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Unread 09/09/2017, 10:25 PM   #151
mdrobc1213
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ycnibrc View Post
Check the rubber seal at the union sometime it fell off. Are u tight the union enough? Brand-new union don't leak. If it leak where u glue the PVC then try silicon or more glue around the edge
Thanks will check but they were brand new unions from BRS so don't think that was the problem. They are as tight as I can get them. Will look for rubber seal tho. Was able to stop higher up leak at PVC glue part (was very small) using silicone seal tape from Home Depot! But union distal to my Gateway valve still leaks and I find a few drops daily on the upper part of the union.

Worst case is purchasing another valve and slip-slip couple...cutting the pipe above the valve assemble and union and replacing with brand new union-valve-union-elbow-union assembly. I do have the spare parts to do so but hate to do it especially with the tank running now...would have to shut down the left side return basically until accomplished and let new piping dry...24hrs or so right? Could run right side return no problem as no leaks there tho I guess. Thanks for the advice.


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Unread 09/09/2017, 11:48 PM   #152
mike810
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Originally Posted by mdrobc1213 View Post
Just did my 1st hard plumming build and also had a few leaks at the unions also...how do you/did you fix yours? Am at a loss other than redoing the plumbing lines which I don't necessarily want to do. Leak was at my drains...1" union into gateway valve then another 1" union to a 90 elbow to the sump drain #1. Help/thoughts on this?
Make sure your unions lines up perfectly and are hand tighten. Mine were leaking because some of the plumbing was a little short so I simply cut above the union a few inches, put in a coupler so I can adjust the pipe to be a little longer. This way all the unions are touching each other before I begin to tighten them by hand. This ensures a good seal.

Another thing you want to check after making sure the seals are there to begin with like Anthony suggested, is to remove the union. Then check to see if the seal got pushed down too far due to over tightening that they are no longer water tight. Carefully remove the seal, apply some reef safe silicone grease if you have any, if not, just try reseating the seal and hand tighten but not excessively.

If you have a leak around an elbow, take some pvc glue and try pushing it into where the leak is. Shut off the system, purge the pipe of water and dry the area where the leak is occurring. Smother the area with pvc glue and use your finger to try getting it in there if you have to. Good luck, I hope you fix the leak.


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Unread 09/11/2017, 02:30 AM   #153
mike810
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Took some top down shots tonight along with a front shot. Looking forward to seeing these babies grow into colonies. Hopefully I'll get a few nice fishes in on Wednesday.





This is a top down of the very first sps I put into the system. It was completely browned out, I love watching browned out sps color up.













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Unread 09/11/2017, 02:30 AM   #154
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Unread 09/12/2017, 02:50 AM   #155
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Can you guys tell me what algae/bacteria this is?





View from the side



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Unread 09/12/2017, 05:32 AM   #156
ElTurco
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Hi there;
Good luck with your good set up. Checking your latest pics I would suggest a few things to be considered :
1- Your tank is in curve for established water please do not rush for coral additions.
2- Increase the number of cleaning crew especialy the snails.
3- Seems like you have cyano start up check your circulation in tank and water parameters probably phosfate is too high.
4- Put some more tangs for algea consumption ie: convict tang etc.
5- You have made very good investment on hardwares but patience is a must

Best wishes


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Unread 09/12/2017, 10:27 PM   #157
mike810
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Originally Posted by ElTurco View Post
Hi there;
Good luck with your good set up. Checking your latest pics I would suggest a few things to be considered :
1- Your tank is in curve for established water please do not rush for coral additions.
2- Increase the number of cleaning crew especialy the snails.
3- Seems like you have cyano start up check your circulation in tank and water parameters probably phosfate is too high.
4- Put some more tangs for algea consumption ie: convict tang etc.
5- You have made very good investment on hardwares but patience is a must

Best wishes
Hello and thank you. Let me answer some of your suggestions below.

1. I will not be adding anymore corals until the ones already in the tank color up more and grow more.
2. I have 4 fighting conch, 35 nerite, 35 nassarius, 35 cerith. I could probably add more but I didn't want to add too much right away and have a bunch die from starvation.
3. I think it might be DINOS and not cyano. Either way, nitrates are low at 2.5 and phosphates read 0 with hanna ULR checker. Not really sure if I believe these numbers. I do have some algae but not much. There is plenty of flow in the tank, maybe a little too much lol as all the LPS needs to stay on the side of the tank. There is four MP40QD and two Tunze 6255 in the tank for flow. Vortechs are running at 60% and Tunzes at 70%.
4. I already have 7 tangs in the tank, some I did not take a picture of because they move too much. The only other tang I would consider adding to the tank would be a GEM tang.
5. Thank you very much. On this tank, believe it or not, I have exercised a lot of patience, lol. I rarely mess, adjust or fiddle with the tank like I have with my previous three tanks over the years. This time around, I only change filter socks every couple of days, empty skimmer cup and feed the tank. Oh and clean the glass every few days as algae builds up. I know my tank is still very young and I'm not rushing to make any drastic changes to try and get rid of the algae. I will let it run its course and hopefully, it will go away on it's own.


