martinphillip03
New member
I have read somewhere on RC that some Koralias leak current. They suggested a different type of pump. I can't remember what.
Marty
Marty
The Ultimate Eight Foot Softie Reef
- Thread starter InsaneClownFish
- Start date
melev
Well-known member
I wished we had time to visit your new tank, but there was no time. So keep up the good work with this thread. 
I use a ground probe. Two actually - one in the reef in an overflow, and one in the sump. I'd rather keep myself safe. I also have three circuits for the reef. Two are GFCI, one is regular. My return pump is plugged into the regular breaker since I don't want it to nuisance trip and kill all the flow in my reef.
The corals look very happy. I bet the clown will be hosting in those Duncans soon.
I use a ground probe. Two actually - one in the reef in an overflow, and one in the sump. I'd rather keep myself safe. I also have three circuits for the reef. Two are GFCI, one is regular. My return pump is plugged into the regular breaker since I don't want it to nuisance trip and kill all the flow in my reef.
The corals look very happy. I bet the clown will be hosting in those Duncans soon.
InsaneClownFish
New member
Don-Coraleone and ctreefer - Thanks for stopping by guys. Brian, it was great meeting you as well, and I'm glad you and Vince got the opportunity to appreciate the tank in person. It was funny watching Vince play with his voltage meter...:lol:
Vince, once again thank you so much for taking such good care of my corals. It's nice to have fellow reefers locally as a support system. :thumbsup:
I was able to test some most of the equipment with a Kill-A-Watt I borrowed from Vince. The Koralias read at around 1.01 amps, 108v(I'm guessing it's just reading the voltage coming in), and the watts were 12 on both. The 150w Jager heaters read at 4.99amps, 122watts. What was puzzling to us, is it read max watts on these as 1591 watts. I'm not sure what the max reading denoted.
As Vince and Brian were asking me questions about the setup I was testing equipment. When I started to unplug the last heater it sent a surge into my hand. As I plugged it back in it sent the same surge through the plug into my hand. When I touched the outside of the plug housing plugged into the GFCI I would feel the shock. It tested fine, but since this was the oldest heater I removed it from the system.
tigerarmy40 - Thanks, I love the long span. Many of my guests who saw the tank yesterday commented how peaceful it felt. Believe it or not, the surface of the water all the way to the left moves. It's a very subtle "rock" as the small little waves move across the tank.
martinphillip03 I've gotten the same feedback from people. These are definitely older models as they were both purchased from fellow reefers. I may try to contact Koralia about the issue. Since they seem to be testing fine, I'm not going to get too bent out of shape about it. I'm really not in a position to be randomly replacing equipment.
Laurier- Thanks so much! I can't articulate how pleased I am with how nicely everything came together. The "look" of the tank is really quite zen.
melev- Marc, I was looking forward to meeting you. I talked to both Jeff and Vince Saturday, but because of time, distance, and my silly work schedule it just wasn't in the cards. I peeked in the CTARS forum, and it would seem everyone was raving about your talk.
It stinks I had to miss it. I gave my fiance a funny analogy. I told her "melev" wanted to come see my tank. I told her it was like a homemaker on Thanksgiving getting a call that Martha Stewart wanted to come see the house..:lol:
FL.Joe- Man Joe, Duncans are great. I joke with people that they are so hardy you can "pee pee" on them. For a long time, they were quite rare and quite expensive. This is because they are indigenous to Australia and were illegal to export. Now that the trade lines are open, they are far more common in the states. I hate lineage, but these did come directly from Julian Sprung. Duncans are one of the most dynamic LPS in my opinion, because they behave more like a soft coral. The move and react, and they are interesting feeders. Also, they can have some very nice metallic green or teal tones, and even yellow and blue highlights. I highly recommend them.
Disclaimer: Please don't pee on your Duncans.
Vince, once again thank you so much for taking such good care of my corals. It's nice to have fellow reefers locally as a support system. :thumbsup:
I was able to test some most of the equipment with a Kill-A-Watt I borrowed from Vince. The Koralias read at around 1.01 amps, 108v(I'm guessing it's just reading the voltage coming in), and the watts were 12 on both. The 150w Jager heaters read at 4.99amps, 122watts. What was puzzling to us, is it read max watts on these as 1591 watts. I'm not sure what the max reading denoted.
As Vince and Brian were asking me questions about the setup I was testing equipment. When I started to unplug the last heater it sent a surge into my hand. As I plugged it back in it sent the same surge through the plug into my hand. When I touched the outside of the plug housing plugged into the GFCI I would feel the shock. It tested fine, but since this was the oldest heater I removed it from the system.
tigerarmy40 - Thanks, I love the long span. Many of my guests who saw the tank yesterday commented how peaceful it felt. Believe it or not, the surface of the water all the way to the left moves. It's a very subtle "rock" as the small little waves move across the tank.
martinphillip03 I've gotten the same feedback from people. These are definitely older models as they were both purchased from fellow reefers. I may try to contact Koralia about the issue. Since they seem to be testing fine, I'm not going to get too bent out of shape about it. I'm really not in a position to be randomly replacing equipment.
