A pic of my 75 g today 1 year details. - Page 3

Skorpinok · #51 09/03/2004, 12:30 PM

Man... there are a lot of nice tank in this forum. Great job tonym10..... Another tank that I'm envious off.

tonym10 · #52 09/03/2004, 01:52 PM

Thanks Arb

JVHam · #53 09/03/2004, 02:38 PM

Very nice tank, I like the fact you did not get pulled into the Metal Halide SPS realm, very colorful

z28cam · #54 09/03/2004, 02:52 PM

Very nice tony. What coral is that lime green one in the lower left of the tank. I really like it.

This one.

tonym10 · #55 09/03/2004, 03:07 PM

No metal halide for me.

The lime green is Calustrea , it has grown really fast, keeps getting new heads

z28cam · #56 09/03/2004, 03:16 PM

awsome thanks tony.

I think I remember reading somewhere that mandarins are toxic or can release toxins into the tank. Am I confused or is that right. I would like to have one for my tank also, as they are very exotic and coloful.

tonym10 · #57 09/03/2004, 03:27 PM

I have read that their slime is offensive to other critters, so things leave them alone, not toxic like puffers and things.

tonym10 · #58 09/04/2004, 10:50 AM

I now have a Pink birds nest on its way, and a large piece of Staghorn , they will be here wednesday, will post pics then.

tonym10 · #59 09/05/2004, 11:46 AM

Here is some pictures of the room next to my tank room, where I make the ro water, kalk water, and salt water for water changes.

This pic shows the RO/DI unit , that fills container. The container I used to use as a moving bed bio filter for my koi when I bring them indoors in the winter, thats what the blue tub is for , the koi go there in winter, I do not use the moving bed bio anymore thow.

Here is closer up of the Kalk reactor and Litermeter

tonym10 · #60 09/05/2004, 11:49 AM

Here is the other side of the room where I make saltwater for water changes. The water changes are done automatically with litermeter pumps.

tonym10 · #61 09/05/2004, 11:53 AM

Here is the room my tank is in, it is my excersize room, the tank keeps me motivated to excersize and the 1" hard rubber matting that the flooring is makes it easy to clean water spills.

Nirol · #62 09/05/2004, 09:46 PM

Tony, great tank! Tell me more about the water changes. What is a litermeter and how does it worK?

tonym10 · #63 09/08/2004, 05:58 AM

The water changes are done with the use of a Litermeter. The Litermeter is a peristalic pump. The main unit has one pump attached to it, but you can plug more pumps into it. So to do the water changes I have one extra pump plugged into it. The pump is great because it has a calibration capabilitie, so you calibrate the two pumps so they are each pumping the exact same amount of water. I simply have one line running from a 35gallon rubbermade container of saltwater , I make the saltwater once per week or two, that line goes from the tub to the litermeter pump to the sump. Then I have another line running from the sump back to the 2nd litermeter pump from the pump the line runs to my waste . The litermeter is plugged into a timer , the timer is set to come on on Sunday from 8 am to 8pm. The litermeter is programed to pump 5 gallons of water in a 12 hour period. You can program the litermeter to pump what ever amount you want.
The nice thing about this method is that you do not have to carry water to the tank and from the tank. So no risk of spills at the tank. I make my water in a spare room next to my tank room, so all the water making is done there and stays there.
Here is a pic of the Litermeter. you can see the 2nd pump in this pic , it is the small black box next to the litermeter

tonym10 · #64 09/08/2004, 10:37 AM

Two pics of 2 new corals from today

Staghorn

Pink Birds Nest

Dr · #65 09/08/2004, 11:03 AM

Where did you get the birds nest from? Looks really nice.

Nirol · #66 09/08/2004, 11:21 AM

Cool System! Where did you get the litermeters?

tonym10 · #67 09/08/2004, 11:27 AM

I got the pink nest from Dr Mac
I got one litermeter on Ebay, I forget where I got the other

Nirol · #68 09/08/2004, 11:43 AM

Is litermeter the brand name?

barlav · #69 09/08/2004, 11:48 AM

Thanks for the great post tonym10. I also have a 75 gallon setup that I hope to make as fully automatic as yours. I just hope my tank looks 1/2 as good as yours when I 'm done!! It might take me more than a year but that's ok since I will enjoy the work in progress. Your post has helped me a lot in envisioning what I want to accomplish.

I was wondering if you had any pics of your sump?

Also, how do you control the RO/DI shutoff? Does it shutoff automatically when your container fills?

tonym10 · #70 09/08/2004, 11:56 AM

Litermeter is the brand name , do a google search, You can get it Marine Depot I think.

I have pics of the sump. Click my gallery and look threw the differant pages . I do have the RO/DI unit controlled by a float valve that would turn it off automeatically if I forget to. But I do not rely on that as a way to keep the rp/di water tank filled. I have heard that it is not good for the ro/di water to constantl being turned on and off. I guess the first part of the ro/di water is not as clean as the rest . So when my ro/di holding tank gets low I turn on the water to the ro/di unit , usually leave it on all day and by the end of the day it is filled, then I turn it off, but if I forget to turn it off it wont overflow because of the float valve. I only need to fill it like every couple weeks.

bristopher · #71 09/08/2004, 12:06 PM

nice tanks.

AEALOVESHERGIRLS · #72 09/08/2004, 12:33 PM

Beautiful Bird's nest Tony!!!! Tank looks awesome!

Amanda

Nirol · #73 09/08/2004, 12:44 PM

OK... so you have 5 gallons being exchanged in a 12 hour time frame once per week. Cool... do the pumps remove 5 gallons first, then add 5 gallons? or are they simultaneous? If you remove 5 gallons, does the top off come on?...I guess my question is, are you changing out good new water and or top off water with the waste? The tank looks great so I know it works....

tonym10 · #74 09/08/2004, 12:55 PM

The water is all mixed together when it is changed, the litermeter swithes each pump on and off, one pump will run for maybe 10 seconds, and then maybe a minute later the other pump will run for 10 seconds maybe less maybe more then the other pump, they are calibrated so they do not each run at the same amount of time, because each pump has its own differant lines with its own head pressure. The topoff water litermeter is its Litermeter that one is always turned on, unless the sump level is high enough , then the level switch turns that pump off.

To understand you really need to read the directions of a litermeter
Spetrapure makes the Litermeter
Here is the link to the manual. Read the manual , it will make sence then
Litermeter manual link

Nirol · #75 09/08/2004, 01:17 PM

Super! I had gone to their website and studied it, still your explanation helps me. While it is pricey, it may be the best answer I've seen for automation of water changes. I'm curious... I assume you do before and after water testing...is the 5 gallons changed in this way, sufficient to keep the parameters where you want them? Do you still on occasion find a need to do internal tank vacuuming?