EricTheRed
No, I'm not a communist..
I just got my mp40 today too
Give a call next time you're drivin' by, I'm usually home.
Time for a new start
- Thread starter DanSreef
- Start date
I just got my mp40 today too
Give a call next time you're drivin' by, I'm usually home.
DanSreef
Premium member
Not the best picture in the world....but can you see the difference? Yup...no more Koralias!!!!!!
All I can say is WOW! The flow that this MP40wES puts out is absolutely insane! I have it doing the Nutrient Transport Mode (NTM) and the water movement....then the random wave sequences is really quite incredible! I can totally see how this would stir up anything and get it moving in the water column to get filtered out. It is a little noisy but as I read it will get quieter as it breaks in.
All in all…. I am very impressed. These VorTech Pumps are incredibly expensive but I can see how they are a great investment….and make a great environment even better. Now what do I do with all these worthless…backwards running Koralias???? I would laugh….but I have purchased so many over the years….that I easily could have purchased a couple of these MP40s. I am sure I will find something to do with them. I guess they will work to help mix water….
DanSreef
Premium member
Christmas has come and gone....now we wait for what the new year brings. For me...the new year will test my reefing patience...it seems. My new tanks cycle is just now registering Nitrites...after almost 17 days. I am thinking because I am going bare bottom that the cycle has been slowed considerably. I think also all of that dry reef rock I got instead of using a lot of live rock also contributed to the slow start. My hope is that this will all pay off nicely and that the tank will be an ideal place to grow out some really nice SPS corals.
Hopefully the Nitrates start to rise by the weekend...and Ammonia and Nitrite levels drop to zero as I am really looking forward to hooking up my EV-180 Skimmer, Pellet Reactor and Carbon/GFO reactors... and really get the tank automated and rolling....
The MP40 is working like a champ....though to be honest I am a little surprised how noisy it is. My office is pretty small so the sound it makes is pretty noticeable. Oh well... given all of the other equipment I have in the office...it guess it is not a big deal. The Skimmer is likely to add quite a bit of noise...we will see.
More to come!
Hopefully the Nitrates start to rise by the weekend...and Ammonia and Nitrite levels drop to zero as I am really looking forward to hooking up my EV-180 Skimmer, Pellet Reactor and Carbon/GFO reactors... and really get the tank automated and rolling....
The MP40 is working like a champ....though to be honest I am a little surprised how noisy it is. My office is pretty small so the sound it makes is pretty noticeable. Oh well... given all of the other equipment I have in the office...it guess it is not a big deal. The Skimmer is likely to add quite a bit of noise...we will see.
More to come!
DanSreef
Premium member
Happy New Year to all! I thought I would write up an update to my tank build.
First off…the tank cycle is near complete. Ammonia levels rose and dropped to zero, as have the Nitrites. The Nitrates have risen to between 10-20…and have been stable for the last couple of days. The cycle took a little longer than I had anticipated….but it is nearing its end. I am also still bare bottom at this point. I like the water flow the MP40 is creating in the tank! I would be concerned that sand would become problematic….either getting kicked up by the flow…or holding on to waste and excess food… As long as I can maintain my water parameters…. I am good with a bare bottom in the tank. I will end up creating a zoa / paly garden on the bottom anyway….at least that is the plan at this point.
Yesterday I added a JNS Alpha 2 Bio Pellet reactor I purchased from BRS….and attempted to install the AquaC EV-180 Skimmer I purchased from AquaCave. The Alpha 2 reactor is really a nice unit / setup. The water pump is built into the bottom of the reactor and there are two water jets at the bottom of the reactor cylinder which is meant to stir up the pellets. This thing tumbles the bio pellets like crazy! I have used two little fishes reactors with bio pellets on the other tank and you need to shake the pellets every once in a while to avoid clumping. In the Alpha 2 there is no way the pellets are going to clump. The return pipe coming out of the reactor is set up nicely as well and can be easily positioned near a skimmer intake…which is ideal. Anyway, I am very impressed with the Alpha 2 reactor…we will see how it performs over time. By the way, my thought is this is an ideal time to get that reactor started…while the nitrates are high. I will monitor things over the next week or so. If the nitrates do not come down…I will get set to do some large water changes to export the nitrates out.
