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Zachtos’ unique 240G reef w/ 375G sump/fuge-growout/RDSB/aggro tank

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acan algae blue buy damsels dlberlin dual filter fish gallon green healthy hippo huge livestock nano problem pump return return pump setup tang tangs tank tanks
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Discussion starter · #41 ·
The T5s came from reefgeek.com,they cost around $1100 I think, this did not include a hood to mount them in or the necessary fans/powersupplies for the fans obviously. The cold cathodes and fans came from newegg.com for around $50, the electronics necessary to do all my projects came in around $100 from allelectronics.com. hope that answered it.
 
Discussion starter · #44 ·
Thanks, just imagine this thing when it's done!

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My friends fish, watching him for the summer

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My generator circuit is complete. I decided to just have it turn on only during a power outage. It will only power air pumps because the modified sine wave from the inverter can not run power heads. The power heads just pulse on and off rapidly.

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Maxi mods are complete, they hum and grind everynow and then, not super quiet, but effective and powerful. My living room is not very quiet, even with the return pump in the basement. Noise is a problem, I'm getting complaints from people already... I don't know how to solve any of this.

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I mounted my maxijet mods onto my seaswirl returns so they can oscillate. Can I just say that the flow in my tank is stunning? The liverock on PVC skeleton is so fantastic. You can see food particles etc cruising in and out of every nook and cranny and the fish love the caves all over.

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My watt meter, $25 online, and the best friggin toy evar! Shows volts, amps, watts, VA, power factor, all at the push of a button, so convienient... I used it to determine the watt usage of my maxis, pumps, and monitor the heaters and how much they are turning on with it's KWH mode. I'll use it soon to test how much the icecaps are overdriving my T5s soon as I get the ballasts back and test em.

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Bulk Calcium chlroide, aka dowflake, aka kent turbo calcium. Lifetime supply for around $50

*I haven't setup my photoplankton cultures, I'll do that this weekend. My paramaters haven't been checked in a while, I'll do that soon to see how the cycle's going. I can see food decaying all over the place, so it must be going well. I hope ryan's fish survive the cycle.
 
#45 ·
Quote/Maxi mods are complete, they hum and grind everynow and then, not super quiet, but effective and powerful. My living room is not very quiet, even with the return pump in the basement. Noise is a problem, I'm getting complaints from people already... I don't know how to solve any of this./Quote

You might check to see if your noise is from vibration. I had to install dampers in all the lines from the return pump. basically cutting in a 6 inch piece of flex to kill the vibration and noise that traveled up the pipes. made a huge difference in the noise level.

You can see one in this picture. It is the return line from the pump on the filter going up to the ceiling.
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Discussion starter · #47 ·
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39W T5, overdriven 75% by icecap ballasts. They run at 850W with the icecaps, or 10.5A on the lighting circuit alone. If they ran on a standard ballast, they would pull only 475W or so. I get a 2.0 entire home service voltage drop from them! 122-->120V when on.
Lux readings:
0"=80,000lux
6"=70,000lux
12"=60,000lux
18"=40,000lux
24"=30,000lux
36"=20-15,000lux

*T5's pound the crap out of metal halide and LED so far according to my lux measurements (compared to my luxeon array/5mm array and std CF or MH i've used) I'm sure the PAR is greater as well. For configuration of my bulbs, see page one.

Ballasts are fixed, thanks icecap. All continuity tests are passed, who knows what was wrong the first time, cuz nothing really changed. I have a feeling the rocker switches got hooked up wrong on accident the first time.

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the cultures are started, tetra and nanochloropsus. I have them running 16hours a day under 10K 13WPC and a standard 15W 2700K T8. I'll finish this later this week and put up two 32W T8's on the back wall and split the cultures into four 2 liters each along the wall. I need new airpumps for the cultures as well, and air pumps for the generator which doesn't have a air pump right now.

*Skimmer should be here today, CA reactor, unknown where it is.
 
Discussion starter · #50 ·
My tank is nearly done cycling. I just had my big algae bloom and the nitrates are spiking, it should level out soon. I got a photo but it's at home on the camera showing the filth.

ammonia: 0.5ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 15ppm
temp:79-81 F
sg:1.026
kh: 10dkh
ph: 8.1-8.3
calc: 450ppm

I'm told that basically ALL angel fish are not reef safe and nip at SPS and fight quite a bit. I'm not sure how true / anecdotal this really is. But I'm leaning towards nothing but tangs/clowns/mandarins/butterflys/wrasses/anthias. no flame angels due to sps nipping (supposedly). Maybe some cardinals and damsels though.

Was thinking of using saltwaterfish.com, free shipping w/ $75+ per order. Pruess is just too expensive, and combine their overprices with gas costs and drive time... makes shipping costs pretty attractive. What do you think? HELP PLEASE!!!
 
#52 ·
I've used Saltwaterfish.com before. Everything you get is going to be very small, but if I remember correctly(I lost it all in a crash soon after), it will all be healthy. And if you're right, if you're already spending the money, the free shipping is very attractive.
 
#53 ·
While it is true most angels can be problems not all. I have a Potters that is a model citizen. Does not bother anything but the algae. i have a friend that has a golden that is also good. You just have to have a little luck and shop right. I like buying fish locally. I would rather see it. Choice and Pet Connection are great and will hold them for you until they are eating and look good.
 
Discussion starter · #54 ·
Stock List Revised:
1-Blue Hippo Tang
1-Powder Blue Tang
1-Yellow Tang
1-Naso Tang
1-Achilles Tang
1-Copper Band Butterfly
1-Flame Angel
1-Green Mandarin Dragonette
1-Six Line Wrasse
2-False Percula Clownfish
13-Green Chromis Damsel

=24 fish total,
(1 school of damsels, 1 pair of clowns, 5 various tangs, 1 butterfly, 1 wrasse, 1 angel, 1 dragonette)

Cleaning Crew Revised
24-Astrea snails
12-Turbo snails
12-cerith snails
24-nassarius snails
24-tonga nassarius snails
2-Queen Conch
(no crabs - I only hear bad things about all of them, and have had problems myself with 3 varieties already, and they don't clean for squat IMO)

PLEASE ADVICE NEEDED!
-i'll order the cleanup crew first, then order 6-12 fish at a time across 3-4 orders depending on size and tank readings/maturity
 
#55 ·
The fastest way out of this hobby is to do what you are doing,adding 6-12 fish will end up with a toilet backup, add fish slowly, the rock you have used will take months not weeks to become effective. The savings of ordering all at once is worthless if your tank cant handle the sudden load, Take your time only bad things happen quickly in this hobby;)
 
Discussion starter · #56 ·
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skimmer running, breaking it in

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refugium lights setup now finally, chaetomorpha macro algae growing now under dual 23W PC flood lights

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another boring sump shot

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a shot of how flithy the tank is at the cycles peak

*still need feedback on my fish choices (what rate would you reccomend adding them? I figured the damsels could all go in at once first since they are cheap and hardy, next would be half the tangs, then the other half, then later the clowns, copperband, and wrasse, then the rest later.)
 
#60 ·
Green Chromis are not as hardy as some of the more undesirable damsels. Personally I would start with them because they are cheap. Add 5 or 6 and wait. Then a couple of fish every two weeks. Are you going to put them in a Q tank first or add directly to your tank. If no Q tank then I would for sure buy local. You are at the toughest point in this hobby, patience wins haste loses. thanks for the detailed thread it is a great setup and I have enjoyed following along.

This would be my order:

6 Chromis
6 Chromis
2-False Percula Clownfish
1-Flame Angel
1-Yellow Tang, 1-Achilles Tang, 1-Naso Tang
1-Copper Band Butterfly, 1-Six Line Wrasse
-Blue Hippo Tang, 1-Powder Blue Tang
1-Green Mandarin Dragonette

With two weeks inbetween each line.
 
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SIR PATRICK
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