The inwall 380 starfire reborn

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Sorry to hear that Tom. I've have 2 of the latest releases and so far no trouble at all. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The older models have issues with the magnets and falling off the glass even without the boots. The sticky things to secure them too keep coming off the glass even when I clean the glass with alchohol before I put them on.
 
I know it's not as high-tech as some of the water change setups out there, but here's how I plumbed my 90:

wtr_chg.JPG


I haven't attached the union ends in the pic yet. The main thought behind this setup is, I didn't want to have to stick hoses in any part of the tank. All I do is hook up unions w/hoses on the ends, turn a few valves and I'm done.
 
Barry, did you see how I dealt with the cord keepers while you were here? I drilled my eurobracing and zip tied them to the lip. Works great but I don't recommend it on thin acrylic!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9469336#post9469336 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Barry, did you see how I dealt with the cord keepers while you were here? I drilled my eurobracing and zip tied them to the lip. Works great but I don't recommend it on thin acrylic!
Click to expand...

Yes I did and liked it. One of the nice things about acrylic. I'm not going to even attempt it on the glass though.

What was the name of the phosphate stuff you were using and where did you get it?
 
I like the Warner Marine PhosAR (I think it is called). It costs less than RowaPhos and has less usage requirements (can be used in a canister filter, etc). And it works just as well.. there were several threads here on RC about it a while back, so we ordered a bit and tried it out... so far I have been happy with the results, but it was hard to tell becuase we really let the old tank go there at the end and that was where we needed to use it the most :)
 
Is there a thread out there that explains more about the skimmer you are getting? I like the idea I would like to see more info about it.
 
Tom, can you call me? I'm about to buy a bunch of Vortecs w/ BB and now I'm concerned. Since I value your opinion, I'd love to talk more in detail about your pump woes ;)
 
strittmatter
The skimmer is a Volcano skimmer custom made. Theri web site is here : www.aquaticacrylics.com

Gresh
Calling you now.. be ready for an earful about Vortec, ETM and IceCap in general. IC seems to have slapped us in the face of late and it has not sat well with many.. but I will keep my specific opinions for a more private venue.


everyone
Why can't we get back to the happy topic of water change system options ? :) I really like the idea of a WC sump, like Hector pointed out... but don't have the room :(
 
Make some room dude...With your size system, I can't imagine doing it any other way. The only guys I have ever seen do it without are LFS owners, and I think they are all crazy with the hoses going all over.
 
Well, it is a realatively new site... one I am sure will gain some polish to it when Scott has the time (you know... after he finishes our skimmer :D).

As for WCs.. I am not a big proponent of them.. here are the reasons that read for why we should do them.. whether it be 10%, 20%, etc :

1. Replenishes trace minerals and so forth

While I agree with this to a certain degree, I feel that firstly, only changing 20% out would have a minimal affect on the overal level of the trace elements. And it would seem easier to just replace the missing elements (but not as profitable for the salt companies). Some of it gets put back through the calcium reactor anyways.

2. Nutrient export

There are other ways to achieve this. Large skimmers, maintained refugiums with macro algae (regularly harvested), Large skimmers, additives that make certain nutrients more skimmable, Large skimmers (ok, so I listed large skimmers a couple of times... can you tell that I feel that they are an integral part of a good reef system ? :)), GAC, RowaPhos, etc. While a WC is a great, quick, way to export nutrients, again it only impacts 20% of the built up nutrients.. so if the nitrates are at 40 ppm, a 20% WC would bring them down to 32 ppm.. not really a great leap forward there. Using a something like a DSB/RDSB, or other nitrate consuming bacteria (there is some nitrate reduction product that comtains this bacteria in a bottle, that has been reported to be quite successful). The same thing goes for phosphates.

3. Heavy metal build up export

This one is great... exporting something other than nutrients, that has built up in our systems.. since they are closed systems, I still have not heard where these metals come from and how they build up/increase to where they need to be manually exported.. I would just say stop adding whatever is adding the heavy metals.

Those are the 3 main bullet points I have seen for advocating WCs... and my responses to each one.. so come on.. flame me for my beliefs :D

P.S. I would still like to have a WC sump setup... I just like the concept. And if it were easier to do a WC I would probably do them more often.. even though I do stand by my comments above.
 
First off, although I am a big fan of refugiums, you would need an extremely large one to do much good. Like equal to or larger than your display...I still have one and I enjoy it, but as far as exporting phophate and nitrate, I doubt it is on par with what my system produces.

Personally I like to add trace elements in a more natural form, ie: salt. I am always skeptical of additives, and in particular the consistency of them from batch to batch. Of course I also test my salt before it goes in the tank. :)

So let's discuss the respiratory process on a layman's level ('cause that's all I got). If you stay in a closed room like a closet for an extended period of time, how is your respiratory system affected? What happens if there is flame in the room? Burns up the oxygen even faster right? So what I am getting at is that our systems ARE closed, and that we need to change the "air" out periodically to keep our friends healthy.

I am even an advocate of using different salts from time-to-time because I think using just one kind will slowly skew the available minerals in the water.

That all said, there are reef keepers that don't do water changes and they have healthy sysems. I just don't want to press my luck!
 
i like your thinking jnarowe, great advice! although i suppose in some aspects Sparkss could be correct, however I am a strong supporting of periodic water changes and support your thinking jnarowe. sorry to change topic, bak to the tank!
PICS!!!!! UPDATESS!!!!
 
And Tom, there is one more interesting issue I think about a lot. If I could just keep up with my aiptasia I would be really happy, but it is so hard to attack them...the same goes for waterborne bugs. There are so many things in our water at a microscopic level that want to affect our fish and corals. And there are devices to remove them like floss, and devices to kill them like UV, but I feel more comfortable pouring them down the drain. :D
 
I agree with you about pouring the pests down the drain :)

As for WCs, to be honest, I would like to do them more often, and if I can design a system that allows for that to be performed easily then I will. While I still stand by my previous statements/beliefs, I do look at a WC similar to opening a window in a stuffy room.. keeping the window closed won't necessarily harm the room's occupants, but the breath of fresh air from opening the winow is almost always welcomed :)


And you didn't go off topic Tris.. in fact I welcome your thoughts and opinions :). There may be more pictures next week sometime.. right now I am not looking to spend too much time on the equiptment, since the new skimmer is on the horizon (and I would need to redo whatever temporary setups I put into place before it gets here anyways). And with the one Vortec down (update below), we are battling the tank maturity/cyano bloom, so I am not so inclined to take a bunch more pictures just yet :), but I may change my position on that and take some individual coral picts this weekend, if I get the time :)

Vortec update :

It was IDed as a bad power supply and a replacement is on it's way, it should arrive next Wednesday (according to the UPS tracking info). The stalling issues when on BB appear to be related to the BB unit itself. I moved the stalled pump over to the second BB unit and the pump ran all night without incident (and is still running). So I will be investigating the indicated BB and opening a separate trouble ticket with IceCap about it shortly. But since that does not directly impact the daily operation of our tank or circulation, I have deprioritized those investiagtive efforts.
 
yeah the whole BB issue still has me a bit confused. Particularly that they were promoting its use as a temporary controller and then when I got mine, the instructions clearly indicated that using it in that manner would be detrimental to the battery.
 
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