FearTheTerps

thats good news

Looks awesome Dave, and no one had to beg for pictures this time. Whats the new rubbermaid tub in the equipment room?

I wish my tank was half that clean I really like the top down shot, your montis look really good.

your reading of product water should be 0. I wonder if you have your membrane seated correctly in the housing? are you hearing any noises coming from the unit, like bubbling or gurgle sounds? this may also be why you are producing so much water so fast.

Welcome to the club, one easy way to stock a new tank is to buy livestock from club members. If you choose to become a paid member you will then have access to the buying and selling forums. It will be the best 20 bucks you ever spend in the hobby, and you will most likely recoup your cost in the first thing you buy. Of course there are other perks as well.

Yea, I think I'll just stick my simple design, it works the way I wanted it to. I kept the valve between the 2 brutes at that height because I wanted to be able to fill both at the same time, if the valve is lower in the can then I would have to place the can even higher. It would only fill up until the valve before it would drain into the salt side, therefore I would only be filling the salt side. Like I said above, where the valve is placed means I will always have about 15 gallons in the fresh side, If I need to mix salt with that its very easy to fill a 5 gallon bucket and then dump it in the salt side. With the 1 inch plumbing it takes about 5 seconds to fill the 5 gallon bucket. Good idea Tom, I do have the inside of the brute marked, but it can hard to see here at the new house in the dark basement. I had thought about having a little fun and getting some clear PVC and attaching it to the spouts at the bottom and running up to the top. Then I was going to float a ping pong ball or something inside it and have the clear pvc marked with the water heights. I may still do this, but it was going to cost about $30 more. I could use that money somewhere else at this point. Anyone know anyplace local that sells clear PVC? Savko has it, but you can only buy it 5 ft lenghts, and they charge extra for shipping clear pvc for some reason.

Thanks all, Last night I let it fill with water, it was nice to not have any water on the floor when I woke up this morning. My TDS here at the the new place is much lower then where I used to live, about 95ppm now compared to 425 before. This has boosted my production rate really well, so it didnt take long to fill a 20 gallon bute. Now with 2 of them I can let it run all night with no worries as it takes about 12 hours to fill. I have the heater and a pump installed on the salt side, not sure what the pump is tho. Its an older one I bought from someone a long time ago, but it mixes the water pretty well. I had thought about installing a float switch to cut off the RODI, but since my unit feeds to the fresh side how do I do that if I would have the top valve open? I dont know whether I could split the feed line, and then install 2 float switches. My thoughts were that since the water comes out so slowly it wouldnt run through both lines, but instead go to path of least resistance. Plus this set up defeats the purpose of gravity feeding the salt side from the fresh side. At this pointing Im just rambling, any thoughts on how in incorporate a float switch with the current design? Flooding really isnt a problem, as the brutes are setting right next to my sump pump in the basement, you can see the cover for it in one pic. My main reason it to not waste any more water if I forget to turn it off.

Had tons of stink bugs before, but never ladybugs. I would scoop out all you can, but I dont think they will pose a problem

I would waste the first 5 gallons that your RODI produces. The membrane will have some preservatives in that needs to be washed away. Then after that most units have a flush valve, you will need to flush the system for a few mins for EACH use before you collect any product water. I've read some manufactures suggest that you flush the membrane for 1 min for each day the unit hasnt been in use. I usually just flush mine for 2-3 mins tho.

So since the new house I moved into has an unfinished basement I finally decided to make a water mixing station. Before I would just make up a batch of saltwater in my brute and when I needed fresh water I would just run 5 gallon buckets. After a few spills and floods that got old real quick. At least its in the basement now instead of all over the kitchen floor. Ive seen several other peoples designs before, most involved using one external pump plumbed into both brutes. I dont really like this idea, I never understood using one pump for both fresh and salt water. Wouldnt the salt water in the pumbling get mixed with the fresh water when you switched the valves back and forth? So for my design I decided to make it pretty simple, Both sides are on stands so that I can simply place my 5 gallon buckets undereath and fill with a twist of the ball valve. My RODI unit fills the fresh side, three quarters of the way up in the fresh water brute I placed another valve that I used to fill the salt side. This designs ensures that no salt water ever enters the fresh water, and the way I placed the valve I will always have at least 15 gallons of fresh water available. Stand Holes drilled in brute using diamond coated drill bit. Made a very nice clean hole. Installing the uniseals was very easy, just used a little water to lube the plumbing. Here's the valve that fills the salt side from the fresh side. I plan on moving my RODI unit onto the stand, just need to buy some longer tubing. I also plan to add to a 4-way DJ outlet to plug my heater and powerheads into to make them easier to control.

yea, most of my exacto knives arent that sharp anymore, i use most of them for my cake decorating. Plus that brute might be thicker then you think. It was a little more then 1/8". I ended up using the diamond bit,it made a very clean hole and worked pretty good except for the fact that both the batteries for my drill went dead on me. I got the stand built, and 2 of 3 holes I needed drilled, hopefully an hour or so on the charger will do it and I can finish tonight.

