250 Gallon Starphire SPS tank - Page 4

LittleBlueGT · #76 08/23/2004, 12:31 AM

Here is one of the left side of the stand. I have built some shelves for odds and ends, including fish food.

surfy · #77 08/23/2004, 01:13 AM

Hey speaking of light mover, did you get it yet?
Looking good by the way

LittleBlueGT · #78 08/23/2004, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by surfy
Hey speaking of light mover, did you get it yet?
Looking good by the way

No, not yet. I want to wait and see how it works as is. I was hoping I could hold off on getting one until I actually need it. What I mean by that is I will only put SPS frags and clams directly under the light at first. When those prime real estate spaces are used up then I will get the light mover. Besides, I can't do all my my projects at once.

LittleBlueGT · #79 08/23/2004, 01:27 AM

I called Paul at OM today. My HD 4-way should be in on Monday or Tuesday.

Hopefully within the next week I will have the tanks closed loop all plumbed up. Then I will be able to test the whole system with fresh water in the garage. I know it won't be good if the flow is so powerful that the whole tank looks like a jaccuzi and water overflows the sides. But that would be a good problem right?

I bought a whole role of 1 1/2 inch spa-flex tubing the other day. I got it from a local store that sells specialty products for $120. That is about $87 USD for a 100 foot role! I thought that was a good deal. Also got 8 feet of 2 inch spa-flex. Paid $1.90 per foot for that. I don't know if this is helpful to the mostly American audience here on RC but I though I would throw it in anyway.

jimmy n · #80 08/23/2004, 08:14 AM

The tank looks great! A very exciting time in a reefers life...

You are spending quite a bit of money as it is. Why go through the trouble of installing a light mover instead of just buying another light or single bulb fixture? No condemning your choice, It's just what I'd consider doing.

Jim

LittleBlueGT · #81 08/23/2004, 07:03 PM

jimmy n A new light would cost close to $300 with ballast bulb and pendant.

It would cost about $60 extra /yr in electricity, and $80 - $90 extra /yr in bulb replacement.

On the other hand a light mover costs about $175, about $2 / yr in electricity and about $2 /yr in rubber wheel replacement costs.

Add in the fact that I am paying in Canadian dollars and maybe you can understand my decision.

Yet, livestock health is one of my highest priorities. A light mover gives more natural light, avoiding shadows on lower coral branches. It also illuminates the corals from various angels. This IMHO makes 3 lights w/ a mover the better choice over 4 lights, even when not considering the costs involved. The best choice might be 4 lights with a mover, but I will wait and see.

Having 3 lights also makes access in the canopy easier.

LittleBlueGT · #82 08/24/2004, 11:08 PM

A lot has been happeming lately. I got the 4-way OM unit from Paul the other day. My door fronts are in for my cabinet. The eductors are ready for p/u. The stand is painted, or in the process of being painted. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the chance to post some pictures.

Remember this thread is for criticism. Please feel free to tell me what you are thinking about this set-up, good or bad.

LittleBlueGT · #83 08/26/2004, 10:21 AM

A picture of the stand with tank on top.

LittleBlueGT · #84 08/26/2004, 10:22 AM

A picture of the hood (upside-down) painted.

LittleBlueGT · #85 08/26/2004, 10:24 AM

Here is a pic of the 4-way. It is very well built. Mine is configured for 2 inch inlet and 1 1/2 inch outlets. Also it is the sequential drum 1,2,3,4. The unit is whisper quiet.

LittleBlueGT · #86 08/26/2004, 10:26 AM

This a pic of the rubber isolation sleeves for the Sequence Hammerhead pump. Hopefully this will cut down on the noise significantly. This can be got a local plumbing store, c/w clamps. They are designed to connect 2 inch pipes.

LittleBlueGT · #87 08/26/2004, 10:30 AM

This is a pic of how I plan to configure my two manifolds.

It starts at 1 1/2 pipe, goes to 1 1/4, then 1, then 3/4 inch pipe. I believe this is how they do air ducts in large buildings. Any input as to whether this works well with equal pressure out of all openings. Each outlet is 3/4 thread for loc-line connections?

sammiefish · #88 08/26/2004, 11:21 AM

Is that a monkey wrench in the works......

sorry....

Very Nice...

LittleBlueGT · #89 08/26/2004, 04:05 PM

Anybody have any experience with a spray-bar like this? I've heard that in order to have equal pressure out of each opening you need to have ball valves on each one. That sounds pretty complicated! I hope somebody can chime in with some options.

sammiefish · #90 08/27/2004, 07:28 AM

yeah, unfortunately,... I think everytime the water passes a hole the pressure drops... you could try tuning the hole size but that is the same as using valves...

I see youve tried to address this in the decreasing pipe diameter... maybe try it out before you glue it up...

mixer911 · #91 08/27/2004, 09:12 AM

Time for the fun part, plumbing

.

LittleBlueGT · #92 08/28/2004, 11:33 AM

Started the plumbing yesterday. Broke the volute on the Hammerhead.