As for the skimmer…. I have to admit I should have spent a little more time researching the EV-180. The thing was huge. When fitted into the sump…it took up way too much room. I got it to fit…but it was a major pain in the ***! Then I fired up the mag 7 pump that fed it…and simply put… Hell No! That thing was just way too loud. Then as I did more research… I found that I could not redirect the output flow without messing up the skimmer performance. So not only was the pump loud…the water return was causing splashing in the sump area…and a heck of a lot of noise. Simply put…this skimmer would not work on this tank. So, I called up AquaCave to return it. Initially they refused to take the skimmer and pump back. They said as soon as it hit the water….they would not take it back. Which… frankly kind of burned me up a bit. Both were in the water for an hour or so…at most… Needless to say the last few interactions has soured me to AquaCave. I tried being polite but ultimately had to threaten not to purchase anything from them in the future and share my poor experience with the boards I belong to…. Yes… I played THAT card…to the hilt! After going back and forth… I got agreement from the owner that I could return the setup for store credit that I could apply to another skimmer. Since I needed the skimmer now I initially agreed to purchase a reef octopus the SX 200. But after doing some measurements I realized that this would be too tight a fit. So I asked about the SX 160 which has gotten pretty good reviews. I liked that the pump was integrated in the bottom of the skimmer itself. Unfortunately the lead time on that skimmer was 3-4 weeks. So… after some research I chose the Skimz SM 161 Monster E-Series skimmer. I saw some fairly good reviews… but was a little concerned about how big…and how well the skimmer would perform. I took a leap of faith and bought the Skimz skimmer. I drove up to AquaCave and met them to return the Ev-180 and pick up the SM 161. I didn’t mind the drive as my father lives up that way and I could visit him while up there too.
Here is a picture of the Skimmer shortly before installation into the sump. I have to say….this a nice skimmer. Very well built out of good solid materials! Everything went together really quite well and precisely as the instructions said…which in this hobby is almost a rarity! It installed in the sump beautifully. The footprint is ideal for a sump with tight space. The pump is integrated into the bottom of the skimmer as is the return water gate. In fact, this is something that Skimz claims helps eliminate micro bubbles. If you look at the picture above, the return gate control is on the left and controls a door in the base of the skimmer. In the airline silencer there is a needle valve too to control the amount of air going into the skimmer. Apparently this thing pulls 780 L/Hr which is more than most applications need. The needle valve gives the owner the ability to micro adjust the amount of air being pulled. We will see how this works out. Let me stop and say….this thing creates some serious bubble action! As the skimmer breaks in….and I start adding livestock to the tank…. It will be interesting how it performs compared to the Reef Octopus I have on my other tank. So far… I am pretty impressed with the setup, the engineering and the performance….
Here is a picture of the skimmer installed in the sump. It sits in there nicely. You can see the Alpha 2 pellet reactor just left of the skimmer. As it sits now… the outflow of the Alpha 2 is right next to the intake of the skimmer pump. The outlet of the skimmer is right next to the return pump which is behind the blue tape I am using to measure the water levels in the sump. The ideal level will then be maintained by a top off system that I still need to install and that will be managed by the Apex controller. Do you like the clamp and 4” sock filter. I used to have a 7” filter sock holder setup….but it took way too much room. So I opted for the 4” sock…and am using a carpenter’s clamp I have… Yes… a little bit of hillbilly rigging for sure. Anyway… I think all in all the installation of the reactor and skimmer took a lot of time to finally do….with a couple of headaches along the way…but in the end I am happy thus far. We will see how well these two items perform over time.
The great news… I am starting to plan out the stocking of this bad boy. Though my plan was to have it as an SPS dominant tank…. I am going to have a mix of soft and LPS along with SPS. The first inhabitant will most likely be the two baby onyx clowns that have been sharing the office with me in an 8 gal bio cube. Of course… one can imagine they have been watching this build dreaming of being in the new tank someday. Well, tomorrow will be the day…as long as things continue to progress as planned. I am also going to transplant their fuzzy mushroom colony they have been hosting in. I am also going to add a muti-head torch colony as well that is in yet another bio cube in another part of the house….and a small hammer frag I have. These corals are very hardy….as are the clowns.
More to come!