Laurier- Thanks so much! I can't articulate how pleased I am with how nicely everything came together. The "look" of the tank is really quite zen.
melev- Marc, I was looking forward to meeting you. I talked to both Jeff and Vince Saturday, but because of time, distance, and my silly work schedule it just wasn't in the cards. I peeked in the CTARS forum, and it would seem everyone was raving about your talk.
It stinks I had to miss it. I gave my fiance a funny analogy. I told her "melev" wanted to come see my tank. I told her it was like a homemaker on Thanksgiving getting a call that Martha Stewart wanted to come see the house..:lol:
FL.Joe- Man Joe, Duncans are great. I joke with people that they are so hardy you can "pee pee" on them. For a long time, they were quite rare and quite expensive. This is because they are indigenous to Australia and were illegal to export. Now that the trade lines are open, they are far more common in the states. I hate lineage, but these did come directly from Julian Sprung. Duncans are one of the most dynamic LPS in my opinion, because they behave more like a soft coral. The move and react, and they are interesting feeders. Also, they can have some very nice metallic green or teal tones, and even yellow and blue highlights. I highly recommend them.
Disclaimer: Please don't pee on your Duncans.
InsaneClownFish
New member
I just did Marc's voltage test.
53 volts in the tank.
28 volts with both Koralias unplugged.
25 volts in the water between the two Korallias- aprox 12.5 volts each
53 volts in the tank.
28 volts with both Koralias unplugged.
25 volts in the water between the two Korallias- aprox 12.5 volts each
melev
Well-known member
Keep checking other equipment, including stuff in the sump and refugium. You do want to find the source of every volt.
At one point, I unplugged everything, removed the ground probe, and still could not account for 2.3v of power in the water. That's too weird. Anyway, it turns out I have a bunch of little powerheads leaking power in the sump, which is why I've had a plan for some time to install an external pump and build a manifold to run all the equipment so I can finally remove every pump in the sump.
Martha S., eh? :lol:
At one point, I unplugged everything, removed the ground probe, and still could not account for 2.3v of power in the water. That's too weird. Anyway, it turns out I have a bunch of little powerheads leaking power in the sump, which is why I've had a plan for some time to install an external pump and build a manifold to run all the equipment so I can finally remove every pump in the sump.
Martha S., eh? :lol:
JustinReef
New member
Hey how is the flow from just the koralia's doing?
I don't know if you remember me telling you but I had just two K4's and my return pump on one side (overflow side like yours) of my 72"x20"x16" tall tank with only about 60lbs LR in the tank (wasn't blocking flow) and after about a month I found so much detritus building up on the far side. I also found the surface at that end was collecting a lot of organics that would just float around down there. I would also notice food swirling around that end of the tank that would never make it back over to the overflow side.
Just curious because it drove me nuts! I really didn't want to put a powerhead on the other end but had to.
Are you finding just the two are enough flow?
I have found on my new tank that is 30x30x18 that a K4 and a Tunze 6025 is just barely enough flow to make sure nothing settles on the bottom.
I don't know if you remember me telling you but I had just two K4's and my return pump on one side (overflow side like yours) of my 72"x20"x16" tall tank with only about 60lbs LR in the tank (wasn't blocking flow) and after about a month I found so much detritus building up on the far side. I also found the surface at that end was collecting a lot of organics that would just float around down there. I would also notice food swirling around that end of the tank that would never make it back over to the overflow side.
Just curious because it drove me nuts! I really didn't want to put a powerhead on the other end but had to.
Are you finding just the two are enough flow?
I have found on my new tank that is 30x30x18 that a K4 and a Tunze 6025 is just barely enough flow to make sure nothing settles on the bottom.
InsaneClownFish
New member
Marc, from the reading I've been doing even the lights can put current into the tank. It's weird, but there's alot of talk about open reflectors and not touching both the reflector and water, EVER, at the same time. I think the ATO switch is putting out some, and most likely the heaters. It's cumulative.
I'm not sure what to do? Am I supposed to replace all of my equipment? If I'm getting straight what I read from the electrical gurus on here, reading voltage in the tank is normal. Reading large amounts off any one piece of equipment is not acceptable. I'm just not sure if 53 volts is not acceptable for the amount of equipment I have?
Justin, the flow is adequate. Like I said, there is surface agitation. Most likely, as soon as I have the dough, I'm going to add one of the magnum series Koralias to the right side to see if I can "push" harder across the back span.