The guys at sequence are sending me a new one free of charge.

Hopefully I will get it next week. I will put up new pics shortly.

surfy · #93 08/28/2004, 12:30 PM

Wow!!! you have your hands full.
I've never even looked into something like this so I can't be of much help. But it looks cool

I believe the first few will actually get less flow than the ones in the middle/end depending on how much flow is going through it.
Ball valves would be your best bet.
Where would the ball valves go anyways?

LittleBlueGT · #94 08/28/2004, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by surfy
Where would the ball valves go anyways?

The ball valves would go after each manifold tee. So, on each manifold there would be 7

ball valves!

That is the beauty of playing with the design in the garage. I don't have to glue anything. If it leaks slightly, no big deal.

Then I can tweak it as required.

LittleBlueGT · #95 08/28/2004, 04:05 PM

I received shipment of the blue cuttingboard and the cabinet doors the other day as well. Kind of busy for the next few days. I will try to get some pics early next week. The cabinet doors are gorgeous IMO.

I bought a new router also. The old one was as old as me, and I blew it up!

The new one is made by Bosch. It is a really nice variable speed unit. 2HP.

I hope to learn a few tricks in the next couple of years so that someday I will be able to make things as nice as weatherson.

surfy · #96 08/28/2004, 05:19 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by littlesilvermax
[B]The ball valves would go after each manifold tee. So, on each manifold there would be 7

ball valves!

Thats what I thought but just wanted to clarify.
The 7 bulkheads would probably be the best way to go, you will just have to fiddle with them until you get the output right.
I would also go with threaded bulkheads just incase you ever need to replace any. Also use that plumbers goop

Your going to have one sweet "dream" tank when your done

LittleBlueGT · #97 08/30/2004, 01:08 PM

Got a chance to work on the stand a bit on the weekend. Here is a close-up of the style of hinges that I am using.

I personally like the concealed hinge look. Much cleaner IMO.

LittleBlueGT · #98 08/30/2004, 01:08 PM

A few of the doors are now on and it is looking better.

LittleBlueGT · #99 08/30/2004, 02:27 PM

Here is a discussion going on in Travis' 280 gallon thread.

Hey, Travis. Looks like things are coming along nicely. I'm curious as to your thoughts on what I should do with my LR.

I have about 200 lbs of LR that is in my current tank and sump. Half of it is in my main tank, and it has very nice coraline on it. It also has some patches of unwanted algae. The other half is in my sump in the basement. It has no algae on it because it is in the dark. I was thinking of using the rock from the sump to start aquascaping my new 250. Then I could put my algae covered LR in the sump and let it cook for a month. After the month is over then I would use it to finish aquascaping. The whole time I will have fish living in the system. Your ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Travis' reply:Thanks. I don't have time to read your thread right now but I will when I get a chance.

That depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you are just trying to get rid of the unwanted algae it will work but you are only putting a band-aid on the situation. I do the same thing for my QT tank. The rock in the tank gets unwanted algae on it after a couple months so I move it to the sump and move the clean rock from the sump to the tank. Then a couple months later I switch them around again. This is just my QT tank so I'm not doing much maintenance on it and it has very little flow so that is why I'm getting the algae. All that moving the rock to the sump does is kills the algae back because it starved it from light. However, it is still in a nutrient producing system (and the dying algae on the rock is also leaching more nutrients into the system) and the whole time the rock is absorbing phosphate and collecting detritus because it is in a low flow area. So then as soon as it is exposed to light again the nuisance algae immediately starts growing again.

Keep in mind, I don't know anything about your current tank or your future tank because I haven't read the thread yet, but cooking the rock is primarily for very low nutrient systems such as BB tanks or shallow sand bed tanks that are siphon cleaned every few days, or tanks with no (or only a couple fish). If you put the rock back into a system that is collecting nutrients it will just grow the bad algae again. If you really want to get rid of the algae then you need to cook the rock in a nutrient-poor system, cleaning the rock of detritus regularly until it no longer produces detritus. Then put it in another nutrient poor system and you are good to go.

To sum things up, IMO it would be counterproductive to cure the rock in the sump of an existing tank. The rock will continue to collect nutrients when you are really wanting it to expell all of its nutrients.

My next question:

Thanks, Travis. That was not necessarily what I wanted to hear. But it does make sense. Maybe if you get a chance to read my thread you will have some more suggestions.

I might be able to "cook" my rock in a seperate system by putting about half of it in a rubbermaid bin and letting it sit there for about a month. Then this rock could go in the main system and I could do the rest of the rock. I believe that a system with 2 tangs living in the 100g sump along with 3 other small fish would be considered nutrient poor. My skimmer is huge and my 250g tank would be left w/o lights for about a month after the rocks are put in. Does this sound like it would work? BTW I will have about 60 - 70 times turnover in my main tank.

LittleBlueGT · #**100** 08/30/2004, 02:29 PM

I will post any other relevant info to this subject since I have to figure something out before I get this tank going.

If anybody has some more suggestions please let me know.

I'll post a couple more pics when I have a chance.