Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 21

melev · 10/15/2006, 07:06 PM

Hi Bart,

If you would like to come over to talk in person, that is fine with me. I'm in the s/w corner of Ft Worth.

Once your tank is stable, you can put your livestock in. As you know, SPS want rock solid numbers around the clock whenever possible. If your tank is cycled with a clean up crew, and you don't add a bunch of fish, I don't see why you couldn't add SPS next. Nothing will be polluting the water like fish would, so that part would be pretty easy to control. You'll need your calcium reactor and auto-top off to care for those needs, and get your temperature to stay solid around the clock. If you can meet these standards and your test kits back them up, it should be okay.

After all, you have quite a bit of experience behind you. Try to watch things closely so you can catch any issues early on.

Congrats on the huge reading. You've done well.

huge1day · 10/15/2006, 08:19 PM

Well I guess that is my problem. I do have a regal, two purples and one yellow tang along with a couple percula clowns and 5 green chromis. They are in a 400 gallon vat in my foyer along with my lps corals. I am going to put a half dozen of the corals back into tank along with the fish this week. I know that I will have to wait so that the bioload is not too much. I guess in simple terms the water won't be "perfect" for a period of time.

I do have a 1hp chiller, top off is done and a large diy calcium reactor. I really think it is the water quaility issue only.

You also have a pm from me...

Bart

melev · 10/15/2006, 09:46 PM

With a 'new' tank, the LR and DSB needs time to adjust to the bioload. As you read in my thread, the 280g was a transplant and about 9 months later I was really fighting phosphate issues. I still get them and my bioload is less than half of what it was back then.

You aren't doomed from the start or anything, but you'll want your skimmer working at its peak performance every day. Running enough phosphate remover right from the start should help as well.

PM replied.

vanmo92 · 10/16/2006, 05:23 PM

Marc you really have a BEAUTIFUL tank.

melev · 10/16/2006, 05:54 PM

Thank you.

JTEAGUE · 10/20/2006, 12:17 PM

Mark can you take a look at my help please thread in reef chemistry on 10-20-06. I am becoming frustrated with my set up as I try to improve I seem to be going backwards.

AVALover5498 · 10/20/2006, 04:10 PM

I love your tank...so nice...and i love reefcast..i tried to start a thread but they closed it!!!!

Probably because everyone thought i was a girl( Which i'm not)...lol.anyways..nice tank. good luck with it.

Snakebyt · 10/20/2006, 04:49 PM

where has Marc been? Havent seen him post in a few days.. Maybe finishing the woodwork on the tank? probably not

where ya at Marc

jnarowe · 10/20/2006, 07:58 PM

Probably stripping.

melev · 10/20/2006, 09:19 PM

I'm here.

Just been posting in other threads.

Lunchbucket · 10/20/2006, 11:04 PM

how dare you not post in your own thread!

woodwork...woodwork

Lunchbucket

NuclearReefs · 10/21/2006, 05:27 PM

maybe he's Cooking some wood in a vat of Saltwater....

melev · 10/21/2006, 07:49 PM

Nope, you guys are way off. What do you think I'm working on?

BrianPlankis · 10/21/2006, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Nope, you guys are way off. What do you think I'm working on?

Definitely not the woodworking

Hey, btw...I still owe you that beer!

Brian

Lordhelmet · 10/21/2006, 10:01 PM

Your pecs?

melev · 10/21/2006, 10:48 PM

That was yesterday.

invincible569 · 10/22/2006, 08:04 AM

melev, i heard you had a euro reef rc500 skimmer. I skimmed back a couple pages, but couldnt find any pics. How do you like it and do you have pictures? thank you.

melev · 10/22/2006, 11:06 AM

What I have is the Euro-Reef 12-2, which is the previous version of the RC500 I believe. Here's mine:

And here's the one you are referring to that I saw at MACNA.

The most notable difference, ignoring the recirculation method, is the way you can remove the collection cup. On mine, there is an enormous Sch 80 collar that you have to unscrew about 5 twists. On the new version, you twist the cup about 30 degrees and it lifts off. Pretty cool method.

