Recently in 480g Project Category
My 480g tank is doing quite good... I am starting to have good micro algae growth so the snails should be happier.
Here is a shot of my Chocolate Chip Starfish eating some juicy mussel:
My Anemone Hermit Crab loves to walk all around the tank:
It seemed one of my snails was very busy (this is from my Reef tank):
And a closeup (this is from my Reef tank):
I built a special cave for my Lionfish - here is a (bad) picture of him finally hiding in it:
Since the hair algae started growing in my tank on the LR, I decided to add a herbivore to control it. Here is the Foxface (currently in QT) snacking away on some grape caulerpa. I will be moving him to the 480g this weekend if all goes well...
About four days ago I started seeing very faint signs of diatoms on my glass - and knew it was not long before the pods would start showing up. Well, three days ago I started noticing them - thousands of tiny copepods.
This is a good day.
For those interested in following the events related to my 480g project, take note that I sometimes write stuff on ReefCentral that I do not repeat on here. So feel free to visit my thread there.
Actually I was slightly wrong with my observations. The pipe leading from the overflow to the skimmer was actually inclined away from the skimmer - a couple of degrees...
I removed 32mm of wood from the skimmer's base support and replaced it with 25mm polystyrene. It seems as if I have a slight downward slant now. Will start the circulation back up in an hour's time.
Yesterday evening I could not wait longer. At midnight I needed about 40l of water to close the loop. That takes about 2 hours to make, so I decided to go to bed instead.
This morning I filled the remaining water and voila - everything worked. No leaks (touch wood). However my durso standpipe was not working. Water was oscillating up and down vigorously. I decided to remove the top and cut off a 4cm piece to lower it (it was too high). Since I dread leaks I cut it in place - and did not remove the pipe from the overflow.
Once cut, I placed the durso head back but no luck - same thing.
I read that the reason for this is back pressure in the pipe. Since my pipe work does not descend below the surface of the sump water level, the only other explanation I could find was that my pipes are not sloping enough. They are not horizontal, but they are close (maybe 2 degree slope?). Since there is NO WAY I am redoing all that cutting and gluing, I decided to remove the one 90 degree elbow from the standpipe's head. It now only makes one 90 degree bend where it sucks in the water. The cool thing is that it is perfectly quiet and it is not oscillating anymore.
The main return pump is a bit loud (Haelia), but I hope the noise will subside a bit as the biofilms starts to grow.
The chiller has a heat mode, so currently I am trying to raise 2000l of water @ 14C to 25C with the chiller and one 300W Jager heater. Once I reached the desired temperature, I am going to add salt... If it breaks this time I'll personally drown some people in the flood water...
Back to work.
Some quick equipment shots from yesterday:
My Deltec AP902 skimmer and Haelia H1000 chiller
Overflow weir
Return line flowing at about 5500l/h back to the tank
Last week Tuesday Exotic Aquariums delivered the newly rebuilt tank to my house. It has 3 bases like I said, each 10mm thick. The side panels are all 12mm thick. The square tubing frame is much stronger too.
After the usual struggle it has been moved in to its old spot - over the sumps which I have joined together in the mean time.
The 85kg of coral sand I had was not nearly enough for a DSB, and I'd go broke if I were to buy enough. The standard price is about R40 per kg... So I purchased 150kg fine crushed coral sand and another 120kg coarser crushed coral. It took about 6 hours to wash all that sand, but eventually it was clean and ready to go in to the new tank.
Currently it is filled 3/4 of the way with RO/DI water - still making more. It takes time - about 360l per 24 hours. But I think it will be worth it rather than to be impatient and use lesser quality water. The plumbing is all done - I just hope there are no leaks...
My current problem:
It is clear that the Nitrates as just taking over - killing all my inverts and causing stress on my fish.
Here is a picture of the new tank - just moved in but not filled yet:
and
I will post some equipment pictures soon.
We went to Namibia during the last week of April, and something terrible happened. I have filled the 480g to the max with RO/DI prepared saltwater, in order to have the live rock complete the curing process while we were away.
Well, two days after we left I got a phone call from my security firm - telling me my power has tripped. So I sent some people over to have a look - and there it was. 480g of saltwater on my living room floor - flooding everything. The tank cracked its double 10mm base lengthwise - a 2.7m long crack. It took a couple of minutes for all the water to leak out.
When I got back Exotic picked up the tank to fix it. They replaced the broken base with 3 x 10mm panels. Extra bracing was added to the square tubing stand, and the metal is both thicker and bigger. Hopefully this time it will hold that water. I am expecting it to be delivered early next week.
In the mean time I am struggling to keep my current 400l FOWLR tank happy. The Nitrates are through the roof and water changes does not help. So all I can do is wait...
Needless to day, I am ecstatic. My 480g tank arrived today. The sumps and equipment are still outstanding, but at least the hard work of bringing that tank to its current location is over (and fortunately Steven and his team at Exotic Aquariums did all the physical work).
