paneubert Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 Seems like the only legitimate concern with Purple Up that I can find is that it adds phosphate to the tank. Who knows if that is really true......I think I might run a test sometime with some fresh saltwater. I will add the Purple Up, let it sit overnight, and then see if my phosphate test reads anything. Quote Link to comment
24nanoguy Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Seems like the only legitimate concern with Purple Up that I can find is that it adds phosphate to the tank. Who knows if that is really true......I think I might run a test sometime with some fresh saltwater. I will add the Purple Up, let it sit overnight, and then see if my phosphate test reads anything. Ha! I just bought some today....and added a bit today also. I only plan to dose about once a month though... Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 (edited) So.....things seem to be changing for me pretty quickly. 1. Decided to sell the BoostLED's and go with a TEK 36 inch 4 bulb T-5. The plan was to post them and have it take a few days to sell so that I could buy my TEK lights and have them working by the time the LED's were sold.......not how it worked I think the gods were backing me up on the idea of switching lights since I sold them all in less than 2 hours! A plus was that one of the people wanting a Boost bulb has a Tek fixture that he was willing to sell/trade. So we both ended up getting a good dead out of the situation assuming it comes in one piece and works as planned. I am sure I will post photos as soon as I get it hanging and fired up. 2. Played with the JBJ ATO and found that even when I jack the potentiometer up to the max of 14 minutes, the Aqualifter cannot seem to drip enough water to float the switch. I have timed it and it does allow the full 14 minutes of flow.....but I have to then unplug and reset the ATO two or three times to get it to fully fill and float the switch. So...........I pulled out my MaxiJet 900 that I had already glued/crimped tubing to and put a ball valve into back when I tried to make my own canister filter (see my Aquapod build thread in my signature for details and photos). I verified that it seems to still pull and push water without leaking. I just slathered all the points of connection with another layer of gorilla glue just to be safe. But my assumption is that once this thing is up and running, it will dump a lot more than a drip into my tank and I can then probably adjust the ATO back down to a few minute window before it cuts power for safety. When running in the sink, I tried to lift the pump as high as I could while still keeping the tube below water and then tried to reach even higher with the output to simulate the MaxiJet needing to pull water up and then push it up even further. It seemed to work fine. My only concern now is if it leaks at some point.....I guess if it dumps water fast enough to only turn on for 10 seconds at a time.....I will not see a flood, just a small puddle that I would notice at some point Edited January 22, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) MaxiJet 900 could not prime itself.......or pull water the distance I needed it to. Worked fine if I had it already primed and the tubes were all full of water. The issue was that I needed it to run a tube down into my reservoir since the opening is not big enough for the MaxiJet 900 to fit into/submerge. With the pump not running, the tubes would empty and I would have to prime it each and every time I wanted to top off the tank. When that all failed on me, I had the bright idea to use a Home Depot 5G bucket instead of a 5G Water Dispenser type jug......genius The only drawback is the opening is much bigger (unless I modify the lid, which I will probably do), and it is not clear plastic. So I will have to watch my reservoir levels so the pump does not run dry. Other than that it seems to work well. I jacked the potentiometer back down to the lowest level in the hopes that if the float switch does fail, I only dump a few gallons on the floor. I did have a dream last night that I failed to secure the tube to the back of my tank and it fell to the floor and then dumped all 5 gallons out.....I think I will be making sure things are right when I get home. In other news, I am buying two 10 Gallon Plastic Drum Barrels w/ ScrewTop for water transport. The 5 gallon cube shaped ones I have are ok...but I would rather have something that holds more water and takes up the same/less footprint. DIMENSIONS: 18 inches tall, 14 inches wide with an 11.5 inch opening. Sounds good to me. Worse comes to worse I go back to my 5 gallon cubes. Edited January 25, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
24nanoguy Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Can't believe your having such a hard time with the ato.... I just finally got mine up and running, the Aqualifter pulls water great. Had my system topped off in less than 5 min.. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 That seems odd.....how much water did it pump over those 5 minutes? The Aqualifter does pull water great.......but it only pulls it at a few drops a second for me. Quote Link to comment
24nanoguy Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 That seems odd.....how much water did it pump over those 5 minutes? The Aqualifter does pull water great.......but it only pulls it at a few drops a second for me. Aprox an inch till sensor clicked off the pump. Wasn't a drip........it was a heavy stream. I think you Aqualifter's bad. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 You are topping off into your sump aren't you? I bet it flows faster when it is pretty much going horizontal instead of vertical. Yeah....an inch in a 54G should not be possible with an Aqualifter going any sort of vertical distance.....right? Quote Link to comment
