Ok awesome! Thanks Mindy. I figured if the DI Resin was shot the numbers would be constant on the TDS and not just when the valve is first opened. Makes sense to me, I will just have to keep an eye on it to make sure it’s not registering constant.

Looking at purchasing a clam in the near future for this tank. I was hoping to get one that would be able to sit on the sand bed, I like the more colorful species. Lighting is not an issue as this tank will eventually be filled with SPS, select LPS and ZoAS. Any suggestions on a nice colorful clam species that can be kept on the sandbed with success? I was looking at the electric blue squamosa online and it was pretty nice.

Anyone currently having success with a nice colorful clam on the sandbed please chime in :biggrin:

I have never been able to get myself to buy one and im no except but different types like different locations in the tank.Derasa or Squamosa are best for the sand? I think?

The only ones I have really saw for Sale are the squamosa, crocea or maxima. I would prefer to have the clam on the sand bed as i have a really nice place for it. Besides aesthetics, I believe clams filter nutrients in the water. I could be wrong... finally have room for a nice clam though.

1 of 3 New Reactors
 

Ugh. Work always gets in the way of tank time. Hopefully I will be able to get this reactor online and test out the plumbing manifold. :razz:

WC is subjective, find a routine that works for your system.
If 10% biweekly is working out so far, adjust from there if you want to spread apart.

Try say 15-20% every 3 or 4 weeks. Do that for a while and see how the tank responds.

Some do WC few and far between, some do weekly changes religiously.

FWIW, way back my nicest sps dominant 180 got very random infrequent WC. And usually I would do 30G at a time.

Now having said that, on my new display which will be SPS dominant, I'm going to try aim for regular monthly WC of about 10-20%. (Probably 10% at 30G). This is probably on the lower end of the spectrum I'm guessing.

Thanks for the information! I like 30g WC myself as it is quite easy to do in the new tank. I always bock at the idea of doing the 30g WC monthly but cave in shortly sticking to biweekly.

I have read a bunch of information that states small frequent WC really take the SPS to the peak in colour and growth. I guess I will just stick to what I have been doing for a couple months. I may brave stretching the WC out and see how he tank reacts. Everything is still settling in so I don’t want to rock the boat too much.

I did 50 G every 2weeks on my 250 with a 75G sump

Your tank looks good!

Thanks for your input :smile: your tank was a bit larger than mine but very close. I’m not super lazy when it comes to WC, just wasn’t sure if it’s worse to do biweekly vs monthly.

Thanks for the compliment. The tank is coming along, since the setup all the sps have been showing great PE and growth. I will try to get some photos up of some of the mini colonies showing growth.

So today I ended up doing a 10% WC and decided to hook up one of the Aquamaxx media reactors to the manifold. I may hard plumb it in the future but for now I chose to use flexible hose. The ball valves make it easy to adjust the flow from the return pump in to the reactor chamber. I set this one up with GFO inside and it is throttled back to allow for a light tumble of the GFO. I may need to upgrade my return pump in the future when I add the other reactors.


http://i.imgur.com/EQqoNMa.jpg

I also installed my new clamp and grow bulb 💡 (ordered from amazon) on to the Fuge. This bulb is more of the red/purple spectrum and will hopefully boost the chaeto growth. I was looking at the Kessil H380 however the price point for a Fuge light is a little insane. I will try this light and see what happens. This has smd leds (red, blue, green and uv) compared to my old light which consisted of (red, blue, green and white). Here are a couple photos of the light and reflector clamp. I will try to get a shot when the bulb is lit at night.


http://i.imgur.com/S02LI5r.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nO9A640.jpg

Wow, you’re getting a lot of toys in there. And I was so proud of myself for getting these:

The hand pump is very high tech. Saves me the trouble of having to open the jug & having to tip it to pour it out. And no ugly electrical cords!

Hope the fuge light works for you. Btw, what does that silver reflector do & did it come with bulb? Now I want one too haha

I managed to take a photo of the lit up Fuge with the new light. I removed the cover and almost went blind!!! Everything looked green in my downstairs lighting :mrgreen:. I’m really hoping this 100w bulb does the trick on the chaeto.


http://i.imgur.com/SxlL3BT.jpg

I have bought a lot of those bulbs off ebay and they work great. only issue is they don't seem to like the moisture and only last around 6 months for me. but they sure do the trick. how many watts? oh and that's why I always run a separate pump for my toys as it steals a lot of flow from the return. I also find its harder to dial in your overflow when feeding other things

That’s awesome. Hopefully this sucker does it’s thing as it sure is bright. This bulb is 100w. I will have to keep an eye on this as I definitely need at least one reactor at this time for Carbon and the other one is not needed at this time. That was the other plan, I was thinking of a separate return pump to feed the manifold and isolate the return in to the tank. I may have to go this route after the second reactor is added as I still want decent output in the return lines. I also didn’t think about the overflow aspect considering less flow from the returns and dialing it in. It was hard enough to get the bean all dialed in (at least for me) :lol:. Thanks for the advice as it’s always good to hear from potential problems and what works.

Anyone know where to purchase schedule 80 pipe and fittings in Edmonton? I would like to get some spare 3/4” pipe and want an additional union for when I change my return pump. Did the old google search and didn’t really locate a store in Edmonton.

Some of the Fish
 

I was playing around with taking some photos with my iPhone the other day. What’s a build thread without lots of photos right? I figure this will also serve as a good reflection to see the growth of the tank.

Enjoy the photos!


http://i.imgur.com/Dnzykat.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1lmuxuk.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cmPKflr.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/E0pbx4c.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7dpLOjA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/G89ldE2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Kz4m4Lt.jpg

Corals
 

http://i.imgur.com/AX4dsPy.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3wEV3Br.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/PfEofyC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/w9mgurX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/k6sAVxV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/39fz8qt.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/aO62Ufg.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YmYfGD4.jpg

Corals Continued...
 

http://i.imgur.com/z5IOyDh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/iHmPJbV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/CFM2Fx2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qESEGzL.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GpQ5lgN.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/201wva9.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/C4AX0By.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/fAtuxXI.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3Deduxz.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TUXN0wx.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/msUsmKl.jpg

Coral Closeups
 

http://i.imgur.com/1kydbUX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tyIjcB4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Rx9azPC.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/FzWV1CX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Ta6B7aH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gNpsBmp.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/HPxxi5k.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Aygtg3p.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yW3sSqz.jpg

Thinks are looking great but that Hollywood stunner just a side note Evil the sweepers on it just keep getting longer and hotter. Maybe in the middle all alone but they grow fast. Enjoying the thread

Thanks for the kind words. The Hollywood Stunner is isolated to its own peak to plate out luckily. :smile:

Looking to Identify
 

I’m just wondering if anyone is able to help me identify this white (almost a feather pattern) thing that is on the corner of my glass. It literally appeared over night. My guess is maybe some sort of eggs got laid... is it good or bad? :question:This is the second time I have saw this, the first time was in the opposite corner and when I was using my magnet it all detached. Any help is much appreciated! :wink:. I have attached a photo (hard to get a great photo).


http://i.imgur.com/mimfgvG.jpg

If you google snail eggs, you’ll see all the cool patterns they make.

Nailed it Dash!:lol:

I guess I should have googled snail eggs hahahahaha. The images that come up are the same pattern. I was probably too worried to google and thing I had some invasive pest. Crisis adverted.

My jebao dcp-8000 is having issues with the power supply cord. Not sure if it’s the controller or the power cord itself. I found my return pump off twice with “erro1” and luckily my ATO alarm had went off. I was able to get it going again but the power cord instead of being plugged straight in has to be torqued to the side. I have it rigged with a tie strap right now.

