cerobbins's Solana thread

[cerobbins]

Its taken a bit longer than I would've liked, but I have finally gotten around to taking some pictures of my setup. While their by no means good pictures I just wanted to share my experiences with my solana, and also have a decent way to track growth and progress.

For a bit of background I have had this tank setup since Dec of 08, but it was moved in May of 09. I believe I finally have the aquascape the way I am going to leave it, and now that I have most everything finally reconnected and online growth and coloration have taken off. I still need to do quite a few small odds and ends to finish up the equiptment side of the tank to get it to my liking, but for now I am pleased with the direction its headed.

So for starters here is the tank


Here are a couple equipment shots






If you have any requests or would like a picture of something in paticular just ask, and I'll see what I can do.

[cerobbins]

Here are some livestock photos.

Red cap with new growth


My favorite acro in the tank at the moment, but I was not able to get a good picture of it. It is a bright green with purple/blue tips


Green eyed chalice growing nicely


New piece still coloring up, came with a free acropora crab


Greenish orange birdsnest


Picture of my rhomboid before the latest tank move


Top down catching my multicolor angel


Frags for the future

[tgbaby1]

where did you purchase the GHL dosing pump?

[cerobbins]

I bought it from ottowa inverts in canada, and they shipped it to me from new york. GHL put me in contact with them. The pump has worked like a charm since I recieved it.

[True Blue]

Do you have any pictures of the light hanging over the tank...
Did you make a floating canopy hanging it from the wall?

[cerobbins]

I don't have any pictures of it, but I will get some tomorrow. It is really quite simple. Its just a pendant hanging from some 1.5" pvc conduit. I initially used .75" conduit, but it was too flexible and the weight of the pendant prevented me from extending the pendant as far out as it needed to go. My favorite part of this design is the ease of access it gives me to the tank for maintence or pictures. The whole setup pivots at the mounting brackets so I can simply swing the light out of the way. Although I will say it is not the most eye pleasing, however, its nothing compared to the birdsnest of wires I have currently.

[cerobbins]

Here is the picture of my light hanger.



It is made of 1.5" pvc conduit. Spray painted black with some krylon fusion. I used standard sized brackets to mount it to the wall. The nice thing about the brackets is that they hold the hanger rock solid, but still allow me to swivel the entire hanger away from the tank for maintence. Hope that answers your question.

[cerobbins]

Here are some more live stock photos.

Zoo garden in the making


Updated cap shot


Tri Color coloring up nicely at the base


Green Milli still encrusting with the multicolor doing a little grazing


Although this picture does not reflect it well this monti has a lot of potential


I had to remove my female melanarus wrasse as she aquired a taste for maximas and of course made my favorite one a meal...

Thanks for looking!

[cerobbins]

Some new frags arrived today. These came from copps who I would definatly do business with again.

Green Bottlebrush needs a little tlc


Blue Tenuis


Pink Lemonade


$500 Efflo


I can't wait till these grow a bit.

[LoneWolf88]

Originally posted by cerobbins



If you have any requests or would like a picture of something in paticular just ask, and I'll see what I can do.

Can you provide more pictures and details on your dosing system

[cerobbins]

Sure is there anything you would like a picture of in paticular?

[LoneWolf88]

Interested in what you have in each of the tanks in your stand... how much fresh water are you topping off daily... my tank burns thru water quickly

closeup of the tanks in the stand would be great

[cerobbins]

Regarding my dosing and top off setup I dose 3 part and top off with kalk.

My top off is simply a jbj ato running both float switches. The first switch is in the tank and when it is activated the pump turns on. Te second switch is in the top off reservoir, and when it is activated the pump will be prevented from running. I use an aquamedic sp3000 perilastic dosing pump currently. I really need to find a good 3 roller pump instead as the two roller pump I use now does not always have enough umph to get the job done. The ato will not run for more than 15 min as to avoid and kalk disasters. The geo kalk reactor is sitting in my fresh water reservoir. I use Seachem reef kalkwasser in the reactor. This setup has yet to malfunction.

Now regarding the dosing setup it is really quite simple. I have 3 2.5 gallon tanks on the bottom shelf inside the stand. One holds part A, another Part B, and the last is Mag. They have lids to avoid any contamination. The lids have a jg fitting bulkhead in them and are made out of acrylic. The tubing runs from the tanks to my standalone GHL dosing pump. This pump is fully programmable and easy to use. I currently dose Part A 4 times a day at 7ml a dose, Part B 4 times a day at 5ml a dose, and lastly Mag 2 times daily at 5ml per dose. I am using Kent part A and B, and mixing my own Mag solution with Brightwell Magnesion-P.

As soon as photobucket cooperates I will post some pictures.

[cerobbins]

Here is a picture of the dosing reservoirs

[E.intheC]

that's a really nice setup! Great job.

What wattage MH do you have on that pendant?

Thanks!

