(HD720p)S.MAC 600g SPS System/Full MH + Solaris/Surge/Prop/Fuge/Pond Chiller

[Kraylen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItQlRH6ftTc


Tank is insane. A friend of mine asked me to post this for the SPS heads.

[plyle02]

Awesome, thanks for posting...
Love to hear more info on that beast:)

[sminker]

sweet tank

[StrategicReef]

enjoyed the video!
fish heaven and a dream for reef keeper

[29reef]

Very cool, where's the tank located? I think a HD video or some photos would be very neat.

[DBarsotti]

we need Pictures! more video!

[REEF SMAC]

Awesome, thanks for posting...
Love to hear more info on that beast:)

Thank You-- And Thanks to Kraylen for the photo and posting skills.
Most of the tank stats are at the begining of the video, but if there is anything else you want to know about it let me know.

[REEF SMAC]

sweet tank

enjoyed the video!
fish heaven and a dream for reef keeper

Thank You both-

Very cool, where's the tank located? I think a HD video or some photos would be very neat.

Thanks- The tank is located in Salinas CA. I'm pretty sure you just watched some HD video of it--? As for pictures, I'll have to buy a camera one of these days.

[REEF SMAC]

we need Pictures! more video!

Hey you live 10 minutes away, just come by and look at it.
You can practice with that new camera.

[Kraylen]

Bump!

[DML08]

Updated Video of REEF SMAC SPS tank.. no Rocking Plasma's.. wow...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcUfApvnseM&feature=player_embedded

[REEF SMAC]

Well many thanks to Kraylen because I now have an updated video of my tank for you all.

http://www.youtube.com/kraylen#p/u/0/KcUfApvnseM

For those of you that missed it in the first video back in Feb. here is a list of my current tank info. There has only been a few changes since then.

Display tank: 350 gallons (72x36x34 inches) acrylic.
Sump: Acrylic 85g and 55g plumbed together.
Lighting: (4) 400w MH with Lumenbright 3 mini reflectors (2)20k Radiums, (1)20k Reeflux, and (1)12k Reeflux.
(4) Seashine Plasma lights. They are 4 months old now replacing the I4 LEDs from the first video. (the LEDs started out good but quickly turned into a nightmare)
Return pump: Reeflo Hammerhead feeding an Ocean Motion 4 way and the skimmer.
Skimmer: Euroreef RC750.
Circulation: (4)MP40s, (1)Tunze 6305, and 29g CSD tank that dumps 25 gallons every 3 minutes. (in 30 seconds)
Refugium: 25g (48x12x10 inches) with (2) 65w PC lights.
Calcium Reactor: DIY holds about 4 gallons of coarse media in the main chamber and 2.5 gallons in the second.
Kalk stirrer: Deltec KM500ST.
Sulphur denitrator: DIY.
GFO reactor: TLF 550.
Controller: APEX.
Frag tank: 70 gallons.
Water change sump: 60 gallons.
Chiller: Tank is chilled via heat exchanger by my Koi pond. (and my Koi pond is heated by my reef tank)

The skimmer, refugium, frag tank, water change sump, Ca Rx, sulphur Rx, Kalk stirrer, and GFO all located in a room upstairs and all the water returns to the display downstairs via the dumptank.

This tank has been running just over 3 years now but alot of the animals are older than that.

Enjoy! :D

[REEF SMAC]

Updated Video of REEF SMAC SPS tank.. no Rocking Plasma's.. wow...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcUfApvnseM&feature=player_embedded

Hey Dom whats up?
LOL-You just beat me by 5 minutes.:beer:

[DML08]

HAHA..^^ awesome Steve... :thumbsup:

[dvanacker]

wow...impressive.

[9thwonder]

amazing

[CleveYank]

Thank You both-



Thanks- The tank is located in Salinas CA. I'm pretty sure you just watched some HD video of it--? As for pictures, I'll have to buy a camera one of these days.


Great tank.

If you shot video in HD, I am almost certain you can yank stills out of it that can suffice for most outside of getting a dedicated DSLR and say a 105 macro lens, which can run big bucks.

The entry level video software from Sony for the PC and the standard comes with it software in any Apple (forgot the name of it) made the past 4 years should be able to do it.

[M007]

Outrageous! Tell us more about the surge.....

[REEF SMAC]

wow...impressive.

amazing

dvanacker and 9thwonder thank you both for the kind words.:)

[REEF SMAC]

Great tank.

If you shot video in HD, I am almost certain you can yank stills out of it that can suffice for most outside of getting a dedicated DSLR and say a 105 macro lens, which can run big bucks.

The entry level video software from Sony for the PC and the standard comes with it software in any Apple (forgot the name of it) made the past 4 years should be able to do it.

Thanks for the ideas CleveYank. That's just it, I didn't shoot the video. Kraylen shot the video, it's his camera and video skills.:artist:

[REEF SMAC]

Outrageous! Tell us more about the surge.....

Thanks M007..:)

The surge is just a basic Carlson Surge Device. The skimmer for my tank is located upstairs. (It way to big to fit under my tank) All the water that exits my skimmer drains into my CSD. Its an acrylic 29 gallon tank with an 1.5" bulkhead in the bottom. There is an upside down 1.5" "U" pipe in the surge tank connected to the bulkhead. As the tank fills almost to the top, it begins a siphon up and over the "U" and downstairs to an air separator via 1.5" pipe. I built a DIY air separator out of 4" and 6" PVC pipe that stands between my DT and the wall. It takes out 90% of the air bubbles before the water enters my DT. The water enters my DT through a 2" pipe/bulkhead. As you can see in the video there are still some small micro bubbles that make it into the DT but they are not really large enough to make much of a mess. The salt spray/creep is very minimal. It moves alot of water in my tank- It's like having a wave breaking in my tank. The surge of water easily pushes across the entire length of my DT. (6 feet) The water level rises about an inch in the DT when it dumps. My overflow drain is 3" pipe so it can handle the sudden volumn. Its been really maintenance free and has worked flawlessly for over three years now. With the CSD upstairs in another room I don't have to listen to the siphon break (toilet flush) sound in my living room. I don't have that skimmer smell in my living room either.:D

[scrapz]

very beautiful tank, hate the spectrum of those plasma however lol.

damn kraylen and his FF music. gives me chills everytime because i love the game so much=D

[M007]

Thanks M007..:)

The surge is just a basic Carlson Surge Device. The skimmer for my tank is located upstairs. (It way to big to fit under my tank) All the water that exits my skimmer drains into my CSD. Its an acrylic 29 gallon tank with an 1.5" bulkhead in the bottom. There is an upside down 1.5" "U" pipe in the surge tank connected to the bulkhead. As the tank fills almost to the top, it begins a siphon up and over the "U" and downstairs to an air separator via 1.5" pipe. I built a DIY air separator out of 4" and 6" PVC pipe that stands between my DT and the wall. It takes out 90% of the air bubbles before the water enters my DT. The water enters my DT through a 2" pipe/bulkhead. As you can see in the video there are still some small micro bubbles that make it into the DT but they are not really large enough to make much of a mess. The salt spray/creep is very minimal. It moves alot of water in my tank- It's like having a wave breaking in my tank. The surge of water easily pushes across the entire length of my DT. (6 feet) The water level rises about an inch in the DT when it dumps. My overflow drain is 3" pipe so it can handle the sudden volumn. Its been really maintenance free and has worked flawlessly for over three years now. With the CSD upstairs in another room I don't have to listen to the siphon break (toilet flush) sound in my living room. I don't have that skimmer smell in my living room either.:D

Brilliant idea! I guess when that thing dumps it really gives all the acros a blast of oxygen rich water and a good cleaning at the same time without stressing everything out with over driven 24/7 water flow.

[shutiny]

Wow, Steve! Can't believed it has grown so much, love it! Kraylen is the official photogrpher for M-Bay County:)

[DML08]

Mbrk!..

[Reeference]

Thanks M007..:)

The surge is just a basic Carlson Surge Device. The skimmer for my tank is located upstairs. (It way to big to fit under my tank) All the water that exits my skimmer drains into my CSD. Its an acrylic 29 gallon tank with an 1.5" bulkhead in the bottom. There is an upside down 1.5" "U" pipe in the surge tank connected to the bulkhead. As the tank fills almost to the top, it begins a siphon up and over the "U" and downstairs to an air separator via 1.5" pipe. I built a DIY air separator out of 4" and 6" PVC pipe that stands between my DT and the wall. It takes out 90% of the air bubbles before the water enters my DT. The water enters my DT through a 2" pipe/bulkhead. As you can see in the video there are still some small micro bubbles that make it into the DT but they are not really large enough to make much of a mess. The salt spray/creep is very minimal. It moves alot of water in my tank- It's like having a wave breaking in my tank. The surge of water easily pushes across the entire length of my DT. (6 feet) The water level rises about an inch in the DT when it dumps. My overflow drain is 3" pipe so it can handle the sudden volumn. Its been really maintenance free and has worked flawlessly for over three years now. With the CSD upstairs in another room I don't have to listen to the siphon break (toilet flush) sound in my living room. I don't have that skimmer smell in my living room either.:D

So that is kinda like what the wavebox does..

[REEF SMAC]

very beautiful tank, hate the spectrum of those plasma however lol.=D

:confused:You don't like the spectrum at full sunlight at 100% or when they're blue at 70-40%? The spectrum is actually what I like the most. I like the fact that you can change the spectrum just by dimming the lights up and down. Seems alot of people run 10k MH and have actinic T5s for that "color pop". I just use the plasmas for the white 10k look and 20k radiums for the "color pop". I been loving this combination. I think my coral colors have improved greatly with the plasmas. I like that my growth has never been better. With the plasmas on at 100% like sunlight all day and I can still view my tank for hours in the evening with them dimmed down to 70% where they are very blue. Along with the radiums I can still get the whole black light poster tank without having to change any bulbs.

damn kraylen and his FF music. gives me chills everytime because i love the game so much=D

Can't speak for the music. I have know idea where it's from.:)

[REEF SMAC]

Brilliant idea! I guess when that thing dumps it really gives all the acros a blast of oxygen rich water and a good cleaning at the same time without stressing everything out with over driven 24/7 water flow.

Thanks! Works really well, it's a pretty good blast. You definately wouldn't want that much flow blasting 24/7. I don't think the corals would be able to take it. Once every 3 minutes seems to be just fine though.:D

[REEF SMAC]

Wow, Steve! Can't believed it has grown so much, love it! Kraylen is the official photogrpher for M-Bay County:)

It definately does grow fast-Thanks Shu`Tin.:)

Kraylen is really good with the camera skills and he just keeps getting better all the time. I guess that's why he has his own YouTube channel.

[REEF SMAC]

Mbrk!..

That's right!:beer:

[REEF SMAC]

So that is kinda like what the wavebox does..

I think the wavebox is more of a water motion that has a back and forth kind of rhythm. Kind of gets the whole tank swaying in and out of the box. I think my surge is more like dumping a 5 gallon bucket of water into your tank really fast. (Actually more like 5 buckets in 30 seconds.) Then it all overflows and calms down before it does it again 3 minutes later. It's alot more random I think.:)

[jdm1114]

Very nice tank man

[Daren]

Awesome tank. What light settings do you have set on your Solaris? I have a 210 with Solaris also. No where as pretty as this but hopefully one day.
Thanks,
Daren

[oscar.millan]

Thanks for sharing, those are some massive colonies well done.

[REEF SMAC]

Very nice tank man

Thank you jdm1114 -:)

[seashark]

love this tank ,thanks for sharing

[REEF SMAC]

Awesome tank. What light settings do you have set on your Solaris? I have a 210 with Solaris also. No where as pretty as this but hopefully one day.
Thanks,
Daren

Thanks Daren for the compliments.
I no longer have the Solaris fixtures on my display tank. I started my LED adventure years ago when the first Solaris version came out. It worked really well for me on a 50g tank that I had at the time. My growth/colors were excellent. I had ran this fixture for a little over a year and at the same time I was working on my current display tank. At the time when I was just getting my new DT tank going the new Solaris I-IV came out. Since I had such good luck with my first model, I decided to get two of the I-IV's for my new DT. I have to say that at first these fixtures were awesome. Side by side with 400w MH I think my SPS grew better and had just as good color under the LEDs. That with the fact that they don't put off hardly and heat made them a great fixture at first. Unfortunately that did not last. As time went on these new fixtures fell apart fast. At first the bulbs started dying, one by one randomly. It started as one a month and six months later it was at least one a week. PFO was excellent with their customer service and would always replace the bulbs. Not quite a year into this, one of the power sources died and again PFO replaced it right away. About a year into it, one of the circuit boards died. I sent the fixture to PFO and they fixed it. By this time I had been through 3 power sources and at least 40 light strips and 2 fans. About this time my original Solaris that was just over two years old now started to have bulb and power source issues as well. So anyway, soon after that PFO just disappeared. They no longer answered their phone. After many many hours of my time retrofitting my own power sources, changing bulbs, fans etc. I gave up on these nightmare LEDs. Spending all your spare time keeping your light fixtures working gets old really fast.:mad2:

I decided to try out the new SeaShine Plasmas to replace the LEDs.That is what you are seeing in the second video by Kraylen here-

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=kraylen#grid/uploads

So far so good. I love the light they put out. I'm still waiting to see if they outlast LEDs, and I will let you know how that works out.

I now use one Solaris on my frag/QT. By cannibalizing the other two, I can still make one work. What I have found also, is that over time LEDs don't seem to perform. Yes the bulbs last 50k hours (if you can keep them running) but even though the bulbs are still on and appear bright, they just don't grow coral like they used to. Between my DT, another frag tank running T5s, and this tank running LEDs, any coral I try looks the worst/brownest under these not quite 3 year old LEDs. They all share the same water so that is not it. Things still stay alive and even grow a little, but there is a night and day difference how they performed when they were new. It's like having MH bulbs that haven't been changed in over two years. I'm still holding out hope that LEDs will be better in the future because I think they definately have potential. You can't beat how cool they run, especially on a smaller tank where light heat can be an issue. I hope that with all of the new LED fixtures out there, that everyone has better luck than I did.
I can say that I've burned alot of money in this hobby and LEDs have unfortunately turned out to be for me, the biggest waist of money so far to date.

:sad2:

[REEF SMAC]

Thanks for sharing, those are some massive colonies well done.

Thanks oscar.millan- I've started pretty much all of them from small frags. Some I have trimmed many times. Others I have had for years and they are still small frags...?


love this tank ,thanks for sharing

Thank you seashark- Thanks for checking it out.
:)

[RobbReef]

Thank you for sharing this beautiful beast. Do you have a video of equipment?

[Bax]

Very very nice system!

Can you tell us more about the cooling loop between the reef and koi pond?

How is the heat exchabger connected and fed?

Do you circulate the pond water thru the heat exchnager? ANd, what type of exchanger do you use?

Thanks for sharing this sweet tank!

[oscar.millan]

Thank you for sharing.

[solRNY]

incredibly amazing tank, how long have you had your plasma? without the 20k halide do you think the corals will have good coloration and growth?

btw, awesome video, very enjoying to watch :)

[DML08]

Man I got to visit with Steve today and Man.. What a awesome Tank.. TOTM overdue for sure!!. Best Reef Hands Down, well done Steve and thanks for showing be around today man...

[REEF SMAC]

Very very nice system!

Can you tell us more about the cooling loop between the reef and koi pond?

How is the heat exchabger connected and fed?

Do you circulate the pond water thru the heat exchnager? ANd, what type of exchanger do you use?

Thanks for sharing this sweet tank!

Sorry it took so long for me to get an answer to you but here you go.

I have an outdoor, in ground, 1800g Koi pond. In the koi pond filter "sump" I placed a submersed Mag 12 that's controlled by the temp I set with my DT's APEX. The Mag 12 pumps pond water, plumbed through my living room wall into my display tank sump via 1" PVC pipe. This 1" header splits into (2) parallel 5/8" PEX tubing coils that are submerged in my sump water. PEX tubing is normally used for radiant floor heating. Each PEX tubing loop is about 12' long. The cool pond water cools my display tank and the heated pond water returns back to my pond via a 1" PVC return line. It's been working flawlessly for several years now. My Koi pond stays warmer year round and my DT stays cool without the added cost of running a chiller.

