icsparks
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Posts posted by icsparks
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I have bought fish from them and had no problems.Tanks were clean Unlike another LFS in that area..
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Is this guy good or bad.
Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk
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Welcome,
My wife and I live in Augusta, WV about 30 miles west of Winchester.
Charlie
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All I can say it that my Apex has saved me a few times in the past 4 weeks and is well worth the extra money compared to what home damage and livestock I could have lost. If you count the replacement amount in livestock alone for each tank it may scare you. I have almost enough livestock in my 20 Gal to pay for the Apex.
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IMO
I would slowly remove the GFO from the system. As this may effect your current carbon maintenance dose. let the bacteria catch up with the demand.
I would also keep using the activated carbon. It will inprove water quality, reduce bio load and wont effect the tank in a bad way. It may add more space for the bacteria to grow from the carbon dosing.
KH of 7 has a balanced CA of about 410 so I would also reduce the amount of CA dose a tad to help the KH drop over time. Then when I get to where I want to be, change the maintenance dose to match the tanks current demand.
I would watch the corals color over this period before changing the lights again to see if they adapt to the current new changes you are making then slowly add more light if needed for growth.
Changing so many things at one time wont pinpoint what worked and what didn't and may cause you second guessing of your choices.
Keep us posted.
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Here is an interesting link that I found about a high nutrient tank with SPS corals.
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You have quite a unique collection going, once it grows out your tank will be one that people will be placing on their computer desktops with envy.
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I have had this problem before and ended up removing most of the water from the overflow area box and then pulled out the tube reached down inside with my hand and got the fish out.He was a red hawk fish and was in no way going to die in there without me getting him out. After that i made covers for the overflows.
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The 155 BF is doing great. Have some brown diatom algae on rocks in DT and have hair algae growing on rocks in sump. Cleaning glass every few days.
Running skimmer GFO and carbon.
Changing out filter socks every 4 days.
Doing 30 Gal WC every 2 weeks
I did water testing today and here is the results:
PH 8.02
Alkalinity 8.1
Calcium 440
Salinity 1.025
Mag 1400
Phosphate 0.07
Nitrates 0
Live stock:
3 large turbo snails
1 Cleaner shrimp
1 Med Foxface
2 small clown fish
2 Green Acro frag
1 Acan frag
All fish and inverts are active and healthy the corals also look like they are doing good.
Running the LED's on a 10 hour schedule with whites at 30% and blues at 50 % peak.
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Our tank has cycled and has done great so far.
Here is how I cycled my 155 gal tank that has about 115 lbs of BRS dry rock and 20 Lbs of live rock in sump.
Day 1 added dry rock to tank
Day 2 mixed up 20 gal batches of ro/id water and RC salt.
day 3 added 80 pounds of live reef sand and 20 Lbs of live rock to sump.------ Total system net is 145 Gal
Day 4 added 5 medium frozen shrimp in mesh bag to sump. started up skimmer GFO and Carbon reactors.
Day 5 Phos .29 Nitrite .25 Ammonia .25 Nitrate 0
Day 8 Phos N/A Nitrite .25 Ammonia .50 Nitrate 0
Day 10 Phos .12 Nitrite 2.0 Ammonia 1.0 Nitrate 20 ------Removed very stinky shrimp from sump
Day 13 Phos .13 Nitrite 5.0 Ammonia .25 Nitrate 40
Day 16 Phos 0.1 Nitrite .25 Ammonia 0 Nitrate 20 --------adding a pinch of flake food
Day 20 Phos .08 Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrate 20 ----------30 gal water change
Day 25 Phos .09 Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrate 5Day 30 Phos .06 Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrates 5 ---------Add 2 clown fish and 3 corals.
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It's been a busy week getting the 155 gallon Bow Front up and running. Although I can say it went smooth for the most part. After 160 Lbs of mixed reef sand, 100 lbs of BRS dry rock and 20 Lbs of LFS live rock in sump my total system volume is 145 gallons.
Equipment:
155 Gal AGA RR Bow Front tank with stand/canopy.
40 Gal DIY sump with split drain and center return.
RO 3000 In Sump Super Skimmer.
2- NextReef MR1 Reactors running GFO/ Carbon.
ATO= DIY Autotopoff.com switches and lift pump.
Lighting= 2- Reef Radiance Lumentek PRO 240 programable LED.
