TimDanger's CADlights 39g Pro

[Rehype]

Very cool tim. Im sure that makes tank maintenance a heck of alot easier

[timdanger]

Very cool tim. Im sure that makes tank maintenance a heck of alot easier

 

thanks E!

 

it does, though -- any kind of maintenance is so much easier now, especially because one of the "feet" that came with the light was kind of loose/wobbley, and the cords to the light fixture are almost already stretched as far as they will go. it was always a big hassle to remove the light to do even minor maintenance.

 

i thought about a "flip up" design for the light fixture, but i ultimately decided that this pivoting design was better because it lets me just flip up the mesh top instead (i'd have to totally remove it if the light was flipped up). also, right or wrong, it feels like there's less of a chance of splashing on the light when it is totally moved out of the way, and i don't have to worry about it falling down. the pivoting is a nice, stable, smooth movement.

 

overall, i'm very happy.

[tundrashaul]

Hung mine the same way, makes it great for doing anything in or to the tank. With the feet I was worried about removing everytime i wanted to do something because it is so wide. Great jod.

[timdanger]

Hung mine the same way, makes it great for doing anything in or to the tank. With the feet I was worried about removing everytime i wanted to do something because it is so wide. Great jod.

 

ahhh.. i figured someone was going to come along and say that they had already come up with this, but it is decidedly more embarrassing here, being that i've read your thread before (though i didn't remember seeing this, i went back and read through it, and whaddaya know, there it is)! honest mistake!

 

edit: but in fairness to me, i did at least come up with the idea of placing the thinner conduit into the thicker conduit and using the rubber for smooth pivoting...? maybe? i hope, to save myself from at least a little bit of embarrassment.....?

[tundrashaul]

The conduit pivot is a great idea, mine just pivot under the talon straps. I have even seen it done with a beam clamp(looks like a c with a bolt going through one end) to attach the vertical pipe, then they had several holes drilled in the pipe to adjust height by putting bolt on clamp through alternate holes. I belive it was on one of vic-skimr tanks. I wish I had bought the hanger kit for my light, the holes were odd sized and could not find a eye-bolt to fit, so i used picture hangers with factory screws, and wire rope that was WAY too heavy of a gauge for what i needed, making it a PITA for the light to be level both ways.

[steely185]

The new lighting rig looks great.

 

Let's see that new red planet.

[timdanger]

well, the lighting rig is still working well. makes water changes a breeze. at least that's a positive.

 

my red planet; has gone from purple with a little green to pale/white with purple tips on the corallites within 2 weeks of adding it. i guess whatever is wrong with my tank still isn't fixed.

 

my frogspawn has wasted away to almost nothing (tissue has just receded over the course of about 4-5 months; i removed it from the tank yesterday and gave what was left to the LFS (Atlantis) to try and recuperate it (in any event, i was tired of it polluting/decomposing in my tank).

 

i've developed a minor amount of cyano in some spots right below my vortech (just not getting flow it needs, i guess). a little bit of hair algae, too, though the turbos are keeping it reasonably under control. definitely getting some hair algae on my glass.

 

my phosphates and nitrates (as they always have) measured at 0 on Elos test kits yesterday.

 

i've cut my feedings down pretty significantly, and i'm hardly feeding any PEMysis anymore, and i've cut out the cyclopeeze, roti-feast and AquaVitro Fuel entirely. feeding about 85% hikari small pellets right now. skimmer production is almost non-existent (i haven't had to empty the cup in 3 weeks, and at this rate, it'll still be several weeks before i have to).

 

getting some reasonable-ish growth out of my SPS (especially my green slimer, pink mille, purple digitata).

 

noticed during my last water change that my return pump is hardly providing any flow to the tank. it's running out of the return lines, but at closer to a "strong trickle" than a flow. i wonder if that's causing detritus collection in my sump due to the flow being too low.

 

i'm going to test for voltage in the tank next, i guess. i'm not really getting any RTN or anything, though, so i don't think that's going to be the problem.

 

anyone have anything to add?

[timdanger]

I think i'm going to make a flow/rockwork change in the aquarium -- i don't know if this is an issue, but it certainly doesn't seem like it could hurt. I'm thinking:

 

1) remove LR rubble from first chamber of sump. i think the water is not flowing fast enough through there to keep detritus from getting trapped in there.

