Kong's Restored BB (90g)

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by hurleycr
Wonder if the extra back pressure from the reactor is making your pump slow?

I see I fully understand now..... heck ya that'll solve it. I'm telling you was the best thing my membrane and DI catridges ever saw. I was burning up a DI every two months or so. I destroyed my first (newbie mistakes) membrane, and the other well I really have no idea what happened to it.

I have to ask how does the reactor work for your system. I'm looking into one for my tank instead of the calcium reactor. Mostly for the added benefit to perciptate phosphate.

I have always followed your threads, you really helped me out on my build over the past year. Going BB was no easy task, and i'm still not where I want to be yet to add corals. Plently of fish though.

I love my kalk reactor. There's nothing to it; just dump a ton of kalk in, and away it goes. The pH controller is for a backup (in case my two float switches fail), but it has never had to step in.

It's the aquamedic stirrer (similiar to the deltec, but much cheaper!)

So what's up with the tank; what issues are you having right now?

[hurleycr]

So I have a question, if the stirrer is on while your top up pump is on does the Kalk go into your tank. You know not the kalk water, but the kalk powder. I can only imagine that it would, but once before someone told me that it depends on the design. Stirrer vs pump.

O the tank, Well once I get the doors to the stand and canopy i will be much happier. I still have to finish my sump, add two or three more vortechs, add the kalk reactor, buy a new VHO ballast, and add my last three fish. My problems are more along with not having enough time, and money to complete at one wack. Especially with the holidays right around the corner.

I gotta tell ya though. I've had fish in for about a month or so, and i'm feeding about four times daily. Nitrates are still undetectable. That's with one 15 gallon water change. I want to get all the equipment issues out of the way first, and get my routine down before I start dropping a couple hunderd of dollars per coral. By the way those pieces you got from L.A. are stunning.

[King-Kong]

No; the kalk settles on the bottom where the water input is. Fresh water mixes with the kalk, and is pushed to the very top where the outlet is.

This design should be the same for both stirrers and pump based kalk reactors.

And re: your tank; sounds good.. i was worried .. take your time with the hardware.. i didnt, and ended up having to re-invent my tank several times over.

...and yeah, i LOVE the quality of the pieces i got from Divers Den. If i were buying lots of corals again, I'd strictly go through them.

[hurleycr]

yeah I gotta say top quality. I got all my fish (all 20 of em) from them and each and everyone has made it. They all arrived eating well. Even flake, and pellets.

There's no doubt I will purchase strickly from them and atlantis once I start adding coral.

Do you still have your returns pointed toward the bottom of the tank to keep the poo from settling? I tried that and it not working for me, do you think I need to just turn up my return pump a bit more? Then again you have a 90 and I have a 220, so it more surface area to cover.

I thought there was a diffrence with the design with the kalk reactors. I can't remember who it was here on RC but I had thought of purchasing one before and they said to go with a pump driven like GEO's because it can't pump the slurry into the tank if its mixing while the top up pump is running at the same time, and you didn't get that with the stirrer's. To you have alk issues because you don't have sand bed to buffer using kalk?

Yeah i'm taking my time with the hardware, my last big investment was my skimmer and man does it make a freakin diffrence. Going from a sub par skimmer to one that just cranks it out. You really don't understand what an intricate part of your filitration the skimmer is until you really get a beast of one that is matched to your tanks needs. I'm so glad I listened to you and connely. Removing all that rock, increasing the flow, get a better skimmer, makes such a huge diffrence.

[mattsilvester]

looks good

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by hurleycr
yeah I gotta say top quality. I got all my fish (all 20 of em) from them and each and everyone has made it. They all arrived eating well. Even flake, and pellets.

There's no doubt I will purchase strickly from them and atlantis once I start adding coral.

Do you still have your returns pointed toward the bottom of the tank to keep the poo from settling? I tried that and it not working for me, do you think I need to just turn up my return pump a bit more? Then again you have a 90 and I have a 220, so it more surface area to cover.