Hope these will help.
Here are some pics-

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_kY6i0-vEPxk/TZ8o1cQ8iwI/AAAAAAAAACE/lq6vYnhiNbg/s800/Picture%20tank%207-10%20097.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_kY6i0-vEPxk/TZ8pH7P9ZvI/AAAAAAAAACQ/UhG0OcOOeZQ/s800/Picture%20tank%207-10%20098.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_kY6i0-vEPxk/TZ8pNkE6_3I/AAAAAAAAACU/0IjthgiVOzo/s800/Picture%20tank%207-10%20100.jpg

[DML08]

Fluff HAHAHA.. :D

[klepto]

What a awesome Tank.. TOTM overdue for sure!!. Best Reef Hands Down, well done Steve...

Agreed. Steve, your system and husbandry skills are inspirational. I'd like to come shoot some pics to share with RC when possible.

[REEF SMAC]

incredibly amazing tank, how long have you had your plasma? without the 20k halide do you think the corals will have good coloration and growth?

btw, awesome video, very enjoying to watch :)

Thanks solRNY-

I've had these plasmas about a year now and so far I'm loving them. My corals have never looked happier and the colors have never looked better. The corals growing directly under plasmas are doing every bit as good as they do under the MH. Even if they aren't "blue" enough for you when they are running at 100%, the corals have amazing coloration. When you dim them down to 50-70% the plasmas are really blue and the coral colors really pop.

Here are some cell phone pics with nothing but plasmas on at about 50%-

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/TdqnPB_2cjI/AAAAAAAAACw/meNLNXHX5uk/s800/Picture%20140.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/Tdqm2BRIyaI/AAAAAAAAACo/3kTSX_bXjXI/s800/Picture%20127.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/Tdqms_EkSHI/AAAAAAAAACg/vWs52jPvCis/s800/Picture%20136.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/TdqnjtWpicI/AAAAAAAAAC4/tkOgvebYgoo/s800/Picture%20141.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/TdqKXM7sTTI/AAAAAAAAAB4/QwuSoElQSLU/s800/Picture%20192.jpg

[REEF SMAC]

Man I got to visit with Steve today and Man.. What a awesome Tank.. TOTM overdue for sure!!. Best Reef Hands Down, well done Steve and thanks for showing be around today man...

Thanks D2! Come by anytime.:beer:

[REEF SMAC]

Agreed. Steve, your system and husbandry skills are inspirational. I'd like to come shoot some pics to share with RC when possible.

I'm looking forward to when one of you pic masters is gonna show me how it's done.:D

[REEF SMAC]

Here's some more cell phone pics-

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/TdqNKE7PuHI/AAAAAAAAACA/9FnHoiVUrRs/s800/Picture%20125.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/TdqLXK_t6FI/AAAAAAAAAB8/D6lNy0n9xOI/s800/Picture%20179.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/TdqJpexSYMI/AAAAAAAAABs/NKealVFJako/s800/Picture%20164.jpg

Here's a moonlight shot-

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_mLIvUzgL_L0/Tdqx6msFnCI/AAAAAAAAADU/nxW3716slsA/s800/Picture%20119.jpg

[Bax]

WOW! Great pics! Thanks for the bump on your thread too!

And thanks so much for the answer on the pond chiller layout. I'm building both a pond and a reef this year and I'm encouraged I can make it work for my system too! My 1,200ish gallon pond will likely be a little warmer in our muggy North Jersey summer than yours is though! But even if it just supplements a chiller reducing run time it would be great!

Thanks again!

[REEF SMAC]

WOW! Great pics! Thanks for the bump on your thread too!

And thanks so much for the answer on the pond chiller layout. I'm building both a pond and a reef this year and I'm encouraged I can make it work for my system too! My 1,200ish gallon pond will likely be a little warmer in our muggy North Jersey summer than yours is though! But even if it just supplements a chiller reducing run time it would be great!

Thanks again!

You are very welcome,

Using my pond for my chiller is one of the best things I've ever done for my reef. It uses a lot less power, it's quieter, and it's way more enjoyable to look at than any chiller. Without it, I would have to run a chiller year round with the amount of lights I'm running on my reef. My pond averages 4' deep (the deeper the better) and doesn't change temp very much year round. My pond temp goes from about 48 in the winter to 72 degrees in the summer. Jersey is definitely way more extreme with temps. Even though your pond won't help your cooling much when it reaches 80 in the summer it will definitely keep your chiller from having to run the rest of the year. You're gonna like it.
:)

[Reffer831]

Sorry Steve I cant believe I haven't seen this thread before, you never told me you had a build thread....Here are some pic's I took over the last two visits to his house...there is so much cool stuff in this tank , it is kind of like where do I start first. Completely overwhelming. Get's my vote on TOTM. Next time I am over there I need to take some pic's of your filter set, up and up stairs, so everyone can see how impressive it is....it show the skills of a great plumper.

First trip:

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0607.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0627.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0592.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0587.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0539.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0594.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0596.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_0618-1.jpg

[Reffer831]

Second trip:

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5477.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5465.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5524.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5540.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5501.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5474.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5480.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5507.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5531.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx78/au831/Reef%20Tank/IMG_5549.jpg

[DML08]

Sweet pics Andy..
We need more, people just don't understand how awesome both the tank and Steve are..

[Reffer831]

Sweet pics Andy..
We need more, people just don't understand how awesome both the tank and Steve are..

Thanks Dom...your right, his tank really needs to be documented by a pro so every one can enjoy it's true beauty.:beachbum: and Steve can get TOTM....MBRK!!!

[myzislow]

Steve's tank is amazing to say the least. The koi pond that chills the beast is equally as tight!!

TOTM is a must for this system, people need to see just how incredible it is.

[allsps40]

+1 TOTM. Outstanding system.

[Reffer831]

I don't understand how this tank has not got more LOVE....

[Western_reefer]

WOW!! AMAZING tank!! :eek1: :eek1: :eek1: On the surge that happens every 3 minutes, do micro bubbles come out every time? If so, why??

[agcneves]

AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING!

Maintain updated the post and the pictures, please!
Best Regards :bounce3:

[sahin]

I have seen photos and videos of this most awesome reef tank a few times in other places and on Youtube.

I wish I could set my eyes on this, but not possible. I live in the UK :(

This is one of those dream tanks in my list of tanks to see all over the world.

I cannot believe this has not received TOTM here on RC.

[Reffer831]

Thanks again Steve for pluming my tank..I will be by asap to take more pic's...

[M007]

Always love re discovering this thread :crazy1:

[herring_fish]

Reef Smac,

I am interested in your thoughts on my planned version of aqua-thermal chilling. You are the only person that I see posting that has any real experience doing this stuff.

I want to pump water to my stream and back. Since my sump is in the garage, I plan to use titanium tubing that actually goes into the main display tank (130 gallon). I can buy it in straight sections and rent a bender to form it. Here is my thread with more details.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1900794&highlight=aquathermal&page=2


One issue is that the stream stays at 76 degrees all day and night in the summer. I don't know if there is enough of a differential to do the job. Only experimentation can determine that and the investment is comparatively low.

I put the plan on hold last fall because I had a lot of projects to work on and it was getting cool outside. I am working on a 2 axis robot controlled plankton feeder right now so I have not been able to get back to it for a while. I thought that I would ask for the feed back while I had a good change of getting a responce.

Please give me any feed back on the plan.

[herring_fish]

I am setting up a tank for growing non-photosynthetic corals in a mixed reef environment so I don't check the SPS thread very often. Reef Smac, your tank is quite exciting and very beautiful.

I have a different question now. This time it's about your plasma lighting. I am not totally happy with my actinic lamps. I have old VHO. I could change to T5s but I would prefer pin point lighting. I was going to go to LEDs for the blue part of the range but read about your failure rate for the individual LEDs. This brought me too the question.

Could you use a plasma light for just a deep blue light to go along with a white one? When you turn the light down, do you loose too much intensity to make it worth the investment? If so, you could simply have 2 or 4 pin point lamps for the whole tank.

I'm sure that I am over looking something but I thought that I would ask.

[DML08]

Plasma lighting at full strength is more of a 10K look, you can dail it back though for more blue, but I'm not sure how that works.. Steve Also uses MH for more blue instead of LED, T5 or VHO and it looks Killer.. I want to say they are 400w Raduims but I can be wrong.. Ha, that means I need to go by and peep it again.. :D :D

[klepto]

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6146/5965599799_259200c171_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/5965599799/)
Salarias fasciatus (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/5965599799/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6004/5965599837_78392ab3cd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/5965599837/)
Pseudanthias barlettorum (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/5965599837/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6141/5965599895_de8414c5dd_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/5965599895/)
End View (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/5965599895/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

[DML08]

ahh man Jake.. Killer pics man.. finally some goodness so peeps can see just how awesome this tank is!!!> TOTM!!!!!!!

[klepto]

Thanks Dom. I wish this tank could be fully captured with images.

[DML08]

I wish to, but the tank is so dang Big!! Pics do no justice to its size!!!.. well done Jake on the pics Bro.. Big ups to Steve too!..

[M007]

The last pic knocks me out :hmm3: Awesome!

[REEF SMAC]

Sorry Steve I cant believe I haven't seen this thread before, you never told me you had a build thread....Here are some pic's I took over the last two visits to his house...there is so much cool stuff in this tank , it is kind of like where do I start first. Completely overwhelming. Get's my vote on TOTM. Next time I am over there I need to take some pic's of your filter set, up and up stairs, so everyone can see how impressive it is....it show the skills of a great plumper.


Thanks Andy!:beer:

Your pics are awesome.

Sorry I didn't realize you had posted on this thread. I've been puterless for a little while. Trying to catch up.

This wasn't actually "my" build thread to start with, it was Kraylen's video link.
I just kind of ended up highjacking it to answer questions. Especially since he has "moved on". That's why it's his name on the thread title.:o

Anyway I'm planning to keep on highjacking it, and making it a build thread so keep reading.:reading:

[REEF SMAC]

We need more, people just don't understand how awesome both the tank and Steve are..

his tank really needs to be documented by a pro so every one can enjoy it's true beauty.:beachbum: and Steve can get TOTM....MBRK!!!

Steve's tank is amazing to say the least. The koi pond that chills the beast is equally as tight!!

TOTM is a must for this system, people need to see just how incredible it is.

+1 TOTM. Outstanding system.

I don't understand how this tank has not got more LOVE....

Thank you, all of you guys for the kind words.:beer:

[REEF SMAC]

WOW!! AMAZING tank!! :eek1: :eek1: :eek1: On the surge that happens every 3 minutes, do micro bubbles come out every time? If so, why??

Thank you Western_reefer!

Yes the micro bubbles do come out every time. Each time after the surge dumps, the pipe from the surge tank to the DT empties out. So each time the surge "dumps", the water rushing down the pipe literally pushes the air out of the piping each time it dumps. My surge tank is 8' above my DT so there is a lot of air to push out of that much 1.5" pipe. My DIY air separator actually takes out all the larger bubbles but the smaller micro bubbles get pushed all the way through. It pushes into the DT pretty fast and hard, falling from 8' up, so I think that's why mine makes even more micro bubbles than most.
:)

[REEF SMAC]

AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING!

Maintain updated the post and the pictures, please!
Best Regards :bounce3:

Thank you agcneves!

My pic skills are pretty minimal. My cell phone pics are the best I can do for now. I'll try though.

I have seen photos and videos of this most awesome reef tank a few times in other places and on Youtube.

I wish I could set my eyes on this, but not possible. I live in the UK :(

This is one of those dream tanks in my list of tanks to see all over the world.

I cannot believe this has not received TOTM here on RC.

Thank you sahin!

When you do go on that world tour and make it to Cali, you are welcome to stop by.:)

Thanks again Steve for pluming my tank..I will be by asap to take more pic's...

You are very welcome. Can't wait to see you get that new tank going.:thumbsup:

Always love re discovering this thread :crazy1:

I'm kind of rediscovering it myself today. lol...:D

[REEF SMAC]

Reef Smac,

I am interested in your thoughts on my planned version of aqua-thermal chilling. You are the only person that I see posting that has any real experience doing this stuff.

I want to pump water to my stream and back. Since my sump is in the garage, I plan to use titanium tubing that actually goes into the main display tank (130 gallon). I can buy it in straight sections and rent a bender to form it. Here is my thread with more details.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1900794&highlight=aquathermal&page=2


One issue is that the stream stays at 76 degrees all day and night in the summer. I don't know if there is enough of a differential to do the job. Only experimentation can determine that and the investment is comparatively low.

I put the plan on hold last fall because I had a lot of projects to work on and it was getting cool outside. I am working on a 2 axis robot controlled plankton feeder right now so I have not been able to get back to it for a while. I thought that I would ask for the feed back while I had a good change of getting a responce.

Please give me any feed back on the plan.

IMO it will work really well. I went ahead and posted my $0.02 on your thread to answer your question above.:)

[REEF SMAC]

I am setting up a tank for growing non-photosynthetic corals in a mixed reef environment so I don't check the SPS thread very often. Reef Smac, your tank is quite exciting and very beautiful.

I have a different question now. This time it's about your plasma lighting. I am not totally happy with my actinic lamps. I have old VHO. I could change to T5s but I would prefer pin point lighting. I was going to go to LEDs for the blue part of the range but read about your failure rate for the individual LEDs. This brought me too the question.

Could you use a plasma light for just a deep blue light to go along with a white one? When you turn the light down, do you loose too much intensity to make it worth the investment? If so, you could simply have 2 or 4 pin point lamps for the whole tank.

I'm sure that I am over looking something but I thought that I would ask.

Thank you herring_fish for the compliments.:)

If you are only trying to illuminate non-photosynthetic corals with a blue spectrum then sure plasmas would work. The light they put out running at 50% is very blue, much like 15-20k. Seems a little overkill to me to have a light capable of putting out a ton of light running at 50% to get the blue effect. The manufacturer tells me that they do use less power when you dim them, and that dimming them doesn't effect their bulb life at all, in fact they say it will actually make them last longer. If you are just talking spotlights, LEDs would probably be actually fine for that. Not really sure about the size of the tank you are thinking about, but those Par 38s or those Kessils might be a good option for you also. They are actually made like spotlights.

[REEF SMAC]

Plasma lighting at full strength is more of a 10K look, you can dail it back though for more blue, but I'm not sure how that works.. Steve Also uses MH for more blue instead of LED, T5 or VHO and it looks Killer.. I want to say they are 400w Raduims but I can be wrong.. Ha, that means I need to go by and peep it again.. :D :D

Two are Radiums, two are 12k Reeflux.

You can cruz by anytime and check though.:thumbsup:

[REEF SMAC]

Thanks Dom. I wish this tank could be fully captured with images.

Jake Thanks man! :beer:

Your pics look like a real pro. I think you're doing pretty well at capturing images if you ask me.:thumbsup:

I wish to, but the tank is so dang Big!! Pics do no justice to its size!!!.. well done Jake on the pics Bro.. Big ups to Steve too!..

Thanks D2!


The last pic knocks me out :hmm3: Awesome!

Jake's pics are definately amazing!

[klepto]

Jake Thanks man! :beer:

Your pics look like a real pro. I think you're doing pretty well at capturing images if you ask me.:thumbsup:
You are too kind sir. :wave:

I will be sure to post more shots as soon as I get a chance to edit them.

[jc-reef]

This tank is jaw dropping... Amazing full grown colonies!! I really like the surge setup. It seems to nicely replicate the tides/currents on natural reefs. I would love to see a video of the 'surge' room in action too.

Bravo!

------

[Bax]

klepto

Those are just great pics of this amazing tank! .... Hope that's just a tease!!!!

[tom obrecht]

PM sent

[REEF SMAC]

This tank is jaw dropping... Amazing full grown colonies!! I really like the surge setup. It seems to nicely replicate the tides/currents on natural reefs. I would love to see a video of the 'surge' room in action too.

Bravo!

------

Thank you jc-reef,
I do like my surge a lot. Seems to work really well and it's been literally zero maintenance for almost 4 years now.
Sorry I don't have any video of the "surge room" yet. I'll have to work on that.:)





klepto

Those are just great pics of this amazing tank! .... Hope that's just a tease!!!!

