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Cultivated Reef

What a GREAT deal!


pico1

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yes, I know. Luckily I was able to find a replacement inlet set for $20 shipped at amekaaquatics.com. That will be here tomorrow.

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Heres what it looked like after painting. Pretty good for being my first DIY type project. Sorry, it's kinda dusty inside from drying in the garage.

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Update: I was rinsing the collection cup with water and I noticed a hole in the bottom! If this would have gone un-noticed all my skimmake would have drained back into the water column as soon as it was taken out! I sealed it up with some super glue.

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The Propagator

Sounds like you bought a POS. :(

 

BTW you have got to be the messiest person I have ever met that works with super glue LOL! ;)

Little tip with super glue. Imediatly run your hand, fingers..what ever under cold water for a second or two and it will usualy peel right off with no problems.

 

Next time use weld on #12. ( peels right off your hands an dfingers too and leaves the skin behind)

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After all my work and mods I'd say it's pretty darn close if not exactly the same as the CPR version. BTW I'm usually not that messy, I was in a panic and just globbed it on my fingers to rub onto the intake when I tried to fix it.

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It's $10 cheaper but it doesn't come with a light. The intake tubing got delayed and won't be here til tomorrow. I added a 4.5" DSB for natural nitrate reduction.

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Looks good. I doubt the DSB will do much in that small of an area. I would have just put rock rubble on the bottom (for pods & filtration) and chaeto above it.

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I'l still be adding a few nice tonga branch type rocks, some chaeto, mini serpent stars, bristle worms, mini feather dusters, a small urchin, and some live sand from a few local reefers to add bio-diversity. I figure the DSB will do as much for filtration as filling the bottom with LR rubble would. I already have around 80LBS LR in my 55 gallon display.

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that dsb will just become a nutrient sink in that small area and won't do anything for nitrate reduction. DSBs don't work in nanos, especially not in nano fuges. I'd recommend no more than .5" sandbed.

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What is a nutrient sink? Why wouldn't it work? Wouldn't it just work not as well as an entire tank DSB because it's smaller, but still work a little?

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look up borneman's seminal work on sand beds. his conclusion is that DSBs don't work on nanos because there's not enough surface area in a nano. I leave it to him to explain why.

 

nutrient sink means that it will absorb nutrients like a sponge and actually increase your nitrates, not decrease them.

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i wouldnt have added that much sand, only about an inch or so... then about a pound or so of LR, then the rest of the space should be left available for your chaeto to grow. you can have space in there also for your heater.

 

btw the cpr knock off looks pretty good... i used to have my cpr backpack II on my 40g worked very well, hope this one works just as well for you!

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I took out all but 1.5" of the sand. I talked to a few specialists and that's what they reccomended I do. I will be putting my heater after the skimmer and before the baffle.

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I set it up today and have a few pics for now. I will post more pics/info. tomorrow.

Overall it works great with the pre skimmer and a little adjusting. I had to adjust the skimmer's air intake a bit to get the best bubble production and flow. I am not getting any bubbles out of the output so I didn't need the bubble trap. It works as well if not better than the brand name one after all the mods I did, and I was able to save about $150!

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Also no light leaks out into the display at night :) When I first started it I had the air valve open all the way nd the flow was REALLY slow. I was thinking about putting a power head in the fuge. After I closed the airflow about 75% I got more bubbles/foam and a lot more flow. Also it actually surface skimmed with the air closed a bit more. It's so nice to have a clean and empty area in the stand! I've just always topped off in the sump so I gotta figure that out still. I'll be getting a new canopy in a few weeks with a door in the front so that should make chores a lot easier. I'll post more pics tomorrow.

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me too! I got some super nice pieces of live rock in there with the chaeto and the DSB. I also added some tigger pods, live mysis, bristle worms, micro brittle stars, and some sand from a local reefer's fuge. In 2 days the skimmer gets what my old skimmer got in a week. I'll post more pics later, my camera is charging.

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