Thanks for all your thoughts and input guys
I finally have it working as I was hoping

2 independant fans, ducts and vents did the trick
I smoke tested it last night and everything goes outside now :mrgreen:
"She ain't pretty, she just looks that way"

I think I hear them knocking on my door right now to check me for a Grow Op ....

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps16511aea.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psbd006734.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps44f0cf16.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psef7a40fe.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps2e07229f.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps4dff5688.jpg

Well done but now I have to do mine when I get home as Kelowna is warming up

Thanks Harry. Hope it's inspired you to do something DIY too

I should have known better when I started this project;
I dealt with engine cooling systems for nearly 25 years and have always known that a puller fan is more efficient than a pusher :doh:
That and I shouldn't have trusted the flow #s I read on the web for 4" ducting

Anyway, 'tis all good now :razz:

For anyone curious about doing this themselves ...

Apparently duct tape can't support the weight of my ducting with the heat - one of the ducts was hanging when I got home Thursday afternoon

It won't happen again as I've screwed the pipes to the fans and used aluminum tape to seal everything up

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps7043759f.jpg

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps84fd283a.jpg

Duct tape is a pretty useless long term solution. Glad to see you upgraded to the aluminum tape!

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2899/...5cf43a85_q.jpg

I recently modded my skimmer a 'bit'

I found I wasn't getting enough air into it, so I reamed out the venturi air nipple
The OD is 3/8" and the ID was kinda tiny, so I removed 1/3rd of the material to get the ID to around 11/32. I'm not comfortable going any larger as the material was starting to look a bit pale and I was risking a sidewall blowout, or an all-out split
IF you do this, do it by hand. Using a drill in plastic tubing this size will surely break something, or hurt you :surprise:

But what's the point in doing this if the muffler has the same issue ?
I thought about reaming out the muffler pipes, but they're too long to risk breaking them, so I just removed it completely
I've always run it fully open, so am baffled why I didn't bypass it years ago :doh:

With the muffler removed I now run a 3/8" ID airline directly from the venturi to the filter outside my window
I'm getting more NOG than I've ever seen from this unit, and it's still silent thanks to my window Mod

Muffler be damned :razz: and hello fresh air for pH

I want some pictures..........

Ya! it's good for everything except duct work, aluminum tape is the way to go forsure. :wink:
Nice job there Greg! your room is looking more like Nassau every time I see it.
LMAO!!! just kidding looks good.

Sorry guys, all I have for you right now is this crappy FTS
I'm pretty busy with 'things' so any closeups will have to wait ... especially since I'm battling GHA

Rich, I'm sure you'll recognise a bunch of your critters
LMK if you need some frags when your new tank is going :smile:

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psa5721326.jpg

I broke down and added a bunch of dwarf blue-legged hermies
I haven't wanted shells all over my tank since I started, but now I'm 'releasing the hounds'

Maybe I bought too many, but I put 36 in my setup - I can always trade them if they run out of food

Our Melanurus, Hunter (who still lives up to his name), spent hours trying to make a meal out of any hermie he could
Thankfully they're too fast for him and all he did was frustrate himself, and throw a few shells around
He's starting to give up and re-focus his efforts on the LR etc

Hopefully this new army will help me with my GHA issue, and provide us some entertainment in the meantime

A 3 day blackout would take care of your hair algae problem. Personally ill be using that method anytime i have a major algae outbreak. Works great

I did a 3-day this last weekend
It helped some, but no eradication
It temporarily shut down the cyano and diatoms, and weakened the GHA enough for me to clean a lot of it up

Tonight I added a Sea Hare and the little bunny/cow is going nuts scouring the algae away right down to the LR :lol:

I still have a lot of work to do to clean things up and keep it clean, plus I still have no idea where this outbreak came from in the first place ...

I'm gonna blame the maintenance guy for not basting the rocks enough :redface:, and allowing the sand to get a bit 'layered'

I'm pretty sure it's not my bioload or feeding habits, but have cut the feedings down a bit in the meantime to allow me a reprieve

2 sea hares later (both died :twised:) and the GHA battle plan was changed
Food had already been cut back, GFO has been cut back to decrease added Fe, lighting has been changed, maintenance increased
With the GFO cut back from 225ml/month to 100ml I've seen no increase in GHA. I can't say for sure it's helped, but it hasn't hurt at all. Thanks for the post Mindy :wink: I'll most likely keep cutting it back in the near future as things become more manageable
Now I've increased the lighting again and the GHA isn't coming on nearly as strong
I was only running a total of 1800 watts over 10 hours
Now I'm running 2160 and plan on increasing it to about 2500 watts
If you think about a 10 hour cycle, that's only a 250 watt bulb. Doesn't seem like much for my reef. Even over an 8 hour cycle, 2500 watts is only a hair over 300 watts. Many reefers with a tank my size run a pair of 250 MHs and in Brad's case a pair of 400s for I think 8 hours
That means he's running 6400 watts/day compared to my current 2160 :surprise::surprise::surprise:

Any cyano is long gone, and the GHA is much more manageable now
All corals have recovered from my over-use of peroxide :redface:
I'm considering using MB7 regularly in the DT

On to the QT ...

I bought a bunch of fish and they are in quarantine
I went to J&L to pick up one, and left with eight
So pretty :biggrin:
I'll have to do some careful introductions to the DT as I got a wife for both our Solar and Lubbok's wrasses
There's also a Yellow Tang, a Male Lyretail Anthias and 4 little girls for him to boss around

I plan on getting some better toys for the critters to hide in, but for the next couple days they'll have to make do with plumbing parts

All are eating frozen, and the tang loves nori bits
Some are also eating pellets ... just have to get them all doing the same
I haven't had them long enough to evaluate whether or not they'll get Prazi or Hypo

Some really crappy pics for y'all :surprise:

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps2ffc7c1b.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psaaee88d4.jpg
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps46a43b8c.jpg

I so glad to see you are adding a tang to your tank again . He is gonna love you GHA ! Problem solved :eyebrows:

Try some terra cotta (clay) pots. I break them in half , or odd shapes depending how they break and build a little reef structure out of them. Seems a little more natural looking then the PVC and it seems to help the fish feel a little safer in qt.

I almost always have a tang (or 8) in my reef tanks and [knock on wood] haven't had an issue with GHA in years. Hope I didn't just jinx myself. I probably feed a lot more than you Greg.

Anthony

Me too. Thanks Ian
It wasn't my intention, but I'm sure I won't see any algae anymore once it's in the DT :smile:

Great suggestion Jess
I bought one of these today and they went right for it
Best money I've spent recently
It's a fake LR piece full of hiding holes
Hopefully there now won't be a dogpile behind the pump during lights out :thumb:

Jinx :lol:
I'll be feeding the DT more soon, that's for sure
How many fish do you have now in your big tank Anthony ?

I've always wanted a Yellow Tang, but thought my tank is too small
After keeping SW fish for coming up on 3 years I kinda feel comfortable with their growth rates in our tank and feel we'll be OK for a good long time before it needs to be re-homed
And who knows, maybe we'll still have it when I retire and it'll get a nice big new home :question:

Quarantine is going well
I'm using MB7 (used to use Stability)
If you missed it, I started the tank with a couple Aquaclear sponges that have been in my sump for over a year (thanks again for the great idea Brad)
2 days in and no Ammo at all, Nitrites are between 0 and 0.01, and I'm already seeing Nitrates (waaaay below 2)

All fish are eating frozen, some are eating pellets and flakes, and of course the tang goes nuts for nori

No signs yet of anything to treat for ... and I'm a bit surprised
No spots, flashing, shaking, stringy poops, white poops, lack of appetite, disinterest in surroundings ... can't think of anything else

No offence J&L, but considering what some of the other fish in the tank looked like I'm very pleased
Once again J&L rocks !!

I picked over their tanks for everything I brought home as they didn't have much to choose from
So, of course, once I filled my QT, they got not 1 but 2 fish shipments
C'est La Vie

Still super happy with what we have

More pics to come once they start to trust me

Wow Greg, Santa came early eh! :)

I love yellow tangs, I'm sure he'll chomp those GHA in your rocks. Good luck with the new tank mates.

crimper, I'm sure you're right !! And thanks for the wishes

Our new charges have been in QT for 2 weeks now
All are eating very well, albeit their own foods
If you missed it, I've been using MB7 and am quite happy with it
No spikes to worry about, although I started off with an established set of foam blocks for my aquaclear50
I've only been performing 50% WCs once a week, and my NO2/NO3 readings have been near nil. Much better results than the last time I did this when I used Seachem's Stability. Although maybe I've been better with my feeding practices this time around. Who knows

I'm 2 days into a Prazi treatment as I suspect worms plus there's the odd shaking and flashing, then I'll give them a couple days off from meds
I'm nicely surprised to see nobody has lost their appetite during the current treatment
I'm hoping I don't end up with Coralgurl's dilemma where her tangs kept eating the poop thus eating the intestinal worms ... my stupid tang eats every poop he sees :doh:, no matter how much I feed them

Next they'll get some Furan-2 as there are some other things to address;
I have no idea what little white 'horns' there were on 2 of the female Anthias' heads that disappeared after a couple days
It left a dent on one poor girl's noggin behind her eyes on top of her head
Plus a wrasse has a white mark directly on her eye, and some of the anthias are flashing on hardware
So Furan-2 it is

I'll re-assess things after that but it looks like I won't be running a hypo this time around

The final introduction to the DT will be;
Yellow Tang right off as he can fend for himself
Next will be the female wrasses into the holding tank I've built and they'll most likely be in there for the majority of a week while the other wrasses calm down

Finally, after I get the Anthias eating pellets, they will have their turn in the holding tank for a day or 5, just to make sure none of the wrasses want to eat them :smile:

Wish me luck

Here's the holding tank I've built, but it's not finished
I still need to clean up the sharp edges and fit it to the DT so it 'hangs' where I want it to

It's 20x10x5 and will hang off the left side and center support
This gives lots of clearance to the corals, although I don't know what will happen a year from now
I realise it's only 4 gallons of space. It's just a holding tank Jim, and that's all I can give her

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps4ed62c7a.jpg

I 'euro-braced' it so I could screw on an access cover

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps4139b5df.jpg

Cover is opaque to help keep the sun burns away
I haven't finished the cover yet, or it's fasteners ...
It still needs a bunch of holes drilled

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psf84e6dc6.jpg

I scabbed a crappy hole (rushed the jigsaw and cracked it) out the bottom that needs some serious cleanup, and there's a cover plate that needs some fasteners
This is for when I'm ready to release fish

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps2da36d3c.jpg

May not work as a fish trap in future, but will be a handy time-out tank for anyone naughty

I like your DIY skills.
Sometimes flukes attach to eyes and look opaque .
Good plan with the prazipro

Thanks D :smile:
I hope you're right and the Prazi clears up her eye

Merry Christmas all

X-mas eve I developed a cough that turned into a full-blown Flu/Chest virus that knocked me on my padding from X-mas morning through to Sunday night.
Because of this, I didn't notice the MI developing in the QT. We lost all 4 female Lyretails. Sorry girls.
I did a 50% WC at the end of the Prazi treatment and then proceeded to start dropping the Sg. Because of work it took me until today to get it down all the way so today marks Hypo: Day 1.
On the plus side, the rather alarming amount of ich on all 4 remaining fish has run it's course without any long term effects.

The male Lyretail still appears to be afflicted with something that I suspect is a new generation of gill flukes, although I never saw any signs of the first ones in the water column during the round of Prazi. Regardless, I'm debating the headache of running Prazi during Hypo. I already have to keep using MB7 and dosing Alk for pH, so at worst I'll need to run an air stone.

As for the female Solar, the mark on her eye is definitely not a fluke as it's too pronounced and is white. At first I thought it may be damage from netting at the LFS, but it's been there too long. I'm hoping I can identify it by going through a video frame by frame.
I'm debating a FW dip for her but will wait until I can see better what the spot is.

Sorry for your loss, Gregg. And hope you get over you flu OK.

Not sure how long you did the prazi treatment before starting the hypo. But the way I did it was run the prazi first for a couple days, then start lowering the sg. That way there is not too much time for the ich to really hit hard. The 1st round usually isn't too bad anyway. It is the 2nd round (about a week later) that is most deadly. By that time your sg should be down to 1.009 and the prazi out of the water with all the changes to bring down the sg. So then the fish should have more vigor, and be hungry and eating well. Any subsequent rounds of ich after 7 days should be pretty weak.

