nsamouroux
Well-known member
Well crap, now someone tells me! Would it have been better to top off with skim instead of the 2% I used? Is Dairygold that much better than the bulk packages I get from Costco?
:lol:
:lol:
360 gallon logistical nightmare and no spare time!
- Thread starter nsamouroux
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Myteemouse
NOTHING
LOL
That is one BIG tank..
Cant wait for it to clear up!
That is one BIG tank..
Cant wait for it to clear up!
nsamouroux
Well-known member
Just added a DIY filter sock (100% polyester felt) made from 3 layers of material to the output of my skimmer, and have the output of my water polishing canister filter dumping into the same bag. Hopefully it'll clear up soon! I want to go spend a buttload at the Barrier Reef sale, but can't get any livestock unless this blasted thing is ready... My 100 gallon tank is already overcrowded with fish from breaking down all the other tanks in preparation for this beast! 
nsamouroux
Well-known member
Not much to update progress-wise, but the water is slowly clearing up. I can now see objects (sand, live rock chunks added to seed the tank, etc) about 6" in from any panel. Water polisher canister and the filter socks are helping, but it's a slow process with 600 gallons of water to process It definitely won't be clear and ready for livestock in time for the Barrier Reef sale, and I'm crying into my beer.
It definitely won't be clear and ready for livestock in time for the Barrier Reef sale, and I'm crying into my beer.Saltyfish
Banned
Just added a DIY filter sock (100% polyester felt) made from 3 layers of material to the output of my skimmer, and have the output of my water polishing canister filter dumping into the same bag. Hopefully it'll clear up soon! I want to go spend a buttload at the Barrier Reef sale, but can't get any livestock unless this blasted thing is ready... My 100 gallon tank is already overcrowded with fish from breaking down all the other tanks in preparation for this beast!
Cant you ask them to hold it for you?
Also I need pictures I am picture kind of guy. show me a pictures I will remember it for ever tell me about I forget, what what did I forget? All well not important.
lol
nsamouroux
Well-known member
Thankfully I have a brain that operates flawlessly in the presence of caffeine. In fact, my memory and recall ability is so reliable that I can't even remember the last time I forgot something :lol:
nsamouroux
Well-known member
I didn't think to ask them to hold stuff for me... I'll probably ask while I'm there though, thanks for the idea It'll probably end up being far too busy for me to want to unleash that sort of hell on them... Hey guys, can you hold these 20 fish and 10 coral frags? Oh, I don't know when the tank will be clear enough to add them, but I'll let you know! :badgrin:.
It'll probably end up being far too busy for me to want to unleash that sort of hell on them... Hey guys, can you hold these 20 fish and 10 coral frags? Oh, I don't know when the tank will be clear enough to add them, but I'll let you know! :badgrin:.
nsamouroux
Well-known member
Just got back from the Barrier Reef mosh pit Got there at 9:30am, waited for 2.5 hours for my number to be reached, then found out that for halide lamps I just had to go to the register. D'oh!. Rugrat was whining so I ran him over to McDonalds for some french fried tranquilizers and came back once the monsoon let up to wait in line again. Only took about an hour or so that time around to get to the register Thankfully they had some Reeflux bulbs still in stock. I picked up a 400w SE 20k lamp and a 250w SE 20k. I've got one more of each on raincheck, so once those come in my lighting is officially done!
