redbrick Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Hi folks, I have just begun cycling my new AquaMedic Nanowave tank with Carib Sea’s Super Natural Fine white sand, and a piece of uncooked wild shrimp from Walmart (The rest will be tomorrow's dinner with Chardonnay). The tank temperature will be addressed with an upcoming CL85 Thermal Electric chiller from Pacific Coast I believe. The current average temperature has been approximately 80-86! It’s been a long time (approx 15yrs) since I had a 10 gallon saltwater tank. The modern techniques of this hobby have really intrigued me with the protein skimmer and refugiums as part of a complete filtration system. I may have a few questions in regards to these systems. I plan to keep mainly inverts. One word about this sand though (since I couldn’t find any online reviews about this stuff)….it’s extremely fine, almost powder like, sticking to skin on contact. The package says to ‘rinse before use.’ I don’t see how one can rinse this sand with any left over for use, so I just dumped the sand in and we’ll see. The protein skimmer immediately started to pickup stuff, which I presume are contaminants from the sand. It reminds me of the sand from South Beach, Fl. We’ll see how it goes… (darn...I think I got some of that gritty stuff in my mouth...yuk!) Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 Hello again, Just curious, anyone with copepods in the refuge notice if the bugs are making their way out to the display tank alive in this particular aquarium? Thanks Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 17, 2007 Author Share Posted March 17, 2007 Some shots and graphs to make this a bit more interesting.... Day 0...tank arrives...pic are horribly dark... Day 0...water leak test...no leak...green light...good to go! Day+1...shrimp installed, and RO/DI saltwater installed. Day+2...Oh my gawd...the SMELL!!! ...wasn't me...seriously!!! Still looking for LR...LFS wants $9/Lb!!! Need to look for alternatives. Anyone here have Sea Lettuce in your Refuge? What's your exprience with this? I'd like get some of this and chaetomorpha Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 17, 2007 Author Share Posted March 17, 2007 cool! graph! Yeah...it's the smell...I've succumb to it's mercy.... Link to comment
darkfishy2690 Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 sup, if you want you can take the refugium compartment and shake it around in the tank gently to get a population started in the display. Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 I had a little set back couple of days ago. I bought 1 LB of LR and some chaeto and just before installation...for some reason...the SG dropped from 1.026 to 1.016...Crazy!!! ....so I had to monkey with this screwing up the cycle a bit. Well, the 1LB of LR came in two pieces I dropped the smaller one in the back. The Larger piece came loaded with critters freaked my girl friend a bit. Dropped the larger piece in the main tank with half of the purchased chaeto. The chaeto came mixed in with pieces of grape Caulerpa. So now it's just more waiting I don't understand how the SG could've dropped so drastically in a matter of days. Regardless, I'm keeping an eye out on this. My CL85 chiller should be here tomorrow. My only concern is running the plumbing. Gotta say, I love this sand...the water currents from the stock pump has deformed the baseline very nicely. Will upload some pics soon. Link to comment
JohnDeStef Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I'm looking forward to hearing, and seeing pics, of how you plumb the chiller. I have to post my NW9 chiller pics. I've got Titan 150 plumbed in, but I'm not happy with how much it runs to keep the tank at 79degrees. I used a MaxiJet1200 in place of the stock return pump. The 1200 is in the last compartment, it pumps out to the chiller, and the chiller return line goes right to the tank return tube. I'm using 1/2" ID tubing with barb connectors. Unfortunately I'm working in a tight spot and have to use 6 right angle unions in the to/from flow. I believe those unions are restricting flow and not allowing enough SW to get through the chiller fast enough. The chiller can't get any closer to the tank. Well.......... it is on the opposite side of the tank........ from the return/pump chamber. The 1200 is rated at 295gph, and the flow back into the tank is not nearly that of the stock pump! The 1200 is also rated at 20w, so there's more heat............ >sigh< What are your plumbing and pump plans? Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 sup, if you want you can take the refugium compartment and shake it around in the tank gently to get a population started in the display. Thanks for the recommendation. I just checked the tank during lunch break and the tank is now crawling with little bugs. Some are distinguishable...some are just moving jumping little white dots against the black divider. I'm hoping for infestation!!!! Whatever they are...looks like a party's goin' on in there. I decided to take the remaining rotting shrimp corpse out of the tank as I think the cycling should be on cruise control now. I will check the water tonight, and install the chiller...heck you know what? I don't care if this thing takes a year to cycle...I'll wait...I don’t seem to be getting any older anyways. Still looking for Sea Lettuce. Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 I'm looking forward to hearing, and seeing pics, of how you plumb the chiller. I have to post my NW9 chiller pics. I've got Titan 150 plumbed in, but I'm not happy with how much it runs to keep the tank at 79degrees. I used a MaxiJet1200 in place of the stock return pump. The 1200 is in the last compartment, it pumps out to the chiller, and the chiller return line goes right to the tank return tube. I'm using 1/2" ID tubing with barb connectors. Unfortunately I'm working in a tight spot and have to use 6 right angle unions in the to/from flow. I believe those unions are restricting flow and not allowing enough SW to get through the chiller fast enough. The chiller can't get any closer to the tank. Well.......... it is on the opposite side of the tank........ from the return/pump chamber. The 1200 is rated at 295gph, and the flow back into the tank is not nearly that of the stock pump! The 1200 is also rated at 20w, so there's more heat............ >sigh< What are your plumbing and pump plans? Oh you’re scaring me… I’m in the office now and can’t wait till 5 to get flex tubes at Home Depot. I’m tracking UPS.com delivery like a 6 year old on Christmas eve…I’m going nuts!! Based on what you're telling me about your setup...I'm with you...six elbows will induce a bit of 'static pressure' within conduits this small. I wish aquarium pumps also listed PSI rating that would help. Anyways…my plans…don’t have one. With my simple brain, I’m thinking a couple of ½" flex tubes and following something like what you’ve done, use the return pump to feed the chiller and return connecting to the existing elbow. The problem I foresee is installing the second flex tube….the path for it looks problematic. My preference is to simply run the tube around within the service space and avoid sharp angles bending the tube. Secondly is the stock pump PSI... I hope it can push that much water through all that tubing…we’ll see. That’s my current plan with the pump... I’ll post my results here once I’m done. I warn ya…it’ll probably be temporarily sloppy so don’t laugh. My tank is still under construction; please excuse us for the inconvenience. Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share Posted March 23, 2007 Well folks at your request, here is a schematic of my plumbing system for the Nanowave 9 and CL85 chiller. It isn’t much, but here goes…. I ended up purchasing an Aquaclear 201 power head ($16 at petsmart). The unit is set in the refuge inlet channel/bracket so it can receive and push water through the chiller. You have to remove the power head flow regulator, and filter inlet. The power head impeller shroud will brace the unit against the inlet divider nicely. The diagram should be pretty self explanatory. The only refinement I think I need here is the chiller feedback tube...I think I will branch/divide this thing to three smaller tubes cause at the moment the fuge light is squeezing the tube...not a big deal...but... I’m happy to report that the chiller has been working really well. You simply set the temperature and calibrate any temperature differential if it exists. I like the fact this unit can also take care of heating for this tank. In person…the unit is large and heavy…16lbs. Underneath is a large fan sucking air, blowing it out on both sides of the ABS case. Looking in the exhaust grills you can see an enormous heat sink for the 4 TEC units. My tank normally at 86 degrees is now at a comfortable 79 degrees. When the chiller is running, the fan gets a bit loud…but so are the protein skimmer and my PC. Temperature issue resolved! As for progress, I’ve now got brown algae all over…my white sand and glass is stippled with brown stuff…the critter infestation is coming along quite nicely. I identified several large pods rummaging about in the chaeto and the rock. Last water test indicated the Ammonia concentration jumped 2 more points! So hopefully this means the tank is half way peaking out on the ammonia portion of the cycling. I will try uploading pictures tonight. (Been busy with all this stuff…and life in general) Link to comment
redbrick Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 Hello, I had another set back; the chiller died on me very shortly after my last post. My tank temps shot up to 85 and the chiller did not fight back. I’ve sent it back to Pacific Coast Imports. Apparently this rarely happens, so I guess I got a faulty unit. My tank temps are up in the mid 80’s again. This is very disappointing because my tank has completed cycled. All tests turned out zeros. I’m going to tentatively run the tank with the refuge service hatch open…hopefully this will dissipate some heat…I’ll just need to top off more often. Calcium is a bit high on the 450-500. I’ve had to execute 1 asterina star, and 4 white flatworms over the last couple of days. I started out with one worm, and then they all got fat eating my copepods (I actually saw this at night, it was an amazing sight). So now I have an infestation of pods. I’ve got copepods, amphipods, vermetid snails, Astraea snails, bristle worms, and a hermit. The refuge diatoms explosion is over I think (phosphate at 0)….plenty of pods back there. I’m thinking about getting one mandarin dragonet to balance off the population. Perhaps I’ll wait for my chiller replacement first; I just wish my darn temp is not a factor. Anyways, here’s a pic of my precarious setup. I need to find a way to fasten that large horizontal piece of rock. Link to comment
