All right, now you have us all waiting for pics. Maybe you should be sitting at the bar and having a beer in one of them. I have been messing with mesh wheel mods on my MSX250 on the two sicce pumps. I was able to get 40 scfh with four layers of flat back mesh. The start up problems made me order the pinwheels, but now I am down to 22 scfh. I have to try something new.
270g Starphire build thread (pic intensive) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter morty
- Start date
Read the MSX owner's thread on ReefCentral. MattB all I know is that on premiumaquatics they say 60 scfh using a Dwyer air meter, which leads me to believe that those are the readings taken by premiumaquatics.
Ok, I took some new shots of the tank, not a whole lot is new, but there are some growth pics. I built a 70g frag system and I still have some things in there that will wind up in this tank, when I finally get around to it.
Here is the latest FTS:
This is a closer view of the left end. You can see a desjardini tang I bought from David G.:
And this is the right end. There still is plenty of available "rock estate" that will eventually be used by the frags I still have in the other tank. The sinularia is getting huge, I will be cutting about half of it out so the moon coral behind it can be seen:
This is looking down the tank the long way, from the right end:
And this is looking down from the left end (bar view):
The birdsnest I got from Liveaquaria:
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And one I got from Max. (A rainbow monti is in front of it, but it doesn't look much like a rainbow):
A purple acro I got from Dirk:
This is a milli I got from David G. and it has gone nuts:
as well as this acro he sold me at last year's speaker event:
this is another one from Max:
This colony has shown the best growth. Started as a tiny frag in Jan/Feb. Another one from David G. :
Here is the latest FTS:
This is a closer view of the left end. You can see a desjardini tang I bought from David G.:
And this is the right end. There still is plenty of available "rock estate" that will eventually be used by the frags I still have in the other tank. The sinularia is getting huge, I will be cutting about half of it out so the moon coral behind it can be seen:
This is looking down the tank the long way, from the right end:
And this is looking down from the left end (bar view):
The birdsnest I got from Liveaquaria:
And one I got from Max. (A rainbow monti is in front of it, but it doesn't look much like a rainbow):
A purple acro I got from Dirk:
This is a milli I got from David G. and it has gone nuts:
as well as this acro he sold me at last year's speaker event:
this is another one from Max:
This colony has shown the best growth. Started as a tiny frag in Jan/Feb. Another one from David G. :
new photos (cont'd)
This is a closer view of the bar end colonies:
This is also from that view. The bright green colony was sold to me by Mary as a Green Slimer, but I'm not so sure. What do you think Mary?
Mary also sold me this one, an Aqua Delight. I thought it was almost dead in my quarantine tank, but it is rebounding:
This is a monti digitata from Max. You can see some frags that broke off of it sitting on the sand. Gotta glue those to some plugs. The green chromis are from Something Fishy, there are a dozen of them that like to shoal in the tank. There is also a monti cap in the pic that I got from Sea Level.
Here is another monti cap (from David G.) that is finally starting to grow away from the rock:
This is (I believe) a pokerstar monti I got from Li. It started out as the nub at the top:
This is a green mandarin from Max. It fattened up somewhat after getting it in my tank, so thankfully my pod population must be good enough for him:
Here is a pectinia from Ocean Devotion. It is doing very well, but I let a big bunch of scroll algae grow next to it and it irritated the flesh on the left side and wore thru to the skeleton. The flesh has receded in this area. (Closer view in second pic):
This last pic shows some encrusting porites that came in on the Reefer Madness rock, that is continuing to grow. The porites on the Christmas tree worm rock seems to be dying off, although there is a patch on the top (not visible) that might be coming back, except green this time, so that's weird. Also in this pic is some nasty caulerpa (below the bright green Neomeris annulata) that I have to pluck out soon. I had a huge amount of grape caulerpa growing in the left end several weeks ago, and was worried about it because the tangs wouldn't touch it. But after I pulled most of it out by hand, the "softer" stuff that was left behind became a delicacy to the tangs and now they won't let it see the light of day. I'm hoping the same thing happens with the caulerpa in this shot:
So those are the latest tank shots. I also have a minor cyano issue going on right now, but I am not going to do anything drastic to address it, because I had a few patches of it appear a few months ago, and it eventually went away. Now it has popped up in some new areas, but not in the old areas, so I'm hoping it's cyclical.
I plan to take some equipment photos soon (I've been tweaking some stuff), and give my thumbs up/down on some of the equipment choices I made. All for now-
This is a closer view of the bar end colonies:
This is also from that view. The bright green colony was sold to me by Mary as a Green Slimer, but I'm not so sure. What do you think Mary?
