small army of emerald crabs to clear off the rockwork of all that valonia.
 
Marc... Thought about that. But I want to say I have heard that more than 2 or 3 emeralds in a 50 gallon tank would kill each other? Is that true? If not, how many do you think I could add? I have one right now but I wouldn't expect one to touch it at all.
 
Since they are just 'day-workers' for your tank, get a few and put them to work. You can always return some to your LFS for credit or use them in other tanks, or trade them with local hobbyists for frags.

Getting your rock picked clean would be your priority, I'd imagine. I wouldn't expect a war to break out in the land of plenty, if you know what I mean.

The LFS by my house had a ton of valonia in the series of tanks on the back side of the store. He put a few in each tank, and it was light night and day. I doubt it took them a full week to clean it all up.
 
REALLY!? Ive always had one or two in the tank, but never noticed them devour a lot of velonia though. Okay, so seriously, give me a number. :D 10? 20? What are we talking about here?

Also, Ive always wondered how they end up eating the stuff. It seems fairly hard, considering its size. Do they puncture the bubble and then eat the skin?

Im heading out of town until the beginning of next week but I think I'll probably place an order for a bunch to come in on Tuesday.
 
Emeralds are extremely hit or miss. To say they'll fix the issue is a complete guess. Some devour it, some wouldn't touch it if it's the last thing in the tank. It's worth giving it a try. Also realize that it has a good chance of spreading to other sections/tanks when this process starts.
 
My experience with emeralds has not been good. They didn't appear to eat any nuisance algae and I did notice pincer wounds on fish from time-to-time. I think mine are finally gone, but there's no way for me to know for sure.
 
I want to say I feel like the ones Ive purchased in the past have never lasted long. But I do believe it is possibly worth a try.

Does anyone have ANY other suggestions?
 
my foxface eats valonia like a pig. in my situation, manual removal is just not possible. Recently my fuge was completely coated with bubble algae and I popped in a small "collector" urchin. It ate virtually every single bubble.
 
Am I correct that bubble algae feeds more off of light than nutrients and phosphates, etc.? Which, as Jonathan is indicating, would mean that I almost have to find some critters to eat it????

So whats my critter list now?

Emerald Crab
Collector Urchin
Foxface

Anything else?
 
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