bprinehart

Thanks for the info Dave, and for the input Jason. On my current setup I have a Mag 4 for my return, and I know how much heat that thing puts into the water. It does run rather quiet though. I'm not too concerned with drilling the holes, I suppose it is what it is. I'm just mulling over different options in my mind, I really don't want to end up with Power Heads in this tank. I keep running into a catch 22 situation though, I'd like to keep the flow through the sump at a reasonable level to help with microbubbles, but a slower flow through the sump dictates an additional source of circulation, decisions, decisions. I like the idea of an external pump, but I'm always a little worried about a leak. I'll keep doing some reading and perhaps in a few years, I'll have made a decison.

Well since I got such good feedback and suggestions on the lighting questions, I think I will throw this one out there as well. As stated numerous times, I'm getting ready to upgrade my tank to a 75 gallon. I'm going to drill my own overflows, going with the 1500gph kit from glass-holes.com, however, I'd also like to do a closed loop to provide random flow around my "SPS Island" , and thereby influencing random flow throughout the tank. I'd like to know what suggestions or practical experience people have with manufacturers and their models. I was looking at using either an Iwaki, or maybe a Reeflo. From the closed loop I'm looking for somewhere around 1000-1200gph, when combined with the overflow I'd like somwhere around 30-35x turnover. Noise would be my primary consideration, as this will be in the main living area of the house. A close second is heat transfer. Thanks in advance! -Brian

I bought mine at Sea Save, and they do indeed only go after dead/dying things in the tank. I have read several places though that you have to be careful when picking them out as some predacious whelks are inadvertantly sold as Nassarius.

Hey Tom- It was the dual timer unit. After about a month and half the timer stopped working. So I just plugged my MH into their own separate outlet with timer, only my actinics (PCs ATM) were plugged in. The unit was only about 8 months or so old. Those who have mentioned GFCI/AFCI are absolutely right, my GFCI (Entire room on its own GFCI breaker/circuit) wouldn't have helped in this case, as I suspect after speaking with several other members about the incident, that it probably was an arc fault. I'm curious as to whether maybe the startup voltage of the MH lamps could have melted or somehow arc welded the connection inside. I'd also like to mention that I did have drip loops on all my cords. When I first started doing IT and Telecomm work, I was a cable jockey for a few years, and had it beaten and drilled into my brain to have a drip loop and proper ground on every electrical connection. I've left a VM with ESU customer service but as of yet haven't received a response, which by itself is annoying. For a replacement I've just installed a new power strip, and am currently using regular timers for my lights. I'm getting ready to upgrade to the 75 soon, and I'm constructing an enclosed power box for my electrical connections. Thanks again to everyone who expressed concern, I appreciate it, and it just confirms that I'm in the right community of reefers here at WAMAS. BE SAFE! Happy New Year Everyone!

And I certainly hope you don't have to.

Well, I'm still shaking. My wife and I were sitting here in the living room watching TV, all of a sudden there was a loud pop that came from the area of our aquarium, the actinic lights, and pumps all shut off. I walked to the aquarium, and found that the Coralife Power Center was smoking and a blue flame was arcing over the entire surface. I immediately pulled the power cord from the wall, and threw the unit in the kitchen sink. I want to make it very clear that there was no leakage from the tank, or overflow plumbing and no evidence of salt creep on any of the plugs or outlets on the unit. I purchased the unit at TFP when I first started my tank up, and only recently became aware of the dangers associated with this unit while planning to upgrade it when I move everything to the 75. Google Search There's also a thread on RC about a fellow aquarist's house that suffered a fire and the inspector fingered the unit in question: RC Thread I also had read that coralife had addressed these issues previously, but I wanted to go in another direction anyway. I am so THANKFUL that this occured while we were both home and awake. Had this happened while we were sleeping, or God forbid at work the outcome could have been much, much, much different. I firmly believe these units are dangerous, and represent a serious fire hazard, and I urge everyone who may happen to be using one at the moment to reconsider and replace it immediately. I am going to be spending the rest of my night performing inspections on every piece of electrical equipment associated with my aquarium, and this may be a good time for others to do the same. I'm terribly upset by this whole incident, and had to share it. Thank you for taking the time to read this. -Brian

I had quite a bit of success after I added a pair of cleaner shrimp to my tank. Haven't had a reocurrence since then.

Hey there welcome to WAMAS from Baltimore!

James, I'm with you on this one, with one small exception, make sure the shrimp are big enough to eat the aptaisa! There were two aptaisa that I had to juice because they were too big for the shrimp to mess with, but my pair of peppermints singlehandedly wiped them all out on my rocks very early on in my tank. I've added a few pieces of rock here and there since I started and usually try to check for and scrub any aptaisa off that may sneak its way in. But once in a while I'll miss one, and as soon as the rock is in place the peppermints go on a search and destroy mission are all over it and it will literally be tag teamed into oblivion in a matter of seconds. Besides that, they're cool! Mine spawn all the time and are quite fun to watch.

