Starting 90g Reef Tank Build... Finally!!!

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by kudora
Are you going to daisy chain them using the 404 model then swift?

i got my phosban reactor last night with the mini 404 and it fit(thanks for the pic again). i was thinking of daisy chaining it also like that pic but put the carbon in front instead of the phos.

whats the output of the mini404--if it is like mini--the max is 110 gph- too low to be split between the two
If your going to split it I would use a maxi1200--290 gph

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by D to the P
In your video it looked like the tang was fighting a steady current to get to that food haha. Do the fish seem to enjoy the flow? I agree with the cap'n though about UV sterilizers. I mean, they do work, but generally it's not really necessary.

tangs are use to doing that --they are open water swimmers.
I have about 5500 gph in my tank-the tangs stay busy all day letting the current push them down and back and then swimming against it

kinda of like an excercise wheel to a hamster

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
you are not considering a uv sterilzer are you? IMO a waste of money

Not anytime soon. Possibly if I find one where the price is right I may add one. It all depends on what's going on inside the tank. Right now I am just running carbon, and am happy with that. I have another reactor on "stand by" in my closet for phosban once I see the need to add it.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by D to the P
In your video it looked like the tang was fighting a steady current to get to that food haha. Do the fish seem to enjoy the flow? I agree with the cap'n though about UV sterilizers. I mean, they do work, but generally it's not really necessary.

haha... yeah the current rips pretty good through the tank. It usually takes the fish about 24hrs to get used to it, then they seem to adjust to the current and move around normally.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by kudora
Are you going to daisy chain them using the 404 model then swift?

i got my phosban reactor last night with the mini 404 and it fit(thanks for the pic again). i was thinking of daisy chaining it also like that pic but put the carbon in front instead of the phos.

No I won't link them with the 404. As capn said the 404 flow is not strong enough to feed both reactors. I believe it barely pushes 100GPH. Also I plan on mounting them inside the cabinet under the tank similiar to the pic I saw. I'm not sure what pump I will need yet, I will have to see how far the water will need to be pumped first.

I believe the reasoning for placing carbon first is that it can handle a higher flow, then by the time the water hits the phosban its slowed a good bit so you won't have to resrict the flow as much. As far as which set-up is better... I couldn't tell you if carbon first or phosban first would make a difference.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
tangs are use to doing that --they are open water swimmers.
I have about 5500 gph in my tank-the tangs stay busy all day letting the current push them down and back and then swimming against it

kinda of like an excercise wheel to a hamster

I had a foxface that used to swim directly at my aquaclear powerheads all day... whether he was excercising or just to dumb to move out of the stream I'll never know

[Tswifty]

A good note today... the PBT started accepting frozen spirulina brine shrimp today along with his daily serving of nori

[Tswifty]

Oh and I forgot to add a few days ago that 8 out of 10 Astraea snails were finally pronounced dead... Everyone was right about the stench... HORRIBLE.

...and the 2 left in the tank need to be constantly monitored as they are always falling off the rocks or glass and need to be flipped over.

Needless to say... I won't be ordering any more of them EVER

[kudora]

didnt want to order everything for two reactors if i didnt know one was going to fit, going to order the 606 and daisy chain them on the tank kinda how you have yours atm.

i have 3 large astreas and i have yet to help them up but they laid eggs and i have several hundred astreas about the size of a pin head and a couple the size of an eraser head in the fuge atm.

[Tswifty]

Yeah I did the same thing. I'll need to purchase a new pump when I chain them together.

I'll probably add some more Nassarius snails soon, but that's about it for my CUC... maybe a turbo snail or two in the future.

[kudora]

i like my tubos they work very hard but with the yellow eyed kole tangs grazing very little at a time on the clip i have to put the nori out early in the morning when they are sleeping, if not both of the turbos go strait for the nori and eat it all lol

[Tswifty]

All this talk about the reactors today made me decide to get a jump on hooking them up.

I still need a pump, but I installed the rack to mount them inside the canopy. I'm also thinking about running some hard plumbing to the reactors. The reactors would be connected to the PVC via a hose barb and vinyl tubing so they could still be removed for easy cleaning. We'll see though.

