mcarroll's 100 Gallon System

[mcarroll]

Just snapped my Hydnophora colony off whole while trying to make more room for it. LESSON HERE!

No better time than the present for that re-aquascaping....sadly this is going to be a rush as I don't have much time.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Gaping empty space left of center...

 

[mcarroll]

For the time being...

 

[mcarroll]

Cleaned the front glass, so time for a picture!

 

[mcarroll]

Hooked the whole system up to my KillAWatt 4400 (the usual basic model) just now, so I'll have some hard power numbers today and tomorrow for the system-level at last.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Showing about 350 watts with the GU10's off and the Razor around mid-morning. More to come!

 

[mcarroll]

Had a chance to watch for a minute after all the lights came on.

It appears that I'm running at 380 watts with heating and 240 watts without heating. But the razor is still not at full intensity.

 

[mcarroll]

Overall power factor is running around .90 +/- .02 or so.

 

[mcarroll]

Around 475 watts for the system total now that the lights are close to maximum intensity. Will try to catch them at the peak as well.

 

[mcarroll]

Missed the peak. Will tune in again after the 24 hour mark.

 

[bknapp]

Nice to see you have a build thread Matt!

Looks good. What are the plans for the future?

 

[mcarroll]

Down to 300 watts with just the Razor moonlights on. 11 hours and counting. Just over 3 kWh on the meter so far.

-Matt

(Be back with more tonight!)

 

[mcarroll]

Nice to see you have a build thread Matt!

Looks good. What are the plans for the future?

Upgrade!

With any luck it could happen in the next few months, but I've been that close before so many times...

Something like a 6' Marineland Deep Dimension would be great, but potentially budget-busting...will have to see how things shape up!

-Matt

 

[bknapp]

Upgrade!

With any luck it could happen in the next few months, but I've been that close before so many times...

Something like a 6' Marineland Deep Dimension would be great, but potentially budget-busting...will have to see how things shape up!

-Matt

Awesome. Those DD tanks are BA.

 

[revhtree]

Where's the fish man???

 

[mcarroll]

26 hours later, I've clocked 7.49 kWh.

I think that places me at about $0.82 (€0.59) per day in power usage, on average. That's about $299 (€219) per year.

(Technically two+ extra hours of morning light, et al. are on that tab, so it's really still just a conservative estimate. Actual is somewhat less.)

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

You mean my three Barnacle Blennies?

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Finally did another water change! (First one since the last one I posted - long time.)

Salinity is creeping up there (1.027) due to NaCl buildup from two-part dosing, so I figured before things stop growing like crazy and looking awesome, I'd start chipping away with water changes. Ten gallons to begin with...we'll see if I get get another one in.

And it is interesting that the elevated NaCl doesn't seem to be hurting anything. Stony coral growth and color have remained consistently good.

Anyone know how much Brightwell Kalibrate it would take to "correct" for the extra .002 points of salinity?

 

[mcarroll]

Two pics for a growth update.

Anyone wanna guess what this is? It's been with this system since the first rock went in, grows pretty slow (at least compared to green algae and red cyano) and seems able to survive anything short of a trip to the trashcan!

All pics with an iPhone 4...

 

[mcarroll]

Water Changes
I guess I posted the last water change in my old "Water Change A Day..." thread....and that (post #498) was back in October.

Not as long as it seems to me, but still a long time between water changes. Before that, the last one was in May. Nine months since going off of daily water changes.

I guess I'm averaging about two to three water changes per year at this rate....for a total of 15 gallons (also 15% of system volume)...maybe 20 gallons before the year is up. It seems debatable whether that's even significant...perhaps the same as not doing water changes at all?

DIY Two Part
The continued success with SPS growth and lack of any real problems certainly makes me happier and more confident about using the two-part salts I'm using.

But I'm also thinking that if I'd went instead with kalkwasser (or kalk+vinegar to keep up with SPS demand) that I would not have this NaCl buildup and might feel no pressure at all to do water changes. If pickling lime (Ball, Mrs. Wages, et al) was more-generally available (or for sale at all around here!) things might have gone that way...until then DIY two-part is still much more affordable and seems to be an excellent way to dose.