Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164†x 48†x 56†SPS peninsula build
- Thread starter pmrogers
- Start date
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
Skimmer Leak, Washdown pump failure
Skimmer arrived from MRC with 2 slow leaks, one around the black rectangular manifold box, one where the wash down recirc pump connected. Slow leak turned into medium fast (10 gallons overnight) when something in the non-operational wash down pump swelled and cracked. MRC sent a new, different wash down pump and 2-part epoxy for repairing the leak. Installing new wash down pump will be complicated, so I deferred to later and just put in a ball valve; will get to pump install later.
Your newly purchased commercial grade skimmer arrived with leaks and MRC sent you 2 part epoxy so YOU could repair the leak?
Seriously?
I don't expect them to send a tech over to your house to personally fix the skimmer and install it, but there is no excuse for them to not send you a brand new skimmer when theirs arrived with leaks.
Aqua C sent me a new skimmer when I first got in the hobby and my newly purchased skimmer came out of the box with a leak from a bad seal.
Unless I'm missing something, that's completely unacceptable in my mind.
Paul,
I'm sure it killed you to add the UV, but they are effective for these situations. However if you wanted to try and keep it natural another option would be to get some live oysters. In fact I advocate you do it just to see what would happen. Of course pick up some crackers and horseradish too so once the water is clear you can have a snack.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VTuBbuUro4g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I'm sure it killed you to add the UV, but they are effective for these situations. However if you wanted to try and keep it natural another option would be to get some live oysters. In fact I advocate you do it just to see what would happen. Of course pick up some crackers and horseradish too so once the water is clear you can have a snack.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VTuBbuUro4g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
I wonder how many clams could accomplish the same thing?
I'd bet a group of maxima's could accomplish a lot....
They'd take up space in your frag tank, but would not grow as fast and you could eventually trade them back to your LFS for new/little ones....
Or just eat the cost in space and get some Derasa's......
I'd bet a group of maxima's could accomplish a lot....
They'd take up space in your frag tank, but would not grow as fast and you could eventually trade them back to your LFS for new/little ones....
Or just eat the cost in space and get some Derasa's......
April Update
April Update
Slight forward progress. Mostly a month of waiting: waiting to see that the coral QT bloom from heck was truly gone; and waiting for a succession of parts for the RO/DI.
Since the last update:
RO/DI Failures
Went down to the garage to find the RO/DI unit out of commission, both status lights on the controller completely dead. Immediate thought was that water must have gotten into the controller box when the prefilter canister blew out so spectacularly a few weeks back. Wanted to kick myself for not thinking to open up the controller box and dry it out after the first incident.
However, when I popped the hood I noticed that there was a rubber gasket, and no sign of moisture or water damage on the circuit board. Got out the multimeter and started tracing. Aha, dead transformer. Ordered a new one. 2 days later, swapped in the new transformer, but still zip, zilch, nada from the controller. Very puzzling. Contacted Spectrapure and they asked me to check the fuse. Fuse? What fuse? I had looked over the entire circuit board checking for water damage and had not seen a fuse. Turned out to be the tiniest fuse I've ever seen, only about half an inch, no wonder I didn't recognize it.
Unfortunately, the fuse was small enough and odd enough to be a special order item. 8 days later, new fuse arrives. Pop it in, controller lights up, and water starts flowing. Yay! At least until that batch of water finishes making and the pump that flushes the RO membrane tries to start up. Crack! Dead fuse again.
Finally, we get to the root cause of the dead transformer and blown fuse, and sure enough it was caused by water damage. The Aquatec 8800 membrane pump got soaked during the canister blow-out. Was fine for a few weeks, but apparently water soaked into the housing, which then swelled up and caused the impulse magnets to bind.
RO/DI Controller & Membrane Flush Pump
Controller is the gray box with the switch; membrane flush pump is the gray cylinder in the middle of the image.