2- Finnex heaters 200/300 Watt
Neptune Systems Apex controller
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It's a personal choice, some love it some hate it. If you do a search on the net you will see many pictures and comments about reef aquariums that have black sand to help you with your choice. Once you put it in the tank it will be a pain to remove. I have a mix of black and white in my 20 gal tank and so far i like it.
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Going to let the tank sit a few days to make sure we like the rock work. Lacking one shelf on the left side. The reactors hang perfectly in front of the 40 gal sump and are easy to remove for media change.
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All rock came from BRS. Very dence and heavy.
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Update: This week the UPS driver was busy. We got 50 Lbs of Tonga branch, 20 Lbs of Tonga flat plate, and 50lbs of Pukani rock. Two MR1 reactor, two Finnex *** heaters, 70Lbs of reef sand.
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Take a look at Reef Radiance LED's You may find something there that you like. Also you can talk to the owner right over the phone about lighting options and setup.
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The 5 gal jugs are only for the start up. I have a 30 Gal Vat for the water changes. I was lucky enough to get the jugs for free so I got a head start on making 150 Gallons of RO/DI water to start the tank. My RO/DI is only a 75 gal per day unit. Once I get the tank up and running the jugs will go away. I may use some for mixing 2 part and kalk. Our OR skimmer came today and it fits in my sump under the tank with about 2 1/4" of space between the top lid and the tank bottom. Collection cup is easy to get to and remove
I was crossing my fingers on that one. -
The RO skimmer is on the way. We also have two Lumentek Pro 240 LED lights on order from Reef Radiance. Rick at RR took the time and talked with me over the phone about my options for my tank and provided great customer service at a personal level.
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Balanced Calcium and Alkalinity
360 ppm to 0 dKH
370 ppm to 1.4 dKH
380 ppm to 2.8 dKH
390 ppm to 4.2 dKH
400 ppm to 5.6 dKH
410 ppm to 7 dKH (natural seawater)
420 ppm to 8.4 dKH
430 ppm to 9.8 dKH
440 ppm to 11.2 dKH
450 ppm to 12.6 dKH
460 ppm to 14 dKH
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This may help you down the road understanding Ich treatment and life cycles.
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Does anybody use Coralvue RO skimmers? If so would like to hear the pro's and con's.
Thanks,
Update: We have 140 gallons of RO/DI water made up in 5 gallon jugs sitting all throughout the house.
Just got a shipment Friday, 50Lbs. of dry rock from BRS and 5 powerheads from Amazon. When Uncle Sam gives me my refund this week the UPS driver will be busy. Lights, skimmer and new pump are on top of the list.
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1. Are you able to run the components from a single tank off of one GFI-protected circuit -two plug outlet? I understand that too much draw will cause a circuit to flip, however is it okay and feasible/possible to plug it all into one outlet? What are most people doing? I'm trying to plan where to best place is to put my 75.
2. Anyone put up a smoke detector, in addition to the regular smoke detectors, near their aquarium because of a specific concern about a fire caused by the equipment?
3. Are you folks with multiple tanks using controllers on each of your tanks?
1. Most likely your general branch circuits in your house are fed buy a 15 amp breaker. A 15 amp breaker can carry at total of 1440 watts which is 80% of circuit load. You can add up the load counting all of the equipment to get in the ballpark of what the tank will draw. In most cases the lights and the heaters will be the most power hungery. If in the event you have a power outage the tank will draw the most power at start up when the heaters, lights and all pumps kick back on. It would be better to split the load between two or more outlets or have an electrician install a dedicated outlet or two for the tank.
2. Good idea but only works if your at home to address the problem. Best protection is prevention. Keep all electrical equipment plugs cords and power strips away from moisture areas. I have had a power strip go up in smoke over a tiny water mist that was comming from sump. check everything daily.
3. I do not have controllers on each tank. It's all about the wants, needs, like to have and money.
Icsparks 155
in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum
Our tank has been doing great. Corals are growing and doing well under the Reef Radiance LED lighting. We may have to relocate the large snails as they keep knocking over the frags in the rack.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e5sjgutdicv7bnx/2014-06-15%2009.38.10.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kx74yyfid1q2oiv/2014-06-15%2009.30.42.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dqzu71bogal01ez/2014-06-15%2009.27.46.jpg