I hope I can live up to your hype! :smile: The fish shipped very well, as did some hyper crabs that Les included in the shipment. The fish kind of hid out most of yesterday, but the Yellow Tang came out in the evening. He is a little extrovert, checking everybody & everything out. Eats well off the rocks and a bit of what I fed tonight. The Achilles was pretty subdued & hiding out yesterday & this morning, but has been out all afternoon & evening; I guess he got used to us! ate a tiny bit of what I fed & I hope shreds of he Nori floating around from the rest of the fish feeding on it. I forgot how beautiful they really are, now that he seems to tolerate us coming up to the tank to stare we can see all of the color & stripes!
Lost Creek 270
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I hope I can live up to your hype! :smile: The fish shipped very well, as did some hyper crabs that Les included in the shipment. The fish kind of hid out most of yesterday, but the Yellow Tang came out in the evening. He is a little extrovert, checking everybody & everything out. Eats well off the rocks and a bit of what I fed tonight. The Achilles was pretty subdued & hiding out yesterday & this morning, but has been out all afternoon & evening; I guess he got used to us! ate a tiny bit of what I fed & I hope shreds of he Nori floating around from the rest of the fish feeding on it. I forgot how beautiful they really are, now that he seems to tolerate us coming up to the tank to stare we can see all of the color & stripes!
i like your new additions. your tank is looking really good. maybe i need to get some frags for you
Tell me what you want Rob, I can break anything!
It's been a busy summer, lots of things happened, but not the auto-water changes; even the regular water changes were difficult to accomplish, so here I am with some unhappy corals, hair algae, etc...this DOES sound framiliar, right? mmmmm....more beer!
So the last couple of weeks I have made progress. Tonight I'm watching the Rangers on the verge of winning the World Series as I'm doing a water change...FINALLY! It Feels GOOD!
((Note to Charlie: I am watching the pieces of technology carefully!))
First pic shows the pumps are running as hoped (calibrated & not on all of the time!). 2nd Pic shows my new water holding tank setup, SW on the left in smaller tank, RODI water in the 100 gallon tank on the right. I can gravity flow either flavor, or use the centrally located pump to pump either one out through a hose or move RODI to the SW tank for mixing & then circulate the SW tank once I add the salt. Works well so far (N=1 tank of SW).
Baseball game is good, bases loaded bottom of the 8th, but there have been so many errors!eace:
So the last couple of weeks I have made progress. Tonight I'm watching the Rangers on the verge of winning the World Series as I'm doing a water change...FINALLY! It Feels GOOD!
((Note to Charlie: I am watching the pieces of technology carefully!))
First pic shows the pumps are running as hoped (calibrated & not on all of the time!). 2nd Pic shows my new water holding tank setup, SW on the left in smaller tank, RODI water in the 100 gallon tank on the right. I can gravity flow either flavor, or use the centrally located pump to pump either one out through a hose or move RODI to the SW tank for mixing & then circulate the SW tank once I add the salt. Works well so far (N=1 tank of SW).
Baseball game is good, bases loaded bottom of the 8th, but there have been so many errors!
eace:Attachments
dsmhero
Well-known member
Can't wait to check out this setup one day!
Watching them is fine Kevin, but the true watching should be done with the animals, they know better than all the techie stuff in the world. JMHO
Charlie, I know you're just wanting me to be careful, so I'm trying to be.
If I can comment to the animals, I probably pay more attention to animals than some might think (veterinarian). the fish seem to be more lively the last 2 days AND we finally saw Rob's Hawkfish last night...first time since the day he was put in the tank. A little fish nose & beady eyes peering out of a hole in the rocks, looks like he's doing fine (as Rob predicted.
KevniD
If I can comment to the animals, I probably pay more attention to animals than some might think (veterinarian). the fish seem to be more lively the last 2 days AND we finally saw Rob's Hawkfish last night...first time since the day he was put in the tank. A little fish nose & beady eyes peering out of a hole in the rocks, looks like he's doing fine (as Rob predicted.
KevniD
Update on the last of Rob's fish: the Pygmy Hawkfish seems to have found his favorite place in the rocks with a convenient hidey hole to bolt into when circumstances dictate that he needs to go hide (like when I take too many flash pictures...).
Auto water changes going well, fish are more active, corals have better polyp extension, so far so good!
Other Wrasses also pictured...these are the best pics I could get, these fish just don't sit still, ever!
Auto water changes going well, fish are more active, corals have better polyp extension, so far so good!
Other Wrasses also pictured...these are the best pics I could get, these fish just don't sit still, ever!
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Bennettp
Well-known member
Beautiful setup. I really like your holding tanks. It's my dream to have an auto water changing system. Hopefully that won't be too far off now that I have an Apex system. That liter meter is very cool to. I've heard a lot of great things about them.
Thanks for the comments... The Liter Meter is very a nice system! I have to admit that mixing up a batch of water (fill 'er up to the mark), add some salt, check Sp Gr & let it mix, then turn on the pumps, walk away & the water change is on-going is a pretty sweet thing! In the continuing vein of 'watching that technology', Charlie was spot on with his advice to 'keep an eye on that thing', so I have been. I calibrated the pumps (easy to do, follow the instructions!) initially to find pump A at 151 cc/min (moving the new salt water in), pump B at 152 cc/min (moving the old salt water to waste). The first 50 gallons exchanged as expected, then second 50 gallons was a bit suspect as the static level in my sump seemed to be going down faster than I would expect with increased evaporation going on with the wood stove in the basement now in 'on' mode. I backed off the daily amount with drawn using pump B for the last day by a third and the questionable water levels stopped. I mixed up a new 50-gallon batch of SW yesterday & then recalibrated the pumps. Both pumps had changed! Pump A now moved 141cc/min (less than initially), pump B moved 178cc/min (quite a bit more than initially), not quite a third difference between them, but pretty dang close. If I have to recalibrate the pumps every 100 gallons, I figure I'm still ahead in the amount of effort on my part and I KNOW the fish & corals will benifit: 1.) from the water changes getting done in a timely fashion, and 2.) from the water changes being done on a continuous basis (pumps cycle 150 times a day) maintaining a more steady state (homeostasis) in the water parameters. I am very happy with the set-up, so far!
Thanx
Things are looking good Kevin, congrats.
Things are looking good Kevin, congrats.
sarmo
aka Rob
hey Kevin, glad to see that little hawk fish. nice pics!! he was always a joy to see. i'd say a favorite but seeing him was a little unpredictable. i hope all the other fish are doing well too.
i like your water change system. make sure you monitor your salinity in your system too. evaporation with out adding RODI can become a problem as you know.
i like your water change system. make sure you monitor your salinity in your system too. evaporation with out adding RODI can become a problem as you know.
Thanks Rob! I have 2 pumps that are calibrated to determine their flow/minute that run off of the same little calculator/computer? in the main control unit. I can set them for whatever flow I want (up to a certain point; they will break it down into 150 on/off cycles a day. They are set for the same amount, and except for the first 2 50 gallon changes (when I had to recalibrate them) the water level is doing just what I would expect during the course of the day. I check the specific gravity (hence the salinity?) of the new batches of water and the aquarium each time I make salt water, so it is a consistant thing.
I've talked to Charlie about the evaporation thing...I have only T5's (running at ~85 deg) so I don't have anywhere near the evaporation you did (I think) or he does. I make up for the evaporation with dripping 2-part solution & things seem to stay in balance.
I am (finally) getting my frag tank set-up. 40 gallon breeder with a Tek Light 36" 4-T5 bulb fixture. The box was HUGE! Color seems pretty close to the main display. I have the Sea Swirl & returns plumbed into the main sump (for the time being) for consistent water throughout the system. Kyle had this tank with a 10-gallon aquarium sump in the cabinet. We'll see how this works out!
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Well I was in a hurry and put everything back together and messed it up. Later I was watching one of Bulk Reef Supply's RO videos and said to myself, "Did I do that correctly?"
Yesterday I spent pretty much all day weeding my tanks and setting back up my small in-take refugium inside of my actual 90 gallon refugium. I bought some live tiger pods from Reefmissoula and was hoping to get them to reproduce.
I was also weeding last night. I finally figured out at least part of my problem - I have a non-working fixture in my light for the refuigium, one of two
...I thought the algae growth there had slowed. So old tubes, that are t8's anyways and only half of the light... I guess it is time to replace the fixture, maybe that will make the alternate lighting schedule a bit more helpful with nutrient export...
sarmo
aka Rob
hey Kevin,
not that you want to go with PC's but i have everything you would need to change over to them. at one point Kevin P told me you can use the same ballast for any florescent light as long as the wattage is high enough. never tried, but he said i could use my 96watt PC ballasts to run 4' T5's. i think i even have some un-used bulbs. no fixture but retrofit reflectors.
when are you going to post some pics? full tank shots!!!!?
how is the water change system working out? do you have it dialed in? same amount of water out as in?
rob
not that you want to go with PC's but i have everything you would need to change over to them. at one point Kevin P told me you can use the same ballast for any florescent light as long as the wattage is high enough. never tried, but he said i could use my 96watt PC ballasts to run 4' T5's. i think i even have some un-used bulbs. no fixture but retrofit reflectors.
when are you going to post some pics? full tank shots!!!!?
how is the water change system working out? do you have it dialed in? same amount of water out as in?
rob
Hi Rob- Thanks for the offer, but I need something to fit in a 3' space...let me think about this though...
Water change system is a dream! after the initial re-calibration, the water level stays where it would as if nothing was going on. I have changed out 450 gallons and now am slowing things down. Just curious how much weekly or monthly you were doing, also Charlie, Devon? The water is much clearer (of course), no ill-effects that I can see on corals or fish or crabs or snails or nudibranchs (drat...or hair algae).I'll be curious to see how long these pumps stay dialed in!
DevonM
Mantis Shrimp
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2010
- Messages
- 643
I started out wanting to do 5% (12.5 gallons) twice a week. I think I originally figured that with all my rock and substrate that I had around 250 gallons of water. I later added the refugium but didn't changed my water change amount. What I really like about 12.5 gallons is that it gives me exactly 4 water changes (two weeks) per bag of salt, no measuring.
sarmo
aka Rob
i was doing 100 gallons every 3-4 weeks, all in one setting. niver liked how that much effected the overall water parameters but wanted to maximize export of "bad stuff"
not trying to be a sales man here but a 96watt PC is 34.5" more or less. if you really want to grow algae, get on of my 400watt bulb set ups you'd be able to turn off one of your heaters!!!!
not trying to be a sales man here but a 96watt PC is 34.5" more or less. if you really want to grow algae, get on of my 400watt bulb set ups
you'd be able to turn off one of your heaters!!!!
I change 30 gallons every Sunday.
30 gallons a week X 4 looks like about 120 gallons of approx 400 - 420 gallon system volume? = about 28 - 30% a month
12.5X 2= 25 gallons a week X 4 = 100 gallons of approx 390 - 400 gallons = about 25 - 26% a month.I started out wanting to do 5% (12.5 gallons) twice a week. I think I originally figured that with all my rock and substrate that I had around 250 gallons of water. I later added the refugium but didn't changed my water change amount. What I really like about 12.5 gallons is that it gives me exactly 4 water changes (two weeks) per bag of salt, no measuring.
100 - 133 gallons a month of approx 600 - 650(?) gallon system volume = 15 - 22% a month.i was doing 100 gallons every 3-4 weeks, all in one setting. niver liked how that much effected the overall water parameters but wanted to maximize export of "bad stuff"
not trying to be a sales man here but a 96watt PC is 34.5" more or less. if you really want to grow algae, get on of my 400watt bulb set ups
So this is about a 2 fold difference of water change volume between systems that local folks have/are using & tanks did fine.... When I started on the auto-water changes I was replacing 50 gallons of 390 gallons (12.5%) every 5 days (as Rob said, get the bad stuff out, or the solution to pollution is dilution in my book). I have slowed it down now & looks like I'm shooting for 25 - 30% a month, approx 100 - 117 gallons (30%). I've found it just about as easy to mix up 60 gallons of SW as it is to mix 50 gallons, so that would work out pretty easy. I measure SpGr of the water prior to starting the pumps up...the equivalent of measuring the salinity, correct (Charlie)? I have read that some people in the 'reef keeping world' also measure pH prior to using a new batch of SW; anybody do that? bother with that?
I have been noticing folks publishing their water params of late...I have been dosing 2 part based on AM pH has worked fine until my water changing regularity broke down this summer....Guess Ill measure some parameters and see what I have now (I can actually hear Charles howling and banging his head on the wall at my slacker attitude all the way down here in Ronan! ... Just wondering if you can hear it in Missoula too, Devon?). The corals & fish look great. Unfortunately the hair algae is flourishing, too (sucks). Any additional advise on how to get rid of it. I have noticed that Devon & Charlie have both complained about hair algae...but the tank shots look really great, guys! What did you do (I am considering napalm :target: , but don't know how to use it underwater....yet).
Guess I've said enough, too much, belabored all of this, guess I'll toss it out & see what happens!