[cerobbins]

Originally posted by E.intheC
that's a really nice setup! Great job.

What wattage MH do you have on that pendant?

Thanks!

Thank you!

I am currently running a 250w phoenix 14k bulb on a galaxy ballast

[xXreefracerXx]

What kind of skimmer are you running? more pics of how your back chambers are set up?

[cerobbins]

I am running a Deltec MCE300. It has worked great from day one and pulls ten times the skimmate in a day than my previous tunze 9002 did in a week, the skimmate is also dryier. I do like to skim wet. I will post up some pictures of my rear chambers as soon as I get a chance. Is there anything in paticular you are interested in?

[cerobbins]

I forgot to mention I had been having problems keeping my sand clean, and it was starting to accumulate a lot of detrius. My 2 inch multicolor produces a ton of waste for its size. Before I moved the tank to its current location it was barebottom, and I had that working great for me, but I was interested in keeping some fish that need sand. I have decided to forget about the fish since the sand was preventing me from keeping the tank as clean as I like. This in turn was causing me to cut feedings back in comparision to how I fed when my system had no sand. So due to all these factors I decided to go back to barebottom. I am much happier with it now. Somebody is going to owe me a frag come the end of September... you know who you are.

[E.intheC]

How's the heat with the 250watt MH bulb?

(You may have answered this in another post; but I'm not sure. If so, you can link over there or just tell me )

Thank you

[cerobbins]

Originally posted by E.intheC
How's the heat with the 250watt MH bulb?

I need to find a better way to post these graphs, but here is the temp graph from my rke.

The temperatures read in intervals of two degrees starting from 72 degrees. Mine seems to fluctuate between 74 and 78 daily. I keep my house at approximately 75. I have no chiller or fans on the tank. The light is around 12 inches from the water and is run 12 hours a day. As long as I keep my house below 80 I have not had a heat problem.

[E.intheC]

Thats a much more detailed answer than I could have expected, cerobbins. Excellent!

It's helping me lean toward the 250 watt pendant, away from the 150 mh + 64 watts of PC pendant.

I like your "bracket on the wall" idea a ton. When you're thinking of building the light bracket, you don't think "what if I have to get in there and will need to move the light?" but that made me aware of it, and made me want to change my ideas a bit.

[cerobbins]

I had a nep on the tank before it was moved, and every time I did a water change I always splashed the light. That forced me to come up with a solution that swiveled. My hanger also allows me to adjust the height of the pendant which I also think is very important as it allows me to prevent bleaching and really dial in my light intensity. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Regarding the light my tank is essentially only sps so I wanted a bit more than 150w. I have been able to keep good coloration, and I can grow anything on the bottom of the tank. For the record I have also seen first hand a tremendous sps dominant solana running the 150w disco pendent. It grew sps on the bottom as well. I think the biggest difference is that I get good coloration quicker, but the end product seems to be about the same.

[cerobbins]

Here are some shots of the rear chambers.

Deltec MCE300 sitting with intake in the left chamber and drain on the middle chamber. i also have a Koralia nano mounted to face the bottom of the first chamber to keep detritus from settling. I have another to face the floor of the second and third chamber, but have been lazy and am yet to install it.


Probes and ato float switch hanging on the right side


top down of the right chamber with probes and float switch


Tubing zip tied together is my ato, and 3 part doser tubing. The larger tubing that is in the middle and third chamber is my return. An mj1200 sits in the middle chamber pumps down to the floor through a media reactor then back up into the return nozzle in the third chamber. The flow is very low through the return.


Lastly a picture of the whole mess

[cerobbins]

I see many threads in the nano forum about skimmers so for those looking for some first hand experiences with nano skimmers I will share mine. I origionally had a Tunze 9002. To sum it up I believe it performed very poorly compared to what it cost. I typically got no more than 10ml of skimmate a week. I don't have any pictures to share of my Tunze, sorry.

I have had a Deltec MCE300 for about four months now, and have been extremely pleased with it. At first I was somewhat dissappointed, but about a month into owning the skimmer I realized how to lower the height of the collection cup, and now it works marvelously. My biggest gripe is in regards to the clear acrylic it is made out of. I get a lot of algae growth inside the skimmer itself since light penetrates the body so well. Due to this fact I take off and clean the entire unit monthly if not biweekly. While somewhat annoying it does perform much better after a decent cleaning. A couple other notes. The pump will not restart on its own. A simple puff of air down the air intake starts it right up, but the pump will not restart under its own power. Lastly the skimmer performs better the higher the water level is on the intake pipe. Drawing the water high up the intake pipe and powering the skimmer itself is too taxing for the small maxijet 1000 to handle. I keep the water level in the back chamber of my solana as high as possible without letting water overflow in the small surface skimming box and it works great this way.

For those who prefer simple pictoral proof here is a four day nog shot.

My Tunze didn't produce this in a month...