Looking for advise on current tanks.

R

Rich130981

New member
As some of you know I have been out of work for 10 months due to a work injury that left me with crippling pain. Recently the pain has been reduced to almost nothing. I am currently being weaned of the plethora of pain meds, and should be off drugs in around 7-10 more days. Going back to work is fantastic because this hobby is going to be just that for me a hobby. Here's my issue. With my job I am contracted to be on the road for 240+ days per year. Really hard to keep a tank when your gone that much. My tank was at my office up until November when I had surgery. Two other employees at my place of business also kept tanks at work. When I traveled they would be able to keep my tank looking good. I have no plans to move my tank. I willhire a company to do maintenance on my tans so that part is easy. The issue is dosing. I have a 60g cube with around 125 different types of zoas, a few yumas, and 100 or so rics. This tank should be fine because I don't dose anyway. Well vitamin c and fuel but my wife can handle that.

This is my issue tank. I have a 90 gallon mixed reef. I have 6-7 sps pieces that are mini colonies about to be considered colonies, 80-90 frogspawn, 35+ hammer, 2 torch, 165 candy cane, 30+ blastos, 200 zoas, some GSP, and 2 quad color nems. I do not have a reactor and nor do I want one. I currently add 2 part c-balance daily to the tank. In a month I use around 3/4 of a 500ml bottle. Probably think wow that's expensive. Nope amazon sells a gallon of each for a total of 22 shipping included. Anyways with my work I travel a lot. Longest I have been gone without coming home is 4 months. That is rare but happens. The average time frame is usually 1-2 months. I need to only keep corals that will not deplete my system in that amount of time. Keep in mind monthly there will still be water changes. I use salinity if your wondering.

I am planning on selling all sps with the exception of a really rare poci. I think its rare anyway. I have never seen the coral in any other tank. This coral grows very slow and is around the size of a baseball. I feel like selling those corals will not be enough from preventing dosing. How much of the LPS will need to go?
 
Glad to hear that things are getting better for you. as for the LPS, couldn't you just do like the 2 part reef fusion, and teach your wife how to do that as well?
 
Could dosing pumps on timers possibly work for you? I buy BRS bulk calcium, mag and alkalinity, and mix up 2 gallons at a time. It lasts 4-5 months on my tank, but would probably go for 2-3 with more corals. It would be very easy for your wife to mix up and top off the jugs as needed, and is relatively inexpensive. The BRS dosing pumps run around $80 each, so there is some upfront cost, but mixing your own solutions would make up for that.
 
I have never used or been taught how to use a reactor for cal, alk. I talked to a few people and they said there is some trial and error. I would be afraid that when I am gone something goes wrong and I come home to a dying tank.

As for teaching her what to add to the tank, I could try but I don't think it will end well. Her time is taken up by my 3 year old and new born. To add to that she watches our 4 year old niece and soon my sisters baby. She will be very busy and not have time for "stupid fish"...lol. So I have learned that she enjoys the tanks as long as participation is minimal. I will ask her though and see if she is up to it. I will know after my first job if that was a good or bad idea.
 
Congratulations man, I know that you've been hoping to get back to work for some time now! Although, your current predicament is a bit of a worry, I like the dosing pumps solution- maybe reward your tanks with an apex / reef keeper? :) Unfortunately, I know nothing of either, nor about dosing pumps (I also do it all manually). Good luck though, and let me know if I can help in any way!
 
Rich130981 said:
I have never used or been taught how to use a reactor for cal, alk. I talked to a few people and they said there is some trial and error. I would be afraid that when I am gone something goes wrong and I come home to a dying tank.

