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joro

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Posts posted by joro

    Need help with hanging lights

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by joro

    Wow did you build that from scratch? Wish i knew carpentry :/

     

    Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

     

    I'm not that talented to build it all myself but I did make the rigging from which to hang everything.  Mine required a little more of the rigging just because of the design (which had a slit for cooling) and the big fan cutouts the previous owner did to cool down his MH lighting.  Nothing that couldn't be fixed and with the spray paint you don't notice it at all

    Need help with hanging lights

    in General Discussion

    My wife also didn't care for the "hanging from ceiling look" so I ended up rigging our canopy to hold the lights which has worked very well. It will likely cost a bit more (to buy the canopy if you don't have one) but will pay dividends with the wife.  :thumbsup:

     

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    Joel & Denise's 90G Reef Build

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    We've made some great progress the past few weeks including cleaning up the rat's nest of cables and we've made some added some livestock including a very small CUC, 2 B&W Clowns, Fire Shrimp, and DWG.  Everyone is eating very well and we're still running tests every other day to verify parameters all of which are staying at 0 minus a small uptick in Nitrates which (somewhere between 0 and 5 PPM).

     

    A few questions from you all - 

     

    1. We had a small diatom bloom which the CUC promptly took care of; however, now we're starting to see a wave of Hair Algae.  We'd prefer to avoid hermits if possible but any suggestions on what would be helpful in reducing the growth?  For reference on the CUC - we have 5 Trochus, 5 Cerith, and 4 Nassarius currently which are all pretty active. 
    2. We finally got the top of the overflow quiet but now the sump is noisy.  What we’ve noticed is that the water from the drain line is basically overflowing the open section above where the filter socks sit (red arrow in second photo) so it’s creating a loud “waterfall” sound and also not passing through the foam block filter nor the filter socks themselves which is how I believe it was designed.  We’ve experimented with dialing down the drain line; however, we almost have to close it to make it quite which also isn’t ideal as it makes it easier to clog.  The return pump is only on 2 of 5 in terms of power, so not sure how much adjustment we can do there.

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    Low pH

    in General Discussion

    Thanks for the quick replies and a couple of questions for you both - 

     

    1. Did you just use flexible hose/tubing or did you do something more permanent like PVC? In either case, was there a certain diameter you went with?
    2. What impacts, if any, have you noticed during the winter months?  It seems to me something like this could potentially introduce contaminants and/or too much cold air to the system?
    3. I have the RO 152-S Classic Skimmer (http://www.coralvue.com/classic-152-s-protein-skimmer) - where would you plug this in?

    Low pH

    in General Discussion

    We've noticed the past few days that pH has been fluctuating - which I know is normal - however last night it started to go lower than I was comfortable with eventually bottoming out at 7.87.  I researched a number of forums and they suggested it may be a problem with excess Carbon Dioxide in our air and I cracked a window last night to test the theory out.  Sure enough, the pH started coming back up and is now at 8.2 (which is higher than we've been able to get it prior) and squarely sits within the 8.1 - 8.3 range most drive for.  While it would be nice to keep the window open all the time it's not really practical for us and I was wondering if anyone else has figured out a way to stabilize the pH with this type of condition?

     

    Here was a good link I found explaining the situation - http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/

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    Power Outage Planning

    in General Discussion

    I'm between controllers at the moment, so I can't be too specific about the Apex.  But the most important piece of functionality for me is the ability for the controller to provide electronic notification of a power outage.  I think only the base unit would have to be on the UPS for that.

     

    From what I've researched that seems to be one of the issues if you put the EB8 strip on UPS since the unit wouldn't detect an outage since it would be powered continuously (unless of course you burned through the battery power as well).  

    Power Outage Planning

    in General Discussion

    I've gotten all of the the various components for our new 90G reef which is being controlled by the Apex and EB8 strip.  Right now, everything is just plugged into a wall outlet (GFCI protected) but I'm trying to plan for redundancy in the case of a power outage.  In looking around, I've seen some suggestions to us a 12V backup for the Apex Base Unit (in particular the Belkin BU3DC001-12V) but it looks like this is just powering the brain but not any of the connected components in the EB8.  On my primary desktop and server rack (which includes our home automation, router, etc) I'm running traditional UPS style backups but not sure whether this is the best bet.

     

    Would like to hear what you all are doing for backups and hear any suggestions you may have as I put this final piece together.

    Determining Cycle Completion?

    in General Discussion

    Biospira is Instant Ocean's bacteria in a bottle. It won't do any harm, but if you have live rock to start with, it was probably unnecessary.

