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Conundrum Tank - It's a boy! (or maybe girl, or it!)


Fnard

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So, after much debate, think I'm going to swap out the supplied pump for something bigger so I can run a manifold. I currently have a QuietOne 3000 which should max out at 819gph. The pump that came with the tank was rated for 500gph. That should give me some room to play. I also have another pump around that I had on my old 29, but still have yet to find it. The manifold will have 4 outputs on it. 1 for the return, 1 for the chiller, 1 for reactor (if I run it) and 1 spare. Each will have its own ball valve to regulate flow. Think this will give me the most flexibility down the road. I also ordered a double union ball valve to attach to the return. Will hopefully make things easy if disassembly is required.

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Thanx! Btwn working to minimize the space and giving me options, I think this works best. The one to the far right, actually against right wall, is feed for reactor to be mounted. Second valve, 1st on back wall, will feed the chiller. Third, 2nd on back wall, is an extra. And the last one, far left, is obviously for return feed. Will be adding union between pump and first bend so that I can disconnect for maintenance if needed and just put a straight feed to return. Like the idea of an auto water change but never have seen one that works as well as a good ole manual one.

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This is my knocked together water changer, I'm intending to get a 30-40 litre container for a 10% water change (this ones only 14l about 5% water change).

Basically I have a little 500lph pump lifting water into the salt bucket which has a fresh salt mix in. At the high water level in the bucket is a bulkhead with a ball valve allowing me to mix up and move salt mix with out spilling it everywhere.
I open the valve and turn on the pump and go away for an hour or 2.

 

Basically I'm increasing the tank volume and then once the fresh charge has fully mixed and become dirty, it dilutes the tank water and when I take the bucket away I am removing some of the waste.
It's not 100% efficient. But it's quick, clean and idiot proof.

 

So with your spare manifold outlet, stick a union or flexi hose on it and sort out a water container that you can connect it to that will be tall enough to sit on the floor by the sump and overflow back in.

This is also a great way of avoiding sudden temperature and parameter swings as the water change is gradual over a few hours.


I had wanted to plumb a tee and ball valve into the main drain, but because of the need for a dog leg in my plumbing to get the corner drain to the sump I didn't have the space. If I'd managed that it would have been gravity fed and no need for the little pump, just open one valve and close the other.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Benny. Def are nice looking, only thing is I've learned they sure fill up fast. Not 100% sold on the scape yet, but want to keep along these lines. Want to keep as much open space as possible and plan and loading the slab in the back left with either minis, rics or rfas.

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Love the tank! though they dicontinued this tank, I wanted one before I bought the Deep blue for my current Build. apparently they are revamping the design of the 45 and will be releasing a new version soon. Keep up the good work!!

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Thanks. Dims are really nice. Noticed that about a week after I bought it, MD discontinued it. Hope they upgrading the plumbing and stand. Will have to take a look at your build.

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  • 4 months later...

So, just a small update (mainly for myself so I know when I did it), added some Dr. Tims NP-Active Pearls to the reactor. Been wanting to give them a try and having just getting back from vaca and noticing a brown LHA outbreak, seems like good timing. Went with approx 1/2 the dosage, 1/4 cup. We'll see the results.

 

Really not digging the BRS reactor. Had been running carbon for the past month or so, and man does this thing clog up quick. Decided to go sans pads in this endeavor. Maybe it'll help out, maybe it won't. If not, have a nano tumbler that I'll break out instead.

 

In other news, incase anyone would like to know, the goodies I picked up from Reefapalooza seems to be holding up well, minus a frag of zoas. Always temperamental for me, so not reading to much into it. Also, ordering 120* reflectors for the razor. Gonna throw them in and do some PAR reading comparisons.

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  • 1 month later...

So here I sit contemplating my lighting. My Razor has been holding up well, but just not 100% in love with it. Even after installing the 120* optics. Maybe it's just leds. Thinking I'm ready to change it out or maybe add t5s to it. See a nice ati dimmable for a good price I'm tempted to snag. But then I remember how good halides have treated me. Currently have 2 400w mh ballasts and a 150 (if I remember correctly) ballast. Maybe I should just go back to them? Or a mh t5 hybrid? Urgh. Too many damn decisions and I'm too damn indecisive. What say y'all?

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  • 5 months later...

Yearly update??? Hmmh, ok. Kinda forgot about this thread. New deliveries coming Thursday.

Nightime shot from my chair.

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Nice retro! What bulbs are you going to run in it? Im getting a nanobox hybrid and I will be running 2 ATI Blue+

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Nice retro! What bulbs are you going to run in it? Im getting a nanobox hybrid and I will be running 2 ATI Blue+

Thanks. Still have a lil work to do on it. Will do a write-up on it if people would like, took picts while putting it together. Currently running an ATI Blue+ in rear and a Coral+ in front.

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can you do a picture of just the ATI bulbs on, and then one with just LED, and then one of both? I would like to see that.

