Huly February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Yes this is an all in one thread LOL First off thank you to everyone that set up the WAMAS meeting on Saturday. Both Pez and I had a lot of fun and it was nice meeting all of you. Sorry we had to leave early and quickly but I had to run by my office. Work always gets in the way of play. Well on Saturday we did pick up a few frags and additions and then after my office we ran by F&F. Well we broke down and finally added 2 clowns. It has been since the end of Oct that we lost everyone to Marine Velvet. So our 8-12 weeks is over but we were still a little scared to take the plunge. We are still planning on finding a way to add a sump to the Red Sea Max but no matter what we can not take our tank down for any period of time as we have a lot of inverts and corals. Tank Update in photos- (we just cleaned and fed this tank so things floating in water is from that) Coral Questions: 1. The trumpet has an orange sponge growing on it. Should we remove it and how? 2. What do y'all keep your Alkalinity at? Is there a way to boost alk without using store bought chemicals and how? 3. We are thinking about changeing the bulbs. We are looking at ATI bulbs as we think ours might be too strong. We currently have 6X39W T5 Linear, Lighting 10,000K 117W, Lighting Actinic 117W, Lighting Blue LED 8 http://www.redseamax.com/redseamax/250temp/redseamax/red_sea_max_specs250.html Do y'all reccomend ATI and what do you think would be best for this tank? Also how long do y'all keep your lights on during a day? 4. We are going to start coral placement soon of some of the new frags etc. Where would y'all place these in my tank? Our biggest question mark coral is the new Red Tree Sponge. 5. Any suggestions on how to make this better? (the rock in the bottom right side is for a future jawfish as I will be getting another) Thank you everyone again and we look forward to seeing y'all more in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Hi Chris! Tank is starting to shape up! Glad to see you are finally able to rebound from the Velvet fiasco. It was a pleasure meeting you and your hubby at the show and a treat to see you again on Sunday at the store. I see your Crocea clam has already settled in well . Curious where the spot is you mentioned that you will be placing the torches you got yesterday =)....looks like you have many ideal places, thats for sure. Regarding your lighting, if you guys weren't able to write down/remember the sequence of bulbs we recommended let me know and we will post them up for you. And I love the Sunburst, looks awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Tank alk: Minimum of 7, typically 8. I run mine at 10 dKH. There are reefers that run very high alk (close to 14 or higher in some cases). High alk (12+) has been associated with "burnt" SPS tips in ultra-low nutrient systems. You can boost alk with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). This is most typical. If you have a low pH then you can bake the baking soda in the oven, converting it to sodium carbonate (soda ash) and use it, and it'll temporarily boost pH. You may find this article helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 Hi Chris! Tank is starting to shape up! Glad to see you are finally able to rebound from the Velvet fiasco. It was a pleasure meeting you and your hubby at the show and a treat to see you again on Sunday at the store. I see your Crocea clam has already settled in well . Curious where the spot is you mentioned that you will be placing the torches you got yesterday =)....looks like you have many ideal places, thats for sure. Regarding your lighting, if you guys weren't able to write down/remember the sequence of bulbs we recommended let me know and we will post them up for you. And I love the Sunburst, looks awesome! Thank you again for everything! I think Pez got the combo but will double check. I did not realize y'all discussed that LOL I think he is planning to put the torches on the rock where the jawfish home will be and go up from there. (the new jawfish home is the cave rock (look likes spongebob's home) bottom right). We moved the rock the clam was on yesterday as we were creating a jawfish home and he did not move LOL so yes I think he likes his new spot. LOL Tank alk: Minimum of 7, typically 8. I run mine at 10 dKH. There are reefers that run very high alk (close to 14 or higher in some cases). High alk (12+) has been associated with "burnt" SPS tips in ultra-low nutrient systems. You can boost alk with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). This is most typical. If you have a low pH then you can bake the baking soda in the oven, converting it to sodium carbonate (soda ash) and use it, and it'll temporarily boost pH. You may find this article helpful. TY We try to keep ours around 10 but we heard some keep their's lower so I was wondering if ours was too high. Also the Alk supplement gets pricey and we have to dose regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackers February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Thank you again for everything! I think Pez got the combo but will double check. I did not realize y'all discussed that LOL I think he is planning to put the torches on the rock where the jawfish home will be and go up from there. (the new jawfish home is the cave rock (look likes spongebob's home) bottom right). We moved the rock the clam was on yesterday as we were creating a jawfish home and he did not move LOL so yes I think he likes his new spot. LOL TY We try to keep ours around 10 but we heard some keep their's lower so I was wondering if ours was too high. Also the Alk supplement gets pricey and we have to dose regularly. A lot of us run the Bulkreefsupply.com 2-part additives with great success. I'd be sure to check out their website. They have great videos and a really good reef calculator to help with dosing. I run a five T5 bulb combo which I overdrive with IceCap ballasts. You can't go wrong with ATI bulbs. I have also ran UVL, GE, and Giesemann. My tank is a mixed tank with plenty of softies and LPS and they do really well under those bulbs. Bulb combos are always the hardest decisions to make. It just takes time to figure out what you like best (bluer tanks, daylight tank, actinic tank, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Christy, by far the most cost effective way to boost alkalinity using a two-part supplementation approach is going to be good old Arm & Hammer baking soda in most all cases. You can get a bag that weighs several pounds (5 or 10 or someplace in between) from Costco for cheap (a few bucks). Read that article that I linked to. It's a great way to learn about two-part dosing and has served thousands (and probably tens of thousands) of reefers well worldwide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 (edited) Thanks Tom! BTW What do you think of that frogspawn you gave us? Edited February 11, 2013 by Huly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Thanks Tom! BTW What do you think of that frogspawn you gave us? I think it's doing nicely! Let me ask you a question. Have you and Chris ever considered going with a slightly different tank configuration? If you're going to add a fuge to an RSM250 (punching a hole in the wall in the process), have you ever considered making the jump over to something like a 120 with a sump / refugium in the cabinet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCReefer1964 