Oceanic 215 with Solaris Build

[thor32766]

looks awesome marcye!! hope everything goes well with the rest of the process!!!

[bbehring]

Marcye, looks fantastic. Tagging along and storing data for my upcoming 210 build. Could you provide a run down of systems equipment/manufacturers etc including the size of the sump? Where did you pick that 72" solaris I series up at?

[SI REEFTANK]

Marcye, Also tagging along. I am also going to build a Oeanic 215 with the solaris I series.

[ReefArtist]

WooHoo - you got it started and now you'll finish before me - .

You were talking about adding your anemone in first so it can settle, are you worried about your tank not being "old" enough? I know you feed them but don't they also get nutrients from the water column? I'm asking this because I need to get an anemone for my clowns. They are hosting everything I put in the tank - even my Duncans! I'm just now getting water in my tank but thought I would have to wait 6+ months before adding an anemone.

Build is looking great - I'll have to go over and see you and Tom in the next few months.

[Me No Nemo]

Thanks all Well, first off, the tank would probably run about $1400. I'd try and contact Oceanic through their website (www.oceanicsystems.com) for info on the nearest distributor. I really love the tank...there is a huge difference in the All Glass and the Oceanic with the Starphire. I know because I still have both side by side in my living room

Girl, I'm rushing this thing through for the holidays! In order to build up the tank I'm adding a full bag of Phycopure (Phytoplankton) and 3 bags of Reef Pods from Algagen. I added two bags to the curing pond about two weeks in to the rock cycle and can see pods running everywhere throughout the rock. (BTW, adding the phytoplankton and pods is a great way to bring tanks quickly back after using Interceptor as it helps build up all that are lost during the treatment. I'd wait a couple days after turning the skimmer back on).

I've had my anemone years and it's very healthy. It lived through 21 days without electricity during "THE hurricanes" running the tank off and on throughout the day on a generator). I usually suggest 6 months on a brand new tank (I've got old rock and sand in my refugium already) because you're adding an animal that's just been through a lot of stress with shipping and acclimation. I would still suggest waiting several months if you can. I just don't have an option with having to move the old tank out. BTW, do you have picks of the new tank? Last I saw you were lining up glass tanks in your yard and playing with power tools I look forward to seeing you soon!

Regarding the equipment: I'm rather old school on the filtration as it works for me. I like moving the water through a sump rather than closed loop.
Pump: Sequence Dart
4 returns: 2 with Pacific Coast Flow Accelerators (eductors)
Sump: Aquatic Life Systems 42x15x20 (55 gallon)
Protein Skimmer: AquaC EV 240 with a Pan World 50 PX pump
Refugium: 20 Gallon All Glass
Aquamedic Triple Doser:
Dosing Ocean's Blend or B-Ionic, both excellent products
Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium

Aquacontroller III with temp, PH and ORP probes.

Will be adding:
Red Sea Ozonator in another couple weeks
2 Vortech Pumps (new wireless design) Will be here tomorrow

Rock: 180 pounds of Tonga Fusion Branch

Sand:
300 lbs. Carib Sea Aragamax Sugar Sized Sand
40 lbs. Aragalive Bahama Oolite

Current parameters:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Phosphate-.02
Calcium: 480 (will drop this back to about 450)
Alkalinity: 11 dKh
Magnesium: 1300 (will get this up around 1450)

[Me No Nemo]

BTW, I ordered the Solaris I when they first came out...so I got it on the first shipout.

[bbehring]

I didn't notice the fuge in any of your fist pics? Anyway, how is your fuge plumbed in and what lighting are running on it? Do you have pics of the tank w/ live rock/sand and the solaris on full bright? Let's see that I on full bright. Did you buy the solaris via your LFS?

[Me No Nemo]

Well, I own a LFS so yes, I guess you can say I did
Fuge:



It's hard to get a decent pic of the lights with the other tank in the way, but here's a couple samples:





Clean up crew in place and doing their job

[purebullet417]

im part of the 210/solaris culb. love it

[Me No Nemo]

I'm really pleased with these lights. They are much brighter than the 250 G series light I have. These are also much whiter than the others. I do have the whites at 100% as well as the blues. I'll probably drop the white down to about 60% when I first place the corals as I've read that they are so bright they sometimes bleach out corals if not slowly acclimated. It'll be interesting to see. I'll be moving lots of SPS and LPS in within the next couple weeks. Some are under low light right now and slightly browned out as I want to experiment with how long it takes to color them back up.