     

    I suspect that your tank is "cycled" inasmuch as you have a living, functional biological filter established by your starting out with live rock.

     

     

    Remember, the notion of "cycling" refers to the process of establishing aerobic and anaerobic bacterial populations that are capable of processing ammonia to nitrite, nitrite to nitrate, and nitrate to nitrogen. By starting out with fully-cured live rock, you basically introduce these bacteria with the rock from the outset. 

     

    Thank you and just as a means to validate, would you suggest using one of the methods previously described - either phantom feeding or dosing ammonia for a period?

    Determining Cycle Completion?

    in General Discussion

    Sure, so if I were to bet, the ammonia spike was probably small because there wasn't a ton of waste, for example, the bristle worms and pods died off, but that was all you really had to get your cycle going. Something that can decompose in your tank is ideal to begin the ammonia process, usually a shrimp from your local deli (or you can just take a leak in your tank, it's free...) The ammonia converts to nitrites (see nitrITES) which them converts to nitrates (see niTRATES) which then can be effectively removed with water changes.

     

    It's hard to say if your rock was cured or not, but here is what I would do. I would ghost feed the tank once a day. Continue testing, look for parts of the cycle, track your readings. If you get 0's on everything but nitrates, then I'd say you're good to go, and very slowly start stocking, begin with your clean up crew. If you get readings above 0 on ammonia or nitrites, then wait it out till you only have nitrates. Then, begin stocking very slowly. Allow your tank to catch up with the bioload you add.

     

    That's very helpful and for the phantom feeding, is there a certain amount we should be putting in each day?

    Determining Cycle Completion?

    in General Discussion

    So you added cycled rock, and cheato to your refigium, if the rock was indeed cured, I wouldn't expect a cycle in the tank.

     

    I'm thrown off with the Bio-Spira. Looks like a snake oil to me, and in the future, I would avoid adding anything to your tank that you can't test for. Quick reading on it, says that it "detoxifies nitrates and ammonia" which are 2 out of 3 main players in your nitrogen cycle.

     

    I'd venture to say the benificial stuff that you added probably started dying off, and the chemical prevented a cycle to a degree, hence the slight reading of ammonia levels. Just shooting from the hip here, could be completely off.

     

    That makes sense; however, what's throwing me is really two things - 

     

    1. The Bio-Spira wasn't added until last night, so between Wednesday (when we added the LR) and Saturday (when we first tested with the API Kit), wouldn't we see a larger spike in Ammonia if there was die-off?  It was reading on Saturday somewhere between the 0 - 0.25 on the color scale and prior to adding the Bio-Spira it was reading 0. 
    2. On your latter hypothesis, if the Bio-Spira did prevent the cycle to a degree, how would we get it re-started or do we need to?

    Thanks!

    Determining Cycle Completion?

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by joro

    We've been working on setting up our new 90G reef tank and just started officially cycling last week.  We started daily testing using the API Kit for Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates on Saturday with our Apex controller monitoring the pH, Conductivity, Temp, and ORP.  To give you an idea of the timeline - 

     

    • ​Wednesday 4/20 - We placed about 85 total pounds of fully-cured Live Rock we purchased from Quantum Reefs which is only a short drive from our house.  The rock was placed directly into the tank (which already had saltwater and pumps running along with some basic filtration including filter socks and some filtration pads).  We placed the bulk of the LR in the DT but did place a big piece or two - along with rubble - into the refugium section of the sump.
    • Thursday 4/21 - We placed roughly 100 pounds of Live Sand (CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand) into the DT and let clear.
    • Saturday 4/22 - We did our first round of testing with the API Kit and pretty much everything was reading at 0 which the exception of Ammonia which was somewhere in between 0 - 0.25 on the color scale.
    • Sunday 4/23 - We dosed the tank with IO Bio-Spira and placed a large handful of Chaeto we purchased from Capital Aquarium into the fuge. The Chaeto was brimming with pods and worms (maybe bristle worms?) that seemed to migrate down to LR we already had in the fuge from 4/20.  We checked parameters prior to the Bio-Spira dosing and everything, including Ammonia, was reading 0.  
    • Today - I just re-ran the API Kit again and everything is still at 0 and the pods/worms from the Chaeto are still moving around though not sure about their population. 

    It's worth noting that pH ( between 8 - 8.1), Conductivity (~35), and Temp (between 77 and 78) have all remained pretty constant throughout although we have seen a little increase in ORP throughout today (rising from about 207 last night and peaking earlier at 228).  My assumption is that the tank hasn't cycled nowhere near complete but I'm being thrown off a bit by the readings which have, since Saturday) been reading at or very close to 0 across the board.  

