270g Starphire build thread (pic intensive) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter morty
- Start date
Hi, thanks for the prompt! 
I lost the desjardini that I got thru LiveAquaria. :cry: I think it was a cyanide fish, it arrived skinny, and even though it was picking at rocks and food a bit, it seemed sort of listless and looked like it had the beginnings of hexamita. Eventually it lost strength and death looked imminent, so I decided to euthanize it by freezing (I think that's the most humane way). Max told me that LiveAquaria often just transships their (non-divers' den) fish without knowing the fishes' history, so you and they don't know what you're going to get from them. Case in point I guess.
There is some ich in the tank, but it's not going exponential. The powder blue has had a light dusting of it continually for a few weeks. But the fish isn't flashing, and it is eating well and is otherwise healthy. I'm feeding food soaked in garlic, and am hoping the fish starts to develop more of its own immune response. The other fish are unaffected. The purple had it several weeks ago, but no longer really contracts it.
The sps frags I put in the tank were seeming to bleach out. While the PE was good, their color was fading. I was suspicious of the 10000K 400W DE bulb I had in the left end pendant. It seemed more blue that the 14000K bulb I had next to it in the 250W DE pendant. It was a replacement bulb that Icecap sent to me after the first one died after just a few hours. It was technically out of warranty when they sent it to me, so I think they sent me a bulb that wasn't the same one they normally sell (maybe an experimental bulb they had tried and had sitting on the shelf). It was about an inch longer than the first one (so I had to move the sockets, a pita :mad_3. And it's color not being white enough made me not trust it.
I learned that lots of people (most?) are using 20000K bulbs over their tanks and so I decided to switch to the Icecap 20000K bulb in the 400W DE Pendant a few weeks ago. Boy what a difference. The corals are all coloring up at least the same as when I first got them or more. PE is still great, and growth is very apparent. I still have lots of frags (softies, LPS, & sps) in my quar tank I got from members and stores that I want to put in the display and I don't know why I havent done it yet! I will post pics when I get around to it. (It's late, maybe see you at DG's.)
I lost the desjardini that I got thru LiveAquaria. :cry: I think it was a cyanide fish, it arrived skinny, and even though it was picking at rocks and food a bit, it seemed sort of listless and looked like it had the beginnings of hexamita. Eventually it lost strength and death looked imminent, so I decided to euthanize it by freezing (I think that's the most humane way). Max told me that LiveAquaria often just transships their (non-divers' den) fish without knowing the fishes' history, so you and they don't know what you're going to get from them. Case in point I guess.
There is some ich in the tank, but it's not going exponential. The powder blue has had a light dusting of it continually for a few weeks. But the fish isn't flashing, and it is eating well and is otherwise healthy. I'm feeding food soaked in garlic, and am hoping the fish starts to develop more of its own immune response. The other fish are unaffected. The purple had it several weeks ago, but no longer really contracts it.
The sps frags I put in the tank were seeming to bleach out. While the PE was good, their color was fading. I was suspicious of the 10000K 400W DE bulb I had in the left end pendant. It seemed more blue that the 14000K bulb I had next to it in the 250W DE pendant. It was a replacement bulb that Icecap sent to me after the first one died after just a few hours. It was technically out of warranty when they sent it to me, so I think they sent me a bulb that wasn't the same one they normally sell (maybe an experimental bulb they had tried and had sitting on the shelf). It was about an inch longer than the first one (so I had to move the sockets, a pita :mad_3
. And it's color not being white enough made me not trust it.I learned that lots of people (most?) are using 20000K bulbs over their tanks and so I decided to switch to the Icecap 20000K bulb in the 400W DE Pendant a few weeks ago. Boy what a difference. The corals are all coloring up at least the same as when I first got them or more. PE is still great, and growth is very apparent. I still have lots of frags (softies, LPS, & sps) in my quar tank I got from members and stores that I want to put in the display and I don't know why I havent done it yet! I will post pics when I get around to it. (It's late, maybe see you at DG's.)
