Tswifty's Custom 40g Rimless Build Thread - Page 34

Taqpol · 09/18/2009, 03:34 PM

I had an idea thats what you were getting

.

How are you going to control the dosing pumps? I only have one slot open on my RK2 and I want to use it for that pH based kalkwasser dosing I was talking about, so I decided to buy a pair of digital timers that have one minute increments. Would you believe that not a single hardware or electrical store in my town sells digital timers?

Tswifty · 09/18/2009, 05:24 PM

I'm going to use my AC3, I just need to decide how I want program it. Basically if I would program it similar the kalk reactor's mixing pump which comes on fo x minutes every x hours... or if there is another method (I think I'm going to use the kalk program)? Luckily I have the 2nd dc8 that I won in the raffle at the Cleveland frag swap back in April and it's still pretty much open.

So are you planning running the kalk during the night or something to start? I'm going to have to keep an eye on my pH over the next couple of days. Since I refreshed the kalk, my daytime pH is pretty darn high. So I'm probably going to be pulling the reactor offline until I can get a system set up similar to the one you mentioned.

Tswifty · 09/18/2009, 05:32 PM

dp.

Tswifty · 09/18/2009, 11:39 PM

I was having trouble figuring out where to mount the dosing pumps. So here's what I came up with. The "Dosing Station" will sit on top of the ATO Reservoir basically acting like a cover. Then the pumps will be mounted onto little stands.

chrismunn · 09/19/2009, 10:31 AM

where did you get those dosing pumps and what are they called? ive been wanting to automate my dosing for a while now but havent found a good way of doing it. so far it seems like peristaltic pumps are the way to go for the amount of liquid im dealing with but i dont really know how to use them? coralfragger101 pointed me to some information but i sometimes have a hard time grasping a concept untill i see it in action!

its mostly the timing aspect that im having trouble figuring out though, im not sure how to time 7.5 ml's a day???

Tswifty · 09/19/2009, 11:46 AM

They're the "Drew's Dosing Pumps" from Bulk Reef Supply. I recently put together a group buy so I could save some cash on them as well. I chose them over the BRS 2 part dosing pumps they offer, because these have 4 rollers while the BRS 2 part dosing pumps only have 2.

The nice thing with most peristaltic dosing pumps is that the flow rate is very low. For instance, the Drew's Dosers are supposed to be around 1.5 ml per minute. So I plan on timing it to dose probably 2 or 3 times throughout the day, splitting up 30 ml over those dosages. If I dose twice per day, I would just set the timer to run for 10 minutes each time.

On your tank you would you would just time it to dose for around 5 minutes per day if you wanted it to dose the 7.5 ml in one shot.

Tswifty · 09/19/2009, 05:11 PM

Weekly Water Params (Kalk Reactor is now offline)

Tswifty · 09/19/2009, 05:24 PM

I mentioned I took the kalk reactor offline today, but do not want to remove it completely. I think I'm going to need it once winter rolls around, and it would also be nice to have run overnight.

Anyway, here is a thread I started in the Neptune Systems forum based on Taqpol's earlier suggestion.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1709146

Michael · 09/20/2009, 12:03 AM

those levels look impressive swift,i wonder if raising the mag a little more may help the hair problem, just a thought, maybe to 16-1700 perhaps. or is it under control now?

chrismunn · 09/20/2009, 10:30 AM

so are they $79 or $89 dollars per unit? i dont quite understand their pricing chart???

Tswifty · 09/20/2009, 12:27 PM

Good news! I need to do a water change and some other tank maintenance issues, but I have some impressive pictures to post later.

Tswifty · 09/20/2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael
those levels look impressive swift,i wonder if raising the mag a little more may help the hair problem, just a thought, maybe to 16-1700 perhaps. or is it under control now?

Thanks... Hopefully the dosers will bring some added stability to the system. Also, Russ from Neptune Systems got back to me with a program statement which should allow me to still utilize kalk in my system without worrying about pushing the pH too high.

As far as the hair algae issue goes...

Quote:

Originally posted by chrismunn
so are they $79 or $89 dollars per unit? i dont quite understand their pricing chart???

