Tank of the Month - October 2005

[mike89t]

Originally posted by CuriousTucker
For somebody that is new to the hobby but is currently in the planning stages, this TOTM is the best ever. Thank you for being exhaustive in your descriptions of your tank, maintenance, and design. Thank you thank you.

I agree. I've only been in the hobby for about 1 year and found the info very helpful. Also it was very well written and en enjoyable read.

How long has this system been up and running?

[Mr. Eko]

It looks amazing!
Good job on the TOTM

[hungtien]

Congratulation Jose!
Finally, I have a chance to see your tank!
Great works!
-David

[jdieck]

Originally posted by mike89t
How long has this system been up and running?

It has been up roughly three years now.

[rbaker]

Congratulations Jose! Another very well deserved TOTM...

Ryan

[Scuba Oz]

VERY nice!!!! Congrats on TOTM

[reefarena]

Hi Jose,

Very nice tank and excellent equipment set up. Had a couple questions; regarding the RO/DI unit and ¿purity & rejection monitors? What are those and where can they be purchased.

What brand calcium reactor and kalk reactor do you recommend?


Very nice tank.

Randy Arena ô¿ô

[peecook]

awesome acros. great description too. thanks.

[mimosa]

Hi Jose. After seeing your beautiful tank, setup and automated system in person, I have been wondering when your tank would be featured as TOTM. Congratulations!

[jdieck]

Originally posted by reefarena
Hi Jose,
Had a couple questions; regarding the RO/DI unit and ¿purity & rejection monitors? What are those and where can they be purchased.

What brand calcium reactor and kalk reactor do you recommend?

Randy Arena ô¿ô

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Randy:
A rejection monitor is nothing but a dual on-line TDS meter that is set up to measure the TDS to the inlet and outlet of the membrane.
If the measured Rejection in % is 90% or less on a 75 gpd or less membrane or less than 85% on a 100 gpd membrane, the membrane has to be replaced

Rejection % = (TDSin-TDSout)/TDSin x 100

A purity monitor is also an in line conductivity meter but does not reads ppm but rather turns a green or red light depending if the water has exceeded the monitor set point. It has the disadvantage that does not read the ppm but has a higher sensitivity of down to 0.3 ppm while typical TDS meters resolution is 1 ppm +/- 1ppm at very low levels.

Here is a dual TDS meter that can act as a rejection meter just install the probes in and out the membrane rather than in and out the RO/DI unit.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=Aquafxro

Here is the monitor:
This you can connect the probe at the pure water point or after any non color indicating DI cartridge so you know when it has been exhausted. Scroll down to the "Push to Test Monitor"
http://www.spectrapure.com/St_quality_p2.htm

There are a lot of good Calcium Reactors out there. But here are some tips:
a) For an SPS loaded tank. I would recomend a reactor at least three times larger than the manufacturer recomendation. If the manufacturer say it is for up to 400 gallons it will only be good for about a 120 to 130 gallon tank.
b) I like up flow in the chamber rather than downflow
c) A second chamber is also recomended to reduce the impact on PH
d) Get a PH monitor if not a controller. The reactor is imposible to set up with a test kit.
e) If using a two chamber reactor look for one were the PH probe can be installed either in the first chamber, first chamber recirculation or right at the output of the first chamber. This is a requirement to increase the controller or PH monitor responsiveness.
e) needle valves for effluent control are also my preference
f) Finally for a nice touch a flow meter; which is not required but, once you have it you will find out how convenient it is rather than using a stop watch and a measuring cup.

[mrreuben]

Ok i think i have a question that all of us would like to know. What was the initial cost for setup on your system. You must be rolling in the dough to aford a tank like this.

[Phishmike]

Great tank, I really enjoyed reading your whole story from begining to end, I too am a husband and father, and can relate (on a smaller scale) to the whole "will it be the tank or us" syndrome.

Good luck with continuing success.

Michael

[reefarena]

Thank you Jose for all the info, very informative...

Randy ô¿ô

[Don424]

Beautiful tank................ but looks like overkill to me with all the equipment etc.............the monthly electric bill must be astronomical.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by mrreuben
Ok i think i have a question that all of us would like to know. What was the initial cost for setup on your system.

