Sinistard's 68.8 Acrylic Tank Journal [Photo Intense]

Well I finally hooked up an OM 4 way I picked up used around a month ago. When I first got it I hurried and hooked it up with barbed fittings and vinyl tubing but had a few leaks so I took it down and never got around to hooking it back up. The second time around I decided to do it right and got some PVC some flexible PVC, some 45s and 90.

It definitely looks nicer this way and I was able to eliminate all of the leaks as far as I can tell. So many darn threaded fittings and if one leaks I had to take the whole dang thing apart. It was really not any harder to do it this way then the barbed fittings and vinyl.

It seems to be creating some decently random flow. I might have to try a different drum. Right now it alternates between the upper left/lower right and the upper right/lower left.

Here is a picture of the installed unit.

om4way1.jpg


om4way2.jpg


Oh and I ended up treating the coral that had the red bugs in a hospital tank which did get rid of the bugs on the coral. I assume they will be back with time, it was more of a way to buy some time before I have to treat the tank.

The coral started to look better by the next day. It has a lot more polyp extension now and has got some color back over the last couple weeks.

And the one last thing. I'm pretty sure the algae showing up in my sand bed is hair algae which I have also noticed a bit of in my rock work. My phosphates are a bit high which I'm prerry sure happend when my filters got to old in my RO system. I am getting a GFO reactor to try to knock out some phosphates to hopefully eliminate the algae before it gets out of hand.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14166619#post14166619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by InsaneClownFish

Once you are hooked up to my mind control device you will tell us everything!
Click to expand...

all your tank are belong to us ;)
 
Today I saw my clowns actually laying and fertilizing eggs for the first time. They have probably laid 4-5 sets of eggs already but I never seen them in action.

Here is a crappy video I got with my camera.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9087729704628094051&hl=en

They picked at the RBTA a bit to get it to recede enough to have a nice open spot to lay the eggs. This is right at the end of the ordeal so its kind of hard to see the pattern they did. Basically the female laid a few eggs then the male went by and fertilized them and they just kept switching back and forth.
 
Well I finally decided I should probably seriously test some of my tank perimeters. I have never really done much testing other then some here and there if things looked off in the tank. I have always went with if it looks ok it must be ok

I got some new test kits for calcium and dKH and have been testing them over the last couple days.

From my testing my dKH runs at 7, Calcium around 425 and PH during the day is normally around 8.2

From what I have read my dKH is a bit low for my Calcium levels and I was wondering would I simply increase the amount of alk 2 part additive per day to get this more in line of is it more complicated then that.

I use a litermeter III to dose b-ionic 2 part and right now dose equal parts(assuming the calibration is still right). I plan to get a graduated cylinder so I can more accurately calibrate the litermeter but it is pretty close.

Assuming that it is dosing equal amounts right now is it safe to just increase one part or should they always be dosed in equal amounts?

Thanks for any adivice.

Oh and I added a GFO reactor to my system and almost over night the algae that was showing up in the sand stopped showing up.
 
Like I said I am currently dosing B-ionic but am thinking about switching to a DIY 2 part of getting a kit like the one Bulk Reef Supply sells.

I was wondering if people have had luck with the Bulk Reef Supply kit. I was thinking about getting it since I plan to order a few other things from them soon but am open to suggestions.

Will I get basically the same results with a kit like this that the b-ionic gives?
 
B-Ionic contains the basic elements of Alkalinity and Calcium, but it also contains up to 70 other elements (as stated on the bottles). So it won't be the exact same as a DIY two part method. You'll be able to dose iodine, strontium, molybdenum, etc, stuff that B-Ionic was handling.

Usually, with any two part additive, you dose equal parts daily. Occasionally you'll find that water parameters are out of balance, requiring you to temporarily stop dosing one or both parts until equilibrium returns. Daily testing would be required to determine when the right numbers appear, then resume equal dosing as before.

FYI, last I checked, Part 1 was alkalinity and Part 2 was calcium. So if you are raising the dKH of the tank, you would use more of Part 1, not 2.

If you use the litermeter, remember that you can test it with RO/DI water rather than the actual two part solution. If there is an error, your tank will survive RO/DI far better than it would with too much alk or too much calcium.
 
Thanks Marc.

Yeah I meant to dose more of the alk part.

Still up in the air on changing to DIY, since I don't test all that much I probably should stick with something that adds as much of the trace elements that I can. I am going to start testing mag which I assume will be out of whack and start dosing that.

To calibrate the pumps you run a specific amount of liquid into a container so I will definitely use water. I had to use a big measuring cup the first time that was less then precise.