Klepto does like to do that.:D

PM sent

And answered.

:)

[Maximus]

I wish I had the room for a surge. I gotta check out your tank again, Steve!

[REEF SMAC]

I've had several people ask about how my DIY air separator works, so here is my attemp to explain it.

My CSD tank is in the room upstairs above my DT, making it about 8' above my DT. When I first connected it strait into my DT, it would push very large bubbles into my DT at the beginning of each surge. The falling water from my surge tank would basically force all the air out of the empty pipe and push it directly into my DT. Having your CSD tank 8' up gives you a really good blast of water into your DT, but it also has more air in the pipe to empty out on the way down. The large bubbles at the beginning of the surge would cause a lot of water to splash out above where the CSD water enters my tank. Anyone with familiar with a CSD probably knows this well.

I decided to try an air separator to take out these large bubbles and it worked even better than I had hoped. I no longer have any large bubbles splashing into my DT at all. Very small micro bubbles still however make it all the way through. The micro bubbles are not a problem at all and the salt spray/creep is now almost nonexistent. (my tangs splash out more water) It's basically the same idea/mechanics that most large commercial hydronic systems use. I just adapted it to fit my tank.

Here is my primitive hand drawing of my air separator.(sorry, don't have the fancy CAD on my puter)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LEkMbqgjA40/TjOfIjwbLZI/AAAAAAAAAec/SSDy0SGYxbQ/s800/Scan_Pic0001.jpg

The larger the diameter of the separator, the better it works. The idea being that the water will travel slower through a larger tank/pipe, giving the bubbles more time to rise up and out. I built mine out of 4" and 6" PVC pipe. I would have prefered to use larger diameter pipe, but it would not fit between my DT and the wall. I also went as tall as I could possibly make it, going from the bottom of my cabinet to the ceiling.
I used a hot air welder to build parts of mine, This was specifically to make it fit in a really tight space. Someone could certainly make one using glued fittings, if they have the room, and they aren't familiar with using a hot air welder.

The 1" check valve at the top was added to keep air from rushing back into the vessel. For some reason air would get pulled in through this vent and spray bubbles into my DT at the end of each surge, without this checkvalve.

I ran the "air vent" with a hose down into my sump, above the waterline, just to be safe. Although it does not flow water, it does carry alot of moisture.
I've once had a large Mexican Turbo crawl into the pipe where the water enters my DT and block the flow of the surge. He was strong enough to hang on, forcing the surge water to go all the way to the top of the separator, into the drain hose, and into my sump.
Was soooo glad I had decided to run that hose.:)

[curlykid]

those square spot anthias are HUGE!!!

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-crVZbuSYbMg/TjWQrSBLJpI/AAAAAAAAAeo/z1tBoEDsvgc/s800/130.jpghttps://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-X2Mbi5UnqMQ/TjWQ8XuLinI/AAAAAAAAAes/r3fUXrEeEik/s800/128.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-MasDrKqbx5k/TjWRJtLak8I/AAAAAAAAAew/nWrRiGVQeuo/s800/127.jpg

These are cell pics of my separator tower between my DT and the wall. I took off some cabinet panels to get a pic, but it's still hard to see with the cabinet around it.



https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cw-YcqdJgg8/TjWRYJktS_I/AAAAAAAAAe0/JKknGIQ6EL0/s800/126.jpghttps://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wD83gGVnMMI/TjWRqoDquyI/AAAAAAAAAe4/bsylCihqyXg/s800/125.jpg

These are shots of the 4"x1" bushing and 1" check valve vent at the top of the separator. Hard to see, but there are two 1" 90s above the check valve making a u-turn, then connecting to a 1" hose, plumbed to the sump.



https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-cSsmEaCVN7E/TjWQd9AtPmI/AAAAAAAAAek/7cHwCNb-U98/s800/134.jpg

This is a shot of where the 2" pipe enters my DT. You can see here, where I hot air welded the hub of the 2" 90, where it passes through the 4" separator vessel wall. I then glued in a short piece of 2" schedule 80 PVC pipe, threaded on the other end, into this 2" 90. The threaded end is tightened into the bulkhead on my DT.
:)

[REEF SMAC]

I wish I had the room for a surge. I gotta check out your tank again, Steve!

I've actually seen some pretty small ones.
Call me whenever you want to come by.:)

those square spot anthias are HUGE!!!

The square spot is pretty large and is definately the dominant anthias in my tank. I've had him for about 4 years now and he was already pretty big when I got him.

[klepto]

The square spot is pretty large and is definitely the dominant anthias in my tank. I've had him for about 4 years now and he was already pretty big when I got him.

Here he is! :eek:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6020/6019891708_bd1b8df6de_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891708/)
Pseudanthias pleurotaenia (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891708/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

Sorry for the delay Steve.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6130/6019891168_a0f11ef7e6_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891168/)
Side Group Shot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891168/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

The unstoppable Palmers Blue!
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6025/6019340619_456d68647d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019340619/)
Palmers Blue Millepora (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019340619/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6014/6019891386_719fb38cbe_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891386/)
Eric's Strawberry Lemonade (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891386/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6013/6019340863_0d6f34df9b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019340863/)
Oregon Tortuosa (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019340863/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr


This table is my favorite piece.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/6019340949_9d1c2b3c00_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019340949/)
Raspberry Table (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019340949/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6025/6019891846_4df7b48411_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891846/)
Full Tank Shot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6019891846/) by Jake Weston (http://www.flickr.com/people/65074187@N06/), on Flickr

[DML08]

whoohoo!!!!!..

[rigleautomotive]

Awesome tank bro.one of the best I have seen

[veloboy]

Awesome tank bro.one of the best I have seen

+1. Super impressive!

[Bax]

I just swore, in a really profane maner ... and I may have soiled myself...

[myzislow]

Amazing Steve! Great shots Jake, they look really good man.

[M007]

Stunning!

[klepto]

Great shots Jake, they look really good man.
Thanks Josh. Much appreciated. :spin3:

[REEF SMAC]

Sorry for the delay Steve.


Bro take all the time you need.:thumbsup:

Your pics are amazing. You can make anyone's tank look good with those photo skills you have.

Thank you again!

[REEF SMAC]

whoohoo!!!!!..

:beer:

Awesome tank bro.one of the best I have seen

+1. Super impressive!

Thank you guys, always good to hear that from you SPS gods.
:)

[REEF SMAC]

I just swore, in a really profane maner ... and I may have soiled myself...

:lmao: Hopefully you weren't out in public at the time.


Amazing Steve!

Stunning!

Thank you guys!:beer:

[JG1]

I only wish one day I can have a system like this

[teo reef]

awesome tank!!! :mixed:.
It must be a TOTM!!!

[Santoki]

awesome setup and reef Steve.
Question on your surge system:
Do you lose velocity after the water drains into the air separator from the CSD on the top floor? I'm asking because it looks like the air separator is essentially a secondary surge device and the velocity is really created by the speed in which the air separator gets filled and empties, completely unrelated to the actual velocity created by having the CSD on the top floor.
-Robert

[REEF SMAC]

I only wish one day I can have a system like this

Stick with it, before you know it you will.:)

awesome tank!!! :mixed:.
It must be a TOTM!!!

Thank you very much teo reef.:thumbsup:

[REEF SMAC]

awesome setup and reef Steve.
Question on your surge system:
Do you lose velocity after the water drains into the air separator from the CSD on the top floor? I'm asking because it looks like the air separator is essentially a secondary surge device and the velocity is really created by the speed in which the air separator gets filled and empties, completely unrelated to the actual velocity created by having the CSD on the top floor.
-Robert

First off, thank you for the compliment.

I actually had my surge hooked up without the air separator when I first set this tank up and there really was no noticeable difference in velocity after I added the separator. Just a lot less bubbles.
At most there is probably some friction loss, but it's negligible.

To explain it another way. The separator is always full of water to the level of the DT.(water seeks it's own level) If you calculate the volume of the remaining 4" pipe, the portion of the separator that's above the DT water level, it would hold less than 3 gallons of water. With 25 gallons falling from my upstairs surge tank, draining in less than 30 seconds, into this separator, all that water enters my DT tank without ever spilling over into the air vent hose. In other words, the water enters my DT so fast, that it never over fills that 3 gallon space of the separator, that is above the DT water level.

When you are standing there watching the surge water enter the DT, you can easily see where it pushes tiny micro bubbles all the way to the opposite end of the DT.(6') It's by far, waaaaay more velocity than I get out of my MP60s or 6305. (probably triple)

I've hooked up other CSDs on several other tanks in the past, placed a very short distance above the DT water level. Athough they also work extremely well, having it up higher works even better.

Having the CSD higher up causes it to be siphoned empty faster.
Place a 15' siphon hose in a trash can full of water sitting on the ground and see how fast the water comes out the end of the hose. Take that trash can up to the second story place the siphon hose in it, extend that 15' hose down to the ground level and see how fast the water comes out.

The velocity of the water entering the DT is directly related to how fast this large volume of water is entering the DT.

Hopefully all my ramblings made some sense..?:)

[launchnukes]

Beautiful! And that square spot is a beast!

[Santoki]

...
Hopefully all my ramblings made some sense..?:)

totally makes sense. So the speed at which the water empties into the display is still dictated somewhat by how high up the CSD is located.
Thanks for taking the time to explain. I will have to try this in my next system...

[Maximus]

Sorry for the ot question, but Santoki, are you Korean by chance?

[Acronic]

Whoa Whoa! This system is a beast to say the least! Good work mate :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Santoki]

Sorry for the ot question, but Santoki, are you Korean by chance?

PM sent to keep this thread on topic :)

[REEF SMAC]

Beautiful! And that square spot is a beast!

Thanks launchnukes, that square spot actually seems to know it's a beast too.

So the speed at which the water empties into the display is still dictated somewhat by how high up the CSD is located.


Yes, it just passes right on through that separator, and taking out most of the bubbles on the way.

Whoa Whoa! This system is a beast to say the least! Good work mate :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thank you Acronic!

:)

[Reffer831]

How do we get this beast tanks as TOTM? Jake great pic's, they make me ins to go over an take more new and improved ones LOL....the tank is almost to overwhelming to photograph. Love the tank as always Steve.

[REEF SMAC]

How do we get this beast tanks as TOTM? Jake great pic's, they make me ins to go over an take more new and improved ones LOL....the tank is almost to overwhelming to photograph. Love the tank as always Steve.

Thanks Andy! :beer:

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UE2SsSjdfiE/TlsNnIPVdyI/AAAAAAAAAiE/_LeWddMVxkk/s800/049.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j6reGUhm-2A/TlsN8Wws57I/AAAAAAAAAiI/UrU16JsoKzc/s800/050.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CeUCc0kzJhg/TlsOQfYCvUI/AAAAAAAAAiM/doSa4NvfsrE/s800/052.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lIRJKsHUdG4/TlsPJ5VKfRI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/ERAQmVkyKPE/s800/086.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HCnbSwSYRxw/TlsPiAdN6RI/AAAAAAAAAiU/YVjO6xI0DVg/s800/090.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kxusYIxM1B8/TlsP-RWBpVI/AAAAAAAAAiY/wjQLaHv9as0/s800/095.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-66WJhV_WjMo/TlsQZsndlnI/AAAAAAAAAic/dIoJrw_30Is/s800/096.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jimuL_2zDus/TlsQz_MMuVI/AAAAAAAAAig/05OGrgcVrgk/s800/099.jpg

[klepto]

Great shots Steve. Are the first 3 all top downs?

[DML08]

Jaw dropping!!..

[REEF SMAC]

Great shots Steve. Are the first 3 all top downs?

Thanks klepto,
You are correct, top down with the cell phone.

Jaw dropping!!..

Thanks DML08.

:)

[REEF SMAC]

Not up to par with you ballers out there, with your fancy cameras, but here are some more phone pics anyway.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G3cxkdfSraY/Td1KZDWeR6I/AAAAAAAAAIY/2KTELDXAsX8/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520191.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vHPKycqxXAU/Td1Kao8YjlI/AAAAAAAAAIc/nzGpSX4ifRM/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520198.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lEGQRI6Jj7c/Td1J8bVhwwI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/cjI9tBR8woI/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520166.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-lQ_D-eZstJ8/Td1J2fyn7FI/AAAAAAAAAG8/a9hqNM9haqg/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520159.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SGCW33c2Vq8/Td1J1BFY0MI/AAAAAAAAAG0/Nm0Sx7Zj3zU/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520158.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xiPGjsNJXbQ/Td1Jy5mBPVI/AAAAAAAAAGw/Ldye-bHQ0YU/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520157.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Xm_Nl2TmiyA/Td1Jrl6zGdI/AAAAAAAAAGc/XloWm9U5tPw/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520150.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4__KJ6O2MsU/Td1JmxEvqXI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/SajqBNpLm3s/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520146.jpg[/IMG[IMG]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4LSVyOIOCrk/Td1JMwhtMzI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/x4sJs_FBSqs/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520127.jpg]
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-WJFNDUX9sHA/Td1JJ54kiaI/AAAAAAAAAFI/Zdr8Z9JJzys/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520126.jpghttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HxVLauhnUjk/Td1JHZemilI/AAAAAAAAAFE/iD-S6oZRCOY/s800/tank%2525205-24-11%252520124.jpg

[dvanacker]

you sir....are the baller! :)

[myzislow]

you sir....are the baller! :)

HAHA yes+1 to that.

Freaaaaking amazing Steve!!!! Loving the growth man. Pictures do not do this tank justice; it truly looks like a natural chunk of the reef. I need to make another trip over there soon! Maybe we can plan a tank day here in the near future.

You should post the behind the scenes pics and everything from the beginning like you did on that other site. It really gives light on how this great reef has evolved over the years.

[fq600]

Amazing work of art my friend. That surge system is truly creative! I do wish I live nearby :)

+1 for TOTM!

[DML08]

HAHA yes+1 to that.

Freaaaaking amazing Steve!!!! Loving the growth man. Pictures do not do this tank justice; it truly looks like a natural chunk of the reef. I need to make another trip over there soon! Maybe we can plan a tank day here in the near future.

You should post the behind the scenes pics and everything from the beginning like you did on that other site. It really gives light on how this great reef has evolved over the years.

+1 and a huge +1 on a 831 Reef day!

[REEF SMAC]

you sir....are the baller! :)

Thanks man, It's tough being a baller with nothing but cell phone pics. lol.:D

HAHA yes+1 to that.

Freaaaaking amazing Steve!!!! Loving the growth man. Pictures do not do this tank justice; it truly looks like a natural chunk of the reef. I need to make another trip over there soon! Maybe we can plan a tank day here in the near future.


Thanks, you know you are welcome to stop by anytime. Tank day would be great.:)

Amazing work of art my friend. That surge system is truly creative! I do wish I live nearby :)

+1 for TOTM!

Thank you for the kind words fq600. :)

+1 and a huge +1 on a 831 Reef day!

Thanks again D2, gotta do another 831 soon. In fact I need to do a Los Banos day. :)

[REEF SMAC]

You should post the behind the scenes pics and everything from the beginning like you did on that other site. It really gives light on how this great reef has evolved over the years.

Thanks man, great idea.
Here it goes-


Here are some more "history" photos. I'm gonna suddenly turn this into my build thread for ya. Hope you enjoy.:)

So here is my DT when I first got it in March of 07. It was a used sump from a 3000 gallon public fresh water display. After using literally a gallon of muratic acid to get the 1/8" thick layer of lime deposits of the inside and alot of cleaning, it looked like this. You can see in these pics where all the bulkheads were already installed in this tank (along with millions of scratches). It was a deal, so I figured out a way to incorporate them.


