Reef Central Online Community

Home Forum Here you can view your subscribed threads, work with private messages and edit your profile and preferences View New Posts View Today's Posts

Find other members Frequently Asked Questions Search Reefkeeping ...an online magazine for marine aquarists Support our sponsors and mention Reef Central

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community Archives > More Forums > Reefkeeping Online Magazine > Tank of the Month

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #76  
Old 03/23/2007, 02:31 PM
sweetcheeks sweetcheeks is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Whistler
Posts: 14
This is my very first post EVER, and of course I think your tank is beautiful.
Mostly, I wanted to thank you for your statement on the spouses and:
"the art of negotiation, creative budgeting and, most importantly, taking advantage of any opportunity to upgrade our systems"
because this is so true. And I thought that I was literally crazy about my tanks. Now I realize: I AM, but there is a support group for people like me! Thanks Dr Tango.
__________________
"My mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a priest, you'll be a monk.' Instead I became a painter and wound up Picasso."
-Pablo
  #77  
Old 03/23/2007, 10:19 PM
CJ CJ is offline
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PA
Posts: 1,154
Congratulations, John. I have been rather inactive on this board for some time due mostly to health problems. Your tank is an inspiration and rekindled my interest. It has to be one of the most beautiful tank of the month in a long time.

Is the big beautiful blue coral, top center, the ORA Blue Tort Staghorn?
__________________
CJ
  #78  
Old 03/23/2007, 11:20 PM
drtango drtango is offline
Parrotfish in Mexico
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,624
sweetcheeks--

Welcome to Reef Central! You'll find this board is one giant support group for our mutual obsession!

CJ-

Yes, that's the ORA Blue Tort. Gorgeous, hardy coral!

Thank you both for the kind words.

John
__________________
"Do or do Not, there is no Try"
---Yoda
  #79  
Old 03/24/2007, 07:19 AM
Gary Majchrzak Gary Majchrzak is offline
yes it's my aquarium
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: upstate NY
Posts: 20,987
John- I see you've been very busy answering questions about your beautiful aquarium
One question- I'm trying to find info regarding the PAR of Reeflux 10k's run on eballasts. You wouldn't happen to have any links/data offhand, would you?
__________________
some common aquarium nuisances: Bryopsis,Derbesia(hair algae),Cyanobacteria(red slime), Diatoms(golden brown algae), Dinoflagellates(gooey air bubbles),Valonia (bubble algae)
  #80  
Old 03/24/2007, 08:16 AM
mattsilvester mattsilvester is offline
Team RC Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1,758
John,

Do you think your methodology could be applied to a tank with a shallow sand bed? Apart from the sand, my system is going to be pretty simlar to yours:

Skimmer - Deltec 1060s (rated for 530 gals)
1000 gals/hr going through the sump (on a 250 gal system) - not a big sump like yours though.
4 or 5 Tunze streams in the display giving a total of 40-50 tank volumes/hr circulation
I am also rigging up an automatic water chage system, and plan on doing a 5% water change weekly.
I also plan on having a similar stocking plan to yours, and plan on feeding generously.

Is the concept of having a shallow sand in total oposition to your methedology?

Thanks

Matt
__________________
Regards,

Matt
  #81  
Old 03/24/2007, 08:50 AM
drtango drtango is offline
Parrotfish in Mexico
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,624
Hi Gary-

Sanjay reviewed the bulb a while back--

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...5/feature.html

It's also plugged in at the lighting archive site, bulb manufacturer is Coralvue, lamp name Reeflux 10k.


http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/index.htm


Matt-

I think a SSB would be fine as long as you vacuum it well at the time of a water change. Maybe Gary can chime in as that's exactly what he is doing....

John
__________________
"Do or do Not, there is no Try"
---Yoda
  #82  
Old 03/24/2007, 09:20 AM
Gary Majchrzak Gary Majchrzak is offline
yes it's my aquarium
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: upstate NY
Posts: 20,987
thanx for those links, John.
Matt- My current aquarium is 1/2 (glass) barebottom and 1/2 SSB.
I stir. My critters stir.
With a DSB you don't want to stir. With a BB you don't need to stir.
This is John's thread and I don't want to hijack it, (so I won't post here again on the subject), but I will briefly say that SSB, DSB and BB aquariums can all "work", but each have different requirements and limitations.
__________________
some common aquarium nuisances: Bryopsis,Derbesia(hair algae),Cyanobacteria(red slime), Diatoms(golden brown algae), Dinoflagellates(gooey air bubbles),Valonia (bubble algae)
  #83  
Old 03/24/2007, 09:41 AM
mattsilvester mattsilvester is offline
Team RC Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1,758
Hey Dennis - sorry buddy, I missed your post about the barebottom issue. I'd be honest, I definitely would not go for the egg crate on the bottom - wouldn't like the look of it.

