In-wall 380gal tank - cut out options

[Michael Hoaster]

That does seem awfully fast, on the DI. You do have a big tank…

That makes sense, about #3 giving you more even flow. And you could make a long slot. But the space issue…

Have you considered just putting a Y on each surge pipe, so you have four rather than two? You'd double the surge sources and halve the velocity. It might give you more flexibility dealing with the space issue. You probably already thought of that.

Although you and I are at opposite ends of the 'tech scale', I really enjoy following your progress! I especially like that most of your gizmos are DIY. You're not just throwing money at problems, you're solving them with your brain and your hands. Kudos!

I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

[karimwassef]

http://youtu.be/UDS1lxLRWyA

Finally figured out how to make my tangs live in a community.

[Lavoisier]

They're clearly getting along. What are your doing? Giving them 8 feet and 300+ gallons of space?

[karimwassef]

LOL. So here's what I did...

First, I got the largest most docile tang I could find, my Naso. He basically patrols the grounds and his size keeps everyone else's aggression in check. The other thing I did was introduce a number of different size fish at once- creating confusion so no one new fish could be picked on. I moved the rock work around to create new territories requiring the incumbents to review their space. Then, I overfed so they were busy eating vs. fighting. Finally, it coincided with my 3 days of darkness for dinos - that made all the fish equally apprehensive of a shared threat to all of them and they actually huddled together in the dark.

When the lights came back on, they were a "collective" instead of individuals vying for dominance.

So lots of stuff. All of it contributed.

But, in my opinion, my Naso was the key. He's alpha so the rest don't feel the need to compete as much. He's also very docile making him the benevolent king.

[karimwassef]

Started dosing LaCl into my monster skimmer (diluted into RODI). No filter on the output but the skimmer is a double Beckett recirculating 12ft and running wet.



I'm using the ATM version (the tv guys) and dosing 60ml for my 600gal over 24 hrs.

You can see the dower under the clear bucket of solution and the injection into the skimmer intake feed line (no chance of getting to the tank).

I'm watching my purple tang but it looks healthy after 2 days.

[karimwassef]

I've also recently updated the impeller on my kalk reactor. I can add 2lbs of kalk into 3 gals of RODI and it stays suspended hallways up.

[karimwassef]

To feed the reactor, I use gravity and a solenoid switch with a tiny cooling fan.



Both run at 12V

[karimwassef]

My little brown porites finger is pushing out little pink nubs...


A week ago


Tonight (evening pic)

[karimwassef]

That was fast. In two days of LaCl, my purple, yellow and sailfin tangs are breathing very heavily. No one else effected. Corals very happy.

Cutting the Lanthanum dose in 1/2 to 30ml.

[Lavoisier]

Beautiful extension on the corals. Remarkable how quickly your tangs reacted to the lanthanum. Seems like we always have a trade off...

[karimwassef]

Thanks. Got a few more sps. Love the Pavona.

So, I dialed down the LaCl and got a proportional reduction in my zebrasoma tangs' fast breathing. Still seeing good results on algae.

Dialing it down to 1/2 x again.

[karimwassef]

The instructions are 1ml per gal per day for every 1ppm of phosphate reduced. I have no measure on my real phosphate since I have a macro-algae scrubber that is overgrown weekly. On a 600gal, a full dose would be 60ml per day. I cut that to 30ml and then decided to go to 20ml (instead of half again).

Practically, that means creating a diluted solution of 120ml in 1440ml of water and then dosing at 10ml an hour (240ml a day).

I've been watching for cloudy water or white residue or a gray film on my glass/acrylic. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

The instructions are 1ml per gal per day for every 1ppm of phosphate reduced. I have no measure on my real phosphate since I have a macro-algae scrubber that is overgrown weekly. On a 600gal, a full dose would be 60ml per day. I cut that to 30ml and then decided to go to 20ml (instead of half again).

Practically, that means creating a diluted solution of 120ml in 1440ml of water and then dosing at 10ml an hour (240ml a day).

I've been watching for cloudy water or white residue or a gray film on my glass/acrylic. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

Happy Holidays, Karim. What is your current dosing regime for dosing LaCl3? Also, where did you find the barbed fitting for dosing into your awesome skimmer? (Its time I deal with my own GHA )

[nicoli627]

Nice tank. Looks great. Wish I had room to do this

[karimwassef]

Hey guys. I've actually gotten into a bit of trouble. My LaCl + macro ATS + PhosGuard reactor have pushed my PO4 to below measurable levels. My multi-tier DSB has pushed my NO3 to the same. This is not as great as it sounds.

I completely eliminated any and all algae - but that combination with my intensely long photoperiod precipitated a dino infestation. My sea hate, snails, some crabs and fish died. Ironically - perfect conditions can be deadly.

I didn't even get to add my vinegar dosing- thank goodness as the carbon apparently accelerates dinos in case of a nitrogen and phosphate deficiency.

I'm feeding a lot more now. Three days of darkness and pH of 8.6... Added 6000 pods for predation on the nasty plankton. It helped some. But to get them in check, I started to dose peroxide 3%.

I dose 30ml a day (in 600g). It's 10 times a day (3ml every two hours) and that's knocked them back.

With such a low PO4, I've cut my LaCl to 120ml a day (5ml an hour) of a diluted solution. The dilution is 15ml of the liquid in 1500ml of RODI.

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

Hey guys. I've actually gotten into a bit of trouble. My LaCl + macro ATS + PhosGuard reactor have pushed my PO4 to below measurable levels. My multi-tier DSB has pushed my NO3 to the same. This is not as great as it sounds.