 

2) remove 2 of the 5 large pieces of LR from the display (middle rock on the left tier, bottom rock on the right tier. this is going to pull the coral further from the light, but it should allow for increased flow in the tank and hopefully less settling spots for detritus.

 

3) reposition the tunze 6025 so that it's on the same side of the tank as the mp10, creating more of a gyre flow. i think, because they are not synced together, the current positioning of the pumps to sort of send water "toward" each other may be effectively canceling each other out somewhat, and may be leading to detritus accumulation.

 

 

is there anything to worry about removing this much LR? should i remove it in stages, or is all at once probably ok?

[Markushka]

man its been a while since I got to this thread, too long in fact. had a bit to catch up on. I think oyu can pull all the LR at once, its not a big deal.

 

love the av btw

[Land0]

ive always liked cadlights, looks good man!

[snslarison]

Just picked up a 39 Pro. I'm going to be setting it up over the next few weeks. I'm really excited about this tank.

 

Great thread btw.

[timdanger]

man its been a while since I got to this thread, too long in fact. had a bit to catch up on. I think oyu can pull all the LR at once, its not a big deal.

 

ya, i think it should be fine. i'm also thinking about vacuuming out the DSB. I'm just worried about removing so much of the biological filtration system all at once.

 

love the av btw

 

thanks!

 

Just picked up a 39 Pro. I'm going to be setting it up over the next few weeks. I'm really excited about this tank.

 

Great thread btw.

 

it's a nice setup. they are shipping it with better equipment than when i first got it.

 

thanks, and good luck!

 

ive always liked cadlights, looks good man!

 

thanks!

[steely185]

I'll be interested to see if you have some stray voltage. I recently had my 40 exposed to low voltage when my osmolator cable was unplugged from the unit and fell in the sump. I found it two hours later and fixed it. I had no losses but my sps have gotten more pale in color. That was a few weeks ago and things are starting to slowly color up. It could be your color problems with your sps.

[timdanger]

I'll be interested to see if you have some stray voltage. I recently had my 40 exposed to low voltage when my osmolator cable was unplugged from the unit and fell in the sump. I found it two hours later and fixed it. I had no losses but my sps have gotten more pale in color. That was a few weeks ago and things are starting to slowly color up. It could be your color problems with your sps.

 

i am interested myself -- i don't remember if i said this already, but the guys at Atlantis had recently suggested I check this. Could definitely be the issue. I'm just waiting on my neighbor having a minute to come over with his testing equipment.

 

*note: i do have a stealth heater -- possible culprit?! maybe the reason my frogspawn slowly receded and died?

 

I also believe that, based on a Randy Holmes-Farley article, that I'm under-dosing my 2-part by what i'd initially estimate at 5-6ml/day (i'll have to do some more checking into this). i don't think this is necessarily related to my coloration issues, but it could be a contributing factor.

[timdanger]

45 volts in the tank, per the multimeter this morning. coming from just about every piece of equipment. great?!

[timdanger]

so, i spent about 6 hours on the tank on saturday. some details accomplishments:

 

 

First, a stray voltage breakdown (using Fluke multimeter, 120AC, black probe grounded to outlet, red probe in display tank):

 

1) 12 volts from my maxijet 1200 powering my media reactor. this pump is not even 6 months old.

 

2) about 3-4 volts each from: 100w visitherm stealth heater, vortech mp10 (did not expect that), tunze 1073.020 return pump, JBJ ATO (?!), tunze 6025. i think some of this may just be the result of backfeeding.

 

3) ~12v from one of my 3 daisy-chained power strips. i replaced the faulty power strip (but neglected to test for voltage afterward -- oops).

 

4) no voltage from my light fixture or my skimmer pump. go figure.

 

5) about 2v with nothing powered on.

 

 

Now, the rest of my accomplishments/feats of daring:

 

1) purchased/installed a titanium ground probe. suction-cupped the probe to the overflow box in the back of my display tank. i had mixed feelings about where to put it; obviously there is a continuous circuit of water between the display and sump while the return pump is operating, but that isn't the case when the return pump is off. my decision came down to the fact that i figured, in times when the return pump is not operating (and therefore there are 3 separate bodies of water to ground: the display, the overflow and the sump) i would have my hands in the display more often than i'd have them in the sump or the overflow, and most of the living organisms are in the display. after installing the probe, obviously my tank is reading 0 volts now. i believe i'll be replacing the maxijet, but i don't think there's much i can do about the other voltage.