Like this?

IMG_20160108_201733.jpg

Taken 2 weeks ago. Not sure of Razor settings at the moment.

 

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Last 2 taken a few moments ago. Well after photoperiod has ended.

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Yup, def the best of both worlds. Currently only have it running a couple hrs in midday for acclimation. Will prolly up the time soon for an hour longer and call it a day. Brings out hella more color. Only thing I may change, is going with 2 coral+ bulbs. Usually like my tanks on the bluer, but not windex, side, but the Razor does that enough and the t5s make it all just look so good.

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So, another update, but this time for some assistance. Its been a kinda bad week. Had gotten some corals from a FB frag auction joint. Just some zoas and acans. Also placed a fairly sizable order from KP, mainly consisting of some gorgs, macros and some stars. Had both orders set for delivery this Thurs since I was off. Well, Wed came and almost went before getting an email from KP. They had a slight snafu and the shipment never went out. OK, no problem, things happen. Had it rescheduled for delivery next Fri. I sill have the frag coming from FB order, so I'm good. Thursday hits and the countdown is on. Keep look outside and checking the tracking and still saying its in an airport in NY State. Urgh, must be a mistake. So the shipper gets in touch with me to see if I had received anything and since I hadn't he gets in touch with FedEx. Package actually still stuck in Memphis and won't leave until tomorrow. FML. So long story short, package gets delivered on Fri with noone home sitting outside in 30* weather, awesome, until my wife comes home. Takes them out and temp of the bags were 50*. Both 40 hour heat packs dead. When I finally got home opened up the bags and got them into the take. The following picts are from when I put them in and not much has changed. 3 days later and zoas haven't opened up yet. I know they can be some finicky SOBs sometimes, but wondering what you guys think. Just severely pissed off or are they done for? Think I'm going to pick up some lugols tomorrow (if I can find it around) and do a dip on them.

 

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tl;dr Shipment was delayed and sat 2 days in cold ass weather. What to do?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Welp, really starting to hit a bit of snag with this tank. Having a problem controlling my 'trates (+60, I know, join the club). Really not grasping why though. Usually try, schedule permitting, a weekly/biweekly water change of 10-15 gals. All water is made by me with RO/DI unit. I only have 1 fish and feeding is very minimal. Maybe a small pinch of Omega flakes 2-3 times a week, sometimes less. Once every or everyother week I'll broadcast feed with either Dr G's copepods, Reefbugs, BRS Reef frenzy or Rods. The skimmer has been pulling some nice dark stinky skimmate when working (thing likes to go crazy on me pretty often). I don't have a major algae problem, maybe a couple tufts of GHA, a few patches of what looks like red slime and some diatoms on the gravel. But the funny thing is that I'm having problems keeping any macroalgae. Had 2 pieces of nemastoma, plus others that I can't recall right now (too much afternoon drankin), wither away. Even my chaeto has croaked on me. About the only thing that is doing well is my halimeda. Even have 2 new shoots sprouting up. At this point I'm contemplating a bunch of changes ranging from changing my sand to new skimmer to going with an ATS.

 

Also worth pointing out, my fuge seems to have a bunch of the red slime in it. For some reason the flow seems to be nonexistent in there, but not sure how that is possible. This is one reason I'm contemplating ripping it out and filling the space with an ATS. I've had good success with one on my prior tank. If not that, was goin to try and put some extra flow in the fuge by tapping off of the manifold and upgrading the skimmer.

 

Now, with all that said, everything has been doing ok. Not helluva lot of growth, but I'm fine with that. My RFA's have been doing well and even have a lil baby. Yeah! Got some more tweaking with the light to do. Not sure if I should up the output or just lower the lights and be done with it. Anyways, I'm done venting now. Hopefully all this rambling made some sense.

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  • Fnard changed the title to Conundrum Tank - It's a boy! (or maybe girl, or it!)

So, it's been awhile since I've updated this thread, or really even been on the site, but had some good stuff going on that I decided to share. A lil background first, tank was going meh for awhile, I kinda ignored it for longer, and then I finally decided to put some effort in again. After a good cleanup, I started with a new skimmer, started running carbon and dosing NOPOX. The tank has done a complete 180 and I'm back into it. 15g WC's weekly, testing params, the whole 9 yards. And to make things even more exciting, my neon green LTA decided to split on me. First time this has happened. I noticed it had begun to retract and started to move. I found this odd since it had been mostly stationary and inflated since I've had it. Boy was I surprised when I got home from work to see what had happened! But then I had to double, triple, quadruple check the water params to make sure it wasn't stressed, but everything checked out, so, I proceeded to drop way too much money at Reef-a-palooza the following weekend. Anyways, I've never had an anemone split on me, so if anyone has any suggestions or concerns, feel free to chime in. Hopefully my new inferno bta decides to follow suit. Photos are from when I noticed the split. Will post some recent ones too.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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