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Unread 09/12/2017, 11:51 PM   #158
ElTurco
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Hi Mike;

Great to know that all in order. I will follow up developments and especially interested in your experiences with KHG in future. Good luck again.

brgds


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Unread 09/13/2017, 12:13 AM   #159
mike810
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Hi Mike;

Great to know that all in order. I will follow up developments and especially interested in your experiences with KHG in future. Good luck again.

brgds
Hello,

I initially had problems with the KHG. When it worked, it was wonderful to have and at a glance, knowing where your alk is at was great. I did have to send it back last week to get fixed but I just got it back this morning. Since getting it back, I've run around 10 test or so and it's been working good, no errors. Hopefully, no more errors for a good while. Seems like I was the only one with the issues I experienced with the KHG.


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Unread 09/16/2017, 09:17 AM   #160
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That algae is dino. Your tank water is too clean and the bad algae is out consuming the good algae.


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Unread 09/16/2017, 10:00 AM   #161
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Just read the entire build thread. Love the equipment you're using. It definitely looks like Dino. I battled Dino and byropsis a few years ago(2013/2014, currently out of hobby) and used Ultra Algae X. Killed Dino in 3 days. I'm not sure if it's still around but if you can find some, I bet it will fix your issues.


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Unread 09/16/2017, 10:04 AM   #162
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Tagging along


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Unread 09/16/2017, 05:32 PM   #163
mike810
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I'm going to give hydrogen peroxide dosing a go first. There is a product called dino-x which replaced ultra algae x that supposedly works but I would have to dose 75ml every 2 days for 375 gallons. A 500 ml bottle cost $50 bucks and you're suppose to treat until gone which could take up to a month! Some reports of SPS dying from the treatment also.


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Unread 09/16/2017, 06:26 PM   #164
ycnibrc
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I wouldn't use any chemicals to treat Dino. Increase flow at the sand bed reduce zeobak reduce light period get some other algae to your arid reactor beside cheato. Add a lot of astrea snail and clean up crew and let it ride. I have been through this like a few months ago N now my tank is spotless no algae. The red leg hermit even eat the Damm dino


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Unread 09/16/2017, 06:54 PM   #165
mike810
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I wouldn't use any chemicals to treat Dino. Increase flow at the sand bed reduce zeobak reduce light period get some other algae to your arid reactor beside cheato. Add a lot of astrea snail and clean up crew and let it ride. I have been through this like a few months ago N now my tank is spotless no algae. The red leg hermit even eat the Damm dino
This stuff is spreading like crazy and suffocating my SPS. I have four MP40QDs running at 70% and two Tunze 6255 running at 90%. There is plenty of flow in the tank for sure. I have stopped zeobak altogether as it was not doing anything to help except create excess slime. The chaeto's growth has stalled due to the dinos smothering it. I don't think adding more snails will help as the ones in the tank seem to be dying or getting weak feeding on the dinos. I have to blow the dinos off the SPS every hour to stop them from dying only for the dinos to come back right away, it's crazy. Pretty sure I'll lose a lot of frags waiting for months for the dinos to clear.




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Unread 09/16/2017, 07:21 PM   #166
ycnibrc
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Do u have a frag tank that u can move all corals to? U can try to go completely dark for 3 to 4 days see if that help.

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Unread 09/16/2017, 07:26 PM   #167
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Another way that I use is to get a hose and suck the water to the filter sock that way u can suck the dino out to the filter sock for hours and don't have to do water change. Be consistent do that everyday and change Filter sock don't let them multiply more. It's a hard battle but we are human vs algae we suppose to win.

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Unread 09/16/2017, 07:39 PM   #168
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Yeah, I've been doing that also. They come back within a day or two to the same amount that was sucked out previously. It's overwhelming to say the least.


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Unread 09/16/2017, 08:12 PM   #169
ycnibrc
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Lol u have Godzilla Dino


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Unread 09/17/2017, 12:10 AM   #170
mike810
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YES! It's getting crazy. Looks like I might be losing my tono wrasse. I spotted it swimming funny just right now and doing barrel rolls. I just netted it and put it in an acclimation box. I hope it pulls through but I doubt it. In past experience, once a wrasse starts swimming funny, it's a goner. It's either the dinos or possibly swim bladder affecting the wrasse.


