250 Gallon Starphire SPS tank

[LittleBlueGT]

Originally posted by kidk3
dude I dont know about that ... let us know how the corals go. I'd have move the rock to a tote with the water and a cheapo pump before I did that though


best luck

I would have to, but the rock is all solidly one piece.

[woowoodengy]

wow nice tank hope that trick works good luck man

[LittleBlueGT]

Tank is back up in operation! No casualties yet. Many lost a lot of color, half of them are showing ployp extension. I will update again tomorrow.

[Flatlander]

Wholly crap, big job. Hope the corals are ok.

I always thought my Mak.4, driving my 32in. beckett was never enough.

[tgunn]

Originally posted by littlesilvermax
Tank is back up in operation! No casualties yet. Many lost a lot of color, half of them are showing ployp extension. I will update again tomorrow.

Glad to hear things seem to have gone okay. Did re-doing the brace eliminate the slight bowing of the glass?

Tyler

[LittleBlueGT]

Originally posted by tgunn
Glad to hear things seem to have gone okay. Did re-doing the brace eliminate the slight bowing of the glass?

Tyler

Yes it did. Now the tank bows out about 1/8 of an inch, whch is normal.

[LittleBlueGT]

Originally posted by Flatlander
Wholly crap, big job. Hope the corals are ok.

I always thought my Mak.4, driving my 32in. beckett was never enough.

It would be a good idea to get a pcx-55 for that skimmer! Or a pcx-100 (comparable to a blueline HD 70).

[LittleBlueGT]

Actually I just checked. A Mak5 still is not as strong as a Blueline HD 70.

I like those blueline pumps!

[LittleBlueGT]

My light bulb that I used for a moonlight burned out after about 8 months. I replaced it with an extra one that came in the same package. Look at the difference!

Can you guess which one is the old one.

[LittleBlueGT]

Here are the two corals that have bleached the most.



This one still has some green top it.

[LittleBlueGT]

This one has a few bleached tips, but is doing very well otherwise.

[ohioreef]

Ben,

It has taken me several hours to wade through all 40+ pages, but worth every minute!!

Your tank is, well for lack of a better word, awesome!!! I just wish I had the room to do a large tank.

Thank you for posting this for all of us to enjoy.

[LittleBlueGT]

Originally posted by ohioreefer
Ben,

It has taken me several hours to wade through all 40+ pages, but worth every minute!!

Your tank is, well for lack of a better word, awesome!!! I just wish I had the room to do a large tank.

Thank you for posting this for all of us to enjoy.

I have learned so much from other people's threads that I thought I should do the same.

It is also my way of keeping a diary of my tank.

[LittleBlueGT]

It has been a few days and still no change in the two affected SPS. They are still fairly white, no tissue sloughing. I think I can see a little bit of polyp extension though. Hopefully I will see some color in the next couple of days.

[LittleBlueGT]

Update time.

Paul from OM is sending me a modified drum for the 4-way specifically designed for eductors. It is actually a much smaller drum that fits inside a sleave that fits inside the 4-way. I should have it tomorrow and will post pics then.

Sequence being the nice people they are is sending out a black bracket for the Hammerhead pump. The salt creep is not bad at all (I would say it could go on like it is for over a year w/o cleaning) but they are sending me a new one! It will have the seal pre-installed. Again pics next week.

The Blueline HD 100 pump is driving my skimmer wonderfully. I actually notice the skimmer shut off when it has removed everything from the tank. I am in the process of feeding my tank more and more trying to find the limits of the skimmer. I really hope to get more growth now.

[Northside Reef]

Sorry to hear about the two corals, but overall I think you did pretty well. I honestly did not think any would survive. You must have been up all night rinsing them.

I am having a hard time picturing how the new 4 way will solve the jamming issue, I would think if it is how you describe the drum will still jam up against the sleeve and the magnets will slip.

does Paul have any eductors for testing?

[LittleBlueGT]

I actually worked a mid-night shift the day I did the tank repair. I drove home on my coffee break to water the corals.

The reason the 4-way is skipping is because of water pressure, no because of the drum actually jamming. The new drum and sleeve combo will give the water less leaverage against the smaller drum. The new drum is about 1 inch diameter vs. 2.5 inch dia. This should give the drum about 4 times the twisting strength.

[Northside Reef]

Man I hope it works I am planing on the revolutions atm but I would really like to use the eductors. Looking forward to the next update on it.

[LittleBlueGT]

Quick update. I have to go to bed.

I got the parts from Paul at OM. Nice quality stuff as usual!

It went together nicely. Unfortunately my wife took the camera with her out of town, so no pics. The smaller drum has done its job. It works perfectly! No noise, no thumping. I will see what happens over the next couple of weeks.

[LittleBlueGT]

Update on the modified 4-way with eductors:

I switched my main return pump back to the Blueline HD 100. Using a version #1 in the modded 4-way made the drum skip. I modified the drum to make the port slightly bigger and it worked well. I will not modify the drum anymore for the time being, but I am sure the best drum for the modded 4-way running eductors would be one that has a port that is open to 2.25 ports at any given time. (Slightly larger then a version #2)

I guess the best drum would depend on what pump you are using: Either way the drum should always be a little bit larger then any version.

Blueline HD 100 w/1 eductor/port = 2.25 open (little bigger then version#2)
Blueline HD 70 w/1 eductor/port = 2.25
Blueline HD 55 w/1 eductor/port = 1.25

Blueline HD 100 w/2 eductors/port = 1.5 to 2.25
Blueline HD 70 w/2 eductors/port = 1.5
Blueline HD 55 w/2 eductors/port = 1.5

This is assuming eductors that have the 3/8 output hole.

The above are just guidelines, but they should work. If you decide to go this route for yourself be prepared to take the unit apart numerous times and modify the drum just slightly to get it to work properly. Each system is different, with different plumbing.

If you want a plug-n-play system this is not for you. If you do not mind tinkering a bit then go for it, it is not that difficult. I just hope Paul will make these for people.

[LittleBlueGT]

It looks like I have lost one coral and one frag.

I don't know how to respond. I have never until today lost a coral. One of the corals that bleached out had snails all over it, not a good sign. What is particularly saddening over the whole thing is the dead coral had 3 acro crabs in it. I don't know where they are now.

The frag that I lost was a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch green cap. I am sure I can easily replace that. The other coral that bleached out still has some color so I am hopeful.

[melev]

I hate losing corals. Is this one of the ones you had above water during the tank repair? I didn't feel good about that method you employed, but hoped for the best.

[LittleBlueGT]

Originally posted by melev
I hate losing corals. Is this one of the ones you had above water during the tank repair? I didn't feel good about that method you employed, but hoped for the best.

Yep. It was one of the ones out of the water. At least my favorite corals all survived and are doing well. They only have slight bleaching on a few branches.

[LittleBlueGT]

I got a new toy! A volt/ohm meter that tests amperage.



I will give a breakdown of the amperage draw of every component in my system soon. Some initial testing has proved surprising!

[gregt]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=600557