I thought there was a diffrence with the design with the kalk reactors. I can't remember who it was here on RC but I had thought of purchasing one before and they said to go with a pump driven like GEO's because it can't pump the slurry into the tank if its mixing while the top up pump is running at the same time, and you didn't get that with the stirrer's. To you have alk issues because you don't have sand bed to buffer using kalk?

Yeah i'm taking my time with the hardware, my last big investment was my skimmer and man does it make a freakin diffrence. Going from a sub par skimmer to one that just cranks it out. You really don't understand what an intricate part of your filitration the skimmer is until you really get a beast of one that is matched to your tanks needs. I'm so glad I listened to you and connely. Removing all that rock, increasing the flow, get a better skimmer, makes such a huge diffrence.

Wow.. got all your fish from them? I'm jealous!

I will take a photo of how my returns are setup now. Before, I used to have one return pointing STRAIGHT DOWN, and it split the current left and right and kept my back channel clear (Eheim 1262). But, it wasnt perfect, and allowed some detritus to collect up allll the way to the far right, behind that one island. So, I split the returns at the base with a Y. One points left, behind my large boulder, the other right, and they keep the entire back clear of detritus. It's PERFECT.

Kalk reactor: All I really remember with the kalk reactors was that the pump-based ones required more cleaning, since the kalk really messes with the pumps internal components. The stirrer has none of those issues, as the motor for the bar is isolated. The stirrer moves very very slowly, and doesnt kick the kalk up at all.


As for alk issues and sand buffering; I think that's a misconception. Sandbeds do not buffer alkalinity; if anything, they are alk hogs, but for different reasons.

Let's look at a Ca reactor first.. what is necessary for that media to release alkalinity and Ca? EXTREMELY low pH (achieved by dumping CO2 into the water). A Ca reactor without CO2 does nothing, so why do we then assume that sand beds do the same thing without the incredibly low CO2/pH required to dissolve the media. I could be wrong, but havent seen anything otherwise.

..and yeah.. I love my skimmer. Lots of people PMd me and stuf saying a BM250 would be too big for this tank, and I shouldnt do it. Man am I glad I didnt listen! I mean it's very easy to counter over-skimming, and that's by feeding more and or getting more fish, and that's just going to benefit your corals, because theyre going to be getting MORE fresh food sources before they can break down and rot!

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by mattsilvester
looks good

Thanks

[Flint&Eric]

Originally posted by King-Kong
Let's look at a Ca reactor first.. what is necessary for that media to release alkalinity and Ca? EXTREMELY low pH (achieved by dumping CO2 into the water). A Ca reactor without CO2 does nothing, so why do we then assume that sand beds do the same thing without the incredibly low CO2/pH required to dissolve the media. I could be wrong, but havent seen anything otherwise.

and what is the effect on PH as oxygen levels are reduced/depleted? the effect is minimal imo, but given proper depth they can offer some buffering capabilities.

...didnt notice all the cardinals before, those look great

[hurleycr]

Well i kinda answered my own question about the buffering. I didn't mean it as in add alk, but the opposite. In terms I was thinking that with adding kalk or even with a cal reactor, the alk would spike easy because there was no sand bed to suck up (buffer) the alkalinity as there was before.

Then i thought wait a min, when adding kalk you are adding equal parts of alk and calcium at the same time. So unless you just went nuts with it, you couldn't knock one up really high without knocking the other really low or vice versa. For as long as you kept adding it, you would be adding both at an equal rate.

I havn't been messing with the cal, and alk right now because there are no corals in the tank. So basically I was thinking that it would be even harded to sustain cal/alk levels consistently, but its really the same with a sand bed, as it would be without. With a sand bed you consistently having something to take the alk out, and with BB you consistently have something not taking the alk.

[hurleycr]

Originally posted by hurleycr
Well i kinda answered my own question about the buffering. I didn't mean it as in add alk, but the opposite. In terms I was thinking that with adding kalk or even with a cal reactor, the alk would spike easy because there was no sand bed to suck up (buffer) the alkalinity as there was before.

