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#51
10/28/2005, 03:16 PM
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No updates from me yet. The pump that was running the skimmer on mine died and went un-noticed for several days. Unfortunately, that was the only pump providing circulation in the system so it became still, stagnant salt water. Looks like I have to start over.
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<°)>>< ~~~><<(°> Member of DFWMAS |
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#55
11/14/2005, 10:24 AM
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i have the pluming finished in my tank and water tested. i have to be in NE this week for work, but should have the sand in sometime this coming weekend. i'll keep everyone posted. Dr. Minh had a chance to look at the sand and said it wasn't as fine as southdown is. all looks good to go in the next few weeks.
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#57
11/14/2005, 06:48 PM
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My classes (and students) have been taking up a great deal of my time. What is left over I have been spending working on tweaking my system.
Well a few updated things to post. First the sand bed is moderately colonized. The top 1-1.5 inch layer has approximately 20-30 animals per sq inch (under 10 x magnification). I hope that this number will increase exponentially now that I have increased the phytoplankton feeding. I have a Dart running the 3 40 gallon systems now and I could not be more pleased. With drain rates I estimate about 950 gallons an hour is going through each system. I also a have heavily modified maxi-jet 1200 in each tank. The way the water is dispersed the sand is not disturbed. 2 weeks ago I also added xenia, zoantids, montipora, and sarcophyton that all seem to be doing well. The xenia is already growing over anything it can. I will post more new information when I have time. Probably around Thanksgiving break. I just wanted to give you the major updates for now. I will also try to answer the pm's and any other questions posted on this thread a.s.a.p. -Michael |
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#59
11/15/2005, 03:59 PM
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For what it is worth, I checked my local Home Depot to see if they had this sand, but I did not find any.
I will check a couple other places, so I can hopefully try some out. Nice thread!
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Neil |
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#60
11/16/2005, 01:21 AM
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I have a 10 gallon, sumpless system with a cheap skimmer and 15 lbs of cured and established live rock. Current inhabitants include 2 cerith snails and 3 "bad guy" crabs that had been banished to the sump of my main system. So far, everything seems to be doing fine. I plan to test the water at the end of this week and perhaps add some mushrooms and slowly work my way up from there.
To date, PO4 is not detectable with my kit.
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<°)>>< ~~~><<(°> Member of DFWMAS |
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#62
11/16/2005, 08:27 AM
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Besides Pavstone, what do you guys think of this?
A generic Pavestone? http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=665525 |
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#63
12/07/2005, 10:46 PM
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Any new updates on this?
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Tony |
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#65
12/15/2005, 08:41 PM
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How would you suggest washing this sand? I have 2 bags of it and Im tearing down the display to put it in. Emptied it into a small 10 gallon container and BOY is this stuff DUSTY, I MEAN Dust everywhere lol.
Travis |
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#66
12/16/2005, 10:08 AM
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i made a spray bar out of pvc long enough to put in a 5gallon bucket. filled the bucket 3/4 ways and stuck the spray bar in the sand moving it in and out of the sand. i spend about 10-15min per bucket and the sand still wasn't clean. just repeated the process over.
now this was all after i spent 2 days washing the sand in my tank, mixing and sturing the stuff repeatedly. i have to say i went through a couple thousand gallons of water doing this. the bright side is my yard got watered very well. the tank has now been cycleing for over a week and the water is still slightly cloudy. but the stuff is skimming out just slowly. i put a couple of pieced of live rock in the tank as well as some damsels, a scoop of live sand from my current tank and a base rock with a sps coral on it... all looks good. water is ro/di salt is oceanic and all water perams. look good so far. |
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#67
12/17/2005, 02:53 AM
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New Hobbiest
I know you guys are real busy with this testing stuff. I've been following your posts - although I don't pretend to know everything your talking about. I'm about to set up my first saltwater tank - heading towards a mini reef. Either a 125 or 120 gal. - Anyway I've been looking at the HD here in Amarillo and I could not find the sand you are working with - atleast I could not find it - it may be there. But I did find a pallet of "paverstone" swimming pool filter sand. It looks real fine - are you familar with this product? And if so - is this something that would work for me as I get started? It's not as white as I would like, but I don't know if I wil be finding anything like that here - this time of year anyway. Thanks for your work - I'm enjoying following your posts and I look forward to having my "own toy".
