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Unread 12/21/2016, 08:47 PM   #101
siliconinja
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Originally Posted by JonezNReef View Post
Nice glad the leak was an easy fix. Well atleast the ammonia spike happened at the beginning of your cycle. I wonder how well the Dr Tims will work. Did you dump in the whole bottle or are you dosing it?


I added around 1/4 of the bottle, but considering dropping in more.


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Unread 12/21/2016, 08:58 PM   #102
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Rimless 120g TSVBI Dream Build

Well today sucked. I woke up around 5:15 am with a very upset wife. The alarm on the tunze osmolator was buzzing, she came downstairs to find the carpet wet.

I spent about 2 hours cleaning it up. I calculated ~40 gallons of top off water siphoned into the sump. Luckily around 25-30g of that was in the sump.

It only wet about a 4' radius half circle of carpet facing the bathroom. I used a dehumidifier, shop vac, space heater, clip fans, and towels to clean it up. Also a small pump to drain the sump back to regular volume.

I figured out what happened pretty quick: the float switch on the tunze ro controller didn't kick the unit off. This filled the RODI Reservoir tank to the max, overflowed some water onto the concrete floor that puddled under the furnace, near its floor drain. At some point when the water level was high, the osmolator kicked on. This created a siphon as my siphon break drains back into the tank using 1/4" tube... the tube was under the water level as the tank was filled to the brim. So instead of the Tunze RO Controller flooding my back room, it drained into my sump.

Back to cleanup: I then measured salinity to determine the amount of salt needed to bring back up to 1.025: 12 lbs or ~ 40g of water.

I need some redundancy and protection for my setup. A float valve for the RODI reservoir to start. Possibly more float switches hooked up to the Apex for notifications, or the ALD module, to control a solenoid.

Something will need to be done, the wife wasn't happy.

On the upside, I did get the carpet dried out as of now as I write this post. Salinity is back to normal. I'm slowly testing ammonia levels to dose back to optimal levels. 3rd times a charm


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Unread 12/21/2016, 10:03 PM   #103
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Its good to figure these things out now and not when your tank is fully stocked. I flooded my fish room twice when I first set everything up. First flood also seaped into the bedroom closet. Luckily I learned from the first one enough that the second flood only effected the fish room. Both floods where caused by an experimental skimmer at that time. Needless to say my wife wasn't thrilled either time.


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Unread 12/22/2016, 09:54 PM   #104
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Agreed JonezNReef, at least there was no life in the tank. The situation would have been many times worse if I had fish or coral in the tank. I'll be working to implement some safety and redundancy into this setup over the next 6 weeks as the tank is cycling.

I'm thinking a series of float switches in the sump: high, low, and correct height. These should allow the apex enough sensory capability to protect the tank in a number of ways including overfilling of top-off (using a solenoid), underfilling top off (killing return pump and heaters) and notifications.

Also a float valve on the RODI reservoir in the back room should help.

I'm trying to avoid the expense of the Apex leak detection system. I also don't see much advantage to it over the use of float sensors. I'm open to input, if anyone owns the ALD module and can provide feedback it would be appreciated!


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Unread 12/24/2016, 11:47 AM   #105
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It's kind of hard to argue with these results:
Relatively the same amount of time with ammonia in the tank, there's been some volatility in the main tank but still..

Dr Tim's definitely works


The tubes on the left are from the main display. Tubes on the right are from the QT Tank. Main display is showing 2ppm of Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite. Quarantine is showing 0ppm Ammonia, .25ppm Nitrite.

I haven't tested nitrate but it's only been ~5 days.

Thinking about dosing the rest of the Dr.Tims to the main display to seed it and help the cycle along. Thoughts?


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Unread 12/24/2016, 01:03 PM   #106
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Why not. I know it wouldn't hurt the tank and at worst it might speed up the cycle


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Unread 12/24/2016, 02:09 PM   #107
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonezNReef View Post
Why not. I know it wouldn't hurt the tank and at worst it might speed up the cycle


I added it

I shut down the return and added the Dr Tims right by the pump for the bioreactor and let that circulate in the reactor for a while. Then booted the return pump back up.

With this tank at 2-3ppm, at at 86 degrees hopefully that half bottle will be enough. I'll still be adding and watching Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate levels in the tank until I can add 2ppm of ammonia and convert it to nitrate in 24 hours


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Unread 12/27/2016, 06:49 PM   #108
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Ordered ~120lb of Real Reef Rock today, hopefully will see it by the weekend


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Unread 12/28/2016, 12:14 AM   #109
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Rimless 120g TSVBI Dream Build

The cycle continues... in the QT tank. No movement towards bacterial infestation in the display tank.



The real reef rock is seeded, and Dr Tim's Reef will be here tomorrow so that should get things moving.

