"The Two Towers" 62G SPS Starfire Reef (Rebooted)

[pschom]

Lookin nice. What's the reason for that brand of salt? Just asking because I've tried a few and I always go back to Reef Crystals. Can't wait to see this up and running.

[NanoTopia]

I'm liking the H2Ocean Pro salt myself, good params for NSW reef keeping. I find the KH about 8.5 dKH and the Ca about 450 ppm. A little higher than NSW but with a 10% change it basically bumps up the levels for the day you do the WC. Love the build so far, have a marry Xmas, look forward to future updates

[JDigital]

Lookin nice. What's the reason for that brand of salt? Just asking because I've tried a few and I always go back to Reef Crystals. Can't wait to see this up and running.

 

Thanks pschom - My reason for using this salt is that I've used it in my previous tanks a couple years ago before I took a break from reefing and found it to be a solid salt mix to use. Params were always within my expectations. I was originally planning on using the same salt as the 180G Office Paradise tank, but I've recently found out that the dKH in that Corallife salt is horribly low (5.32dKH to be exact) straight out of the bag (no buckets). I don't mind dosing ALK and CA when my corals are sucking them up, but having to dose 3+ dKH points just to get my WC water up to where it needs to be is a bit ridiculous really.

 

So ya, that's my long winded explanation.

 

I'm liking the H2Ocean Pro salt myself, good params for NSW reef keeping. I find the KH about 8.5 dKH and the Ca about 450 ppm. A little higher than NSW but with a 10% change it basically bumps up the levels for the day you do the WC. Love the build so far, have a marry Xmas, look forward to future updates

 

Thanks for the comments Nano - It is good stuff eh . Like you say, the KH and CA are both about where I like to see my values, KH maybe a bit higher, but 8.5 is acceptable to me out of the bucket. Have a great Christmas as well!

 

At some point I've got to get around to skinning this pretty white metal tank stand. I've been procrastinating as I know it's going to be a bit of a pain in the butt attaching wood paneling to it. Does anyone know if there is a form of "Wood to Steel" type glue or silicone? Or am I better off going with some magnet latches you think?

[pschom]

Thanks pschom - My reason for using this salt is that I've used it in my previous tanks a couple years ago before I took a break from reefing and found it to be a solid salt mix to use. Params were always within my expectations. I was originally planning on using the same salt as the 180G Office Paradise tank, but I've recently found out that the dKH in that Corallife salt is horribly low (5.32dKH to be exact) straight out of the bag (no buckets). I don't mind dosing ALK and CA when my corals are sucking them up, but having to dose 3+ dKH points just to get my WC water up to where it needs to be is a bit ridiculous really.

 

So ya, that's my long winded explanation.

Interesting. I don't think my lfs sells this brand. Have you ever tried Seachem? I used that a couple months back and didn't like it. Had good test params but it sucked. IORC has been awesome since switching back. Alk IS still low though. I'd like to find a good salt. Maybe this is it.

[JDigital]

Interesting. I don't think my lfs sells this brand. Have you ever tried Seachem? I used that a couple months back and didn't like it. Had good test params but it sucked. IORC has been awesome since switching back. Alk IS still low though. I'd like to find a good salt. Maybe this is it.

 

No, I have never tried Seachem. I'm not really a fan of their products for unknown reasons. Find their stuff to be very average, at best.

 

I've used IO, Aquamedic (no longer available, but was great stuff), and H2Ocean. I thought about Reefers Best, but always thought it was too expensive, and I like buckets.

 

If you can find this stuff, or persuade your LFS to order some in (I can't see why this wouldn't be available in the US, its a Deltec product I believe) I would recommend it for sure.

[disaster999]

for some reason i find expensive sea salt are like snake oil. i cant really justify spending more than double the price of reef crystal for a bucket of salt

[JDigital]

Well I got my RO/DI unit installed on Friday and flushed it out for an hour before leaving for a weel for the holidays. So needless to say, when I get home I will start running water to fill the tank.

 

I still can't decide on what I want to do for lighting. I'm sure it will be LED at some point, but I'm thinking of picking up a cheap ATI knock-off (BLAU 4x39w) T5 unit until I can afford the LED.

 

I am however decided on my skimmer. I'm going to pick up the RLSS RS8i.

for some reason i find expensive sea salt are like snake oil. i cant really justify spending more than double the price of reef crystal for a bucket of salt

 

I'm ok with $55 a bucket.

[disaster999]

good choice on the skimmer.

they perform like bubble king or vertech alpha skimmers but fraction of the price

[JDigital]

good choice on the skimmer.

they perform like bubble king or vertech alpha skimmers but fraction of the price

 

Yea, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it. They are using the RS10i at the LFS and I actually confused it for a BK initially, but it does pull some extremely good goo.