They're prices depend on how many units you purchase. The more units you purchase the cheaper they get. However, they have a great "group buy" system. If you can get 10 people together, you can put together a group buy, and BRS gives you the maximum quantity discount for each item regardless of how many items you purchase.

Here are the details:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/i8/Gro...formation.html

That's what I did before I purchased the dosers, so I was able to get them for $79 each, instead of $89.

Tswifty · 09/20/2009, 04:58 PM

Here are some progression shots of the hair algae. It's almost gone now (just a few patches here and there), and only the maroon turf algae seems to be remaining. I'm actually starting to be able to see my rocks again!

Aug 9, 2009

Aug 30, 2009

Sept 15, 2009

Sept 20, 2009

Tswifty · 09/20/2009, 05:16 PM

FTS Progression

Aug 9, 2009

Aug 30, 2009

Sept 15, 2009

Sept 20, 2009

chrismunn · 09/20/2009, 06:32 PM

what exactly did you do to start getting that algae problem under control? im pretty sure that mid august would have been the time where i woulda given up!

IridescentLily · 09/20/2009, 07:04 PM

Looking great.

Tswifty · 09/20/2009, 08:09 PM

Took some time tonight and hooked up my Drew's Dosing pumps for my Calcium and Alkalinity dosing. I'm waiting to hook up the Magnesium until I have the dosing station, because I ran out of room under the stands.

I tested the pumps and they run at 1.7 ml/min and 1.6ml/min.

So here are what my dosing program statements currently look like:

If Time > 08:00:00 Then ALK ON
If Time > 08:05:54 Then ALK OFF

If Time > 16:00:00 Then ALK ON
If Time > 16:05:54 Then ALK OFF

If Time > 00:00:00 Then ALK ON
If Time > 00:05:54 Then ALK OFF

If Time > 09:00:00 Then CAL ON
If Time > 09:06:15 Then CAL OFF

If Time > 17:00:00 Then CAL ON
If Time > 17:06:15 Then CAL OFF

If Time > 01:00:00 Then CAL ON
If Time > 01:06:15 Then CAL OFF

This will have me dosing 30 ml of each part... in 10 ml increments... 3 times per day.

Tswifty · 09/20/2009, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrismunn
what exactly did you do to start getting that algae problem under control? im pretty sure that mid august would have been the time where i woulda given up!

Yeah it's definitely been more than a little frustrating going through this. I think the Aug 30 pic is where my avatar came from.

I've been dosing Microbacter 7 (bacteria) and Vodka (carbon source) over the pictured time period. However, I am unsure if I can relate the die off directly to the bacteria/carbon dosing. Although my water column is running extremely nutrient poor right now, which has me a bit worried as a lot of my corals have really begun to lighten up.

I keep rolling over pulling my refugium, but perhaps now may be the time to do it.

Quote:

Originally posted by IridescentLily
Looking great.

Thanks... got a long way to go still.

I hate looking at this picture... oh those were the days. Nice purple rocks and not a spec of algae in sight.

Tswifty · 09/20/2009, 09:00 PM

Here's the temporary rig I have for the dosing pumps. You can see they're just sitting on boxes right now.

john90009 · 09/21/2009, 08:07 AM

Id like o think of a tank with algae everywhere is more natural- in the wild there is never zero algea and everything isnt purple just the top of the rocks that get might maybe. How much snails you have maybe if u buy a ton of different kinds maybe a select few will help mow down everything.

Michael · 09/21/2009, 08:28 AM

the tank looks great swift, the gha doesn't look too bad, still very colourful in there anyhow, i bet you will have it beat real soon.

Tswifty · 09/21/2009, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by john90009
Id like o think of a tank with algae everywhere is more natural- in the wild there is never zero algea and everything isnt purple just the top of the rocks that get might maybe. How much snails you have maybe if u buy a ton of different kinds maybe a select few will help mow down everything.

Yeah I hear that... I don't think a tank will ever be 100% nuisance algae free. I just really don't like the Maroon tint my tank has.

Now that the Hair Algae seems to be receding, I'm considering picking up a few Mexican Turbo Snails. They're reported to take out the Maroon/Red Turf algae.

