Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by echopiece

How are you liking that Gyre pump? Do you have any videos of it in action?

I like it a whole lot - it takes up way less room and it really moves the water. It gives off a low hum you can hear up near it but its not bad.

http://s1294.photobucket.com/user/mh...8pd3i.mp4.html

[glaukos]

Tank looks really good mhucasey
I wouldn't think long before i 'd buy those gems!
Especially the first one!

[echopiece]

Originally Posted by mhucasey

I like it a whole lot - it takes up way less room and it really moves the water. It gives off a low hum you can hear up near it but its not bad.

http://s1294.photobucket.com/user/mh...8pd3i.mp4.html

Looks great, thank you very much sir!

[reefmutt]

I'm a huge fan of my gyres. They move huge water, have a low profile and in terms of water volume to noise ratio, I think they are very quiet.
Matt, I'm jealous of your tank. It's looking awesome and I have never seen that type of pe on a tort!! Crazy!
Please give me and anybody else interested, a full run down on how you are using your aio pellets.. Amount of pellets, type of reactor, system size, amount of fish and amount of food given. I'm very curious...
I was using them to great effect in my tank but then when I began adding fish and food, my nutrients
Dropped so dramatically, I removed them..
I wasn't using them in a re circulation reactor, though. I was using them in a fluidized reactor with full flow going right into my skimmer section.
Curious to know how you are using them. Sounds like it is as per glenf, I think..

[sahin]

Hey mate, definitely pickup those two acros. That Pink millepora should look much deeper in colour after being in your tank for a few months and under high light.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

I'm a huge fan of my gyres. They move huge water, have a low profile and in terms of water volume to noise ratio, I think they are very quiet.
Matt, I'm jealous of your tank. It's looking awesome and I have never seen that type of pe on a tort!! Crazy!
Please give me and anybody else interested, a full run down on how you are using your aio pellets.. Amount of pellets, type of reactor, system size, amount of fish and amount of food given. I'm very curious...
I was using them to great effect in my tank but then when I began adding fish and food, my nutrients
Dropped so dramatically, I removed them..
I wasn't using them in a re circulation reactor, though. I was using them in a fluidized reactor with full flow going right into my skimmer section.
Curious to know how you are using them. Sounds like it is as per glenf, I think..

Thanks for the kind words, I'm very happy with how everything is doing in the tank, i seem to find something new everyday
The Pellet reactor was originally a flow through vertex reactor I turned into a recirculating model. I made it with parts I already had:

Basically I drilled through the side in the middle and the top. I Had a Tunze Silence pump that i used to plumb it. The inlet is in the middle of the side and the pipe goes down to about 3/4" off the bottom. The outlet is at the top and I put a strainer on the inside of the chamber. On the inlet of the pump there is a tee that has one side connected to the sump, the other side connected to the pump inlet. The top of the tee is connected to the reactor outlet line and there is a gate valve on the pipe. The outlet of the pump goes through a second gate valve and into the reactor.

Its pretty sexy, obviously:P
The pellets tumble nicely in the reactor with the water jetting at the bottom:

I blocked off one of the original outlets on the cover of the reactor, the other outlet has a ball valve and the water flows out through vinyl tubing to the skimmer supply pump:

I use an external skimmer, so water has to be pumped into it. On the skimmer supply pump inlet, I put an elbow and a tee on it and a strainer on the side leg of the tee. The other opening of the tee points up and has an open pipe at the surface of the sump it is in. The water from the pellet reactor enters there:


I have a pretty big bioload and I feed at least twice a day, usually one pellet feed and one frozen or live food. I try to keep a good stream coming out of the reactor. Full open is a pretty strong jet so it is throttled back some. Last time I measured it was about 160LPH through the reactor but I adjust it down if I see an up tick in cyano. There is about a liter of the All-in-one pellets in there.

[mhucasey]

I based my reactor set up off Lunar's, he has a 200gallon display and flows 500LPH through it. I tried letting the outlet just flow into the same chamber as the skimmer supply rather than directly to the inlet but there was distinctly more cyano that way. Other than that its pretty well set it and forget it

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by sahin

Hey mate, definitely pickup those two acros. That Pink millepora should look much deeper in colour after being in your tank for a few months and under high light.

I have my name on the wait list for the first one, the only reason I haven't picked up the pink millie is I will need to drive down to San Diego to pick it up. If it is still there by the weekend its mine

[mhucasey]

Ok ouch, initial quote came back for the tank upgrade. 3/4" starphire rimless 66x32x22, built-in external overflow, drilled, etc. 5000 bucks

I may need to go eurobraced to swing it. Opinions on where to place the eurobrace? I like the look of the brace at the top of the glass so that the top of each wall is flush with the brace, but I see lots of tanks with the brace about an inch down the wall, I guess to keep splashed water in the tank.
What do you reccomend?

[reefmutt]

Thanks for the description, Matt.
Nothing like seeing a fine piece of German engineering turned into a ghetto monster!!
Love it!
I'm going to try something a little more simple with my deltec..
So, you use a full litre of pellets? On a 90'gallon tank.. What's the volume of your system?
I guess when the pellets are used this way, the volume is less important since you are restricting the flow of tank water through the reactor.
I didn't have a full litre on my 300 gallon system and nutrients had bottomed out..