SaltyNovice 
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#68
12/17/2005, 02:39 PM
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SaltyNovice
there is another sand out there, it's called Sandtastic. Look for it online. It's white and fine. And I think you will like it. Let me see if I can find the site and I'll post it. I was thinking of using it, but I have Southdown already. At the beginning of this thread I asked if anybody used it or wanted to test it, but I got no response. Look for my post and that will give you a pick of what I'm talking about ok. RevClyburn
__________________
In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God" Robert F. Kennedy |
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#69
12/17/2005, 03:53 PM
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I cleaned the Pavestone in a 30 gallon tank with a water hose... I probed it and probed it on highest flow and after an hour it was still really cloudy. Finally i just said forget it lol. I bet i used 500 gallons easy. How long should i wait after using tap water, to rinse the sand, to put it in my tank? Yawn... what a boring process
 Travis |
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#70
12/22/2005, 07:26 PM
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I checked the home depot in Orange County, CA.
The only pulvarized limestone they had was "Arizona Limestone." It fizzed a little bit, so now I'm going to let it sit overnight. How much fizzing do I need to witness before deciding it's good for our tank? It's super-super fine, like powder suger. Is this too small and maybe pack down? |
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#71
12/22/2005, 07:53 PM
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For what it is worth I have taken home depot premium grade play sand and mixed with live sand from New Smyrna Bch. Fla. The result was a great sand bed full of life; I did this gradually replacing the crushed coral in my tank. I did rinse th HD sand thoroughly before I added to beach sand. I also aireated in a container for a month in my garage before I put in my tank. Just my experience maybe I was lucky; but I have always believed it is better to be lucky than good. Jeff
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#72
12/22/2005, 10:03 PM
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Just thought id mention alot of Texas people in here. I myself am from the Dallas are =P.
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#73
12/30/2005, 02:58 AM
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well, that was the one of the saddest experiments I've ever done. I'm not going to use this stuff. It's way too silty. My wife's puffer was hanging out and then I noticed him gone about 20 minutes later. So I took out all the liverock, and couldn't tell where he was. So my worst fears and I just swept through the sandbed with my net and finally found him--all covered with silt as if it suffocated him.
This certainly wasn't worth the $20 bucks I saved...my puffer was worth more than that both monetarily and emotionally. And the time you guys are describing to prep this stuff. Days of washing? Hundreds of gallons of potable water? Even if it is cheaper, it's just not worth the hassle to me. |
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#74
12/30/2005, 03:31 AM
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Quote:
__________________
FISHLIST: Hippo, Tomini, Yellow Tang 1 Eel 1 Coral Beauty 3 Wrasse 2 Clowns 2 Gobies 1 Yellowtail Damsel 1 Candy Hogfish |
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#75
01/01/2006, 04:48 PM
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I just put the pavestone in my tank about a week or 2 ago and heres a few pics. These are shost with VHO only, The Halides havnt been on since i added the sand. Remember i washed this stuff out in a rubbermaid trash can for an hour using the water hose on full, stopping every 5 mintues to empty the cloudy water. I then put it in the tank with 4-5 inches of water. Once all the sand was in i drained as MUCH water as i could, i did this by digging a small hole in the sand and placing a small pump in the hole to get the water out. When all the rockwork was done i filled the tank letting the water trickle over the rock as to not disturb my sand bed and create a sandstorm. These were taken shortly after while 2 MJ1200s were running in the tank. Ive been testing the water and everything is good and has been good since i set it up.
Heres a full shot.  Right Side.  Left Side.  A distance shot  Travis |
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