Solana tank owner thread.

[j2me5ku]

@pompeyjohn

"i'm a nevernude." - tobias funke


btw...whats UNLS?

 

[pompeyjohn]

"œThere are dozens of us! DOZENS !"

UNLS

Should have been ULNS - Ultra Low Nutrient System

 

[lastduke]

How much do you want for it? What type is it? PM me some info.

I will do some research on line to see what the fair price is. Here are some pictures. The one i am going to sell is still in the box, I bought two of them for my 48inch tank
http://pets.webshots.com/album/578963535KJfXgB

 

[lastduke]

In these picture I forgot to put the adjust knobs on. There are two knobs to adjust the blue and white intensity to have different color temperatures.

 

[nirvanaandtool]

Will do Nirvana. I am working on a drilled 3gal pico at the moment so it may be a little while before I start doing anything to the solana.

Ah cool. I'm doing something similar with a drilled 7.5 (12" cube). I'm finishing it up this week. Just need to get off my butt and solder the connections for the LEDs.

 

[lpsouth1978]

HELP!

My Solana seems to be crashing and I am not sure why. Everything has been going really well, but over the last fwe days things have been going down hill fast. All of the params are as follows:

Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 0
Calc. = 420
Dkh = 11
Phosphates = undetectable
Temp = 77.8
20K 400 Watt halide = 4 months old

I do weekly 5 gallon water changes with RO/DI water and use reef crystals. The RO/DI shows no phosphates and I use a phosphate sponge in the aquarium. The Solana has been running for almost 18 months. I try to clean out the back chambers (as best I can) every 6 months. The tank has a fairly light load including a firefish, Pygmy angel, and a spotted mandarine (he eats frozen and flake foods). I also have a number of SPS corals and frags, mushrooms, zoas, and pulsing zenia.

About a week ago I lost my clam virtually overnight, followed by my pink monti cap, and my green slimer. This morning many of the zenia have release from the stock and are floating around the tank. Not individual polyps, but the entire head.

Any help would be appreciated. I hope that I have included enough info.

Please help.

 

[pompeyjohn]

I'd buy a new test kit.

Is it possible that someone has spilled something into the tank?

How is the sand bed looking? But churning that up would release nitrates I think.

Really, you need to be certain of that chemistry.

 

[lpsouth1978]

I'd buy a new test kit.

Is it possible that someone has spilled something into the tank?

How is the sand bed looking? But churning that up would release nitrates I think.

Really, you need to be certain of that chemistry.

Thanks for the thoughts pompeyjohn,

I'm the only one here so I know nothing has been spilled into the tank.

The sandbed is in good shape. I have three large super tongan nassarius snails that do a great job stirring up the sand.

I guess it could be my test kit, but it seems to be working well with my new pico. I am cycling it and it has done a good job helping me track the progession of the cycle.

 

[pompeyjohn]

I dunno buddy, this is a tough one.

The way I see it. It is a closed system - something must be off. Either you can't test for whatever that is, or you are not testing for it at the moment because of a faulty test kit.

I try to keep the back chambers as clear as possible by turkey basting up the detritus so that it fires through the return and into a net filled with floss.

Can you see any critters climbing over the coral? Perhaps check with a red light when the main lights are out.

I am grasping here man - hopefully someone else can jump in and help soon,

 

[lpsouth1978]

Thanks for the help John, I will just keep an eye on everything. Hopefully the water change yesterday will help. I will just have to stay on top of things.

 

[nirvanaandtool]

Good luck LP. Mine has been going south too. I think I had a massive phosphate spike back in January (feeding flake food via an autofeeder) and I'm still recovering even after weekly 20% WC's. I lost all my acropora, birdsnest and euphyllids are looking pretty bad, some of my monti caps are going - yet my digi's, poccolipora, other monti caps and all of my softies look fine. Even my chaeto looks bad - doesnt seem to be growing anymore even though I just replaced the bulb on my fuge light.

I'm about ready to tear it down and get going on the sump build. If I actually finish my 7.5 build sometime this year, I'll get going on the Solana re-build.

 

[blcard]

I'm looking to get this tank, but local shops say was discontinued last summer so they can't get it. I have a 24" 150MH w. dual T5's that I'm going to use. Only place I found to buy was petsolutions.com but concerned about shipping issues after reading this crazy long thread...great info and makes me want this one more....any thoughts and where else I might be able to get one of these. I'm in Indiana.

 

[oceanlife1982]

You can buy the 25g version from ecoxotic.

This is mine.

 

[pompeyjohn]

What is that in the stand?

 

[oceanlife1982]

What is that in the stand?

It's a 7.2g ADA. I'm going to use it as a ato reservoir.

 

[pompeyjohn]

It's a 7.2g ADA. I'm going to use it as a ato reservoir.

looks beautiful. Are you going to reinforce the base with an additional under the center?

Also, I am quite impressed that you have managed to hide all the cabling up above the high shelf setting. Or do you have some of them in the drawer?

 

[qwuintus]

hey pompeyjohn I'm using my 2nd chamber for cheato as well. I removed the stock plate and made one out of eggcrate which I lined with mesh. I also made another mesh/eggcrate wall that prevents any cheato from getting into the 3rd chamber. I haven't performed pump maintenance since 2 weeks when I put the mesh in but it looks like only a little cheato got through- probably within the first day of setting it up. I think this is a better approach than the stock plates as the holes are too big.

 

[lpsouth1978]

Here are a few shots of my solana before the crash. I don't have any pictures of it after yet. The only real difference is that the clam, xenia, and blue cloves are all gone now.

 

[nirvanaandtool]

Here are a few shots of my solana before the crash. I don't have any pictures of it after yet. The only real difference is that the clam, xenia, and blue cloves are all gone now.

At least your xenia died during your crash. Mine is still going on strong. In fact it is doing so well its actually growing over a healthy purple digi colony. :mad2:

 

[blcard]

Well ordered my solana from pet solutions...hopefully the shipping won't take too many times for them to get it right. Rock ordered from Marcorocks and just bought a very nice lights, dual T5's + 150 Watt MH and 2-10 LED puck style moonlights.