redbrick Posted April 9, 2007 Author Share Posted April 9, 2007 Well, I got my chiller back last week, and the unit has been running fine so far. This weekend the weather was weird and the unit managed to keep the tank both cool and warm. The temperature did swing +/- 1 degree from the 79 mark. Mandarin seems to be doing fine. He wiped out all the copepods in the main tank in about 3 days…it was amazing. Of course I had to introduce him to capelin roe; he took to it instantly…no training necessary. He didn’t like brine shrimp or bloodworms. I wonder what nutrition he’s getting from the roe because sometimes it seems like he would eat one, chew on it and then blow out stuff from his gills. I wonder if he’s blowing out the contents of the roe...because that would defeat the purpose. Other times, he wouldn’t blow anything out. I am currently doing some research on culturing phyto-feast-Live with miracle-grow to breed more copepods in a separate container…well shall see. That phyto-feast-live is some really potent stuff. I put one drop in the tank and now I’ve got a crazy brown algae bloom all over the tank. Link to comment
redbrick Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 Some pics of my tank so far. Nothing too exciting so far...everyone seems okay. I am trying to get a red open brain coral and some GSPs. The Hammerhead just split. You can't see it in the pic, but it's just under the left branch. The Maxima lost it's leg and fell off the rock platform. So he's going to stay at the bottom for now...until I come up with a better solution. Everytime I put him up on the rock he would move himself off the rock and end up face down into the sand. The mandarin is fine...he's eating roe and someting else...every other day I notice his belly is really swollen like he just swallowed a large bug or something. The hermit has adopted this HUGH clumsy shell he can barely move about. I still see some flatworms here and there...it's immediate execution the moment I see them. Link to comment
redbrick Posted May 12, 2007 Author Share Posted May 12, 2007 Hello again folks. Here are the latest and greatest pics of my tank. My Open Red rim brain finally ate this morning. I got the fungia yesterday and it was very hungry this morning as well. I had to do some tank re-arrangments lastnight....and I'm still not too happy with this arrangment. I'm afraid the clam will spray sand dust over the plate coral and injury it's tissue. I'll have to keep an eye on this. The hitchhiker-halymenia has been doing really well. A new growth has begun on the top right edge of the rock (hard to see in the photo) The rock placement is still in construction....I should not have bought this rock...ah well. Link to comment
bluette Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I see you have a clam in there (actually looks similar to a clam i picked up this weekend).. since you have it at the bottom of the tank.. did you increaase your lighting? (im sorry if i didnt see it in an earlier post)... Im very excited about picking up my clam, but very unhappy with where he is sitting in my tank. I was wanting to put mine in the sand bed as well, but was alerted by my LFS that i had a better chance of keeping him if i exposed him to more light.. let me know. Link to comment
redbrick Posted May 14, 2007 Author Share Posted May 14, 2007 I see you have a clam in there (actually looks similar to a clam i picked up this weekend).. since you have it at the bottom of the tank.. did you increaase your lighting? (im sorry if i didnt see it in an earlier post)... Im very excited about picking up my clam, but very unhappy with where he is sitting in my tank. I was wanting to put mine in the sand bed as well, but was alerted by my LFS that i had a better chance of keeping him if i exposed him to more light.. let me know. Congratulations on your purchase. Yes I have a clam on the bottom of the tank. No, I have not increased my lighting. I did swap the actinic and the white around. The clam has noticeably grown some since I purchased it. His shell is constantly covered with slime and stuff, so I guess that means its okay so far. I had mine on the rock ledge (as shown on the photo) but it moved itself off the ledge several times. Frustrated, I finally gave up relocating it and let it be. It even turned itself around a couple of times and seems to be happy with the current orientation. I guess these things have a mind of their own. I have noticed that it likes the actinic light. Hope that helps... Link to comment