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Vnq6xCGQ8og/Tiy0wOy425I/AAAAAAAAAVM/OmePl0PNt5k/s800/2007-04-14%252520168.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a3mND3dvXks/Tiy0qqd3CFI/AAAAAAAAAVI/VtfWti2j6cc/s800/2007-04-14%252520169.JPG


I built myself a stand out of welded 3"x3"x1/4" stainless steel angle and 3"x3"x3/8" fiberglass square tube. I put a 3/4" painted plywood shelf on the bottom supported with 3"x3"x3/8" fiberglass angle. I bought a used acrylic 85g and a 55g off Craigslist for my sumps. The two sumps are connected together with a 3"(low) and a 2"(high) bulkhead. Plumbed my Ocean Motion 4 way, supply piping, and Reeflo Hammerhead supply pump. So by June of '07 it was looking like this.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zxtmQloO2dQ/Tiy0yv_blaI/AAAAAAAAAVU/bfiibg54p3o/s800/2007-12-17%252520012.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b6ukRnv6IzI/Tiy01vFKnBI/AAAAAAAAAVY/_oHhGA7wSJc/s800/2007-12-17%252520015.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IJgLvb9xkW4/Tiy0xIYCTsI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/otDy_fJ_42g/s800/2007-12-17%252520011.JPGhttps://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H7Jtt9D_2hA/Tiy1fPnxyRI/AAAAAAAAAVk/V4DiXnTXuWg/s800/2007-12-17%252520016.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

Then I put two layers of painted 3/4" plywood on top of the stand, and put the DT on top of that. I also by this time, had spent many hours polishing out all the scratches. You can probably see, even in this dark picture, that the acrylic is a lot clearer. You can also see here, where I drilled the hole in the bottom of the tank and the plywood, for my 3" overflow.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-nhjWzvCTVXg/Tiy1dAzJp9I/AAAAAAAAAVg/dNF6zo-4sN4/s800/2007-12-17%252520019.JPG





I then plumbed in my overflow and my supplys, filled it with water, and by July of '07 it looked like this.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-w1H2nLSfa6c/Tiy1bNAvveI/AAAAAAAAAVc/4HFzjUo3jYs/s800/2007-12-17%252520021.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yZG4-03MVd0/Tiy1kiDMAOI/AAAAAAAAAVo/boIyAZxIFEQ/s800/2007-12-17%252520022.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_WpD--uC1VE/Tiy1nyV9t5I/AAAAAAAAAVs/peGzXILMSw4/s800/2007-12-17%252520024.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KLb1_-vc4tw/Tiy1pZ6MJSI/AAAAAAAAAVw/RW2rIyoHwsg/s800/2007-12-17%252520025.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Vrnie2ZpiXA/Tiy1vsm-YMI/AAAAAAAAAV0/vTZxTMsCEXo/s800/2007-12-17%252520026.JPG





Then I started messing with the supply inlets and the flow. Here is one end's supplys,(the black fittings) coming from two ports of the OM.



https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h-v-nHBq2aI/Tiyz6ero1vI/AAAAAAAAAU8/zKty9EJRZ9I/s800/2007-12-17%252520034.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--qijD0tEfyU/Tiy1641-pII/AAAAAAAAAWE/bm_A91Io76Y/s800/2007-12-17%252520039.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

The other end of the tank's supplys, which are also the other two ports of the OM, enter here.


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SEmrw9Tj1fE/Tiy1xyyv0gI/AAAAAAAAAV4/th0mQnRY5N8/s800/2007-12-17%252520036.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bgKNM7be-x0/Tiy16ENSIVI/AAAAAAAAAWA/c7eQa6tcY3M/s800/2007-12-17%252520037.JPG




Back up a little and it looked like this.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u-q4viHm7-U/Tiy1_TF8q7I/AAAAAAAAAWI/sSGW5wOltmo/s800/2007-12-17%252520043.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

Then after I was happy with the flow, I drained the tank, and dried the inside really well.
I bought 8 cans of this great stuff.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-865QkAiWv2w/TlCzlWCKJlI/AAAAAAAAAhc/ZR_SOcHad2I/s800/8-20-11%252520306.jpg





I used this foam to completely cover all my supply inlets, and the overflow pipe, inside my DT. Then it looked like this.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZHu_CkdeU60/Tiy2DIvNfLI/AAAAAAAAAWM/51gtPn6LEd4/s800/2007-12-17%252520044.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LZ4WXM9cxX4/Tiy2LAi276I/AAAAAAAAAWU/_1KjtaX7uK8/s800/2007-12-17%252520046.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PtkERGil8zw/Tiy2F7y66vI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/fQ87UaW24YY/s800/2007-12-17%252520045.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-si6OcPLBLwg/Tiy2LUbE5xI/AAAAAAAAAWY/LBa_I4WWyCY/s800/2007-12-17%252520047.JPG



Then I did a little bit of carving on the hardened foam to make it roughly the shape I wanted.
After that I completely covered the foam with a 1/4" layer of POLYGEM. It's this really awesome two part epoxy that you mix together in a 50 - 50 mix. It takes about 2 to 4 hours to "go off ", so you have plenty of time to work with it. It's about the consistancy of peanut butter, when you mix it together, to work with it. You mix it with a "thickener" that POLYGEM sells with it. This thickener is a powder, very similar to flour. You mix the two part epoxy together on a layer of this thickener so it won't stick to the board you are mixing it on. It's like making pie crust on a layer of flour. You wear latex gloves when you work with it, and as long as you keep your gloves wet, by dipping them often in water, the epoxy won't stick to your gloves. After applying the layer of POLYGEM over the hardened sprayfoam, I used a silicone rubber mold of rock texture,(also dipped in water) to imprint a rock texture into the POLYGEM before it hardens. It's actually pretty easy to work with once you get it down. I had to buy two gallons of both part A and B to have enough for my tank. It's an off white color, very similar color to live rock, so it looks pretty real when you are done. It's paintable after it's hard, if you for some reason want to paint it. It cleans up with water as long as it's still soft.
Anyway here's the stuff.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-EwDbOWw4nAA/TlBIQuvRFUI/AAAAAAAAAhA/KbgwZ8lSW9o/s800/073.jpghttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rZP5-Nc-0KM/TlBII5bhgXI/AAAAAAAAAg8/_u0j-z2QJTM/s800/072.jpg

[REEF SMAC]

After it's on it looks like this. You can see the blue rubber "rock" imprint mold that I used in the lower left of the second picture.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Fldi7vEW-Ss/Tiy2TUmJq5I/AAAAAAAAAWg/BYHKOvWx0O4/s800/2007-12-17%252520088.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3vuLN_GVrS8/Tiy2SST6AJI/AAAAAAAAAWc/tNSv8qkWPTw/s800/2007-12-17%252520052.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7W2jLHLQhZM/Tiy2oXIAodI/AAAAAAAAAW0/z2hrI56KuPg/s800/2007-12-17%252520102.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-u2EehcIjaJU/Tiy2VC5gfsI/AAAAAAAAAWk/YBbG2SZkhVE/s800/2007-12-17%252520089.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qHzvu25p8_o/Tiy2cMS5uPI/AAAAAAAAAWo/uK48U6U0sDE/s800/2007-12-17%252520090.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-t44XbRMTKuU/Tiy2fC4rtXI/AAAAAAAAAWs/gLj9IHi7ag4/s800/2007-12-17%252520091.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RIEZOLH7yRs/Tiy2pD_gqeI/AAAAAAAAAW8/AtQ4cPg3HqM/s800/2007-12-17%252520100.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z1zFgjCduGw/Tiy2wjb7ImI/AAAAAAAAAXA/8b1uda4cdF8/s800/2007-12-17%252520103.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8yL22tUwHJY/Tiy2fXUHhoI/AAAAAAAAAWw/OT_l8vva450/s800/2007-12-17%252520097.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

Here is a top shot of my overflows. I was going for the look of one big rock against the back wall with the overflows sticking out the top of the rock. Each overflow is 6" clear PVC pipe and they are about 10" deep. I hot air welded a PVC bottom and a 3" coupling onto the bottom of each 6" overflow. The drain side of each 3" coupling is glued, The top side of the 3" couplings is where my Durso stand pipes plug in. The Dursos are not glued in, so I can take them out to clean them.

The piping from my supply pump goes up the back wall, above the water line, and then back down and into the supply bulkhead inlets in the side of my DT. The reason for that, is so I don't have to use a checkvalve, to keep my entire tank from siphoning into my sump when the pump shuts off for any reason. Checkvalves get sealife growing inside of them and eventually fail. The two 1/2" ball valves in the middle of this photo are for siphon breaks. The black 3/8" tubing attached to them spray a stream of water into my DT just below the water line when the supply pump is running. When the supply pump shuts off, those 3/8" tubes draw in air, breaking the siphon. There is probably a small amount of flow that I lose, due to friction loss, by running my supply piping up and over like this, but so what, I would rather not have any floods. I also oversized my supply piping to 2" to make up for a lot of that friction loss.
The two other ball valves in this photo are for a locline supply and a OM squirt. Both of these supply water to the top of the DT so even if my other siphon breaks where to fail, because they where for some reason clogged, these will also act as siphon breaks. I've never had the 3/8" tubes clog so far in 4 years, but I like having two siphon breaks on each supply just in case.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z9FLTxoe3PM/Tiy2o_pP10I/AAAAAAAAAW4/MrrDX_Deq1s/s800/2007-12-17%252520101.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

So by August '07 I had begun putting in my already precycled live rock. I drilled my rock and used 3/8" fiberglass rods to dowel them together along with a fast setting epoxy, HY150, made by HILTI. This stuff works great for sticking live rock together. I also made all my live rock raised off the bottom about 2", using the same 3/8" rods as legs. All my rock is supported directly on the bottom of my DT.
The sand went in last. My engineer goby can dig all he wants and it won't caused an avalance.

Seemed, at the time, like a pretty minimal amount of rock for the size of this tank. Never would guess that by looking at my tank today.




By mid September '07 my DT had been cyled for about 6 weeks. I put in a few corals and it looked like this.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-iOcHsklw1h8/Tiy21E_hWUI/AAAAAAAAAXE/80TDuL1svcE/s800/2007-12-17%252520123.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8OHAecbi0h0/Tiy23jsFPuI/AAAAAAAAAXI/5_t7bTOBhbY/s640/2007-12-17%252520124.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bg1u7PEd4Mk/Tiy26FNkmdI/AAAAAAAAAXM/QKQLEjyvvoo/s800/2007-12-17%252520125.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qtWqKimMK9Y/Tiy3DXYFbtI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/sdmuCcNs9-Q/s800/2007-12-17%252520126.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T4I74c1ppo0/Tiy3DfMrUHI/AAAAAAAAAXU/572NxR9-pKk/s800/2007-12-17%252520127.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Brh7xBqXDJA/Tiy3FehYpfI/AAAAAAAAAXY/ZTj33viGE-k/s800/2007-12-17%252520128.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gFSl1CDKcKg/Tiy3P4RCqZI/AAAAAAAAAXc/loNb49EyXv0/s800/2007-12-17%252520129.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

So at the time I was getting this new tank going, I had three other tanks going.My 50g-

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-vP1E9Ej5qWc/TmvBHFeVJyI/AAAAAAAAAiw/fIUNemSfeEw/s800/2007-04-14%252520116.JPG


My 60g cube-

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ko841LIWllE/TmvBz3C8lvI/AAAAAAAAAi8/Aa167B0r6b8/s800/2007-12-17%252520118.JPG

My 25g-

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KBZJWpP4q94/TiyzYBGBtrI/AAAAAAAAAU4/Ug1puja1XfQ/s800/2007-04-14%252520025.JPG


So over the month of October '07, I tranfered all the livestock from these three tanks into my new DT.
By November '07 my tank looked like this-

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8BCTBhxhl_o/Tiy3QeP_KmI/AAAAAAAAAXk/F55KLuawURc/s800/2007-12-17%252520136.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PgTYT_wNf6A/Tiy3PxBWLjI/AAAAAAAAAXg/hPGX1aQCK4g/s800/2007-12-17%252520140.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BPT-OlJnTVE/Tiy3abgv1pI/AAAAAAAAAXo/qWIERsZGLNw/s800/2007-12-17%252520141.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xU2ZHYoNHYc/Tiy3be2cJpI/AAAAAAAAAXs/oJRf8LaHJIc/s800/2007-12-17%252520153.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jEql_O_1P_w/Tiy3czO7lgI/AAAAAAAAAXw/YRHTtoPujSw/s800/2007-12-17%252520158.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-taT3Uq2rVqc/Tiy3jR4RzHI/AAAAAAAAAX0/wRs2SXF_EIQ/s800/2007-12-17%252520177.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

By December '07 it looked like this-

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-45PhIHeaXhk/Tiy3pJY1GNI/AAAAAAAAAX4/1yr9W34AOdE/s800/2007-12-17%252520181.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7Wo0-ncKudw/Tiy3pbJmZbI/AAAAAAAAAX8/_LX_UapYIEA/s800/2007-12-17%252520182.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DrldiJpqKok/Tiy3spgNP3I/AAAAAAAAAYA/pvtr0D4lWn0/s800/2007-12-17%252520190.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

By December '07 I finally recieved my Solaris IVs and installed two more 400MHs. Over several months my POLYGEM fake rocks became covered with coraline algae and look like the rest of my live rock.

By March of '08 it looked like this-

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x0t4cXJgbYc/TmvSjXxPZfI/AAAAAAAAAjg/nWEhMaL9jaQ/s800/IMGP2016.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cJooHDIT6l8/TmvSY9e4nUI/AAAAAAAAAjU/EJZnc0qOgRk/s800/IMGP2009.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UONCSwCpbqo/TmvSYsq9chI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/y3ME7jEp-Wk/s800/IMGP2010.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-n7ZPeso9JmY/TmvSchmAR6I/AAAAAAAAAjY/ybUyK3WHSTs/s800/IMGP2011.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4evlXxRkTC8/TmvSiYktXqI/AAAAAAAAAjc/5S1ZKNSYi24/s800/IMGP2014.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OOvXy-jhp18/TmvSp0tGo_I/AAAAAAAAAjk/pq722qvv6Hc/s800/IMGP2017.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fIThk3wFnCM/TmvStjCgQzI/AAAAAAAAAjo/M0Jl0e2Xl7Q/s800/IMGP2018.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z1ww6bcWJWA/TmvSuCjS96I/AAAAAAAAAjs/8U3qoJMVPUg/s800/IMGP2020.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hBoEaA6MYRg/TmvS0fdNH6I/AAAAAAAAAjw/DlNDimlSrYk/s800/IMGP2022.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4UyVB_wFAog/TmvS3wlYUYI/AAAAAAAAAj0/hDGcgM3L8C0/s800/IMGP2027.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Md-Q5RhaT_s/TmvS5dpF-xI/AAAAAAAAAj4/1Xd1115MwO4/s800/IMGP2028.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cOr-MCHV6Fc/TmvTDcVg6OI/AAAAAAAAAkA/L5pdCndhAS8/s800/IMGP2032.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

By June of '08 it looked like this-


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bax_LRjNMs0/Tiy3z2x3GrI/AAAAAAAAAYE/n5UpSZQMYnc/s800/IMGP2050.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_3v9pXmmKfI/Tiy32OTGYWI/AAAAAAAAAYM/7e-9CqJmKdY/s800/IMGP2051.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tqclygg8sw4/Tiy313666aI/AAAAAAAAAYI/8kr5zceOOgs/s800/IMGP2053.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qX52gt06w0Q/Tiy35L1mSZI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/wm_BdG0xOiw/s800/IMGP2058.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j47BgBV13co/TmvTEx8tHHI/AAAAAAAAAkE/EiBnbmsN-v0/s800/IMGP2049.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Jr5KO5-nDVI/TmvT60Sv7UI/AAAAAAAAAkY/fBXJLrgBg68/s800/IMGP2054.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WbwSHjHA_n8/TmvT8BRghFI/AAAAAAAAAkc/5gC_RjUsWHQ/s800/IMGP2055.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

Now you can fast forward to February 2010 in Kraylen's video at the very beginning of this thread.

:wavehand:

[miwoodar]

Awesome - thanks for sharing the history. Very clever plumbing!

[chrishayes]

Ok, just read through this thread and realized my mouth was open! You should charge a door fee to enter! Im alllllllmost speechless...INCREDIBLE

[Bax]

A well planned start to great system!!!!!

[veloboy]

Using the foam and polygem to hide your rockwork is genius! You've got some serious lighting going on...bet you see pretty quick growth. Super nice set-up. Thanks for sharing a bit of your build!

