Just another 30 gal to 75 gal upgrade thread.

kmacartney · #1 08/28/2006, 08:36 PM

This is my first thread that I have tried a "diary" type post. I am actually including some pics of the process that were shot by my lovely wife. The first one shows me and my friend pullin algae out of the tank. I am the one right next to the tank with the white shirt on.

If any one has questions or comments fire away!

kmacartney · #2 08/28/2006, 08:38 PM

The next pic has me yanking livestock out of the tank.

kmacartney · #3 08/28/2006, 08:40 PM

This is my tank in buckets!

kmacartney · #4 08/28/2006, 08:42 PM

Here we are dismantling the sump. Note the crowded work conditions as the livestock threatens to take over.

chrismunn · #5 08/28/2006, 08:42 PM

why is there so much algae in the display. was that intentional? explain to us the system your breaking down, as well as the system your setting up. equipment livestock, exc, exc...

fill us in, im interested!

chrismunn · #6 08/28/2006, 08:43 PM

oh yes, and more pictures please...

chrismunn · #7 08/28/2006, 08:45 PM

and may i add, congatulations on the new baby boy!

kmacartney · #8 08/28/2006, 08:46 PM

Here we have the new stand in place.

Now a pic of the tank and all of the goodies in place with some minor cleanup of the room.

Finally a pic of the tank with all of the (un)happy critters back inside

kmacartney · #9 08/28/2006, 08:52 PM

Chrismunn, the algae is partly the briopsis that has waxed and waned for some time. The rest is some caulerpa that ran amok while my cleanup crew slowly died off without being replaced. I think we had about ten hours in the process. We ended the night building a custom 20 long sump in the shed. Then plumbed it in the next day.

The old system was a 30 gal display with a 20 tall for sump/fuge. 4x39w t5, mag 7 return with sqwd. Mixed reef.

Yeah my son has been a blast!

TavisB · #10 08/28/2006, 09:14 PM

Post new pics!!!

I want to see how its looking now

chrismunn · #11 08/28/2006, 10:18 PM

what all do you have in that new 75? maybe its just me, but it looks like you have a TON of stuff in there? do you have any pics of the old setup? do you use a skimmer? or have an algal turf scrubber (macro in fuge) in your sump? whats your filtration? is the 4x39w t5's what you had on the old system or is it what your putting on the new? c'mon man, dish the details!

kmacartney · #12 08/30/2006, 09:37 PM

chrismunn, I will have to dig up some pics of the old setup. I can tell you that it was stocked FULL. I have a crappy seaclone skimmer that I have relied upon since the first incarnation of my reef setup. I also run carbon in an old HOB filter. Beneath the 75 there is a custom made 20 gal long sump with a large section for a future skimmer, operating refugium, and prop section. The light that is on top of the tank is the light from the old one, 4x39w t5 teklight.

In the transition I lost my two pocillipora

Now it looks as if my only acro may be starting to RTN.

kmacartney · #13 08/30/2006, 09:41 PM

Here are some pics from tonight. As you can see I am still having algae troubles.

I think that in the spirit of full disclosure I should say that is was tavisb who was my lovely assisstant for this fun project.

chrismunn · #14 08/30/2006, 10:55 PM

is this last set of pictures im looking at the old tank or new?

kmacartney · #15 08/31/2006, 05:47 AM

New tank. I need to dig up some pics of the old one still.

impur · #16 08/31/2006, 12:47 PM

Nice job! I'm going to be doing the same upgrade in a few months.

kmacartney · #17 08/31/2006, 09:20 PM

Thanks impur! It felt good to finally get the tank set up. I hope to have more pics in the next day or two.

kmacartney · #18 08/31/2006, 10:04 PM

Ok, here is a shot of the 30 gal from last February.

chrismunn · #19 08/31/2006, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kmacartney
chrismunn, I will have to dig up some pics of the old setup. I can tell you that it was stocked FULL. I have a crappy seaclone skimmer that I have relied upon since the first incarnation of my reef setup. I also run carbon in an old HOB filter. Beneath the 75 there is a custom made 20 gal long sump with a large section for a future skimmer, operating refugium, and prop section. The light that is on top of the tank is the light from the old one, 4x39w t5 teklight.

In the transition I lost my two pocillipora Now it looks as if my only acro may be starting to RTN.

so right now your using a piece of junk skimmer and you plan on upgrading? what kind and how big, its going to make a difference so choose wisly. as a matter of fact, can i recommend the euro-reef es5-3....i have one that i will be incorperating onto my 75g reef as soon as i get it up and running. ide like to know how well it works on a tank that size. in the past i had it on my 10g w\25g sump and it worked like a champ. (extremely oversized i might add.)
what kind of HOB filter is the carbon in, and how much carbon are you running? i ask what kind of filter it is to get an idea of the size so i can better understand how much carbon would actually fit in it? do you change the carbon regularly? how much and after how long?
how big is the refugium section of the sump? (in gallons... l x w x h in inches /231 is the equation to determine gallonage) and what do you have in it?
what pump are you using for your return, and whats the tunover rate in the tank? (gallons per hour) also, do you have any other means of water movement in the tank? i.e. power heads, closed loop, ect...?
are there any critters to stir your sand bed? how deep is that sand bed anyways?
thoes lights. how often do you change your bulbs?
do you feed your tank or dose anything? what? how much? and how often?
do you test your water?
sorry for hassling you bud, but i want to get to the bottom of your algae problem. you have a nice tank and personally ide like to see it with a little less algae. but if its what you like then thats your buisness.