February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 I think it's doing nicely! Let me ask you a question. Have you and Chris ever considered going with a slightly different tank configuration? If you're going to add a fuge to an RSM250 (punching a hole in the wall in the process), have you ever considered making the jump over to something like a 120 with a sump / refugium in the cabinet? Wow you tank looks great. If you want to go larger. I have a 135 posted. Maybe we can work something out, Not to get off topic keep up the good work. It appears that you are doing it the recommended WAMAS way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 We eventually want to go bigger but to go bigger we might need to make sure our floor can with stand the weight and it might not fit in the room where we want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 We eventually want to go bigger but to go bigger we might need to make sure our floor can with stand the weight and it might not fit in the room where we want it. How do the floor joists run in relation to your tank? (I remember your husband mentioned the basement is immediately below so maybe these are easily visible) Generally speaking though...lets say your current tank is 24x24x20. Increasing to a tank that is 48x24x20 will put the same theoretical pound per square foot load on the floor as the smaller tank as one has a 4sf footprint and the other has an 8sf footprint. The latter weights roughly twice as much, but also has a footprint twice the size to distribute load across. Of course in full practice its not always quite this simple, but it gives you a rough idea. The answer on the floor joists and whether the wall the tank sits in front of is "load bearing" may help give you a more accurate answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 The basement is fully finished and I am NOT opening that ceiling again and repainting LOL It took 6 weeks for me to the Redskin decor just right! I will consider bodily harm to anyone who suggests otherwise! The boards in my house run front to back and not across. (It is a KHOV home) Here are a few photos from where we had to have some ceiling repair work done last summer (right after we spent 6 weeks painting) that shows the inside of the basement ceiling. Some of you might understand what is up there by that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 Here is the floor plan of my house the aquarium sits against the family room and library/office wall http://www.khov.com/Home/VA/343000000/ModelsAvailable/026F/InteractiveFloorPlan.htm?InitialDisplay=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Generally speaking, load bearing walls run perpendicular to the joists. However, in larger homes they don't always follow these "rules" and instead may have a more complex system of load distribution. Per the floor plans there is likely a steel post in the basement rec area. How far from this post is your tank above? I believe this post would be at the opposite end of the ductwork drywall running along the ceiling in the rec room as other pics on khovs site seem to display it there, but your pic didn't show that end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Christine, it's likely that you have a steel I-beam that runs across the house (from the powder room side to the kitchen side). Do you remember about where that is located? Does it run from the garage to the side wall of the house or across the whole width of the basement? Are there jack screws giving the beam additional support? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B) February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 As a further to this, part of what I'm getting at is that in general a tank is better off to run perpendicular to the floor joists. In your case, the tank would be running parallel as you said the joists run front to back. That is particularly why we are still trying to determine if that is a load bearing wall between living room and library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Generally speaking, load bearing walls run perpendicular to the joists. However, in larger homes they don't always follow these "rules" and instead may have a more complex system of load distribution. Per the floor plans there is likely a steel post in the basement rec area. How far from this post is your tank above? I believe this post would be at the opposite end of the ductwork drywall running along the ceiling in the rec room as other pics on khovs site seem to display it there, but your pic didn't show that end. If that black dot on the lower level floor plan is a jack screw, and if the heavy black lines there are poured foundation walls, then the current tank is situated starting about 4-5 feet to the upper right on the main level, right on the wall between the "library" and the "family room." The load is probably on one or, at most, 2 joists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBVette February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 We are probably looking at the steel beam in the picture with the pool table. We just dont know how it is positioned in the room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Well you could repaint it Silver and Blue :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Better placement would probably be along the wall that runs parallel to the stairs. I suspect that's where the I-beam is located and the tank would span several joists as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 Everything was finished when we bought the house. We did not build it ourselves. If the black dot on the lower level floor plan is what you are refering to it will be near my stairs and before the aquarium. As for the thing running across our pool table we assume duct work but not 100% positive (we did not open that portion of the ceiling thankfully). The open ceiling in the gold color room (I have not finished this room yet) is the Media room or on the floor plan it is the "unfinished storage" The prior owners finished our basement. The other photo with the open ceiling, duct work, and B&G paint is where the stairs lead to the upstairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 Taking the virtual tour of the basement now. That black square on the floor plan definitely looks to be a jack screw. It shows up in the virtual tour as a pillar in the middle of the room. Definitely a sign. Christie loves this, I'm sure. Move the tank. Replan the colors. All from a bunch of guys who's strength and concern probably isn't decorating. (Just noticed that you posted images. Unfortunately, they're blocked from where I'm at.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 Here are a few other photos from the repairs last June. Some of these might give a better idea. Is the metal beam the runs right at my stairs and open duct? Kind of in between the two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huly February 11, 2013 Author Share February 11, 2013 Well you could repaint it Silver and Blue :P Not in my lifetime! I was not inducted into PFUFA for the Redskins to have that color in my house! I think that would make me sick every day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike February 11, 2013 Share February 11, 2013 LOL, my landlord is a niners fan and so the office I'm sitting in is in puke yellow and red, makes me ill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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