ReefWaters' 220 Sun Room Reef

Good to hear the move went well, sorry I didn't make it over this weekend, but I'd love to check it out. I may be able to help with the ACIII connection. You've probably already seen this, but there are some ethernet tips at the bottom of this page...

http://www.neptunesys.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=39

Have you tested your RO water to make sure you aren't having Alk issues there? Slow additions of Calcium Chloride will bring your Ca up without raising your Alk any more, it may even lower the Alk a bit.
 
Mark - I'll test the RO water tonight. I hope that's not the issue. Or maybe I do. Anyway, feel free to stop by any time or give me a call.

Another issue Im having is that I cant seem to get my control module to send a signal to the switches. I know it's not the wire, because I can send a signal from one DC to another. Im just not getting a signal onto the house power lines. Is there a setting I am missing?
 
This is it. There is a note after the definitions about a new pump code that I was playing around with.

LT1$-A1
LT2$-A7
LT3$-A11
ML1$-A8
RLT$-B1
LM1&-A2
LM2&-A11
PM1#-A3
PM2#-A4
PM3#-A5
PM4#-B8
PM5#-B5
PM6#-B2
PM7#-B3
HT1%-B7
FAN%-B6
CO2&-B4
AIR&-B10
DOS#-B9
STR&-B11
ALM&-B12

New pump code:
If SUN 000/000 Then DAY ON
RND 005/001 ON/OFF Then PM1 ON
If Timer DAY = OFF Then PM1 OFF
RND 005/001 ON/OFF Then PM2 ON
If Timer DAY = OFF Then PM2 OFF
RND 003/001 ON/OFF Then PM3 ON
RND 003/001 ON/OFF Then PM4 ON

Would shut off PM1 & PM2 at night. DAY is a timer that is assumed to be on during the day and off at night.

If Power 005 Then LT1 OFF
If Power 010 Then LT2 OFF
If Power 015 Then LT3 OFF
If Power 000 Then ALM ON
If Time > 13:00 Then LT1 ON
If Time > 20:00 Then LT1 OFF
If Time > 12:00 Then LT2 ON
If Time > 21:00 Then LT2 OFF
If Time > 12:30 Then LT3 ON
If Time > 20:30 Then LT3 OFF
If Time > 13:00 Then LM1 ON
If Time > 20:00 Then LM1 OFF
If Time > 12:30 Then LM2 ON
If Time > 20:30 Then LM2 OFF
If Time > 21:00 Then ML1 ON
If Time > 11:00 Then ML1 OFF
If Time > 21:00 Then RLT ON
If Time > 01:00 Then RLT OFF
If Time > 02:00 Then RLT ON
If Time > 06:00 Then RLT OFF
If Time > 00:00 Then PM6 ON
If Temp > 78.1 Then FAN ON
If Temp < 78.0 Then FAN OFF
If Temp < 76.5 Then HT1 ON
If Temp > 76.7 Then HT1 OFF
If Time > 00:00 Then PM1 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM2 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM3 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM4 ON
If pHA1 < 06.42 Then CO2 OFF
If pHA1 > 06.45 Then CO2 ON
If pH < 08.10 Then CO2 OFF
If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF
If pH > 08.40 Then ALM ON
If pH < 07.80 Then ALM ON
If ORP < 280 Then ALM ON
If Temp < 75.0 Then ALM ON
If Temp > 83.0 Then ALM ON
If SwitchA2 CLOSED Then AIR ON
If SwitchA2 OPEN Then ALM ON
If SwitchA2 OPEN Then AIR OFF
If SwitchA1 CLOSED Then ALM ON
If Time > 23:01 Then STR ON
If Time > 23:04 Then STR OFF
If Time > 05:01 Then STR ON
If Time > 05:04 Then STR OFF
If Time > 11:01 Then STR ON
If Time > 11:04 Then STR OFF
If Time > 23:00 Then DOS OFF
If Time > 00:01 Then DOS ON
If Time > 05:00 Then DOS OFF
If Time > 06:01 Then DOS ON
If Time > 11:00 Then DOS OFF
If Time > 12:01 Then DOS ON
If SwitchA3 CLOSED Then DOS ON
If SwitchA3 OPEN Then DOS OFF
If pH > 08.40 Then DOS OFF
Max Change 010 M Then DOS ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM5 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM7 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then AIR ON
 
Thanks PaulieWalnuts....sorry I missed that.

