abcha0s' 300G Ultimate Reef

[abcha0s]

I've been busy trying to work through some of the bugs in my system. I've made some progress and had some setbacks.

One of my heaters exploded this morning. I hadn't intended to ever use this heater as I knew the risk of explosion was there, but I figured the risk was small and there's no livestock in my tank yet.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...231#post590231

Ironically, I had already ordered titanium heaters from BRS to replace the Marineland heaters that I am using now. I really should have done a little more research and just bought the right ones first.

My tank went through a massive bacteria bloom from the biopellets. I thought it would be a good idea to run these while the tank cycled, but in hind sight I think this was a mistake.

One interesting thing is that the initial bloom occurred with the tank at around 20C. After heating the tank to 26C, I went through another massive bacteria bloom. In total, I've gone through about 3 inches of the pellets.

Oh the mistakes. One day, I'll know these things.

I bought a 200G loaf tank for saltwater storage. I'm pretty happy with this as it will allow me to do big water changes if needed (like now). It will also be the primary storage for my continuous water change system. I should only have to top it up once a month and could let it run for up to 6 weeks if need be.

I have received my SpectraPure LiterMeter III pumps for the water change project. These were the best peristaltic pumps that I could afford and that are available to hobbyists.

I moved one of my two Tunze Ozmolators from my 90G to my new tank only to discover that the pump had seized. I can't say for sure when it failed but I remember testing it within the past couple of weeks. I've replaced the pump and set it up on the new tank, but it does show the need for redundancy.

I have an old 110W light over the tank now just so that I have something to look at. I should have some real lights within the next couple of weeks.

All of the parameters seem to be stable.

[lastlight]

What are the dimensions of your load tank? Where did you get it?

The place I've been looking at has a really ltd selection of loaf tanks so I'm leaning towards a cylinder.

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by lastlight

What are the dimensions of your load tank? Where did you get it?

The place I've been looking at has a really ltd selection of loaf tanks so I'm leaning towards a cylinder.

Hi Brett

The dimensions are 58"Lx29"Wx37"H. It was made by paddleplastics - www.paddleplastics.com

I picked it up in Crossfield from Promould: 403-946-9920

I looked at a similar tank from Calgary Plastics (aka Richards Packaging). They didn't have any in stock and wanted over $100 to have it brought in. They quoted something like $550. I paid $400 from Promould.

The tank comes with a mainway and a bulkhead that was installed at the time of purchase. I had them put the mainway on, but put the bulkheads on myself. I installed the bulkheads on the bottom of the tank.

[abcha0s]

Some pictures of the tank.









Note: I hate dry rock; although it does have it's advantages (cost, no pests, easy to work with). The egg crate basket has Cheato in it. I'm hoping to get some micro life going on in the display (this is the first of many things that I will try).. I've also ordered some detritivores and established live sand online.

If anyone can spare a small piece of established live rock from a pest free tank, I would be very happy to pay top dollar for it. Please let me know...

The light is temporary. It's from an old tank and has been in storage for years. I'm glad I kept it.

[abcha0s]

Just a brief update for now:

I've had my continuous water change running for the past 3 weeks or so. I'm really happy with how stable it's been. If your interested, I documented it in post 20 of this thread. If you saw my original plans, you will be pleased to know that in the end I scraped the whole loop thing and just went with a basic setup. There are a few tricks to getting it balanced though.

I've ordered a Probe Expansion Module and a Salinity probe for my Apex to monitor salinity in the tank. I have no plans to use this for control - just monitoring and alerting. I haven't had good luck with these probes in the past, but I will try one more time. Hopefully it works out better this time.

I've added two MP60s to the tank. Wow these are awesome pumps. I haven't played with all of the different modes yet. I also have the Apex WXM on order.

I've been playing a lot with the flow in the tank recently. It's not easy to get it perfect. It seems that the powerheads either kick up sand or cause problems with surface skimming. I think I have everything figured out.

I still don't have any real lights on the tank. I'm told that I should have some really nice LEDs within the next week or two. Patience is a virtue.

Things have generally been stable. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to seed the dry rock in the tank. I do have some ideas but nothing confirmed yet.

Also if your interested - I posted some pictures of my 90G tank here:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...threadid=73619

I don't really plan to do much more with this tank. I'll probably take a few more pictures before it gets shut down. I just thought it would be fun to share how it looks now.

- Brad

[Delphinus]

(Flow should get better over time as the sand starts to get a biological film over the grains.)

Wow that is quite the writeup for water changes. Neat ideas!

I suppose an alternative to flow meters on the peristaltic pumps you could install high and low level sensors in the sump? If one of the pumps failed, blocked or otherwise became out of calibration it probably wouldn't take long for the sump level to rise or fall so a few float sensors in there might be a simple approach ?

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

(Flow should get better over time as the sand starts to get a biological film over the grains.)

Wow that is quite the writeup for water changes. Neat ideas!

I suppose an alternative to flow meters on the peristaltic pumps you could install high and low level sensors in the sump? If one of the pumps failed, blocked or otherwise became out of calibration it probably wouldn't take long for the sump level to rise or fall so a few float sensors in there might be a simple approach ?

Thanks Tony!

The challenge with level sensors is evaporation and ATO. It would work if the pump taking water from the tank failed. I think the rate of water change would exceed evaporation and the water level in the tank would slowly rise. However, if the pump adding new water to the tank failed, the ATO would keep the water level constant.

My current plan is to observe the system using a salinity probe. If either pump fails, the salinity should drift. If the calibration of the pumps is not perfect, the salinity should drift. I have no plans to use the salinity probe for control, but it should provide a good indication of the CWC operation. I may use it to automatically shut the whole system off if something doesn't look right, but the rate of change should be small enough that I can manually react long before a real problem arises.

My only concern with the Salinity probe is getting a stable reading. When I tried this on my 90G tank, I was never successful in getting an accurate and stable reading. If the probe drifts on it's own, it won't tell me anything about the operation of the CWC. The initial calibration doesn't have to be exact, but the measurement will need to be 100% stable. I'm hoping that I can find a way to achieve this with the newer hardware and a better understanding of how the probe works. We shall see soon enough

The system is working well for me now, but there's probably some minor improvements still to be made.