chemical warfare

DaveA · Jul 15, 2009

Fishcrazy06 said:
Throw a fan by the sump blowing across the top of the water. You will have to add more due to evaporation but it will cool it down as well.

Eric

I agree. See https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/f16/how-get-chiller-15-a-24829.html

crabbejoe · Jul 15, 2009

Okay you guys talked me into it. Trying a fan does sound a lot easier than tearing down the sump and replumbing.

Fishcrazy06 · Jul 15, 2009

I happen to even have a twin azoo fan setup that can clip right on the side of the sump if your interested!

Eric

crabbejoe · Jul 15, 2009

I think I'll just go with an el cheapo walmart fan. I'm not even sure an azoo fan would work on my sump, it's got a weird sized fat ledge to it.

Bri Guy · Jul 15, 2009

+1 on the fan

you could probably even put it on a timer where its only on from noon to 8 or so just for the summer.

crabbejoe · Jul 15, 2009

Bri Guy said:
+1 on the fan

you could probably even put it on a timer .

Good idea!

crabbejoe · Jul 15, 2009

crabbejoe said:
I read somewhere that that's the best way to do it. If you want to do hard corals, after the tank is cycled, and gone through the algea blooms, you should then put in only hard corals. What most do is put in some softies first because they're tougher or easier, but by doing that, it can make the tank inhospitable for the hard corals.

So has anyone else heard this? I think it was in an article on RC.

Jason edwards · Jul 15, 2009

What kind of lights do you have? like mentioned above if you have halides make sure the cover or the bulb itself are not cracked. I have seen pics of a sps tank that bleached really fast and on investigation they found one of the SE bulbs was cracked in half but still lighting. The resulting UV radiation is very capable of causing massive damage.

intricable · Jul 15, 2009

cracked MH bulbs, by the way, start fires. The fire chief determined that one of our metal halides had catastrophic failure which started our house fire in March. Check your bulbs and connections often.

jlinzmaier · Jul 15, 2009

crabbejoe said:
I think I'm still going to take all my softies out and start fresh with the 75 being only hard corals. I'll do a separate softy nano or something. I read somewhere that that's the best way to do it. If you want to do hard corals, after the tank is cycled, and gone through the algea blooms, you should then put in only hard corals. What most do is put in some softies first because they're tougher or easier, but by doing that, it can make the tank inhospitable for the hard corals.

Having housed soft corals in a tank that you eventually plan to keep stony corals in doesn't by any means, make it inhospitable. The concern with softies and stonies is the release of alells by the softies of which most often results in stunted growth of stony corals. The removal of the softies and some carbon filtration will remove all toxins they release thus seeming as if they were never there. If anyone can find evidence otherwise I'd sure be interested to see it.

Jeremy

DaveA · Jul 15, 2009

crabbejoe said:
I think I'll just go with an el cheapo walmart fan. I'm not even sure an azoo fan would work on my sump, it's got a weird sized fat ledge to it.

Look at the other thread about the fan/chiller (I put the link in a message in this thread). It has a clip and it's only $15! I got one and it's on my sump. It works GREAT!

jlinzmaier · Jul 15, 2009

Keep in mind that most fans don't function well when run for long hours under very humid conditions (like in or near a sump). I went through a dozen cheap wal-mart fans which would short out and send stray voltage through the tank and connecting wires after a few months use. I spent a little more on a higher quality fan with heavy duty construction and plastic outer molding and I've had it running for 2 yrs without trouble. It's called a vornado and works great.

Jeremy

MrSquid · Jul 16, 2009

How much head room do you have for a fan, and how much air are you looking to push? Last time I was there, Lowes had "small" (about 12" or 14' high) squirrel cage blowers and those things push a TON of air.

The Azoo fans do have a really strange requirement to the size of tanks they'll fit on. I tried some for my 125 and had to return them. Not sure if I tried them on my 40g sump or not.

I ended up ordering muffin-style fans on the the tank from Aquacave and have a regular (but really powerful) household fan in the stand.

Jason edwards · Jul 16, 2009

I have a $12 fan from ace hardware mounted on a shelf pointing down at my rear chambers. The controller kicks it on when the tank reaches 78 and off at 77. It runs most of the time while the halides are on but keeps the tank under 82.

dont mind the mess

Bri Guy · Jul 16, 2009

I use a fan similar to the one posted above, but I have mine on a shelf about 3' away from the tank, and it works great!

I can see if you had a canopy using the smaller discrete computer fans and such.

crabbejoe · Jul 16, 2009

jlinzmaier said:
Having housed soft corals in a tank that you eventually plan to keep stony corals in doesn't by any means, make it inhospitable. The concern with softies and stonies is the release of alells by the softies of which most often results in stunted growth of stony corals. The removal of the softies and some carbon filtration will remove all toxins they release thus seeming as if they were never there. If anyone can find evidence otherwise I'd sure be interested to see it.
Jeremy

Sorry, I didn't mean that if you had at one time housed softies, that the tank could never house hard corals. I mean, and I think what the article means, is if you have a tank with softies currently in it, and try to add hard corals to the mix, it'll be more difficult for the hard corals to get going, than if you remove all the softies first, or never put softies in to begin with.

crabbejoe · Jul 16, 2009

MrSquid said:
How much head room do you have for a fan, and how much air are you looking to push? Last time I was there, Lowes had "small" (about 12" or 14' high) squirrel cage blowers and those things push a TON of air.

The Azoo fans do have a really strange requirement to the size of tanks they'll fit on. I tried some for my 125 and had to return them. Not sure if I tried them on my 40g sump or not.

I ended up ordering muffin-style fans on the the tank from Aquacave and have a regular (but really powerful) household fan in the stand.

My sump is a 40 gallon long, same foot print as a standard 55, only shorter. I have it separate from the main 75g tank and stand, so I have no height restrictions.

crabbejoe · Jul 16, 2009

D3monic said:
What kind of lights do you have?

Thanks for the tip. I have 2 - 250 watt, se metal halide bulbs. I'll take a closer look at them.

jlinzmaier · Jul 16, 2009

crabbejoe said:
Sorry, I didn't mean that if you had at one time housed softies, that the tank could never house hard corals. I mean, and I think what the article means, is if you have a tank with softies currently in it, and try to add hard corals to the mix, it'll be more difficult for the hard corals to get going, than if you remove all the softies first, or never put softies in to begin with.

Yep your right on with that one Joe!!

Jeremy