[Me No Nemo]

Just an interesting comparison. Left is the Solaris and right is my 90 with 2 Ushio 150 HQI MH with 4 actinic supplements.

[bbehring]

Marcye, man lookin great!!! That solaris looks killer. Can't wait to see all your corals under that dude! Few more questions on your system??? What are your plans for the fuge? Micro algae/lighting or just sand and LR? Noticed you feed from the sump return to the fuge via T valve control and then gravity feed from the fuge back to the sump? Why did you choose to plumb/flow this way? What's your flow rate into/out of the fuge? Also noticed you have a strainer at the top, in a way skimming the fuge at the return to the sump. Any thoughts on the possibility of the strainer becoming clogged and raising the fuge water level or overflowing? Noticed a T vavle directly off your dart pump return, am assuming this is for water changes? Was wondering what your plan is for water change outs (how many gallons, storage of the RODI and management of it)? What are the Pacific Coast Flow Accelerators (eductors) and do you have any photos of them in action or added info and what they actually do over say a normal lockline nozzle? Also what made you decide to go with the ,AquaC EV 240 with a Pan World 50 PX pump and place your skimmer in sump and run with an extrnal not submersible pump?

[Me No Nemo]

Thanks, BB. Okay, let's see. On the fuge, that's a side outlet 90 with two strainers...one lower in the water than the other. The higher one is still below the flood line for the tank, so if the one deep in the water dams up, the other will take over. I'll have chaeto and red grape caulerpa (the latter I grow to feed my algae eaters fresh macroalgae) with just plain ol' Home Depot sockets and pc reflector bulbs (see Melev's site as we got the info from there). The fuge dumps where it does to get as many pods as possible from the fuge into the tank without getting sucked up into the skimmer. We'll be running ozone through the skimmer and that would take too great a toll on the pods. Also, we'll have a collection cup on the skimmer. The EV 240 is in-sump to save space. It sits on a pvc rack we made that allows the water to flow under and around the skimmer body. We went with the 50 PX pump 1) to cut down on heat and 2) so pods don't get sucked into the skimmer like they would with a submersible pump. Currently, with everything running (including the lights) the temperature high is about 78 degrees. I work to keep my pod populations built up as I love SPS and I feel that life pod spawn is one of the best foods for SPS.

Yep, that valve is for auto tank changes. Luckily I'm married to a plumbing contractor with 37 years experience...including electronic plumbing. Eventually they'll be on remote sensors and we'll be able to schedule the water changes through our computer. For right now we'll be dumping the water into vats for evaporation as we live in an agricultural area and I don't want to dump saltwater into the ground for environmental reasons. I'm currently researching ways to dispose of the salt safely.

The RO/DI unit will be placed under the tank as well with an auto topoff unit. We'll have to mix our water currently as we don't have an area to hold the water vats. We'll do about 10 gallon water changes a week and then a 20% once a month. We have the waste water from the RO/DI feeding our pond for topoff so there's no waste.

The Pacific Coast Accelerators are basically eductors on the ends of Loc Line. They advertise increasing water flow up to 400%. It certainly does seem to increase the flow, although it disperses it in a wider area and with less pressure. So far, I like the flow a lot and there seems to be movement throughout. Once I add the Vortech's I doubt flow will be a problem.

[Me No Nemo]

Moonlight under the Solaris:

[ReefArtist]

Man those moon lights are awesome - absolutely beautiful! I can't believe how bright the LEDs are at 100% - they have really made some improvements.

Thank you so much for the explanation on the "new tank" coral additions. I knew you were doing something to rush it but I also knew you would never jeopardize the health of your corals just to get them in ASAP. I'll have to look into some of those products and see if I can take maybe two months off my wait period. My little clowns and just loving my corals to death - literally!

[bbehring]

Ditto on the moons, beautiful! Also thanks for you follow up answers on the fuge, sump, skimmer and WC info. I like your idea on the fuge return location and running the skimmer pump external for the reasons you listed. All great ideas.

[curthendrix]

How are the glitter lines under the LED compared to MH?