[Aquarist007]

from age 14-17 a bunch of us guys hung around this one guys house. His parents both worked and they were so liberal anyways ---that it became a drop in centre---even if you a room for you and your girlfriend. It seemed like when nothing was going on interesting you just had to drop buy that house and something would be happening

This thread is reminding me of those days T.J. it seems like this has become the hang out thread where you know there is always neat things going on
no rooms for you and your girlfriend but I would be in trouble if there were

T.J I have posted over 11,000 times and probably read 10 times that in other postings---no other thread has that honour to me


I really screwed up --I am on heavy pain killers for my back--if I have any excuse at all

first I posted this on Kars thread
then I nominated this thread for "tank of the month" instead of thread of the month
now I am trying to get the mod to change it

from tank to thread----I still nominated it--and to further my embarassment --it was Kar that told me how to make a thread nominantion
duh

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Tswifty8
All this talk about the reactors today made me decide to get a jump on hooking them up.

I still need a pump, but I installed the rack to mount them inside the canopy. I'm also thinking about running some hard plumbing to the reactors. The reactors would be connected to the PVC via a hose barb and vinyl tubing so they could still be removed for easy cleaning. We'll see though.

hmmm--I still think the plastic is more flexible and easier to take out of the reactor--you won't have as many 90 degree bends either that slow down the flow

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
from age 14-17 a bunch of us guys hung around this one guys house. His parents both worked and they were so liberal anyways ---that it became a drop in centre---even if you a room for you and your girlfriend. It seemed like when nothing was going on interesting you just had to drop buy that house and something would be happening

This thread is reminding me of those days T.J. it seems like this has become the hang out thread where you know there is always neat things going on
no rooms for you and your girlfriend but I would be in trouble if there were

T.J I have posted over 11,000 times and probably read 10 times that in other postings---no other thread has that honour to me


I really screwed up --I am on heavy pain killers for my back--if I have any excuse at all

first I posted this on Kars thread
then I nominated this thread for "tank of the month" instead of thread of the month
now I am trying to get the mod to change it

from tank to thread----I still nominated it--and to further my embarassment --it was Kar that told me how to make a thread nominantion
duh

Thanks Scott, I am flattered to even be recommended for such an honor. In fact a good portion of the credit for the success of my tank and thread belongs to you, and is a direct result of your advice throughout this build.

I'm sure I speak for a good majority of the members on RC when I say thank you, and I couldn't have done it without all your help.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
hmmm--I still think the plastic is more flexible and easier to take out of the reactor--you won't have as many 90 degree bends either that slow down the flow

I'm still talking about having flexible tubing for the first 2" out of the reactor, and between them.

I'm thinking about permanently mounting the PVC to the walls in the stand. This way I would just have to hook the flexible tubing up to the PVC and plug in the reactors. I think I can do it with minimal bends, and only one 90 and a 45 on the outlet from the reactors.

We'll see though, it is probably easier to use tubing for the whole thing like you suggest, but I'm not a huge fan of pulling out all the tubing (all like 2 feet of it ) everytime I need to clean the reactor or perform maintenance. The setup would be similiar to how the pump hooks up to the AquaC Remora.

[rayoto]

I'll pipe in and say thanks to both of you (TJ and Scott). Guys like you is what makes this a forum worthy of my time (pretty much all my time now...) Your advice is accurate, unbiased and proven. I apologize TJ that I started the whole Reactor thing It appears as though I've caused more work for you , as if you mind...turns out my tank is ready to RnRoll..it was coraline afterall. Gonna run carbon for good measure though Capn. Now I'll be buggin you guys about stock lists and Coral....

[Tswifty]

I shut down flow through the refugium tonight to try and fix the PVC joint that I broke the other day. It's silconed and clamped right now, I don't know how well, or if it will seal at all. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by rayoto
I'll pipe in and say thanks to both of you (TJ and Scott). Guys like you is what makes this a forum worthy of my time (pretty much all my time now...) Your advice is accurate, unbiased and proven. I apologize TJ that I started the whole Reactor thing It appears as though I've caused more work for you , as if you mind...turns out my tank is ready to RnRoll..it was coraline afterall. Gonna run carbon for good measure though Capn. Now I'll be buggin you guys about stock lists and Coral....

