Ichthys 150 Reef Build

[HUNTER01975]

So just to add my hair brain 2 cents worth.

I was thinking your light houses could use some light.

maybe drill some holes where the lights are and then make a little slide on the back side that opens and closes the hole every 1-2 seconds to make the light appear to be spinning. maybe a little elec. motor that spins one way to pull and switch to make motor spin back the other way to push.

my crazy thoughts are due to the amazement of how nice this setup.. I hope one day my wife will let me do something as nice.

 

[Ichthys]

I awoke this morning to a relatively clear tank, was very surprised. The CaribSea live sand I picked up at Oceans by Design contained a little packet of "Bio-Magnet" clarifier. Apparently this stuff works pretty well because the tank was not cloudy. There is however a white film on every surface. The skimmer is going crazy and had to be turned way down so as to not fill the cup in 60 seconds.

Thanks for the kind words Eric, am looking forward to getting some livestock in the tank. Am thinking with the live sand and the cured rock, i should have a short quick cycle?

 

[Ichthys]

So just to add my hair brain 2 cents worth.

I was thinking your light houses could use some light.

maybe drill some holes where the lights are and then make a little slide on the back side that opens and closes the hole every 1-2 seconds to make the light appear to be spinning. maybe a little elec. motor that spins one way to pull and switch to make motor spin back the other way to push.

my crazy thoughts are due to the amazement of how nice this setup.. I hope one day my wife will let me do something as nice.

thats not crazy, I have also been thinking about how to add a light feature to the lighthouses.. was thinking of a blinking led of some sort,

 

[HUNTER01975]

I was just thinking of a way to do it with out having to run more power cords for the lights.. it would be super trick either way..

 

[kpiotrowski]

thats not crazy, I have also been thinking about how to add a light feature to the lighthouses.. was thinking of a blinking led of some sort,

you could prob find all you needed at radio shack. def a cool idea!

 

[Peppie]

If you are going to have the lighthouse shine a rotating light, you may as well hook up a small powerhead to the back side of the door. Put it on a timer, cut a small hole at the base of the lighthouse, and have a fresh spray of saltwater splashing you.

 

[Ichthys]

If you are going to have the lighthouse shine a rotating light, you may as well hook up a small powerhead to the back side of the door. Put it on a timer, cut a small hole at the base of the lighthouse, and have a fresh spray of saltwater splashing you.

I have found a way to synchronize the LED light with the power head to give the authentic salt spray effect, and have even added an MP3 of a foghorn to give the audio effect. The last piece of the experience is the seagulls. I need someone to test my seagull "gift from the skies" relay delivery system which is designed to complete the beachfront experience. Peppie would you be so kind to come over and stand under the SSDL for testing purpose?

 

[Ichthys]

Hunter.
Eric was by this evening to make an adjustment on the skimmer, (+1 OBD Customer Service) and I asked if he wanted a couple of extra pieces of live rock left over from my build that my wife wouldnt let me cram into the display tank and wouldn't fit in the sump. Eric mentioned that you were settin up a 75 and looking for rock, and live nearby, so its yours if you want it, just 2 pieces about 20 pounds sitting in warm saltwater. PM me for address. and shout out to OBD for thinking of ya, lol

 

[HUNTER01975]

I have found a way to synchronize the LED light with the power head to give the authentic salt spray effect, and have even added an MP3 of a foghorn to give the audio effect. The last piece of the experience is the seagulls. I need someone to test my seagull "gift from the skies" relay delivery system which is designed to complete the beachfront experience. Peppie would you be so kind to come over and stand under the SSDL for testing purpose?

now thats funny stuff.. no offence Peppie..


I sent you a pm with info..

 

[Ichthys]

Tonight I came home from work to a lovely tank full of brownish red algae spots. Believe it is diatom algae which is caused by phosphates? Not sure how i have a phosphate problem if all the new tank water came from my rodi running new filters and new DI material. Will do a water test after I get some dinner.