In the next couple weeks: rock will be in, I'll be aquascaping with friends. And a pair of tank-bred clowns will find their way into my QT Observation tank.




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Unread 12/30/2016, 01:23 AM   #110
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I added dr Tim's last night, interesting that I didn't see a drop in ammonia within these past 24 hours..



Time to do a water change in the qt tank... will be watching the display tank closely over the next few days. If I don't see a drop in ammonia I'll be concerned


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Unread 12/30/2016, 06:57 PM   #111
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Ok starting to get concerned. No drop in ammonia yet, no nitrites building.

QT Tank is cycling fine, DT isn't doing anything. What could be my issue?


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Unread 12/30/2016, 08:31 PM   #112
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Maybe when you over did it on ammonia it did something to the water. I've never cycled this way but from what I've read without adding beneficial bacteria it could take 35 to 45 days to cycle. Also the ammonia can mess with the pH or dKH. I'm going to read up on dr tims site and get a better understanding.


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Unread 12/30/2016, 08:53 PM   #113
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonezNReef View Post
Maybe when you over did it on ammonia it did something to the water. I've never cycled this way but from what I've read without adding beneficial bacteria it could take 35 to 45 days to cycle. Also the ammonia can mess with the pH or dKH. I'm going to read up on dr tims site and get a better understanding.


Let me know what you find Jonez. When I over did it on ammonia, I did a massive ~100gal water change and even had to add in a bit of ammonia to get it back over 2ppm.

I'm monitoring pH via the Apex, I could do some alk testing too.

If nothing changes in the next couple of days:

A. I'll drain the tank dry and start over. Fresh RODI, mix the salt for 24hrs, and cycle using Brightwell's products.

B. Or I can add a cup or two of sand from my friend's established reef. See if that drops the ammonia.

C. Drain the tank dry, fresh RODI, mix salt and hold at temp. Add the rock from Real Reef that is seeded, either drop in ammonia from Dr Tims or do the shrimp method.




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Unread 12/30/2016, 11:56 PM   #114
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Found this:
The other big problem is that the cycling process seems to stall with ammonia or nitrite not dropping anymore. Usually this is due to a low pH value (less than 7.0). The conversion of the ammonia and nitrite by the bacteria naturally produces an acid that will lower the water pH. If the pH gets too low, however, the nitrification (cycling) process will stop. So if you add a lot of ammonia over the course of a week and get the cycling cranking, you can actually cause the pH to drop to a low value and ‘stall’ the entire process. The way to get the cycling going again is to simply do a 25% to 20% water change. This will increase the pH and usually gets the cycling process going again.


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Current Tank Info: System 1 Mixed Reef: 180g DT,180g Fuge, 120g Sump http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2611735
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Unread 12/31/2016, 07:16 AM   #115
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Awesome! I'm on it today. Thank you Jonez!

That could be the issue, as without rock and sand the system lacks a buffer. I'll give this a shot and report back!


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Unread 12/31/2016, 11:42 AM   #116
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Why don't you dose kalk might help bring the ph back up.


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Unread 01/04/2017, 12:52 AM   #117
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Rimless 120g TSVBI Dream Build

So updates: it wasn't a PH issue, I did notice before I started doing tank work tonight that the nitrites were just starting to show up, and ammonia was down to a solid 2ppm. Just about the 2 week mark, so all is good.

The QT Tank is showing 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrite, just a bit of nitrates.. so that one is good to go!


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Unread 01/04/2017, 01:12 AM   #118
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I got some stuff in! 3x boxes of Real Reef Rock, and 5 10lb bags of Bimini Pink live sand.



The Real Reef Rock came in to my friend's lfs today, I was able to pick it up within a couple of hours of its arrival. The rock was damp, packed with damp paper. It has some algae on it, so I don't know about being 100% pest free but at least I know it's live.

I got 2 boxes of the mixed size, and one box of large rock. All the boxes came with a sizable amount of rubble rock, all of which added up to about 40-50lbs between all the boxes. Highly doubt this is from shipping alone...

That being said, I love the rock. It's beautiful, very porous. I'll brought the 3 boxes back today, I'm letting the nice big pieces sit in the display tank and cycle out the remaining ammonia (between adding the rock and the rest of moving rock around, I ended up doing a 40-50% water change). I setup a 50g bucket with a nice sized pump, and drained a good 20-25g of display tank water into the bucket. I then dipped each piece of rock as I removed it from the box, and used the pump's output to rinse the rock. Then I added the rock to the tank.









At the end, I drained the 50g bucket, rinsed the rubble remaining in all 3 boxes, and added it to the 55g. I added some more display tank water, and some prepared salt water, and a heater and let that rubble cycle the small amount of ammonia out in the 50g bucket.