24nanoguy Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 You are topping off into your sump aren't you? I bet it flows faster when it is pretty much going horizontal instead of vertical. Yeah....an inch in a 54G should not be possible with an Aqualifter going any sort of vertical distance.....right? It is topping into the sump. I have the jug right next to the stand, with the tubes going thru a hole I drilled in the side. I may have a foot of line running from the pump to the sump. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Yeah. I had it running a tube from the top of the jug down to the bottom of the jug for the input. That is probably 8 inches? Then I had the actual pump sitting on the top of the jug. Then I had an output going all the way up and over the rim. So that is quite a distance. I can see why you did not have issues and I did. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thanks. Things will be looking different soon since I want to add a bit more rock and I am switching from LED's to T-5. Right now the tank is lighted by a FishNeedIt.com 24 inch, 2 bulb, T-5 since I shipped my LED's to the various forum buyers this morning and my new fixture will not get here till later this week. It is slanted at a slight angle front to back in the center of the tank. Hahahahaha. It actually lights things surprisingly well......I thought it would be worthless. Quote Link to comment
Psychosis Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Hmmm. I think this tank needs more tek. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 Hmmm. I think this tank needs more tek. As promised....check the first post of this thread for the latest photo (with TEK). The corals were in the dark until I took the shot and I took the photo with my phone. So do not judge Also....here is a photo of my new mini-barrels that I will use to store water change water. Between 9 and 10 gallons in each barrel. I might order a few more. I did not realize how small of a footprint they had..... Quote Link to comment
Psychosis Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Awesome. Looks way better over your tank than in my closet. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 Awesome. Looks way better over your tank than in my closet. Thanks! I think I am going to buy a couple different bulbs next week so I can play with different combos. The current 2 Aquablue+ and 2 Actinic+ are great, but I think if I replace one of the Actinic+ bulbs with a 100% true actinic it might make the corals pop a little more than they are under the 2 Aquablue+'s that are making things look sort of white. Quote Link to comment
nanoreefsurf Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 cool tank! Can I suggest a skimmer though if you dont have one? Replace the filstar with a good skimmer, you'll see a noticable difference. Also, I have a tunze osmolator ATO and it is such a great piece of equipment. If you ever sell your JBJ should look into a used one, as they are not cheap. Also, all you really need to get good coraline is a 2 part alk and calcium dosing. I dose magnesium too between water changes. I have a 40b too with a 20g sump. Its such a great tank to scape. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 cool tank! Can I suggest a skimmer though if you dont have one? Replace the filstar with a good skimmer, you'll see a noticable difference. If I could put Carbon, GFO, and filter floss in a skimmer then I would totally go for it and ditch the canister But yeah.....there was a time when I was about 99% of the way towards buying a hang on back skimmer. But then I really thought about it and decided I did not want to deal with more equipment on the tank to maintain, hear making noise, and see all the time. Also dealing with getting it all tuned in and re-tuning it whenever it acts up. The canister gives me so much ability to run different media depending on what I want to do and also adds the spraybar output that really gets a good additional flow pattern in the tank. Now if I had a sump....I would totally have a skimmer from day one. That is really what it comes down to....no sump. Maybe one of these days.... Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Ordered some dry rock along with some other supplies from Bulk Reef Supply today. Should be interesting adding the new rock to what I have since it is a totally different style and will be pure white . I really want to build up the back so there is less glass showing. Right now it just seems like........eh.... I also think I am going to break off the bottom skeleton of some of my branching corals. Seems like a lot of my coral placement issues are due to long skeletons that make my coral look like a tree if I do any sort of vertical placement.....hoping the new rocks allow me to cram things in there so I have more placement options. Quote Link to comment