Then i thought wait a min, when adding kalk you are adding equal parts of alk and calcium at the same time. So unless you just went nuts with it, you couldn't knock one up really high without knocking the other really low or vice versa. For as long as you kept adding it, you would be adding both at an equal rate.

I havn't been messing with the cal, and alk right now because there are no corals in the tank. So basically I was thinking that it would be even harded to sustain cal/alk levels consistently, but its really the same with a sand bed, as it would be without. With a sand bed you consistently having something to take the alk out, and with BB you consistently have something not taking the alk.

Ok that made a lot more sense in my head.... Does that make sense?

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by Flint&Eric
and what is the effect on PH as oxygen levels are reduced/depleted? the effect is minimal imo, but given proper depth they can offer some buffering capabilities.

...didnt notice all the cardinals before, those look great

Yeah I love those little cardinals... I really need to take a better photo of them, but they group up nicely, and are nice aggressive eaters.

They school nicely when my tang starts running around the tank chasing his reflection.

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by hurleycr
Well i kinda answered my own question about the buffering. I didn't mean it as in add alk, but the opposite. In terms I was thinking that with adding kalk or even with a cal reactor, the alk would spike easy because there was no sand bed to suck up (buffer) the alkalinity as there was before.

Then i thought wait a min, when adding kalk you are adding equal parts of alk and calcium at the same time. So unless you just went nuts with it, you couldn't knock one up really high without knocking the other really low or vice versa. For as long as you kept adding it, you would be adding both at an equal rate.

I havn't been messing with the cal, and alk right now because there are no corals in the tank. So basically I was thinking that it would be even harded to sustain cal/alk levels consistently, but its really the same with a sand bed, as it would be without. With a sand bed you consistently having something to take the alk out, and with BB you consistently have something not taking the alk.

With a sand bed in the tank, a major consumer of alkalinity is the giant biomass fixed inside the bed. This is why a lot of BB guys, after making the switch, report reduced alkalinity demands; they dont have a big bacteria farm soaking up all the carbon.

[hurleycr]

Kong.....do you use bulk resin for your DI when it goes out or do you replace the whole cartridge?

if you use bulk whats your impression with it? I have always use the catridge but am now looking at using the bulk resin. Do you know any cons of it?

[hurleycr]

Kong...... I stumbled across a post by a member who was claiming that for those who use Kalk 100% as a top off. The DI/Stage is unneeded, because Kalk not only does Kalk percipitate the PO4 but other harmful minerals as well. I know you do tons of research on just about everything, so I was wondering if you know anything of this or has someone been horribly mis led.

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by hurleycr
Kong.....do you use bulk resin for your DI when it goes out or do you replace the whole cartridge?

if you use bulk whats your impression with it? I have always use the catridge but am now looking at using the bulk resin. Do you know any cons of it?

I have a refillable DI canister, so I do buy in bulk; it is way cheaper. The only cons I know of is that if it isnt stored properly, it can "go bad". It needs to stay airtight, and I believe slightly moist.

That said, it's still ridiculously cheaper than buying new canisters.. especially if you use twopartsolution.com

Originally posted by hurleycr
Kong...... I stumbled across a post by a member who was claiming that for those who use Kalk 100% as a top off. The DI/Stage is unneeded, because Kalk not only does Kalk percipitate the PO4 but other harmful minerals as well. I know you do tons of research on just about everything, so I was wondering if you know anything of this or has someone been horribly mis led.

From http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php :

"One interesting aspect of limewater is its ability to self purify before being added to the aquarium. This happens in several ways, but all relate to the fact that most aquarists dissolve it and then let any undissolved solids settle out. Few, if any, of these solids are then dosed to the aquarium. It turns out that these solids can contain many of the impurities that came to the limewater, either in the solid lime, or in the water itself. In a recent article I showed experimentally and theoretically how this process works for a variety of metals, including copper, nickel, and cadmium.