Inside the controller box
The itty bitty fuse is in the upper right. Obvious enough in hindsight, but who knew fuses came so small?
Reworked Drain Plumbing, Sea-Swirls
Spent about 6 hours tweaking the drain configuration trying to get full flow with acceptable vibration and noise levels. This entailed many trips up and down the stairs.
As you may recall from an earlier post, the drain plumbing was vibrating severely during full flow. Since December the recirc pump has been dialed back to its lowest setting of 40gpm to get only mildly-concerning levels of vibration-- see video below. This problem was a a bit of a surprise as I had tested a preliminary configuration with up to 140 gallons per minute flow and seen no vibration. The chief difference between the preliminary and 'final' configurations was the use of a full siphon for the 1.5" drains in the preliminary configuration (because I was missing parts for those standpipes). When the 1.5" drains were taken out of primary flow duties to serve as emergency overflows, the 2.5" dursos had to take much more flow. In this system, at least, the 2.5" dursos are quite turbulent once they start flowing much more than about 15gpm. Solution was to add back in one full-siphon drain. Configuration as of now has one 1.5" full siphon, two 2.5" dursos, and two 1.5" emergency overflow full siphon pipes.
As of now, the system can handle up to 100gpm with no vibration, 115gpm with moderate drain plumbing vibration. 120gpm and above gets into scary levels of dancing pipes. Will probably stick with 100gpm flow setting, or roughly 3.5 tank turnovers per hour.
Drain Plumbing Vibration Prior to Rework
Plumbing Vibration at 40gpm
Durso Silencer
The other problem with the large dursos is that the air intake is quite noisy. For flow purposes, the correct size hole was 1/2", which, under high flow produces a loud, high-frequency hiss that is audible through the canopy soundproofing. First tried attaching a hose to the 1/2" valve and routing the hose down to the fish room below. Quickly learned that 15 feet of 1/2" hose introduces a lot of friction and can't feed sufficient air to the durso. Next I upsized to 3/4" ID tubing. Even this had too much friction at longer lengths. Final solution was to upsize the 3/4" to 1" after about 3".
Working on Micro-bubbles Issue
Sea-swirl outputs were initially positioned about 1" below the surface of the water, to ensure sufficient surface agitation. I didn't understand just how much more powerful the 3hp Pentair would be than any other pump I'd used before. At 100gpm and higher, the output from the swirls is so strong that it creates miniature whirlpools at the surface, drawing air down to the lip of the output and injecting a massive number of air bubbles into the tank. Lowering the outputs another 4" greatly helped with the bubbles. Still getting a few micro bubbles at the output; tracking the source of that air will be a project for another weekend.
Repositioned Sea-Swirl Outputs 5" below surface
Blackout Blinds for the Fish Room
The fish room has 3 small 30"x30" windows and 2 full size windows. I originally spec'd blinds only for the full size windows. The little windows let in far more light than anticipated, enough that I started to worry about algae growing in the reservoirs and sump. And the mini blinds on the big windows allow enough light through even when closed to deliver 200+ PAR to the coral QT, and to grow algae in the fish QTs.
Light Levels with Blackouts Raised
Light Levels with Blackout Shades Lowered
Camera is making the light level difference look less pronounced than it is in person (and natural light is coming in from behind in this photo)
Coral QT Frag Batch 2, Batch 1 still recovering
After the 99% water change and UV addition, gave the coral QT 4 weeks to make sure the algae bloom issue was gone for good. Several of the frags lightened up a few shades during the intense algae bloom and have not yet recovered, though they also haven't worsened. After 4 weeks, added another 8 frags. Not pictured here, also added a dozen green chromis and a yellow tang to the fish QTs
Bowing Top Braces
Will this seemingly innocuous image spell the end of this system?
