A thought on the spray bar - if you put a 1/4 hole at the top where is comes
into the tank as a siphon - when the power goes off the tank would only
drain to that hole. Don't do as I did and put the hole where it hit right
against the side of the tank and made a mess.
jp
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Shane Clays
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 11:41 AM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: RE: 500 gallon tank
It all sounds pretty good to me. I would also be hesitant about adding all
new live rock, that's a big chunk of cash. I think Ron was right in
suggesting it, but if the LR he has is truly LR, then you should be okay
just adding some quality stuff in with it. You said he has about 500-600
lbs. That's a lot of LR. He may consider selling 200 lbs, then replacing 100
of it back with good stuff, giving him a total of about 400 lbs. That should
be enough IMO, and if he (you) stack it right, it should easily fill the
tank and make it look great.
One note on the spray bar, or on stacking the LR. In my experience, spray
bars are nice, but you have to keep them accessible. I would not stick it
down behind the reef at the bottom of the tank. If it plugs or breaks, you
have to disassemble the reef to get to it. I would either keep it at the top
of the rock stack but pointed down towards the bottom back of the tank, then
maybe just covered with some top loose pieces so it is hidden, or I would
stack the rock away from the back of the tank so it is easily accessible.
One other thing to consider is that if your spray bar is at the bottom of
the tank, and the return pump is hooked to the sump, and the power goes out,
its going to drain the tank down to the level of the spray bar, which could
be disastrous.
Cleaning... I would do it all in one big deal. Personally, I would take all
the LR out and put it in separate containers, covered with water from the
tank and airstones (that way you can leave it in the containers while the
tank refills with RO water) and maybe even in a dark room where the algae
can not get any light (make sure it is not a room that could have toxic
fumes in the air). I would then scrub the freakin crap outta the tank, rinse
it and all the equipment and then just start pumpin water from the RO unit
to the tank until it is full. You could mix salt in after it is about 25%
full, with some powerheads and just let it start mixing from the get go.
That will eliminate the need for any separate mixing containers and the salt
will have gone through its ammonia thing by the time the tank is full.
Remember to leave some room in the tank for displacement by the LR.
After it is to temp and full, I would take the LR out of the containers and
clean it in another container of clean fresh salt water, then into the tank.
Next thing I would do (next day) is add the algae control crew, mostly tangs
and maybe some snails (IMO, stay away from hermits).
I don't see why the oceanview canisters wouldn't work. Just need to make
sure they have the same output capabilities as the Magnums.
Maybe if he can sell some of his base rock, he would be willing to purchase
Rons recommended equipment all at once. If not, I would think that a mix of
the two would be the best start. Start with one skimmer and one UV and then
add a second skimmer and a second UV shortly thereafter. Maybe even ozone?
I guess my question is, how dedicated is the guy to the tank? Is he going to
be going reef with it for sure? If so, does he have all the test kits and
will he test regularly? Will he add supplements and test for them as
necessary? If not, he should stick with a community fish and LR tank and
make it as maintenance free as possible, which means as much equipment as
needed, which means more $$.
Just my thoughts.....
Shane C.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 12:30 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: 500 gallon tank
After Ron spending over an hour with me on the phone and after
speaking to
the owner of the tank this morning we have decided to do a few
things. He
has what looks like about 500 to 600 lbs of live rock in the tank.
Most of
it is void of life and covered with a brownish algae. The bottom of
the tank
has a bunch of green slimy looking stuff on it too. He is not very
motivated
to replace all the rock at Ron's recommendation because of the cost
factor.
Going to eventually drain the tank, take out all rock and fish that
are still
living, scrub the rock as some of you recommended, and probably add
some
fresh live rock to the tank. There are traces of cor. algae on some
of the
rocks so maybe it will come back pretty quick. Going to build a
canopy
hinged to the wall and put 8 actinic 6 foot vhos, 2 daylight vhos,
and 2 40
watt ac! tinics, and two 40 watt ultralumes on the back. Going to
use dual
overflows from Ron running to a 100 gallon sump. The return to the
tank will
be 1 inch plumbed with two iwaki 70's plumbed to a spraybar running
across
the back of the tank at the bottom blowing through the reef. Going
to use
one iwaki 40 rlxt split on either end of the tank for top current.
Ron
recommended two of his big skimmers with deluxe mag 350's and the
dw962 air
pump which we are going to use. He has some big oceanview canister
filters
that I was wondering if I could use in place of the mag. 350's but
not sure
if they will do the same thing. Looking at a spectrapure ultrapure
70 gallon
a day with a 100 gallon reservoir all set up to come on and off
automatically
with float switch in sump for top off. Going to use about 50 or so
lbs. of
Fiji live sand for the substrate. Going to start buliding the
canopy this!
week. Cleaning out the tank is going to be a big chore. Any
suggestions as
to the progression of adding equipment, cleaning, etc. would be
greatly
appreciated. He really doesn't want to buy all this stuff at once.
I would
love to be able to start over with new rock but he was pretty
adamant about
that not happening. Also, going to add two 40 watt uvs at some point
down the
road. Sounds like a pretty good setup to me and I would welcome any
comments
from ya'll (as we say it down here). Sorry for the long post.
Going to take
some pics as I go so you can see my progress.
Glen
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