It'll either be starboard (which I doubt), bare glass (which I'm I'm nervous of) or shallow sand bed (which I'm worried will become a shallow sand storm).

Cheers,

Matt
__________________
Regards,

Matt
  #84  
Old 03/24/2007, 09:48 AM
mattsilvester mattsilvester is offline
Team RC Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1,758
You Right Garry. Sorry for hi-jakcing John. Enough said on the BB / DSB / SSB - forgot its a TOTM thread for a min - the sand debate can rage on elsewhere ;-)

Suffice to say your tank has made me re-think a few things - so thanks for that, and well done again.

Regards,

Matt
  #85  
Old 03/24/2007, 01:53 PM
drtango drtango is offline
Parrotfish in Mexico
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,624
No worries Matt-

You might consider a VERY shallow SB with larger, heavier grained substrate which will hold better in flow and be easily stirred/vacuumed.

One of the most amazing reefs I've ever seen can be found here--this fellow removes/replaces his sandbed continuously with water changes.

www.oregonreef.com

His sand removal/cleaning routine can be found under "Feeding and Maintenance"

John
__________________
"Do or do Not, there is no Try"
---Yoda
  #86  
Old 03/25/2007, 12:06 PM
NanoCube-boy NanoCube-boy is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 1,510
Drtango, Awsome tank man. 180 gallons much be huge. I loved your SPS and large Imp. Angel you have. Suprise you keep the angel though.

Did you ever have problem about your angels nibbling on your corals?
Like does it get to the point to wipe out your SPS colonies?
Or it only nibble a small amount just to keep the sps from over growing?
What is this?
  #87  
Old 03/25/2007, 02:07 PM
drtango drtango is offline
Parrotfish in Mexico
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,624
NanoCube-boy-

An occasional nibble, nothing major. I keep everybody well fed which I think helps.

The gadget in question is an OceansMotions wavemaking device, a rotating drum that sends flow through various ports. Read more here...

www.oceansmotions.com

John
__________________
"Do or do Not, there is no Try"
---Yoda
  #88  
Old 03/26/2007, 07:48 AM
TropTrea TropTrea is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SE Suburbia Wisconsin
Posts: 677
I have seen the egg crate system used in ways that it did not distract from the beauty of the tank. Mid sized peices of base rock and live rock were completly covering the egg crates and they were completly out of site.

Under the egg crate a UG filter was also installed with a maxijet pump pulling any accumiatated debrie out from under the egg crate and into the filteration system loop.

Now form personal experience I prefer the Deep To Middle dept sand bases. 4" to 6" of fine sand has never given me an issue provided you do keep an antropd population to keep the sand base stirred up.

Dennis



Quote:
Originally posted by mattsilvester
Hey Dennis - sorry buddy, I missed your post about the barebottom issue. I'd be honest, I definitely would not go for the egg crate on the bottom - wouldn't like the look of it.

It'll either be starboard (which I doubt), bare glass (which I'm I'm nervous of) or shallow sand bed (which I'm worried will become a shallow sand storm).

Cheers,

Matt
__________________
Dennis B.
Tropical Treasures Etc.
  #89  
Old 03/26/2007, 07:19 PM
NanoCube-boy NanoCube-boy is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 1,510
Drtango, I see what you meant on the wave maker, it looks like and awesome device.
  #90  
Old 03/26/2007, 07:24 PM
uscharalph uscharalph is offline
Aquarium Addict
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Long Beach, CA
Posts: 1,021
Quote:
Originally posted by drtango
No worries Matt-

You might consider a VERY shallow SB with larger, heavier grained substrate which will hold better in flow and be easily stirred/vacuumed.

One of the most amazing reefs I've ever seen can be found here--this fellow removes/replaces his sandbed continuously with water changes.

www.oregonreef.com

His sand removal/cleaning routine can be found under "Feeding and Maintenance"

John
That's a pretty cool site!!
__________________
Ralph Mendoza Jr.
Long Beach, CA
  #91  
Old 03/26/2007, 07:52 PM
NanoCube-boy NanoCube-boy is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 1,510
That site is awesome.
  #92  
Old 03/27/2007, 08:34 AM
drtango drtango is offline
Parrotfish in Mexico
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,624
We're straying off topic, but I just saw that that amazing tank just crashed, from a simple but huge mistake---all SPS were lost!!!

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1080179
__________________
"Do or do Not, there is no Try"
---Yoda
  #93  
Old 03/28/2007, 12:57 PM
onefin onefin is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Hurricane Alley
Posts: 1,591
Beautiful.
__________________
"Click my little red house to visit my Lagoon"
  #94  
Old 04/02/2007, 04:01 PM
trenfrow trenfrow is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
I am currently working on a canopy for a 120 gal tank. Would it be possible to see more detailed photos of the design. Anything would help. Thanks
  #95  
Old 04/03/2007, 08:49 AM
TropTrea TropTrea is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: SE Suburbia Wisconsin
Posts: 677
Well I'm not John but if you don't mind my input perhaps I can shead a little light here.

