400 gallon project

KrazyKuch · #1 02-22-2007, 03:04 AM

well you have done a great job\

untamed · #2 02-23-2007, 03:35 AM

A bit of progress on the lights. This photo shows the bottom of a wall shelf that holds the three dual MH ballasts and the three wall-mounted timers that control all the lights. One timer is going to do the T5's, the 2nd does 2 of the MH ballasts, and the third does the third MH ballast.

***update 04/10*** After 3 years, the timer responsible for 2 of the MH began to fail intermittantly such that it would NOT shut the lights off properly. That Intermatic (now GE) timer was not rated to handle the load of 4 x 250W MH and has since been replaced with a more industrial timer with mechanical switching.

There are two dedicated electrical circuits there. One circuit has 2 x 250W MH + 6 x 54W T5....the other circuit has 4 x 250W MH only. Cool, you can almost read my labels...

Notice that three timers are synchronized...Yes, I admit I have a problem.

untamed · #3 02-23-2007, 03:42 AM

The tank is almost full of RO/DI water and I've added the salt. This is the salt that I am using. So far, I'm not happy with this salt.

Before I added the salt, the tank was full of crystal clear RO/DI water. After adding the salt, the tank is murky. The water is just not clear anymore. The salt has been mixing on the closed loops for 2 days now and seems fully dissolved. Jason, are you still using this salt?

In addition, look at this pile of sand and un-disolved bits (plastic maybe?) that have settled out. That all came from the salt because it wasn't there before.

michika · #4 02-23-2007, 03:56 AM

Sorry to hear about your salt. Are you going to change to something else?

Your lighting looks very sleek and clean!

Chin_Lee · #5 02-23-2007, 04:40 AM

your design and planning is amazing. Nice work. how much rock are you putting in there? aquascaping that monster is going to be fun

untamed · #6 02-23-2007, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

your design and planning is amazing. Nice work. how much rock are you putting in there? aquascaping that monster is going to be fun

I'm not sure how much rock there will be. At least a few hundred pounds, but I'm prepared to leave a lot of room for coral to grow. So I expect that the tank might not look very "full" by most standards.

I'll bring in the rock very slowly. The LR is probably going to be the most expensive living thing in the tank, so I don't intend to use it to cycle my tank with!

Typical of me, I have a plan for the aquascaping that was created as soon as I had the tank dimensions. There's thought put into sightlines and all the bottom bulkheads were actually positioned specifically to the plan. The 4' depth needs to be considered as does the 6' depth (when viewed from the side)

I'm not going to show the plan yet, because I need something to talk about later....

justinl · #7 02-23-2007, 06:34 AM

Oooohhhhh he's keeping us in suspense. I love seeing the evolution of this bad boy as it goes.

Why can't you switch salts now? You have nothing but water in the tank right? I mean, i think it would be better to switch to something more reliable now than to kick yourself later when you actually have living things in the tank.

untamed · #8 02-23-2007, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michika

Sorry to hear about your salt. Are you going to change to something else?

Your lighting looks very sleek and clean!

Pretty tough to change salt now... Once I get the SpG adjusted, I'm hoping that I can filter to water clear. I'm keen to check the parameters of this salt.

Joe Reefer · #9 02-23-2007, 05:02 AM

I had same thing with the reef crystals I used to start up my tank last week. The filter bag was real dirty in less than 2 days.

Jason McK · #10 02-23-2007, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by untamed

The tank is almost full of RO/DI water and I've added the salt. This is the salt that I am using. So far, I'm not happy with this salt.

Before I added the salt, the tank was full of crystal clear RO/DI water. After adding the salt, the tank is murky. The water is just not clear anymore. The salt has been mixing on the closed loops for 2 days now and seems fully dissolved. Jason, are you still using this salt?

In addition, look at this pile of sand and un-disolved bits (plastic maybe?) that have settled out. That all came from the salt because it wasn't there

Yes I'm still Very happy with the Ocean pure Salt. I continue to recommend it to all. I did switch back to Kent for a short while but found the dirt 100X worse than you have shown pictured above. With Kent I needed to scrub my water change bucket after every water change. I have gone through 3 buckets of OP and my mixing tank is still clean enough. Yes there is some sediment but nothing like Kent. Plus I have found that with OP I'm getting consistently good reading for everything. 470CA 8ALK 1400MG and with Kent I would lucky to get 320CA 4ALK 1150MG

these are just my experiences.

BTW your entire set up looks Fantastic.

J