By the way, I can't wait to see those new sweet pieces in your tank!

[reefmutt]

Ouch, indeed..
Whether the brace is at the top or down a little, it's still going to reduce splashing..
I'd put it up at the top.. Allows for full water height in the tank. Keeps it out of the way..

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Thanks for the description, Matt.
Nothing like seeing a fine piece of German engineering turned into a ghetto monster!!
Love it!
I'm going to try something a little more simple with my deltec..
So, you use a full litre of pellets? On a 90'gallon tank.. What's the volume of your system?
I guess when the pellets are used this way, the volume is less important since you are restricting the flow of tank water through the reactor.
I didn't have a full litre on my 300 gallon system and nutrients had bottomed out..

By the way, I can't wait to see those new sweet pieces in your tank!

Yep, I put a full Liter in the reactor in October, then topped off the reactor a few weeks ago with 500 MLs more.

The total system volume is 120gallons, the sumps and conical tank and huge skimmer help increase the system volume. I don't think that the exact volume matters too much when you are using a recirculating reactor. The nice thing about these pellets is they don't kill the foam head in the skimmer. Regular pellets seem to kill the foam at first but there is a nice consistent foam with these from the moment they go in. I suspect it has to do with whatever they are using to reduce phosphate coming off the pellets.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Ouch, indeed..
Whether the brace is at the top or down a little, it's still going to reduce splashing..
I'd put it up at the top.. Allows for full water height in the tank. Keeps it out of the way..

The nicest Eurobraced tanks I have seen have it at the top, so Im leaning that way as well.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Nothing like seeing a fine piece of German engineering turned into a ghetto monster!!

I just realized I have an almost new Nextreef MR-1 XL that I am not using, I can mod that one to have a bigger reactor for the upgrade tank! Muhahaha!

The reactor partially looks so rough because everything wants to grow inside it, I have found Serpent stars, copepods, amphipods, chitons, Featherdusters, and Aiptasia...it always cracks me up when people state that pumps kill plankton.

[mhucasey]

Today I took a little drive down to the big acropora store down in San Diego, about a 40 minute drive each way. This place is massive and they have an amazing selection of across, but today there were more than I have ever seen.
I have a hard time resisting the urge to empty the bank account whenever i go there:

[mhucasey]

I ended up getting a pink Millie with blue tips:


I think its going to be a real stunner, My picture could be better:

[sahin]

That pink milli with blue tips is sweet. I need one of those.

[reefmutt]

Wooow!!!!
That place is huge!!
I am jealous.
Nothing like that in Montreal for sps.
That Mille should be amazing!

[plyle02]

Wow,
Just got done reading your thread, and I find it very inspirational, can clearly see your love for living creatures, and your skills and passion for the hobby are refreshing. Keep up the great work, your tank is amazing and your coral colors are insane! Thanks for the information regarding your tank. Your doggies are also really cool too
Regards,

[SPS Galore]

This is an amazing obsession! Lol

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by sahin

That pink milli with blue tips is sweet. I need one of those.

There were so many pink milies to choose from and I almost went into meltdown. The pink one I originally was going in for was pretty nice but this one was even better:loll:

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Wooow!!!!
That place is huge!!
I am jealous.
Nothing like that in Montreal for sps.
That Mille should be amazing!

That store is AquaSD, they have a pretty strong online store as well and the owner is super nice. When i first went there about 2 years ago they were giving LEDs a shot over their holding tanks but their display reef had Radiums Shortly after that they switched back to 400Watt Radiums exclusively over the SPS frags. They use Hydras over the LPS tanks down the center of the store. This shipment of colonies they just got in caused them to have to use some of those tanks too
I am pretty excited to get a new tanks going so I can get more from them.

Oh and I saw the red Acro that won't be available til March. It is red-orange and unlike anything I have ever seen. Its gonna be pricey though. I could have taken it home yesterday but its expensive and I want to let it grow in their system for a while before that.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by plyle02

Wow,
Just got done reading your thread, and I find it very inspirational, can clearly see your love for living creatures, and your skills and passion for the hobby are refreshing. Keep up the great work, your tank is amazing and your coral colors are insane! Thanks for the information regarding your tank. Your doggies are also really cool too
Regards,

Thanks so much! The tank is more than just a hobby for me, I have been hooked on Corals for a good portion of my life and I intend to keep on learning and growing in this hobby for the rest of my life. And I love me some wiener dogs too! Lots of animals in our house!

[trueblackpercula]

Very Nice milli with blue tips, i have had no luck with them ever and have had it four times already, Thank goodness they are cheap, By the way what do they charge for there frags at that place? I am spoiled I get full blown mini colonies Maricultured pieces for $30 bucks so I purchase 6 to 8 at a time LOL

Very nice score on the milli I hope it does well for you.
Michael

[mhucasey]

It really depends on the coral as to how much frags are. They have some as low as 10 bucks but I'd say most are in the range of 30-50 dollars. In this area with the cost of living and the cost of electricity that is a very good price range. Rare corals go for more, usually they top out at 100 bucks.

They usually only sell frags that have encrusted the plugs but I have had them cut a fresh frag off a larger colony a couple of times without issue.

I haven't had the best success with red corals, especially pink ones in the past. The Pink and red corals are growing and coloring great these days and I think the tank is in prime shape right now, so I hope it stays pink!