I was told those ice probes don't work all that well better off buying a 1/10 hp chiller. Also I think those cadlights are all tempered so don't try to drill the glass. Not sure on this but better check first if you want to go that way down the road later.
Tank looks great, and I like the placement in your house.

Waterfall Reduction
 

In the Cad39G water overflows are located in 2 locations. On the far right water flows into chamber 1 which in my case houses LR and a few bioballs. I added a sponge filter in this compartment to minimize the waterfall sound. It worked well from day 1 with the sponge siting directly on the top of the bioballs and wedged nicely into the space.

The 2nd overflow is in compartment 3 which is also the refugium. Due to the design there is about a 4-5" water drop and the waterfall sound was too much. I tried installing more sponges but the force of the waterfall dislodged them.

So I built this waterslide device from some plexiglass. It wedges in and hangs on the back glass. The light unit and skimmer were removed for installation.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3336s.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3332s.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3335s.jpg

But as you can see there is still a small waterfall at the rear of the water slide. So I added an extension to the hanger until the rear end of the waterslide actually sits below the refugium water surface.

But I was still getting microbubbles so I added a small piece of sponge to the waterslide under the skimmer exit and that seems to do the trick. Now I have an almost silent water flow and most of the microbubbles are dealt with.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3400s.jpg

The bar that you see in the above image is the refugium light. My next step is to adjust it until enough light enters the refugium to make it effective. The light may have to shine in from the back of the aquarium to ensure enough light gets in. That will require some testing.

You are right, I was not thinking of drilling the glass. There is only one plastic divider and it separates the display section of the tank from the sump section.

But maybe I can rig something up to hang the probe into the water. What would be really nice is if you could just drop the probe into the water just like you do with a heater.

In regards to the location of the tank, all of our other wall space is full of furniture, art and other stuff so this was about the only location left. It is actually located in the corner of our kitchen next to the island, so we get to study it during meals.

Of course the beer fridge is not far away either.

Top Off Test
 

Here is what the top-off test looks like this week. Once I am confident I have the system working properly then the bucket, or perhaps a 5G water jug will be placed in the corner behind the tank. It is a tight fit but it will work.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3398s.jpg

Then hopefully I will top-off the reservoir only once a week instead of 2X a day as I have been doing.

Refilling the reservoir will be a bit of a trick. I will try pumping water into the reservoir from another bucket. A bit of a pain but the whole idea is to hide as much of the hardware, wires, hoses etc.

Now for another beer and watch Spain vs Russia.

Looks great and looks like you put lots of thought into your tank.
Not sure what MH you are running but on my tank thats about the same size I had my temp jump up about 3-4 degree in about 4hrs of light. A ice probe is only rated for about 1-3 degree pull down if I remember right. I had put two holes in my sump to run two but you also need two controllers. So in the end it was cheaper to get a real chiller. It takes a Mag 5 to run though so you would need to run that water off the main tank somehow. Maybe a over the top drain and sump.

Thinking is cheap. Fortunately the closest LFS is 1 1/2 hours away.

`````````````````````````````````````````````````` `

Yeah I have a 150W hallide and I experience a similar temperature range. Thanks for the insight on the probe.

Until now I have been storing top-off water in the cabinet. Removing those bottles gives me a shelf I can dedicate to a chiller if necessary this summer. My carbon foot print is getting larger daily!

Now I really am going for that beer!

Tank is looking really good Oscar. It's great to see this thread knowing that we spoke before you got into this hobby and already you've got a really nice tank, with a great setup.

Now that I was looking at the back of the tank...doesn't the Cadlights depend on that fan to do all the chilling? I think I've read that it drops the temp quite well even though you have the MH.

Yes the stock fan is very effective but painfully noisy. It interru[pted TV viewing in the nest room. It was also either on or off. CadLights now has a newer version of the fan whcih is supposed to be much quieter.

So I kept the fan box and replaced the internal with an Ice Caps variable speed fan. Almost silent and with a temperatue probe tha varies the speed based on air temperature. I have not really got it tweaked, the location of the probe needs adjustment.

Hey Oscar, how's the temps holding up now that the outside temp in the Okanagan is finally rising. I know my tank is hotter than I like and I've got AC in my house.

I am very pleasantly suprised so far. Inside temperature right now is 73F. My tank for the past 2 weeks has been in the range of 78-82F with running the actinics for 12 hours a day and hallide for 10 hours.

I notice the forecast is for temps up to 35F for the next week and our rancher is south facing. I have an air conditioner that I can temporarily install in the window when necessary so this is going to be a major test.

I replaced the fan that came with the tank (it was way too noisy) with an Ice Caps variable speed fan. It has a temp probe that is installed between the water surface and the lighting unit. It is set to automatically come on the lowest setting at the same time that the hallide starts. The fan speed steps up as the air temperature increases. This fan is also super quiet which is a bonus.

I do have a 2nd fan that I received from CadLights. It is nearly silent although it is either on or off.

So next week I will shorten the time that the hallide is on and install the additional fan. In additon I have had a JBL top off setup so with all of this extra evaporation due to the fans, the salinity of the tank will stay relatively constant.

Next week will certainly be a big test.

Hmmm...Lobster
 

Lester the lobster molted again last night. That's the 2nd time in ~6 weeks. I think he likes his new home.


http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3437s.jpg

I can't believe is was June when I last posted.

Since then:
- added two clowns
- clowns hosted with frog spawn
- new battle with algae
- installed top off system
- discovered a crab hitchiker

I discovered that I had a crab hitchiker only because I discovered his molt 6 weeks ago. I have tried to lure him out with food in a glass jar but no luck. Using a flashlight I discovered his little cave. So tomorrow I will extract the rock in question and try to "encourage" him to leave.

But while I am at it I will undertake a major aquascaping. I have concluded that I added too much rock to the tank. I created a large rock wall against the rear wall. It has losts of caves and tunnels but takes up too much space, limits corals to the front face and I can only clean the glass on 1 side.

So I am going to rearrange things into more of an "island" design. This means that some of the live rock will come out.


http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3549s.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3550s.jpg

As you can see I am also suffering from a new algae burst I think is primarily from my feeding of the clowns. It took me a while to figure out the feeding methodology but by that time I had spilled an awful lot of uneaten food into the tank. As Myka pointed out I may still be leaching phosphate from the rocks

For the first couple of months I was manually topping off fresh water. As the heat in the Okanagan increased this summer mannual topping got very tedious. So I setup a topoff system using a 10G wine carboy. It was setup out front for a few weeks while I tested the system.

Once I was sure it was working I slid it down and behind the tank. I now refill it using a 2nd pump and hose which works pretty smoothly. So far I only need to refill the top off jug every 2 weeks.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3552s.jpg

Two weeks ago I was in Vernon and picked up the following snails to help me knock back some of the algae:
- 1 very large nassarius
- 5 astrea
- 5 cerith

I have also been actively pruning the hair algae as best I can. Each week I gather about 1 cup of hair algae. Between the pruning and the additional snails we are holding steady.

Following are photos from yesterday. It is difficult to see but there is a Koralia 1 in the centre of the rock.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3588s.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3591s.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3592s.jpg

It's looking better! Where did you get the snails at? Thanks.

I tackled the aquascaping today. The goal was to pull the rock away from the side glass to both improve flow and allow me to clean the glass along the side. I also moved the Koralia 1 to the top left of the tank, although it is very visible now it gives more options for flow.

Aquascaping is even more challenging when you already have some corals in place. I will study this new configuration for a few days. I will have to move a few corals. For example I am thinking of moving the GSP onto an "island" in the sand at the front of the tank. That will allow it to expand but keep it under check.

I like watching the pulsing xenia, and this stuff really pulses, but I now have an appreciation for what others have said about it's rapid spread. I will have to limit it to a single rock or allow it to climb the back wall. I have reconfigured it's primary colony to give it contact with the back wall.

Here are photos from this afternoon's aquascaping:

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3593s.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3594s.jpg

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h.../DSC_3595s.jpg

The astreas and ceriths came from AJ's. I was in town for a business meeting and while I was staring at a tank there was another fellow staring at the tank beside me. Turned out was Mseepman. Mark told me about the mondo sized nassarius at All Pet. Unfortunately Mark had cleaned out all but the one I picked up. Rats!

Not sure that the tank is looking all that better, but thanks, certainly the tank is looking more mature. Mark came by this morning and confirmed that the small 5 legged creatures that just appeared are sea stars. Always something new popping out.

Hey Oscar,

Tank is looking good. It's a tough job re-aquascaping because we get used to what we had and what we liked...so I'm glad you plan to give this a few days to "soak in" before deciding if you like it or not.

It was great getting to visit and I really like the Cadlights tank...glad you ended up getting that one.

Mark: Thanks for the input yesterday, some good food for thought.

Even after only a couple of hours I think I prefer the new aquascaping, one of the main reasons is that now I can clean all of the glass. Pulling the rock back also gives me 2 more surfaces for corals. Although I do not think it is obvious in the photos the rock looks more like "rubble" and not a wall.

I do need to do some minor adjustments, a couple of the ricordia are a little too hidden under rock for my liking. Either some rearanging or removing them from their existing rock and relocating them.

The one piece of left over rock I will probably bust up into smaller pieces to either create "islands", go into the refugia, or to replace the last of my bioballs in the rear chamber.

So Grant, how is the new tank doing? You got a Seahare didn't you?

No sea hare yet. I have been trying to control the algae by every other means possible but no luck. I will see if I can get myself a sea hare in the new year.

Let me know if their are any sea hares in the Vernon LFS, I will be up there in the first week of January.

Hey Grant, where's the lastest FTS before you get all these frags in there from Fragalot? It will be good to see a before and after shot.

To answer your earlier question, UV will indeed kill both the good and the bad. Don't run it (if you're going to run it at all) for the first 4 weeks or until your cycle is done. It really isn't needed.


And I'm assuming that you intend to run a heater anyways, even though your tank warms up during the day when the lights are on? What about at night, won't the tank cool overnight? Things should stay as close to 79 - 80 degrees both day and night, I would keep this in mind, or you might find the extreme temperature swings will just kill things... Also, marine tropical fish might not do well when the night temp drops.

Your little tank looks really sweet, I should look into an AIO. :lol:

Yes I do need to get a FTS before the frags arrive next week.

There is a 75W heater in the final chamber. Temps range from 78 to ~82 in the heat of the summer.

My change to a Phoenix DE HQI hallide looks like it has solved my algae problem. It is much bluer thatn the original light. The original light was to far into the yellow spectrum. Now that I think the algae is solved I will remove the UV light.

So you like the Phoenix bulb? I've been wondering what bulb to use on my tank... do you find it very blue in general, or just compared to the other bulb (which could well have been a lower quality 10K or even a 6.5K bulb)?

It is very blue. The original CadLights was a 14,500K as well. In addition I have 2 very blue Geisman actinics that really exagerate the blueness. But if it is helping me deal with the algae then I will put up with it for a few more months.

Now that I know you went to a Phoenix, i really want to see the FTS. You should take one with the Giesmanns off and one with them on.

Depending on which frags you ordered, you might like how they "POP" under the blue.

Now I am feeling peer pressure again! Actually I did take some photos of before and after Geismans. I will post those tonight. Yes the small number of frags I have at the moment definitely pop more with the Phoenix + Geismann.

It is kind of a relief to get the algae problem figured out. It is not completely solved but I think I am seeing some meaninful results after a 7 month battle.

Frags are arriving next week, so that will give me some additional time this weekend for more pruning etc.

Hahaha...no pressure at all. I find that I don't take enough pics and now I wish I had taken more so that I could measure my progress.

My only progression since July is expansion of algae and xenia, both of which need pruning. Although I think the clowns are fatter.

any updates, Pictures?

Hello is this thing on?

Haha..."Oscar" doesn't get on Canreef very often, I think he works a lot. I'm sure he'll answer you once he see's this.

I've seen the tank in person several times and he's done a really good job with it.