New Swiss 1900 liter (500G) Build

[emvanburen]

You're welcome. It has been fun documenting it! ;Happy

Let us know if/when you start a build thread!

Monster Build - Potomac Reef 2 - 500 gallons of fun!

747.68 Hello Reefers, After being in our new home for about 2.5 years, and getting Potomac Reef 1 up and running smoothly, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and replace it with a built in 96x27x30 inch tank connect to a downstairs fishroom. Total volume will be in the 500g range. Potomac Reef...

www.reef2reef.com

Here it is!

 

[Laith]

Received this recently as I was looking for a feeder that was easily programmable. The reviews of this feeder are very positive and the fact that feeding intervals can be controlled via a GHL switch socket on the Profilux is great. You set the amount that is dispensed at each power on on the feeder and then you control the power on times via the Profilux (or a timer if you wish). It can feed pellets and/or flake foods though I don't use flake foods.

I played around with it a bit and I like it so far... the only thing I need to test further is to see if it works fine with small pellets such as the Ocean Nutrition Formula One and Two small pellet versions. When you first pour in the small pellets they fall through the feeder, even on the smallest setting. But when you add more and start to fill the hopper the pellets appear to stop falling through. More testing necessary!

 

[Laith]

And I heard about these on a BRS video and ordered some. They are actually very impressive in how they clean the outside of the glass of the tank. I just wipe the glass with RO/DI water and then wipe with one of these cloths. No hazy film remains... spotless!

I've also used them now on the inside of the windows/windshield in my car, also only using RO/DI water and I love it! ;Joyful

 

[Laith]

And a quick FTS from mid December... iPhone picture. I promise as soon as I have some time I'll get some better pictures with the DSLR!

Some more frags have gone in but they get swallowed up in the volume. Need more fish too; still need to put together a fish stocking plan/list. One thing that I have pretty much decided on is that I don't want any huge fish... I prefer having more fish but small to medium sized.

 

[Laith]

And currently away from the tank ;Happy:

Great snow and skiing!

Happy New Year to everyone!

 

[LC8Sumi]

This is an awesome build, love it! I wish I’ve found it a year or two later, because now I can’t wait for the livestock to develop

 

[Laith]

This is an awesome build, love it! I wish I’ve found it a year or two later, because now I can’t wait for the livestock to develop

Like everything else in this hobby, patience is required. But part of the fun is going to be watching the development. Need to be diligent about keeping a photo history...

 

[crusso1993]

Like everything else in this hobby, patience is required. But part of the fun is going to be watching the development. Need to be diligent about keeping a photo history...

I've noticed that many members either post a heaping pile of pictures or hardly any at all. Not much middle ground in there.

 

[crusso1993]

Wishing you and your family nothing but good health and happiness in 2020!

 

[Laith]

I've been away from home since last Saturday, or six days. I've noticed something that reinforces what I've read here and elsewhere concerning Alkalinity uptake and pH.

As we're away, that's five less bodies in the house as well as two less dogs (we brought them with us). So less CO2. pH has gone up and has been consistently above 8.0 and peaking at 8.2-8.25 every day. At the same time, the KH has dropped.

Here's the graph. Green is the pH and the other line is the KH. The pH readings are the green numbers on the right, KH readings the grey numbers on the left. We left home on the 28th...

I'm going to look into drawing air into the skimmer directly from outside, through the exhaust vent of the ventilator. I've heard though that this reduces the air draw of the skimmer? Anyone tried this?

I could also try CO2 scrubber but that's just another thing that needs changing regularly.

 

[emvanburen]

I have the same thing. And when my son had friends over the opposite happens. When ph goes up, alk drops as calcification goes up. With an alk monitor/ controller, I’ve stopped worrying about it. It just doses more as ph goes up.

 

[emvanburen]

And I have a co2 scrubber but gave up on changing media for precisely that reason. One more thing to do. Corals seem better than ever...

 

[Laith]

I have the same thing. And when my son had friends over the opposite happens. When ph goes up, alk drops as calcification goes up. With an alk monitor/ controller, I’ve stopped worrying about it. It just doses more as ph goes up.

Yes, I have the GHL KH Director and it takes care of the dosing as well.

 

[Laith]

And I have a co2 scrubber but gave up on changing media for precisely that reason. One more thing to do. Corals seem better than ever...

Yes, that would be what I would end up doing as well ;Shamefullyembarrased. Am reading up on drawing air from outside...

 

[Mortie31]

I'm going to look into drawing air into the skimmer directly from outside, through the exhaust vent of the ventilator.

I run a line outside to my Deltec TC2060 and have no issues, as long as the internal diameter of the pipe isn’t to small, i used to do this with my RE double cone 200, but when i switched to the larger deltec I had to increase the size of the pipework as I was choking the skimmer... I now run 16mm diameter garden hosepipe directly to the inlet of the silencer.

 

[LC8Sumi]

It also depends where you live. I live in an industrial zone & heavy traffic, and I can’t see a change in pH if I run it outside - I do however clog the ventury a lot faster.

 

[crusso1993]

It also depends where you live. I live in an industrial zone & heavy traffic, and I can’t see a change in pH if I run it outside - I do however clog the ventury a lot faster.

Have you considered putting an inline charcoal filter? I generally suggest doing so regardless of where one lives as it will aid in the removal of so many different airborne pollutants.

 

[Laith]

I run a line outside to my Deltec TC2060 and have no issues, as long as the internal diameter of the pipe isn’t to small, i used to do this with my RE double cone 200, but when i switched to the larger deltec I had to increase the size of the pipework as I was choking the skimmer... I now run 16mm diameter garden hosepipe directly to the inlet of the silencer.

Thanks for the inputs... some questions:

- How long of a hose are you using?
- When you were doing this with the RE did you notice any reduction in performance? Did you have to increase the speed of the pump?

 

[Laith]

It also depends where you live. I live in an industrial zone & heavy traffic, and I can’t see a change in pH if I run it outside - I do however clog the ventury a lot faster.

I shouldn't have that issue... our garden backs up onto a forest.

 

[Laith]

If I do this and put a hose through the ventilator hole through the wall I need to make sure that it's not just drawing in the freshly vented air from inside ;Wideyed...

hmmm... ;Wacky