[chrishayes]

I could spend a week as a fly on your walls! Im just itching to see this tank. But more so the equipment spaces. Im a DIY junky lookin for a fix bro. Hit me man, hit me. You could use a 1800's camera for all I care just walk through your house taking pictures, do go outside as well! I have GOT to move to Cali so I can garden year round. Im a pond guy too and just love seeing glimpses of your outdoor spaces. This whole thread is just one big tease...START TAKING PICTURES and dont stop til the card is full!

[REEF SMAC]

Awesome - thanks for sharing the history. Very clever plumbing!

Thanks miwoodar.
Piping is my specialty.:D

Ok, just read through this thread and realized my mouth was open! You should charge a door fee to enter! Im alllllllmost speechless...INCREDIBLE

Thanks chrishayes.
Great to hear that, especially from a fellow do it yourself guy.
You're always welcome for free.

A well planned start to great system!!!!!

Thank you Bax.
Thanks for checking it out.

Using the foam and polygem to hide your rockwork is genius! You've got some serious lighting going on...bet you see pretty quick growth. Super nice set-up. Thanks for sharing a bit of your build!

Thank you veloboy.
I wish I could figure out a way to hide my powerheads too.
Yes I do seem to have some pretty fast growth.
Thanks for checking it out.
:)

[REEF SMAC]

I could spend a week as a fly on your walls! Im just itching to see this tank. But more so the equipment spaces. Im a DIY junky lookin for a fix bro. Hit me man, hit me. You could use a 1800's camera for all I care just walk through your house taking pictures, do go outside as well! I have GOT to move to Cali so I can garden year round. Im a pond guy too and just love seeing glimpses of your outdoor spaces. This whole thread is just one big tease...START TAKING PICTURES and dont stop til the card is full!

Thanks for the encouragement chrishayes.:)

I will try to get some of those equipment shots up for you some time soon.

[REEF SMAC]

Only have cell phone pics for you for now.:)

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zZxBTxqoQ0Y/To-OkMjAa1I/AAAAAAAAAE4/tmwUod0p9Fc/s800/10-7-11%252520003.jpg https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bsOKb9DOjyg/To-OjVpsLfI/AAAAAAAAAE0/wOWfVBsNGkU/s800/10-7-11%252520010.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8Ald1SdF51Q/To-OYicalaI/AAAAAAAAAEs/Ji3GtI7dpfA/s800/10-7-11%252520011.jpg https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AiJ0hhiWegc/To-OhdaU_EI/AAAAAAAAAEw/vlhnHJB4SXo/s800/10-7-11%252520017.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cpPzbjvbQoA/To-Or4HFtTI/AAAAAAAAAE8/jcp9vf23oWA/s800/10-7-11%252520019.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YUhPNX_nEdU/To-Pa1RFI3I/AAAAAAAAAFc/UZKvdoyNjaU/s800/10-7-11%252520096.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3LMmDk70Qck/To-PDOwscaI/AAAAAAAAAFI/fIOKQ6sVLFY/s800/10-7-11%252520020.jpg

[klepto]

Great shots Steve. You've become quite adept with your cell phone camera skills!
I love the raspberry table top down. That piece is badass.

[Crypsis]

Incredible tank! I might have to steal your surge system bubble trap idea. I've been racking my brain for ways to incorporate a surge tank but eliminate the mess of all that salt creep. Also I've got to remember that epoxy rock trick for my next tank, that came out so good. BTW what's with the "river rays" sign on your tank?

[REEF SMAC]

Great shots Steve. You've become quite adept with your cell phone camera skills!
I love the raspberry table top down. That piece is badass.

Thanks Klepto!
I still have a long way to go, to get to your level.

Incredible tank! I might have to steal your surge system bubble trap idea. I've been racking my brain for ways to incorporate a surge tank but eliminate the mess of all that salt creep. Also I've got to remember that epoxy rock trick for my next tank, that came out so good. BTW what's with the "river rays" sign on your tank?

Thanks Crypsis!
Thanks for checking it out.
My DT used to be the sump for a 3000g fresh water River Rays tank.
:)

[Tigé21v]

Absolutely stunning! Nothing beats established tanks full of grown out colonies. I love the surge coming from upstairs.
Do you know, do you have any experience hot air welding spaflex to rigid pvc?

[j-dizzle]

Amazing tank! Breath taking.

[Pallobi]

i love everything about it... and i agree, the top down on the "raspberry table", is incredible... wonderfully done ;)

:beer:

[REEF SMAC]

Absolutely stunning! Nothing beats established tanks full of grown out colonies. I love the surge coming from upstairs.
Do you know, do you have any experience hot air welding spaflex to rigid pvc?

Thanks for the kind words Tige21v.

Never had any experience hot air welding spaflex. It would probably work but I would try it on a test piece first. I don't think it would come out too pretty. I think it would very easily get that brown/burnt look to it.


Amazing tank! Breath taking.

Thanks j-dizzle.

i love everything about it... and i agree, the top down on the "raspberry table", is incredible... wonderfully done ;)

:beer:

Thanks Pallobi. Glad you like my cell phone pics.:)

[redliner]

Wow it turns out looks so natural. Great stuff.

[REEF SMAC]

This Derasa in my tank seems to spawn every couple of months. Doesn't seem to hurt anything, just clouds up my water for a while. I think the corals probably like it.

Anyway thought I would share some cell pics of it going off.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-s_wXpd_ETW8/TpMoZp5aI7I/AAAAAAAAAG4/YgGihsw4x2o/s800/10-10-11%252520132.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-qO3jKwltCpE/TpMogH4JgiI/AAAAAAAAAHI/sRBFxDf_BQs/s800/10-10-11%252520136.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6SEcBPMlfjo/TpMoiQXSiOI/AAAAAAAAAHM/T-ZJaXpjAG4/s800/10-10-11%252520137.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7xsc70kNIOE/TpMoLQorcvI/AAAAAAAAAG0/a28_Wa8zoys/s800/10-10-11%252520131.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZdE6sZ9FK08/TpMofLqvI0I/AAAAAAAAAHE/2sVOMRqeGFM/s800/10-10-11%252520134.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-THJHmACDCSw/TpMolB_MNuI/AAAAAAAAAHY/156BwLRDhv4/s800/10-10-11%252520140.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Xv8nm-Hu8dM/TpMoeYIhy3I/AAAAAAAAAHA/TaVIz8tKav8/s800/10-10-11%252520133.jpg

[chrishayes]

wow, I dont know if im more impressed with your reef or the fact that you use a freakin cell phone to share it! get a freakin camera man! lol

Those pics look like a nat geo special! Very cool, just so amazed at how natural your reef turned out. Not by accident either. Cant say it enough, amazing job!

[chrishayes]

oh and your clam looks like it needs to update its wordrobe, those striped mushrooms are so 1992! KrisKross'll make ya jump jump!

[Reef_Noob]

Oh my goodnessssss
I never knew you had a build thread bro, I am just super glad I stumbled on this great great build. It's just full of innovative ideas and man you have hit the jackpot.
It's nothing less than mesmerizing staring at those pics wow.
I feel so humbled that you are even paying attention to my build thread. Thanks a lot. And appreciate all your input for me.
Men like ya are the ones who help our community go forward. The success you have achieved is just mind-blowing and plus you being so humble with it and your encouragement for amateurs like me speaks volume of what a great person you are.
I salute ya and iv learned yet again how to remain grounded.
I am gonna see you in the TOTM thread.
Extremely cool bro just extremely cool.

[chrishayes]

Oh my goodnessssss
I never knew you had a build thread bro, I am just super glad I stumbled on this great great build. It's just full of innovative ideas and man you have hit the jackpot.
It's nothing less than mesmerizing staring at those pics wow.
I feel so humbled that you are even paying attention to my build thread. Thanks a lot. And appreciate all your input for me.
Men like ya are the ones who help our community go forward. The success you have achieved is just mind-blowing and plus you being so humble with it and your encouragement for amateurs like me speaks volume of what a great person you are.
I salute ya and iv learned yet again how to remain grounded.
I am gonna see you in the TOTM thread.
Extremely cool bro just extremely cool.

Literally couldnt have said it better. THis, from me too!

Also, I have NO idea why this tank isnt being given totm...no clue.

[myzislow]

Literally couldnt have said it better. THis, from me too!

Also, I have NO idea why this tank isnt being given totm...no clue.

In due time!!! I'm just lucky enough to live less than 5 miles from Steve and this great reef!

[berlin-riff]

hey be careful with your clam my one spawns too and now the clam is death :(

[zaheda]

Lovely natural looking reeftank, for sure totm in the near future. I wonder when Steve making a come comeback, he has set the benchmark in sps tanks.

[Algaeking]

That last pic of the clam is amazing, so cool to see that happen in a tank. Do those mushrooms growing on the clams mantle bother it?

[DML08]

got to see this tank again a couple weeks back with a couple of reef buddy's, I must say, this tank is awesome no matter how many times you peep it!.. super dopeness.. thanks Steve and keep it up Bro... TOTM is just a matter of time for this beast!..

[Reef_Noob]

Merry Christmas Bro!!

[REEF SMAC]

wow, I dont know if im more impressed with your reef or the fact that you use a freakin cell phone to share it! get a freakin camera man! lol

Those pics look like a nat geo special! Very cool, just so amazed at how natural your reef turned out. Not by accident either. Cant say it enough, amazing job!

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you liked the clam pics. I finally did buy a camera over a month ago. Just haven't had any time to figure out how to use it. The whole camera/pic thing is harder to figure out than reefing. I'm gonna get you a pic up here in a minute with my first "real" camera attempt.

oh and your clam looks like it needs to update its wordrobe, those striped mushrooms are so 1992! KrisKross'll make ya jump jump!

That last pic of the clam is amazing, so cool to see that happen in a tank. Do those mushrooms growing on the clams mantle bother it?

Although I've had issues with these mushrooms stinging other corals in the past they don't seem to bother this clam at all.
The reason I really like to leave them on there is that they actually serve as padding between this clam and my acrylic. This clam tries to move every once in a while and It's gotten so big it moves up against my windows. Those mushrooms have actually helped keep it from scratching my tank. I didn't plan it. It just worked out that way.

[REEF SMAC]

Oh my goodnessssss
I never knew you had a build thread bro, I am just super glad I stumbled on this great great build. It's just full of innovative ideas and man you have hit the jackpot.
It's nothing less than mesmerizing staring at those pics wow.
I feel so humbled that you are even paying attention to my build thread. Thanks a lot. And appreciate all your input for me.
Men like ya are the ones who help our community go forward. The success you have achieved is just mind-blowing and plus you being so humble with it and your encouragement for amateurs like me speaks volume of what a great person you are.
I salute ya and iv learned yet again how to remain grounded.
I am gonna see you in the TOTM thread.
Extremely cool bro just extremely cool.

Literally couldnt have said it better. THis, from me too!

Also, I have NO idea why this tank isnt being given totm...no clue.

In due time!!! I'm just lucky enough to live less than 5 miles from Steve and this great reef!

Thanks you guys. I'm quite humbled myself.
I just like hanging here with folks that have this reefing sickness as bad as I do.
:)

[REEF SMAC]

hey be careful with your clam my one spawns too and now the clam is death :(

I sure hope that's not the case with mine. It's spawned at least ten times that I know of. There's been several times when my tank has clouded up in the past and I could never figure out what was causing it. I was actually relieved to finally catch it in the act. Don't really know how I would go about keeping it from spawning?

Lovely natural looking reeftank, for sure totm in the near future. I wonder when Steve making a come comeback, he has set the benchmark in sps tanks.

Thanks zaheda,
I know, I'm terrible at how long it takes me to reply sometimes.

got to see this tank again a couple weeks back with a couple of reef buddy's, I must say, this tank is awesome no matter how many times you peep it!.. super dopeness.. thanks Steve and keep it up Bro... TOTM is just a matter of time for this beast!..

Thanks D2,
Glad you guys could make it by. Always like having visitors that are down to talk reefing for awhile.

Merry Christmas Bro!!

Thanks Reef_Noob,
Hope yours was Merry as well.

[REEF SMAC]

Here's a few of my new camera attempts-


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K3Uj6coPEVE/TvemX-JQMMI/AAAAAAAAAmY/Yz7XC0TmiZY/s800/Random%252520fish%2525200003.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PFguQo48ReA/Tv0TGazRUvI/AAAAAAAAAms/IaNxhaTDCp4/s800/MBA%2525200001%252520-%252520Copy.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5Pc_NCCSD5Q/Tv0VjDB5cMI/AAAAAAAAAns/Qnfws7qCBKI/s800/Palmers0002%252520-%252520Copy.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qvkpgvcAXaA/Tv0VybrRujI/AAAAAAAAAn0/jxutEZxWWlY/s800/P.L.0002%252520-%252520Copy.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D41S8WyTEnQ/Tv0Tx57aMvI/AAAAAAAAAnU/RlUv3nZ0ZKQ/s800/Top%252520reflect0002%252520-%252520Copy.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

Here are a couple of nightime LED moonlight polyp extension shots-



https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LUByZeH7Rhs/Tv0TlDT6IeI/AAAAAAAAAnM/i4GEn0DnKAE/s800/nightlight0001%252520-%252520Copy.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VZT1JDydtxY/Tv0TcR9p3KI/AAAAAAAAAnE/XPE4vdnpixw/s800/nightlight0002%252520-%252520Copy.JPG



Gotta love SPS even at night!:)

[Acronic]

ooo ahhhh, Lovin' the seas of sticks! Nice tri color wrasse and that reflection shot is stunning

[DML08]

Oh Man Steve!!.. that looks Nice.. High Five and well done with the camera..

[Reef_Noob]

just uber coooooooool....

Amazing growth....

I think ul need a lawn mover to keep these corals trimmed in :D

Happy Reefing!!

[REEF SMAC]

ooo ahhhh, Lovin' the seas of sticks! Nice tri color wrasse and that reflection shot is stunning

Thanks Acronic. Thanks for checking it out.

love the creating chiller to the pond

It does work really well. Definately one of the best additions I've ever made to my reef.

Oh Man Steve!!.. that looks Nice.. High Five and well done with the camera..

Thanks D2, I looking forward to getting some time with it to figure it out.

just uber coooooooool....

Amazing growth....

I think ul need a lawn mover to keep these corals trimmed in :D

Happy Reefing!!

Thanks Reef_Noob, My bone cutters do get a lot of use these days.
Great Idea!
An underwater coral mower would be pretty sweet.
How about an underwater hedge trimmer? :idea:

[veloboy]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing SMAC. Keep the pictures comin!

[REEF SMAC]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing SMAC. Keep the pictures comin!

Thank you veloboy, Thanks for checking it out.

Good idea!

Here you go-

http://https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ulDrkQpAfVw/TwN9__3IVkI/AAAAAAAAApk/9a3HUlquCuU/s800/new%252520FTS0011.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-vgww4Mo__Pw/TwN-Fivfz-I/AAAAAAAAAps/E9yxJh-z9os/s800/new%252520TS007.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UgGMuAWrXrQ/TwN-Fz3A_cI/AAAAAAAAApw/YbGIF0aSEs4/s800/new%252520TS008.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P3H7wUnP2R8/TwN-HpqgWTI/AAAAAAAAAp8/J8rXZUgFJEw/s800/new%252520TS009.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SJ_wk40Pfd8/TwN-Mf765NI/AAAAAAAAAqE/12vdMKv-Qo8/s800/new%252520TS010.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EosnH_kTjHk/TwN-M5gAjHI/AAAAAAAAAqM/EcRFGMFOeNg/s800/new%252520TS011.JPG

[chrishayes]

Why are you still waiting for totm? The powers that be must be VERY picky...shame on them. The ocean would be so lucky to look like your tank, thats how I see it. Hope you are charging admission to see your tank these days bud!

Oh and it looks like you need to get out the pruners, things are gettin a bit wild bro! Let me know if you need a home for any of those pesky frags that take up precious space. Im always here to help a fellow reefer in need! lol

[Reef_Noob]

Hi Steve,

At this rate I think your fish will need body armour immediately. Your corals are growing so fast they gonna spear your fishes :D
We all try to bring the ocean into our tanks but looking at your tank shots it looks like your tank is THE ocean.
You have done mother nature immensely proud!
What a beautiful sight and extreme reefing skill. Congratulations.