Mary also sold me this one, an Aqua Delight. I thought it was almost dead in my quarantine tank, but it is rebounding:
This is a monti digitata from Max. You can see some frags that broke off of it sitting on the sand. Gotta glue those to some plugs.
The green chromis are from Something Fishy, there are a dozen of them that like to shoal in the tank. There is also a monti cap in the pic that I got from Sea Level.
Here is another monti cap (from David G.) that is finally starting to grow away from the rock:
This is (I believe) a pokerstar monti I got from Li. It started out as the nub at the top:
This is a green mandarin from Max. It fattened up somewhat after getting it in my tank, so thankfully my pod population must be good enough for him:
Here is a pectinia from Ocean Devotion. It is doing very well, but I let a big bunch of scroll algae grow next to it and it irritated the flesh on the left side and wore thru to the skeleton. The flesh has receded in this area. (Closer view in second pic):
This last pic shows some encrusting porites that came in on the Reefer Madness rock, that is continuing to grow. The porites on the Christmas tree worm rock seems to be dying off, although there is a patch on the top (not visible) that might be coming back, except green this time, so that's weird. Also in this pic is some nasty caulerpa (below the bright green Neomeris annulata) that I have to pluck out soon. I had a huge amount of grape caulerpa growing in the left end several weeks ago, and was worried about it because the tangs wouldn't touch it. But after I pulled most of it out by hand, the "softer" stuff that was left behind became a delicacy to the tangs and now they won't let it see the light of day. I'm hoping the same thing happens with the caulerpa in this shot:
So those are the latest tank shots. I also have a minor cyano issue going on right now, but I am not going to do anything drastic to address it, because I had a few patches of it appear a few months ago, and it eventually went away. Now it has popped up in some new areas, but not in the old areas, so I'm hoping it's cyclical.
I plan to take some equipment photos soon (I've been tweaking some stuff), and give my thumbs up/down on some of the equipment choices I made. All for now-
Very nice!!!!!
cwk132
Senior Member
Looking great mike!
Thanks everyone!
sameyer, I have only lost one chromis since I bought them about two months ago, and I lost it after the first day (it looked a little beat up even before I got it home). The others seem to be doing fine. One of them is even missing an eye (I call it Winky) I don't know if it lost it after I put it in my tank, but it keeps up with the others like nothing is wrong, sort of amazing actually. They all sort of nestle into the acro colonies at night. It's cool to watch them find their sleeping spots.
sameyer, I have only lost one chromis since I bought them about two months ago, and I lost it after the first day (it looked a little beat up even before I got it home). The others seem to be doing fine. One of them is even missing an eye (I call it Winky) I don't know if it lost it after I put it in my tank, but it keeps up with the others like nothing is wrong, sort of amazing actually. They all sort of nestle into the acro colonies at night. It's cool to watch them find their sleeping spots.
Looks Great!!! Can't wait for the equipment pics.
Tico, yes that is a female leopard wrasse (Macropharyngodon meleagris) I got from Sea Level. (However they sold it to me as a male ornate leopard wrasse, maybe to jack the price up?) I gave them a deposit until it was eating frozen mysis. She has done fine since I brought her home (8-9 mos. ago), and now she eats flake food too. From what I have heard, this is not typical, as they don't always take to captivity well. She buries herself each night, and I have to make a spot in the gravel deep enough for her to do so (because the avg. gravel depth in my tank is 1/2" to 1"). The deep spot is in the left side of the photo you can see her in, and she uses it each night (I can see her dorsal fin down in the sand against the glass every night).
such a nice tank.
nice job Morty!
Skimmer mods
I mentioned that I would post some pics of my latest ASM G4x skimmer mods. This is kind of a hybrid recirc skimmer, where the recirc pump is a mesh-modded Sicce PSK2500 (Bubble Master and MSX Extreme skimmers use this pump), and the feed pump is the Sedra 9000 that came stock with the skimmer, but I mesh modded it too. So the feed pump is also supplying bubbles to the body. The skimmer also now has a diy bubble plate, shown later.
I won't show the steps in modding the pumps (I didn't take pics) but if anyone is curious they can PM me. Suffice to say the Sicce was a pita to get working reliably, where it would start on its own without having to blow into its air tube. I learned that the diameter of the air hose has a big impact on how well needlewheel/meshmod pumps draw air. I drilled a 5/16" hole in the side of the Sicce inlet, and used a 1/2" section of a Bic ballpoint pen body to connect to the 5/16" ID air hose:
(I have since learned that Quiet One 3000 pumps are virtually identical to the Sicces, but a lot less expensive, so the same mods could likely be done to them.)
