Reefmack Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hi all. I'm going to be redoing my tank in about a week - taking the fish & inverts out, dumping the rock and substrate, and starting over with fresh everything. My current rock is literally, totally overed in majano anemones now, and rather than try to kill them all I'll just trash everything and restart with new rock and substrate. I should have taken care of the majanos when there were just a few, but too late now. I never cared for my rock setup anyway - the pieces are too big (came from my other tank, as did the majanos), and too close to the sides, which makes cleaning the sides impossible. Question, if anyone is still out there with the Nanowave? I've eliminated most of the surface scum buildup by running a Koralia Nano in the right corner, agitating the surface, but I still get some scum between weekly water changes. When I drain the tank I was thinking about drilling a few good size holes at the top of the back, above the existing grates, at the water line that I usually run the tank at. I'm thinking this may help with the surface skimming that the tank lacks. With the fish on hold in a pail while I redo the tank, I don't want to take time to do any major mods, but thought about doing this one. Any thoughts/opinions on this being successful, or just a waste of time? Thanks. Link to comment
hcsceo Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 IDK. I think that might work with the holes. My only concern would be that the skimmer exit is at the water line and those microbubbles might come back into the display through those holes. I don't guess you built the surface skimmer mod yet. I've taken all the stuff out of the back of mine except the skimmer and upgraded my pump to a mj900. I've put chemipure and purigen in the bottom of the fuge now and I think things are working better. The tank definately likes the flow better. Anyway that is a cheap change you could make while you are at it. Steve Link to comment
Reefmack Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 hcsceo - thanks for the reply. I had some Chemi-Pure elite & purigen in back at one time, but it seemed to cut the flow too much. Maybe not though with the MJ900 in there. I've got a 900 sitting around & will think about that one. I was hoping that if I drill the holes that the flow going in the opposite direction might keep the bubbles in back. When I get the restart completed I post before & after pictures. The tank is really ugly now with a wall to wall covering of majanos on the rock! Link to comment
clownfish1124 Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 boil the rock and save some $! Link to comment
Reefmack Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I may do that but it would have too many dead majanos and other crap on it to resuse immediately without causing a huge cycle. Link to comment
Krayon Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Hey, it's nice to see a fellow Nanowaver, the tank looks good, keep up the good work. Link to comment
TheStar Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Hey, it's nice to see a fellow Nanowaver, the tank looks good, keep up the good work. And another one.... Can't wait to see if this helps skimming the surface. I do weekly water changes 2-3 gallons and I still have build up after just a few days. Pics of my new baby Onyx clowns... Link to comment
OB1 Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 LMFAO, yea I'm terrible. Well to be honest I'm fighting a massive GHA attack in this tank and I'm so pissed off about it that I've moved my fish out of it and am not feeding it anymore to see if I can cure it. It is on everything. I'm so embarrased that I don't dare take a pic. I've been fighting it for 3 or 4 months. I have no idea. I've added more pumps, added a DI cartridge to my RO system and got TDS down to 0, removed the fish and stopped feeding, covered the tank for a week (this is the only thing that makes it go away temporarily) with a towel and started the light cycle back at 4 hours moving it up two hours a week, changed water every two or three days, running the skimmer wet, changed salt brands, tried treating it like bryopsis and raised MG to 2000 for a week, added two emerald crabs, searched high and low to make sure it IS GHA, and nothing is killiing the GHA. I don't have this problem in my other three tanks and at this point I'm at a loss. The only thing I haven't done is changed the lights out. I'm so pissed I'm ready to take it down and start over. So I think once I get the GHA under control I'll take some pics. Steve I just thumbed through your thread and didn't notice any light bulb changes. I may have missed it if you did. The NW9 comes with a 6700k white bulb. If you haven't changed this, could it be feeding the GHA? I've heard that 6700k are a great light for macro but it does encourage all algae growth. I was concerned about this. I picked up a NW9 and I'm still in the process of modifying it to solve the heat and other issues. So far I moved the ballast out of the hood, drilled vent holes in the top of the hood, wired the moonlights on a separate cord and mounted the moonlights to the reflector in an attempt to brighten them up a little. The light box still gets to hot for my taste. I'm going to add a fan in the hood as well. I'm also going to address the surface skimming issue before setting it up. The fuge light is just not bright enough IMO and I can't see any way to fit any other bulb in that little space. I would be surprised if you could even find an oem replacement bulb if it did work. The only way I can see to fix this is to cut the top of the fuge light box out and build a custom cover for it. Screw in a 5000k 13 watt CF bulb and problem solved. I'm just not sure my plastic skills are that good. Keep this thread going and maybe we can solve other issues with the NW9. Link to comment
