proraptor Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 I get about 1-2 gallon of evaporation a day with 4-5 fans running Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 17, 2005 Author Share Posted November 17, 2005 I get about 1-2 gallon of evaporation a day with 4-5 fans running what are you doing for topping off? I currently top off with a reef fanatic level controller with 2 sensors monitoring my return chamber water level. It powers a tom's aqualifter. I need a much larger tank of RO water if I get nearly as much evap as you do a day! yikes. Link to comment
proraptor Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 I have a manual arm controller thats attached to my body and lift 5 gallon jugs of RO/DI water and pours them in to the sump until the bubbles stop. Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 17, 2005 Author Share Posted November 17, 2005 oh so you top off manually. lol =) thank you. haha I have an ATO, but the damn TOM aqualifter isn't strong enough to pull from below. I got to mount it at least level to the tank at this point. Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 17, 2005 Author Share Posted November 17, 2005 I'm planning on keeping as many acropora's as I can, including a few monti's. I think I will be having a high demand of calcium. What does a Calcium Reactor do? I'm guessing it monitor's calcium with a probe, and turns on a calcium reactor that basically injects somehow some calcium into the water when calcium levels are too low? Is this needed for my system? Could I just as easily dose calcium every week or so? what's kalk? I know there are kalk drippers, do those work? What Ca reactors would you guys recommend? Link to comment
proraptor Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 What ATO do you have? Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 17, 2005 Author Share Posted November 17, 2005 What ATO do you have? Reef Fanatic Level Controller with 2 sensors. It turns on and off my TOM's aqualifter (way too weak in my opinion). It has worked flawlessly. THe sensors are great. The second sensor makes sure the bottom one doesn't get stuck down, just for redundancy sake. Keeps salinity constant througout the day, and keeps my pump from running dry. Link to comment
calvin415 Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 I'm planning on keeping as many acropora's as I can, including a few monti's. I think I will be having a high demand of calcium. What does a Calcium Reactor do? I'm guessing it monitor's calcium with a probe, and turns on a calcium reactor that basically injects somehow some calcium into the water when calcium levels are too low? Is this needed for my system? Could I just as easily dose calcium every week or so? what's kalk? I know there are kalk drippers, do those work? What Ca reactors would you guys recommend? Let's see if I can describe these methods sufficiently... Dosing is of course an option that requires no start up costs, but the maintenance costs with dosing are high... 2 part additives are not cheap although they can be made at home with a recipe but require constant testing and dosing. This can be simplified with a dosing pump which is typically around 300 bucks for a 2 channel doser. Kalk reactor is a reactor tube where RO/DI water can be mixed with kalk powder in an air tight confinement. Kalk once mixed if allowed to sit out will react with CO2 in the air and will create a bicarbonate that must be manually removed, as it will not disove in water. Advantages are that kalk powder (pickling lime) are easy to get and are fairly cheap, help to keep your Ph up as pure kalk water is Ph of 12. Disadvantages are that you can only add as much kalk water to your tank as you can evaporate since it works with your ATO. Some times this is enough calcium, in some cases it isn't enough... that's when a Ca reactor comes in. Calcium reactors hold a calcium based media in a tube and have a pump constantly pumping water through the media to help it disolve. The water in the reactor is water from your tank and in order to allow the media to disolve you will need to inject CO2 as a controlled rate to lower the Ph allowing the media to disolve. The advantages are that it's independant of your evap rate so you can add as much or as little as you need. The maintenance costs are cheap and once it's tuned you don't need to monitor it very often. These can be used in conjuction with a Ph controller to turn your CO2 on and off if you tanks Ph begins to be affected by the Ph of the Ca water you are dripping into the tank. The disadvantages are that it requires a bit of room for both the reactor and the CO2 tank and the start up costs are very high. Hope that sums up these methods, let me know if you have any questions that I haven't addressed. Link to comment
proraptor Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 How much are they koden? Also where can you buy one? Link to comment
reefin300 Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 perfect explanation calvin Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 17, 2005 Author Share Posted November 17, 2005 calvin: thanks for the explanation! that was awesome. I did some research of my own on Calcium Reactors as well. It does seem that once it's setup it's relatively cheap. I"ll keep on a lookout for a good deal on one, otherwise I'll go with a kalk doser. I think I could make my ATO resevoir air tight and mix kalk into that. But the calcium reactor looks like the best bet. I'll lookout for good deals. proraptor: reef fanatic level controller with 2 sensors is $89 on premiumaquatics.com. Good deal if you ask me. Works great, has great reviews. Float sensors are also very accurate. The aqualifter is like $10, TOO weak IMO, I have to have my topoff resevoir pretty high up. Once I get this new tank setup, I'll just have it sit above the sump so it wont' be a problem. Works great otherwise! Link to comment