As for the 600 gallons of eggnog, it's actually clearing up quite a bit the last day or two. I can tell now that there's sand in it, and can see the shadow of a 5lb chunk of live rock that I put in to help seed the sand while I wait. The rock is sitting about 9" from the viewing panel and I couldn't see it at all a few days ago, so it's definitely clearing up. The sand itself is perfectly settled from the looks of things (no sand grains in my filter socks or in the Magnum 350 polisher cartridge) so it's just a matter of getting rid of the silt. I've thought of a way to make a heavy duty high-volume water polisher that I might build and put to use this weekend... If I put it together I'll make a post in the DIY forum detailing the hare-brained scheme Basically I would use a large diameter section of PVC pipe (roughly 8" diameter) and buy a large hot tub / pool micron filter or one of those used in the whole-house water filters for sediment. Put an appropriate diameter section of PVC with LOTS of holes drilled into it inside the filter, then into a fitting of some sort that would reduce the 8" diameter main pipe into a 1" center "drain" tube. Use a MJ 1200 or something similar to pump the dirty water into the large pipe via a barbed insert fitting. The water pressure should force the water through the micron cartridge while the silt / sediment particles remain in the main chamber. The center 1" diameter pipe will carry the cleaned water out of the contraption into the sump or display tank (wherever you have it mounted). Total cost for this thing should be only about $30, depending on the cost of the filter canister / cartridge thingy and if a person already has the pump itself
Got there at 9:30am, waited for 2.5 hours for my number to be reached, then found out that for halide lamps I just had to go to the register. D'oh!. Rugrat was whining so I ran him over to McDonalds for some french fried tranquilizers and came back once the monsoon let up to wait in line again. Only took about an hour or so that time around to get to the register Thankfully they had some Reeflux bulbs still in stock. I picked up a 400w SE 20k lamp and a 250w SE 20k. I've got one more of each on raincheck, so once those come in my lighting is officially done! As for the 600 gallons of eggnog, it's actually clearing up quite a bit the last day or two. I can tell now that there's sand in it, and can see the shadow of a 5lb chunk of live rock that I put in to help seed the sand while I wait. The rock is sitting about 9" from the viewing panel and I couldn't see it at all a few days ago, so it's definitely clearing up. The sand itself is perfectly settled from the looks of things (no sand grains in my filter socks or in the Magnum 350 polisher cartridge) so it's just a matter of getting rid of the silt. I've thought of a way to make a heavy duty high-volume water polisher that I might build and put to use this weekend... If I put it together I'll make a post in the DIY forum detailing the hare-brained scheme
Basically I would use a large diameter section of PVC pipe (roughly 8" diameter) and buy a large hot tub / pool micron filter or one of those used in the whole-house water filters for sediment. Put an appropriate diameter section of PVC with LOTS of holes drilled into it inside the filter, then into a fitting of some sort that would reduce the 8" diameter main pipe into a 1" center "drain" tube. Use a MJ 1200 or something similar to pump the dirty water into the large pipe via a barbed insert fitting. The water pressure should force the water through the micron cartridge while the silt / sediment particles remain in the main chamber. The center 1" diameter pipe will carry the cleaned water out of the contraption into the sump or display tank (wherever you have it mounted). Total cost for this thing should be only about $30, depending on the cost of the filter canister / cartridge thingy and if a person already has the pump itself Saltyfish
Banned
Man I didnt know anyone was going just for the morning / early afternoon. I would have gone too. Did you drive over this morning or lastnight?
nsamouroux
Well-known member
The shop isn't all that far from my house, only about a 20 minute drive. I wanted to get there before The Swarm bought out all of the Reeflux bulbs I needed but I apparently wasn't early enough because I was only able to bring home half of what I went for
nsamouroux
Well-known member
Let there be LIGHT(s)!
Cloudy tank, 250w Reeflux SE 20k bulb on right, 250w Ushio SE 10k bulb on left. Both running on Icecap ballasts:
On my 100g tank I plugged the 400w Reeflux SE 20k bulb into my Hamilton dual 400w ballast, the other side of the ballast is running a 400w XM SE 20k bulb. Once the water clears up a bit in that tank (just cleaned it and dusted the rocks) I'll take some comparison pics. These Reeflux 20k bulbs are MUCH brighter to my eyes than the XM20k bulbs, running on the same ballast. The XM seems to have a more purple / actinic tint, while the Reeflux seems to have more of a crisp blue / white color. I'm very happy with these Reeflux bulbs so far! We'll see how they look once they're burned in a bit, and once the other half of my purchase comes in (another Reeflux 400w and another 250w 20k SE bulb) so that I can put it all on the big tank and see how it looks. Everything is ready for fish / rock / corals, except for the blasted cloudy water. This is going to drive me bonkers!
