ctreptow

Hey cool idea I never thought of that.. I may need to start with a toilet brush 1st and work my way down to the baby bottle brush.... Patience patience.. patience... Chris

Yeah I win... Added cleanup crew yesterday and kept in the dark today and I see some rock.. The rest has put on another 1/2 inch but the crew is doing it's job. I still can't believe it grew some more even in total darkness.. go figure I found the hair algae that grows in the dark ... Chris

I am running some Phosar that Doug gave me a couple of years ago in 2 phosban reactors. I am looking to upgrade to the dual reactor that bulk supply has. 1 for carbon and 1 for GFO.. Chris

I put 5 54W T5's over my 75 gallon and the light coverage is great. I can't say how it penetrates compared to MH and you will loose the ripple effect, but the light is even across the tank. Chris

Not a good week for those named Chris.. Keep the faith and don't give up. Chris

I thought it was natural cycle but every time I cycled before I never saw it this bad, but the other times I did have my cleanup crew earlier. I am going to cut back photo period and this weekend I am going to build a cheato spinner in a 5 gallon bucket. Does anyone have some cheato to spare? Chris

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the foam but I am hoping it has more to do with the bright lights instead of the foam. I have 400 Watts over this tank and only 200 over the other one. Only time will tell.. Chris

LOL!!! Yeah I feel that way as well... Except I could never get Chi Pets to graow... Go figure I needed to sumberge them. As for is this the tank with the Foam wall... Yes it is and I am hoping that it's not the foam causing it.. The RO/DI was less then 24 hours old when mixed, All new water. The rock spent the last year in my stock tank with my fish not really taken care that well.. So I don't know if it has soaked up some bad stuff that is being released now with this nice new water and super brite lights. Nitrates are 0 and I don't have a PO4 kit to test Phos yet. Lots of flow in the tank as well. I can really see how my oceans motions and powerheads move the water. Chris

I was thinking about the green wig store. I have cut back on the lights and the cleanup crew did arrive today I was really hoping to burn out the problem because as soon as the lights come back so will the algae.. I really need to get my cheato tub running. Chris

Has anyone experienced this much hair algae in a new startup. The tanks have had water in them for 2 weeks and they did the usual brown diatom the 1st week and then the hair came. Since the holiday was here my cleanup crew was delayed in getting here and this algae just keeps growing. I have installed my 2 phosban reactors with Phosar in them 2 days ago. Lighting is brand new T5 54w Icecap overdriven to 80W 3 Actinic Blue + 1 pure Actinic and 1 midday bulb. Photo period 10 hours a day, I did cut that back to just actinics today. New Sand and the 150Lbs of live rock are about 10years old. I was hoping that it would build up and start to die off once all the nutrients have been used up but now I am worried that with this much algae when it dies off it will cause bigger problems. BTW the second tank which shares the same sump has very little hair algae. PC Lighting. Any thoughts? Chris

Drilling the tank seems more scary then it is. I drilled both my 75's without a problem. Just use a lot of water and take it slow, let the bit do the work. What are you using for your closed loop? BTW the stand looks great. Chris

And I finally completed the basement sump setup. I have the tanks overflowing into a 20 gallon tank where my skimmer pump is located. I set the flow so that %95 of the water coming back from the tanks goes through the skimmer before entering the 100 gallon stock tank. The water is pumped back upstairs with a Blueline 75 pump.

The water has cleared here are the latest shot. The sand held well to the foam but some has come off. No foam has broken off and everything seems stable. Non Foam tank

Looks great keep the pics coming.. Chris

And the water hits the foam system. Everything worked great no floating away or sand falling off the foam. Chris

We have water It's great to see water in the tanks again. I finished the plumbing and lighting on the non foam side. The water has been added and my rock has come out of hiding. I also added some new rock from Marco Rocks. Chris Front Side

Yep my thoughts as well. I can tell you I can't wipe it off, and I am hoping the exposed foam will cover with coralline quickly. Chris

The almost completed project. Front Side I still have fans to install and I may do some free standing pieces to hide the CL outlets. Chris

The Rock is in place. I put the 3 parts in and siliconed them to the back. I then foamed the top to bring it above the waterline and help secure the rock to the back. The wood is there to help hold the rock to the back. I used the great stuff foam for the top and seams because it sticks better to vertical surfaces then the pond foam does. The foam has already hardened and I can't believe how well the parts are being held in place. from the front. from the side Big holes for fishies Close up I will let it sit for week to harden and cure in place. Chris

After the 1st sanding. Close up. I'll keep you updated Chris

I have 2 types that I am using, I got the 2 part finishing resin from HD and Iwill use the ZAP finishing resin for the in house work. Zap is odor free. Chris

The sand and Epoxy being applied

Researching others on the web I have found that they just siliconed them to the back. The rocks attached are heavy. The 2 large pieces weigh in at about 10 to 15 lbs and a great deal of the foam on them has been removed. I also have grid extending out from the bottom past the foam. I am water testing each piece by putting it in my saltwater storage trash can and it seems that piece number 1, the corner piece, needs about 10 lbs of down force to keep it down. I haven't tested the other 2 yet. They have much less foam and much more rock so they should be close to sinking. My 3 prong approach to securing it. 1st I will silicone the back pieces to the glass, the silicone will bond to the glass and fill in the open grid pieces from behind to act like fingers holding it. 2nd I will have sand and loose rock work in the front that will sit on the grid holding it down. 3rd I am going to foam and epoxy the seams and across the top top of the back so the foam will extend above the waterline. I am hoping the foam will adhere to the glass and fill in under the trim at the top. This should act like a keystone the holds the top in and down. Keeping my fingers crossed. Chris

I am doing the epoxy in 2 ways. 1st I put a very heavy coating of epoxy on the foam. This really seems to help harden the foam as well as stiffing up the structure. While the epoxy is still wet I covered the whole piece with a sand crushed coral mix. I also mixed a large bowl of epoxy and poured the sand mix in the epoxy to create a cement type mixture. I use this to cover some of the gaps between the rocks and foam. The cement is rock hard when it dries and looks fantastic. I epoxied the last 2 parts this evening and will have pictures of them by this weekend. Once I put them in I will foam and epoxy the joints in place and be ready for water soon after. I just ordered my sand and salt for the tank and hope to be filing them early next week. Yeah algae in the bridge would be a pain. I have a hard time getting my Mag float to get it off the front let alone through a bridge.. I was also looking at maybe doing a 4" PVC pipe between the 2 tanks that would allow the fish and water to flow between the 2. That way I would have the sump return on 1 tank and the drain on the other. Water would flow between the tanks and would be very cool. I didn't like the idea of cutting 4 1/2" holes in my tanks and the long term effects on the fittings and glass were something I wasn't ready to experiment with because I like my floor the way it is and 150 gallons of water leaking through the floor into my basement wasn't a happy thought Chris

It could. It's my understanding that the UV breaks it down over time. I figure that the small break in the epoxy should be covered by coraline or the coral before any breakdown occurs. I also used the black pond foam which is less prone to UV problems. Since there are really no long term tests, The longest I have seen is Tiggy's on RC going about a year, I am going in with low expectations figuring maybe I can get 2 years out of it. That way if it's still going in 5 years I can rejoice... Chris