[JDigital]

 

I installed the RO/DI before leaving for christmas holidays and ran it for about 1.5hr as per the instructions. (Which only recommended 30mins, but I prefer to run longer for the initial flush)

 

Got home from the airport about 10pm tonight... figured it was time to turn this bad boy on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[disaster999]

ZOMG ITS WET

[Veng]

Uhh ohh... it'll be an aquarium soon instead of a glass box if you're not careful

[JDigital]

ZOMG ITS WET

 

Uhh ohh... it'll be an aquarium soon instead of a glass box if you're not careful

Uh Oh!

 

It's pretty much filled as of last night, but when I switched on the return pump to see where my sump would level off at, I wasn't getting any pumping action, just my tank draining back to the sump. It's a brand new Reef Octopus Water Blaster pump, so tonight when I get home I will have to disconnect it, open it up, fiddle around with the impeller, put it back together and expect it to work.

 

While I do love these pumps for their solid build quality and low noise output, this is the 2nd of 3 that I have had start up issues with brand new out of the box. My first issue was with the HY7000, impeller seemed to constantly rattle vibrate, so I swapped that out for a HY5000, which worked really well. Now I'm having issues with the HY3000. Hopefully its as simple as just pulling the impeller out, rinsing it out and re-assembling it.

 

Fingers Crossed!

[JDigital]

Well I officially have water circulating through my system. Now I just have to get it up to temp and start adding the salty white stuff. Still gotta clean up some of the cabling too. Now where did I leave my zip-ties?

 

 

 

 

 

[NanoTopia]

Looks even better with water

[JDigital]

Looks even better with water

 

Thanks Christine.

 

I got it salted and heated this weekend. 1.026 @ 25.3'C.

 

Changed my aquascape too as I wasn't thrilled with my previous layout. Still not sure about this one. What do you guys think?

 

[nanoreef-R]

Another JDigital build !!

[pschom]

You can do a lot with that scape. Only thing I would say (and this is the reason I think mine is kinda boring) is that many people have the same one. This is coming along so nice!

[JDigital]

I'm driving myself crazy trying to make a final conclusion on a skimmer purchase.. As soon as I THINK I know which skimmer I want, I change my mind and start looking again..

 

Stick with my Bubble Magus NAC6 for a bit and purchase my lights (which I'm also back and forth on.. haha)... or....

 

RLSS RS6i

Reef Octopus XP 2000sss

ATI Powercone I-series 200 (just added to the list today, but almost BK $$$ for something new and relatively untested)

BK Mini 160 (not really, but it crosses my mind once in a while.. haha If i found one used in Canada I probably would bite)

 

Everything else on this build I had so well planned out what I wanted, now I'm sooo indecisive on the Lights and Skimmer (obviously 2 important parts of a reef).

 

Arrrrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!

[nanoreef-R]

Either ATI or BK will blow the others out of the water...

[JDigital]

Either ATI or BK will blow the others out of the water...

 

Yea, but my wallet isn't designed for that type of destruction really. haha

[nanoreef-R]

Yea, but my wallet isn't designed for that type of destruction really. haha

 

Then why not keep the BM? It's basically a copy of the Bubble King...

[JDigital]

Then why not keep the BM? It's basically a copy of the Bubble King...

 

I'm not a huge fan of BM skimmers to be honest. This one was a 2nd hand freebie as well, so I'm not sure what it's been through and such.

 

Plus I went out tonight and did some birthday shopping for myself. Picked up the following goodies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reason why I went with the Reef Octopus is pretty simple. It's the one that was in stock tonight. I told myself before I went in the shop that I was going to end my headaches and come home with a skimmer tonight. Canadian Customs made it really easy to choose at the shops RLSS skimmer shipment was being held at Customs for whatever reason and the Reef Octopus Skimmer arrived yesterday. I didn't feel the XP-1000sss was rated high enough for my system, so I went with the XP-2000sss which has a very similar Air draw as the RS6i (900+ lph).

 

I am happy with it so far. The build quality is really nice, I like the Reef Octopus pumps and this is a very quiet skimmer.

 

So Happy B-Day to me! (although a day late)

[nanoreef-R]

Gotta show me some skimmate pictures later on.

 

 

What are you planning on running in the reactor? Bio-pellets?

[disaster999]

i was gonna add my 2 cents and tell you to get the RLSS with the DC pumps and forget the ati powercone and reef octo

 

but since you already made your purchase already and is happy with your choice ill leave it at that =P