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270g Starphire build thread (pic intensive) (1 Viewer)

1 cubic foot = 28.317 liters

So 50 scfh = ~26 lpm

My Sicce is obviously doing a lot less than that, mainly due to the air/plumbing fittings and back pressure from the Sedra. And I was having trouble getting it to go much over 18-20 lpm just free running, so I think MSX does a couple other tweaks to the pump I don't know about. But I think this current arrangement might be tuned about right for the size of the skimmer and neck, so I'm pretty happy with where it's at. I didn't want to give up on this ASM. :)
 
morty said:
1 cubic foot = 28.317 liters

So 50 scfh = ~26 lpm

My Sicce is obviously doing a lot less than that, mainly due to the air/plumbing fittings and back pressure from the Sedra. And I was having trouble getting it to go much over 18-20 lpm just free running, so I think MSX does a couple other tweaks to the pump I don't know about. But I think this current arrangement might be tuned about right for the size of the skimmer and neck, so I'm pretty happy with where it's at. I didn't want to give up on this ASM. :)
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I used the bushing from a quietone pump to help with the drag issues. It is a little shorter than the sicce one.
 
I don't have much to add, except that I have meshwheeled a qiuet one 300 and it worked quite weel, at around 30 watts. It was however not enough to get anything more than ultra dry skimmate on my octo nw200 body. I think it would kick butt in combination with another pump, or a pair of them.

Tank looks great btw. setup is everything...
 
Hey Mike hows it going? Any updates on the tank? Knowing how much care went into your system I know it's gotta be maturing and looking great!
 
cwk132 said:
Hey Mike hows it going? Any updates on the tank? Knowing how much care went into your system I know it's gotta be maturing and looking great!
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Hi Charlie, yes it seems like most of the "cycles" have been done for a while. I had an issue with cyano several weeks ago but doing a few 30%+ water changes and switching my VHOs to T5s seems to have mostly gotten rid of it. I'm happy with the growth of my SPS colonies, and most of the LPS are doing well too (now that they don't have cyano around their margins). Coloration seems to be sharper with everything too -- I had bought some orange-mouth zoas from David G. a little over a year ago, and they completely covered a rock I put them on, but they were mostly a dull brown color. But 2-3 months ago the centers became a bright fluorescent orange, and this has happened with other inverts in the tank too.

A big issue I have to deal with right now is aiptasia. I'm not going to be able to control it with aiptasia-x, scraping, blow torch, etc., they're just too wide spread and will bounce back. I am planning on getting some Berghia nudis and letting them do their thing. I've been reading up on how to propagate the nudis. First I am going to set up a 30 breeder as an aiptasia farm (growing them on eggcrate) so I have a bunch of them that 2-3 nudis can feed on and lay eggs. It has to be a bare-bottom prop tank so you can siphon out any amphipods, which I guess will otherwise prey on the eggs. When I have a couple dozen small nudis I will let them go in the display, and supposedly it takes a couple months for them to eradicate the aiptasia. That's the plan at least. Then I guess the nudis will die off, as aiptasia is their only food. So I may try to keep an ongoing culture of them in a separate tank and sell/trade them to anyone who is interested, plus I will have some on hand if aiptasia ever return in the display.
 
Flounder said:
How much flow do you have in there?
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I have a Dart connected to an Oceans Motions 4-way, running thru 1-1/2" pipe to omni-flex nozzles at the corners of the tank. My guess is I'm getting roughly 10x-12x turnover, which isn't great, but the corals seem to be growing fairly well, and their polyps wave around in the current, so it looks like it may be enough for gas/nutrient exchange.

I have been thinking about adding a couple of Tunzes to the tank, if I can decide on good locations for them, and/or switching the Dart to a Dart Gold, if I can get a good deal on a used one. (The price for a new one doesn't seem worth it for a modest increase in output.)
 
This has been one of the most facinating threads I've ever read. Thank you so much for taking the time to share it all with us Mike. And if you have some time, a couple more pictures?? ;)
 
This whole thread I was listening to a song called "Afraid of Monsters" By Xela. It was a surreal experience looking at the amazing photos, the build (although it is FAR beyond my knowledge), and reading everything about it.

I let the song loop a few times, but really, thank you Morty! I want to see more soon. :gay1:
 
Mike, what is the coral on the far left, front of the tank (photo with the two tangs) and were did you get it? It stands alone and is bright yellow/green. Thanks.
 
I got it at OD about a year ago or so, it was sold to me as just an acro. It seems similar to A. granulosa or A. caroliniana, but I really don't know. It's actually in my frag tank right now. Not long after taking those photos, I started to have issues with cyano in the tank, and it was growing on that coral in particular. It's polyps became retracted, so I tried dipping it in Revive (and I forgot to remove the acro crab that was in it, so the crab died :cry:). The coral slimed up as expected, but the cyano seemed to grow back twice as fast, specifically on the slime. So I moved it to my frag tank and it seems to have recovered. Now that I have all the cyano under control I will be moving it back to the display. There are closer pics of the coral in the 3rd quarter photo contest, it's the one with some chromis hiding in it.

Edit: the photo is actually in the round 4 contest thread.
 
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Morty-wow. Great work. Took me a while to get through your thread but I've been consulting it for long enough...wanted to comment. Whenever I have a reefing question this is one of the first places I look.

Thanks for sharing...Don't suppose you could spoil us with an updated FTS?
 
Thanks veloboy!

yes a new FTS is in order, but I don't think it would look much different than others that I've posted... I may take some closer in shots to show coral growth -- for some of the colonies it's been pretty amazing. Lately I've been having issues with the POS Coralife Ca reactor I bought. Its recirc pump o-ring won't seal right. Boiling the o-ring in water for a few minutes helped (which is also a trick that can be used to rejuvenate many different types of suction cups etc.) but it started leaking again when I bumped the pump, so I may have to just find a thicker one at the hardware store. Despite its low price, I would NOT recommend buying this reactor to anyone...
 
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