hcsceo Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 Yea the lights were one of the first things I replaced. I don't remember if I mentioned that in here or not. I can't remember which one's I went with but it seems to me it was a 50/50 10k and Actinic from Coral Life. I could be wrong on that. It is about time for me to changes these anyways so I need to be looking for some. Steve Link to comment
TheStar Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Yea the lights were one of the first things I replaced. I don't remember if I mentioned that in here or not. I can't remember which one's I went with but it seems to me it was a 50/50 10k and Actinic from Coral Life. I could be wrong on that. It is about time for me to changes these anyways so I need to be looking for some. Steve Steve, I need to change my lights soon too. Once you find out if you could post it here - It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.... Link to comment
OB1 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I found something interesting about the back chamber of the NW9. If you look at the bottom of the rear chamber you will see a long oval plastic piece that looks like it was added to the bottom of the chamber after it was molded. I have no idea why they cast it that way. Anyway mine is not sealed. When draining the tank after a test I noticed the back chamber is not watertight. That means if you sealed around the back chamber there is still stagnate water getting under the rear chamber. I don't know if this would cause any type of problems but I am going to seal mine just in case. About the surface-skimming problem, I decided to drill eight 1/4" holes at the waterline into the fuge chamber. I drilled right through the back wall and the media basket. Looked good testing it, so I'll let you know if it works out. I also cut some pieces of an old bottom filter and glued them into the fuge to create a basket so the cheato will stay closer to the light. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I'd also like to know the bulb replacement info. Mine could probably use replacements. OB1 - let me know how the drilled holes do. I had thought about drilling holes into the front of the skimmer chamber, but I hadn't thought about drilling them across the back into the fuge area. I might even drill every other one a bit higher & lower for when the water level drops from evaporation. Great idea on the crate to hold the chaeto closer to the light. Mine never died, but it also never grew at all - too deep back there. I pulled most of the chaeto out to put into a fuge I set up under my other tank, and in about a month it's probably 4-6 times as big. Raising the chaeto closer to the light in the NW9 is probably all it will take to make chaeto grow. Link to comment
OB1 Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 I'd also like to know the bulb replacement info. Mine could probably use replacements. OB1 - let me know how the drilled holes do. I had thought about drilling holes into the front of the skimmer chamber, but I hadn't thought about drilling them across the back into the fuge area. I might even drill every other one a bit higher & lower for when the water level drops from evaporation. Great idea on the crate to hold the chaeto closer to the light. Mine never died, but it also never grew at all - too deep back there. I pulled most of the chaeto out to put into a fuge I set up under my other tank, and in about a month it's probably 4-6 times as big. Raising the chaeto closer to the light in the NW9 is probably all it will take to make chaeto grow. You could go higher wattage if you can find bulbs that fit. The ballast is rated for higher wattage bulbs. I think the Current 27w bulbs might fit. Just checked the Current bulbs are square pin. You could drill 1/8" instead of 1/4" holes. I did notice with the holes a little light leaks through from the fuge light. Ya, I just couldn't understand the way the fuge basket was designed. I think I'm going to drill some drain holes in the bottom of the fuge basket so the water will drain when lifting it out for cleaning. I don't plan on using mud or??. I may run a bag of carbon there. Link to comment
TheStar Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Nick from Nanotuners.com sent me the following message about the lights: Mark, Any 24w bulbs found in our lamps section (see link below) would work in the Nano Wave 9g. Note that when you purchase two Nanocustoms branded bulbs you will receive a third of equal or lesser value. You can find details below. Bulb Promo http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=576 Lamps http://www.nanotuners.com/index.php?cPath=28 Link to comment
OB1 Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 I found these bulbs. I'm not familiar with the brand name. I'll do a search here to see if I can find any info. Price is really cheap and they're not jacking up shipping cost either. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Helpful info. on the bulbs, etc. Thanks! Link to comment
Reefmack Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Well, I spent all day yesterday on the Nanowave. A total restart. All I saved was a few fish, a few snails, and my cleaner shrimp. Trashed the ugly majano covered rock and the substrate, and spent a couple hours cleaning the tank & back compartments. I didn't realize the skimmer cycliner was double walled? I couldn't figure out why I couldn't clean the slimmy critters out, and then realized they were between 2 cylinders. I used all new rock, and live sand for the first time, and was impressed with it and it not clouding the water. I also added Bio-Spira live bacteria innoculant, as well as adding back about a gallon of old water. I forgot how bright the lights are on this tank when it's clean! No ammonia this afternoon, even with 2 fish in the tank, so I'm hoping the live sand and Bio-Spira keep me from having a measurable cycle - it's worked that way for me in the past. I moved some frags from my other tank into the NW this afternoon. and am hoping they do well. As bright as the lights are on this tank (5 watts/gallon) I should have just turned it into a little frag tank. Link to comment
OB1 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 OB1 - let me know how the drilled holes do. I had thought about drilling holes into the front of the skimmer chamber, but I hadn't thought about drilling them across the back into the fuge area. I might even drill every other one a bit higher & lower for when the water level drops from evaporation. Well my NW9 has been up and running for a week now. The holes seem to be doing a fair job of surface skimming. No significant buildup of residue at all. I'm just running the stock pump with no added flow either. I'm still getting some micro bubbles from the skimmer floating on the surface though. Hopefully it will break-in soon. The fuge basket mod works great. Now if the light is enough to show some growth. I moved some frags from my other tank into the NW this afternoon. and am hoping they do well. As bright as the lights are on this tank (5 watts/gallon) I should have just turned it into a little frag tank. Looking good! I actually like the stock lighting. I bought some zoas (some pics here) that were a washed out pumpkin color at the lfs and when I put them in they popped bright orange. Link to comment
TheStar Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Well my NW9 has been up and running for a week now. The holes seem to be doing a fair job of surface skimming. No significant buildup of residue at all. I'm just running the stock pump with no added flow either. I'm still getting some micro bubbles from the skimmer floating on the surface though. Hopefully it will break-in soon. The fuge basket mod works great. Now if the light is enough to show some growth. Looking good! I actually like the stock lighting. I bought some zoas (some pics here) that were a washed out pumpkin color at the lfs and when I put them in they popped bright orange. I pointed my Koralia Power Head to the surface and it seems to help with the oily residue that was building up. Unless I just can't see it because the surface now has more flow. Link to comment
OB1 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I pointed my Koralia Power Head to the surface and it seems to help with the oily residue that was building up. Unless I just can't see it because the surface now has more flow. Great! I will eventually add more flow. Either a Koralia or larger main pump. Here's a new pic. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 OB1 - nice zoas and porites! At first I thought it was an encrusting Montipora but it probably is porites. I haven't drilled the holes to skim the surface yet. So far no scum with the Koralia Nano rippling the surface. Still no ammonia. I have my original NW9 green clown goby, shrimp and snails - all doing fine. I did order a few thing for the NW and my RSM, and put some red algaes in the tank to color it up quickly: Link to comment
ccostel Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I just found this thread... love you guys tanks. I have a NW9 as well. I added a skimmer box to mine using a plastic box cut from a box used to hold morter. Bought it at Menards and cut about an inch of the depth off of it with a cutter. Then cut the top off of it as well as one side. Next step was to glue it in place with silicone. Only mistake I made is that the grooves were too deep. I will try to post a pic soon. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 ccostel - The new DIY surface skimmer sounds good. Pictures would be appreciated! Link to comment
ccostel Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 sorry about quality... taken with camera phone the white stuff at the top is airline hose cut to raise the level and cover the pegs I also keep my heater in the overflow Link to comment
ccostel Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Those are Baby Percula Clowns Link to comment
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