Welcome to WAMAS! IMO the SS 65 is probably a little small for a 55 gallon setup. There's a huge thread on Reef Central about some modifications you can do to it that will slightly increase the performance, but altogether it's a very underperforming skimmer. Here's the thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=899299 It's several pages long, with some good info. I wouldn't suggest the 65 for anything over 40 gallons. I had one on my 40, and I was getting maybe a 1/4 cup of dark green stinky stuff out weekly, which I thought was pretty good. I just upgraded to a ASM G1, and all I can say is there is absolutely no comparison. My best advice would be to save up and get something with a little more firepower, but as long as your bio-load isn't terribly high, that will get you by. Any skimming is better than none at all. -Brian

I just bought a G1 on Sunday (long and somewhat embarrasing story, but an excuse to upgrade anyway), and yesterday I ordered 2 pieces of the Enkamat. After reading the RC threads and other spots, it seems that this is the easiest way to increase your skimmers performance without breaking the bank. I'll be sure to post some pics of my adventures. One other ? Has anyone who did the recirc mod really noticed a significant increase in performance, or should I just stick with the threadwheel and leave it at that? -Brian

This is why I ask these questions. I would have ended up with a puddle of water on the floor! Good 4am math btw. So, if I were to have a 1 inch bulkhead in the main tank, draining into the sump. Do you think the 1/2" bulkhead from the 'fuge to the main tank would be enough? Or should I go 1" from there as well? Thanks for the help. Brian

None taken at all guys...TRUST ME!! I think you are reading more into than was there. I sincerely meant that Scott should take the advice of the professionals over me! That's all.

Did you happen to breathe in any of the "dirt" on the rock?

I wasn't being ridiculous. If NAGA and yourself say it isn't necesary, then I believe it! I tend to take as many precautions as I can. Wasn't meaning my opinion was flawed.

My GBTA did the same thing when I introduced him to my tank. Stay squished up to almost nothing for about a week, and only in the last month has he seemed to really relax and fully stretch out in the tank. Just wait till he shrivels up to expel waste for the first time, your heart will drop into your stomach!

I'm in the final planning stages of my prop system. So far what I'm planning on doing is using the 33 L as the growout tank, circulation will be provided by an over the back closed loop manifold, 40 L for the refugium, and a 20 L for the sump. The area that I have available to use is the old workshop area of the house, in a back corner of the basement. A very sturdy 12' x 3' x 2" thick oak slab, reinforced with what looks to be sheet metal under the oak top. The legs/frame are made from 2"x2" x1/4" hollow core metal of some type, I'm assuming steel, so this thing is sturdy to say the least. The oak slab is bolted to the frame, and the legs are lagged into the concrete. There is no shelf underneath, and I do not feel like drilling any holes into the slab. Given the options available to me, I've decided that I will do an upstream refugium and letting it gravity feed back down into the main tank The main purpose of the refugium will be to house a DSB, and possibly some chaeto for NNR, maybe some pod production. I plan on raising the top of the refugium up via a solid wood shelf approximately 2 inches taller than the height of the top of the growout tank. The growout tank, in turn be will situated approximately 2 inches taller than the sump tank, which will house the skimmer, and heater, and any other stuff, and gravity feed into it. So in a nutshell, my refugium will be situated 4 inches taller than the sump. Aesthetics are not really a concern here, as this will be strictly for growout, and my own personal amusement. The circulation as stated earlier will be provided by the closed loop manifold, so I do not need a super high flow return pump, and from what I understand, I do not necessarily want a ton of flow through the refugium to allow for maximum contact time with the DSB. My main concern is getting the water from the sump up to the fuge. I'm thinking that at a head height of only 4 inches, I should be able to use a Powerhead, like say a maxijet 1200 I also have a 900 available or even smaller to keep the loop going. For the plumbing I was considering 1/2" bulkheads, which if I remember correctly should be around 300 GPH. The head loss calculator over at RC approximates I should get approximately 247gph from a MJ 1200 at 1 ft horizontal length, 4 inches vertical height. Anyone see any issues with that? Keep in mind that this is all equipment I have on hand and planned for use, so I am really not looking to go out and purchase yet another pump. Monster flow is not the goal here, just a nice sustainable slow flow from the sump back up to the 'fuge. Thanks, Brian

Sorry wasn't trying to draw the wrath of the Acrylic gods. I just used water when I drilled mine as a just in case. Since I am not a professional, I would not know that it isn't necessary. Please disregard anything I said Scott. Listen to the pros.

Nice tank! That's the same model I have, only mine is a wee bit smaller. Just make sure you keep the hole saw bit wet while you're drilling and you shouldn't have any problems. You can probably get some blue acrylic to solvent in for your overflow boxes, unluess you don't mind seeing the tubes. I actually did mine in the side of the tank, but acrylic is so easy to work with you have multiple options.

I wondering how the heck you frag these guys. I bought one from BRK about 6 weeks ago, 2 heads. I now have 6 rapidly growing baby polyps. Funny thing is, I asked Johnny what the growth rate on these guys was when I bought it, and he said it definitely was a slow grower, so I thought it was be perfect in my smaller tank (40 gallons). Regardless, it's an absolutely beautiful coral, probably my favorite, and it eats like a pig. Good luck with the fraggin! If you have a dremel I'd probably go that route rather than a knife, unless it's super sharp.

That is an interesting theory. I'm off to do some research right now. Also, many thanks for the info and reassurance guys/gals. It is sincerely appreciated.

Thanks Steve--much appreciated. One other quick question which I should have mention in the first post, I also have a GBTA in there, will the lack of intense light cause it to suffer for a few days?

My ballast on my Metal Halide setup decided to take a crap today. I have one Acropora frag in my tank, and a few LPS. I think the earliest I'm going to be able to get a replacement ballast shipped is Monday. Will 2x65 actinic PCs be okay in a 40 gallon until the replacement arrives? Does anyone think the corals will suffer in that short period of time? -Brian

My Maroon Clown bites the H-E-double hocky sticks out of me everytime I scrape the tank. She defends her anemone with great vigor.

I have some zoanthids I'd be willing to donate if interested, drop me a PM.