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael
the tank looks great swift, the gha doesn't look too bad, still very colourful in there anyhow, i bet you will have it beat real soon.

Thanks Michael

MADtanks · 09/21/2009, 12:54 PM

I am going to pull as much algae today as possible and do a small water change since im sure i will have to siphon out whate ver algeae is floating around. I have a bad feeling that im getting all this green stuff bc of the frozen food, and me not rinsing it before i feed the tank.

I read a few threads where tons and tons of Phos. was found in the water that the cubes of frozen food were thawd in. So im blaming the cubes! lol... that plus my photo period is 12hrs.... not sure that has much to do with it but im going to cut it down to 10hrs, and possibly 8hrs at some point just for testing purposes. I am at work most of the day anyways so maybe 8 - 10hrs isnt so bad.

so are you doing two part now? i just started dosing my tank with one of those reefdosingpumps with a dual hose setup, and opened up a bag of calcium chloride, as well as a box of baking soda i had been wanting to mix up.... i just hope i calculated it correctly lol. Freaking pump is working good so far though no back siphon freaking great!

MADtanks · 09/21/2009, 12:56 PM

wow im so slow... i should have looked just a few post above me!!! lmao... i hate my network at work! i can never see any pics! booo.

Tswifty · 09/21/2009, 04:50 PM

The LFS was having a sale, so I picked up 5 Mexican Turbo Snails today (5 was the deal). Hopefully they'll start working on the maroon turf algae. I usually have miserable luck with their survival rate... so keep your fingers crossed on this one.

Also picked up a Mini-Jet 404 to run the new top off system. I have another Mini-Jet 404 which is currently hooked up to run through my Kalk Reactor. The pumps will kick on depending on what the tank's pH looks like when the float switch is activated.

Here's what the AC3 code will look like. I also need to program a max run time statement for the pumps. Just in case the primary float switch would fail and my back up float switch would also happen to fail for any reason.

If Switch1 Open Then KLK ON
If pH > 8.3 Then KLK OFF
If Switch1 Open Then ATO ON
If pH < 8.3 Then ATO OFF

09/18/2009, 03:34 PM	#826
Taqpol Registered Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Durham, NC Posts: 2,205	I had an idea thats what you were getting . How are you going to control the dosing pumps? I only have one slot open on my RK2 and I want to use it for that pH based kalkwasser dosing I was talking about, so I decided to buy a pair of digital timers that have one minute increments. Would you believe that not a single hardware or electrical store in my town sells digital timers? __________________ ^ Click on my username and 'Visit Taqpol's Home Page!" to view my 220 gallon custom Miracles tank! -Alex

09/18/2009, 05:24 PM	#827
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	I'm going to use my AC3, I just need to decide how I want program it. Basically if I would program it similar the kalk reactor's mixing pump which comes on fo x minutes every x hours... or if there is another method (I think I'm going to use the kalk program)? Luckily I have the 2nd dc8 that I won in the raffle at the Cleveland frag swap back in April and it's still pretty much open. So are you planning running the kalk during the night or something to start? I'm going to have to keep an eye on my pH over the next couple of days. Since I refreshed the kalk, my daytime pH is pretty darn high. So I'm probably going to be pulling the reactor offline until I can get a system set up similar to the one you mentioned. __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover Last edited by Tswifty; 09/18/2009 at 05:33 PM.

09/18/2009, 05:32 PM	#828
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	dp. __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/18/2009, 11:39 PM	#829
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	I was having trouble figuring out where to mount the dosing pumps. So here's what I came up with. The "Dosing Station" will sit on top of the ATO Reservoir basically acting like a cover. Then the pumps will be mounted onto little stands. __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/19/2009, 10:31 AM	#830
chrismunn Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 4,200	where did you get those dosing pumps and what are they called? ive been wanting to automate my dosing for a while now but havent found a good way of doing it. so far it seems like peristaltic pumps are the way to go for the amount of liquid im dealing with but i dont really know how to use them? coralfragger101 pointed me to some information but i sometimes have a hard time grasping a concept untill i see it in action! its mostly the timing aspect that im having trouble figuring out though, im not sure how to time 7.5 ml's a day??? __________________ Marine Aquarists Association of South Texas Austin Reef Club PBITAWA... Current Tank Info: 14g bio cube