I also shortened the nipple on the Sedra venturi and drilled it larger (3/16", I believe):
I wanted to drill new, different holes in the skimmer body for mounting the pumps, to make it fit better in my sump. So I had to find a way to patch the old holes. I had some scrap grey 1/16" pvc sheeting laying around, so I cut it into 2-1/2" squares. Then to make them match the curvature of the skimmer body, I laid them on a curved piece of sheet metal and put them in the oven at 300 degrees for a few minutes. This worked pretty well. Because ASM skimmers are made of clear pvc (not acrylic), it was easy to glue the patches in place with pvc pipe cement (lower patches on the right, plus the new pump holes can be seen on the left):
I also patched a couple of 3/4" pipe thread holes higher on the body:
I mentioned that I would post some pics of my latest ASM G4x skimmer mods. This is kind of a hybrid recirc skimmer, where the recirc pump is a mesh-modded Sicce PSK2500 (Bubble Master and MSX Extreme skimmers use this pump), and the feed pump is the Sedra 9000 that came stock with the skimmer, but I mesh modded it too. So the feed pump is also supplying bubbles to the body. The skimmer also now has a diy bubble plate, shown later.
I won't show the steps in modding the pumps (I didn't take pics) but if anyone is curious they can PM me. Suffice to say the Sicce was a pita to get working reliably, where it would start on its own without having to blow into its air tube. I learned that the diameter of the air hose has a big impact on how well needlewheel/meshmod pumps draw air. I drilled a 5/16" hole in the side of the Sicce inlet, and used a 1/2" section of a Bic ballpoint pen body to connect to the 5/16" ID air hose:
(I have since learned that Quiet One 3000 pumps are virtually identical to the Sicces, but a lot less expensive, so the same mods could likely be done to them.)
I also shortened the nipple on the Sedra venturi and drilled it larger (3/16", I believe):
I wanted to drill new, different holes in the skimmer body for mounting the pumps, to make it fit better in my sump. So I had to find a way to patch the old holes. I had some scrap grey 1/16" pvc sheeting laying around, so I cut it into 2-1/2" squares. Then to make them match the curvature of the skimmer body, I laid them on a curved piece of sheet metal and put them in the oven at 300 degrees for a few minutes. This worked pretty well. Because ASM skimmers are made of clear pvc (not acrylic), it was easy to glue the patches in place with pvc pipe cement (lower patches on the right, plus the new pump holes can be seen on the left):
I also patched a couple of 3/4" pipe thread holes higher on the body:
Matt, this pump draws 60 scfh on a bad day. It is unbelievable.
Morty, admit it, you just like the glue.
:gay1:
:gay1:
Ghetto bubble plate
Bubble plates are found in many of the latest skimmers, I believe mainly to reduce (or "even out") turbulence inside the skimmer and allow the foam head to form more steadily. So I had an idea for a cheapo DIY bubble plate for my skimmer.
I went to Menards and got this floor drain:
I drilled a hole in the center big enough for 1" pvc pipe, and I taped over four of the center holes and filled them with hot melt, to keep too many of the holes from being close to the middle (hole spacing is more "even" with these holes filled):
Normally the drain cover is held in place by 1/4" wood screws. I tapped their holes for a 1/4-20 machine screw, flipped the drain cover (bubble plate) over and secured it with two nylon machine screws (this photo taken before the four holes were filled with hot melt):
This closet flange is the base for the bubble plate assembly. (This was used in an earlier mod.) I added the round acrylic tabs so it can be held, centered, in place inside the skimmer body:
This shows it down inside the skimmer:
This is the bubble plate assembly inside the skimmer. The floor drain is connected to the closet flange by a short section of 3" pvc. The recirc pump intake elbow can also be seein in the pic. It's a 45 deg street el (from Indelco) that is going thru a 1" uniseal. (The uniseal is going from the inside of the skimmer.) I shortened a 1" coupling so it connected tightly to the exposed part of the street el. (Note that for all of the fittings/connections of the skimmer, nothing is glued. All parts are pressed together.) I used a 45 deg fitting (instead of a 90 deg) so the bubble plate could sit lower in the skimmer.