Looking at the picture closer, I see three pumps instead of two, and they must be eheim pumps rather than Sedras.

That being said, I love my skimmer. I tested it with a Kill-O-Watt device and its two pumps are only pulling 81w of power. The skimmer has overflowed a few times due to something I did in the tank, but since it is in-sump, this wasn't a disaster. It runs silently and pulls out waste as it should.

When my tank was fully stocked with fish, it used to pull out 1.5g of skimmate a day. Now that I have far less fish, it pulls out .25g each day.

jnarowe · 10/22/2006, 11:11 AM

With all thiose pumps in-sump, I guess you wouldn't need a heater!

melev · 10/22/2006, 11:26 AM

Eheims are known to run cooler than most pumps. My Sedras are the same. Last year when I switched skimmers and return pump, the tank dropped 2.5 degrees.

During the winter, I submerge my calcium reactor in the sump so that I can utilize the heat coming off the Mag 7 circulation pump. Why pay for heaters when I've got a heat source available?

jnarowe · 10/22/2006, 11:33 AM

You know, that's not a bad idea. Any feedback on the Barr Aquatics kalk stirrer? I need to get a stirrer/top-off on my system ASAP.

Hop · 10/22/2006, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev

And here's the one you are referring to that I saw at MACNA.

Looking at the picture closer, I see three pumps instead of two, and they must be eheim pumps rather than Sedras.

There is 4 pumps and I beleive this one is the RC1000

Mucho $$$$

Sure is pretty though!

Hop · 10/22/2006, 11:43 AM

Maybe I need more coffee. The more i look at it, what I thought was the fourth pump is the feed

Must be the RC 750... My baaaaaad!

melev · 10/22/2006, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jnarowe
You know, that's not a bad idea. Any feedback on the Barr Aquatics kalk stirrer? I need to get a stirrer/top-off on my system ASAP.

The Barr Aquatics stirrer is really nice. I talked with Brent once about its design, as I was thinking that I might want one too.

Here's the thing, Jonathan. If you want to use it, set it up safely. Use your Aqua Controller III to turn it off if pH rises too high. Many many tanks have been nuked by auto top offs malfunctioning and dumping vast amounts of kalkwasser into the system.

Take your enormous skimmer for example. It goes nuts, floods 40g of water onto the floor. The top off replenishes 40g of water with a pH of 12. That will spike your system. If you have it hooked up directly to your RO/DI unit, it could add 100g of kalkwasser while you are away for the day fishing.

If I ever set one up, it will be a drip system, independent of any other part of my reef setup. I'll use gravity to feed RO/DI water to it in limited amounts (a week's supply perhaps), and use an auto top off system to replenish evaporation.

jnarowe · 10/22/2006, 12:15 PM

Good points and about what I was thinking of doing. Currently I have about 90g RO/DI with a gravity feed to a mechanical float switch for top-off. I believe I am running about 8g/day or so but that is a very rough estimate.

My thoughts on setting up the stirrer is to switch to an electronic float valve to turn a dosing pump on and off, as well as using some code in the ACIII to stop and start the doser based on pH. Does that make sense?

Right now with my Ca reactor, my pH is averaging about 8.06 and I found it down to 7.98 this morning. I have the CO2 controlled by both the reactor probe as well as the tank probe, so when the tank gets down to 8.06 the CO2 will shut off. Rather than limit the Ca reactor more, I think adding a kalk stirrer will be a better idea. Particularly for the long-run when my reef CA demands escalate.

And BTW, I have rigged the skimmer collection bucket with an electronic float valve that shuts down the Alita 100 when the bucket is full. I have also super-sized my sumps to 200g so in theory there is no way to flood the room anymore. I also have a water sensor on the floor that will trigger alarms, email, and shutdown of the return pump. That could also trigger shutdown of the doser.

However, I run my tank salinity rich at 1.026 - 1.027 and only have 90g max available in RO/DI at any time, so if the entire vat of RO/DI was to be dumped into my 1,200g+ system, it would drop the salinity a bit and raise the pH a bit, but probably not at dangerous levels. Just a guess on my part though!