     

    Is it possible we missed the ammonia spike and/or it was very little given the cured LR / LS? Also, while we'll continue to test, is there a way to validate whether the tank has actually cycled and it's not just some unusual readings?  :why:

    Joel & Denise's 90G Reef Build

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    · Edited by joro

    Sand is in and has settled fort the most part; however, we still need to do a little raking around the rocks - potentially even taking a little bit out. If we go the route of scooping some out, is it recommend we put this excess in the refugium or are we better off just tossing it?

     

    Apex + probes and a new Gyre have all been installed since the last update.  I need to do a little clean up with the rat's nest of wires but we're making progress. Now to wait for cycling!  :rollface:

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    Joel & Denise's 90G Reef Build

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    Progress update - 

     

    1. Got a few new "toys" in today including the Apex Gold system, the built-in probe holders in the sump are a little lower than desired and since they aren't supposed to fully submerged, I decided to order a small holder from Neptune which should be here tomorrow to finalize the installation!
    2. Purchase around 90 pounds of Real Reef Rock (3rd Generation) + a Tonga Branch from Quantum Reefs and we're very impressed. We've got another 4 bags of live sand coming tomorrow, so we'll get that in and time to cycle!
    3. A view of the aquascape without the sand, will try to post a better picture once the dust storm dies down over the next few days.  
    4. Unfortunately we purchased a Maxspect Gyre XF-150 today and once installed it doesn't seem to be working.  It will turn on for a few seconds, then start blinking red.  Maybe another 10 seconds goes buy and it does the same thing over again.  I've got a ticket in with CoralVue but any experience here with this and suggestions for how to fix (if it's not a bad unit)?

    Thanks!

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    Joel & Denise's 90G Reef Build

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    The 1-inch fall should still be quiet. Because the bottom of the knockout is probably lower than the teeth at some point, a lot of flow is being directed there. I'm guessing that this causes the water to run through at a high horizontal velocity (and the water tends to pull together to form a rounded stream, rather than a sheet as it falls) that leads to the splashing sound. Try covering that gap manually to test the idea and, if it fixes the noise problem, look for a longer-term solution.

     

    Alright, so I've done some investigating and I think I found the culprits - 

     

    1. Most of the noise I'm describing is coming from a small hole under the return elbow to which the loc-lines screw into.  Is this necessary? Seems that if I got a new elbow (without the hole) that would eliminate the vast amount of the noise.
    2. It does appear as well the "knockout" holes are causing issues as well - one side is empty, the other side has the loc-lines coming out but they don't fill the hole completely so there is still water overflowing this hole underneath them.  Suggestions on how to close these up?

    Joel & Denise's 90G Reef Build

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    The video that you posted was helpful. It seems to me that the sound that you're hearing is the sound of water falling from the overflow level to the level of the water in the oveflow chamber (a distance of a few inches). Looking closely at the video, it also seems that you have a "spout" of water on the left hand side of the overflow weir that is not coming from through the "teeth" of the overflow. Is this correct? Is there an insert of some sort missing in that stretch of the overflow? Try mechanically blocking that stretch with a sponge or something (just as a test) and see if it quiets things down as that spout may be the source of the noise.

     

    Both of what I'll call "knockouts" (for the returns) were punched out, so the one doesn't have anything in it - I think that's the stretch you're referring to? Also, one other thing I thought about is what's the right level to keep the drain pipe at? Right now it's about an inch below the teeth of the overflow, is that's correct placement?

    Joel & Denise's 90G Reef Build

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    Questions for the forums in regard to heater placement.  We recently purchased 2x Eheim Jager TruTemp 150W heaters which we were planning to place in the sump.  Would it be best to place one in each end (e.g. one in the skimmer compartment and one in the return compartment) or is there some trick to placing these correctly?

    Joel & Denise's 90G Reef Build

    in Dedicated Tank (Build) Forum

    You should get a picture of it while it's running. It'll tell us more about how it's doing.

     

    Here's a video showing it running from both the side and top that may help diagnose - https://youtu.be/IRjChn8YXmw

     

    I have a 90, same Durso.  Both the drain and return have valves on them and I T off the return similar to your pic in post #5.  I have to turn the valve on the drain to slow it to get a balance between it and the return.  Fine tuning done with a combination of the drain valve and the valve on the T'd line that goes into my refugium section of sump.  Doing this, I can achieve a quite overflow.  Operational like that for 11 years now.

     

    Your setup will require adjustments based on plumbing and return pump flow. 

     

    Appreciate the insight and have you noticed any issues with the valve's longevity/performance when using them to slow the flow down?

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