First off…the tank cycle is near complete. Ammonia levels rose and dropped to zero, as have the Nitrites. The Nitrates have risen to between 10-20…and have been stable for the last couple of days. The cycle took a little longer than I had anticipated….but it is nearing its end. I am also still bare bottom at this point. I like the water flow the MP40 is creating in the tank! I would be concerned that sand would become problematic….either getting kicked up by the flow…or holding on to waste and excess food… As long as I can maintain my water parameters…. I am good with a bare bottom in the tank. I will end up creating a zoa / paly garden on the bottom anyway….at least that is the plan at this point.
Yesterday I added a JNS Alpha 2 Bio Pellet reactor I purchased from BRS….and attempted to install the AquaC EV-180 Skimmer I purchased from AquaCave. The Alpha 2 reactor is really a nice unit / setup. The water pump is built into the bottom of the reactor and there are two water jets at the bottom of the reactor cylinder which is meant to stir up the pellets. This thing tumbles the bio pellets like crazy! I have used two little fishes reactors with bio pellets on the other tank and you need to shake the pellets every once in a while to avoid clumping. In the Alpha 2 there is no way the pellets are going to clump. The return pipe coming out of the reactor is set up nicely as well and can be easily positioned near a skimmer intake…which is ideal. Anyway, I am very impressed with the Alpha 2 reactor…we will see how it performs over time. By the way, my thought is this is an ideal time to get that reactor started…while the nitrates are high. I will monitor things over the next week or so. If the nitrates do not come down…I will get set to do some large water changes to export the nitrates out.
As for the skimmer…. I have to admit I should have spent a little more time researching the EV-180. The thing was huge. When fitted into the sump…it took up way too much room. I got it to fit…but it was a major pain in the ***! Then I fired up the mag 7 pump that fed it…and simply put… Hell No! That thing was just way too loud. Then as I did more research… I found that I could not redirect the output flow without messing up the skimmer performance. So not only was the pump loud…the water return was causing splashing in the sump area…and a heck of a lot of noise. Simply put…this skimmer would not work on this tank. So, I called up AquaCave to return it. Initially they refused to take the skimmer and pump back. They said as soon as it hit the water….they would not take it back. Which… frankly kind of burned me up a bit. Both were in the water for an hour or so…at most… Needless to say the last few interactions has soured me to AquaCave. I tried being polite but ultimately had to threaten not to purchase anything from them in the future and share my poor experience with the boards I belong to…. Yes… I played THAT card…to the hilt! After going back and forth… I got agreement from the owner that I could return the setup for store credit that I could apply to another skimmer. Since I needed the skimmer now I initially agreed to purchase a reef octopus the SX 200. But after doing some measurements I realized that this would be too tight a fit. So I asked about the SX 160 which has gotten pretty good reviews. I liked that the pump was integrated in the bottom of the skimmer itself. Unfortunately the lead time on that skimmer was 3-4 weeks. So… after some research I chose the Skimz SM 161 Monster E-Series skimmer. I saw some fairly good reviews… but was a little concerned about how big…and how well the skimmer would perform. I took a leap of faith and bought the Skimz skimmer. I drove up to AquaCave and met them to return the Ev-180 and pick up the SM 161. I didn’t mind the drive as my father lives up that way and I could visit him while up there too.
Here is a picture of the Skimmer shortly before installation into the sump. I have to say….this a nice skimmer. Very well built out of good solid materials! Everything went together really quite well and precisely as the instructions said…which in this hobby is almost a rarity! It installed in the sump beautifully. The footprint is ideal for a sump with tight space. The pump is integrated into the bottom of the skimmer as is the return water gate. In fact, this is something that Skimz claims helps eliminate micro bubbles. If you look at the picture above, the return gate control is on the left and controls a door in the base of the skimmer. In the airline silencer there is a needle valve too to control the amount of air going into the skimmer. Apparently this thing pulls 780 L/Hr which is more than most applications need. The needle valve gives the owner the ability to micro adjust the amount of air being pulled. We will see how this works out. Let me stop and say….this thing creates some serious bubble action! As the skimmer breaks in….and I start adding livestock to the tank…. It will be interesting how it performs compared to the Reef Octopus I have on my other tank. So far… I am pretty impressed with the setup, the engineering and the performance….