As for teaching her what to add to the tank, I could try but I don't think it will end well. Her time is taken up by my 3 year old and new born. To add to that she watches our 4 year old niece and soon my sisters baby. She will be very busy and not have time for "stupid fish"...lol. So I have learned that she enjoys the tanks as long as participation is minimal. I will ask her though and see if she is up to it. I will know after my first job if that was a good or bad idea.
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I wasn't sure if you were responding to my post about dosing pumps. If so, they are not reactors, they do exactly what you do each day manually, dispense the correct amount of alkalinity, mag and calcium into your tanks. You can just set a timer so they only stay on to deliver the amount you want, and immediately turn off again. The pumps just draw up the solution from a container that holds each chemical using airline tubing and pumps it through the tubing until it reaches your tank. They are very easy to work. I can give you a more clear idea how they work when I see you on Wed. if you would like.

I do have an apex that runs them, which is nice but not necessary. What's nice is I have it programmed for alk and calcium to be dosed 24 times a day, so there is less change in the tank parameters. Calc is delivered on the hour, and alk on the 1/2 hour to avoid any precipitates.



Disclaimer:
AND...If you weren't referring to the idea of dosing pumps from my post....Ignore this whole response. :loldude:
 
Marilyn-I was responding to you. I didn't realize that's what they were. I will have to look into them. Thanks

I am also afraid of what happened this Sunday happening when im not home. I just discovered the ric melt party about 1 1/2 hrs ago. So I had a faulty return pump that went out on me the Friday before last. The pump was only 5 weeks old. When I flipped the power strip off on the pump started right up. To bad I never checked the plumbing kit for a siphon stop. Few gallons on the floor, oh well. So I contacted seller and they said they would exchange. I didn't have a chance to do the exchange until yesterday. So Sunday morning I woke up and the pump was off. I didn't think much of it. Switch the pumps out and went about my day. So today I noticed around 50 rics have melted maybe more. I did a WC and relocated some stuff, and all is good. If that were to happen and I wasn't here that would be bad.

So I really don't know what to do.
 
Ouch, that really sucks man! You had some nice rics going too! I really think a controller and dosing pumps will help put you at ease, and then just look over your tanks one more time to ensure they are setup to be as safe as possible from accidental power outages, etc!

Just exactly all a controller can do has confused me too... Maybe someone with experience with them can chime in on all the things they have them do?

As for a bit more peace of mind, make sure you have frags of your more treasured pieces safely in someone else's tank in case of a total disaster!
 
I am so sorry about the rics melting. You had gorgeous ones, too! :( I really tend to believe that a controller may help you in the long run. It may not solve all of your problems like when a pump goes out, but there are many ways that they can be set up that can reduce some mishaps while you are away. For instance, you can set it up to turn off the heaters and/or your lights if the tank temp gets above a certain point. They can stop the dosing of kalkwasser or alkalinity if your pH climbs too high. With the use of a second float valve they can turn off the power to your ATO in case it gets stuck on. I'm not by any means an expert on all they can do, but maybe it would give you some peace of mind for some of your concerns, and lighten the load on your wife. Mine is an apex lite, and I have 21 things plugged in and programed on my tank that are totally controllable from my computer. The only negative is that once you get one, you are hooked like a good illegal drug. :a08:
 
Hey Rich, I'm happy to hear that you'll be moving around with no pain soon :). I'm with Marilyn and Erik with regards to getting a controller, I recently got an APEX controller and I have to agree. It puts your tank on auto pilot... If your sump starts to overflow you can set it up so that all water/dosing going into the tank is turned off. If your tank starts to over heat you can set it to turn off all the lights, etc... It seems that Marilyn is more knowledgeable about controller then I but if I can help let me know.
 
CienFuegos said:
It seems that Marilyn is more knowledgeable about controller then I but if I can help let me know.
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Thanks, but actually, I have learned to make it sound as though I'm knowledgeable about it! :a21:

Rich, I will warn you, it can seem a bit daunting to set an apex up at first, but once you understand how it works and get a feel for it you get a great reward in the end. I would also be available to help you as well whenever you need, with dosers or an apex, if that's the direction you decide to go.
 
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