madmax7774

As much as I hate to admit it, Everyone has very valid points. I guess I was just disheartened by the whole experience, and needed to Vent. At least it's not a total loss, I did learn a few very important lessons along the way. In any event, I am over it now and moving on new corals... oh yeah, I still have a lot of anthelia left in my tank if anyone wants a frag or two....

I ordered the magnet holders for all 3 of them so they are going to be very secure. I will definately be moving them around every few days. After I posted this, I thought about it alot, and I keep coming back to moving them around every few days to prevent dead spots. I really do like my word though. Turbulate. It has a cool ring to it. You know If I was a TV star, it would become real word instantly... look at stephen colbert with his show. Now "Truthiness" is pretty much a word even though it isn't. Turbulate......hmmmmm

I just ordered the Red sea wavemaster pro which is the digital thing-a-ma-jiggy that turns on and off your powerheads in random to create turbulence for the tank. So my question is, where do I place the powerheads? (3 maxijet 1200's) would they be better off up high near the top of the tank, or better off down low or maybe 1 high and 2 low, or 2 high, one low, you get the idea.... what's the general consensus? The tank is an acrylic 75g with 3 returns from a fairly powerful pump, so it already has a bit of constant circulation to start with. The wave master is to help turbulate (is that even a real word?) things so the flow is not so constant and linear. PS - dictionary.com says turbulate is not a word, so please forgive my gramatical creativity.... and yes I am too darn lazy to spellcheck either...

I understand why folks might think it's a valid point about mixing up water, but I used the same water from my RO/DI, and the same reef crystals, and I always measure very carefully with a measuring cup whether it for extra stuff like this trip, or if it's for the main tank. I have to say though that I would think that mixing up a fresh batch of water and getting it to the proper temp, and letting it circulate for 4 hours before dropping the coral in should have the same effect as a water change, which I thought most folks considered highly beneficial. Do you really think that the fresh water batch could have bee the source of all these problems? I really thought it was the drastic temperature difference. In any event, I am going to vote with my dollars, and I am NOT, NOT, NOT ever going back there unless I am having some sort of emergency. It is rather humurous though, that even though I never specifically mention the store by name, almost everyone knew exactly which store it was just based on a few scant facts. That doesn't say much for the store.

So I have an abundance of one type of coral in my system. I happened to be in a LFS that shall remain nameless, and I mentioned it to them and they said "Gee, why don't you bring some of it in, we'll buy it off you, and give you store credit toward some other corals..." So I thought about it, and I figured why not, it sounds like s good deal. So a few weeks later i stop in on a saturday afternoon, with my loot, and I show it to them, and they said "umm, we only take frags in on Tuesday's...", OK, well I wish you would have mentioned that when you offered to take my frags in the first place! But the Clerk at the store sorta felt sorry for me, and said hey, we'll take em anyway. Having never done this before, I hung around to see what they would do with the coral. They placed it in a quarantine system pretty much right away, and I thought well that should be good to go. Then they said, we can't give you any credit till Tuesday when the manager is in to review your frags. OK I thought, that's no big deal, I'm patient. So I stop back by teusday, and guess what?? they have pretty much managed to kill all the coral I brought in. What?!?!? They immediately started blaming it on me saying that it was my fault, that the water I brought the frags in with was too hot, and that's what caused the problem. Well I know that's not true, because I mixed brand new RO/DI water in a rubbermade tote, and dropped a heater in it on 78'F and left it like that for several hours before I put any frags in it. It was a 20 minute drive to the LFS, so if anything, it was slightly cold, not hot. So then I stuck my finger in the tank that they had the frags in, and It was shockingly cold. I asked, what are you guys usually running your water temp at? He replied 74'F Wowzer, that's pretty low compared to my tank which is always at 80'F. In any event, they are not going to give me credit unless the frags survive (I seriously doubt they will) I have lost probably $50 in credits and am pissed off at the store for their crappy treament. In my opinion, if the stuff I bring in is healthy, I should be credited/paid for what I brought. If the store then kills it, then that's their problem, not mine. I feel like I have been taken advantage off, and I will definately NOT be going to back to that store. In any event, I now need to find a new store to bring my frags to. I wonder if BRK will take in frags??? Oh yeah, their freaking prices are rediculous too. I wanted a red seas wavemaster, and they want $199 for something that is $109 everywhere else. a Maxijet1200 powerhead is freakin $42 at this LFS, and they sell for $20~$22 everywhere else. You know I can understand when a local store has to mark up a small amount to stay in business, but they are just getting greedy.

