Solana tank owner thread.

[MammothReefer]

I would question the use of the egg-crate on your solana. Most times people use eggcrate to balance the load on the glass, but the solana glass sits on the floor, so there shouldnt be a worry about pressure.

I cant see the benefit..

If your about to add sand you might have alot of dead spots..

But i would get a second opinion from someone who has done this hobby for longer

It's there so I don't have the rocks sitting directly on the glass until my rockwall is cured. Then I'll pull it out and rescape the tank. It's not about balancing the load on the glass it's about not dinging your glass if the rock falls, or dinging it when you are placing the rock in the tank.

 

[MedRed]

I'm thinking of selling my 34 and going with a 60 XL.

 

[MammothReefer]

I'm not sure about the Solana 60. I thought it over before I got mine. It's really pricey, what makes the solanas unique is the intank sump. You can get a starphire rimless tank with a sump from leemar for way cheaper. Specially you being in Socal, you can proboly go to tongs and pick up the same size tank for half the price off the showroom floor

 

[MedRed]

hmmm... i found the 60 XL for $1k minus the light. Do you think I can get something similar from tongs? Do they have a website?

 

[MammothReefer]

hmmm... i found the 60 XL for $1k minus the light. Do you think I can get something similar from tongs? Do they have a website?

no web site, they just have a ton of tanks there. er.. there is another company to.. it's like lemar sister company I bought a really nice euro braced setup from them. 3x2x2. I can't recall the name off the top of my head but you should be able to get a 60gallon cube for less then a grand.

 

[sfexplicit]

I think two 10's would be nice in an SPS tank. I don't have a lot of sps's now, but do have just 1 MP10 and I'm not sure it would be enough flow. There are definitely some dead spots in my tank, and I have it turned up 100%.

Starting to think 2 MP10's would be better than a single MP20 for coverage.

 

[Gamepro_inc]

question is it possible to use the 150 MH ballast that comes with the modern globe fixture and use it to light a retro kit MH inside of a canopy, I cant find a DE fixture made by current but I did find one by Icecap...I assume the two are Not interchangable. As you can tell I dont know a whole lot about this stuff but I was thinking of building a canopy and fitting a retro in it but didn;t want to spend the money on a new ballast if I didnt have to and could use the current ballast I have.

 

[lindenfish88]

new to the club, was wondering if anyone has any solutions to the crazy micro bubbles? Tanks been up for a month, I removed all bioballs and stuffed that chamber with filter floss and I still get annoying bubbles. Would appreciate the advice.

 

[MammothReefer]

no luck for me yet, but I don't mind them.

 

[MedRed]

I had microbubbles for awhile and it turned out my third chamber was low when the pumps were running.

 

[MammothReefer]

mines just about the line where the plate would go for the stock ato bottles what about you guys?

 

[Kweli]

Microbubbles have been reduced:
Made sure to keep water level in the back chambers at the right level...

Added chemipure to bottom plate (chamber 2) and filterfloss on top plate..

Microbubbles are still around but nowhere near previous amounts....

 

[Gamepro_inc]

question is it possible to use the 150 MH ballast that comes with the modern globe fixture and use it to light a retro kit MH inside of a canopy, I cant find a DE fixture made by current but I did find one by Icecap...I assume the two are Not interchangable. As you can tell I dont know a whole lot about this stuff but I was thinking of building a canopy and fitting a retro in it but didn;t want to spend the money on a new ballast if I didnt have to and could use the current ballast I have.

Anyone have an answer to the above question.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

It should be fine if you are powering a 150w bulb of the same type and it is wired correctly.

 

[Gamepro_inc]

It should be fine if you are powering a 150w bulb of the same type and it is wired correctly.

So it doesn't have to be the same brand ballast to pendant, I didn't know if it had to be a Current pendant in order to work. I plan on using a DE type fixture.

 

[lindenfish88]

Thanks for the feed back, guess bubbles re inevitable

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

No it doesn't howevcer it must be wire correctly.

Microbubbles will stop over time. Have you taken out the pump and made sure it is clean and clear of obstruction. Also when putting the return back in turn it over and wiggle it around making sure no air pockets are in it before you reattach it to the return tube.

What skimmer are you using as well? That might be part of the problem. When you unplug the skimmer do the bubbles go away?

 

[MammothReefer]

i'm using the stock skimmer still.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Try unplugging it for an hour see if the bubbles stop.

 

[MammothReefer]

Try unplugging it for an hour see if the bubbles stop.

I'm pretty sure it will, there isn't any where else for it to be picking up micro bubbles really. Is there a standard fix besides loading up your chamber with filter ect. I don't really mind it much, in person I kinda like it, it does however look awful in photos.