I would say that about a lot more than I expected

[jdieck]

Originally posted by Don424
Beautiful tank................ but looks like overkill to me with all the equipment etc.............the monthly electric bill must be astronomical.

I think the power consumers like pumps and lighting are not really avoidable. The rest is just investment. Given my travel automation is really a blessing although I recognize a lot of it is just like for "engineering pleasure"

[bigeyetuna]

Very impressive! I like the way it is part of the house itself.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by bigeyetuna
Very impressive! I like the way it is part of the house itself.

Thanks, I like the bouncers

[M0E]

congrats, i love it

[blackjacks_mom]

Jose,

Unbelievably stunning. Great work & congratulations on totm. Well deserved.

Pam

[J0EC00L]

Jose,

In your article you stated replacing your power heads suction cups. Where do you buy your replacement suction cups? I have been searching for a long time for a source of replacement suction cups for my maxijet 1200's. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

BTW

Your tank is a top notch setup. And your insane.

Thanks,

Joe

[steelcaveman]

Awesome setup! I am jeleaous of those with a basement.
I am curious how you resolved some of your problems: hair algae and ich in particular. I tried a bunch of stuff, and found that time, garlic, circulation, and high water quality fixed most of my problems better than any remedy or product, with the exception of ich. Foretunately for my fish, ich outbrakes are now rare and do not result in casualties. I noticed that you have a 40 watt UV sterilizer, did you have an ich problem with the UV sterilizer? What worked for you?
Thanks again for your great tank bio.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by J0EC00L
Jose,

In your article you stated replacing your power heads suction cups. Where do you buy your replacement suction cups? I have been searching for a long time for a source of replacement suction cups for my maxijet 1200's. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

BTW

Joe

Hi Joe...
After trying different brands I consider the Adams ones the best. I found a lot of cheap ones that just fall in a couple of weeks. The Adams are made of PVC rather than silicon, rubber or soft plastic and last a good deal of time.
They have diferent sizes and can come in bulk or retail. For the Maxijet 1200 I get the medium ones rated for 3 pounds. If you get them retail they come in packs of three with a metal hook, just remove the hook, if necesary just grind or cut the cup's holder to fit the PH base and that's it.

Here is the manufacturer's site.
http://www.suctioncups.com/retail/CupsCCatalog.htm
You can find them at these stores. I get mine from ACE Hardware.

http://www.suctioncups.com/retail/RetailLocations.htm

[jdieck]

Originally posted by steelcaveman
Awesome setup! I am jeleaous of those with a basement.
I am curious how you resolved some of your problems: hair algae and ich in particular. I tried a bunch of stuff, and found that time, garlic, circulation, and high water quality fixed most of my problems better than any remedy or product, with the exception of ich. Foretunately for my fish, ich outbrakes are now rare and do not result in casualties. I noticed that you have a 40 watt UV sterilizer, did you have an ich problem with the UV sterilizer? What worked for you?
Thanks again for your great tank bio.

For the Algae it was the typical, patience and nutrient export (Good skimming, A great Tang grazzer, High ORP w/ Ozone, Refugium with Chaeto, Carbon, Purigen and lots of Phosphate removing media.. I use now a reactor with a capacity for a full 1.2 Kgs bucket of Phosban). I still have some small growth of hair algae only at the plugs I use for the coral frags. They are made or aragocrate so I guess they bring some nutrients with them. I will try different plugs and see how it goes. I have been toying with the idea of trying small ceramic tiles.

For Ich... Oficially if the fish are heavely infected I shall say quarentine, Hyposalinity and Copper... Having said that it is something I did not do but instead I just tried to help the fish fend it by themselves. Feed with lots of Garlic and Vitamins (Vitachem) not so much to fight the Ich but to boost their imune system, and the sterilizer 24/7 not to kill the ich but to weaken it and kill whatever tomonts (or whatever we call them) got free floating. Having done that the cycles of Ich continued for a while but never fatal and every cycle they were less and less until it showed no more.

[Airman]

Great tank. I don't think you have room to fart in your equipment room. I like the viewing from three sides.