I'm not sure what to do? Am I supposed to replace all of my equipment? If I'm getting straight what I read from the electrical gurus on here, reading voltage in the tank is normal. Reading large amounts off any one piece of equipment is not acceptable. I'm just not sure if 53 volts is not acceptable for the amount of equipment I have?
Justin, the flow is adequate. Like I said, there is surface agitation. Most likely, as soon as I have the dough, I'm going to add one of the magnum series Koralias to the right side to see if I can "push" harder across the back span.
JustinReef
New member
Your K4's must be a lot stronger than mine
Don-Coraleone
New member
the magnums are sweet. the 8 put out like 3300 gallons per hour.
supertech99
New member
I love your reef, and softies! I was checking out your lighting set up and was wondering if the left rear and the right front corners were darker in person because of the overlapping style?
melev
Well-known member
53v is way too much. When I felt the current, it was 48v in my reef, but I removed an 11 year old Penguin pump (that still worked) and it dropped to around 16v, IIRC. I still want it lower.
You don't have to replace everything, but rather find the cause and replace those as needed. You may have a couple of items that are adding the brunt of the power.
HLLE is often a result of stray current in the water, and in my tank the stray electricity retards growth of some corals.
JustinReef
New member
Yeah my brother just bought 2 of them the other day along with the controller and they are sweet. I hope they are much better made than the regular Koralia's though.
InsaneClownFish
New member
I love your reef, and softies! I was checking out your lighting set up and was wondering if the left rear and the right front corners were darker in person because of the overlapping style?
Nope, they're not darker in person. It would be better to say they might not be as bright as some people would like. I've seen pics of tanks where different spectrum MH bulbs were used, and I wasn't sure I would like the look. It's really a nice subtle contrast. It's one of those things that is really hard to articulate unless you can see the tank in person, but those who have seen the tank have commented on the soothing nature of "the look."
Maybe Don-Coraleone or ctreefer can step in and give their impressions of the lighting as they have both seen the tank in person.
melev - I got ahold of Hydor USA yesterday and they took all my information. The gentleman who deals with their warranties and recalls is supposed to be contacting me. Once I get those replaced I will heed your advice and go through the rest of my equipment- even the lights. I just want my fiance around at the time just in case I end up like this :furious: :blown:
I'll be ordering one of the Magnums along with some more putty. I added some Anthellia to the far side of the reef, and this convinced me there is not nearly enough flow down that end as both the Anthellia and Xenia just "flop."
Nope, they're not darker in person. It would be better to say they might not be as bright as some people would like. I've seen pics of tanks where different spectrum MH bulbs were used, and I wasn't sure I would like the look. It's really a nice subtle contrast. It's one of those things that is really hard to articulate unless you can see the tank in person, but those who have seen the tank have commented on the soothing nature of "the look."
Maybe Don-Coraleone or ctreefer can step in and give their impressions of the lighting as they have both seen the tank in person.
melev - I got ahold of Hydor USA yesterday and they took all my information. The gentleman who deals with their warranties and recalls is supposed to be contacting me. Once I get those replaced I will heed your advice and go through the rest of my equipment- even the lights. I just want my fiance around at the time just in case I end up like this :furious: :blown:
I'll be ordering one of the Magnums along with some more putty. I added some Anthellia to the far side of the reef, and this convinced me there is not nearly enough flow down that end as both the Anthellia and Xenia just "flop."
JustinReef
New member
I think I have an idea of what you mean about lighting. For a few years now I have used just a single 250 watt MH angled down and across my 6 foot tank. The idea was to get intense lighting on one end and it kind of fades off subtly as it goes down the tank. I wanted a more natural look with lots of shadows. Not quite what you have done but I know what you mean about the calming affect. Your fish will love it too!
Can't wait to see this thing fully stocked!
Don-Coraleone
New member
i thought the lighting was sweet. very sleek units. and the whole tank was lit up pretty evenly. pretty bright for 4 bulbs.
InsaneClownFish
New member
Last night was acclimation nation:
I had the whole day to myself yesterday- something that probably happens once every two years. I hooked up with NASO at Puppy Center and picked up two amazing pieces from him- a yellow Fiji leather and a pink chalice, and Mr. NASO also brought me a few mini carpet anemones. I also grabbed a few things from Puppy Center.
Here's the complete list of what I added last night:
Pink Chalice
Yellow Fiji Leather
Mini Carpets
Naked Clown
Baby Blue Clove Polyps
3 Frags of Blueish/Lavender Zoanthids
Small piece of Anthellia
10 Trochus and Tiger Trochus Snails
5 Super Tongan Nassarius Snails.
These will be the final additions for quite some time. I'm going to wait for the next CTARS meeting, December 14th, to add anything. I really want to correct the flow issue and monitor what I already have. I should also say that I am pretty much done with the LPS additions. I now have the two LPS I most desired to keep.