Noticed today that the 2" acrylic cross braces on top of the tank are bowing about 1/16th of an inch. Took me a minute to sort out how this could be. The braces are bolted on top of the tank frame with 1/2" diameter stainless bolts. If the frame of the tank were to start bowing outward, this would move the bottom of the bolts outward. As the bolts move outward while being fixed in place at the top, they will begin to tilt, putting pressure on the cross brace to bow inward.
I hope I'm just thinking about this wrong, or that this is within expected tolerances. At least there is no visible deflection along the glass wall. Will talk to Waterdog engineering this week to see if this is a problem. Fingers crossed.
April Update
Slight forward progress. Mostly a month of waiting: waiting to see that the coral QT bloom from heck was truly gone; and waiting for a succession of parts for the RO/DI.
Since the last update:
- RO/DI failures #2 and #3
- Added second batch of coral QT frags
- Reworked drain plumbing
- Attempted to eliminate bubbles in sea-swirl outputs
- A/C split system troubleshooting
- Added DT candidate fish to QTs 1 through 3
- Installed blackout blinds in fish room
- Calibrated, filled, activated Alk and Calcium dosing
RO/DI Failures
Went down to the garage to find the RO/DI unit out of commission, both status lights on the controller completely dead. Immediate thought was that water must have gotten into the controller box when the prefilter canister blew out so spectacularly a few weeks back. Wanted to kick myself for not thinking to open up the controller box and dry it out after the first incident.
However, when I popped the hood I noticed that there was a rubber gasket, and no sign of moisture or water damage on the circuit board. Got out the multimeter and started tracing. Aha, dead transformer. Ordered a new one. 2 days later, swapped in the new transformer, but still zip, zilch, nada from the controller. Very puzzling. Contacted Spectrapure and they asked me to check the fuse. Fuse? What fuse? I had looked over the entire circuit board checking for water damage and had not seen a fuse. Turned out to be the tiniest fuse I've ever seen, only about half an inch, no wonder I didn't recognize it.
Unfortunately, the fuse was small enough and odd enough to be a special order item. 8 days later, new fuse arrives. Pop it in, controller lights up, and water starts flowing. Yay! At least until that batch of water finishes making and the pump that flushes the RO membrane tries to start up. Crack! Dead fuse again.
Finally, we get to the root cause of the dead transformer and blown fuse, and sure enough it was caused by water damage. The Aquatec 8800 membrane pump got soaked during the canister blow-out. Was fine for a few weeks, but apparently water soaked into the housing, which then swelled up and caused the impulse magnets to bind.
RO/DI Controller & Membrane Flush Pump
Controller is the gray box with the switch; membrane flush pump is the gray cylinder in the middle of the image.
Inside the controller box
The itty bitty fuse is in the upper right. Obvious enough in hindsight, but who knew fuses came so small?
Reworked Drain Plumbing, Sea-Swirls
Spent about 6 hours tweaking the drain configuration trying to get full flow with acceptable vibration and noise levels. This entailed many trips up and down the stairs.
As you may recall from an earlier post, the drain plumbing was vibrating severely during full flow. Since December the recirc pump has been dialed back to its lowest setting of 40gpm to get only mildly-concerning levels of vibration-- see video below. This problem was a a bit of a surprise as I had tested a preliminary configuration with up to 140 gallons per minute flow and seen no vibration. The chief difference between the preliminary and 'final' configurations was the use of a full siphon for the 1.5" drains in the preliminary configuration (because I was missing parts for those standpipes). When the 1.5" drains were taken out of primary flow duties to serve as emergency overflows, the 2.5" dursos had to take much more flow. In this system, at least, the 2.5" dursos are quite turbulent once they start flowing much more than about 15gpm. Solution was to add back in one full-siphon drain. Configuration as of now has one 1.5" full siphon, two 2.5" dursos, and two 1.5" emergency overflow full siphon pipes.
As of now, the system can handle up to 100gpm with no vibration, 115gpm with moderate drain plumbing vibration. 120gpm and above gets into scary levels of dancing pipes. Will probably stick with 100gpm flow setting, or roughly 3.5 tank turnovers per hour.