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Unread 09/28/2017, 03:41 PM   #171
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Nice set up! In my experience you need to ignore this stuff. Accept the fact that it is going to be around for a while and learn to ignore it. Your tank is in its infancy. I started a tank with mostly dry rock that was thoroughly cured and this ugly duckling phase lasted 6-8 months. The more you fight it the worse it gets. I don't think you can curb it you just need to let it go. That is assuming most of your parameters are in check. If your fish are healthy and your corals seem fine, look the other way. This is my opinion of course.....

As far as the fish goes, unless proven otherwise the fish probably had the problem from before. To early to hit the panic button for pretty much anything that happens in your tank.


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Unread 09/28/2017, 09:15 PM   #172
mike810
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Nice set up! In my experience you need to ignore this stuff. Accept the fact that it is going to be around for a while and learn to ignore it. Your tank is in its infancy. I started a tank with mostly dry rock that was thoroughly cured and this ugly duckling phase lasted 6-8 months. The more you fight it the worse it gets. I don't think you can curb it you just need to let it go. That is assuming most of your parameters are in check. If your fish are healthy and your corals seem fine, look the other way. This is my opinion of course.....

As far as the fish goes, unless proven otherwise the fish probably had the problem from before. To early to hit the panic button for pretty much anything that happens in your tank.
The fish is a gone, it didn't make it sadly. I would love to ignore it and let it run it's course but it is smothering my sps frags, can't have that!! Either way, I've been dosing DINO-X and it seems to have killed 95% of it already. Some frags did brown out but i'm pretty sure it was from the dinos smothering it all day every single day.

Since the majority of the dinos died, cyano is starting to rear it's ugly head. I much rather have cyano then dinos any day.


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Unread 10/01/2017, 01:49 AM   #173
mdrobc1213
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Make sure your unions lines up perfectly and are hand tighten. Mine were leaking because some of the plumbing was a little short so I simply cut above the union a few inches, put in a coupler so I can adjust the pipe to be a little longer. This way all the unions are touching each other before I begin to tighten them by hand. This ensures a good seal.

Another thing you want to check after making sure the seals are there to begin with like Anthony suggested, is to remove the union. Then check to see if the seal got pushed down too far due to over tightening that they are no longer water tight. Carefully remove the seal, apply some reef safe silicone grease if you have any, if not, just try reseating the seal and hand tighten but not excessively.

If you have a leak around an elbow, take some pvc glue and try pushing it into where the leak is. Shut off the system, purge the pipe of water and dry the area where the leak is occurring. Smother the area with pvc glue and use your finger to try getting it in there if you have to. Good luck, I hope you fix the leak.
Thanks..seems to have solved itself on its own. Bought another valve and PVC unions and elbows to make a whole new section of pipe down to my sump but looks like it stopped on its own. So that's great I guess but will keep them and make sure that the leak is fully gone. So far so good.


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Unread 11/18/2017, 10:44 AM   #174
ReefKeeper64
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Hey Mike, How is your pax bellum arid reactor working out? Is maintenance easy or a pia? Does PO4 creep up for while after you harvest the cheato? Does it really pull down PO4 effectively? Looking for pros and cons. Thanks


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Unread 11/19/2017, 06:21 PM   #175
mike810
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Hey Mike, How is your pax bellum arid reactor working out? Is maintenance easy or a pia? Does PO4 creep up for while after you harvest the cheato? Does it really pull down PO4 effectively? Looking for pros and cons. Thanks
Here's my experience with the arid reactor. I started off with a golf ball size amount of chaeto. It grew a little bit to maybe a soft ball size in month. Since then, it hasn't really grown anymore. I tried several different photo periods from 8, 12 and 18 hours a day. Still, no more growth. I get some hair algae growing in the reactor also and it grows on the chaeto also.

Maintenance is not bad since I have it in a open location. I did move the dastaco and arid around a bit to make getting to the arid more convenient. I don't clean it often as I don't see much in the way of growth but when I do, I simply remove the led bar, remove the top and into a 5 gallon bucket. I rinse everything off when a hose and a final rinse with RODI. Rinse the chaeto and replace.

My tank has very low nutrients so I'm not sure if it's due to the arid or other means. I tested no3 and po4 today and results were no3=1 and po4=.02, tested with salifert and hanna ulr. I'm going to dose the provided nitrate solution to try and bring up nitrates a bit. I'm not really sure I even need the arid reactor on this system to be honest.

It's crazy because I have close to 50 or just a little over 50 fish, about 8 tangs, some fairly large. I feed the fish 2-3 times a day with 6-8 cubes of frozen each feeding. If I feed from a flat pack, I break off big chunks of food, I think this tank gets fed a lot but it still has low nutrients.


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