Things seem to be doing okay. The fresh water tested at below 1.2 dKH so that is NOT the problem. Between Monday and Tuesday the alkalinity did drop from 14 to 13 dKH. Hopefully I will see more of a drop tonight. Things seem pretty stable.

I am going to add an air vent to the drain running from the secondary to the main sump and hopefully that will buy me some more flow for the mean time. I am starting to get concerned that I am not skimming the display nearly enough. I will most likely replace the entire line with 1 1/2 pipe in the future.

I know everyone wants pictures! Im trying! :D :lol: I promise. I'll have some up soon.
 
Well, I bit the bullet and ordered a tank and some parts for a new secondary sump with a 1 1/2" drain line. I'm going to use a 30 breeder this time and change up the baffles. The 20 long just isn't cutting it. First off, the slow draining is terrible and the baffles aren't handling the flow very well. I am getting a ton of water splashing out on the floor over time. Soooo..... that's that. I'm just waiting for the LFS to get the tank in next week and I have a diamond hole saw, bulkheads, etc on there way as well.

I have a strange (or at least new to me) phenomenon occurring in the main sump. The water is "sloshing" back and forth. Much as you would expect if I had a wave box in the sump. But I don't. :rolleyes: My only guess is that the return pump is surging on a cycle that is just right to cause this water movement. It is not from me walking next to the tank. The floor is rock solid. No movement at all in the floor. Any thoughts and or suggestions on how to prevent this? It wouldn't bother me so much except for the fact that the water level switch clicks on and off about once a second. Its annoying to listen to but I'm more concerned about burning out the switch and top of pump.
 
Check your drains to make sure the air vent holes aren't clogged up. Odds are your overflows are going up and down as well.
 
Marc... I think you might actually have it! I haven't installed and standpipes and I have been running a foam filter on top of the drain holes as well. I will play with that and let you know if that seems to be the cause.

I am having some small equipment issues. Probably nothing but my learning curve with the new setup. I am getting more concerned about my mini-split location. But there is not much I can do about it now. I have noticed some dusty condensation forming on the edge of the unit and possibly dripping in the tank. I'm going to have to come up with a bigger drip catcher and make sure to plumb a drain to it.

On the plus side, all of my parameters seem to be falling comfortably into line. My alkalinity took a steady and consistent fall from 14 dKH for the first few days after the move to 7.6 dKH as of tonight. I am still manually keeping my Ca at around 340 to 370 ppm as tested every night or so. The PH is SLOOOOWWWWLLLY rising. Now that the alkalinity is lower I may start adding some PH buffer. Although Kalkwaser would probably be a much smarter method.

I am seeing a little bit of growth on most of the corals and the nuisance algae seems to be at bay for now.

All is good except for the fact that I still don't have enough time to play with the tank! :D :lol:
 
It seems to me that you are way behind schedule when it comes to posting pictures in your thread. 90+ days and counting.

We refuse to read another word until you pony up some eye candy.
waiting.gif
 
Re: Update

Re: Update

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13541593#post13541593 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefWaters
I was able to complete the move on Saturday and it went surprisingly well. It was exhausting but it did go fairly smoothly. I started around 10 AM and didn't stop until around 10 PM.

So here is where I stand. Just thought Id tell you a little bit about some things that are finished, some things that still need to be done, as well as some problems I have found and some of the things I really like about the system.

The corals are doing okay. Certainly no worse than they were before. I did lose one of my five fish. But it was an old chromis and it could have been that he was just too old to handle the move. The clown pair and coral beauty are doing GREAT. They cant get enough of the extra space. The clowns do laps around the tank and the choral beauty is always out in the open water.