Drain Plumbing Vibration Prior to Rework
Plumbing Vibration at 40gpm
Durso Silencer
The other problem with the large dursos is that the air intake is quite noisy. For flow purposes, the correct size hole was 1/2", which, under high flow produces a loud, high-frequency hiss that is audible through the canopy soundproofing. First tried attaching a hose to the 1/2" valve and routing the hose down to the fish room below. Quickly learned that 15 feet of 1/2" hose introduces a lot of friction and can't feed sufficient air to the durso. Next I upsized to 3/4" ID tubing. Even this had too much friction at longer lengths. Final solution was to upsize the 3/4" to 1" after about 3".
Working on Micro-bubbles Issue
Sea-swirl outputs were initially positioned about 1" below the surface of the water, to ensure sufficient surface agitation. I didn't understand just how much more powerful the 3hp Pentair would be than any other pump I'd used before. At 100gpm and higher, the output from the swirls is so strong that it creates miniature whirlpools at the surface, drawing air down to the lip of the output and injecting a massive number of air bubbles into the tank. Lowering the outputs another 4" greatly helped with the bubbles. Still getting a few micro bubbles at the output; tracking the source of that air will be a project for another weekend.
Repositioned Sea-Swirl Outputs 5" below surface
Blackout Blinds for the Fish Room
The fish room has 3 small 30"x30" windows and 2 full size windows. I originally spec'd blinds only for the full size windows. The little windows let in far more light than anticipated, enough that I started to worry about algae growing in the reservoirs and sump. And the mini blinds on the big windows allow enough light through even when closed to deliver 200+ PAR to the coral QT, and to grow algae in the fish QTs.
Light Levels with Blackouts Raised
Light Levels with Blackout Shades Lowered
Camera is making the light level difference look less pronounced than it is in person (and natural light is coming in from behind in this photo)
Coral QT Frag Batch 2, Batch 1 still recovering
After the 99% water change and UV addition, gave the coral QT 4 weeks to make sure the algae bloom issue was gone for good. Several of the frags lightened up a few shades during the intense algae bloom and have not yet recovered, though they also haven't worsened. After 4 weeks, added another 8 frags. Not pictured here, also added a dozen green chromis and a yellow tang to the fish QTs
Bowing Top Braces
Will this seemingly innocuous image spell the end of this system?
Noticed today that the 2" acrylic cross braces on top of the tank are bowing about 1/16th of an inch. Took me a minute to sort out how this could be. The braces are bolted on top of the tank frame with 1/2" diameter stainless bolts. If the frame of the tank were to start bowing outward, this would move the bottom of the bolts outward. As the bolts move outward while being fixed in place at the top, they will begin to tilt, putting pressure on the cross brace to bow inward.
I hope I'm just thinking about this wrong, or that this is within expected tolerances. At least there is no visible deflection along the glass wall. Will talk to Waterdog engineering this week to see if this is a problem. Fingers crossed.
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Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164" x 48" x 56" SPS peninsula build
Man. You can't catch a break. I really hope this brace concern is just normal. Although normal is out the window when you're talking about a system as large and automated as this. Perhaps these challenges are to be expected and embraced. I find building systems (including problem solving) just as rewarding as enjoying a full reef running on cruise control. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing some life in this tank soon.
Btw, I'm curious why acrylic cross braces? I don't have an engineering background but I would have assumed stainless steel.
Man. You can't catch a break. I really hope this brace concern is just normal. Although normal is out the window when you're talking about a system as large and automated as this. Perhaps these challenges are to be expected and embraced. I find building systems (including problem solving) just as rewarding as enjoying a full reef running on cruise control. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing some life in this tank soon.
Btw, I'm curious why acrylic cross braces? I don't have an engineering background but I would have assumed stainless steel.
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