redbrick Posted July 14, 2007 Author Share Posted July 14, 2007 Well folks...here it is....been talking and thinking about it for sometime...and here's my latest development. A surface skimmer for the Nanowave 9...once built there will be no cutting or gluing on your existing tank. I have also included some pictures of my latest plumbing configuration for your info. Materials 1- 1/32 plexiglass (from hobby lobby $.99 ea) 1 tube of goop all purpose adhesive 1 tube of aquarium silicone adhesive Exacto knife Metal straight edge(ruler, whichever) Just some notes to add to the instructions...Once the schematic is built, the water syphoning system will hold the device in place. The tapering at the bottom is to minize the volume displacement from the display tank. Panels 'E' and 'F' are optional. I did not feel these pieces were necessary as I developed this device. They attached to panels 'A' and 'B.' Aquamedic_Surface_Skimmer.pdfAquamedic_Surface_Skimmer_Model.pdf Enjoy. Almost forgot...the plumbing pics... for the chiller. I am satisfied with this configuration because 1)no cutting into the existing unit/parts is necessary 2)All parts use existing portals and service hatch closes just fine! The blue valve you see controls the air flow for the skimmer...this works really well. It's just an extension tube attached to the existing air filter inlet. I highly recommend it especially for those of you having trouble with this skimmer producing wet skimmate. Enjoy... Link to comment
dtownkennel Posted July 18, 2007 Share Posted July 18, 2007 can you explain what you did to the skimmer??? I get wet skimate also...and the water is just yellow. Link to comment
redbrick Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 can you explain what you did to the skimmer??? I get wet skimate also...and the water is just yellow. Yeah, basically you only need a standard aquarium air line and an air valve. (Both of which can be purchased at walmart for less than $5) I cut 6 inches of air line and attached one end to the stock air filter (that brown plastic cylinder thing with a nipple attached to the latex line) that came with the skimmer and the other end to the valve. This way I can use the valve to adjust the amount of air going into the skimmer. It works perfectly!!!! No cutting or permanent modification of stock equipment. Since my bioload is low...I'd be lucky to get 1/4 cup per week. Skimmers are new to me and I've noticed this skimmer picks up hard bubbles at the end of light cycles. The center of the lid and the top of the spout are usually slimed with brown stuff...tasty. Hope this helps....let me know if you have any more questions. Link to comment
dtownkennel Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Ive done that mod, changed the amount of bubbles and all I get is yellow water. Nothing really skims besides the stuff around rim and the cap of the skimmer full of skimate. I have 2 clowns and a sixline wrasse so i would think there woud be some more skimate besides yellow water. Link to comment
redbrick Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 Ive done that mod, changed the amount of bubbles and all I get is yellow water. Nothing really skims besides the stuff around rim and the cap of the skimmer full of skimate. I have 2 clowns and a sixline wrasse so i would think there woud be some more skimate besides yellow water. (man...this is too early to start life) Nowadays I only get yellow stuff when I feed Phyto feast...otherwise it's just thick crusty foam. The cap gets bombarded with green slime and black dots. I think you may need to turn the valve down a bit more. I noticed that the skimmer does very little to nothing during night cycles(very few bubbles), and goes nuts as it gets closer towards the end of the light cycle. I run my light opposite cycles btw. This is my first skimmer and based on my readings on skimmers...the skimmate quantity is based on whats rotted or defecated. I've only got 4 LPS and zoos...and target feed all except the phyto feast party. No fish...not anymore. (Long story) Hope this helps. Let me know what happens after you turn it down. I'll check back. Link to comment
redbrick Posted January 28, 2008 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 Well it’s been so many months now and the link below is a current video of my surface skimmer at work. It’s got algae growing all over it so I’m just going to leave it alone. The whole unit is held in place by the water flow and the tabs to keep it in position. It’s very easy to remove and clean if you desire. I’ve had to glue on a plate to adjust the water flow…very easy. Notice in the video the water level within the surface skimmer; it’s almost a full inch below the tanks’ waterline. Also notice the water surface is very clear. I’ve attached a couple of pixs showing how the surface looked like before adding this device. I’ve uploaded the video to YouTube; here’s the link… Enjoy. Link to comment
JohnDeStef Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Enjoy I did! Thanks for posting. So how can you get me one of those??? >$$$ via Paypal is waiting!< Link to comment
redbrick Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Enjoy I did! Thanks for posting. So how can you get me one of those??? >$$$ via Paypal is waiting!< Sorry I don't have any for sale. I posted instruction on this thread back in 7/13/07. Looks like its still there. My little contribution to a wonderful site and this hobby in my little corner of the internet. Link to comment
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