CollegeNano Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Bummer about the ich. I bet you will be extremely cautious now that you have had that experience AND you have a QT tank running. I should probably do the same and err on the side of caution. What's the countdown (to restocking fish) at? Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Bummer about the ich. I bet you will be extremely cautious now that you have had that experience AND you have a QT tank running. I should probably do the same and err on the side of caution. What's the countdown (to restocking fish) at? Yeah.....I am not planning on keeping the QT up and running after I am done with the 6-8 weeks. But I will have it all available if I need to set it up again. So that is a plus. Having the Cupramine on hand is also nice since I can pretty much get the QT back up and dose the tank within an hour of seeing an issue. I guess I would have to catch the fish first....but within an hour after that QT started on January 5th I think..... So that would put me probably at around March 1st for when I will drop them back in. Seems like a good date. Maybe I will shoot for that.....March 1st. Although......I do want to restock the tank a bit.....so there is a chance I will keep the QT up until I have bought and QT'ed any new fish for a bit. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Posted this in a different thread.......but it was funny enough of an experience to post again. So.......made a trip to grab some water tonight. I felt like some sort of criminal since it was dark, I was parked sideways across a sidewalk/dock, and I was stringing hoses from the side of a "closed for business" building into my car... If I had to rate my experience....I would say EPIC FAIL Here is why... Flow rates can be set from 4 gallons per minute up to 65 gallons per minute according to the Aquarium. They also claim that there is a 15-20 second delay before flow starts so that you can run your card and then have a bit of time to get the hose where you need it.......ummmm......there is no delay Let me tell you why that was an issue for me..... Some lame ass people parked all up on the dock where they are not supposed to.....I assume it is because after closing time the Aquarium does not call the cops on people or something. So I had to park sort of across the back of some cars and on the sidewalk/dock. This meant I had to drag the hose to my car. I chose to use the smaller of the two hoses since it seemed like it would be a low flow. The other hose literally looked like a fire hose with a giant brass ball valve on the end.... Issue was that the smaller hose did not have a valve on the end of it. It had a valve next to the building/card reader....about 30 feet from my car....but not a valve at the end of the hose. I should have used the fire hose now that I look back on things. See where this story is going yet? Hahahahaha. So I put the hose in one of my 10 gallon barrels and went to the card reader to activate flow. As soon as the card reader saw my card....I heard rushing water coming from my car! I ran back and there was a hose whipping around spraying the inside of my Honda with saltwater....and not at a low rate! Luckily it whipped out onto the dock and started a river.... I grabbed it and found out that I could kink it to stop flow....and that is how I ended up filling things. Now I see why the fire hose might have been the way to go. I could have just cracked the valve a bit and still had a massive flow from that one. Anyway....I got my jugs filled and ran back home with my tail between my legs and a lesson learned for next time. Lesson was that there is no delay in flow and I should use the giant fire hose instead of the smaller one! Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 Noticed something crazy today. Looked into the QT tank and noticed it was a little cloudy. Then I saw there were tiny babies swimming around.....hahahaha. The Molly popped some kids out after all this time without a dad. I know that the Live Bearer fish can store sperm...but this was for a while! I do not remember exactly when the dad died, but it was before I even started up the 40B tank. That was back in December. That means she stored the sperm all this time through a tank transfer, ich infestation, QT tank for a month, and now is having kids. I hope her having kids now is not a sign she is about to die or anything. I know some things spawn right before they kick the bucket. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) Added 15 pounds of "Reef Saver" Rock from BRS.......not sure how I feel about it.....It did add some volume, but did not fill as much vertical space as I wanted. I mean....yeah....it is only 15 pounds. So it can only do so much in a 40B tank. I think it will grow on me with time. Just like any new aquascape. I did make sure I mixed in the new with the old pretty evenly. There are some spots that look super awkward now that I step back and take it all in.....but I already placed all the corals. So I think I am going to just force myself not to touch any of it for a few days and see how I feel. I do have some Ebay corals coming on Friday. I will have to find homes for all of those and I will guarantee that I will need to move some current corals around. So maybe I will force myself to wait until then to do anything else. Photos (of the actual tank) to come soon. Rocks and bag of rubble (that I bought, not from the rock breaking in shipping) are below. I really am happy with the BRS rock. I got more than I thought for the weight I ordered. They also seemed to listen to the shape/size I asked for. I got what I ordered! Now the remaining question is if I still want to buy a little more rock.......if I do then I think it will have to be a local buy where I can pick the shape and size. Sucks that there are not any places for dry rock locally......I will have to pay for live..... Edited February 8, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 I finally got a TDS meter and decided to play around....went from cleanest to dirtiest so I would keep my readings clean. 0 - The distilled jug from Safeway. 6 - The water from my Britta pitcher in the refrigerator. 35 - Straight from the sink/tap. I have to admit I was surprised both at the distilled and the Britta readings. I always hear people claiming that distilled is still 3 or 4 or 5 TDS. The Britta was crazy since it is nothing fancy.....and I do not even keep track of when I replace the filter. Bringing TDS from 35 to 6 just using carbon and gravity fed micron filter is pretty good in my book! Quote Link to comment
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