 

[Ichthys]

Update.. I continue to have issues with microbubbles, they seem to be coming from my closed loop although there are some coming from the return plumbing as well. Microbubbles drive me absolutely nuts. Thousands of dollars in equipment and hundreds of hours of work, reduced to garbage because of some stupid bubbles. I get discouraged and feel like listing the whole dang thing on CL for 100 bucks to get it out of my life... I talked to Eric and Todd yesterday and they suggested valving down my output on my CL to create back pressure the draw and sure enough, if I valve it down enough the bubbles stop, but no matter how far i valve it down i dont get water outside any of my plumbing, so telling where the air is getting in is impossible. If i valve the CL output down to stop the bubbles, then i am defeating part of the purpose of the CL because i am reducing flow.. will mess with it more today, wish me luck..
just noticed craigslist and closedloop are both CL in my posts lol, coincidence?

 

[reefman069]

hey great build you have there. tank looks sweet. so in your plumbing. do you have any unions. if so make sure they are
all tight. if not they can draw air and not leak. i had the same problem when i set up my tank. micro bubles. i know the feeling. i went nuts also. i threw my hands in the air and wanted to quit. untel i checked and tightened up my unions. no more micro bubles. woo hoo. good luck. i hope it is a easy fix.

 

[kpiotrowski]

Update.. I continue to have issues with microbubbles, they seem to be coming from my closed loop although there are some coming from the return plumbing as well. Microbubbles drive me absolutely nuts. Thousands of dollars in equipment and hundreds of hours of work, reduced to garbage because of some stupid bubbles. I get discouraged and feel like listing the whole dang thing on CL for 100 bucks to get it out of my life... I talked to Eric and Todd yesterday and they suggested valving down my output on my CL to create back pressure the draw and sure enough, if I valve it down enough the bubbles stop, but no matter how far i valve it down i dont get water outside any of my plumbing, so telling where the air is getting in is impossible. If i valve the CL output down to stop the bubbles, then i am defeating part of the purpose of the CL because i am reducing flow.. will mess with it more today, wish me luck..
just noticed craigslist and closedloop are both CL in my posts lol, coincidence?

I hear you loud and clear. I went through this kind of regret and remorse with my last build and am curntly asking myself what the heck have I done commiting to a 300g display with everything that goes wit it.

Hang in there bud!

 

[Spinner]

Your system is still new give it some time to build a slime coat and that should help.
You have a nice system started time and tinkering will fix the problem

 

[Ichthys]

I honestly do appreciate the support and the kind words. When you stop and think about it, what we try to accomplish in this hobby is a rather industrious undertaking, recreating mother natures elaborate balance and interplay in a closed system, it is only natural that we would continually run into challenges. One area of concern is the unions i used in my closed loop. I am working on the closed loop today, taking it apart and going to replumb using true double union valves, I had cut corners by using the cheaper single union ones and am wondering whether that is part of the problem.

 

[TJL]

Hey Danny good to have finally met you and your wife, also to hear your working out the plumbing issues. However slowly it may seem it will eventually be a thing of the past and a year or two down the road you will have my problem "Damn Corals keep growing out of the tank and/or into each others territory"

Cheers, Todd

 

[kpiotrowski]

I honestly do appreciate the support and the kind words. When you stop and think about it, what we try to accomplish in this hobby is a rather industrious undertaking, recreating mother natures elaborate balance and interplay in a closed system, it is only natural that we would continually run into challenges. One area of concern is the unions i used in my closed loop. I am working on the closed loop today, taking it apart and going to replumb using true double union valves, I had cut corners by using the cheaper single union ones and am wondering whether that is part of the problem.

I don't see "cheaper" unions being the problem. depends on brand how much they restrict flow. I have a 1.5 in sch 80 hayward true union that restricts prob 25% more than another brand of the same. also have sch 40 that restricts no more than the good sch80 ones. other than that, are you thinking the are sucking air? were they all new?

 

[mfinn]

A couple things I did when I had micro bubbles on my "new" system was to put a tiny bit of vaseline on the o-rings of all the unions, anywhere I had a flex hose to pvc connection, put a tiny bit of silicone around the edge of the flex hose, hose barb connection. Plus, just let it age some.

 

[Ichthys]

update: took the closed loop down completely, switching out the seal on the hammerhead (thanks Eric at OBD) and bought new true double union valves. Will see when we hook it back up if we got rid of the microbubbles.

 

[Ichthys]

Well. I checked all my parameters last night. Nitrate nitrite phosphate ammo were all zero. Added some snails. Will be ready To start transfering fish over next week.