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OKREEF

New Old Tank

Rating: 4 votes, 5.00 average.
8 Comments
by
OKREEF
, 07-26-2011 at 02:03 PM (3976 Views)
New guy here getting addicted to the reef culture. I have kept different FOWLR tanks over the past 7 or 8 years. (not very successfully due to lack of funds ). I am currently in the beginning stages of setting up a 135 that I just moved into our new house and thought I would share my successes and failures as I go along and hopefully your guys input can help me along.

So Far this is what I have running:



This tank has been running for the past four months with live rock only and actinics only as my whites were burnt out on my coralife PC fixtures. A few weeks ago I replaced the whites and only one works. So I am currently shopping for a new lighting setup, more on that later.

In the tank I have two chromis one clown and a small green star polyp just to get things going.
Under the tank I have a marineland sump model 2 without biowheel, and a oceanic skimmer. A natureef denitrator with the phosphagone option just now cycled up and removing trates and phates. (working really good)
Also a carboy to hold DI for a topoff I am planning on putting together.
Here is a pick of the Natureef setup (need to clean up my cords )


Here is my 7 gallon carboy for DI. Lid has cool fittings for filling, pumping or dosing things to it.

My "water testing lab"


Advice Needed:
I obviously need new lights. I want to keep my canopy so mounting height is an issue. I have struggled between a T5 setup and the marineland reef ready leds which I think I can fit four of the 36 inch units. I know that there are better LED units out there, but again I only have about 6 inches of clearance in my canopy.
I really only want to keep mostly softies and maybe a clam or two?
Any comments so far??

Also on my top off:
Debating on the JBJ ATO and the litermeter III.

i will be taking more pictures as I go along with my quandries.
Thanks, cant wait to be a part of your community.

A couple of pics of my reef keeper:

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I LOVE the little wire clips I found at radio shack. They keep all of the cords out of the way. Here is a closer look at the clips:
[IMG][/IMG]

Also a nifty little shelf I made for my lifter pump out of some scrap acrylic i found.
[IMG][/IMG]

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Updated 08-04-2011 at 07:23 PM by OKREEF

Categories
‎ Tank Entry , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    Welcome to R.A!

    Carboy - looks like it might need a good cleaning with 1:10 bleach water solution. If you use RO/DI water and it measures 0 TDS, fill the carboy up and measure the water's TDS again. It could come back 0-1, or 10, or 50 or even 80. If the numbers are higher, it needs to be cleaned to avoid leaching stuff into the water.

    Lighting - Which fixture specifically (link?) are you considering? I've seen some that aren't very strong, better suited for planted tanks. We'll help you get the right one for your tank.

    Testing - Nice kits. Here's my full write up on water quality: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...-Water-Quality

    ATO - you can use JBJ, or you can do what I did and use the Deluxe kit from Aquahub and an Aqualifter: http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php...Top-It-Off-kit
  2. OKREEF's Avatar
    Here are the aquaticlife t5s I was looking at.

    http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticLi...FIT54U-vi.html

    Here are the LEDs. The main thing I like is the energy savings. But if they are too weak...

    http://www.marinedepot.com/Marinelan...FILDFX-vi.html

    Thank you soo much! I'm going to clean that Carboy right now. Should have my lifter pump Thursday. And start my topoff like yours.
  3. NEReef's Avatar
    Dude i love the carboy! Reminds me of work, i get things from work all the time that i re-purpose for aquarium use. I use the 2 liter nalgene roller bottles for my phytoplankton growing set up; they work great! Leds are pretty sweet. I had the day off today and i pretty much spent it researching DIY led set ups all day. I ended up buying a 50W 20k LED array and driver off ebay for $60. Its probably cheap junk but Ive seen a couple in use and they look cool so I will see how it works out. There are a couple good articles on DIY LED setups on this site in the DIY section on the main page if your interested in going that route. Some one with more experience will have to chime in but I think if you run the LEDs without optics they have a pretty wide spread that might work for you that close to the water's surface. Just a thought.
  4. melev's Avatar
    Reading the write up on MarineDepot regarding the 1w LEDs and how many you get versus how many I'm counting on that image they show, it doesn't match mathematically. I don't believe those are going to provide enough light, personally. I honestly don't know. Reefkoi sells the Evolution lighting that has become very popular. Different sizes, and different color spectrums with individual switches to switch from white to white/blue to all blue. Ecoxotic sells some nice stuff, as does AquaIllumination. And here's our DIY write up:

    http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...s-for-DIY-LEDs
  5. OKREEF's Avatar
    Ok new lights should be in tomorrow. Went with the evolutions from china. Also installed a reef keeper elite last night. The only thing it is running on it right now is the ATO. Will take pics later. Quick question: I was going to add a calcium supplement through my reef keeper and a lifter pump. Is this OK? How long should I run the timer?
    Thanks
  6. Hat39406's Avatar
    Cool, awesome upgrades! Can't wait to see some pics.
  7. melev's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by OKREEF
    Quick question: I was going to add a calcium supplement through my reef keeper and a lifter pump. Is this OK? How long should I run the timer?
    Just calcium? Or calcium & alkalinity?

    You need to know how much you'll dose daily. Now determine how long it takes for your lifter pump to move that much fluid. Set the timer to that specific number.

    This is an area that has been be observed very closely at first. I would do the testing with water, marking how much is in your test vial / beaker before and after each session to see how consistent it is. Once locked in, you can switch it to the real solutions, but again watch it like a hawk. People can get a little bit too reliant on this after a while, only to come home to a disaster on their hands because something went wrong.

    I used a digital timer and an Aqualifter to dose 15ml of Vodka into my tank daily. I never had more than 3 days worth in the vial to limit an overdose situation. http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php...-vodka-dosings
  8. OKREEF's Avatar
    Update: My reef keeper elite already went down after one day. Came home to a blue screen and nothing was working. Updated firmware on all modules and the head unit and nothing. For whatever reason the ATO did get high but did not overflow luckily. Sent an email to tech support. Will let you know how it goes.