A good working system is a matter of balance. On one end of the spectrum you have your deep sand bed, live rock, refugium, skimmer and other filterating systems then on the other end of the spectrum you have your load of live stock especialy corals and fish.

For a healthy system you need to keep both ends of the spectrum equally balanced. So if you increase the fish load you will need to increase something on the filteration side.

Now the filteration side is another balanced system in itself. Each system performs more than one function in the removal of the impurities of the water. Some systems are better at removing the Nitrogen ions, others the Phosphates, Proteins etc. However most filter types have the ability to filter out a small amount of one thing and a large amount of something else. Therefore a single filter type could work however it would be very ineffecient.

Not getting into particulars lets say we haqve three tyes of filter I, II, and III. We are removing 3 undesirables namely A, B and C. For each of these we need to remove 200 parts. So we make a chart on the combination

I II III Total
A 10 40 150 200
B 20 170 10 200
C 100 30 20 200

Now say we reduce the size of Filter II in half we get an imbalance.

I II III Total
A 10 20 150 180
B 20 65 10 95
C 100 15 20 185

Now we have created an imbalance which we need to compensate with anoither filter and in this case we will Filter 1 and make it 5.25 times as large as is was prior. The results now will be.

I II III Total
A 52.5 20 150 222.5
B 105 65 10 200
C 525 15 20 560

We are now getting enough filteration however the size and cost of Filter I has increased about 5.25 times and we have more filteration capabilities of impurity C then we realy need.

So hopefully you understand where I look at this as a balance issue. But also keep in mind that dependent upon your load compared to the next persons load your filtering needs will vary. Therefore what might work for John might be completly different than what works for Charlie.

Dennis






Quote:
Originally posted by mattsilvester
John,

Do you think your methodology could be applied to a tank with a shallow sand bed? Apart from the sand, my system is going to be pretty simlar to yours:

Skimmer - Deltec 1060s (rated for 530 gals)
1000 gals/hr going through the sump (on a 250 gal system) - not a big sump like yours though.
4 or 5 Tunze streams in the display giving a total of 40-50 tank volumes/hr circulation
I am also rigging up an automatic water chage system, and plan on doing a 5% water change weekly.
I also plan on having a similar stocking plan to yours, and plan on feeding generously.

Is the concept of having a shallow sand in total oposition to your methedology?

Thanks

Matt
__________________
Dennis B.
Tropical Treasures Etc.
  #96  
Old 04/03/2007, 04:17 PM
northbay-reefer northbay-reefer is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Wine country
Posts: 2,095
Skipper congrat on yout Tank of the month, very beautiful tank and great job.

I notice that you are running two pumps in series, maybe some one has asked this question already, but after scanning through the thread I didnt see any. My question is why did you decided to use two pumps inseries beside the redundancy, and does it increase flows over all ? TIA
__________________
go BIG or go home
  #97  
Old 04/03/2007, 04:37 PM
mattsilvester mattsilvester is offline
Team RC Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1,758
Generally speaking, running two pumps in series will double the pressure - running them in parallel will double their flow rate...... assuming they are identicle pumps of course, and assuming they are at zero head.

Dunno if this is the reason here or not........
__________________
Regards,

Matt
  #98  
Old 04/03/2007, 05:33 PM
northbay-reefer northbay-reefer is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Wine country
Posts: 2,095
Darn sorry I missspelled identical am hoping that since I have my sump in the garage, running two pumps in series will help with the head loss
__________________
go BIG or go home
  #99  
Old 04/04/2007, 02:53 AM
mattsilvester mattsilvester is offline
Team RC Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1,758
Yes it would, although you are better off with an outright bigger pump.
__________________
Regards,

Matt
  #100  
Old 04/05/2007, 02:26 PM
drtango drtango is offline
Parrotfish in Mexico
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1,624
I'm running two pumps in series for two reasons--increased head pressure to run the eductors upstairs--and redundancy. If there's a brief power outage and I'm not home, the chances of both pumps not starting is much less than one or the other freezing. Each alone has enough pressure to get water, and thus heat, upstairs.

Just heard a talk by Sanjay Joshi on system design as it relates to probability of failure, and he actually brought up the fact that two smaller pumps are probably better than one big one, particularly for sump return. If your closed loop fails, no big deal, but if you cant get water back from the sump, where most of us keep heaters, you could have big problems in a small amount of time.

Just my 2 cents

John
__________________
"Do or do Not, there is no Try"
---Yoda
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:19 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef Central™ Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2009