To finish out the night's work, I sponge scrubbed and wiped down the stainless sink and the work table the water tanks are on. Organized the back room a little bit, it still needs a lot of work but all in good time.



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Unread 01/04/2017, 01:18 AM   #119
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I made a rudamentary tank tour video to give you an idea of the layout.



For the rest of this week: I'll continue to monitor the levels in all tanks (display, rubble bucket, and quarantine).

This weekend: hopefully if our friends are able, we'll have an aquascaping party. Some of them are pretty into it and have been looking up aquascaping ideas on Pinterest and instagram. Once we get it all aquascape'd and epoxied together, we can add the sand and let it clarify.

Then I can return all the rock I didn't use to my friend's shop, and pickup a couple of tank-raised clowns for the QT. The dotty back will be my first addition to the display.


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Unread 01/04/2017, 11:05 AM   #120
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Nice walk though video. The tank is looking good and I like how well the system is put together... very organized and neat. Glad that the cycle is still going well and levels are finally changing. The rock you got looks like some good stuff with plenty of aquascape options and could really increase the speed of your overall cycle.
Quick question, are your returns just open bulk heads and if so do you have a check valve to prevent siphoning/draining if the power goes out? If you use a check valve what kind did you go with and if not how do you keep the tank from draining too far down when the returns off? Is there a reason why you don't use return outlets like loc line?
I only ask because I am considering drilling the other end of my tank for the returns but not sure if I want to go that route because I have had check valves fail me in the past. I just prefer the look of the returns drilled instead of over the side but don't really want to rely on a check valve to keep my tank from draining out too much. I also like how the return looks with just two holes in the glass without loc line because your eyes arent drawn to the return line running all over the place but rather a flat surface.


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Unread 01/04/2017, 04:19 PM   #121
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Jonez: I checked my ammonia late last night it was around 2ppm, maybe a bit less. This was after the water change, I'm sure the rock came in with some dieoff that the simple dip and rinse didn't get rid of too.

This morning, I was testing around 0.5ppm, so the rock is definitely speeding up the cycle.

Regarding the returns: I'm using a Wyse check valve. It requires maintenance, so I made sure a door is lined up so the valve is easily accessible.

I did get threaded bulkheads, and some short LOC-line but honestly didn't feel as though it was necessary as the two MaxSpect Gyres provide more than enough flow. I'll post a video of the return pump starting from a still tank. Still great flow and surface agitation, but I feel as though the look of the LOC line detracted from the overall look.

I may add them in later... but for now I'm happy!

With the check valve, it hardly drops any water at all. Great investment!


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Unread 01/04/2017, 04:29 PM   #122
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Yea I like how it look without the loc line better. I will have to look into the check valve because the 2 different ones I tried on my last 2 systems failed me when I needed them most lol.


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Unread 01/04/2017, 05:20 PM   #123
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Yea I like how it look without the loc line better. I will have to look into the check valve because the 2 different ones I tried on my last 2 systems failed me when I needed them most lol.


Don't jinx me


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Unread 01/04/2017, 10:23 PM   #124
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Love the tank.

Very glad to hear your haven't aquascaped yet. I was a little worried for a second that that was your final setup. Not going to lie I do not care for how's its current set. Can't wait to see it put together.

I was under the impression that most of cycling relayed on rock or marine pure or something similar for the bacteria to grow in an populate.

Also, I can't wait to make my Biocube "just the QT tank".


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Unread 01/07/2017, 10:16 AM   #125
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Love the tank.

Very glad to hear your haven't aquascaped yet. I was a little worried for a second that that was your final setup. Not going to lie I do not care for how's its current set. Can't wait to see it put together.

I was under the impression that most of cycling relayed on rock or marine pure or something similar for the bacteria to grow in an populate.

Also, I can't wait to make my Biocube "just the QT tank".


Thanks BigBear!

Definitely not aquascaped yet, but I'm not mad at how it looks just by "tossing" rocks in after they were rinsed.. the rock naturally made some caves and tunnels.

I posted some Tank inspiration shots earlier in the thread... I'll be following those for aquascape ideas. I'm thinking clean, minimal design with the smallest amount of rock > sand contact.

I was under the same impression for rock/sand providing space for beneficial bacteria to grow. But I knew it would take 2-3 weeks to receive the Real Reef Rock, and I needed to figure out how to get ~180lbs initially and keep only what I need/want... meaning a buyer for the remainder. Also, I purchased this bio reactor for the first time, never have used technology like this. So I figured I'd test it out. Obviously didn't work super well by itself.

The Real Reef Rock has dropped Ammonia to 0.5ppm as of yesterday AM. Will be testing all parameters of both tanks today!


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