 

2) switched my multi-outlet shockbuster portable gfci for a single-outlet portable gfci so that i could install the grounding probe could fit in the same wall outlet (the multi-outlet gfci covers up both outlets on the wall outlet). on a related note, does anyone want to buy a multi-outlet shockbuster portable gfci? at the same time, i switched the order of my power strips so that the strip with the "tight space-friendly" plug went in first. this makes life so much easier. after replacing and rearranging the power strips, i foolishly neglected to re-check the voltages without the grounding probe to see if that helped.

 

3) removed/disassembled the vortech, return pump and tunze 6025 and soaked them in ~10:1 solution of water:muriatic acid for 20 minutes. this was a lot of trouble, but after the soak/rinse in tap water/once-over with a toothbrush, they came out looking like new. from removal to reinstall, the process took at least an hour. i should've cleaned my skimmer pump at the same time, but i forgot about it. this became an issue later!

 

4) I modded my tunze 6025 by using a dremel to cut off the flow restricter on the front piece of plastic. this mod is supposed to give it 6045 flow. seemed to go fine, and the flow is definitely better. when reinstalling the tunze 6025, i repositioned it to be on the same side of the tank as the vortech, about 8" below it, and angled up. the goal is to create more of a gyre flow in the tank than previously existed. sadly, i ended up snapping one of the pins off the magnet that the 6025 mounts on, so i would characterize it's hold on the magnet as "tenuous, but ok." i did manage to knock it off one time, and it ended up facing down at the sand bed for a second and blowing sand all over the place. ugh/oops.

 

5) rinsed dual media reactor and replaced all media (gearing up for the next few items)

 

6) REMOVED live rock rubble from sump.

 

7) REMOVED DSB! lowered the water level so that it was below the baffles of the fuge chamber (to keep organics/hydrogen sulfide out of the water -- sulfur/gas smell was intense the further down i went, by the way), scooped out most of the sand by hand, and shop-vacced out the rest. i did notice that , sitting empty, the left and right chambers were leaking into the middle chamber very very slightly (probably about 1ml/minute). i had a small ball of chaeto and two decent-sized pieces of LR on top of the DSB that i put back in the fuge chamber. i'm not sure what i should be doing with those at this point, but i don't have anything else to put in there other than maybe a thin layer of sand. flow is so mediocre over it that it might not be worthwhile.

 

7) REMOVED 1 big piece of rock from left tier of the display tank. this was definitely the right thing to do. i also tried removing the bottom rock from the right tier of the display, but things really just weren't fitting together right and the top rock on the right tier couldn't really support itself, given where corals were growing on it, so i ended up leaving it in. i don't love what it looks like right now (.. a pile of rocks), but maybe i just need to get used to it. i'm almost nervous to move it because it's stable as it's sitting right now, and with so much else going on in the tank (biologically, aesthetically, electrically...), i'd rather not tempt fate more than i have to.

 

8) in the process of removing/replacing/redecorating rocks, i managed to do some damage. i fragged a small edge off my pink/orange cap (i couldn't even find anything that had broken off, but there is a spot that looks broken), and i also snapped off a ~1" branch from my red planet. i did save the red planet frag and mounted it right next to the existing colony. should be fine. i also purposefully fragged off a little piece of purple digitata that was getting too close to my ATL Pink Flamingo Acropora Selago. after all this, there was some SERIOUS sliming from just about every coral in the tank (even the caps were sliming). tried to keep them "slime free" with a turkey baster, off and on. they are mostly clear now, though the green slimer and blue stag are still at it a little bit. no tissue loss, though.

 

9) while i had stopped in at the LFS (Atlantis) to buy the ground probe, they gave me a big frag of browned-out blue tort for free -- i guess a customer had returned a big colony that their high-alk tank water was destroying, so they were fragging up the healthy pieces that were left to see if they could salvage it and asked me if i wanted one. Those guys are the best. so, i treated/mounted that frag. no tissue loss on it at all, yet, so i'm holding out hope!

 

10) after all that, water change.

 

11) when turning my skimmer back on after the water change, the impeller on the pump wasn't spinning. big trouble based on everything else that was going on! so, i ended up having to take it out of the tank, cleaning it by hand/toothbrush -- but, the impeller still was sticking. i found that i could "kick start" it by sticking my finger down in it and sort of rolling the impeller clockwise with my finger to start it. the problem was that it would start, but then if you turned it off, it still wouldn't start back up on its own (though you could still "kick start" it again). i finally ended up unscrewing the nozzle that plugs into the skimmer body and just messing around with it for a few minutes, and i guess that broke it free of whatever was keeping it from spinning (again, probably a deposit of some kind) because it started going on its own. then, it was able to start up on its own through multiple power-offs/power-ons. so, i guess it's fixed, though i'll be keeping an eye on it.

 

12) tried to do some parameter testing after all this. salinity was a bit higher than usual (1.027 instead of 1.025-6), but i'm not super worried about that. Alk was 7.0, Ca was 400, but i expected both of those to be a bit low based on my revised dosing schedule/calculating. i'm now dosing 15ml/day of both Ca/Alk. Interesting sidenote, my Elos Ca test kit reagent A started leaking out of the side of the dropper. got all over my hands and the bottle (it took the ink right off the bottle). no burns or anything, but i will absolutely be contacting Elos about this, because i doubt i'll be able to continue using it.

 

13) added a little bit of API Stress Coat to cut any ammonia that might have been freed from messing around with the rocks, removing filtration, blowing sand around, etc.

 

quite a night. as of this morning, the inhabitants all look fine based on visual inspection, other than the remaining sliming.

[Rehype]

Wow thats a heck of an update Tim....I'm glad you were able to resolve most of the issues. I'm really curious if some of your water quality issues will be resolved with the removal of the DSB...

[timdanger]

Wow thats a heck of an update Tim....I'm glad you were able to resolve most of the issues. I'm really curious if some of your water quality issues will be resolved with the removal of the DSB...

 

i'm curious about that as well! if the corals improve, i don't know whether i should be crediting the removal of the DSB or the ground probe. but, i figured i might as well just do it all at once, since i'm just about out of patience.

 

another note: wife has approved the purchase of a Neptune AquaController Apex Lite. so, i just need to figure out what i need to go with it. I was thinking of going ahead and getting the standard-grade pH probe, but what beyond that? Those of you with the Apex, what things do you like/dislike? keep in mind:

 

1) my vortech isn't wireless, so no wxm module

2) I have a JBJ ATO, but would consider selling it if it makes more sense to just control ATO functions via the controller

3) i'd like to connect to my wireless internet router rather than running an ethernet cable (i have an extra wireless router that's not being used -- could i use that as a wireless adapter maybe?)

4) What about an extra energybar8? wife hates cords/electrical mess. i certainly have more than 8 things to plug in that would be NICE to control, but that's an expensive upgrade. thoughts?

[timdanger]

Ordered Apex Lite (+pH probe), to be shipped out today! :D

[timdanger]

so, i was looking at the bubble-magus website at the NAC3+ skimmer -- they are using MY pictures to advertise their skimmer!

 

 

...

 

 

WHERE ARE MY ROYALTIES?!

[Markushka]

so, i was looking at the bubble-magus website at the NAC3+ skimmer -- they are using MY pictures to advertise their skimmer!

 

 

...

 

 

WHERE ARE MY ROYALTIES?!

bastards!

 

thats one heck of an update. sort of makes me want to check for stray voltage in my tanks now.

[Rehype]

so, i was looking at the bubble-magus website at the NAC3+ skimmer -- they are using MY pictures to advertise their skimmer!

 

 

...

 

 

WHERE ARE MY ROYALTIES?!

 

 

Hey tim id definitely email them about it and see how they respond....They should know better

[timdanger]

Apex Lite arrived this afternoon.

[timdanger]

after looking pretty bad yesterday, Jaws the bluespot jawfish didn't make it over night. scuff marks on his body look like he might've gotten the bluespot jawfish disease, but i don't know for sure. he went from seemingly fine/eating (though a little more timidly than usual) to gravely ill/unresponsive in less than 24 hours.

[Markushka]

after looking pretty bad yesterday, Jaws the bluespot jawfish didn't make it over night. scuff marks on his body look like he might've gotten the bluespot jawfish disease, but i don't know for sure. he went from seemingly fine/eating (though a little more timidly than usual) to gravely ill/unresponsive in less than 24 hours.

I'm sorry for your loss. Its always hard to lose an awesome fish. Will you try another one?