Thanks again.


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14242823#post14242823 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
B-Ionic contains the basic elements of Alkalinity and Calcium, but it also contains up to 70 other elements (as stated on the bottles). So it won't be the exact same as a DIY two part method. You'll be able to dose iodine, strontium, molybdenum, etc, stuff that B-Ionic was handling.

Usually, with any two part additive, you dose equal parts daily. Occasionally you'll find that water parameters are out of balance, requiring you to temporarily stop dosing one or both parts until equilibrium returns. Daily testing would be required to determine when the right numbers appear, then resume equal dosing as before.

FYI, last I checked, Part 1 was alkalinity and Part 2 was calcium. So if you are raising the dKH of the tank, you would use more of Part 1, not 2.

If you use the litermeter, remember that you can test it with RO/DI water rather than the actual two part solution. If there is an error, your tank will survive RO/DI far better than it would with too much alk or too much calcium.
Click to expand...
 
B-Ionic also has a bottle of liquid magnesium, so you may have to dose that from time to time, but the main two-part is your daily regimen. I loved that stuff, and used it on my 29g and 55g for years. I bought it by the bucket, usually sharing it with two other people to keep my portion affordable.

I have two 5g buckets of it in the garage that I need gone. Come get it. ;)

When you are running the Litermeter, it would be good to have a specific amount of water in the reservoir, and then time how long it runs to move 'x' amount of water in ml. Then you'll know exactly how long to run it. Many people use a controller, running it for a certain amount of minutes, once per day.
 
I'll be right down LOL. Pretty sure the drive from Ohio to Texas is probably the most efficient way to pick up 10g of liquid :)

If I may ask why did you give up the 2 part? Do you see a big difference going to a calcium reactor if that is the reason you gave it up?

The calibration mode of the Liter Meter basically works that way. You run 500ml of liquid into a container, it times how long it takes to fill then adjusts its internal timer to compensate for each pumps variance in speed. I originally did the calibration then tested the output of each pump and they were pretty spot on but it has been some time and I'm sure it has changed a bit since it has broke in by now. I used a 5cup kitchen measuring cup to calibrate it and I'm sure I would get a more accurate result if I have a 500ml beaker or cylinder.
 
I bet if you look at the store, you can find a bottle of something that is 500ml. That is half a liter, btw.

With smaller tanks, 2-part is fine. But for a 280g reef, it would not be cost effective nor would it be consistent enough. My tank came with a calcium reactor, and that runs 24/7/365. It maintains alkalinity and calcium, and my job is to make sure it is working as it should.
 
Wow, just wow! I stumbled across this thread at the start of the super bowl and scanned through each page in envy for 3 quarters of play time :D

What a great thread. Superb craftmanship in all aspects of your setup. Very clean and uniform. Thanks for the great pictures to look at as well. I was looking to see if you had mentioned what kind of camera you were using for these shots but I didnt see it. If I missed it sorry.

Great job

Eddie
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14296440#post14296440 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fasteddie99
Wow, just wow! I stumbled across this thread at the start of the super bowl and scanned through each page in envy for 3 quarters of play time :D

What a great thread. Superb craftmanship in all aspects of your setup. Very clean and uniform. Thanks for the great pictures to look at as well. I was looking to see if you had mentioned what kind of camera you were using for these shots but I didnt see it. If I missed it sorry.

Great job

Eddie
Click to expand...

Thank you for the kind words.

The camera I use is a Sony DSC F-707, It was there high end camera from like 8 years ago. It takes some pretty decent pictures for not being a DSLR. A lot of it comes down to using the right settings and a tripod. At some point I would like to upgrade to a D90 or similar.

Thanks again.
 
A quick question about my parameters.

Well in addition to the b-ionic 2 part I have been adding some kent's supper buffer to my tank to try and get my dKH up but it has been stuck around 6 for a week.

My calc levels have actually went up from around 425 to 450. I don't know why my calc would be going up since I have not upped the amount of either of the 2 part additive. My PH has also gone up a bit and is running at 8.3 during the day.

I tested for Magnesium levels and they were a bit low at 1170 and over the past week I have added b ionic magnesium to get it up around 1350. Other then the addition of the mag and super buffer nothing else has changed.

Thanks for any ideas.
 
Not sure. Did you read the superbuffer container to see if it buffers up calcium? Perhaps when Magnesium is low, the calcium kit reports an incorrect reading.
 
Wow I just read through this thread, great info and a beautiful tank. I have learned a lot and I appreciate that you have kept us all up to date. If I may ask what did the OM set you back? Thanks Greg
 
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