This is not good as o work 10 hr shifts, luckily my wife comes home earlier than me just in case. Hopefully I can order a new return pump soon and get the reliability back. I will take photos later on to show what I’m talking about with the jebao. I don’t want to touch it right now and risk it not turning back on.

Are you getting a replacement for the same pump or going with a different one? I have a Jebao powerhead & it was always glitchy, with the controller finally going. They wanted me to buy a new one, grrr...

Jebao has a nice price point (which is pretty important to me) but I wonder about the reliability.

I ordered a Sunpole (Aquamaxx) Magnus VSR-9000 DC pump to replace my current jebao. This will be capable of around 2370 gph. I agree jebao was a great price and very quiet pump. The problem was with the controller and power supply. I tried turning it up past 80%, it would overpower and get an error leaving me with no return pump until I unplugged it and plugged it back in.

IMO this is not reliability for a reef tank. Then the power cord (where it plugs in to the controller) acted up. Today my wife text me and it once again turned off!!! Stability is a goal and this jebao is not cutting it. My Alpha Cone Skimmer overflowed and now I have to tinker with that. Not what I want to deal with all the time. I’m hoping the new Sunpole pump proves itself reliable and is good quality. I contemplated the Vectra and Neptune Cor20... maybe down the road of this one doesn’t work out.

FWIW this pump has a $340 price tag, so it is still on the lower end for a dc pump. I will post photos and a review later on when I get it (hopefully here on Friday).

Jebao Return Pump Users Beware!
 

Once again this darn jebao return pump stopped pumping. Took a closer look and the power cord end melted on an angle along with the controller plastic cracking.

Just an FYI for anyone with a jebao to take a look at the photos and make sure your power cord and controller aren’t getting wrecked.


http://i.imgur.com/NESHxZM.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/iNQ5nzh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/A6hjelJ.jpg

That's kinda scary. Glad it didn't burn down and start a fire.

You know, I read about this particular issue somewhere. On my powerhead controller, when I pull that cord out, there’s always a little spark, which is a bit scary.

That’s my next upgrade - buying better powerheads. Can’t avoid the fact that you have to spend a bit more for peace of mind.

I agree! Melted that plastic end on an angle. Definitely wouldn’t recommend to anyone as reliable or durable.

My plug would spark here and there on the controller. Since it started acting up it sparks like crazy! I’m definitely over it, we invest so much in to the tanks and a return pump is the heart of the system. Fire is bad as well.

I have since removed the controller from where it was mount and have it sitting flat on top of the ato. Fingers crossed my new return pump arrives tomorrow. It could be just a one off however I prefer better quality over the low cost. Lots of good powerheads options that don’t have to cost a lot! Obviously lore then the jebao but that goes back to quality.

Sunpole DC Return Pump
 

My new return pump just arrived today and thought I would post a quick photo. Hopefully I can get this installed this weekend :wink:


http://i.imgur.com/3aatsqY.jpg

Magnus pump installed.
 

So got this pump setup and with a little plumbing tweaking it was a breeze. Simple controller which matches the pump with an attractive red color. There is not a lot of controllability (doesn’t bother me as I have it max) and it has a feed mode. So far I’m impressed with the build quality of the pump and especially the controller. Blows my jebao out of be water as when I tried to run it at max it overloaded and would turn off. Not cool for a return pump. 2 days and this pump is humming along.

I will post an update in a couple months for this. Here are a couple photos as always.


http://i.imgur.com/olx0Up1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/skPIxUm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MUPHNEL.jpg

So, you don’t miss the sparks and melting plastic?:wink:

:lol: My wife one time was like why is this thing sparking from the plug. Me: “oh that’s totally normal”.

Now it melted the plug end and controller... wife wins as the return pump
Went in to the garbage and was a fire hazard. What a gong show! Of course it completely shuts down at 10pm so I had to change all the plumbing and install the pump at night.

I have to dial in my Alpha Cone Skimmer again because the last leg of the old return pump caused it to overflow and now it’s a really wet skim. How’s your vertex omega treating you these days?