Happy Reefing!!

[Reef_Noob]

STEVE!!!

TOTM wow...long time due my friend :bounce3::bounce2:

Congratulations and great job...One of the best tanks of the decade!!

Wanted to be the first one to congratulate you :D

Happy Reefing!!

[Acronic]

Congrats on the achievement. You deserve it bud.

[DML08]

hell yea steve, well deserved man..

[myzislow]

congrats Steve, it was only a matter of time!

[dvanacker]

bout time...looks great, congrats!

[chrishayes]

well looky there! Finally! Congrats now the reefing world has been reset again. Took too long. Going to go check it out now.

[Maximus]

Awesome! It couldn't have happened to a better guy. Congrats Steve!!

[klepto]

Congratulations Steve! It's excellent to see your tank getting some much deserved attention. Your generosity and hard working spirit are admirable. :thumbsup:

Here are some recent shots for further enjoyment :)


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6698043263_313d76c4d2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698043263/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7152/6698043607_92dbedd8c2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698043607/)


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6698043895_e4f76d8d9d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698043895/)


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6698043527_88bd88b138_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698043527/)


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6698043709_9cdc1a218c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698043709/)


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6698044011_aa55c4d3aa_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698044011/)


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6698043811_60e8abe6b5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698043811/)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6698044121_470d37730f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65074187@N06/6698044121/)

[DML08]

nice shots Jake.. well done!..

[REEF SMAC]

Why are you still waiting for totm? The powers that be must be VERY picky...shame on them. The ocean would be so lucky to look like your tank, thats how I see it. Hope you are charging admission to see your tank these days bud!

Oh and it looks like you need to get out the pruners, things are gettin a bit wild bro! Let me know if you need a home for any of those pesky frags that take up precious space. Im always here to help a fellow reefer in need! lol

Thanks Chris,
Guess I'm not waiting anymore. Very humbling.
Not charging admission yet but I am using those pruners quite a bit actually. Too bad you're not living a little closer to me.

Hi Steve,

At this rate I think your fish will need body armour immediately. Your corals are growing so fast they gonna spear your fishes :D
We all try to bring the ocean into our tanks but looking at your tank shots it looks like your tank is THE ocean.
You have done mother nature immensely proud!
What a beautiful sight and extreme reefing skill. Congratulations.

Happy Reefing!!

Thanks for the kind words Noob,
My fish don't seem to have any trouble maneuvering through those corals. They seem to enjoy it.

:)

[REEF SMAC]

STEVE!!!

TOTM wow...long time due my friend :bounce3::bounce2:

Congratulations and great job...One of the best tanks of the decade!!

Wanted to be the first one to congratulate you :D

Happy Reefing!!

Congrats on the achievement. You deserve it bud.

hell yea steve, well deserved man..

congrats Steve, it was only a matter of time!

bout time...looks great, congrats!

well looky there! Finally! Congrats now the reefing world has been reset again. Took too long. Going to go check it out now.

Awesome! It couldn't have happened to a better guy. Congrats Steve!!

Thanks you guys.
Couldn't have done it without all of your support and encouragment along the way. :)

[REEF SMAC]

Congratulations Steve! It's excellent to see your tank getting some much deserved attention. Your generosity and hard working spirit are admirable. :thumbsup:

Here are some recent shots for further enjoyment :)


Wow Jake!
Thanks for posting those shots man. You sure do nice work. :thumbsup:

nice shots Jake.. well done!..

Gotta agree D2!

[psteeleb]

awesome tank and great pictures - congratulation on TOTM

[Bax]

TOTM!

Well deserved!!!!!

[klepto]

Wow Jake!
Thanks for posting those shots man. You sure do nice work. :thumbsup:
Gotta agree D2!
Thanks Steve. Happy to contribute.
I have to say though, you blew me (and many others I trust) away with your images. You did a excellent job of capturing the system and judging from the pics, I'm going to need to come over for a photo lesson from you! :eek:
You sure have been holding out on us!

[ange062]

Wow, this is an absolutely stunning tank! Love the chiller and surge implementations, and the color and size of the corals are amazing!

[solRNY]

incredible setup, so deserved :thumbsup:

[DML08]

Thanks Steve. Happy to contribute.
I have to say though, you blew me (and many others I trust) away with your images. You did a excellent job of capturing the system and judging from the pics, I'm going to need to come over for a photo lesson from you! :eek:
You sure have been holding out on us!

yea, Steve has had that camera for like a month and is pumping out some awesome pics.... super awesome!.. :D

[REEF SMAC]

awesome tank and great pictures - congratulation on TOTM

Thank you psteeleb. :)



TOTM!

Well deserved!!!!!

Thank you Bax. :)

Thanks Steve. Happy to contribute.
I have to say though, you blew me (and many others I trust) away with your images. You did a excellent job of capturing the system and judging from the pics, I'm going to need to come over for a photo lesson from you! :eek:
You sure have been holding out on us!

Thanks Jake.
So glad I could impress some of you pic gurus. Trying to figure out how to use a camera is way harder than reefing, that's for sure.
I feel like I've fallen down on my regular tank maintenance spending so much time trying to figure out how to take a decent picture.
Doubt you are gonna learn anything from me. :)

[REEF SMAC]

Wow, this is an absolutely stunning tank! Love the chiller and surge implementations, and the color and size of the corals are amazing!

Thank you ange062. :)

incredible setup, so deserved :thumbsup:

Thank you solRNY. :)

yea, Steve has had that camera for like a month and is pumping out some awesome pics.... super awesome!.. :D

Thank you DML08.
I'm working on it. Glad you liked them. I'll try to keep them coming. :)

[sunlitreef]

I'm convinced, I'm adding a surge tank. Thank you for the inspiration.

[Acronic]

Steve, tell us more about your secret blend of salt mix's please?

[veloboy]

Congrats Smack-well deserved TOTM! Your stand and canopy are beautiful as well- you've done a great job top to bottom on your system! Inspirational for sure-Nice work.

[REEF SMAC]

I'm convinced, I'm adding a surge tank. Thank you for the inspiration.

Thanks for checking it out sunlitreef.
As long as your overflow will handle the rush of water, it is really great water movement.


Steve, tell us more about your secret blend of salt mix's please?

Ha! Not really a secret blend just use different ones all the time. Each time I do a water change I mix up 60 gallons. I've used over the years, Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, Seachem Reef, Tropic Marin Pro, Tropic Marin Reef, H2 Ocean, Red Sea Coral Pro, Marine Environment, Bio Life, Neo Marine, Tunze Reef, and I've used a lot of NSW, back when I could bring it home from work.
Those are just the ones I can think of.
I really haven't noticed to much of a difference between any of them, but doing a 10% WC doesn't really change much parameter wise anyway.
I just pretty much use a different one each time I do a WC.

Congrats Smack-well deserved TOTM! Your stand and canopy are beautiful as well- you've done a great job top to bottom on your system! Inspirational for sure-Nice work.

Thank you veloboy. The cabinet was quite a project in itself.

:)

[Haddock]

I've had several people ask about how my DIY air separator works, so here is my attemp to explain it.

My CSD tank is in the room upstairs above my DT, making it about 8' above my DT. When I first connected it strait into my DT, it would push very large bubbles into my DT at the beginning of each surge. The falling water from my surge tank would basically force all the air out of the empty pipe and push it directly into my DT. Having your CSD tank 8' up gives you a really good blast of water into your DT, but it also has more air in the pipe to empty out on the way down. The large bubbles at the beginning of the surge would cause a lot of water to splash out above where the CSD water enters my tank. Anyone with familiar with a CSD probably knows this well.

I decided to try an air separator to take out these large bubbles and it worked even better than I had hoped. I no longer have any large bubbles splashing into my DT at all. Very small micro bubbles still however make it all the way through. The micro bubbles are not a problem at all and the salt spray/creep is now almost nonexistent. (my tangs splash out more water) It's basically the same idea/mechanics that most large commercial hydronic systems use. I just adapted it to fit my tank.

Here is my primitive hand drawing of my air separator.(sorry, don't have the fancy CAD on my puter)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LEkMbqgjA40/TjOfIjwbLZI/AAAAAAAAAec/SSDy0SGYxbQ/s800/Scan_Pic0001.jpg

The larger the diameter of the separator, the better it works. The idea being that the water will travel slower through a larger tank/pipe, giving the bubbles more time to rise up and out. I built mine out of 4" and 6" PVC pipe. I would have prefered to use larger diameter pipe, but it would not fit between my DT and the wall. I also went as tall as I could possibly make it, going from the bottom of my cabinet to the ceiling.
I used a hot air welder to build parts of mine, This was specifically to make it fit in a really tight space. Someone could certainly make one using glued fittings, if they have the room, and they aren't familiar with using a hot air welder.

The 1" check valve at the top was added to keep air from rushing back into the vessel. For some reason air would get pulled in through this vent and spray bubbles into my DT at the end of each surge, without this checkvalve.

I ran the "air vent" with a hose down into my sump, above the waterline, just to be safe. Although it does not flow water, it does carry alot of moisture.
I've once had a large Mexican Turbo crawl into the pipe where the water enters my DT and block the flow of the surge. He was strong enough to hang on, forcing the surge water to go all the way to the top of the separator, into the drain hose, and into my sump.
Was soooo glad I had decided to run that hose.:)

If its OK I have a few questions about the surge devices.

1 On the drawing it looks like the entrance of the 1.5" tube bringing the water from above, is located above the 2" outlet to the DT. Is this correct and if so is this intentional? I quess in that case this tube will be dry in the phase where the CSD is not flooding water or is the exit of the 1.5" sitting below the water level in the DT?

2. Does the entrance tube to the separator (1.5") enter perpendicular to the separator 4" tube or is it placed tangential so that the water inside moves in a sirkular/helix kind of way inside as opposed to with turbulense as i would with a perpendicular approach?

3. The 2" tube entering the tank is submerged all the way from the DT inlet to the bottom of the separator meaning it does not contain any air at any time. If the 2" outlet was located higher up on the separator and entering the tank by protruding it into the water, would that be a problem? Would it run dry as the surge ended and thus trapping air that would purge on the next flushing.

4. One way valve on the top. I do not quite understand why it is needed as the
air would escape naturally at the top when the water/air is rushing in. As the surge is coming to an end I guess that the separator is filled with water at a level above that of the DT as else the water would not progress through the system. When the level in the separator starts to sink and the supply from the tank above ends I guess that the supply 1.5" tube feeds the air needed to empty out the separator. This is the air one wants to get rid of so that makes sense. But I cant quite figure out the mechanics in your statement that leaving out the one way valve leads to a large amounts of air entering the DT at the end of the cycle. Please explain as I am totaly lost here :headwally:

5. Do you have a siphon break tube attached to the siphon tube (top of U-turn?) inside the CSD water tank or does it just "burp out" as the 1.5" is starved of water at the end of siphon?

6. Is there a reason for the choice of 2" and the 1.5" tubes in their respective places i.e. is it an advantage that the exit from the separator is larger than the tube coming from the CSD tank and into the separator?

7. How do you think a setup like this would work if you put the surge tank right above the DT, say under the celing in a room with the normal 8 ft celing height. I would use a 6" Internal diameter tube for the separator.

Ok, thats enough. I could ask som more questions but would be happy if you would answer these.

Thanks
Dan

[Reef_Noob]

Hi Steve,
This surge device got a lot of WOWWWW factor :D
Just ingenious. Patent it and own it!
Thanks for this patient explanation. I am sure many will take interest and install this setup.

[REEF SMAC]

If its OK I have a few questions about the surge devices.

Absolutely OK

1 On the drawing it looks like the entrance of the 1.5" tube bringing the water from above, is located above the 2" outlet to the DT. Is this correct and if so is this intentional? I quess in that case this tube will be dry in the phase where the CSD is not flooding water or is the exit of the 1.5" sitting below the water level in the DT?

Actually the 1.5" inlet to the separator is exactly the same level as the 2" outlet. I think this could be varied if you wanted. I built my separator to fit my tanks existing piping. I had the piping directly connected to my tank without the separator originally, so I made the separator to so it would fit in the space with the least amount of repiping.

2. Does the entrance tube to the separator (1.5") enter perpendicular to the separator 4" tube or is it placed tangential so that the water inside moves in a sirkular/helix kind of way inside as opposed to with turbulense as i would with a perpendicular approach?

The pipe is perpendicular but again this was to fit my existing piping. I think this could be varied also.

3. The 2" tube entering the tank is submerged all the way from the DT inlet to the bottom of the separator meaning it does not contain any air at any time. If the 2" outlet was located higher up on the separator and entering the tank by protruding it into the water, would that be a problem? Would it run dry as the surge ended and thus trapping air that would purge on the next flushing.

I think the 2" tube might drain each time if it was higher than the DT water level. It might even siphon some water into the DT. Then again maybe not, it's possible it might just stay full of water, maybe the water level of the separator and the DT would just equalize , with an upside down "U" full of water connecting them together. I would definitley give it a try. If it did for some reason drain out, I think that air would have to purge out on the next dump. This might be such a short distance of piping, that it might not be that much of a problem. I've seen where people drill a small hole in the side of the pipe that enters the DT, just barely above the water level, to vent that small amount of air out of that pipe.

4. One way valve on the top. I do not quite understand why it is needed as the
air would escape naturally at the top when the water/air is rushing in. As the surge is coming to an end I guess that the separator is filled with water at a level above that of the DT as else the water would not progress through the system. When the level in the separator starts to sink and the supply from the tank above ends I guess that the supply 1.5" tube feeds the air needed to empty out the separator. This is the air one wants to get rid of so that makes sense. But I cant quite figure out the mechanics in your statement that leaving out the one way valve leads to a large amounts of air entering the DT at the end of the cycle. Please explain as I am totaly lost here :headwally:

This actually baffled me too. When my dump was connected directly without the separator, the bubbles would boil out into my DT at the beginning of each dump. Then I connected my new separator, and those bubbles were gone. Then for some reason at the end of each dump, a sudden blast of bubbles would shoot out of the 2" DT inlet. I figured out that I was able to stop this last blast of bubbles by plugging the vent hose with my thumb at the end of each dump. The air purges out the vent at the top of the separator and out the vent hose to my sump, at the beginning and throughout each dump. Then at the end, for some reason, as the water level in the separator drops back down to the DT water level, the vent draws in air like a venturi. The check valve is to allow the air to escape but it doesn't let the air back in. I even tried to submerse the end of the vent hose in my sump water but the bubbles it was blowing into my sump was also a mess.

5. Do you have a siphon break tube attached to the siphon tube (top of U-turn?) inside the CSD water tank or does it just "burp out" as the 1.5" is starved of water at the end of siphon?

Yes I have a 3/8" siphon break tube at the top of the U turn.I purposely set mine up to leave about 4" of water remaining in my surge tank at all times. I have a mag 7 in the bottom of my surge tank that supplies my CA Rx, my sulfur denitrator, and my fuge. I don't want that Mag 7 to go dry.

6. Is there a reason for the choice of 2" and the 1.5" tubes in their respective places i.e. is it an advantage that the exit from the separator is larger than the tube coming from the CSD tank and into the separator?

Actually no. My DT was used and actually came with that 2" bulkhead in that loctation so I just used it. The 1.5" was just easier to pipe in my wall and seems to have plenty of volume. I think you could easily vary the pipe sizes if you wanted.

7. How do you think a setup like this would work if you put the surge tank right above the DT, say under the celing in a room with the normal 8 ft celing height. I would use a 6" Internal diameter tube for the separator.

I think it would work just fine. I've seen many that sit literally on the top of the DT that also work really well. In fact the shorter the height, the less air bubbles. (There is less pipe full of air.) The higher it is, the faster and harder it pushes into your tank, but (without a separator) more bubbles at the beginning of each dump. If your separator is larger in diameter it doesn't have to be as tall. If your separator is smaller in diameter, then it will need to be taller. It's all about slowing down the water traveling through the separator to give the bubbles a chance to rise up and out while the water is flowing down. 6" will work fine, 8'' will work better etc.
What size dump tank, and what size piping are you gonna use?
How big is your overflow drain?
Will your sump be able to handle the water level fluctuation?