I was planning on making my new water change station today, I have some uniseals I want to install on my brute trashcans. I have one inch uniseals which require a 1 3/4" hole. My question is, I have my diamond coated holesaw bit from when I cut my holes for my bulkheads, can I use this to cut the hole in the brute? Or do I spend 10 bucks and buy a regular hole saw from Lowes? I think the diamond bit woud cut a smoother hole then the wood bit, but would it have a tendency to melt the can? Im not worried about ruining the diamond bit, its an older one I bought a few years ago.

ive heard of some people using pulverized dry food, a good high quality flake or pellet. You would need to crush the foodvery finely with a mortar and pestle into a very fine powder. You will need to feed several times a day, this gives the fish time to recognize the powder as food. Feeding this way you will need to clean the tank alot, as all the uneaten food will foul the water. The tank is large for rearing the fish, especially the larvae. The smaller the volume of water the more dense you will have the food. The denser the food is, the shorter the distance the fish have to swim to find it, thus the least amount of energy they have to expend. In that size tank the fish will most likely use more energy hunting then the energy they would get from the food. I would ask around to see if anyone close has a copy of the book Clownfishes by Joyce Wilkerson, it has all the information in it that you will need. I have a copy, but Im pretty far from woodbridge.

if the fish have already hatched and you dont have any food (rotifers) for them right now, then they wont survive. A typical grow out tank is about 10 gallons or so, sponge filter, small heater, cheap light and blacked out sides. You wont be able to grow them out in a large established system. clown fish usually spawn pretty readily, read up some and and get everything together that you need and you will be raising them in no time.

sounds like a nice project figuring out to make a cover for that big curve. Im sure someone has done it before

Awesome, now you can start breeding

+1 on what hypertech said, I think you found your source of the diatom bloom. The sand you used may have seen silica based. This just gave the diatoms more stuff to eat which resulted in the bloom.

Here's an idea, why dont all the willing people post a picture of the tank so that others can get a preview to see which locations they want to visit. You can post your picture HERE hehe

Weekend Bump. Get your entry in soon, about a week left.

its diatoms, will go away on its on, nothing you have to do. And 5 ppm for your nitrates isnt high at all, but what little youe have could be from the new LR, but it could also be from feeding. Where did you buy the rock from? it looks very light colored, quite possible dry rock that was recently seeded. My rock was dry and after 4-5 months now is starting to finally darken up and get some coralline. Nothing to worry about at this point. Just sit back and relax.

I'll ask the obvious, are your pipes glued? if not pull the pipe and let him ride to the sump

very cool vid, reminds me of those old clay animation videos

I do but it's an hour and a half drive, sorry

you could use the 20 g tall, but that size tank has a small foot print. To design/layout your sump you will need to know what equpiment you plan on housing in there. The footprint of the skimmer and the return pump (if using a submersible pump) are the most important to know. From there you will know where to place your baffles. Knowing what skimmer you plan on using will also help set the height of the baffle, different brands work best at various heights. Another option for the height of the baffles is to build it high, and then place your skimmer on a stand that you can adjust the height. Doing it this way you need to watch out for head room so that you can take off the skimmers collection cup. In terms of total water volume, bigger is better. Thats why most people will advise you to get the largest sump you can fit. The 20 tall will work, but may create challenges. I would look into finiding a 20 long, same volume but a much better footprint. This will give you more room for equipment in the sump, and should fit easily under your tank. You could pobably find one in the sale forum. I would advise against modding the stand, especialy if its a pre-fab stand. If its home made you may be able to do it, but we would need to see pics. I would also advise against a BTA at this time as well. the general rule of thumb is that you shouldnt add a bta until at least a year. BTAs require very stable water conditions, which new tanks and newbies dont usually have. That year time will let your tank and your husbandry skills mature. As a subsitute you can get some type of leather coral, or even a frogspawn or hammer coral. Clowns will host at almost anything, they dont need a anemone. These corals are much easier to keep and your clown will be happy with them.

I always wondered what the bottles were for, the beer can was a given, its just cool.