For combining the recirc pump and feed pump outlets, and sending them into the bubble plate, I got a 1" wye fitting (also from Indelco). I had to shorten it somewhat to make it fit against the bubble plate. The 45 deg street el makes its side outlet horizontal. The short piece of pvc sticking out of the bottom holds it centered on the bubble plate:
This shows both pumps connected to the skimmer body, and the plumbing in place (Sedra feed pump on left, Sicce on right). I had an extra 1" gate valve so I put it on the feed pump line in case I wanted to "tune" the skimmer, but currently it is running wide open. The union is there to make servicing the pump more easy:
And here is the obligate money shot. This is about 3-4 days' skimmate. To monitor the air intake of each pump, I picked up a second Dwyer air meter and made a mounting bracket out of acrylic so they can be attached to the skimmer body. This lets me keep an eye on the condition of the pumps' air fittings/meshwheels and determine when the skimmer needs service. The meters and plumbing arrangement probably affects the air draw rate somewhat, but I don't think the 4" neck of the skimmer cold handle much more than the 20-24 lpm that the pumps are currently supplying. Combined, the skimmer is drawing 75W, but meshmod pumps are notoriously inefficient (power-wise) so they also may be adding more than their share of heat to the water. In this pic you can also see the gate valve mod for controlling the water level in the skimmer. I found that using two elbows works fine, instead of an elbow and a tee. Also, the wires running into the collection cup are connected to a float switch that shuts down the skimmer if it begins to overflow.
Here is a closer view of the collection cup. Fondue, anyone?
Bubble plates are found in many of the latest skimmers, I believe mainly to reduce (or "even out") turbulence inside the skimmer and allow the foam head to form more steadily. So I had an idea for a cheapo DIY bubble plate for my skimmer.
I went to Menards and got this floor drain:
I drilled a hole in the center big enough for 1" pvc pipe, and I taped over four of the center holes and filled them with hot melt, to keep too many of the holes from being close to the middle (hole spacing is more "even" with these holes filled):
Normally the drain cover is held in place by 1/4" wood screws. I tapped their holes for a 1/4-20 machine screw, flipped the drain cover (bubble plate) over and secured it with two nylon machine screws (this photo taken before the four holes were filled with hot melt):
This closet flange is the base for the bubble plate assembly. (This was used in an earlier mod.) I added the round acrylic tabs so it can be held, centered, in place inside the skimmer body:
This shows it down inside the skimmer:
This is the bubble plate assembly inside the skimmer. The floor drain is connected to the closet flange by a short section of 3" pvc. The recirc pump intake elbow can also be seein in the pic. It's a 45 deg street el (from Indelco) that is going thru a 1" uniseal. (The uniseal is going from the inside of the skimmer.) I shortened a 1" coupling so it connected tightly to the exposed part of the street el. (Note that for all of the fittings/connections of the skimmer, nothing is glued. All parts are pressed together.) I used a 45 deg fitting (instead of a 90 deg) so the bubble plate could sit lower in the skimmer.
For combining the recirc pump and feed pump outlets, and sending them into the bubble plate, I got a 1" wye fitting (also from Indelco). I had to shorten it somewhat to make it fit against the bubble plate. The 45 deg street el makes its side outlet horizontal. The short piece of pvc sticking out of the bottom holds it centered on the bubble plate:
This shows both pumps connected to the skimmer body, and the plumbing in place (Sedra feed pump on left, Sicce on right). I had an extra 1" gate valve so I put it on the feed pump line in case I wanted to "tune" the skimmer, but currently it is running wide open. The union is there to make servicing the pump more easy:
And here is the obligate money shot. This is about 3-4 days' skimmate. To monitor the air intake of each pump, I picked up a second Dwyer air meter and made a mounting bracket out of acrylic so they can be attached to the skimmer body. This lets me keep an eye on the condition of the pumps' air fittings/meshwheels and determine when the skimmer needs service. The meters and plumbing arrangement probably affects the air draw rate somewhat, but I don't think the 4" neck of the skimmer cold handle much more than the 20-24 lpm that the pumps are currently supplying. Combined, the skimmer is drawing 75W, but meshmod pumps are notoriously inefficient (power-wise) so they also may be adding more than their share of heat to the water. In this pic you can also see the gate valve mod for controlling the water level in the skimmer. I found that using two elbows works fine, instead of an elbow and a tee. Also, the wires running into the collection cup are connected to a float switch that shuts down the skimmer if it begins to overflow.
Here is a closer view of the collection cup. Fondue, anyone?
what is the conversion of lm to scfh?