Blog Comments

Great job, your build looks promising. One suggestion: in one of your pictures, behind your sump, I noticed your electrical output with 2 cords plugged in. If possible, change those so the cords each have a drip loop. Make sure to keep posting with your progress!

I will post a pic of how I did mine probably tomorrow. I made a cover to sit on my over flow out of acrylic, used a Johnny quest fitting in acrylic, ran tube from the cap to the fitting the a straight shot to the water

Thanks. Yea, i tested for all the fail situations i could think of. I also am using a ratchet strap around the middle of the tote to help it keep the shape.

Yea so far i have forgone the extra siphon on the backup because i didn't have an easy idea of how to keep the airline at water level. but i can always add to it later.

What i'm noticing my biggest problem is that my return pump is more under-powered than i calculated for. i think it is because of the one way valve and the T are restricting flow. for now i think its good, but i have been thinking that a scwd would be a good addition in place of that improvised Y

Your build is looking good. As you mentioned you went with the bean animal drain set up. On the second syphon drain there should be a fitting on top of the cap with a small air tube to allow for air suction. Bend the tube into the overflow box just above the water level. If first syphon ever fails then once the water level hits the air tube it will turn that drain I to a full syphon. I also used this setup on my 60 gallon cube.

You've been really busy. Thanks for sharing. ( I edited your entry so the images would show up)

Have you tried to simulate a power outage to make sure it doesn't drain more than the sump can hold? I like the baffles system you came up with, and the fact that you used the lid to make sure the sump retained its proper shape.

That colt is massive! I have a feeling it would have spawned more strongly with the flow on, but it makes it really tough to photograph and video.

My favorite part of watching that happen in my system is seeing the eggs just propel themselves away from the coral polyp like an astronaut on a space walk.

None of your fish came out to snack on the eggs?

Last night I was cowering in bed under the covers as I heard this huge fight coming from the tank. There was water splashing, bottles breaking, chains swinging and curses flying. I was afraid to look, as I knew there was bloodshed.
But this morning as I peered in with my little critter light, I didn't see much blood but I did notice my striped gobi, the cute one, laying in his tunnel with the shrimp, I could tell he was knocked out as he was sweating profusely. The bully was no where to be found and may have left town. I may have more information when the lights come on. If they still work.
This is one of the bullys when he is not picking on someone smaller than he is. I am not sure if this is the guy that evicted them the second time as there are some in there that I don't even know where they came from and just crashed my tank.

No, this is him, I am sure of it. Now I also have to worry about that other guy. Maybe I should buy 10 shrimps

Oh No. Now the other gobi stole the shrimp from right under the 2 gobi's noses.
So now I ordered "another" shrimp.
I may have to get a separate shrimp for every fish in the tank.

Awesome!

Now keep wet skimming and doing water changes. I ended up with a massive hair algae outbreak right after I killed the dino's. I'm guessing it was from all the nutrients relased by the dying dino's.

Congratulations!

Well, it looks like it worked. The eight days of dosing ended late last week and I don't see any dinoflagellates in my aquarium any more. Again thank you so much for your help!!!

Awesome - can't wait to see the pictures!

Speaking of awesome things in this hobby, I loved what was captured in this video. It was recently shared on Facebook by Blue Life USA.

Paul, thanks for sharing. I'm going to edit your post to put some blank lines in there just so it is easier to read and view.

I've never seen anyone use Matzoh for their tanks. That's a first.

That's a tough one to decide upon. What would match the room best? Is there any other furniture nearby that could be matched against? And that picture behind the tank is moving, correct? I don't know... it could be the same color as the wall. White will show up any marks, but black will show salty drips. What about a vivid color, to make it really stand out. Fire engine red.

Congrats Jessy!!!

HAHAH thanks Marc. Yes EX FBGFOTW

melev- I hadn't been cleaning them with any type of solution I had been just wiping them out every 1-2 months what vinegar to water ratio do you recommend? and do I need to soak the buckets or just spray and wipe them down?

I read that last week actually very good write up and read. I have been refraining from dosing carbon so I actually just started doing it again last night after testing for stray voltage. Have you heard of any bad salt batches by Kent? I am halfway through this bucket but I don't think I could say comfortably that I wasn't seeing some dwindling problems before I started this one to blame a salt batch.

I have two different alk test kits that I test with that are both within the same ballpark figure my Elos reads a more specific 8.5 and API reads 9. Salinity is a little low at 1.022-1.023 which I test with a refractometer that I re calibrate every few weeks with a 35 ppt solution

Switched to new LEDs from HO T5s about 3-4 months ago. Corals had been bleaching in the same pattern as a RTN case but very slowly in comparison so after doing some research I assumed that it was due to lack of lighting (though they didn't SEEM to brown) and gradually turned the lighting up from about 40% to about 75% which I just completed about 2 weeks ago. My sps had already bleached and gone by this point.

My monti cap is still encouraging me as it is one of my favorite corals of all time so any growth and progress is currently all revolving around that. There are NO soft corals in my tank.

There are a number of things that could be the cause, and it's going to take some back and forth to determine the exact cause.

RE: buckets. Do you clean the buckets from time to time with vinegar and water, or bleach-water? At least once every six months would be wise. I've never had problems from salt buckets. We usually seek out HDPE containers, as those are safe -- they are called food-grade safe.

I just posted an article on the front page of RA a few days ago where a person had a bad batch of carbon damage their corals, a brand that had a batch recall last year.

Alkalinity and salinity measurements should be double checked and verified with a second method, to make sure you're on target.

Lighting - age of bulbs, exposure of potential UV in the tank, duration of light in the tank per day; these are all things to consider to see if any or all are causing a decline.