I completely eliminated any and all algae - but that combination with my intensely long photoperiod precipitated a dino infestation. My sea hate, snails, some crabs and fish died. Ironically - perfect conditions can be deadly.

I didn't even get to add my vinegar dosing- thank goodness as the carbon apparently accelerates dinos in case of a nitrogen and phosphate deficiency.

I'm feeding a lot more now. Three days of darkness and pH of 8.6... Added 6000 pods for predation on the nasty plankton. It helped some. But to get them in check, I started to dose peroxide 3%.

I dose 30ml a day (in 600g). It's 10 times a day (3ml every two hours) and that's knocked them back.

With such a low PO4, I've cut my LaCl to 120ml a day (5ml an hour) of a diluted solution. The dilution is 15ml of the liquid in 1500ml of RODI.

I'm confident you will work this out...were did you find that the barbed fitting for dosing into your awesome skimmer?

[karimwassef]

Lowe's has a 1" nipple T where the middle connection is a female thread instead of a nipple. It's intended to connect to a source 1" PVC thread. I connected a nylon hose adapter with 1" thread and 0.25" hose.

I ran 6" of 0.25" line. Then I inserted airline tubing inside the 0.25" with a thin silicone adhesive between them.

I wondered if it would act like a Venturi and suck air in or if it would push salt water out. It did neither. It didn't have the neck down to act as a Venturi. It was too high in impedance compared to the main skimmer line to export any water. It actually took a lot of pressure to blow air into it while testing with the feed pump on.

My dosing pump was able to inject into the high impedance though. I used a one way valve just in case.

[karimwassef]

There is one lesson that I have to share here that I really wish someone had told me about a year ago when I started this thread:

Ventilation.
My aquarium is in my garage, and it has no direct continuous ventilation. I was so concerned with temperature, but I missed the point - humidity and CO2.

As the tank breathes, it releases CO2 and water vapor evaporates. This wreaked havoc in my garage. I had to reinsulate the walls and doors to stop condensation from literally coating them. I had to cover outlets to avoid water causing GFCI fails and most of the tools in my garage are either pitted or rusted. Add to that the effort of running my skimmer intake through a CO2 scrubber to try and raise my pH. Then I had to add a Kalk reactor to get it higher. And that wrecked havoc on my pumps...

It's been an outrageous battle.

So, I installed a 20W vent fan (24VDC) and put a humidity switch to activate it. In 48 hours, my humidity went from 100% to 40%. My walls are dry, as are my outlets. My pH is up by 0.2 which is running my kalk doser less. My evaporation is up significantly which is keeping my tank much cooler (no so good in the winter, but moving on). My GFCI doesn't trip and my garage has fresh air.

Such a small thing and with so much benefit. I just needed to share. Happy New Year.

[muttley000]

What switch did you go with?

[karimwassef]

Air King DH55
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002PU9P5O
I run it on the DC side but it can be used on the AC side too.

Here's the external power supply and the vent fan:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EK96CBI
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00E382RQA

Even though the vent comes with only a temperature sensor and a solar panel, it was straightforward to modify. I plan on adapting a ORing circuit later to use the solar energy.

[karimwassef]

To anyone who has a small aquarium room- maybe a modified closet, I strongly recommend adapted ventilation. It's literally like putting a pet in a closet otherwise.

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks for sharing, Karim. Hopefully, someone will benefit from your experience.

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

There is one lesson that I have to share here that I really wish someone had told me about a year ago when I started this thread:

Ventilation.
My aquarium is in my garage, and it has no direct continuous ventilation. I was so concerned with temperature, but I missed the point - humidity and CO2.

As the tank breathes, it releases CO2 and water vapor evaporates. This wreaked havoc in my garage. I had to reinsulate the walls and doors to stop condensation from literally coating them. I had to cover outlets to avoid water causing GFCI fails and most of the tools in my garage are either pitted or rusted. Add to that the effort of running my skimmer intake through a CO2 scrubber to try and raise my pH. Then I had to add a Kalk reactor to get it higher. And that wrecked havoc on my pumps...

It's been an outrageous battle.

So, I installed a 20W vent fan (24VDC) and put a humidity switch to activate it. In 48 hours, my humidity went from 100% to 40%. My walls are dry, as are my outlets. My pH is up by 0.2 which is running my kalk doser less. My evaporation is up significantly which is keeping my tank much cooler (no so good in the winter, but moving on). My GFCI doesn't trip and my garage has fresh air.

Such a small thing and with so much benefit. I just needed to share. Happy New Year.

Wow, I would have thought your garage would have provided plenty of natural ventilation. Thanks for sharing. I did put a ventilation fan and switch in my basement but I would not have imagined you would have needed one! Talk about complexity...

[karimwassef]

Any large body of water generates a cloud of water vapor. My garage doors are open only minutes a day.

In the summer, my AC was running constantly and creating a mini-pond outside my garage window. In the winter, the internal condensation droplets on my electric cords that are suspended 2 feet from the ceiling was a sure sign something was wrong. These weren't even close to the tank!!

My rusting tools were all the way on the other side of the garage!

If your tank air is connected to your home air and HVAC, you're basically using that as your moisture export. Otherwise - you need to plan for it.

[karimwassef]

Actually, I think we think a lot about water quality - and not enough about air quality. Reefs are pets and need the same (or more) care as we would offer other pets - including fresh air.