NaClFinatic's 90 Gallon Reef

[NaClFinatic]

right you are V. they work OK but too easy for bubbles to get sucked through. If I ahd extra space one more baffle might help but I wanted as much refugium as I could get. I'm goign to try some different drain line options and see if I get less bubbles from it since I think that is where most of them come from.

I tried tanking out the drain PVC and going with just a longer hose deep into the sump. Then I just ended up with siphoning in the overflow. So I cut the hose so it was just above the water line and now its loud and still have siphoning. Guess I proabably need to increase the size of the air intake on top of the durso.

[Snail Freak]

coming along nicely it looks like. that crab was real cute, anyone know what type it was?

can't wait to see it when you got the coral and stuff, keep us posted!

[NaClFinatic]

I finally got my hood finished and on. It is a little heavy with the magnetic ballasts mounted on back. I put two glass panels in it a couple inches above the tank edge to separate the lighting and water. These will be much easier to clean up than wiping down lamps and reflectors. There are two DC fans that I took from the power supplys of a couple really old computers. These are mounted on either side in the rear of the canopy and blow both above and below the glass panels. They kept the hood cool even with the MH running.



Even though the hood is heavy I found out I can put a small board under the feet on either end. Then I can carefully slide it back or forward a few inches for easier tank access.

[NaClFinatic]

The plumbing still is not setup right. Once the flow was unrestricted I noticed that the AGA Megaflow durso standpipe would start siphoning and lower the wier level until it got enough air. So I drilled a few more holes in the top of the standpipe. This eliminated the siphoning but is a bit noisier. I put a piece of tape over one hole as I found that two were enough to prevent the siphon. That reduced the extra noise slightly. But it is still noiser than originally and sometimes has a slight wistle. I may try gluing a little piece of small diameter tubing on the new holes like the original hole has to see if that helps.

[NaClFinatic]

And here is the current tank shot. Only one MH is on so you can see some of the actinic effect on the left side. The right sides was lit last week with a 24" T5 fixture (one 10k one actinic) and already has a bunch of brown stuff. Diatoms or cyano? Or maybe its on this side because this is where the fully cured rock was placed.



I removed a few tube worms from the one rock that came from the existing cycled rock I had. I will put the other worm rocks that are heavily populated in my refugium. But I spotted one more left last night, so I will have to get him too. Check this thread to see why I removed them Feather duster preadator?

Hopefully I will have some time to figure out my sump/fuge/plumbing and get that going within the next couple weeks. I think an extra baffle in the skimmer section may help keep the microbubbles out of my return. If that works out, then I think I will just run a small pump out of my return to feed the refugium at a low flow rate. I'd rather let it get some of the less skimmed water from the display tank but I have to keep the bubbles out of the fuge or they would just end up in the return.

[NaClFinatic]

I did clean up the glass with a magfloat and it looks much better. But lots of diatoms in there. The rock on top of the shelf on the left will eventually end up in the fuge. The rest of the rock may just stay where it is. I wasnt too sure about the layout before but its growing on me. I gotta get that ugly heater and themo out of the front of the tank too, but I'm holding off until the sump is properly set because I will proably be emptying it to add another baffle to stop the microbubbles. So that would mena no sump for a day or so.

[NaClFinatic]

I was looking at my tank last night and thinking that I shoudl be getting more flow from my 6045 (the 6060 isn't running yet because it blows too much sand around). And I realized that it was running in reverse. In the above pic you can see the water disturbed above teh 6045 instead of out in front of it. Basically it starts out in reverse at least half the time. I had the same issue with the 6025 (on the right side) and the shaft was not secure. I will have to inspect it closer and get another replacement. I love the size of these powerheads but can't really reccommend them after a second bad one.

[NaClFinatic]

Exhaust Fan
Something else I wanted to mention is having an exhaust fan in the fish room. My tank is in a room in the basement so not a lot of air circulation (unless the heat or A/C is on and even then it is at the end of the vent run so not a lot of air flow). That may be part of it, but I think any larger tank could give off quite a bit of humidity, not to mention heat and the smell of curing rock or a full skimmer. I put an exhaust fan in when I finished off the office/fish room and I am very very glad that I did. I think it helps greatly with humidity, heat, and odors.

[veriann]

can i make a suggestion, id dispense with the holes to regulate & add a riser & a terminator cap. kinda like an old style pressure cooker bell @ the top of the standpipe. its completly self regulating & quiet. if you want an example you can look at my nano thread for a visual idea of what im talkin about.
your doing well.

[NaClFinatic]

Thanks V, but I can't quite tell from your pictures what you ahve goin on in your standpipe. Maybe you could give a diagram or disassembled pics? It looks like you might have some kind of fitting and a larger end cap over that so it isn't tight and that is where the air gets in.

[NaClFinatic]

Found some clear tunicates yesterday that I thought were cool. I actually managed to get a better pic than I expected. There are a few more smaller ones you can't see.

[veriann]

yeah you prob right,i didn;t really break it down at the time. just push or screw a reducer fitting with a riser (pvc pipe offcut..ect)into the top of your standpipe, place the same diameter (dome works well) terminator cap as your stand pipe on top of that, so that the riser keeps it just suspended. i post up some breakdown pic this weekend if you want. Its simple & effective & your'll never have toubles again

[NaClFinatic]

Test results:
SG: 1.025
Phosphate: 0 or close to it
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm
I thinking great until I tested nitrate.
The diatoms seem to have stopped and may be receeding some. The amphipods from the cured rock have made it all the way accross the tank, but not making their way out into the substrate yet. There are copepods all over glass. Also there are lots of little white curly things everywhere. Are these little pods or baby snails or what?

[NaClFinatic]

Over the weekend I finally quieted my drain! I can't get a good picture because my skimmer is infront of it all but here is a diagram. It works great. The vent has the elbow and side extension because sometimes it woudl buble out there and spray salt everywhere. Just making it a little taller would probably have done the trick, but with the elbow and extension there is just a trickle every now and then instead of bursting bubbles.

The milk jug is to help keep the microbubles from heading towards the return. the rock just keeps it in place and helps break up the flow. It works somewhat but I still get some bubbles in the return. I might need to try a little taller container.

[NaClFinatic]

Its been six weeks and water quality is looking decent finally. I plan to get some snails next week. I'm thinking maybe starting off with about a dozen and keep adding as time goes by. I am dissapointed in the quailty and life of my live rock. The stuff I bought at the LFS is great, but what I ordered from LiveAquaria was not very live. It was so dry and I even paid extra for overnight. I doubt much of anything remained alive on it. Anyway at least I don't have any bad critters I'm aware of. (Though I know there are some flatworms that I saw in the other tank I had the