In order to get my pH up, I will actually need to run a fair amount of kalk.

10/16/2006, 05:23 PM	#504
vanmo92 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Silverthorne, CO. Posts: 2,045	Marc you really have a BEAUTIFUL tank. __________________ PBITAWA Current Tank Info: 72 gallon bow Mixed Reef 1 fw tank

10/20/2006, 07:58 PM	#509
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	Probably stripping. __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted

10/20/2006, 11:04 PM	#511
Lunchbucket Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brookings, SD Posts: 12,924	how dare you not post in your own thread! woodwork...woodwork Lunchbucket __________________ Trying to lose weight by walking is like trying to bake a cake w/ a cigarette lighter - Lunchbucket - "Nancy-Boy Extraordinaire" - maxxII- Current Tank Info: 58gal Oceanic RR, 2x400w MH (20k XM and 10k XM), Deltec PF601 Ca Rx, Deltec AP701 skimmer, mag950 return, iwaki 55rlt w/ an Oceansmotions 4-way unit, Tunze 7300 and 6000 each w/ controller, fluidized po4 rx

10/21/2006, 05:27 PM	#512
NuclearReefs Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Fort Lauderdale Florida Posts: 2,606	maybe he's Cooking some wood in a vat of Saltwater.... __________________ Kalkwasser in Coffee Current Tank Info: 125 RR SPS, LED's & T-5 O3's

10/21/2006, 10:01 PM	#515
Lordhelmet Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,008	Your pecs? __________________ I need a new signiture Current Tank Info: 90 gallon, 14 gallon

10/15/2006, 07:06 PM	#501
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Hi Bart, If you would like to come over to talk in person, that is fine with me. I'm in the s/w corner of Ft Worth. Once your tank is stable, you can put your livestock in. As you know, SPS want rock solid numbers around the clock whenever possible. If your tank is cycled with a clean up crew, and you don't add a bunch of fish, I don't see why you couldn't add SPS next. Nothing will be polluting the water like fish would, so that part would be pretty easy to control. You'll need your calcium reactor and auto-top off to care for those needs, and get your temperature to stay solid around the clock. If you can meet these standards and your test kits back them up, it should be okay. After all, you have quite a bit of experience behind you. Try to watch things closely so you can catch any issues early on. Congrats on the huge reading. You've done well.

10/15/2006, 08:19 PM	#502
huge1day Registered Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Alexandria LA Posts: 203	Well I guess that is my problem. I do have a regal, two purples and one yellow tang along with a couple percula clowns and 5 green chromis. They are in a 400 gallon vat in my foyer along with my lps corals. I am going to put a half dozen of the corals back into tank along with the fish this week. I know that I will have to wait so that the bioload is not too much. I guess in simple terms the water won't be "perfect" for a period of time. I do have a 1hp chiller, top off is done and a large diy calcium reactor. I really think it is the water quaility issue only. You also have a pm from me... Bart

10/15/2006, 09:46 PM	#503
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	With a 'new' tank, the LR and DSB needs time to adjust to the bioload. As you read in my thread, the 280g was a transplant and about 9 months later I was really fighting phosphate issues. I still get them and my bioload is less than half of what it was back then. You aren't doomed from the start or anything, but you'll want your skimmer working at its peak performance every day. Running enough phosphate remover right from the start should help as well. PM replied.

10/16/2006, 05:54 PM	#505
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Thank you.

10/20/2006, 12:17 PM	#506
JTEAGUE Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: N.C. Posts: 318	Mark can you take a look at my help please thread in reef chemistry on 10-20-06. I am becoming frustrated with my set up as I try to improve I seem to be going backwards.

10/20/2006, 04:10 PM	#507
AVALover5498 Zoa Freak Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Sioux City, IA Posts: 752	I love your tank...so nice...and i love reefcast..i tried to start a thread but they closed it!!!! Probably because everyone thought i was a girl( Which i'm not)...lol.anyways..nice tank. good luck with it.