[bbehring]

I was wondering the same thing? I think that's one of the main issues with t5 and this fixture is you don't get the glitter? I think it's a worth while offset for heat and power consumption IMO vs the MH fixtures. Although, there may be some glitter with the solaris I?

[mflamb]

Marcye, does SITC sell the Pacific Coast Flow Accelerators? I have twenty 3/4" lockline returns and thought about replacing a few with the eductors.

[bbehring]

mflab I was actually wondering what the PC flow accelerators are? I've never head of or seen them before. How do they work exactly?

[mflamb]

They are eductors that are on the end of 3/4" loc-line. An eductor works by allowing water in motion to bring the water around it into motion also, creating almost twice as much moving water as was originally moved by the return or closed loop pump.

BTW, in the late 70's I was at March AFB and went to the your lake on a regular basis.

[bbehring]

mflamb, just googled pacific coast flow accelerator and MD was the first in line! http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewIt...ct~FT0031.html Hum interesting and simple device. Are they really that great?

ah yes, good old lake perris. My old water sking grounds! Use to get up at the butt crack of dawn and drag my jet boat and 4 or 5 buddies out there every friday during the summer, ski, get breakfast and head to work around 11am. Oh the good old days! We'll alot has changed since the 70's here. Perris is now a suburb of Riverside which is a suburb of LA. There are several thousand 400k to 600k huge houses built just below the dam. Once the houses were built, the corps during inspection of the dam noticed a major crack with a small leak in the saddle dam. The lake is now 1/2 drained and has been for about a year and half. Not sure if they will repair or just leave 1/2 empty. Anyway, we have a new manmade lake called diamond valley lake http://www.dvlake.com/press14.html. It's touted as one of the best fishin lakes in the state and the largest next to Shasta. Anyway, great to hear from you. Sorry Marcye I didn't mean to hi-jack your thread. Now back on topic! Any more pics or info?

[Me No Nemo]

No problem with the mini hijack Always fun to read about places and activities.

So, I dumped two more bags of Reef Pods in my tank tonight. I like these particular pods because they seem to reproduce rapidly and also seem a lot less "hostile" than other species. My tank is currently swarming with pods in both the rock and refugium. I added two mangroves to the fuge tonight simply for looks. I'll use chaeto as a source of nutrient export as I don't believe the mangroves grow quickly enough to make a dent. But I do like the way they look. The inverts are all going strong and I added a few small corals and a small juvenile Chocolate Tang. After several hours he's doing very well...no signs of stress and moving well throughout the tank exploring. He's the only tang I"ll be adding to this tank. I'm going to watch how everything does over the next couple days, and then the next addition will have to be the anemone and clownfish, as I really need that anemone to settle in to one spot before I add the rest of my fish. In the past I've scooped out sand in the area I want the anemone to stay. My experience has been that if the anemone can get down to the glass to anchor itself and it has a rocky ledge or cove surrounding, it will stay put. I've moved this guy 3 times now and each time he's stayed right where I put him, so I have my fingers crossed it'll work this time as well. Only difference is I have a much deeper sand bed now than I usually do, so it's going to be harder to get his foot down to the glass. Wish me luck!

[Me No Nemo]

I have some glitter lines but not as many as with the MH. I'll be adding more surface movement once I get the Vortech pumps in (I'll move two of my returns more to the surface) and we'll see how that works. If I don't get enough shimmer, I'm thinking of adding two of the Current USA Powerbrite lights. I saw them at a recent show and they add incredible shimmer to the water.

[ReefArtist]

Mike, I saw those accelerators at MD but figured at least for me I already have maga flow so way waste the $. Do you feel you don't have enough flow with all your OM's and returns? The reason I'm saying this (Marcye, correct me if I'm wrong) is from what I understand you need pressure to make these things work properly. So, if you don't have a lot of flow coming from the pipe already, these are not going to help much - I could be wrong but I know the regular eductors work this way.

Marcye - great information on the anemone I'm going to try it when I place mine in the tank. Can't wait to see pics of it's location. With it's high light requirements I guess you'll need to make sure it's not in a "overhang" area to block any of the light - right?

Hey, I loved the glitter lines you are getting as I thought it was very calming and wasn't distracting - at least with the mooners on. How much turnover are you looking?

Please let us know what you find out about your waste water. I have the same problem (don't know what to do with it). I have a creek that runs beside my house and not that it would add that much to it, I also don't want to do any damage.