Serpentman's 300g upgrade

[serpentman]

Its been several weeks since I finished the front trim and essentially sealed off the fish room. I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised at some of the effects this has had on my water chemistry. For one, my pH has been higher on average. I would have thought this would have been lower. I can only attribute this to a relatively high ambient CO2 in the basement. Second, which isn't surprising, is my temps have been spike much higher than historically normal. Even on warm days the tank never climbed higher than 79F. Now, things have been climbing to about 80-80.5F daily. However, we've had some cold temps lately and my furnace has been running pretty constant. Since the room has a cold air return, this seems to have lowered things a bit. The one bonus is my tank heaters have run considerably less. Since they run ~1500W, this should translate to significant $ savings on the ole electric bill, which have been averaging $450/mo

 

[murfman]

When is the last time you tested and calibrated the probe? Higher CO2= lower pH. I moved my skimmer intakes out side to pull in fresh air and keep pH higher.

 

[serpentman]

Monthly. I meant higher CO2 in the rest of the basement. With the room isolated, I believe it actually has less CO2.

 

[AD87]

Are you still gonna track your ph reading with and without plants.

 

[serpentman]

Hey Tony, yeah I still plan to do that. I saved the graphs as a baseline. Since the forecast looks cold from here on out, I might wait to get another few days data since the furnace is running constant now.

 

[EddieJ]

Just went downstairs and found 40g of water on the floor! Ughh!

The flange on one of my media reactors completely gave way. Some of the wiring was smoking. I have no idea why the GFCI didn't trip. Thank God I was home!

All has been cleaned up and disaster averted. Man that was a lot of water...

GFCI's are designed to detect a ground fault and save your life. They are not designed to prevent fires. What you need are AFCI's to prevent fire. They detect arcing (saltwater poured into a socket or on wires) and break the circuit to prevent fire. Really you should have AFCI breakers and GFCI outlets with anything in your fish room / tank room.

GFCI's save your ***, AFCI's save your stuff...

 

[serpentman]

GFCI's are designed to detect a ground fault and save your life. They are not designed to prevent fires. What you need are AFCI's to prevent fire. They detect arcing (saltwater poured into a socket or on wires) and break the circuit to prevent fire. Really you should have AFCI breakers and GFCI outlets with anything in your fish room / tank room.

GFCI's save your ***, AFCI's save your stuff...

Thanks. Honestly, I'd never heard of AFCI's. I'll definitely look into them. Is this something you can find at HD or do you need to go to an electrical supply store?

 

[techreef]

This is the only hobby I've had where, five years into it, I pick up how to not let it burn down my house.

 

[EddieJ]

Thanks. Honestly, I'd never heard of AFCI's. I'll definitely look into them. Is this something you can find at HD or do you need to go to an electrical supply store?

I haven't seen them at HD, but all you have to do is do a Google search with your breaker brand and add AFCI. Definitely a smart idea on all circuits that can come into contact with saltwater.

 

[DrHarryLopez]

At least the pH is still within the normal range.

 

[serpentman]

Just wanted to post a little update. Installed my Xmas presents the other day. Upgraded the return pump from a Dart(3600gph) to a Barracuda (4300gph). On paper not a big difference. However since the Dart was probably only putting out ~1500gph with the head loss and Barracuda handles the head pressure better, I would say actual turnover is double.

Also replaced my MH bulbs. Stayed with the Phoenix 14K's for another year....

 

[Padrino]

Its been several weeks since I finished the front trim and essentially sealed off the fish room. I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised at some of the effects this has had on my water chemistry. For one, my pH has been higher on average. I would have thought this would have been lower. I can only attribute this to a relatively high ambient CO2 in the basement. Second, which isn't surprising, is my temps have been spike much higher than historically normal. Even on warm days the tank never climbed higher than 79F. Now, things have been climbing to about 80-80.5F daily. However, we've had some cold temps lately and my furnace has been running pretty constant. Since the room has a cold air return, this seems to have lowered things a bit. The one bonus is my tank heaters have run considerably less. Since they run ~1500W, this should translate to significant $ savings on the ole electric bill, which have been averaging $450/mo

An increase in CO2 in the surrounding environment would cause the PH to drop not increase. Do you have an HRV or any plants that could be using up the CO2 and producing oxygen down there??

Nice work on the X-mas presents!

 

[serpentman]

I do have plants in the room. What I was thinking is now that the room is relatively sealed, the ambient CO2 is lower in the fish room than the rest of the basement.

 

[murfman]

Jeff, did you ever go with the air exchanger? I have an issue with a lot of humidity and am thinking that might help exhaust some of it out.

 

[serpentman]

An air exchanger is definitely in the plans as humidity in the room is 85%. I do have an exhaust fan that helps. However, my poured concrete walls sweat when its really cold out.

I haven't installed one yet because I have some issues with where to put it because of some dead air that collects along my foundation on that side of the house. I was pulling outside air in for my skimmer and it was actually pulling in methane gas that was collecting along my foundation from our leach bed on still evenings. Ahh country living.

 

[murfman]

An air exchanger is definitely in the plans as humidity in the room is 85%. I do have an exhaust fan that helps. However, my poured concrete walls sweat when its really cold out.

I haven't installed one yet because I have some issues with where to put it because of some dead air that collects along my foundation on that side of the house. I was pulling outside air in for my skimmer and it was actually pulling in methane gas that was collecting along my foundation from our leach bed on still evenings. Ahh country living.

LOL I remember that. Why not use one of the big fans they use in the south, to keep the greens cool to circulate your dead air outside the house. :spin2:

My room gets frozen too, on real cold days. Also found frost in my attic so I want to vent the fish room to the outside.

 

[serpentman]

A little update. The new return pump is working well. Still battling some microbubbles. Not sure if its a pin leak somewhere, cavitation on the pump due to a 90 inlet or simply bubbles passing through the sump. I'm gonna need to delve into it further. Also had a breakout of Cyano that I attribute to stirred up detritus in the pipes.

Also fighting a mad breakout of Dicoyota algae in my frag tank that came in on a frag. Was going to add a tang or sea hare but the more I think about it. I may shut it down for a bit and scrub it all out and put something in there to keep it at bay once its under control.

Also, found my starry blenny munching on milli's. So the great riddle of what's been damaging my SPS may have been solved. Now to find a way to get the little *$(# out.

Here are some updated tank shots. I moved some corals on the left side and removed a dinner plate sized cap.

 

[maroun.c]

Love the corals colors.
That efflo looks like its grown a bit since the latest pics?

 

[jpsika08]

Really nice FTS, as always that background give lots of depth to the tank, congrats :thumbsup:

 

[murfman]

Jeff, that tabling acro is beautiful!!!!