Third Time's A Charm!

Here are some shots of the tank filling. I have actually filled and drained it multiple times with tap water in the last week. An unbelievable amount of filth came off the rocks. I put a tunze in the tank to try to get any loose bits off the rocks. I also took a shop vac to the bottom each time to get all the little bits of concrete. With each filling and draining a little bit more came off, until i finally deemed it ready for rodi water. At the current rate it should be full in 5 days worth of filling. After it is full I will make water in the sump and 300 gallon tank.

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Brad
 
Looking great... just found your thread and those rock pillars are very nicely done. Well done, can't wait to see the rest of it come together.
 
You will have to get some sweet gobies and shrimp as they will make great use of all of your caves. I love your aquascaping. It is actually very similar to what I have tried to accomplish in my freshwater and reef tanks. I like to see the fish dive in and out of the rock work.
 
In the last month I have gotten a lot done. I plumbed the entire system, hooked up the duct work between the halides, put in shelves for ballasts, got my RODI setup, and got the chiller installed. I will post more in depth updates of all of those in the near future. The other thing I have been doing is putting water in the tank. I filled the display with RODI water, but it looked very dirty (due to the dirt on the rocks), and I decided to drain the water. I then filled up the entire system with tap water and ran it for a day or so. Then I drained 300 gallons from the system and filled it back up. I drained and filled the system multiple times, until the water finally looked crystal clear. I then let it run for a few days. After that I drained the entire system and shop vacd all the water and little bits of stuff off the bottom of the display and sump.




That was where I was at about 9 days ago. Once that was done I started filling the display and sump with RODI water. The water took 8 days to make. I checked the TDS twice a day and changed filters as needed to ensure 0 TDS the entire time. Even so, the water in the display was not perfectly clear. It is slightly cloudy. My guess is that there is still some risidual dirt from the rocks, and perhaps some bacterial bloom from the water sitting for so long exposed to the air. Even though it looked cloudy, I woke up this morning and decided to turn the system on. I had 6 buckets or Reef Crystals on hand and was ready for the tank to come to life. I pluged in the return pump, and was horrified to see a ton (thousands) of white flakes shooting everywhere. The flakes were thin and white and ranged from less than a centimeter to 3 inches or more. Looking at them I assumed that they were dry stips of glue. After watching the flakes get caught in the rockwork, I started to wonder how I would get them out of the tank, and if the water was now worthless. I then put 3 giant filter socks on the 3 main plumbing drains.

That was about 8 hours ago. There are still some flakes in the water, but for the most part they are gone. I think some of them are in the filter socks, but others likely just desintigrated. Now the water is mainly cloudy. I plan to change out the filter socks tonight, and monitor the water to see if it gets better.





My question is this: What should I do about the water?
Although I assume the flakes were glue, it doesn't make sense to me why they would appear after running the entire system for a full week. Whatever the flakes are, I am nearly convinced that they formed in the pipe work while the rest of the tank was drained. In addition to the flakes, I am worried about the cloudy water. I don't feel like RODI water should be cloudy. I know that the rocks contain plenty of crap, but I wouldn't expect the water to be so bad in just a week.

That being said, I think my options are to drain all the water, and then do a few tap water fillings and drainings to totally eliminate the current water (and hope that the problem doesn't return when I fill the tank with RODI again). Or I can just let things stand as they are, and hope that the filter socks and time take care of the problem. Or I can add salt to the system, bring it up to temp, and hope that the biological process in the saltwater environment take care of the problem. I am not sure what to do, and don't want to make a mistake. It will be expensive if I fill it with salt and that doesn't work, and it will be expensive to drain all the water and start again.


What do you guys think?



Brad
 
I forgot to mention, that I am sure the water was 0 TDS while filling. I just purchased a dual inline tds meter, and a new hand held tester. Both units confirm 0 TDS going into the tank, and the handheld reads 23 as the tank now stands.



Brad
 
I think your screwed dude, might as well throw in the towel... I can be over shortly to pick it all up ;)

Just add the dang salt already and get the tank running, everything will fall into place.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11116804#post11116804 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Double-J
I think your screwed dude, might as well throw in the towel... I can be over shortly to pick it all up ;)

Just add the dang salt already and get the tank running, everything will fall into place.
Click to expand...

I am with JJ. Every tank I have started up has had some sort of crap float to the top when I started the pumps up. As well as you rinsed everything, and as much volume as you have, you should nto have much trouble with anything. Remember dilution is the solution to pollution.
 
I sooo want a tank big enough I can just dump a whole bucket or 2 of Reef Crystals in it... The thought of that just amazes me... Let your filter socks do their work, you are going to get floaties from your salt mix too.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11116970#post11116970 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Atticus
I sooo want a tank big enough I can just dump a whole bucket or 2 of Reef Crystals in it... The thought of that just amazes me... Let your filter socks do their work, you are going to get floaties from your salt mix too.
Click to expand...

In this case it is 6! buckets of Reef Crystals, which is why I wanted to be sure before I just dumped them in. I guess I am going to go ahead and add the salt, since everyone thinks it will be fine.



Brad
 
Nice dude! wondering when you would stop being a puzz and start the tank, It's been over a month since it's been in place!!!
 
420 tank
300 water cylinder
~200 sump

Plus from my experience those buckets only make around 130g at 1.025
 
Thats awesome the amount of salt you need to get your tank started would last me a whole year! Hey Brad let me know before you do water changes,so I can make sure my kids have baths and we have drinking water for that day.seeings that you will probably put Ankeny on some sort of overload that day.Just kidding!Nielsen
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11118454#post11118454 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Double-J
He died, I'll be taking over his account from now on.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure in his will it said "All of my aquariums and reef related stuff should be given to Waverz upon my death"

I'll be over tomorrow to pick it up.
 
I need some advice. I decided to get new heaters for the tank, since the ones I have on hand have been in use for a couple of years, and I figure it is time to replace them. I ordered up a couple of Jager heaters, and they arrived today. The problem is they have a minimum and maximum water level that is only 2 inches apart. Because of the size of the display and all the plumbing, when I turn off my return, the sump level rises about 4 inches. I assume that I can't fully submerge the Jager heaters, so I need to return them and get something else.

What do you guys suggest that will let me fully submerge the heaters? I want the absolute safest heater available. I don't want to use glass heaters, because I have read too many posts about broken glass heaters nuking a tank. I am not concerned with an accurate thermostat, because my Aqua Controller will turn the heater(s) on and off.



Brad
 
Hey Brad, do you have these? I've used them in the past and they were fully sumbersible. Just don't forget to turn them off if you drain water from the sump, they don't have the auto shutoff protection. I think Double-J uses a few of them on his tank.

I also had a Won Brothers titanium in my old 210 that I had good luck with. It worked fine but it too, lacked the auto shutoff feature. Now I use a Visi-therm Stealth heater instead.

BTW, your tank is looking pimp! I can't wait to check out the aquascaping in person. :)
 
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