ok, I'm not so sure anymore. It's been almost 2 weeks without the UV, and I am starting to get s snowstorm of micro white particles. Even with the filter sock back on, they are all over the place. I can't figure out what it is. i don't think it's algea, and It's not sand. Anyone ever heard of white algea??? I don't think it's copepods, but I'm just not sure. I will try to get some sort of photograph, but it doesn't seem to be sticking to anything....

this is by far the largest tank I have ever seen. If you haven't already seen this it's a great read! http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_1700g_tank_1.php

Thanks, Rocko!

Lately I have been giving a lot of thought to a big upgrade, and I keep getting stuck on the idea of building my own tank from plywood with a glass front. I am curious if anyone else has tried this successfully, and what your experience was. Regardless of whether I do build the tank, I am going to be upgrading to a tank that is 96" long and hopefully around 30~32" high. Front to back depth is not so critical to me, probably I will go with 24" or something like that. In any event, I am familiar with woodworking and I really think I could pull it off. I have been looking the materials costs, and it looks like the most expensive part will be the glass pane front. I figure that I ought to go with Low Iron glass to make it as clear as possible, and right now my online research shows it costing in the neighborhood of $250 to $300 for the glass. If I do go the route of the wooden tank, I envision using carbon fiber strands/strips in the epoxy resin coating to strengthen the tank. I am aproaching this from the basic design that can be seen on garf.org Total tank cost will br around $450~$500 plus labor. Beats the heck out of the prices of tanks from anywhere I've seen yet. Anyone else gone down this road? John

John, [sNIP] I want to use it for my 100 gallon system at home, as I am starting to load up on SPS corals, and could benefit from some sort of automated Calcium system. John

I also use filters from buckeye field supply. I started my RO/DI system January, and last week I noticed the TDS readings were climbing into the 15ppm range. I replaced all filters and the DI resin, and now I am back to 0 ppm. So I got just a hair under 1 year out of my filters. My RO membrane was a 75gpd filmtec. You can't beat their prices: http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com

EDIT Same as above. BB

I was at the LFS today, and I saw they were showcasing a new(for them) product called the B-ionic doser. it's basically an automated b-ionic drop system with air pumps and light timers to drive it. As an alternative to the expense of a calcium reactor which is around $600-900, this thing is less than $300 all parts to get into. They claim it to be great. Anyone here run one? what are your thoughts on them? John

Good point. I think the return pipe condom filter has served it's purpose anyway, as the water is crystal clear, and the sediment/debris flowing around is gone now. I am removing it today. John

Thank you to all who replied. ErikS, yours is along the lines of what I had in mind. I like the looks of it alot. Do you use some sort of PH controller with it?? where did you get the clear plastic tube to make the main body housing? Overall, how hard was it to make? How would you feel about letting me pick your brain? I really have a bunch of questions about how they work, and what are the principals behind running them, and how to operate one. I have never used one before, and I want to get it right when I build this thing. I have had my tank for 1 year, and have a lot invested in it, and would hate to destroy my tank by adding a calcium reactor the wrong way. John

I am very much into the idea of adding a calcium reactor and PH controller to my reef. I am fairly handy, and want to build my own, but the plans I have located on the web so far, just don't give me the warm fuzzies. I was wondering if anyone in our local area has built there own, how did it turn out, what plans did you use, and what are your general thoughts on the them in general... John

Wow, I had no idea, than ks for the heads up. I will defiantely avoid buying one of those bottles now....

ok, it's been a week without the UV sterilizer, and my tank has cleared up nicely due to the addition of a filter condom on the end of overflow drain pipe into my sump. I never realized how much crap one of those would filter out. Anyways, the water is perfectly clear, and there have been no problems whatsoever. I am gonna spring for one of those small bottles of copepods that the LSF store sells for 19$ ans see if that causes a bloom of pods. So far so good. John

So I went to the LFS saturday to upgrade my protein skimmer. I ended up buying the Euro-reef RS80. Wow, what a skimmer. In one day it pulled more crap outa the water than my old coralife did in several weeks. My only gripe is that it is not as easy to adjust as the coralife was. The coralife had a nice little dial on the top where you could just rotate it, and dial in teh exact bubble height. The Euro-reef, you have to slide the return pipe up and down and is a little more difficult to get it right. All in all though, it's really a nice peice of equipment. I did see on the web that Euro-reef has an aftermarket gate valve add-on for the skimmer. I think I will try that out.

I had a 9 watt UV sterilizer running out of the sump at around 75GPH (estimated) It was great for killing off algea blooms, but it would also kill my copepod poulation. I want to get a dragonette at some point, so I am trying it without it. My system is 1 year old now, so I don't think it needs the UV anymore. It has been a few days now, and I see now immediate effect, but I am watching closely. I also upgraded my protein skimmer from a POS coralife 125 to a Euro-reef RS80. What a difference that made... I upgraded my main return pump from a Sen500 to a mag1000 and added 2 more return lines. My turn over with the old pump was pretty bad, it was around 200gph. on a 100G system , that was bad. Now I am getting close to 800gph and it really is stirring everything up. Once all the particles finally clear out, I will be able to see how clear the water is without the UV.

Up until yesterday, I was running one 24/7, but I have since come to the conclusion that it is hurting slightly more than it is helping. I have since removed it. In the beginning, While was a novice, it helped me stop algea blooms, but now that I have things well under control it is hurting the Micro-critter population, so I am removing it, and am going to give it a go without it for the next few months. We'll see.

I have an abundance of Anthelia in my tank. It is grey/pink colored, and growing very well. if anyone has any frags of anything else that they want to trade, I am interested. This stuff is nice, but is growing fast, and I want to thin it out so to speak. You can email me at john_hess1@verizon.net if you are interested. I live in Centreville, and am home most evenings and weekends, John. P.S.-I also have a decent amount of Calerpa (SP?) in my refugium if anyone wants some. It grows well for me, and I have too much. I would be willing to trade for any frags, or give some away for a good cause.

Folks it's been a mighty long time Since Ive been on, but I have been doing really well with my tank over the last year. Except for one unlucky tang, All my livestock has been thriving, coral has been growing and critters have been reproducing like crazy. (my initial purchase 30 or so snails has exploded into well over 100! My setup is a 75 gallon main tank, a 30 gallon sump/refugium. I use only ro/di water from my own filter setup, and always use reef crystals. My lights are 2 175watt MH@20,000K 125 lbs of live rock, and lots of course live sand mixed with lots of rubble. I also run a UV sterilizer, and have lots of main tank circulation, and the turn-over beween the sump and the main tank is faily good. My protein skimmer is an el-cheapo coralife 125, but dang-it, that thing works great for me, so until it dies, I'm going to stick with it. I also ***had*** an eheim canister filter on their as well, which was rated up to 150g. When I started this month's maintenance cleaning, I noticed the ehiem was extremely hot, and smelled terrible. Turns out the electrical drive mechanism got so hot it melted the plastic, and seized the plastic rotor, and self destructed. I felt like I needed the canister filter in the very beginning to help get the bio-cycle established, and keep things extra clean to get everything going, and to help protect me from stupid rookie errors. My test have always been excellent, and other than a very slightly elevated phospahte level, everything is spot on. A guy I am aquainted with at work who fancies himself a reef specialist, says that the canister filter was marginal at best, and a phosphate generator at worst, and thinks my system will be fine without it. I am not 100% sure and am soliciting opinions from the the experts. My thought is that Everything has been going so well that I ought not to upset the apple cart so to speak by removing the canister filter from the equation. what do you think?

yeah, I think I may have to at this point. I can't get into a larger tank for at least 24 months

oh lovely. The wife is gonna have a cow. I just finished getting the whole 75 setup and building a nice in wall shelf/stand unit for it. :(