09/19/2009, 11:46 AM	#831
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	They're the "Drew's Dosing Pumps" from Bulk Reef Supply. I recently put together a group buy so I could save some cash on them as well. I chose them over the BRS 2 part dosing pumps they offer, because these have 4 rollers while the BRS 2 part dosing pumps only have 2. The nice thing with most peristaltic dosing pumps is that the flow rate is very low. For instance, the Drew's Dosers are supposed to be around 1.5 ml per minute. So I plan on timing it to dose probably 2 or 3 times throughout the day, splitting up 30 ml over those dosages. If I dose twice per day, I would just set the timer to run for 10 minutes each time. On your tank you would you would just time it to dose for around 5 minutes per day if you wanted it to dose the 7.5 ml in one shot. __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/19/2009, 05:11 PM	#832
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	Weekly Water Params (Kalk Reactor is now offline) __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/19/2009, 05:24 PM	#833
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	I mentioned I took the kalk reactor offline today, but do not want to remove it completely. I think I'm going to need it once winter rolls around, and it would also be nice to have run overnight. Anyway, here is a thread I started in the Neptune Systems forum based on Taqpol's earlier suggestion. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1709146 __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/20/2009, 12:03 AM	#834
Michael NTTH Rookie Help Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gloucester, England,UK Posts: 7,808 Blog Entries: 6	those levels look impressive swift,i wonder if raising the mag a little more may help the hair problem, just a thought, maybe to 16-1700 perhaps. or is it under control now? __________________ Don't be afraid to ask questions, we in the new to the hobby are here to help you [For My Tank Spec,Photo Album,Articles and website, click on my name] MY Very Kindest and Warmest Regards , MIKE Current Tank Info: I have a 92 gal Corner Tank, and way too many pieces of equipment to list really, (proud member of the reef central corner club)

09/20/2009, 10:30 AM	#835
chrismunn Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 4,200	so are they $79 or $89 dollars per unit? i dont quite understand their pricing chart??? __________________ Marine Aquarists Association of South Texas Austin Reef Club PBITAWA... Current Tank Info: 14g bio cube

09/20/2009, 12:27 PM	#836
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	Good news! I need to do a water change and some other tank maintenance issues, but I have some impressive pictures to post later. __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/20/2009, 04:58 PM	#838
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	Here are some progression shots of the hair algae. It's almost gone now (just a few patches here and there), and only the maroon turf algae seems to be remaining. I'm actually starting to be able to see my rocks again! Aug 9, 2009 Aug 30, 2009 Sept 15, 2009 Sept 20, 2009 __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/20/2009, 05:16 PM	#839
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	FTS Progression Aug 9, 2009 Aug 30, 2009 Sept 15, 2009 Sept 20, 2009 __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/20/2009, 06:32 PM	#840
chrismunn Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 4,200	what exactly did you do to start getting that algae problem under control? im pretty sure that mid august would have been the time where i woulda given up! __________________ Marine Aquarists Association of South Texas Austin Reef Club PBITAWA... Current Tank Info: 14g bio cube

09/20/2009, 07:04 PM	#841
IridescentLily Editor-Reefkeeping mag Join Date: May 2008 Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico Posts: 3,858 Blog Entries: 5	Looking great. __________________ ~April Editor-Reefkeeping Magazine

09/20/2009, 08:09 PM	#842
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	Took some time tonight and hooked up my Drew's Dosing pumps for my Calcium and Alkalinity dosing. I'm waiting to hook up the Magnesium until I have the dosing station, because I ran out of room under the stands. I tested the pumps and they run at 1.7 ml/min and 1.6ml/min. So here are what my dosing program statements currently look like: If Time > 08:00:00 Then ALK ON If Time > 08:05:54 Then ALK OFF If Time > 16:00:00 Then ALK ON If Time > 16:05:54 Then ALK OFF If Time > 00:00:00 Then ALK ON If Time > 00:05:54 Then ALK OFF If Time > 09:00:00 Then CAL ON If Time > 09:06:15 Then CAL OFF If Time > 17:00:00 Then CAL ON If Time > 17:06:15 Then CAL OFF If Time > 01:00:00 Then CAL ON If Time > 01:06:15 Then CAL OFF This will have me dosing 30 ml of each part... in 10 ml increments... 3 times per day. __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/20/2009, 09:00 PM	#844
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	Here's the temporary rig I have for the dosing pumps. You can see they're just sitting on boxes right now. __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover

09/21/2009, 08:07 AM	#845
john90009 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Brick Posts: 985	Id like o think of a tank with algae everywhere is more natural- in the wild there is never zero algea and everything isnt purple just the top of the rocks that get might maybe. How much snails you have maybe if u buy a ton of different kinds maybe a select few will help mow down everything.

09/21/2009, 08:28 AM	#846
Michael NTTH Rookie Help Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gloucester, England,UK Posts: 7,808 Blog Entries: 6	the tank looks great swift, the gha doesn't look too bad, still very colourful in there anyhow, i bet you will have it beat real soon. __________________ Don't be afraid to ask questions, we in the new to the hobby are here to help you [For My Tank Spec,Photo Album,Articles and website, click on my name] MY Very Kindest and Warmest Regards , MIKE Current Tank Info: I have a 92 gal Corner Tank, and way too many pieces of equipment to list really, (proud member of the reef central corner club)

09/21/2009, 12:54 PM	#848
MADtanks Stix Anyone? Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: East Coast Posts: 5,392	I am going to pull as much algae today as possible and do a small water change since im sure i will have to siphon out whate ver algeae is floating around. I have a bad feeling that im getting all this green stuff bc of the frozen food, and me not rinsing it before i feed the tank. I read a few threads where tons and tons of Phos. was found in the water that the cubes of frozen food were thawd in. So im blaming the cubes! lol... that plus my photo period is 12hrs.... not sure that has much to do with it but im going to cut it down to 10hrs, and possibly 8hrs at some point just for testing purposes. I am at work most of the day anyways so maybe 8 - 10hrs isnt so bad. so are you doing two part now? i just started dosing my tank with one of those reefdosingpumps with a dual hose setup, and opened up a bag of calcium chloride, as well as a box of baking soda i had been wanting to mix up.... i just hope i calculated it correctly lol. Freaking pump is working good so far though no back siphon freaking great! __________________ M.A.D. 75G(36X24X20 E-Overflow) \| DIY - LED/T5 \| Tunze ATO \| Eheim 1260 \| Reef Keeper.... in progress Current Tank Info: 24X24X20 AIO SPS Dom

09/21/2009, 12:56 PM	#849
MADtanks Stix Anyone? Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: East Coast Posts: 5,392	wow im so slow... i should have looked just a few post above me!!! lmao... i hate my network at work! i can never see any pics! booo. __________________ M.A.D. 75G(36X24X20 E-Overflow) \| DIY - LED/T5 \| Tunze ATO \| Eheim 1260 \| Reef Keeper.... in progress Current Tank Info: 24X24X20 AIO SPS Dom

09/21/2009, 04:50 PM	#850
Tswifty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: PA Posts: 14,022	The LFS was having a sale, so I picked up 5 Mexican Turbo Snails today (5 was the deal). Hopefully they'll start working on the maroon turf algae. I usually have miserable luck with their survival rate... so keep your fingers crossed on this one. Also picked up a Mini-Jet 404 to run the new top off system. I have another Mini-Jet 404 which is currently hooked up to run through my Kalk Reactor. The pumps will kick on depending on what the tank's pH looks like when the float switch is activated. Here's what the AC3 code will look like. I also need to program a max run time statement for the pumps. Just in case the primary float switch would fail and my back up float switch would also happen to fail for any reason. If Switch1 Open Then KLK ON If pH > 8.3 Then KLK OFF If Switch1 Open Then ATO ON If pH < 8.3 Then ATO OFF __________________ "Enough light? Heck I could go barebottom and grow SPS in the stand!" - DiscoReefRover