The skimmer is only running on one pump right now. The valve is 100% open, and if I turn the second pump on, it will overflow the cup. But it is skimming already so we will see how it settles in over time. I seem to have made a little mistake with how I plumbed the drain line going from the secondary sump to the main sump. Its 1" and only drops a few inches from one end of the room to the other. I didn't take enough time making sure the pipe slopes down the entire way either. The combination of these two problems means I have a ridiculously low turnover rate through the secondary sump, and therefore the skimmer as well. I think my plan is going to be to re-drill the bulkhead hole for this drain and re-plumb the entire line with 1.5" pipe. I think this will be large enough to give me the turnover I'm looking for.

I am having a hard time figuring out how to connect my computer to my AquaNotes. :D I know, its not that hard, but I am not very good with all the networking jargon and I am not being very patient knowing I cant waste too much time on things that are not 100% necessary right now. I am however, able to get to the controller through Internet Explorer to work on timer programs and names. This makes it a lot faster. However, I have to run an Ethernet cable out the door and across the room to the router to be able to do this. I plan on getting a wireless game adapter soon. Other than the connecting to AquaNotes, I am enjoying the AC III Pro. The Jr taught me pretty much everything I needed to know about the programming.

I have not set up my reactors yet. I am going to manually dose for a while to make sure I get a feel for what the system is using in the way of calcium.

Going back to my alkalinity issues, I went ahead and bought a new test kit. This one came with an "Alkalinity Check Solution." The check solution is calibrated to 7.2 dKH +/- 0.3. I got some interesting readings this time around too. I tested my old kit with the check solution. I actually got a 6.5 dKH. So I went ahead and trashed the test. But that made me realize that if anything, the kit was giving me a lower than actual reading on my previous tests and that my alkalinity has been high, even in the new water. I tested the the check solution with the new kit and got 7.6 dKH. I know this probably has a lot to do with the way I titrate. But I feel that is close enough to feel that I am getting an accurate reading.

Soo.... My alkalinity is definitely 14 dKH. Any ideas on how to get this down? Again, 80% of this water is already new. It had a dKH of 14 before I ever added a drop of the old tank water to it. I feel like this is a little too high. Anyone agree/disagree?

My calcium was 360 ppm last night. I manually dosed. Tonight, the calcium was 340. I think I can get this nailed down and keep it nice and steady after a few days.

Salinity is rock solid at 1.026 and the auto top off from the old system is working like a champ.

The magnesium seems to be getting sucked up pretty fast. I am manually dosing a little each night to keep it up. But I am being careful as I have had problems over shooting my magnesium.

I'm keeping the temp right around 77 to 78 F. I was running the cube a few degrees hotter but wasn't sure if that was causing some of my algae problems. What are you guys running your tanks at?

I was able to get 99.9% of the bubble algae off of the rocks and am pretty confident that I will be able to keep it at bay this go round.

Well, this is getting a little long winded so I'm going to wrap it up. But I do have one more problem I need to work on.

I'm not sure what my PH actually is. Let me give you some more info on this because I think I possibly have more than one problem.

Right now, my PH probe is in the sump next to 4 heaters. The temperature probe is in the display. In this configuration, I am getting a reading of 7.74. If I move the PH probe up to the display, next to the temp probe, I get a reading of 7.9. I tested with a Tetra PH test kit and got a reading that looks like 8.0.

So, what's my problem with the sump reading? The heaters or the fact that the PH and Temp probes were not next to each other. If it is the heaters, I'm not sure where I am going to move the PH probe to. I will be ordering a temp probe extension so that I can put the temp probe next to the PH probe no matter where it ends up. Does anyone see a problem with keeping the PH and or Temp probe in the display? I worry about coraline growing on the probes and or bubbles causing problems with the PH probe.
Click to expand...

Warm water is not as easily saturated with oxygen as colder water. HTH
 
Stop your whining!

Stop your whining!

P1015273.jpg


P1015295.jpg


P1015305.jpg


One of my IceCap 660's is shipping out for warrenty work tomorrow. Notice that the 12 year old 660 is working just fine. :D
P1015310.jpg


Here's the secondary sump which being replaced asap. It is temporarily being used as a fuge. The rock will most likely stay.
P1015303.jpg
 
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