Update; things are starting to turn around

[the6goat6man6]

Since I upgraded I have ran into alot of issues. If you haven't fallowed,
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/my-new-lights-too-bright-60442/
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f14/i-got-best-luck-glueing-acrylic-glass-60512/

I lost most of my corals, Large duncan colonie(I know, how do you kill a duncan?), large toadstool leather, some zoos, some mushrooms, duster worms, green nepthia, some UID purple tree, and my bangai cardinal came up missing(vanished, no sign?)
-I still haven't fixed my sump, the new one is made, just haven't had the time to swap, and the broken one still works with lose baffles.
-I got the LED lights up to the right time period, now I and lowering them. They look so awesome! I love them.
-The zoos, a few mushrooms, the small dusters in the fuge, and the snails have all come around. The zoos and mushrooms are starting to open. Some mushrooms still have that frilly stuff on them, not really sure what that is. I know it comes out of their mouth when mad.
-The LFS gave me a couple frags with a few(on each) polyps on them, they were going to throw them away? They opened within minutes of being in my tank.
-I picked up a Long tenticle Plate coral, blasto frag, and a devils hand. They all look good, except the devils hand is still not opening? But it does floures in the light(were the tenticles are), and the xenias(or cloves not sure yet) are opening. I was also given a decorator crab, large one, it came with zoos, xenias, red macro, red bubble algea, sponges and others.
- so far everything looks good, coming around again. I am starting to see pods and little shrimp. The grape macro disappeared? The halimedia(?spell?) is good and bushy.

- I am running 2 external O/F boxes, and made them both completly silent. NO GURGLE BUSTERS OR STOCKMAN STAND TUBES. The fuge is mounted above the DT, in a closet behind the DT(along with the sump). The DT drains into the sump, throught the skimmer, over, under, over, part is pumped to the fuge, part to the DT. The fuge drains into the DT. I have a Magnum 350 canister with no sponges just stuffed full of carbon.
-There are 3-1050 hydor Evos on a wave box. Minimum flow is 33x, maximum flow is 48x, that is including all pumps! Water is super clear, super blue! All debris is caught in the sump for easy cleaning.

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sorry no pics of sump and fuge yet, i haven't got to it, i will.

 

[Krish]

Glad things are staring to turn around Jeremy. The tank looks great and really clean!!

 

[the6goat6man6]

Thanks Krish. It had me worried for a while. Now I just got to work on getting it stocked, not sure what I want to put in there specifically. Softies and LPS, but I am wondering if there might be too much flow and intense lighting. I am waiting to see how the few things I have do for now. The devils hand has me alittle conserned, it just won't inflate, it doesn't look like it's dieing though. I will just wait and see.

Thanks again

 

[Krish]

Thanks Krish. It had me worried for a while. Now I just got to work on getting it stocked, not sure what I want to put in there specifically. Softies and LPS, but I am wondering if there might be too much flow and intense lighting. I am waiting to see how the few things I have do for now. The devils hand has me alittle conserned, it just won't inflate, it doesn't look like it's dieing though. I will just wait and see.

Thanks again

Nothing beats mother nature. Here's what the sun did to me a few years ago from snorkeling one day without sunblock :lol:


Shot with Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT at 2007-07-19


So imagine what shallow water corals endure on a day to day basis and still thrive in the wild. I think it was only light acclimation that was the issue in your case.

 

[the6goat6man6]

Ouch, I do alot of roofs and never got a burn like that! I don't use any block, wow, just shows how water magnifies I guess.

 

[Airphotog]

Quite a few years ago I went to the Dominican Republic. I went snorkeling and burned my back so bad that it blistered and stuck to my T-shirt. I had to run water on it and it took forever to get it unstuck. Hurt like hell!!!

 

[Krish]

Quite a few years ago I went to the Dominican Republic. I went snorkeling and burned my back so bad that it blistered and stuck to my T-shirt. I had to run water on it and it took forever to get it unstuck. Hurt like hell!!!

Haha!! I've never been that bad


On a side note Jeremy, do you have any pictures of your sump etc?? I've never seen how you have it all set up.

 

[Adonijah]

I've been jet ski'ing for three hours in Hawaii no sun block. Safe to say my mother(I was 17) got me into the er and I got a codine shot in the buttox with vikadin. But back on topic I like the tank. What kind of lighting system do you use??

 

[the6goat6man6]

I've been jet ski'ing for three hours in Hawaii no sun block. Safe to say my mother(I was 17) got me into the er and I got a codine shot in the buttox with vikadin. But back on topic I like the tank. What kind of lighting system do you use??

Evolution LEDs, I was going to get MH/T-5 setup. But for what the MH would cost( initial cost, not counting bulbs!), the LEDs were actually cheaper!
-I love them, the color is great, just wish I knew enough that I had to acclimate my corals to the light! OUCH, that was very hard to swallow! I tried so hard to plan ahead, drip acclimate, and I killed it all with light! I learned the hard way. And you know what kills me the most, not the money lost, that all the animals that died suffered because of something I did.


Krish I will take pics right know, even though I haven't changed out the broken sump. Give me a few

 

[Krish]

Sounds good!!

 

[the6goat6man6]

Here is the first part of the sump, it is made from a 50gal long(48x12x19). I used the traditional baffles, except the last one I angled, for two reasons: first, to reduce bubbles even more, and second, to create a "dead spot" before the returns. The dead spot catches any debris for easy clean up, works great both reasons.
-Here is the skimmer section. skimmer is a SWC 180 cone, love it, thanks Skimmy!
Top veiw

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-Side veiw. You can see the baffles that let go, damn silicone, won't stick to acrylic! But the baffles are still working, even broken?

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-Here is the return section, where the JBJ titanium heater is and some carbon floating. The pump you see is Beckett pump, the egg crate box is the Mag 9.5 input. I made a chamber to keep the mag out of the water, trying to cut down on heat. The new sump does not have this, just didn't feel it was worth the hassle(even though that was the only section that the silicone held?).

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-Top veiw. You can see the mag is dry. I haven't got around to putting the cooling fans in yet, but I won't need them if I submerge it in the new sump. But I still intend to install fans, in and out to fresh air. I have found that it helps stablize the pH.

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Ok, the DT drains into the sump via HOB O/F box(completly silent). Through the skimmer, baffles, return pumps. The Mag returns to the DT. The beckett pump feeds the fuge, low flow through, I have it valved way down, I will be changing out this pump. Here is the fuge, it is about 4.5 ft in the air, draining into the DT via HOB O/F box(completly silent). This way no pods are blended by return pumps! It is lighted by 6 T-5s(Current Nova Extreme,460 act, 12k), has 3 power heads inside for flow and the rocks are lifted to maximize surface of the 8 in DSB!

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Here is my Gravity/Vacuum ATO

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If I missed something or need more explination just let me know please. Hope you like it, sorry for the crapy pics

 

[Krish]

Nice man! It's always good to see what's behind the scenes doing alot of the work.

 

[the6goat6man6]

Nice man! It's always good to see what's behind the scenes doing alot of the work.

I did have some grape macro in the fuge, but since the upgrade it disappeared?

 

[Bosco83]

I'm glad to hear your tank is doing much better!