kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[Coleus]

Originally Posted by lastlight

See that's what real friends are for. Giving each other ideas that are essentially divorce fuel. Lol.

Aye, salt water hobbies = very understanding wife.

[lastlight]

I had my floor engineered to hold 500 gallons safely lol. Not that I'm ready for an upgrade just yet.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Coleus

150g plus sump would be like 200g :-) I knows quite a few ppl putting their tank on main floor without doing any extra support to the floor. But i think we should play safe by sistering the floor underneath. Easy to do and give you some peace of mind. A collapse or bend floor will cost thousands to repair :-)

Actually, depends how much stuff is in our DT and sump. My 150g is displaced by about 10 gallons worth of rock maybe? Some would have even more. My 45g sump only holds about 30g worth of water I think? So in total I've estimated roughly 140g worth of water. BUT, then there's the weight of all that other crap like rocks, sand, tank, stand, equipment, etc, so you're far exceeding the weight of 200g worth of water anyway LOL!

Ya, If you're going to put major weight, like I'd say 180+ gallons on your main floor I'd probably look into extra support too. However, this isn't always "easy", especially if your basement is developed already and your tank sits right on top of your home theatre! Certainly not impossible, just more challenging!

My next upgrade 400 gallons or so will find me relocating the tank into the basement.

[kien]

I have been hunting this guy for a long long time now. I first caught a glimpse of him in my previous 90 gallon tank. I was sure he was a goner when I worked on the live rock aquascaping for the 150g but sadly no.. At night he would mock me with his beady little red eyes... nah nah nah-nah nah catch me if you can.. As soon as I put my hand in the tank he'd be gone.

Well, his time has finally come! The other day I caught him grazing on a patch of zoanthids and figured, what the heck. This time however I got lucky and was able to sneak up behind him from the other side of the tank. He was so busy having lunch that he didn't see it coming!

Here he is, my Nemesis. He has quadrupled in size since I first saw him eons ago and now resides in the sump. (note to self: Do NOT put any rocks from the sump into the display tank).

[kien]

I love the performance of Hydor 700. It skims very well and I am quite pleased with it. However, there is one thing that I do absolutely hate about it and that is the fact that you require herculean strength to remove the skimmer cup. It is held in quite tightly by an O-ring. Often times I find myself wiggling, jiggling, twisting, turning, and whatever else I can do to get that darn skimmer cup off. Sometimes I get fed up and just give it good 'ol brute force which unfortunately usually results in the contents of the skimmer cup ending right back into the sump

It was finally time for an intervention. What I ended up doing was removing that darn O-ring completely.





In order to prevent water leaking out of the skimmer cup's neck I employed a gasket instead. The gasket is cut out of that thinish foamy paper that you can get from craft stores like Michaels.



I cut out a ring the exact size of the skimmer neck and seated it on the lip that the skimmer cup rests on.



Lastly, the skimmer cup had a little bit of play in it due to the removal of that O-ring so I needed to shim it a bit with something. After trying various types of tape I finally settled on a strip of electrical tape which made a perfect fit.



The skimmer cup now sits into the main skimmer body quite nicely with a smooth and gentle insertion force.



This has worked out quite well and now I no longer dread cleaning the skimmer cup.

[kien]

These NP-Bio Pellets seem to be all the rage. Gotta keep up with the Jone's right? So I ordered a batch with Tony to try out. Like everyone else, I'm curious to see how well they work. My current Phosphate control method of choice is a TLF Phosban reactor stuffed with Rowaphos. Personally I don't really know if it is doing anything since my test kit never seems to read anything and the chaeto in my 'fuge doesn't seem to grow all that well. Nevertheless, like a good reefkeeper I run it.

Here it is, a bag off NP Bio Lentils (as Tony likes to call them).



I am actually quite happy to be rid of the Rowaphos as it is quite a bother to set up each month. The emptying, cleaning, disposing, refilling, rinsing.. what a pain! And messy to boot.

These biopellets are great. No rinsing, they are easy to manage, just open bag and dump into canister. Plus they dissolve so there's no cleanup after use. Easy peasy!

Out with the old in with the new!


And here's my one two punch, carbon and bio lentils daisy chained.


I've decided to run about 600ml to start out with. There is a slight tumble of the bioPellets in the reactor.


So this evening Tony came by with his probe. We got a nitrate reading of 8 which I don't think is anything to really be concerned about but certainly not zero like my test kit likes to try to tell me.

Parameters to note for testing purposes:
Nitrate: 8 (with Pinpoint Meter)
Phosphate: Colourless on test kit.
Specific Gravity: 1.026
Temp: 79-81F
Ph: 7.9 - 8.3
Alk: 8.5
Calc: 420ppm
Mag: 1400ppm

* I feed a combination of formula 1&2 flakes and pellets twice a day and sometimes frozen fish mush that I make up with PE Mysis.
* I have about 18 fish that I feed, plus inverts like shrimp, crabs, starfish and various LPS that I spot feed.
* I do not currently have any nuisance algae.
* I do not run zeo or use any additives other than the odd Coral Snow once in a blue moon.

In about a week or two I will have Tony come by and probe me again to see where we're at with the readings.

[shrimpchips]

Originally Posted by kien

In about a week or two I will have Tony come by and probe me again

Sounds like a good time.

Should be interesting to see them run in a reactor - if they don't breakdown and clog the reactor, I think I'll be ordering some after my GFO runs out.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by kien

In about a week or two I will have Tony come by and probe me again

WHOAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by kien

I love the performance of Hydor 700. It skims very well and I am quite pleased with it. However, there is one thing that I do absolutely hate about it and that is the fact that you require herculean strength to remove the skimmer cup. It is held in quite tightly by an O-ring. Often times I find myself wiggling, jiggling, twisting, turning, and whatever else I can do to get that darn skimmer cup off. Sometimes I get fed up and just give it good 'ol brute force which unfortunately usually results in the contents of the skimmer cup ending right back into the sump

It was finally time for an intervention. What I ended up doing was removing that darn O-ring completely.

In order to prevent water leaking out of the skimmer cup's neck I employed a gasket instead. The gasket is cut out of that thinish foamy paper that you can get from craft stores like Michaels.

I cut out a ring the exact size of the skimmer neck and seated it on the lip that the skimmer cup rests on.

Lastly, the skimmer cup had a little bit of play in it due to the removal of that O-ring so I needed to shim it a bit with something. After trying various types of tape I finally settled on a strip of electrical tape which made a perfect fit.

The skimmer cup now sits into the main skimmer body quite nicely with a smooth and gentle insertion force.

This has worked out quite well and now I no longer dread cleaning the skimmer cup.

I know what you mean....I was just at a clients house yesterday where the gentleman (who's tank it is) has been away for three weeks...his g/f hasnt touched the skimmer( a hydor) and I dang near had to get a crowbar out to pry the skimate fused cup off....of course she is standing there looking at me like Im some sort of weakling....

Great solution! Should market them as Kien's skimmer cup-eze.

[kien]

Thought I'd throw down some photos of some new additions from the last couple of months (or so).