Cloudy tank, 250w Reeflux SE 20k bulb on right, 250w Ushio SE 10k bulb on left. Both running on Icecap ballasts:
On my 100g tank I plugged the 400w Reeflux SE 20k bulb into my Hamilton dual 400w ballast, the other side of the ballast is running a 400w XM SE 20k bulb. Once the water clears up a bit in that tank (just cleaned it and dusted the rocks
) I'll take some comparison pics. These Reeflux 20k bulbs are MUCH brighter to my eyes than the XM20k bulbs, running on the same ballast. The XM seems to have a more purple / actinic tint, while the Reeflux seems to have more of a crisp blue / white color. I'm very happy with these Reeflux bulbs so far! We'll see how they look once they're burned in a bit, and once the other half of my purchase comes in (another Reeflux 400w and another 250w 20k SE bulb) so that I can put it all on the big tank and see how it looks. Everything is ready for fish / rock / corals, except for the blasted cloudy water. This is going to drive me bonkers!
nsamouroux
Well-known member
Aaaaaand some pics of the 100 gallon tank to try and show the difference between a 400w XM 20k SE bulb and a 400w Reeflux 20k SE bulb. Reeflux on right, XM on left. They're running on the same ballast (dual output Hamilton magnetic ballast) so they're getting the same wattage, etc.
From the right (Reeflux):
From the left (XM):
Now it might be because this XM bulb is almost a year old, but the Reeflux bulb seems to have a LOT more actinic effect to it, which I definitely like because I don't use supplemental lighting with my halides. My frogspawn (purple w/ green tips), the brain coral, and my green poci are all MUCH brighter under the new lights. I'm pretty excited to see what the big tank will look like with all four Reeflux 20k bulbs on it (two 250w on outside of tank, two 400w towards inside). Definitely happy with these lights!
From the right (Reeflux):
From the left (XM):
Now it might be because this XM bulb is almost a year old, but the Reeflux bulb seems to have a LOT more actinic effect to it, which I definitely like because I don't use supplemental lighting with my halides. My frogspawn (purple w/ green tips), the brain coral, and my green poci are all MUCH brighter under the new lights. I'm pretty excited to see what the big tank will look like with all four Reeflux 20k bulbs on it (two 250w on outside of tank, two 400w towards inside). Definitely happy with these lights!
nsamouroux
Well-known member
Oops. I need more sleep! I noticed in the post that shows the 360g tank lighting comparison that I said the XM bulb had a more actinic tint, which it does not I meant to say that the XM bulb looked whiter than the new Reeflux bulb, and that the Reeflux bulb seems to have more blue color and more of an actinic effect to it.
I meant to say that the XM bulb looked whiter than the new Reeflux bulb, and that the Reeflux bulb seems to have more blue color and more of an actinic effect to it.
Myteemouse
NOTHING
Has that thing cleared up yet?
Note to self, Always rinse your sand really well first.
Note to self, Always rinse your sand really well first.
nsamouroux
Well-known member
It's mostly clearing up. Still cloudy, but I can see a foot or two into the tank where I placed small chunks of live rock and I can see the Koralia powerheads. I am only running the return pump and the outlets at the top rear corners are pointed towards the overflow box. I turned on the Koralia Monstrosities as a test and ran the full 17,000 gph water flow and it got slightly cloudy, but settled within two hours after the pumps were turned off. I will probably put in some more live rock from the 100g tank this weekend to hopefully speed up the sand "livening" process, and will put a blue / green chromis or two in there to add some bio-load. The filter socks and canister filter / water polisher are doing a pretty good job, but 500 gallons takes a while to clear up!
nsamouroux
Well-known member
My last two Reeflux 20k lamps haven't come in yet, maybe some time in the next few days? Once they get here, I'm sure I can transfer everything over and only have slight clouding of the water. I think at this point the only way to knock down the silt cloud is to increase the bio-load and let the sand liven up, so I need to transfer the rock / fish / etc from the established system.
Saltyfish
Banned
What was I thinking? I thought you were in Spokane. I guess that is what you get when I work too many hours.
Love the milk now when you going to show pictures of water?
nsamouroux
Well-known member
I used to live in Spokane actually, but not for the last 4 years My camera batteries are charging right now, so I'll take some more pics when they're topped off. Things are definitely clearing up and it takes less time to settle back down after I stir it up or crank up the powerheads, but I'm sure once I start putting in the rock it'll look something like a giant tub of horchata :lol:
My camera batteries are charging right now, so I'll take some more pics when they're topped off. Things are definitely clearing up and it takes less time to settle back down after I stir it up or crank up the powerheads, but I'm sure once I start putting in the rock it'll look something like a giant tub of horchata :lol:Saltyfish
Banned
Camera ready yet? lol