Ok, thats enough. I could ask som more questions but would be happy if you would answer these.

Hope this helps. It makes a night and day difference to having a surge tank.

Thanks
Dan

You're welcome

:)

[REEF SMAC]

Hi Steve,
This surge device got a lot of WOWWWW factor :D
Just ingenious. Patent it and own it!
Thanks for this patient explanation. I am sure many will take interest and install this setup.

Thanks Noob.
I would imagine someone has long ago patented an air separator. They are very common in hydronics piping. Haven't seen one made of PVC. Maybe someone makes them already, just haven't seen one yet. Usually they are made of carbon steel that would rust.

:)

[Haddock]

You're welcome

:)

Thanks for great answers. I appreciate it a lot.

The system I have planned to put the CSD on is still in the planning phase. It is an in-wall system with parts of it protruding into the front room with the rest of it in the tech room in the back (with a floor drain I might add.)

Front display window of 8 by 2.5 feet and a front to back of about 6.5 feet. It is not square but shaped like an old fashion TV set with the “electron canon” located in the tech room and the rest in front room making it look like a traditionally shaped aquarium with extra front-to-back depth in the middle section. It is a plywood system so there is only one viewing panel in the front. But I do consider a diorama in the back for that “endless view” effect.

Sump system is divided in two. One sump located below the tank, and a further one remote in the back of the tech room. This remote sump will act as sump for refugiums and various equipment connected to the system. Both are interconnected via large bore PVC tubing.

The plan is to have four of CSD on the system and four CL systems in addition to a wave box. CSD tanks of about the size of yours. Potentially there could be 120 gallon of water firing at the same time, so yes overflows are well sized and extra dursos at varying heights to remove all fluid.

Sump sized to be 3/4 full when CSD is in none-operational mode (must measure the water level for refilling at some time right) and ¼ full in the case that all CSD are all full and ready to fire. In that case water level in DT could rise as much as 3-4 inches. If I fill the CSD up with the you are using there should be a CSD firing every 45 seconds on an average. I hope it will be much more random than that.

The main display is planned to have about 800 gallon and total system volume of about 1500 gallons including all sub systems.

There are a lot of factors to consider when planning a system such as this and the CSD is one of the enigmas that I feel I must have in place to be happy with the design. It is so much better than any other pump (even CL) and so much more natural.

By the way: I love the micro bubbles. They look just the part and sparkles the light around.

[REEF SMAC]

Thanks for great answers. I appreciate it a lot.

The system I have planned to put the CSD on is still in the planning phase. It is an in-wall system with parts of it protruding into the front room with the rest of it in the tech room in the back (with a floor drain I might add.)

Front display window of 8 by 2.5 feet and a front to back of about 6.5 feet. It is not square but shaped like an old fashion TV set with the “electron canon” located in the tech room and the rest in front room making it look like a traditionally shaped aquarium with extra front-to-back depth in the middle section. It is a plywood system so there is only one viewing panel in the front. But I do consider a diorama in the back for that “endless view” effect.

Sump system is divided in two. One sump located below the tank, and a further one remote in the back of the tech room. This remote sump will act as sump for refugiums and various equipment connected to the system. Both are interconnected via large bore PVC tubing.

The plan is to have four of CSD on the system and four CL systems in addition to a wave box. CSD tanks of about the size of yours. Potentially there could be 120 gallon of water firing at the same time, so yes overflows are well sized and extra dursos at varying heights to remove all fluid.

Sump sized to be 3/4 full when CSD is in none-operational mode (must measure the water level for refilling at some time right) and ¼ full in the case that all CSD are all full and ready to fire. In that case water level in DT could rise as much as 3-4 inches. If I fill the CSD up with the you are using there should be a CSD firing every 45 seconds on an average. I hope it will be much more random than that.

The main display is planned to have about 800 gallon and total system volume of about 1500 gallons including all sub systems.

There are a lot of factors to consider when planning a system such as this and the CSD is one of the enigmas that I feel I must have in place to be happy with the design. It is so much better than any other pump (even CL) and so much more natural.

By the way: I love the micro bubbles. They look just the part and sparkles the light around.

Wow! :thumbsup:

Sounds awesome Haddock.
I love the way you plan. Really sounds like you have all the right pieces.
Got a link to this project yet? Can't wait to see it.

Yah man, I really like those micro bubbles too.:)

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X6clPkGheeU/TsAZCQPOZxI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/DnWpE-TewFA/s800/IMG_0919.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kfuJ_s5_2xU/TsAZkl37BAI/AAAAAAAAAqY/-pyiGttvmWE/s800/IMG_1105.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wHm3bCtDSas/TsAaMMmp5vI/AAAAAAAAAqg/jglJvGQzLDU/s800/IMG_1113.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_GWsFb61MSo/TsAargG_cNI/AAAAAAAAAqo/s1xo2wJxXQY/s800/IMG_1106.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6Cz4dS_5MVw/TsAdXMw_6JI/AAAAAAAAArY/RHBv79GT-rI/s800/IMG_0973.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tQooAQ7dJTw/TsAeGafSg0I/AAAAAAAAArg/o613so3NXi4/s800/IMG_1115.JPG

[Reef_Noob]

Extreme awesomeness :D

[chrishayes]

gorgeous pictures, so natural.

[DBarsotti]

steve, what is that coral just behind the sailfin ???

[klepto]

steve, what is that coral just behind the sailfin ???
shhhhh.

:facepalm:

[chefzif]

Steve, Very cool video and tank looks awesome! Chef!

[REEF SMAC]

Extreme awesomeness :D

gorgeous pictures, so natural.

Thanks you guys. Thanks for checking it out.

steve, what is that coral just behind the sailfin ???

I think you are talking about this one-

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8fAQoQKeBMs/TzjAuBEep1I/AAAAAAAAAyg/LwPWRW2J2mY/s800/Coral%252080.jpg

It's a favorite of mine I picked up at the Bay Area Coral Farmers Market about four years ago. Got it from Wet Thumb Frags. Never got a name for it.

shhhhh.

:facepalm:

Yah, Don't tell anybody. :D

Steve, Very cool video and tank looks awesome! Chef!

Thank you chefzif.
Kraylen does do nice videos.

:)

[klepto]

Yah, Don't tell anybody. :D



Exactly. :lmao: It's too badass to hype. I really like that coral. :thumbsup:

Just like this one!
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wHm3bCtDSas/TsAaMMmp5vI/AAAAAAAAAqg/jglJvGQzLDU/s800/IMG_1113.JPG

[myzislow]

I think you are talking about this one-

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8fAQoQKeBMs/TzjAuBEep1I/AAAAAAAAAyg/LwPWRW2J2mY/s800/Coral%252080.jpg

It's a favorite of mine I picked up at the Bay Area Coral Farmers Market about four years ago. Got it from Wet Thumb Frags. Never got a name for it.


Awesome Steve, glad to see the Solar wrasse made a reappearance. Everything looks great.

I love this piece too, mine is finally getting that shine back to it, and the pink coming in nice on the coralites. My radial coralites are far more pronounced then on your piece. Its def a keeper!

[REEF SMAC]

Exactly. :lmao: It's too badass to hype. I really like that coral. :thumbsup:

Just like this one!


Thanks klepto.
I'm really liking that Purple Godzilla a lot these days myself.

Awesome Steve, glad to see the Solar wrasse made a reappearance. Everything looks great.

I love this piece too, mine is finally getting that shine back to it, and the pink coming in nice on the coralites. My radial coralites are far more pronounced then on your piece. Its def a keeper!

Thanks myzislow.
Glad that piece is doing well for you. The different colors it gets under different lighting is pretty amazing. Keeper for sure.

:)

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TknfBiGwus4/T0SPfODeY8I/AAAAAAAAAuU/faBK0EXWiUc/s800/Clown%2520eggs49.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Bi7RQb-zTBU/T0SPfe58WzI/AAAAAAAAAuY/sFBXKLtFxds/s800/Clown%2520eggs50.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NY7cUXgYvTI/T0SPhOSKGBI/AAAAAAAAAuo/1CWZRhRbJmA/s800/Clown%2520eggs9.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GVJotMSENmc/T0SQMgBfllI/AAAAAAAAAvM/x2CpbSJ0B_s/s800/Clown%2520eggs10.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-qUJ_QrnGwFA/T0SQL7o1zYI/AAAAAAAAAvE/fO04HVPTXSM/s800/Clown%2520eggs15.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AKeJfSNe2hw/T0SQM_UZUHI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/f2gLypjFicc/s800/Clown%2520eggs24.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cNVrvX-l1N4/T0SQiWbvUvI/AAAAAAAAAvg/ZrRQg2Vbglg/s800/Clown%2520eggs26.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1YXLn9QhjFA/T0SQiHjIFxI/AAAAAAAAAvc/IUBJKXzmJ8c/s800/Clown%2520eggs39.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mTt2paPN7hM/T0SPT248IgI/AAAAAAAAAsk/qSNukt7ZKDM/s800/Clown%2520eggs14.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l7NiOBjBghc/T0SPa03vOLI/AAAAAAAAAtw/a0VFYYIfSHU/s800/Clown%2520eggs40.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xovB5E5vrMk/T0SPdFTNeLI/AAAAAAAAAuE/Hf2n7_xcCZo/s800/Clown%2520eggs47.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k2EtF2zIJg4/T0SPdbkUaCI/AAAAAAAAAuI/6agj_GyPVJg/s800/Clown%2520eggs48.JPG

[Acronic]

Steve really cool macro shots. Did you take them?

U have inspired me to mix up my salt mix. I mixed IO, DD H20cean and tropic marine pro together. Im looking forward to how the tank reacts to it.

[dvanacker]

top notch....love the macros.

[veloboy]

Awesome! Never get tired of those shots!

[DML08]

Oh Snap.. Steve got himself a Macro Lens!! :D:D Nice shots man..

[REEF SMAC]

Steve really cool macro shots. Did you take them?

U have inspired me to mix up my salt mix. I mixed IO, DD H20cean and tropic marine pro together. Im looking forward to how the tank reacts to it.

Thanks Acronic.
Yah man trying to get some time in to practice taking some decent shots. Sure takes up some time to figure it out.
I've had pretty good luck mixing up different salt brands so far.

top notch....love the macros.

Awesome! Never get tired of those shots!

Oh Snap.. Steve got himself a Macro Lens!! :D:D Nice shots man..

Thanks you guys. Thanks for the kind words. Glad you're liking them.

Here's a few more for you-

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-5KtLJf9nPjE/T0yAY3fUWXI/AAAAAAAAAwA/IV6mBECuh-Q/s800/macros1.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-oD-zmLk3RSw/T0yAYy3Q86I/AAAAAAAAAv8/xwJflb8asHo/s800/macros10.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P4FlLVyQmNY/T0yAY6NGStI/AAAAAAAAAv4/ILAnu0lks8w/s800/macros11.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-MTpoZUgoWQY/T0yAb_LaXNI/AAAAAAAAAwc/AkSBGg2_kTw/s800/macros12.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l1W-9bur3MA/T0yAaK6ae4I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/MKzVDrgpxSg/s800/macros13.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K7zbDVG3BMk/T0yAcCAWHHI/AAAAAAAAAwo/egxy2-v2J2g/s800/macros14.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-u05y7F9JJHo/T0yAbuoyhxI/AAAAAAAAAwY/m_k0Oi8sUOA/s800/macros15.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jeZQV2m_qt8/T0yAelgXKoI/AAAAAAAAAw8/G2y7gFiga54/s800/macros17.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LjIAW_GQs-4/T0yAe1Loj9I/AAAAAAAAAxI/GOWGyTmghR4/s800/macros18.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-IYR4uN4dNc0/T0yAead011I/AAAAAAAAAw4/m-kO4VWneyA/s800/macros2.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-MekBGpA99ec/T0yAf0wAzlI/AAAAAAAAAxQ/M-joTz0g600/s800/macros21.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-C5khs-1hJNE/T0yAhGW7rWI/AAAAAAAAAxY/9L77ebaaumw/s800/macros22.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-it0ahpOLJ7I/T0yAiW1jMKI/AAAAAAAAAxg/6IAXeekevC0/s800/macros23.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3y83nkvLh7c/T0yAithmHGI/AAAAAAAAAxo/pGRermMxf2g/s800/macros24.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_avbUrxuWAs/T0yAizMcgzI/AAAAAAAAAxw/3x_lfNcvkYE/s800/macros25.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-prWnaP5p8l0/T0yAj751G7I/AAAAAAAAAyA/Mx36okfWUbo/s800/macros26.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l1MYBq9RGhw/T0yAjyp4ImI/AAAAAAAAAx4/X1QW7H9K77U/s800/macros27.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EU8iSV-DAcU/T0yAlnjDaBI/AAAAAAAAAyM/0KQ1fqevkK8/s800/macros28.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Vcc_57OuUa0/T0yAltpcbuI/AAAAAAAAAyI/Q9fP3glEcuE/s800/macros29.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-srQfZ90suC4/T0yAn5AQUOI/AAAAAAAAAyg/vNFREIfJGiM/s800/macros3.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KiMhC3LC45M/T0yAnnjzQ4I/AAAAAAAAAyY/IGBockSJtb8/s800/macros30.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T234N0nhZ9Y/T0yApV5f0cI/AAAAAAAAAyw/y8sdXxba96U/s800/macros32.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Xf0VIVZEHHE/T0yAqNSk_kI/AAAAAAAAAy4/XygQX6snGLo/s800/macros33.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a59Iq51fzBE/T0yArdmeKRI/AAAAAAAAAzA/npWMyvkCiM8/s800/macros35.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-xYgLRkjF1f8/T0yAsZ0fNeI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/HWTjG5k9OME/s800/macros36.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RrSgcXZjn3U/T0yAxAm8XLI/AAAAAAAAAz4/Zhxc4iLWU0E/s800/macros40.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-02WgEP_8KsE/T0yAxUl2ggI/AAAAAAAAA0E/o3YvA8bd0Bk/s800/macros41.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ua35J843M88/T0yAxZG-isI/AAAAAAAAA0A/EzLFcSdU1Mo/s800/macros42.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Jf_aks2dqBo/T0yArmbWZZI/AAAAAAAAAzI/b0LzMUYCdLA/s800/macros34.JPG

[Reef_Noob]

Wowwzzy Steve this is extremely Macroficent I mean magnificent :D
So much detail I think one can make out whether the coral is male or female :lol2:
Great snaps you are mastering the art!!

[Acronic]

Mmmmmm tasty corals. Keep em coming Steve!

[klepto]

Great images Steve! I need to come visit some time soon.

Keep it up!

[steevareno2002]

Great tank! do you notice the corals coloring up more under MH vs. LED?

[REEF SMAC]

Wowwzzy Steve this is extremely Macroficent I mean magnificent :D
So much detail I think one can make out whether the coral is male or female :lol2:
Great snaps you are mastering the art!!

Mmmmmm tasty corals. Keep em coming Steve!

Great images Steve! I need to come visit some time soon.

Keep it up!

Thanks you guys! Thanks for looking. :)

Great tank! do you notice the corals coloring up more under MH vs. LED?

Thank you steevareno2002.

I really did find much of a difference when my LEDs were new. They worked really well for me, for well over a year. The colors they were putting out were just fine. They soon deteriorated quickly after that though.
I still have some 4 year old LEDs still running over my QT tank but they won't grow anything but brown corals at this point.