chrismunn · #20 09/03/2006, 04:30 AM

yuor friend looks just like one of my old friends from cali. i havent talked to in a while since he got arrested for grand theft auto. we used to life together for a while. he helped me out in a time of need.
so you gonna respond to my last post? i have a hankerin' to know it all!

kmacartney · #21 09/03/2006, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrismunn
so right now your using a piece of junk skimmer and you plan on upgrading? what kind and how big, its going to make a difference so choose wisly. as a matter of fact, can i recommend the euro-reef es5-3....i have one that i will be incorperating onto my 75g reef as soon as i get it up and running. ide like to know how well it works on a tank that size. in the past i had it on my 10g w\25g sump and it worked like a champ. (extremely oversized i might add.)

I think that will go with the ASM G1 or G2, or teh equivilant Euro-reef. Right now I have a five yaer old seaclone that has had a mj 1200 put on it.

what kind of HOB filter is the carbon in, and how much carbon are you running?

Millenium 2000 HOb with the standard sized carbon bag.

i ask what kind of filter it is to get an idea of the size so i can better understand how much carbon would actually fit in it? do you change the carbon regularly?
no

how much and after how long?

se above
how big is the refugium section of the sump? (in gallons... l x w x h in inches /231 is the equation to determine gallonage)

about 2 gal

and what do you have in it?

cheato (sp?)

what pump are you using for your return,

mag 7

and whats the tunover rate in the tank? (gallons per hour)

about 430 gph

also, do you have any other means of water movement in the tank? i.e. power heads, closed loop, ect...?

no
are there any critters to stir your sand bed?

no
how deep is that sand bed anyways?

about 5-6 inches

thoes lights. how often do you change your bulbs?

every 12-16 months

do you feed your tank or dose anything?

no

what? how much? and how often?
do you test your water?

no
sorry for hassling you bud, but i want to get to the bottom of your algae problem. you have a nice tank and personally ide like to see it with a little less algae. but if its what you like then thats your buisness.

Thanks! Any help is greatly appreciated.

kmacartney · #22 09/03/2006, 08:38 PM

I hope that is readable. That is the first time I have tried to do the quote thing.

kmacartney · #23 09/03/2006, 08:41 PM

OK, here are some more pics. Here are two shots of the sump/fuge. I wish that algae would keep up with the algae in the tank. I need to get that light that Melev was saying so much about.

chrismunn · #24 09/04/2006, 05:53 PM

i dont know what to say? there should be more water movement. these links should help. you should consider the closed loop design by marc levenson (melev) its really cool, and adaptable, plus it keeps ugly and hot pumps, and power heads out of the tank.
here are the links
http://melevsreef.com/how_to_build.html
http://melevsreef.com/closedloop.html

does that light on your cheato ball even work? it looks kinda decrepid to me! if melev said the light is good, then go get it! he knows what he's talking about.

a sand bed that deep should something in the way of a fish or starfish to keep the top layre wellfully sifted through. also the movement from a closed loop should do alot in the way of keeping detritus in suspention, rather than letting it build up in pockets in the sand after it settles.

i forgot to mention about the carbon. all its really good for is pulling harmfull toxins from the water coulmn, not actually filtering anythnig else like dissolved organics.

i also forgot to ask if you test your water parmeters, specifically, nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate. keep 'em low! if you find your phosphate levels are high, ( you should have like 0ppm) you can add phosphate sponge in a mesh bag to your HOB filter. its really cheap!

you dont dose a single thing with all thoes corals in that tank? no calcium, magneseum, iodine, anything? hmmm....

uuuuhhhmmmmm, i have no idea of the life expectancy for t-5's so i wont go there.

the skimmer will be a great help, but if you dont keep your other problems in check ( i.e. dissolved organics \ high nutrients, phosphates ) it could prove useless. your best bet is to get a skimmer that is rated for more gallons that what you have. to be safe. and in case you ever deside to upgrade again, then hey, you can still use the same skimmer.

siphon that detritus accumulation thats in the bottom of your sump. also, when that stuff is allowed to settle on your sandbed, it will accumulate in pockets within the sandbed itself. then after some time it will begin leaching plant fertilizer back into the system. ( great for algae growth, not great for the prestine conditions of the reef environment ) no need for excessive nutrients!

get a filter sock for the end of your drain line that feeds the sump. it will catch most of that crap before it has time to re-enter the systems cirulation. then you can just clean it out periodically.

water changes... how much water and how often? 10% of the total system volume weekly. for a 75g tank thats what, 7 and a half gallons? be a man and go 10 just to show 'em who's boss!

i cant think of anythnig else for the moment? and ive probably wasted my time telling you a buch of stuff you already knew?

oh and, see the algae in this picture? ( caulerpa racemosa ) pull some of it off and throw it into your refugium. its great for nutrient export.
well i couldnt copy and paste that picture, but out of all of them, its the ninth one down, and is a picture of a colony of yellow zoanthid polyps. ( cool lookin' polyps by the way )

kmacartney · #25 09/05/2006, 06:06 AM

Since I never have tested any water parameters since setting up my first reef tank, I have felt little motivation to start.

Before I construct a closed loop I will swap the mag 7 with a mag 9.5 and see what the effect is. The SQWD does wonders. Aty this point many water changes wil be my best friend until I can save some $ for a better skimmer.