Acclimation proved a bit troublesome last night. I dripped everything for around an hour and 45 minutes. The problem is I ran out of epoxy mid stream. Man did I let some explicative fly as I couldn't get the leather to sit right one time. The foot had a decent sized piece of epoxy and rock that was at an angle, so I couldn't get the thing to sit flat. I had moved the Koralias, but there was still enough flow to disturb it where I initially wanted it. I get a bit irritated when I splash water everywhere. I chipped a tiny piece of the chalice too. The mini carpets drove me nuts as they are so sticky they would not come off my fingers. Placement was precarious at best. I had one where I could see it and the other two got stuck underneath a rock. I can't see any of them now.
The water was cloudy from aggravated chalice and leather and putty dust. This has since cleared up. It was just a particularly "aggravating" experience.
I've since moved the leather to the same rock work as the duncans. It is much closer to the lights and not in as direct a path of flow. It is much happier, and even though it hasn't expanded fully, all the polyps are out and the color looks good. There was a long piece of the yellow leather that was attached to the bottom and base of the rock. It looked like a big yellow worm(not a worm). This dropped to the bottom and floated away eventually. There's another smaller version with and actual mini leather "head" on it...a baby. Should I locate the "string" piece and remove it, or should I see if it develops into it's own leather?
Everything else is open and looks good. The zoas and cloves have opened up nicely. As I've already stated, more flow is needed down the left side. The Anthellia are rather droopy.
One thing I was exceptionally pleased with was that the clowns took to each other after only 10 minutes. I was shocked actually, because ever since that first ten minutes they've been inseparable. They shadow each other, and it's awesome to see them both swim the length of the tank together. Interestingly, when the lights went out they seemed to be doing a mating dance? They would circle each other and circle together and shake- there was no aggression in this. :reading:
Zoas:
Cloves:
New Friends:
Massive Pink Chalice:
Thinking he is getting food while I'm trying to take a picture of the new chalice:
Fiji Leather:
I had the whole day to myself yesterday- something that probably happens once every two years. I hooked up with NASO at Puppy Center and picked up two amazing pieces from him- a yellow Fiji leather and a pink chalice, and Mr. NASO also brought me a few mini carpet anemones. I also grabbed a few things from Puppy Center.
Here's the complete list of what I added last night:
Pink Chalice
Yellow Fiji Leather
Mini Carpets
Naked Clown
Baby Blue Clove Polyps
3 Frags of Blueish/Lavender Zoanthids
Small piece of Anthellia
10 Trochus and Tiger Trochus Snails
5 Super Tongan Nassarius Snails.
These will be the final additions for quite some time. I'm going to wait for the next CTARS meeting, December 14th, to add anything. I really want to correct the flow issue and monitor what I already have. I should also say that I am pretty much done with the LPS additions. I now have the two LPS I most desired to keep.
Acclimation proved a bit troublesome last night. I dripped everything for around an hour and 45 minutes. The problem is I ran out of epoxy mid stream. Man did I let some explicative fly as I couldn't get the leather to sit right one time. The foot had a decent sized piece of epoxy and rock that was at an angle, so I couldn't get the thing to sit flat. I had moved the Koralias, but there was still enough flow to disturb it where I initially wanted it. I get a bit irritated when I splash water everywhere. I chipped a tiny piece of the chalice too. The mini carpets drove me nuts as they are so sticky they would not come off my fingers. Placement was precarious at best. I had one where I could see it and the other two got stuck underneath a rock. I can't see any of them now.
The water was cloudy from aggravated chalice and leather and putty dust. This has since cleared up. It was just a particularly "aggravating" experience.
I've since moved the leather to the same rock work as the duncans. It is much closer to the lights and not in as direct a path of flow. It is much happier, and even though it hasn't expanded fully, all the polyps are out and the color looks good. There was a long piece of the yellow leather that was attached to the bottom and base of the rock. It looked like a big yellow worm(not a worm). This dropped to the bottom and floated away eventually. There's another smaller version with and actual mini leather "head" on it...a baby. Should I locate the "string" piece and remove it, or should I see if it develops into it's own leather?
Everything else is open and looks good. The zoas and cloves have opened up nicely. As I've already stated, more flow is needed down the left side. The Anthellia are rather droopy.
One thing I was exceptionally pleased with was that the clowns took to each other after only 10 minutes. I was shocked actually, because ever since that first ten minutes they've been inseparable. They shadow each other, and it's awesome to see them both swim the length of the tank together. Interestingly, when the lights went out they seemed to be doing a mating dance? They would circle each other and circle together and shake- there was no aggression in this. :reading:
Zoas:
Cloves:
New Friends:
Massive Pink Chalice:
Thinking he is getting food while I'm trying to take a picture of the new chalice:
Fiji Leather:
