Antiguan June 27, 2008 Share June 27, 2008 Are you just using the single horizontal overflow box to exchange water between display and sump? I see that you have other bulkheads which I assume are for water movement. Any issues after filling tank with water? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner June 28, 2008 Author Share June 28, 2008 Good idea, James! I have a small rock with GSP on it, in the 450, so I can just move it over to the predator tank and hopefully it will grab ahold and grow good in there. Are you just using the single horizontal overflow box to exchange water between display and sump? I see that you have other bulkheads which I assume are for water movement. Any issues after filling tank with water? Thanks. Yes, it's a single 2" pipe coming out of the overflow box and draining back into the sump. I'm really happy with how it works. ZERO noise and it carries a LOT of water. The other 2" bulkhead towards the middle of the end panel is the input to the CL pump. For now, it's just a snapper, which is WAY too small. I'm going to replace it with a Hammerhead soon. The two 1" bulkheads at the top of the end panel and beside the overflow box, are the returns from the sump. There are two 1" bulkheads covered by the rock, and there are another two 1" bulkheads towards the bottom of the end panel, just above the sand, they are the returns from the CL. We haven't had any issues since filling the tank. This is considered an Industrial tank by Glass Cages and it's really well built. Here is a panoramic video showing what the view is like from our couch. Feeding time for the reef: Feeding time for the predators. The whites had already gone off so it's really blue. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy953 June 28, 2008 Share June 28, 2008 Wow those are some great videos! Jessy and I were just watching them and can't wait to see the tanks in person! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 June 28, 2008 Share June 28, 2008 The other 2" bulkhead towards the middle of the end panel is the input to the CL pump. For now, it's just a snapper, which is WAY too small. I'm going to replace it with a Hammerhead soon. There are two 1" bulkheads covered by the rock, and there are another two 1" bulkheads towards the bottom of the end panel, just above the sand, they are the returns from the CL. I can't see the feed for the closed loop, I am assuming that it's not in one of the overflows? If it is, I don't think that's a good idea, you won't be able to feed that overflow quickly enough with a hammerhead. Also, if it's not in there, I would definitely split the feed into at least 2 or 3 different strainers. If you have ever felt the draw on the intake of a sequence pump, you'll know why! I have barracudas running my closed loops and they have sucked fish (and my hand which instantly hurt an awful lot!) into the strainers, even pulling a tang's eye clear through it's head and pulling snails out of their shells. When I divided mine into two different feeds it lessened the flow enough to make it safe for fish and my hand. With a hammerhead, which pumps even more water than the barracuda, one single feed will be deadly. I know that it's a 2" feed versus a 1.5" feed, but that's still a ton of water being pulled through. Also, I would watch out for having returns just above the sand with that strong a pump. As long as you don't angle them down, they won't stir your sand up too much, but I have mine angled across the sand bed (and they are not at the sand level) in order to keep detritus from really settling there and before I added my rock I would see periodic "tornados" of sand going across the sand bed. Also, I have one of my closed loops plumbed the way you have it, a single feed split into two 1" returns and this creates some really strong current. On mine, I have a tang that likes to jump in there and get battered around (he tries to swim into the current but usually doesn't last more than a few seconds before he gets whipped out of there). These returns go into a T with a straight shot to a 45 and then there's another 45 that is off of the 90 degree bend that shoots out much slower current. For your predator tank, as long as you have sufficient light and tolerant corals, you can expand to leathers as well. I had leathers in a tank at school but over the years they have slowly faded due to dirtier water. This was in addition to some zoanthids, star polyps, mushrooms, and other soft corals. They all did fine with the predators (and a condylactus anemone) - triggers and eels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner June 28, 2008 Author Share June 28, 2008 We can't wait for you too see the tanks in person too Ziggy! Dave, I have a hammerhead driving the CL on the 450 and it has two 1" and one 1 1/4" feeds for it. I bought the LARGE strainer baskets at Tractor Supply to cover those. Even cleaner shrimp run across those and don't get sucked in. It has six 3/4" and three 1" returns from it and the flow is more than adaquat coming out of those. I see the achilles play in the stream from one of the 1" returns and he fights it for a few seconds then jumps out. The predator tank does have a single 2" feed for the CL. I have it covered with the large screen I bought at BRK. It's not nearly as big as the screens tractor supply sells, but it's still fairly big. A 2" pipe will carry almost twice what a 1 1/2" pipe will carry via gravity. I'm not too concerned about the CL drain being too strong but if it is, I'll change out the screen for the tractor supply screen (I already have one) and that keeps the animals far away from the suction. For the return from the CL, I have the water fed into a 2" manifold, then I have four 1" pipes coming off of 2" T's that are immediately downsized to 1" so the pressure builds equally across all four 1" returns. The two 1" returns on the end away from the feed are split into two 3/4" locline nozzles using a locline Y. The returns towards the bottom on the end panel do sit just above the sand but I have them angled up, I might need to adjust them upwards a bit more so they don't disturb the sand bed too much. I appreciate the words of wisdom, FOR SURE! I'll really keep a close eye on things when I hook it up and plug it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antiguan June 28, 2008 Share June 28, 2008 Yes, it's a single 2" pipe coming out of the overflow box and draining back into the sump. I'm really happy with how it works. ZERO noise and it carries a LOT of water. The other 2" bulkhead towards the middle of the end panel is the input to the CL pump. For now, it's just a snapper, which is WAY too small. I'm going to replace it with a Hammerhead soon. The two 1" bulkheads at the top of the end panel and beside the overflow box, are the returns from the sump. There are two 1" bulkheads covered by the rock, and there are another two 1" bulkheads towards the bottom of the end panel, just above the sand, they are the returns from the CL. We haven't had any issues since filling the tank. This is considered an Industrial tank by Glass Cages and it's really well built. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patti July 5, 2008 Share July 5, 2008 Hi everyone - just wanted to stop in real quick and post a pic of the teal acro from Allen (Ziggy) - this is such a beautiful coral - Allen and Jessy Thanks again!! I hope all is going well with you and you guys had a wonderful 4th! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor July 5, 2008 Share July 5, 2008 i really like the video of you feeding the reef, theres so much going on. -Connor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner July 6, 2008 Author Share July 6, 2008 We're actually getting close to the time of having a tank tour, so everyone can see it in person. Stay tuned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy953 July 6, 2008 Share July 6, 2008 We had a great 4th! I'm back to work today though so the fun only lasted a day for me. The acro looks good in that spot! How is the color? Pics just don't do coral justice sometimes. I picked up most of the stuff I will need to get the 150 setup. I ordered another 100lbs of rock that should be here sometime this week. I also picked up 150lbs of new sand. I'm going to use some of the sand I have in the 72 to seed the new stuff. I have decided to paint the back glass instead of using a background this time. We picked out a nice light blue. If all goes well I should be done with the transition by next weekend. Those suctions cups make all the difference!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner July 7, 2008 Author Share July 7, 2008 (edited) The color of the acro really is teal. Patti was using the camera in full auto, with flash, and the flash seems to wash things out a bit. During the day when the acro has all it's polyps extended, it's really pretty. It's getting a good bit of flow in that spot too so I'm sure that helps. A little yellow tail damsel and a clownfish both have made homes in this huge coral. Light blue sounds like a nice background color for a reef tank. I think it would give it a nice natural look. We can't wait to see some pics! And those suction cups are the next best thing since sliced bread. It's the ONLY way to move a tank, IMO. Where did you order the LR from? I ordered another 100 lbs from Dr. Mac and they are expecting a shipment next week so I should get 100 lbs of it. They're selling Fuji Premium for $2.99 a pound. Can't complain too much about that! Edited July 7, 2008 by tbittner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy953 July 7, 2008 Share July 7, 2008 I ordered Base rock. I didn't want to deal with curing LR...I'm going to wash the heck out of it and use most of it to build the new reef. I got it from a company on ebay that I can't rember the name of. They let me hand pick some of the shelf rock. I got 2 boxes 50lbs of standard fiji and then 50lbs of tonga shelf. I'll take pics of it when it gets here. Supposed to be here Thursday. I paid 1.43 p/lb shipped. a decent deal for base rock I guess. They have 100% positive feed back and I looked at some of the peoples pics that bought from them. We will see.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy953 July 15, 2008 Share July 15, 2008 Well I got the 150 drilled (closed loop) and plumbed and onto my stand. Right now it is almost full of water and has the sand (180lbs of sand) along with most of my rock....All of my corals and fish are in a 90g pond that I have. I'll post some pics of the progress so you can see how things are looking so far. I'm excited! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bshriver July 16, 2008 Share July 16, 2008 So how do you like the Solaris lights? Would you buy them again over MH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner July 16, 2008 Author Share July 16, 2008 (edited) I'm really curious about your CL configuration on the 150. It's a tall tank. But then again, if you grow corals as big as you do, at least they'll have a lot more vertical room to grow in. What pump will you use to drive the CL? What are you doing for a sump and did you have it drilled for the overflow too? bshriver, for a reef, I wouldn't ever buy anything else. We're getting great growth from everything, even from that huge acro which is sitting towards the bottom of a 36" tall tank. The entire tank is very well lit up. Add in the fact that it uses a LOT less electric and generates virtually no heat and my chiller hasn't run at all which saves even more electric. And I'm not keeping track of when I need to change bulbs either because these LED's are good for 11+ years. We got the hammerhead hooked up to the CL on the predator tank and it's working beautifully! LOTS of flow in the tank now and the bottom is staying clean. It took the fish and eel a couple of days to figure things out though because the flow is really blowing the rocks clean. Everyone seems pretty happy with the tank again though. We also bought a large queen angel from Doug and added it to the predator tank. This is truly one of the prettiest fish we've seen! It's also CLEARLY the boss of the tank. Clown trigger tried to be assertive for the first few minutes and then the queen got tired of it and turned on him and put him in his place. Now they ALL get out of queens way when she comes swimming through. Even the grouper is really intimidated by the queen. It's a PERFECT match for that tank. Edited July 16, 2008 by tbittner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE July 16, 2008 Share July 16, 2008 after "11+ years" are you able to change the LEDs or what do you do? is the whole system just trash? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco July 16, 2008 Share July 16, 2008 pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bshriver July 16, 2008 Share July 16, 2008 (edited) Did you look at the other vendor (Aqueon maybe?) or just the Soalris. If you looked at both, why did you settle on the Solaris? Oh, and it goes without saying, but that is one awesome room you got going there!!! You should charge admission L8 2 rise - From the research I have done, I think you can replace banks of LEDs when they go bad. That being said, the technology is changing so fast that before 11 years is up, you will want to throw out the whole system and upgrade to the latest and greatest, lower power, higher par, better everything system for 1/4 the price of the original anyway Edited July 16, 2008 by bshriver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner July 17, 2008 Author Share July 17, 2008 I hear ya Doug! We had a bit of a mess to get cleaned up tonight though. The fuge tub had sprung a small, slow leak. It was like a drip every 5 seconds or so. So tonight we removed the leaky one and replaced it with a new one. I rearranged the LR and sand in the new one so it's spread out more so hopefully that will remove pressure points and the new one won't leak. This is the THIRD fuge tub I've had now. I'm getting tired of changing it out... bshriver is correct. Each strip in the solaris has five led's in it. A strip can be changed out very easily. When I bought these Solaris', aqueon didn't have theirs out yet. Given that though, the Solaris is less expensive and PFO does make some good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paenian July 18, 2008 Share July 18, 2008 I've been making my own LED lights, from bare emitters; I'm about ready to install on my tank (will post in details in the DIY section soon - it's not as ambitious as the solaris) but I'd really like to see the commercial brand in action - could I talk you in to a tank tour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner July 23, 2008 Author Share July 23, 2008 Here are some additions we added on Saturday. 8" Lunar Wrasse. BEAUTIFUL FISH! It also gives the grouper a run for his money as far as SPEED is concerned. I saw him take a silverside right out of the groupers mouth. Blue Line Trigger. BEAUTIFUL FISH! Has already settled in and doesn't take any abuse from anyone. Regal Angel. She has been in the tank for about 3 weeks now and is still a bit on the intimidated side. We had to put an eggcrate separator in the tank for three days, in order to give the regal a chance to settle in. She seems to be ok now but she still just hangs out on the one side of the tank. Full size Queen Angel. We bought her from Doug. She has been in the tank for about 2 weeks now. I saw Undulated taking shots at her. Two days ago though I saw the Queen and she had the undulated pinned against the rocks and she was POUNDING him by repeatedly ramming her mouth into him. I tapped on the glass and she swam away. Since then, when undulated sees her coming, he dives into the rocks for cover. Pictures do NOT do the Queen justice. Our Chilli Coral has finally settled in and has every polyp out that it can muster. I recently read that this coral should be hung upside down in a cave and we were going to move it tonight. It shocked us by looking like this though so we decided to let it be for now. Our Blue Boo (bluespot jawfish)! She is kind of hard to see in the video but if you haven't ever seen one of these, they have the most amazing personality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor July 23, 2008 Share July 23, 2008 Really like the regal angel and blue spotted jawfish both deffinatly on my want list -Connor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner July 23, 2008 Author Share July 23, 2008 The regal isn't a fish for a reef tank though. They will eat most corals for breakfast. Aquarium One had a special over the weekend on the bluespot jawfish so we made a LARGE loop to Mr. Coral, Aquarium One, Aqua Co, and Marine Scene. We had a great time! Much better than running pipes and remodeling rooms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner July 25, 2008 Author Share July 25, 2008 Patti and I would like to open up our home, and fridge, on Sunday Aug 24th, from 1-5 for a tank tour. We also have a swimming pool, fresh water though, so bring a swim suit! It should be a fun party. We also have a nice sized yard for some baseball/football/soccer, so please bring the family! The 450g reef should be spectacular in a few more years but it's really pretty already. The 360g predator tank will be fed sometime during the afternoon too. That is always impressive. Hopefully we'll see LOTS of people here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbittner August 26, 2008 Author Share August 26, 2008 Here is the procedure for a WC. Turn switches 1 and 2 off. That turns off the return pumps. Turn switch 3 on to pump the sump dry. Turn it off when it's dry. Turn switch 4 on to refill the sump. Turn switches 1 and 2 back on when the water level in the sump reaches 1/4 full. This fills up the aquariums and gets everything running full again. Turn switch 4 off once the sump level reaches the normal running level. Open the valve to refill the mixing tub. Dump in 3/4 of a bucket of salt. Turn on switch 5 to start the mixing pumps (two Rio 36 HF pumps). Measure the salinity 12 hours later and adjust. After a salinity of between 1.026 and 1.0265 is obtained, turn off switch 5 to turn off the mixing pumps. It's really not complicated. You can see my wifes notes written on the wall. I guess she is hoping that I don't dry wall the junction boxes into the wall. A 125g WC takes a little less than 5 minutes. And yeah, I know, I'm missing a face plate. I was two short. Beside/behind the reef are these: The switch turns off the return pump for feeding time. The outlet supplies power to the CL pump and the lights. Everything is now on GFCI circuits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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