I thought I would post a couple more photos I took. This is (I think) a green slimer I got from Mary, it is a fast grower. All the lighter colored "spikes" are new growth that occurred after I got it from her at Dirk's meeting. (The second pic is a "before" shot, taken shortly after I got it, under different light in my frag/qt tank).
And this is another acro I got from David G., I believe at HermitSolo's meeting. I can't remember what he called it.
I think I took these photos before I replaced the bulb in the MH fixture. (Story in previous post.) Right now they seem to be showing more color than seen here.
This is a more recent photo of two of the macroalgaes that have popped up here and there in the tank on the Reefer Madness LR. The left is a colony of Neomeris annulata (caterpillar weed or spindle weed). On the right is Padina (scroll algae). Both are calcareous. (The Neomeris is sort of fragile and will crumble, you can see chunks of it in the lower left.) Also in the photo (lower right, as well as in between Neomeris and Padina) is another algae that resembles Neomeris, but I think it's a different genus. It has a similar banana-shaped growth pattern, but it sometimes is maroon on top, and its end is frosted white. It also doesn't turn white at its base. I haven't been able to ID this one. And the brown hair algae seen in the middle is the only hair algae left in the tank. It is almost like a turf algae, and it grows in tufts scattered around on the rock, but seems to be going away over time.
I picked up a couple of corals from SWE a few days ago, as well as some frags/colonies from Max, I'll post more shots whenever I get a chance.
And this is another acro I got from David G., I believe at HermitSolo's meeting. I can't remember what he called it.
I think I took these photos before I replaced the bulb in the MH fixture. (Story in previous post.) Right now they seem to be showing more color than seen here.
This is a more recent photo of two of the macroalgaes that have popped up here and there in the tank on the Reefer Madness LR. The left is a colony of Neomeris annulata (caterpillar weed or spindle weed). On the right is Padina (scroll algae). Both are calcareous. (The Neomeris is sort of fragile and will crumble, you can see chunks of it in the lower left.) Also in the photo (lower right, as well as in between Neomeris and Padina) is another algae that resembles Neomeris, but I think it's a different genus. It has a similar banana-shaped growth pattern, but it sometimes is maroon on top, and its end is frosted white. It also doesn't turn white at its base. I haven't been able to ID this one. And the brown hair algae seen in the middle is the only hair algae left in the tank. It is almost like a turf algae, and it grows in tufts scattered around on the rock, but seems to be going away over time.
I picked up a couple of corals from SWE a few days ago, as well as some frags/colonies from Max, I'll post more shots whenever I get a chance.
if they become a problem calcareous algae's are a favorite of urchins. I lost all mine that way.
I kind of like the macroalgaes
They are not everywhere in the tank right now, just in a few places, and they don't seem to be taking over. But thanks for the tip! I have found that I have to shoot exactly perpendicular to the surface of the tank glass. IOW if I try to shoot at an angle through the tank glass, something about the way that light bounces around between the inner and outer surfaces of the glass screws with how the lens focuses light..
Thanks Adam, the skimmer seems to be working pretty well. I don't really have anything to compare it to because this is the first recirc skimmer I've owned of this size. But I get about 1" of dark skimmate in the collection cup every 3-4 days, and it stinks to high heaven when I clean it. I think the mesh mod made a big difference, plus the crazy donut design seems to help too. And it doesn't seem to be too sensitive, the only thing that makes it go nuts is frozen formula 1. I have to remember to turn it off for a couple hours whenever I use this food. (I think it's the binders they use.)
Like a lot of ASMs it slowly leaks from the cone seam, and silicone gel doesn't help. But this is no big deal as it is in-sump.
And it doesn't seem to be too sensitive, the only thing that makes it go nuts is frozen formula 1. I have to remember to turn it off for a couple hours whenever I use this food. (I think it's the binders they use.)Like a lot of ASMs it slowly leaks from the cone seam, and silicone gel doesn't help. But this is no big deal as it is in-sump.
A few people have asked about the aquascaping in the tank and how the rock is arranged, and that it has been hard to visualize by looking at the photos I have posted. I decided to try making a short video "walk around" of the tank. Not sure that it helps, because the quality of this video is so lousy. :brainoverload: I shot it with my Coolpix 990 digicam and uploaded it to YouTube. But here it is anyway:
[youtube]d9aSfwe1raQ[/youtube]
When planning the tank, I made this top-view diagram that kind of shows how the rock is placed. I decided to just stack the rock, instead of join any pieces by fiberglas rod etc.:
[youtube]d9aSfwe1raQ[/youtube]
When planning the tank, I made this top-view diagram that kind of shows how the rock is placed. I decided to just stack the rock, instead of join any pieces by fiberglas rod etc.:
Nice rockwork!
Oh, I'm sure a new FTS will have to make its way to the thread sometime soon.
For entertainment, in the video menu that pops up after mine, check out the "Time Lapse of moving a 500 gallon reef". There's some parts that are funny to watch. The people who had the tank are lucky that they had such an army to help them out.
Edit: When I was watching it, the video got stuck right after the Benny Hill music stopped. But moving the slider a little got it going again.
For entertainment, in the video menu that pops up after mine, check out the "Time Lapse of moving a 500 gallon reef". There's some parts that are funny to watch. The people who had the tank are lucky that they had such an army to help them out.
Edit: When I was watching it, the video got stuck right after the Benny Hill music stopped. But moving the slider a little got it going again.
morty,,check out my skimmer gsm g4 with sendra 9000 mod,,just like your,,work great,,,thanks
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kvmn/DSC00003.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kvmn/DSC00005.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kvmn/DSC00003.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff19/kvmn/DSC00005.jpg
Enjoyed talking to you about your skimmer at the meeting... Can't wait to see how the Sicci pump works?!? A thought.... a venturi requires a lot of head pressure to drive the venturi, by having two in parallel, are you losing more pressure and underdriving the venturi by the way you have it set up? Would one venturi perform better?
Thanks Matt-
The only issue with going to one venturi is that the water feed rate is then dropped too low unless I used an even larger pump. I tried one venturi with the OR3500, and got less than 150 gph. I didn't want to go to a bigger pump because then the wattage issue makes it not worth it. The way it's currently set up, two paths for the water to pass through, allow for a better turnover rate, with the drawback being the reduction in air injection efficiency. Another approach could have been to use a single venturi bypassed with a valve-controlled line, where the valved line could be adjusted until the desired water feed rate is reached, but the net effect would in the end be the same, with the exception that I'm not getting any additional air injected in the valved line.
The plan at this point is to increase the feed pipe to 1", switch the sedra back to standard NW (less air but more water) and use it as the feed pump and ditch the OR3500/dual venturi thing. Then the mesh-mod sicce becomes the recirc pump. Hopefully the combined wattage for the skimmer drops by about 50W, with an increase in air of about 10 lpm from where it currently is (and hopefully the skimmer body can handle this increase in air without it becoming too sensitive!)
The only issue with going to one venturi is that the water feed rate is then dropped too low unless I used an even larger pump. I tried one venturi with the OR3500, and got less than 150 gph. I didn't want to go to a bigger pump because then the wattage issue makes it not worth it. The way it's currently set up, two paths for the water to pass through, allow for a better turnover rate, with the drawback being the reduction in air injection efficiency. Another approach could have been to use a single venturi bypassed with a valve-controlled line, where the valved line could be adjusted until the desired water feed rate is reached, but the net effect would in the end be the same, with the exception that I'm not getting any additional air injected in the valved line.
The plan at this point is to increase the feed pipe to 1", switch the sedra back to standard NW (less air but more water) and use it as the feed pump and ditch the OR3500/dual venturi thing. Then the mesh-mod sicce becomes the recirc pump. Hopefully the combined wattage for the skimmer drops by about 50W, with an increase in air of about 10 lpm from where it currently is (and hopefully the skimmer body can handle this increase in air without it becoming too sensitive!
)
So is that a 3/4" venturi? Cool project nonetheless... I was thinking of building one but using a couple of becketts with the mods off RC so that you don't need a pressure rated pump... good stuff!