With the green film algae (if it is the stuff I'm thinking of), just keep blowing it with the turkey baster. Unlike hair algae, it doesn't grab hard on rock or other surfaces and can be easily blown off. Usually it floats to the surface then, and out the overflow. But if you leave it, it will keep spreading and hard to get rid of otherwise.

It's just the dusty stuff on the glass
I clean it once a week and the wrasses eat the large pieces that float off the razor blade

Didn't know that wrasses eat algae... The stuff on my glass is eaten by my tangs, and my Kole is the real champ for that. Then, mag cleaner for the front to make it really clean. I don't think you can ever stop that from growing on the glass. Low P04 reduces it, but never eliminates it, or at least not in my tanks.

Long time and no update :smile:

I've switched over to Randy's 2-part and also installed a 3rd dosing pump (Schlobster 1.1ml/min) for Mag

I've cut my annual dosing costs from $150 to $30 :surprise:

I bought Calcium Chloride from Home Hardware; 20KG for $25.99
Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate from Canreef Sponsor/Member TimT; 10KG for $39
I buy my Baking Soda and Epsom Salts from Walmart for; approximately $4/2KGs and $9/4KGs respectively

Our corals are looking very happy and growing well
Of course the biggest grower is the green birdsnest
This was Feb

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psa2dbe0eb.jpg

This week

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps21becee3.jpg

If your eyes are sharp enough you saw that one branch of the brown slimer in the back right of the tank is pointing the other way. I had a glass cleaning mishap and decided to glue the broken bit facing the other direction

Looking at the 2 pics shows me that it's not the Green Slimer that's growing so much as the birdsnest. Looks like it's time to trim it back before there's a battle

I had Ram3500 come by on Wed the 23rd and he helped me prune the front of the birdsnest to get it away from the glass, plus he took away a bunch of the GSP. Thanks Ian !!

I'll be adding another update shortly as I'm going to attempt to add a larger pump to my skimmer

Stay tuned ... :smile:

The Skimz SK181 mod is finished
I had to file out the cord hole for the new pump as it's round and thicker than the stock flat 2-wire cable
No pics as I was in a hurry and besides, who cares. I opened up a cord passage

I did this mod as Peter had good luck with a slightly larger pump on his skimmer. Details are in this thread

Peter added an Eden140 pump (2800lph) and reported better skimming so I thought I'd try an Eheim Compact+ 3000
The stock ES2000 is 2000lph and the skimmer draws only 540lph of air
Similar Skimz skimmers with the ES2800 draw closer to 8-900lph of air

I was thinking about buying the Omega 150, and there's a near-new one for sale right now here on Canreef, but I love the footprint of mine, internal pump and gate valve-water outlet, so I'll stick with my Skimz for now

So, saving me buying another skimmer, I installed an Eheim Compact 3000+
It's a direct fit :whoo:

It's a bit noisy right now, but I'm sure it will calm down

I'm also working on dialing it in but that's a small price to pay

I'm really hoping that I will get more lph of air and thus more nog
And if not, at least I now have a backup pump for my skimmer :smile:

Currently I can't report on it's nog production as I've just given the feed-mes some frozen and the foam head is collapsed

I hope to report back soon with great news :smile:

Tanks looking great Greg!

^what he said. That's cool how the birdsnest grew a flat top but then you let it grow back out again :-)

Thanks Nick

I just lowered it in the tank and it kept growing :smile:
I had to get Ram3500 (Ian) to come by and take a crap-load of clippings for his auctions just to keep it from attaching itself to the glass as I couldn't even clean the front pane weekly without breaking branches off

Thanks Ian !! :biggrin:

how old is that birds nest and how big was it when you got it?

I bought it at Rich's summer 2012 frag swap
It was a 1 - 2" frag

wow

The larger pump in my skimmer was a letdown
It's too noisy and I believe it's due to the size of the venturi causing a restriction
So for now I'll just live with the skimmate I get with the stock pump

Consider slowing down your return pump this would allow more dwell time in sump for skimmer to pull surfacants out of water

My return is tee'd back to the return chamber and I have just enough flow to keep the Herbie quiet

I'm not unhappy with my current skimmate production but was trying to get more airflow for a dryer nog without losing the amount produced

Whelp, it's that time of year again
Many are scrambling to cool their tanks, and I'm tired of being so tired 'cause it's too hot to sleep - I've only slept 8 hours since Sunday morning
I was against AC for years, but one summer when it was 37C in my living room and recroom (both up and downstairs) @ midnight and I couldn't even stop sweating, nevermind sleeping, I caved
Tonight when I got home it was 87.5F/>31C indoors - not such a great temp for a tank with a chiller that isn't rated to work at/above 90F :wink:
So I turned on the AC (Hydro hurts)

Anyway, last week I started thinking about ways to get the heat out of my office/sump room
The first plan was to try to cool the sump some in an effort to keep the chiller from coming on so much. I attached some PC fans on a length of eggcrate, placed them over the sock area of my sump, and voila; the chiller stopped running as much - and for less time. Granted I'm going through more RO, but whatever; having fans running @ less than 8 watts is SO much better than a chiller running @ 280 watts, plus the lower amount of heat in the sump room is noticeable, even with a higher level of humidity

Pic 2 shows the water turbulence

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps9b46833a.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps722c532d.jpg

I knew this would not be a big enough fix for the oncoming heat, so I started thinking again about a plan I'd had a couple years ago;
Get the heat from the chiller out of the house ...
This part I am still working on and will post pics when it's finished, but basically my plan is to use a dryer duct kit and some other parts, plus a high-velocity PC fan (already in hand), and have the fan draw the hot air from the chiller out of the house (along with some humidity :biggrin:)
I hope this will keep the higher temps of my office down and allow the chiller to do it's job without fighting itself while it heats the room up ... and maybe I won't have to run the AC in my office as early as March :surprise:

Wow! 87.5... Guess I shouldn't complain now.

i wasnt about to go through and read this whole thread but skimmed some of the pictures.. and let me just say that is all it took for me to cream myself o_o

there's definitely a lot of good info here im going to have to go back lol :p

nice.. everything dude :clap2:

Got 'er down to 82 by midnight, and it was 78 when I woke up ... I didn't want to get out of bed :mrgreen:
Tonight is going to be such a good sleep !!

Thank you
Hopefully you find something helpful in here :smile:
I found so many useful things in others' threads that I wanted to give back

My current GHA issues
Not the best pics ...

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psee29996c.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps38a3961d.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps7407f113.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psfde12b72.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps7f1b8cfe.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps3d9a7557.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps5e7e1d6f.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psa2a2dbe5.jpg

Doesn't look to bad.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I envisioned it everywhere considering how you described it in your other thread. Are you sure you couldn't add to your CUC to target it?

I would agree with them as well, it doesn't look that bad! Certainly looks manageable with a well placed sea hare maybe. But hey, who am I to stand in the way of a tank REBOOT! :biggrin:

True that! I was actually looking forward to Greg's reboot thread!

http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/s...psam2hwxff.jpg

This is an gha out break.. And I was able to recover from it with wc, abalone, etc.

Thanks for the encouragement guys
I'm plucking it out when I have time

I don't really want to change anything IN the tank, just all the stuff attached to it :smile:

I've had ha in this manner before and nothing a few extra hermit's and turbos along with a seahare won't fix. Also Dez had luck using Peroxide

I think I have the GHA under control
I plucked all I could grab, then scrubbed everything in-tank with a nail brush and toothbrushes. Then I turkey basted everything until it all stayed clear - all the while the Vortechs were on full blast and everything eventually went into the socks
Then I did my WC
All that took me over 3 hours
A week later and it's no longer growing like gangbusters so all I have to do now is stay ahead of it until it dies off

I finally completed my sump room exhaust plan;
For 2 years I've been thinking about how to get the warm, humid air out
I first thought about using a bathroom exhaust fan with a Humidistat and an AC controller. By the time I added up all the parts I decided it was too costly and that's why it's taken 2 years to finalize the job
A rough build cost for a high flow fan with a low sones (noise) rating, 2 controllers and all the relays involved, I was looking at over $250 :surprise:

The chiller fills the room with hot air causing me to need to run the AC or risk the chiller losing efficiency in an overheated room. But there's nowhere for the humidity and salt/skimmer smell to go with the door closed
I decided to run sump fans to cut down on chiller usage and noticed a big improvement in both chiller runtime and room temp, but increased room humidity with sump evaporation
So I thought about using a fan and dryer vent to take room air outside when the sump fans run and it hit me ! I can do the same thing with the chiller exhaust !!!
Results are an office/sump room that's now the same temp as the house vs 2-5 degrees hotter

I bought a dryer vent kit, a second stand-alone vent, a cheap storage tote and a powersupply big enough for the sump/exhaust fans. Total cost was under $65
I already had on hand 5 fans - 4 for the sump system and one for the chiller exhaust. These were about $50. Plus a PC fan adapter that may have been $10, and a powersupply for the chiller fan setup that was $15. So, for less than $135 I'm done
The PC fans are also quieter than any bathroom fan and I hardly hear them
Yes it's fugly, but it's just my office ... :smile:

The sump fans turn on just 2 tenths of a degree before the chiller, but it's enough to delay it coming on by hours
I'm using more ATO water but no biggie
Sump fans
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps9b46833a.jpg


Storage tote
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psa9d8e446.jpg

Storage tote with one end cut off and 110CFM PC fan. This allows the fan to draw room air instead of fighting the chiller's fan
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psc7000169.jpg

Back of chiller where tote mounts
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...pscf566eb5.jpg

Storage tote with fan and duct adapter
I cut the adapter in half and trimmed the pieces down to 3 inches
One piece for the vent and the other for the back of the tote
You'll see where I cut the end of the adapter so I had a way to tape it in place
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psa832e575.jpg

Mounted on chiller
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psc4ba6c26.jpg

Back of chiller vent where second half of duct adapter mounts to
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps9621bf5f.jpg

Plumbed to vent with sump fan vent
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psf38f9938.jpg

Vents
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps67e9c8a6.jpg

Here you see how the fans are strong enough to open the dampers
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps1650050e.jpg

Your title should say diy king

:lol: Thanks :lol:

Were u an engineer in your past life?
Kudos

Thanks Dietmar !!!
I wish as I would have retired by now with the money I could have made !!!

I have another update to come as my first plan didn't work out as it should have

Stay tuned ....

Hey that's a great idea. Good job!!

Thanks Bill

Looks like the chiller fan outputs more than I figured on and one fan wasn't quite enough, so now it's really ugly :surprise:

Second fan running @ 133CFM
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psbba82720.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps7628f19e.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps2834f064.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps54ba6533.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps0d0eefcc.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psac89c5a7.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps31534002.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps41a59eae.jpg

Needed to mount the Wye to the wall
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps5951ba69.jpg

And whole ugly setup
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps0ab36c13.jpg

This version two looks good to me. Works better I'm sure.
Ideas just sprout from you

I'm going to change it once more as I can feel a little air leakage from the opening at the bottom of the tote - probably due to back pressure
I'm going to run 2 independant ducts from the storage tote and connect them to 2 independant vents with the fans pulling instead of pushing
This way I'll get 100% airflow from each fan and zero heat in the room

Yeah buddy, thats the way to do it correctly. That wye you got set up is improper venting practice to the extreme. Too much back pressure causing an air flow bottleneck. Great diy project!

Ya I was hoping that wouldn't be the case but these fans just can't create enough pressure

Looks great! I was expecting a lot worse from your description.
In the strictest of air flow practices, if those are 4" lines you'd need a 4"X 4"X 6" Y for it to work as you'd intended. Just use Pi R squared to figure out the square inch of 4" round (X2 for 2 pipes running into one) verses the size you want to run it into.
I highly doubt those fans are pushing the limit of a 4" pipe though. A 10' run (including friction loss for elbows) at .05 inches static pressure loss, a 4" pipe can flow 45.8 CFM. That's pretty low static pressure, but I'm not sure what pressure those fans can push without cavitating.

A thought to also consider... I have had some instances in a somewhat similar application of 2 fans feeding from a common plenum. One fan started a few seconds before the first and from the suction it created in the plenum it pulled air backwards through the second fan and the blades of the second started rotating backwards. Sometimes the motor's are not powerful enough to counteract that reverse spinning and they just sit there cavitating until they either burn up or shut down from overheating. What fixed it for me was just installing a baffle between them, making 2 separate plenums.