10/20/2006, 04:49 PM	#508
Snakebyt Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Lubbock Tx Posts: 2,141	where has Marc been? Havent seen him post in a few days.. Maybe finishing the woodwork on the tank? probably not where ya at Marc

10/20/2006, 09:19 PM	#510
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I'm here. Just been posting in other threads.

10/21/2006, 07:49 PM	#513
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Nope, you guys are way off. What do you think I'm working on?

10/21/2006, 10:48 PM	#516
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	That was yesterday.

10/22/2006, 08:04 AM	#517
invincible569 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5,715	melev, i heard you had a euro reef rc500 skimmer. I skimmed back a couple pages, but couldnt find any pics. How do you like it and do you have pictures? thank you.

10/22/2006, 11:06 AM	#518
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	What I have is the Euro-Reef 12-2, which is the previous version of the RC500 I believe. Here's mine: And here's the one you are referring to that I saw at MACNA. The most notable difference, ignoring the recirculation method, is the way you can remove the collection cup. On mine, there is an enormous Sch 80 collar that you have to unscrew about 5 twists. On the new version, you twist the cup about 30 degrees and it lifts off. Pretty cool method. Looking at the picture closer, I see three pumps instead of two, and they must be eheim pumps rather than Sedras. That being said, I love my skimmer. I tested it with a Kill-O-Watt device and its two pumps are only pulling 81w of power. The skimmer has overflowed a few times due to something I did in the tank, but since it is in-sump, this wasn't a disaster. It runs silently and pulls out waste as it should. When my tank was fully stocked with fish, it used to pull out 1.5g of skimmate a day. Now that I have far less fish, it pulls out .25g each day.

10/22/2006, 11:11 AM	#519
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	With all thiose pumps in-sump, I guess you wouldn't need a heater! __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted

10/22/2006, 11:26 AM	#520
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Eheims are known to run cooler than most pumps. My Sedras are the same. Last year when I switched skimmers and return pump, the tank dropped 2.5 degrees. During the winter, I submerge my calcium reactor in the sump so that I can utilize the heat coming off the Mag 7 circulation pump. Why pay for heaters when I've got a heat source available?

10/22/2006, 11:33 AM	#521
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	You know, that's not a bad idea. Any feedback on the Barr Aquatics kalk stirrer? I need to get a stirrer/top-off on my system ASAP. __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted

10/22/2006, 11:43 AM	#523
Hop Carpe Noctem!!! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Western Colorado Posts: 8,548	Maybe I need more coffee. The more i look at it, what I thought was the fourth pump is the feed Must be the RC 750... My baaaaaad! __________________ Hop Current Tank Info: 300-gallon in-wall system (mixed reef)

10/22/2006, 12:15 PM	#525
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	Good points and about what I was thinking of doing. Currently I have about 90g RO/DI with a gravity feed to a mechanical float switch for top-off. I believe I am running about 8g/day or so but that is a very rough estimate. My thoughts on setting up the stirrer is to switch to an electronic float valve to turn a dosing pump on and off, as well as using some code in the ACIII to stop and start the doser based on pH. Does that make sense? Right now with my Ca reactor, my pH is averaging about 8.06 and I found it down to 7.98 this morning. I have the CO2 controlled by both the reactor probe as well as the tank probe, so when the tank gets down to 8.06 the CO2 will shut off. Rather than limit the Ca reactor more, I think adding a kalk stirrer will be a better idea. Particularly for the long-run when my reef CA demands escalate. And BTW, I have rigged the skimmer collection bucket with an electronic float valve that shuts down the Alita 100 when the bucket is full. I have also super-sized my sumps to 200g so in theory there is no way to flood the room anymore. I also have a water sensor on the floor that will trigger alarms, email, and shutdown of the return pump. That could also trigger shutdown of the doser. However, I run my tank salinity rich at 1.026 - 1.027 and only have 90g max available in RO/DI at any time, so if the entire vat of RO/DI was to be dumped into my 1,200g+ system, it would drop the salinity a bit and raise the pH a bit, but probably not at dangerous levels. Just a guess on my part though! In order to get my pH up, I will actually need to run a fair amount of kalk. __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted