whooooo!!! more good luck... My skimmer overflowed AGAIN last night... Awesome! :neutral:

Damn man, I have been following this thread on Nano-reef and Canreef. It seems like this hobby is throwing quite a bit of curve balls at you. But you got the grapes to last this long and to even willing reset the tank. Therefore more reason to give her because when something good happens it will be that much better!

I have a SRO in my tank, I found that playing with the gate really messed with the skimmer water levels. So I left mine all the way open, built a little egg crate stand to raise it so it has about 5 inches of water. I think the key to mine running was to allow the open gate to be above the water line so there isn't any back pressure running back into the exit. When I had it below the water line even the slightest, it would flood every 3-4 days, it would gradually creep up while I was at work and when I got home the skimmer would of emptied it self back into the tank.

Stanley

Oh I have the egg stand too.. has helped with skimming (as it dumped about half a cup of BLACK skimmate back into the tank last night) but I don't think I can get the gate valve above the line and still get the performance out of it.

My office tank is basically on auto-pilot right now. I feed the fish, clean the skimmer cup once a week, and scrape the glass every few days. Although it is due for a water change, but otherwise nothing to complain about *knocks on glass*... This tank at home has been a constant headache for 11 months.

Maybe you were giving it too much attention, and rushing it. Corals (esp SPS) like stability.

True, what I have noticed is that my skimmer isn't truly skimming wet and can never be with this height. Its rather in between both wet and dry due to the water level being lower and not being able to adjust the water to the appropriate neck height is a bummer. I have crude building up 3 inches before the neck due to the lower water levels. Its frustrating to not be able to dial in a piece of equipment at the risk of overflowing, especially when its considered reef octopus' higher end line and a mid range skimmer in the market.

you know my thoughts lol :P:P:P

just do it!!!


im off thurs and fri so we can do it anytime then if you like , weekend im can do it to if its later in the day:)

what do you have to lose right?

are you guys eloping or working on the tank. stop being so mysterious Denny!

working on the tank..........i think :mrgreen:


i invented a new product its a clear water like substance and the process is basically you remove all your old dry rock , replace with live rock and then do a very large water change , add a few drops of my product into a prayer reactor and allow tyhe tank to settle down , soon enough and walla instant turn around

yes it will be available to everyone soon enough:P

I know Denny... It's just a matter of finding the time. Maybe I will use my last vacation day on friday and get this sorted out.

The rebuild begins....

Pull all the marco rock and the sand bed out of the system today.. Took my fish to my LFS, and then picked up some Fiji and Tonga Branch LIVE rock from good ol' Denny. I've got water going to make a fresh batch of Saltwater which I will use for an initial WC to pull out some of the junk that got disturbed. After that I will do another 30-40G in the next day or 2.

Let any sort of mini-cycle that's gonna happen run it's course and then check all params and adjust accordingly.


Fingers Crossed!

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps256edfbc.jpg

:thumb:

Well, 45G worth of water changed out since last night. Got a bit of a aquascape going but will likely pick up a few more pieces from the LFS tomorrow to finish it off along with a filter sock to help polish the water and get the fine sand dust out of the water column. Will do another 10G WC tomorrow and see where I'm at with my levels, I'm not expecting much of a cycle.

One of the pieces of LR I got from Denny had some Black Sun Corals on it and I'm actually getting some polyp extension from them already, even with all the fluctuations I've had in the past 24hrs... Temp, Salinity, Dust Clouds, etc

Feather dusters are coming out too.. I've noticed a few nasty 'nems that I need to blast though..

I've also decided to bail out on the LED trend and go back to what I know so I put an order on an ATI Dimmable Sunpower 6x39W light fixture today.

Will update again when I've got more info. :)

And another makes the switch. :smile:

wow. Im super glad with the LED that have I really like the color and the spread that I have with the light. having not to worry about it for the nest 5 years is awesome. When it goes I cant wait to take it apart and see how it clicks. But for now I wil enjoy the light with all the fancy gadgets.

A complete reset should do the trick! Things should be better from here on, cause I want to see this build take off. I am with you on the t-5 boat, finally decided to ditch my leds and get a dimmable ati fixture as well :).

hahaha.. It's worth a shot, right?.