Thanks Ray...

Haha... more work... please...

I'm loving any project right now that keeps my hands out of my wallet, and from adding livestock.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by rayoto
I'll pipe in and say thanks to both of you (TJ and Scott). Guys like you is what makes this a forum worthy of my time (pretty much all my time now...) Your advice is accurate, unbiased and proven. I apologize TJ that I started the whole Reactor thing It appears as though I've caused more work for you , as if you mind...turns out my tank is ready to RnRoll..it was coraline afterall. Gonna run carbon for good measure though Capn. Now I'll be buggin you guys about stock lists and Coral....

thanks Ray--but its everybody's imput that makes this thread a winner

T.J.
thanks also
when changing the media in the reactors I just pull the two elbows out of the top of it---nothing to it.

[Aquarist007]

T.J.

can you check out this substrate--I think it should be changed but a second opinion or a third ect would be good
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...0#post12589650

[kudora]

Originally posted by Tswifty8
I'm still talking about having flexible tubing for the first 2" out of the reactor, and between them.

I'm thinking about permanently mounting the PVC to the walls in the stand. This way I would just have to hook the flexible tubing up to the PVC and plug in the reactors. I think I can do it with minimal bends, and only one 90 and a 45 on the outlet from the reactors.

We'll see though, it is probably easier to use tubing for the whole thing like you suggest, but I'm not a huge fan of pulling out all the tubing (all like 2 feet of it ) everytime I need to clean the reactor or perform maintenance. The setup would be similiar to how the pump hooks up to the AquaC Remora.

i see your reasoning but it might look better and or cleaner if you chain them at the tank. pvc would make it alot easier tho lol

[Tswifty]

I FINALLY figured out what was making the bubbles all this time. I was just about ready to pull out my return line and replumb it...

I stumbled upon a thread regarding how to regularly feed anthias if you are unable to be home often. I believe the reason anthias require multiple feedings daily because they have a higher metabolic rate than other fish.

Anyway, a solution someone had came up with was an auto feeder for pellet food, that was placed on the lip of the sump above the return section. The feeder would dump food a specified number of times each day into a funnel thats output was under the surface of the water, and directly in front of the return pump intake.

I wanted to see if the food could make it up with causing damage within the pump. In order to try this, I had to remove the filter sponge on the front of the pump though... I tried it and the food made it up to the tank fine. Since I had the filter sponge out, I figured I would go rinse it out. So I rinsed it out, and walked back to the tank to put it back in the sump when I realized there were no more micro bubbles in the tank!!!

The only thing I can figure, is that the bubbles were collecting on the sponge, then continually bursting and being sucked throught the pump into the display???

Moral of the story... Now I run my pump without the pre-filter sponge, and have no more micro bubbles

[rayoto]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
thanks Ray--but its everybody's imput that makes this thread a winner

T.J.
thanks also
when changing the media in the reactors I just pull the two elbows out of the top of it---nothing to it.

Oh, I definitely agree Capn.

[kudora]

Originally posted by Tswifty8
I FINALLY figured out what was making the bubbles all this time. I was just about ready to pull out my return line and replumb it...

I stumbled upon a thread regarding how to regularly feed anthias if you are unable to be home often. I believe the reason anthias require multiple feedings daily because they have a higher metabolic rate than other fish.

Anyway, a solution someone had came up with was an auto feeder for pellet food, that was placed on the lip of the sump above the return section. The feeder would dump food a specified number of times each day into a funnel thats output was under the surface of the water, and directly in front of the return pump intake.

I wanted to see if the food could make it up with causing damage within the pump. In order to try this, I had to remove the filter sponge on the front of the pump though... I tried it and the food made it up to the tank fine. Since I had the filter sponge out, I figured I would go rinse it out. So I rinsed it out, and walked back to the tank to put it back in the sump when I realized there were no more micro bubbles in the tank!!!

The only thing I can figure, is that the bubbles were collecting on the sponge, then continually bursting and being sucked throught the pump into the display???

Moral of the story... Now I run my pump without the pre-filter sponge, and have no more micro bubbles

wow lol that was simple enough