Sebea Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Koden, I have been researching heavily on Calcium reactors lately, because I am looking to get one for my tank. Calvin did an excellent job on explaining how everything works. There are some major components involved: The reactor(single chamber or dual), the regulator, the solenoid, the needle valve, bubble counter, CO2 tank, PH controller, and of course, the media. I'll tell you from research that using the 'cheaper' items means that you will have to adjust more often, and it will be a pain in the long run. I think that the best regulator on the market is the Me3 from MarineDepot. It has a very accurate needle valve, and you can buy the regulator, needle valve, solenoid, bubble counter, and CO2 tank all in one package. You could also opt for buying a CO2 tank at a local wielding shop. As far as reactors go, larger diameters will give you more volume, and it is easier to change the media. Also, a reverse flow reactor is better for dissolving the media. You could look at these sights for good reactors, and other products: -Aquatic Systems Design -Premium Aquatics (Geo reactor is excellent) -My Reef Creations (Nano-sized reactors) Marine Depot (Look here for the Me3 regulator) You could also look here for the thread that I posted about Calcium Reactors. Don't hesitate to ask more questions. -Aaron Link to comment
proraptor Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Im going to go with a kalk reactor myself... Link to comment
socalcreations Posted November 18, 2005 Share Posted November 18, 2005 Well just found this thread. Didn't know how well planned out this tank was Art. Nice job. Noticed that you said that you hadn't heard from me, have you received the last emails? Just want to answer the questions about the cost. As Aaron stated before, the reason for the price is the fact that we are using 1/2" Spartech Polycast acrylic. Because this tank is 25" in height and we are eurobracing it, we have to use the thicker acrylic. On the 60 cube that someone mentioned, we use 3/8". Also Spartech is by far the best brand of acrylic on the market and what we use exclusivly on display tanks. Hope this clears up the price discrepancy (sp?). Anyways, wow $400 for the sump huh. Well, I did send a general quote on ours which I'm sure you will find much better. Well keep up the good work! Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 18, 2005 Author Share Posted November 18, 2005 Hey Randy, Cool didn't know you were on nano-reef or else I would've sent you a link. I got your emails! I was just being an anxious impatient excited kid =P But yeah, I got your quote for a sump, I'll still be working on planning that as well. And I totally understand the price =) Just had to double check. Never doubted you guys though. Helpful from the very beginning!! I had a couple more questions in my latest email, after I get all my annoying questions answered I'll be sending over the deposit. GET READY EVERYONE! IT'S ABOUT TO BEGIN! Well just found this thread. Didn't know how well planned out this tank was Art. Nice job. Noticed that you said that you hadn't heard from me, have you received the last emails? Just want to answer the questions about the cost. As Aaron stated before, the reason for the price is the fact that we are using 1/2" Spartech Polycast acrylic. Because this tank is 25" in height and we are eurobracing it, we have to use the thicker acrylic. On the 60 cube that someone mentioned, we use 3/8". Also Spartech is by far the best brand of acrylic on the market and what we use exclusivly on display tanks. Hope this clears up the price discrepancy (sp?). Anyways, wow $400 for the sump huh. Well, I did send a general quote on ours which I'm sure you will find much better. Well keep up the good work! Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 18, 2005 Author Share Posted November 18, 2005 Deposit was sent, the tank is now being created!!! Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2005 Author Share Posted November 20, 2005 Livestock List Revised: Ocellaris Clown Pair Blackspot Angelfish Randalli Goby Blackray Goby School of 8 Blue-eyed cardinals, Apogon leptacanthus Link to comment
calvin415 Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Koden, did you plan on a Male or Female Angel? I think the Female is incredible and at 7 in max length should be a perfect reef safe show fish! If others don't know the difference: Male Felmale Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 Koden, did you plan on a Male or Female Angel? I think the Female is incredible and at 7 in max length should be a perfect reef safe show fish! If others don't know the difference: Male Felmale I'm planning on a Female Blackspot. I saw one at the LFS as I posted above, and it was really small. 7 in. max length is great. I think I've found the perfect fish for my next tank. =) I also checked out some green/blue reef chromis at the LFS today, they're awesome!! Small little guys, in a big school they would look beautiful, even shimmering. Do you guys know how many chromis I should get? I was thinking 8. Is that pushing it? Link to comment
calvin415 Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I know "chromis" are less agressive than "damsels", but they can still be aggressive. I don't think 30x24 is big enough for them to school, actually I'm not sure anything would school in that space, but I think the cardinals would be a better idea... Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 Hmm, that's strange, I read that the kind I was looking at were peaceful. Maybe I'll reconsider for these: Blue-eyed cardinals, Apogon leptacanthus Link to comment
Sebea Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Those cardinals are really cool! They have a school of about 20 at my LFS. If you had about 6 in your tank, that would look awesome! Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 hi aaron, do you think I can keep 6 or maybe 8 in my 82 gallon? Link to comment
Sebea Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 Yeah, I don't see a problem with that. I think they get up to about 2.5-3" at most. If you go with 8, just stock lightly after that. Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 22, 2005 Author Share Posted November 22, 2005 Yeah, I don't see a problem with that. I think they get up to about 2.5-3" at most. If you go with 8, just stock lightly after that. sounds good. If they are too much, I'm going to get a radiata lionfish to clean them up later on Link to comment
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