I'm not un-happy with the light, but I have read some articles and threads around that get me thinking about certain things regarding LEDs. I suppose there is one thing that I HATE about LEDs and that is how much they screw with cameras, especially cheap cameras or cell phones, as I don't have my high end gear anymore. Good example is the photo above... All my pics turn out like that, which I don't like!

If a complete reset and traditional lighting don't do the trick then I guess it's just not meant to be for me. lol

So......whats the plan for the Mitra?????

It's already been spoken for. :)

Nice progress, even if it is to rebuild everything. I like the photos.

I too found the secret to my issues was many large water changes which eventually equated to about 200% WC on my system.

I've got my fingers crossed for you.

Thanks Catherine.. I got everything crossed!

My temporary aquascape.. I still want to fill in the left side a but with some self or something. Unfortunately I didn't get to Concepts today with the blizzard.. Will be amazed if I can even get out of my neighborhood tomorrow morning. :lol:

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3520eca3.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...psfca82f29.jpg

And so it begins! Again, again.

Couple pics with the lights on and a few Acans that I salvaged and seem to have pulled through the tank change OK. Lights had only been on for a few mins before taking these pics.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1e7b0789.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...psf2f16f6e.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5f7c1258.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps11264e7d.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps09213d0f.jpg

Looks like those acans are enjoying themselves. Hopefully it will be a smooth ride from here on out. How was the quick cycle? Did you notice anything significant jumps in any of the big three?

I like it from the front and the right side a lot. I can see exactly what you mean about wanting more for the left. It's sexy!

To be honest I never got around to running a test on the tank for any of those 3 things. :redface: I will do a Nitrate test later today probably as I'm stuck at home, just hope my test kit is here and not at the office. This rock wasn't out of water for very long so I'm not expecting much of cycle.. and I've likely missed the window for seeing Ammonia.

Yea, it just seems a bit empty over there. Also not sure if I'm liking the BB or not yet but I want to give it a honest try as it's not something I have done yet in the hobby.

My biggest argument against BB is that fish poop...and eventually if you don't have the right flow or tools for removal you get pseudo-sand. This was a regular issue for me in my 90g cube as my tangs decided to pile it all in the one low-flow area in the whole system.

SPS tank = Lots of Flow and Ecotechs.. I can stir up stuff pretty easy right now.. Just finished another water change too and that stirred up more. This tank will be spot-less soon!

Oh, no sand Josh. I was going to add sand to my new one but like that look. My 20 is bare also. Then no leopard for me though. But yours looks good like that.

I can live without a leopard.. plenty of other expensive wrasses to buy. :mrgreen:

I figured I'd try out BB.. always easier to add a sand bed than it is to remove.

I have always liked mine bare.

YES! t5's are the only way to go. funny how you finally made the switch

That's what she said.... :razz:

HOLY STRANGER! Where you been!?

Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff...:lol:

being a troll. i check the site everyday. will have to put up a photo of the nano sometime

Goodbye LED's... Hello Dimmable T5's.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps74c87a51.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...psf0c70115.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps09345137.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1a3fbb18.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...psea482aab.jpg

Your sps collection closely rivals mine nicely done! What bulbs are you running?

Man o man, that is sweet! I wished my lights weren't on back order. How does these compare to the mitras in terms of brightness, light spread footprint, overall which one do you prefer more?

Uh oh.. Is your SPS non-existent these days? :(

As for bulbs:

Front
KZ SuperBlue
ATI Coral Plus
KZ SuperBlue
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Coral Plus
KZ SuperBlue
Back


Seemed brighter, but right now I've got the light setup for the 50hr burn in phase so they are at 100% from 10am-10:30pm. So it's pretty bright. Light spread seems to be about the same to be honest. I have this fixture much closer the water level than I ever had my Mitra, so it's pretty much didn't change, either way my front room is flooded with light and it looks like a grow-op from the street and neighbors. :lol:

I can't answer the last part of your question just yet. I need to see how dimming function works after the bulbs burn in and see how my current corals (yes, there are some in there) take to the new light.

oo, very nice! Love that crisp T5 look.