Figures 1 and 2 show experimentally what happens when solid lime is added to water that contains a significant amount of copper. In the high pH of limewater, copper precipitates from solution as copper hydroxide. It also turns out that excess lime solids themselves can help remove additional metals from solution, as those metals bind to the surfaces of the undissolved lime. Besides metals, other impurities can also be precipitated from limewater as calcium salts, including phosphate."


That being said, I wouldnt replace DI with kalkwasser. I'd still run both.

[hurleycr]

From http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php :

"One interesting aspect of limewater is its ability to self purify before being added to the aquarium. This happens in several ways, but all relate to the fact that most aquarists dissolve it and then let any undissolved solids settle out. Few, if any, of these solids are then dosed to the aquarium. It turns out that these solids can contain many of the impurities that came to the limewater, either in the solid lime, or in the water itself. In a recent article I showed experimentally and theoretically how this process works for a variety of metals, including copper, nickel, and cadmium.

Figures 1 and 2 show experimentally what happens when solid lime is added to water that contains a significant amount of copper. In the high pH of limewater, copper precipitates from solution as copper hydroxide. It also turns out that excess lime solids themselves can help remove additional metals from solution, as those metals bind to the surfaces of the undissolved lime. Besides metals, other impurities can also be precipitated from limewater as calcium salts, including phosphate."


That being said, I wouldnt replace DI with kalkwasser. I'd still run both. [/B][/QUOTE]

No doubt....

but still very interesting......

[King-Kong]

VIDEO UPDATE!!!

Well folks, I have a special treat!

Over the christmas break I got a Canon HG10 (HD Video camera) as a gift, and so I decided to shoot a quick video of the tank!

http://www.d3f.org/misc/fish/90g/video/mediaplayer.html

It's a quick 51 second video of my tank, showing off some of my buddies that I havent really taken photos of for this thread.

Let me know what you think, please!

[ReefWreak]

Wow Kong, that's sick. Very very nice crisp video. Awesome

I love the cardinals. They really are a nice sight that you don't often see, especially in a school that size.

[moo0o]

very coool

[mattsilvester]

Kong - nice video! Any chance of a "full tank shot" clip

I'm half thinking of converting to BB and from what Isee there it looks great!

Cheers,

Matt

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by ReefWreak
Wow Kong, that's sick. Very very nice crisp video. Awesome

I love the cardinals. They really are a nice sight that you don't often see, especially in a school that size.

Thanks! I especially wanted to show off the cardinals.

Theyve been in the tank now for 2 months, and their schooling behavior is still very strong, as you can see in the clip.

I would still like to add more, but now that I have 10 healthy guys, I'm not in such a rush to do it. I'll add them if they become available at the LFS, and are eating (they have to come in eating! )

Originally posted by moo0o
very coool

Thanks

Originally posted by mattsilvester
Kong - nice video! Any chance of a "full tank shot" clip

I'm half thinking of converting to BB and from what Isee there it looks great!

Cheers,

Matt

hmmm.. guess im gonna have to work on a longer full length production version, then! hehe..

I'd still like to give some of the stonies a bit of time to grow out. It's been a couple months since the contamination was officially squashed, but it will be a slow comeback for a few specimens.

The green mille went from being 6-7" diameter of solid table, to about 2 sq. in. of tissue left on some skeleton.. very very depressing

[Chrisrush]

The LPS look good Kong. I really like those cardinals. I'm thinking about 10 or so for my new 60g cube. I want about 12 small fish in it. Nothing larger than 1-1.5".

[King-Kong]

chrisrush:

they are not big swimmers, either. They tend to just stay in place, and only dart around during feeding time.

[Joe]

Kong,

Those cardinals may stay in one place, but all that flow keeps them on their toes! Very nice video of a nice tank. Please keep in mind, as was mentioned above, we all love full-length productions, if and when you find the time.........Thanks for sharing this.

Joe

[Purple Haze]

Is that crocea sitting directly on your starboard?