Also have never had to use MB7, or control alk or any other parameters during QT. My QT is very well established, and remained stable. To be honest, not sure why you care about alk or ph in a QT. Ammonia is the only thing to really watch for, and should not be a problem if you have a well established nitrogen cycle.

Anyway, that was my experience. It's been a while since I had to QT fish, but when I did it that way, always worked for me.

Your male probably has ich in the gills. That is pretty common, and is the really fast killer. Just having ich on the body is not so bad. If it was flukes, they wouldn't kill as fast, and your prazi should have taken care of them.

Man you seem to have the $hittiest luck.
I hope 2015 turns around for you.
Hot rum:lol:

Hiya Walter
The Prazi is definitely gone. I did a 50% WC, added carbon to the AC50, and then went through over 25 g of water in a 20 g tank to drop the Sg to 1.008. This is where I prefer Hypo Sg, to be sure ATO fluctuations cause no rise to 1.010

All visible MI is gone for now, so I suspect everyone's gills are clear of it
But, I don't doubt that fluke eggs have hatched and this is giving the Lyretail grief. He's yawning and flashing. There's something there, even if it's not flukes.

Thanks Bill
I definitely have 'some' kind of luck :lol:

I was expecting the ich to happen. I'm just surprised it allowed me enough time to get everyone eating and do the first Prazipro round

I've had MI before with lots of agitation, flashing and scratching of the gill covers. It was not visible on the body, but obviously very present in the gills. A clue is fast breathing. I know butterflys are very prone to this, incl the pearlscales. But if you let it run its course (and the fish survive), the lower sg should take care of it. It is a fast killer, though, when it is in the gills, so hope your male makes it through.

You could also do a 2nd round of prazi while in full hypo. I did that before, too, with a tang, when I still saw some stringy poop. It worked, and the tang came through strong and healthy. This is my Tomini that I got early last year from J&L. It was nearly dead (very thin and weak) when I brought it home (wouldn't have otherwise bought it, but it was the only one they had). It is now a very healthy, happy, and good looking fish...

Greg, could you take a macro pic of the solar? You could blow that up and see the white whatever, better.

I can't take a macro Dietmar 'cause she moves too much, but I'll try to see what is going on tomorrow with a video - frame by frame

The solar wrasse with the eye spot is going to get a week of Metro starting this weekend.
She'd been flashing her eye since I raised the SG from hypo.
The female lubbocks and lyretail will stay in the QT for the week with the solar as I have a release sequence I want to follow, and I want to keep trying to get the lyretail eating pellets.

The tang has been named and is going into the DT this weekend
Stay tuned for pics of Nibbler !

OK, so I dropped the ball on getting some pics up. Soon ...

This update is about the EcoTech Reeflink that I bought today !
I'm very excited to get it set up so I can randomise my Vortechs throughout a 24hr period

That is all

Yeah but you were sick... again. Hope you're feeling better, and when I say better, I mean you better post some pics! :lol:

Ya ya, I know.
I should have been taking pics and posting on Canreef, instead of laying around the house moaning and coughing up a lung ... or trying to blow my bum out my nose.
And changing clothes every couple hours after I soaked them with sweat.
And lets not forget that I showed up for work everyday to keep our deadlines.
Sure, I could have been taking pics, but I was kinda busy ... :puke:

Thanks for the horrific details. :laluot_32:

Anytime

I love it :mrgreen:

I returned the Male Lyretail as I couldn't get him eating anything besides nori and frozen

Nibbler is happy to be in the DT, fits in well and has gone to town on the algae ( I'll be plucking out the stuff he's not eating)
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps245c3106.jpg

The wrasse 'wives' went through the introduction tank well
The Lubbok's fit right in within hours, but the Solar is just now roaming around. She's a big fraidy-cat
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps4176d085.jpg

Another shot for you all of the holding tank I buillt
http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...psf1e0f0aa.jpg

What's wrong with that??

Dude, should have let me know... I'm looking for a couple Lyretails!

Box looks good!!!