50,000 hours my a$$. :rolleyes:

[REEF SMAC]

Hello all,

Haven’t put any updates on here for a while. So here goes a little update for you all.
I’ve been doing a major hack job on a whole bunch of stuff for a period of several months now. So much of my corals were just getting too large. Not really a bad problem to have actually, it was just getting to the point where the entire top canopy of my tank was just one solid coral mass. I was getting many corals that were dying at the bases from not being able to get any light and at the same time growing all the way to water surface and/or growing outward to where they were touching my viewing windows and making it really difficult to clean them. In fact, the entire lower half of my tank was becoming really shaded and just wasn’t able to get much light at all. I was actually losing corals in the lower half of my tank that used to do really well and had just been shaded to the point of being brown and/or dead.
I’ve been spending many hours cutting out large colonies, chopping off all that lower dead underbrush, and replanting them back as a more manageable size. I’ve also tried to rearrange some of their placements, putting some of the ones that really table out solid to lower areas where they don’t block out the light to everything below them. This never seems to work too well as they all seem to table pretty much once the reach a certain size, but I'll keep trying.
Some corals have responded well to the new changes, some not so well. Some of the ones that weren’t getting much light, being shaded from above, suddenly are getting a ton more light. Some of those are looking better every day and others bleached from the light shock and still are pretty mad (or even dead). Some of the ones that I moved to different locations like their new spot, others hated it and RTNed. I’ve been trying to accomplish this task in phases, that way not causing too much of a shock to my system at one time.
Overall it’s been positive so far. I never really seem to be able to make everything in my tank happy at the same time though anyway.
I put this project off for a long time, probably too long, knowing what a chore this was going to be. I still have a ways to go, as this is still a work in progress.

Here are a bunch of pictures I took before I began this massacre.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ugmYuXDsxQs/UDB481iQYxI/AAAAAAAAA2A/HxvRbVJ19wU/s800/Before11.JPG


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9MgtPDfs-Cs/UDB49RLwTDI/AAAAAAAAA2M/FSj7Gr4DHLc/s800/Before12.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-EehkLHzfOOQ/UDB5DlJ-IUI/AAAAAAAAA24/FX9VhNsNk_U/s800/Before14.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I0yD9SqgZNs/UDB5Ab2St-I/AAAAAAAAA2g/QtBSAThE-zE/s800/Before15.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i85TtYTtgbY/UDB5CE97o4I/AAAAAAAAA2o/tyVeWB2v7ck/s800/Before16.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h5Qn5EgWSSw/UDB5G9VwNxI/AAAAAAAAA3c/8FhWUQASK-U/s800/Before2.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h2ZDs8bbcWg/UDB5IUb0E2I/AAAAAAAAA3s/RwvWluVmIXQ/s800/Before23.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-R5EjN4VlFho/UDB5LQUm-AI/AAAAAAAAA4A/gNMQ20wMcWQ/s800/Before24.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2_iHX9bDF8w/UDB5J98O3SI/AAAAAAAAA30/rFzR1jIf2ww/s800/Before25.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_kU3xBwrjqU/UDB5LIMsNkI/AAAAAAAAA38/aS88UCs1Ksg/s800/Before26.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-AdOhCX0Lo3c/UDB5MFbZ8TI/AAAAAAAAA4M/IrTRvS7x_WY/s800/Before27.JPG


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2ZyTgu6GHrM/UDB5OrvJfsI/AAAAAAAAA4k/yYQjWDni0MA/s800/Before3.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s_7BfNRhti0/UDB5Pkd-wjI/AAAAAAAAA4s/I5KuPA39naI/s800/Before30.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hig-eJVPzEg/UDB5QnaMFZI/AAAAAAAAA40/C8fXCinQnnc/s800/Before32.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YDQyhEfn2Zs/UDB5Y3kT6gI/AAAAAAAAA6E/BBN2rb3lVmw/s800/Before4.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RqV0WWDp4VA/UDB5YeLxonI/AAAAAAAAA6A/XZ8BjMtxPK4/s800/Before40.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mwBlgUKyv1A/UDB5ZsWNR1I/AAAAAAAAA6Q/A0ke8BoZkOc/s800/Before41.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-41L-nPBmQA4/UDB5js6K9WI/AAAAAAAAA70/yb87yyJ0GoI/s800/Before7.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e6fvhuvrJMU/UDB5lKO-5EI/AAAAAAAAA8A/cHViWr_HiWU/s800/Before8.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RCa-cc5qqOM/UDB7ZxNyGLI/AAAAAAAABCw/51gNDKEN3Zg/s800/After53.JPG





This Oregon Tort was up out of the water with my main pump off. I lowered it down about 8”.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oYVz2tHhRg8/UDB5lq7cmgI/AAAAAAAAA8I/f-Y6mYnezZU/s800/Before9.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-huyFv3F4TSU/UDB486X7HwI/AAAAAAAAA2E/yb-whdQLubg/s800/Before10.JPG






This Strawberry Lemonade grew massive onto the end of this piece of Tonga branch. I used a Sawsall blade on a handle to cut through the Tonga branch so I could move the entire colony. It was a beating but it worked.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pYVbkvt9dgg/UDB7bUUcQHI/AAAAAAAABDA/2pi2fGnzTyY/s800/After54.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uecOx3JhGQA/UDB5VJ7__zI/AAAAAAAAA5k/kt-qPNDgSA4/s800/Before37.JPG





And of course the FTS-

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-TYFGL2lEg08/UDB5NpyqFtI/AAAAAAAAA4c/wDpRkblFRJE/s800/Before29.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FGv3SjyARSk/UDB5XMKJloI/AAAAAAAAA54/6AzRUOpzOf0/s800/Before39.JPG

[REEF SMAC]

Here is a shot of three buckets of coral skeletons that I cut out of my tank. I think this is actually pretty close to the same amount of media that I’ve dissolved in my CA RX over the few years it took to grow these corals. There is quite a bit of kalk in there somewhere too.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WUEiCuxxmqI/UDB7YAya80I/AAAAAAAABCY/odVFMAH-ZMc/s800/After47.JPG



So after this coral massacre my tank is looking like this now--


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FN-uG6IFhnA/UDB7R5BnuuI/AAAAAAAABBk/N0w7otJDbmE/s800/After44.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tTVLuRR-q3g/UDB7LUMUx-I/AAAAAAAABAk/96M2FGJdgSY/s800/After36.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vw19vnBf2wg/UDB6CtVwxMI/AAAAAAAAA-I/yg-0-ra8MxQ/s800/After4.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ftZvcHvMI6c/UDB6DlPbn6I/AAAAAAAAA-Q/DoSo7ker84g/s800/After5.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i2DJmHWhYDs/UDB6FiXR4GI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/XbOql66-Bcg/s800/After6.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lUA5QsGK-s0/UDB6Fi3NsRI/AAAAAAAAA-c/JQaUMJ3tySM/s800/After7.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pcMG2rUpzkw/UDB6HEi15bI/AAAAAAAAA-w/PECBL1YpUQk/s800/After9.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-23A3SYgn2yA/UDB7BU5FQ5I/AAAAAAAAA_A/Xihc0FcRDbI/s800/After21.JPG

[Reef_Noob]

Hiya Steve,

Ok now it's official you are a "Coral Serial Killer" :D
Jokes apart what an amazing update. I would say this is Reefing at one of its best. I can very well imagine the hard work you had put into trimming and relocating corals. Wow!!!
You should be so proud you have achieved such "nitrous" accelerated growth in your system. And corals looking truly beautiful even after the "massacre" in your terms :)

Welcome back "Coral Gardener" :)

You are a true inspiration to me and everyone who loves SPS. I was feeling lazy but going through this update has recharged my batteries and I'm gonna go finish plumbing my new tank...Right now! :D
Thank you for sharing your journey.

[REEF SMAC]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PMFW6ybSCWE/UDB7Bpiym5I/AAAAAAAAA_E/-9J5BfPJ5b0/s800/After22.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-alkyI1gaIMQ/UDB7FsMyQAI/AAAAAAAAA_o/_IM1dfKytms/s800/After26.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2ahzU8gxlpA/UDB7J3BcoiI/AAAAAAAABAU/IhitaKlTlRE/s800/After32.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-k4_brW3QRTc/UDB7TAM05BI/AAAAAAAABBs/WCVOInLkgGE/s800/After45.JPG




Here is the newer FTS version-

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--_-MJMXF8S4/UDB7MDQg6PI/AAAAAAAABAs/6x_5DFlkPA0/s800/After37.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sJNMamtVODU/UDB6BoUSjFI/AAAAAAAAA98/MqAcWrsL45Q/s800/After3.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-t4xMsvOJ1HI/UDB7OhAPhtI/AAAAAAAABBA/RnRMlf_waK0/s800/After38.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eJ2FLWGxjZ4/UDB56D8E4JI/AAAAAAAAA88/vLT5jVwaeqE/s800/After13.JPG




Thanks for looking!

Reef on! :)

[Bax]

If you have to have a problem with your reef tank....What a great problem to have!

Looks great and the fish seem really happy with more swimming room!

[Santoki]

It's always a pleasure to see your updates. Without a doubt one of the of most well thought out systems I've seen and complete without being unnecessarily complex.
I think the surge system is almost certainly responsible for the density you're able to achieve. Now I just have to buy a new house so I can incorporate a surge system like yours!

One question regarding your early LED experiences...
You mentioned that it worked well for the the first year or so but then wasn't so good after that initial time. Do you know what type of emitters were used in your LED system? Do you think output dropped after the first year or was it a shift in spectra?

thanks and keep up the awesome work.
-Robert

[Moser]

:eek2:

Wow!.
Do you think it's worth cutting the lighting schedule to re- acclimatise everything?...

Mo

[coralreefdoc]

Excellent results, Steve ! Both before and after ... Well done :)

[albano]

One question regarding your early LED experiences...
You mentioned that it worked well for the the first year or so but then wasn't so good after that initial time.

have you changed your lighting?

[klepto]

Looking great Steve! I like how much the new scape opened things up for all of the fishes.

Keep the photos coming!!

[REEF SMAC]

Hiya Steve,

Ok now it's official you are a "Coral Serial Killer" :D
Jokes apart what an amazing update. I would say this is Reefing at one of its best. I can very well imagine the hard work you had put into trimming and relocating corals. Wow!!!
You should be so proud you have achieved such "nitrous" accelerated growth in your system. And corals looking truly beautiful even after the "massacre" in your terms :)

Welcome back "Coral Gardener" :)

You are a true inspiration to me and everyone who loves SPS. I was feeling lazy but going through this update has recharged my batteries and I'm gonna go finish plumbing my new tank...Right now! :D
Thank you for sharing your journey.


Hey Noob, Thanks for all the kind words and for checking up on me my friend.


It should be official by now, cause I’ve killed a lot of corals over the years. Lol.:sad1:

I’m glad fellow reefers like yourself can relate to how much work this hobby can turn into sometimes.
It’s funny how you can just start trimming this, moving that, while you cut this, it broke that, so you decide to move that too, but first you have to move that, so you can move this, next thing you know it’s midnight and you’ve had your hands in the water for 12 hours.
Then the next day your spouse and non-reefing friends look at your tank and say “What did you do? I don’t see anything different.”

Glad to hear I got you inspired to work on that new setup of yours. :)


If you have to have a problem with your reef tank....What a great problem to have!

Looks great and the fish seem really happy with more swimming room!

Thanks Bax,

Some do like the extra swimming room and others I think are kinda upset cause I rearranged a lot of their hiding spots.
It’s been interesting to watch all my fish constantly swimming around trying to learn the new scape. I actually lost my large Naso when I went out of town for several days after rearranging my scape quite a bit. For some reason he trapped himself up inside some coral colonies I had moved. It looked like he swam into a crevice, maybe one he was used to swimming through for a long time, but this time he ended up trapping himself there where he couldn’t go forward and couldn’t figure out how to go backwards either. I think he just panicked, thrashed around until he killed himself. (or had a heart attack) I’ve had him for more than 5 years so I was pretty bummed about it. :(

[REEF SMAC]

It's always a pleasure to see your updates. Without a doubt one of the of most well thought out systems I've seen and complete without being unnecessarily complex.
I think the surge system is almost certainly responsible for the density you're able to achieve. Now I just have to buy a new house so I can incorporate a surge system like yours!

One question regarding your early LED experiences...
You mentioned that it worked well for the the first year or so but then wasn't so good after that initial time. Do you know what type of emitters were used in your LED system? Do you think output dropped after the first year or was it a shift in spectra?

thanks and keep up the awesome work.
-Robert

Thanks Santoki for the kind words. :)

I really jumped into the LED thing pretty early on. Mine were the Solaris LEDs that were probably one of the first major ones out there. I bought the 3 watt version in 2008 and was so impressed with it that I bought two of the 4 watt versions when they came out in 2009. I had pretty good results with them for about two years. The video that Kraylen posted of my tank, the first one linked at the beginning of this thread, I think pretty well shows what great results I was having with these LEDs. Pretty much everything you see growing under those LEDs was grown from 1” frags. Growing side by side with 400 MHs there wasn’t much difference in color or growth really.
It was after the second year that these LEDs really began to deteriorate. Besides the obvious failures like bulbs, and power sources that stopped working, you could really start to see a pattern of how the corals that were directly under these LEDs were declining. I am thankful to this day that I still had MHs hanging over my tank at the time to show me that it wasn’t a water quality issue or something else. The LED unit that I still have working today (only by cannibalizing the other two units) looks really bright. I don’t have a par meter to actually measure it nor do I have par readings from when they were new to compare. I honestly think it’s a combination of lower par and spectrum shift but I have no scientific data to back this up. The best I can explain it, is that it is similar to having two year old MH or T5 bulbs over your tank. Looks really bright, just won’t grow anything but brown and/or dead corals.
LEDs have a lot of great qualities and I really hope they get better in the future.
I really have no idea what kind of drivers that the Solaris were using. Maybe someone else can chime in that knows. I've read several things about how Solaris did this wrong and that wrong, how their design could have been better, etc. I am still not really convinced yet that any of the newer ones are any better.
I'm still waiting for someone to show me the one that actually is.
I constantly lurk all the LED threads out there and follow the debates. I can say from personal experience that LEDs can grow some nice looking SPS.
The problem as I see it now is, for how long?
“Let’s see your LED tanks up for a year” is really no big deal if you can afford to buy new fixtures every year or every other year.
I’m gonna wait until I see that tank still running the same LED fixture for a least 4 years with consistent results before I waste another penny on them. Let’s see one that has been running for even half of that 50,000 hours that is constantly claimed.


:eek2:

Wow!.
Do you think it's worth cutting the lighting schedule to re- acclimatise everything?...

Mo

Thanks Moser,

I honestly think I had more issues with corals that I moved down lower in my tank than ones that were light shocked. The few that did bleach a little for a while really seemed to recover just fine. A few LPS pieces took it the worst. A few Acros that were up high close to lights getting a ton of flow didn’t do well at all when I moved them down to less light, less flow. I really don’t know why exactly. I think it might have something to do with their growth formation as a result of where they were used to growing. Maybe that growth formation didn’t work in a different (less flow) environment. Would love to know honestly. It really made me think as to why some of those wild/maricultured don’t do so well when they are moved from where they were once a lot happier. Strange how they could do so well for so many years in my tank and then I move them to a different, very similar spot, and they STN while others adapted just fine and have never looked better.

Not too many casualties overall though.

Probably would have been smart for me to acclimate the lighting a little better for a few of my corals though definitely.


Excellent results, Steve ! Both before and after ... Well done :)

Thank you coralreefdoc. :)

have you changed your lighting?

I still have (4) MHs over my tank that have been over it almost from the beginning. I changed out my failed LEDs to (4) SeaShine Plasmas a little over two years ago now.
They have been great so far and have definitely outperformed my LEDs BTW.


Looking great Steve! I like how much the new scape opened things up for all of the fishes.

Keep the photos coming!!

Thank you my friend. :)

Reef on!

[Bax]

Uhg! Sorry to hear about the Naso!

There are always risks with any major changes though. It is unavoidable.

[zaheda]

Good to get an honest opinion on led lighting. Im going to hold to my halides and t5, lucky I never got buyers yet for them. Is plasma units worth buying?

[veloboy]

Thanks for the updates RS. I always look forward to them! Very interesting to read about your experience thinning/relocating your acros. Shows we still have so much to learn about them. Sometimes it seems that they are masters of survival growing toward light and flow until they flourish. Other times they STN just because of a change in the flow within the same tank. This is why we love them though!

Keep the photos and updates coming! Thanks for sharing!

[aandfsoccr04]

Wow your tank is such an inspiration. The growth and size of your corals is outstanding. It gives us newer reefers something to look up to and try and immulate. Such a beautiful tank. Happy reefing :thumbsup: