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Beekers BB BC29g- Slightly Juiced Zen Garden!


beeker

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when i ran my first two tanks with sand i didn't have a clue how to maintain the sandbed properly due to all the different ways people run theirs, there's shallow sandbeds, deep sandbeds, lose and coarse sandbeds.....and the list goes on

 

when i ran my sandbed all i used was nassarius snails (thinking that these kept the sand stirred up enough)

 

i was also told not to siphon the sand, not to disturb it and just to let it be on it's own and the bacteria would do it's job....

 

After not siphoning out the sandbed on my first tank for about 3 months the sandbed itself soaked up all the nitrate out of the water that it could and then started to leech it back into the water collum and there was nothing i could do to get it out of the tank other than removing the sand

 

so at that point i had to take all of sand out of the tank and go BB (what a PITA really)

 

after i took the sand out of my first tank and it was BB for about 5 months i shut it down and figured i'd do it right the next time when i had more time, more money and more knowledge and although my second tank was better than the first and i learned a lot more from the process it seemed that i still didn't have all the right equipment to make everything work in unison

 

They also didn't have koralia's when i first got into SW so that in itself made getting the right amounf of flow all over the tank really hard

 

So this being my 3rd tank, i've taken all my experience and knowledge, trials and errors and made it into a system that is low maitenence and works for me...

 

i didn't know when i ran my sandbed that i should have been siphoning it all and i should have been replacing the old sand with some new sand every 3 months or so to keep the bacteria happy...

 

i love the look of sand but don't care for the amount of maitenence it takes to maintain it (atleast for me), it seems like some people have a simpler time, but when i tryed sand on my first 2 tanks i didn't have any luck getting it to work right for me, so i'm not saying it can't be done or doesen't work at all, it just didn't workout for me on those tanks

 

without the sandbed i'm able to get all of the waste, detirus and debris out of my tank every water change, so to me that gives me peace of mind knowing that i got my tank as clean and waste free as i could have and i'm not worried about what the sandbed might be covering up

 

have you ever removed the undergravel filter in a freshwater tank? To me that is how a sandbed works unless you are constantly siphoning and maintaining it to keep it that clean

 

All that brown stuff and waste being trapped at the bottom can't be a good thing for anything living in the water with it

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Just curious how your SR3 is working out for you? Do you have any issues with micro bubbles, does your water level have to be perfect for it to work well, does it seem to work efficiently?

 

I currently have a modified orginal CPR backback HOB on the back of my BC29. I have had this skimmer for years now and have it running really well, but it would be nice to have something that fits inside the second chamber and not hanging on the back of the tank. A few things I am worried about though with the SR3 are like I mentioned above, micro bubbles, water level issues, efficiency "the reaction chamber is quite a bit smaller than the backpack series" and overall maintenace of the thing because you have to remove the whole skimmer from the tank to clean it and to get at the pump.

 

Thanks,

Chadd

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for the SR3 skimmer you do have to moddify the 1st back chamber to allow enough water to fill up the second one to the point where the skimmer will work effeciently

 

it does work great though as all CPR products do (i have owned the bak-pak II as well)

 

As for micro bubbles, there will be a lot of them when you first start using this skimmer, but after a few weeks they go away, i still get some micro bubbles in the tank (it's impossible not too) but they are barely noticable and add a a natural look to the tank, it's not an eye sore IMO it probably puts out half as many micro bubbles as the Bak-Pak does once it's broke in

 

The SR3 skims just as good if not better than it, the whole skimmer just sits inside the second chamber so removing it is no problem (you basically just unplug it from the outlet and pull it up and out of the chamber)...the extra water it holds is the only issue when taking it out of the back, you have to make sure you don't make a mess doing it, lol

 

if you do get it i reccomend getting some longer air line for it, because the piece they give you with the unit is short and it's hard to adjust the skimmer with the small air tubbing they give you, i used a piece of air line that was long enough to raise the adjustment knob about 2 inches over the backwall to make it easy to adjust

 

honestly the skimmer has been on/in my tank for over 5 months and i haven't even cleaned it 1 time and it's still doing a wonderful job at skimming, it's definatly worth it just for the cleaner AIO look you get without having anything hanging off the back and it performs well too

 

hope that helps

 

any more questions?

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Thanks for the answers, do you happen to have any pictures showing how high the skimmer sticks up out of the second chamber, I saw the one picture you posted that shows it at kind of an angle, do you have any that are more level with the top of the tank? I have been thinking about ditching the stock canopy due to the amount of heat it traps and going open top with some pendant lighting. I originally planned on getting a chiller and keeping the stock canopy, but I can upgrade my lighting to MH/T5 for less than the cost of a chiller setup and go open top to keep the temps down. Are you running a sunpod on your tank? If so do you have any pics showing the whole tank with stand, tank and ligting?

 

Thanks,

Chadd

 

any more questions?
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i'll get some pics of the lighting tonight And you'll see how ghetto my T5 retrofit is, haha

 

but i'll get enough pics to give you an idea of how everything looks

 

the skimmer is supposed to work with the stock BC lid, so the collection cup only sticks out maybe 3 inches above the rim of the tank, but the cup is still lower than the sunpod on it's legs

 

yeah i use the 20" 150w sunpod with a 14k pheonix bulb and love it currently onlyhave it on 8 and a half hours so far, i'm trying to get that to 10 or 11 to see the difference with the color and growth

 

i also just added 2 24w T5HO giessman actinic+ bulbs to the tank a week ago and i'm loving the color so far, might change them out to ATI aquablue + or Aquablue specials...but i'm not sure yet, i'm still gauging the response from the corals to see if i like the color so far

 

i'll have pics up first thing tomorrow or tonight if i have time

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Sounds great.

 

What are your thoughts on the 20" Nova Extreme Pro T5 fixture? I am on the fence right now trying to chose between the MH or the T5's. I spoke with Current earlier today and they were really pushing the T5 fixture vs the Sunpod.

 

i'll have pics up first thing tomorrow or tonight if i have time

 

 

Thanks,

Chadd

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IMO

 

if i had to do the tank again i might have gone with T5's instead of the sunpod

(depending if the price was about the same for the fixture and bulbs included)

 

but i'd want atleast a 5-6 bulb fixture for the different color mix T5's give you and i think most of those run over 400 and some don't even include the bulbs which is an added expense

 

The lower amount of heat and different bulb choices would be the best benifit of the T5's

 

my tank hits between 79-81 with the vent in my room halfway shut and a clip fan that runs about 15 minutes every hour, so temp is slightly an issue that i have to watch

 

The only downside is i love the shimmer of MH

 

So on my setup since i already had a 24w T5 retro lying around i just decided to add it to my tank with the MH to get more light in the tank and to also give me a little difference of color

 

 

 

I've seen amazing T5 tanks and i've also seen amazing MH tanks, it's trully up to you

 

But if i did it again i think id still go with a MH but i'd buy a fixture that included the T5's as well instead of doing the ghetto retrofit, lol

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I would like to go with the MH/T5 combo also, but the shortest one I can find is 24" and I really dont want something that hangs out past the edge of the tank. I asked Current today if they planned on releasing a 20" version of the MH/T5 hood they sell and he said they didn't have any plans to.

 

I am interested to see what you have done with your T5 retrofit though.

 

IMO

But if i did it again i think id still go with a MH but i'd buy a fixture that included the T5's as well instead of doing the ghetto retrofit, lol

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a 24" fixture on a 20" tank honestly doesen't look bad, i've seen a few in person, and with a setup like that atleast the whole tank is getting full light coverage

 

i forgot to get the pics last night and today

 

but tomorrow (saturday) i'll definatly be taking some pics of the setup

 

sorry for the delay

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tank22083pj4.jpg

 

 

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Setup, is ghetto, lol

 

Chamber 1:

 

Carbon tray

Heater

 

Chamber 2:

 

CPR SR3 Skimmer

 

Chamber 3:

 

Tunze ATO

Chemi pure-elite

Maxi-jet 1200

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Thanks for taking the time to snap some pics for me.

 

I got the SR3 and a 150W sunpod ordered, they should be here on Monday.

 

Does the SR3 take up the entire middle chamber? I currently have some Cheato in there with a light on it so if it does I am going to need to find a new spot for it, or I may end up taking it out because it has been shrinking since I started running my old backpack on the tank anyway.

 

Thanks,

Chadd

 

Setup, is ghetto, lol

 

Chamber 1:

 

Carbon tray

Heater

 

Chamber 2:

 

CPR SR3 Skimmer

 

Chamber 3:

 

Tunze ATO

Chemi pure-elite

Maxi-jet 1200

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yeah the SR3 takes the whole chamber up

 

but on the side where chamber 1 overflows into chamber 2 i put a piece of Aquaclear 30 foam which is resting on the top of the acrylic on the SR3 to catch any bigger debris that gets past the stock biocube tray

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Well everything came in today,

 

I have been messing with that POS SR3 for the last 4 hours. That thing puts out so many micro bubbles my tank looks like a snow globe, I have never seen anything so bad. I hope you have some tips for me with this thing otherwise it is either going back or going in the trash.

 

It almost seems as if the pump they have on it is over sized and pushing too much water through the skimmer. It also doesn't fit the middle chamber very well at all on my tank, it barely fits in there causing the pump to sit against one of the dividers making all kinds of noise and it doesn't sit level in the chamber either. I had to put a few pcs of filter foam inbetween the skimmer body and the back of the tank to get it to sit half way level. I have have an original backback skimmer that I have had for 7 or 8 years if not longer and I have never had any major issues with micro bubbles or tuning it in general.

 

How high do you run your water level in the second chamber?

 

Thanks,

Chadd

 

yeah the SR3 takes the whole chamber up

 

but on the side where chamber 1 overflows into chamber 2 i put a piece of Aquaclear 30 foam which is resting on the top of the acrylic on the SR3 to catch any bigger debris that gets past the stock biocube tray

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ok first of all, the SR3 fit perfectly fine in my second chamber but you have to rotate the pump around and wiggle it back and fourth to make it sit flush

 

the water level is about 3 inches from the top so it's about 2 1/2 inch below the first chamber

 

you might have to rotate the pump on the skimmer itself to get it to fit flush but i know it does, you have to rock it to the right and then to the left to get the pump to sit under the 3rd chamber lip

 

mine doesen't make any vibrating noise on the chamber so you might want to make sure the pump is aligned right and pushed all the way into the SR3

 

the micro bubbles are insane at first but i promise they will go away after break in, this skimmer puts off a lot of bubbles in the first week or two, after that though it only puts a small amount into the main tank,

 

i'm not sure if you did the same as me but i took out the sponge that goes from chamber 2 into chamber 3 and i do get micro bubbles in the main tank but to me they aren't an eyesore, and i don't run my skimmer 24/7 either way

 

the water level in the back has a lot to do with the micro bubbles, i notice if the level is higher in the second chamber you get more micro bubbles back into the main tank, than if it's an inch or so lower

 

 

 

just try to work with it for a week or two

 

it took me atleast a week to get it dialed in right to where it works effeciently, doesen't make noise and doesen't send a snow globe of micro bubbles back into the main tank

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  • 3 weeks later...

new pics will be comming very soon,

 

Right now i'm still aclimating my new elegance coral to the tank, but i will definatly have new pics up after it's done aclimating

 

i will also be switching from a 150 hqi 14k pheonix to a 20k radium from seeing the pics from other's Radium 20k tanks i couldn't resist the urge to try a new bulb since mine is on it's way out

 

but i will take pics of the pheonix 14k first before i change over to the radium 20k, then a week or so later (hopefully after everything has adjusted to the new bulb, i'l'l be taking some pics of the radium on the tank also, which will hopefully give a good comparison of before and after

 

I will be watching my growth as well with the radium, since i normally get about 1-2mm growth daily out of the pheonix on running it 8:45 minutes right now

 

an Mp20 vortech is also floating around in my head and will probably be the next addition to the tank

 

i noticed i do have some dead spots since the recent adding of the elegance coral, so to fix that issue i'll be buying the lamborghini of pumps, lol

 

Next time i post will be new pics, probably next tuesday or wensday

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150w hqi pheonix 14k qith 2 24w T5 giessmann atinic+ bulbs

 

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My Elegance is under the Green BTA, it was the only spot i could give it the right flow and light and it seems to be doing really well

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Well so far everything has been going great for my tank

 

i did knock over the green colonie of acropra i had, so i decided to frag it into some smaller pieces and mount them here and there, i did mount one to the back wall and it seems to be doing great there

 

One of my newest additions is an Elegance coral, which has taken me a week or more to find an appropriate spot for and so far it's extending 100% under the green BTA, it's resting right on the bottom glass now and doing well, i did have it higher up on my rockwork so it's already used to the lighting and so it can't be more now than it was used to before and it seems to be adjusting nicely, from what i've found myself is that it seems to love low flow, actually no flow at all but a constant circulation seems to get the best result, since so far i've pretty much have tryed every type of flow i could find in my tank before i realized that i was just giving it way too much and it does a ton better on the bottom where it is now, even though it's in a hard to see spot i know it will fill it in nicely

 

My second additon was a beautiful deressa clam and since never owning a clam until now it has been a really fun experience, my snails and crabs seem to love knocking it over from time to time, but it attached within the first week and is already showing signs of new growth, this just makes me want some more clams so now i know i can't just stop at one, lol

 

My comming updates are a Vortech mp20 pump along with switching out my 14k pheonix to a Radium 20k, both will be here in the next few days and the new pics i take will be with them installed

 

i have some pics of the 14k pheonix with no atinic+

 

and i will be taking pics within the next 2-3 weeks with the radium 20k with and without the atinic+ on as well to give people a visual difference

 

 

Happy reefing :]]

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Pheonix 14k 150w hqi standalone no atinic+

 

The bulb itself is around 8-9 months old, i only ran it for 8 a day hours for the first 6 months and it's only been on 9 hours a day for the last 2, i'm not sure if that affects the color or not, but i still get great growth from the bulb right now so it is still performing well

 

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amonia-0

nitrite-0

nitrate<10ppm

 

DKH-11

Magnesium-1300+

Calcium 375ppm

 

dosing B-ionic for all 3

 

35ml of calc daily

15ml of alk daily

15ml magnesium daily

 

feeding 4 times a week with 2 caps of phyto and 1/2 ml of oyster's

Running skimmer almost 24/7 except when i'm sleeping and after i feed on those 4 days

Feeding my fish, mysis, brineshrimp, aquadine pellets, and live feeders for the lionfish

2-7 gal waterchange a week depending on how much work i want to do

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  • 1 month later...

Alright guys pics will be up by friday this week i promise

 

i had some issues with the 20k radium bulb they sent me, it only stayed fired for 2 weeks so i had to switch back to my pheonix 14k for 2 weeks waiting on the replacement, so my corals/colors are still adjusting back to the 20k radium, this friday they radium 20k will have been running on my tank for atleast 1 month

 

i went to the cincy reef swap and was able to get about 16 piece's of some nice SPS which means my tank finally doesen't look so empty to me, lol and after getting my tank back to being stable everything is looking great so it's about time i take some new pics, i'm sorry for the lack of updates as of lately, most of that was due to the bad 20k radium bulb that wouldn't stay fired so that put my tank back a 2-3 weeks which i now think it's finally caught back up to where it was before that issue

 

alk- 10-11 DKH

Calc 480-500

Mag 1300

 

So far i've noticed that the radium is less red and yellow than the pheonix 14k, but growth and color are compareable to it, if not i have more growth with the 20k than i did with the pheonix, but i'm not sure if that is due to my pheonix being 8 months old or not, but i'm loving the radium for now color and growth wise it seems like a fantastic bulb, and i will have pics of the 20k radium by itself and with my 2 24w T5 actinic +'s running when i put the new pics up

 

updates comming soon,

 

Happy reefing :P

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well i wasn't able to get pics last night had too much ###### to do, i'll definatly take some over the weekend, my tank has gone through some rough patches in the last month but stability is almost back at 100% now

 

everything is looking great again and i've added a lot of SPS to my tank as well and can't wait to show them off

 

i promise i'll have pics up by wednesday at the latest some stuff wasn't looking good in the tank the last 2 days, i must have not cleaned my hands well enough and i ended up ####### off my GBTA and my hammer coral so i'm waiting for those to be unpissed for the picture taking session, lol

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New Pics 11-12-08

 

 

 

BB 29G BIOCUBE, SUNPOD 20" 150W 20K RADIUM + (2) 24W GIESSMAN T5 ATINIC +

 

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SUNPOD 20" 150W 20K RADIUM, BY ITSELF

 

 

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Nice pics. The only diff I see with or without the GIESSMAN's is that the pics without them are brighter but the blueness seems to be same. I laid them out next to each other in a word file.

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the 20k Radium is definatly brighter in the whites and blues than the pheonix 14k was, the pheonix seemed to be more yellow/red and less bright but still offered some nice coloration and growth

 

I love the growth and color of the 20k radium and the T5's give it a nice blue to the eye, it isn't too much which i thought it was going to be a little too blue for my liking but i'm loving the setup as is

 

my photoperiod is only 9:45 minutes, i've been slowly upping it 5 minutes a week trying to get to atleast 10 hours or 11 but the more i up it the better everything looks

 

the growth with the Radium 20k is a lot better than i expected and i'd have to say it's on PAR with the pheonix, i'm actually noticing more growth now with the 20k Radium than i ever had with the 14k Pheonix but then again my tank is almost a year old now and is a lot more stable than it ever was before when i was running the pheonix 14k

 

though in the near future i might be switching out the T5 atinic+ for some T5 UVL 75:25 bulbs in the next few weeks to see the color difference hopefully i'll like it enough to keep the UVL bulbs since i really don't want to buy them and not like em but well see

 

parameters are

 

calc 450+

Mag 1300+

Alk 10-11 DKH

 

Water changes once a week of atleast 5-7 gallons

Dosing DT's pyhto and oyster eggs

Feeding fish once daily with pellets

Feeding mysis and brine 4-5 times a week to the sun coral (fish get this as well when the feeding takes place)

 

So far everything has been going awesome for me, i never thought my tank would ever look this good, but it still needs another 20-30 pieces of SPS, some rics, and some more polyps before i can say i'm finished, lol

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  • 4 weeks later...

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