50g SPS tank equipment

[Chrisrush]

Originally posted by Dudester
Chris, I'm not suggesting you have to do a large volume water change at all. You can do small volumes, but it's silly to add new salt water, only to remove some of it a few hours later. You may as well just pour the new salt water down the drain. The way you describe it, you add new salt water, which dilutes the wastes from the tank as well as the supplements in the new salt when the water is ultimately removed. You're much better off removing the old water, then replacing it with an equal volume of new salt water, be it large or small volume. I hope this makes sense to you.

BTW, looking real nice so far!

Thanks Mike. The only problem with removing the old water first is that my return pump might run dry, which would be a bad thing. I'm going to do some more research on it and let you know. I have a feeling that the amount of new water wasted is minimal.

[Chrisrush]

Mike,
Here is the article that I was looking for:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php#12

And to summarize RHF (located at the bottom of the page)

Continuous water changes: Continuous water changes, despite their name, are not necessarily performed every minute of every day. The distinguishing feature of these changes is that water is added at the same time that it is removed. The actual rate of addition can be high or low. Reef aquarists (myself included) most often perform these types of water changes with two matched pumps, one that removes the old water and one that adds the new water. Often these pumps are part of the same mechanism (such as two sets of tubing on a peristaltic pump or two heads on a diaphragm pump), but that is not a requirement. I use a dual head diaphragm pump capable of a maximum of 30 gallons per day for each head (a Reef Filler pump from Champion Lighting). In my setup, once I have a 44-gallon trash can full of new salt water, all I do to perform a 44 gallon or smaller water change is plug in the pump. The wastewater is sent down the drain. Sometimes I change 44 gallons in one shot, taking about a day and a half. Sometimes I pump for a few hours at a time, and then wait for a few days.

These changes are slightly less efficient than single batch water changes of the same total volume. A continuous water change of 30% exactly matches one batch 26% water change. As with very small batch water changes, these have the advantage of neither stressing the organisms (assuming the change is done reasonably slowly), nor altering the water level in the aquarium. The ease of doing such changes automatically also makes it far more likely that busy or lazy aquarists will actually do them.

[Dudester]

Oh, SNAP, no you di'int! (where is that 'egg in face' emoticon when you need it?)

Guess I just got slammed. Yeah, what I meant to say, Chris, is that your water change plan is brilliant, I wish I had thought about that with my system.

[Chrisrush]

Too funny Mike. I'll bring the egg with me next time I'm in Austin.

[Chrisrush]

Been a while since I have updated this thread.

I have water, rock, salt, powerheads, heat, and a few corals in the tank. I am waiting on the canopy to be built, so right now I have a 150w MH 20k bulb rigged over the top of the tank.

I'm still tidying up the cords under the stand and I need to figure out a way to mount my dj switch. I would like to have it underneath my drawer but that limits that amount of space between the drawer/dj switch and the top of the sump.

Also, I need to figure out what I'm going to do about my return pump. I have no microbubbles, but I'm getting a lot of drain noise where the water falls from the drains into the filter sock. I raised the level of the sump up, and that helped, but I think that having less flow will be ideal.

I'm hoping to pick up a few fish this weekend and then in maybe a month or so I'll get some starter SPS going. I'll have to wait until March or so to place a big order for SPS.

I also got a new DSLR. It's an Olympus Evolt E-510 with a pair of lens. I'm still shooting mostly in auto mode, but I'm learning all the different features. These images were shot in auto mode.

Anyways, on to the pictures.

Here is the completed stand:


Rockwork from front:



Rockwork from far right:



Rockwork from left:



Closeup rockwork:

[Chrisrush]

Here are two of the nicer corals in the tank right now. Most of the zoas are still recovering from the move across the kitchen and to the greater flow vs. my nanocube.

[Chrisrush]

Picture time.

I added the OR2500 last night. I really like this pump. It's quiet and very well built. Plus, it is just about the right gph.



I also added a media reactor from Ace (hobogato). I put some carbon in it right now. I'll add the phosban reactor and phosphate remover when I get back from my trip in 2 weeks.

Here's a picture of the skimmer and reactor along with the filter sock holder.



I was able to clean up some of the wiring on the left hand side as well. It's not finished but it will do for now.



And here is my ATO container. It's a simple 10g tank but I siliconed a small piece of acrylic in the corner so that I could mount my 2 float switches from reefwerks. This will allow me to hook up my RO/DI to the ATO container and using the latching relay in the box, I will be able to turn on/off the solenoid via my controller. This will keep the RO/DI unit from cycling along with adding an extra layer of security. This was the worst part about my old tank, adding water to the ATO container. 2 out of the 3 floods were due to this. This should help take care of that problem.



And finally a full sump shot. Not much has changed in the display tank (yet), so no new pictures of that. I'm going to see about picking up a pair of clowns for my wife today.



I'm leaving for Ireland/Germany in the AM, so we will see how the tank handles for almost 2 weeks without me.

I'll do the automatic water change this afternoon and report back.

[Chrisrush]

Thought I would post my current equipment list if anyone was interested.

Tank:

60 gallon Cube rimless/braceless with external overflow (2 x 1.5" and 1 x 1" holes) built out of 1/2" glass. It's 24x24x24 + Overflow. The overflow measures 5 x 15". The actual height of the water will be around 22.5". Barebottom, back painted black as well as the bottom

Sump:

Glasscages 40g cube (24x24x17)

Skimmer:

Bubble Master 160

Return Pump:

Ocean Runner 2500 on a 3/4" Sea Swirl

Powerheads:

2 x 6055 with Profilux controller
2 x 6025 modded

Controller:

Profilux Delux package

Calcium/Alkalinity:

RHFs DIY 2 part with Profilux dosing pump

Lighting:

8 x 24w T5s with 2 dimmable ballasts and 2 non-dimmable ballasts

2 x 24W 12000K Aquablue Special
2 x 24W Blue Plus
2 x 24W Super Actinic
1 x 24W Pro Color
1 x 24W 10000K AquaSun

Misc:

Profilux moonlight (simudb)
Dosing pump for automatic water changes (~9 gallons per change)
1 x Phosban reactor, 1 x Hobogato Media Rx
RO/DI Unit
2partsolutions Base Rock
DIY filter sock holder
DIY ATO container with Reefwerks Holding tank Controller