Here is a picture of the skimmer installed in the sump. It sits in there nicely. You can see the Alpha 2 pellet reactor just left of the skimmer. As it sits now… the outflow of the Alpha 2 is right next to the intake of the skimmer pump. The outlet of the skimmer is right next to the return pump which is behind the blue tape I am using to measure the water levels in the sump. The ideal level will then be maintained by a top off system that I still need to install and that will be managed by the Apex controller. Do you like the clamp and 4” sock filter. I used to have a 7” filter sock holder setup….but it took way too much room. So I opted for the 4” sock…and am using a carpenter’s clamp I have… Yes… a little bit of hillbilly rigging for sure. Anyway… I think all in all the installation of the reactor and skimmer took a lot of time to finally do….with a couple of headaches along the way…but in the end I am happy thus far. We will see how well these two items perform over time.
The great news… I am starting to plan out the stocking of this bad boy. Though my plan was to have it as an SPS dominant tank…. I am going to have a mix of soft and LPS along with SPS. The first inhabitant will most likely be the two baby onyx clowns that have been sharing the office with me in an 8 gal bio cube. Of course… one can imagine they have been watching this build dreaming of being in the new tank someday. Well, tomorrow will be the day…as long as things continue to progress as planned. I am also going to transplant their fuzzy mushroom colony they have been hosting in. I am also going to add a muti-head torch colony as well that is in yet another bio cube in another part of the house….and a small hammer frag I have. These corals are very hardy….as are the clowns.
More to come!
FishBeard
New member
Well, to be honest, your just going to make a mess of things adding sand now... Might as well leave it barebottom. Oh yea, and throw a 2nd MP40wES in there to Anti-Sync from the other side. Just keep telling yourself, its only money....
Oh yea, and I still have that mystery wrasse, would look great cruising around your tank, hint hint, nudge nudge...
Oh yea, and I still have that mystery wrasse, would look great cruising around your tank, hint hint, nudge nudge...
DanSreef
Premium member
Today was the big day… I began the process of really adding stuff to the tank! I added my baby onyx clowns who have been patiently waiting in their 8 gal nano bio cube. I moved their fuzzy mushroom colony late yesterday afternoon along with a neon hammer frag, a torch colony and two orange cap monti frags that I had. I then moved the clowns this morning before the lights came on.
One thing for sure there is a lot of flow in the tank. I needed to ratchet it back a bit so that the fish and the corals had a little easier time getting acquainted with their new surroundings. I am not the best photographer…but here is their first photos in the tank. I am going to need to mess around with nighttime settings for the MP40…this should let the clowns settle in a bit overnight… So far...I think they are doing fine. They are probably in a bit of shock with moving from such a small tank...to this one!
This morning I also setup the BRS Carbon and GFO reactor I had ordered. It is a pretty nice setup actually using a MJ1200. Everything has fit quite nicely….tight… but nicely in the stand. I even have room for ATO reservoir ( a 5 gal jug). Now if the darn Apex I/O breakout box would just come in from PA.
Thanks to everyone following my build. It has been an adventure. Now the fun starts…. the process of turning this foundation that I have worked hard to create into a reef.
Stay tuned…. More to come!
One thing for sure there is a lot of flow in the tank. I needed to ratchet it back a bit so that the fish and the corals had a little easier time getting acquainted with their new surroundings. I am not the best photographer…but here is their first photos in the tank. I am going to need to mess around with nighttime settings for the MP40…this should let the clowns settle in a bit overnight… So far...I think they are doing fine. They are probably in a bit of shock with moving from such a small tank...to this one!
This morning I also setup the BRS Carbon and GFO reactor I had ordered. It is a pretty nice setup actually using a MJ1200. Everything has fit quite nicely….tight… but nicely in the stand. I even have room for ATO reservoir ( a 5 gal jug). Now if the darn Apex I/O breakout box would just come in from PA.
Thanks to everyone following my build. It has been an adventure. Now the fun starts…. the process of turning this foundation that I have worked hard to create into a reef.
Stay tuned…. More to come!
DanSreef
Premium member
Thanks Jeff! How is the mushroom I gave you doing? I actually have two more that shed off this colony when I moved it. Funny, they must have loved that small 8 gal nano.... I think I have had that colony longer (like at least 11 years...probably a few more than that) than any other coral I have today... and they never multiplied until I moved them into that tank. Of course...They never had clowns hosting in them until they were in that tank. They hosted a pair of baby saddle back clowns that did not survive... the clowns were too small I think. Then I purchased these baby onyx...and they have done well. We will see how this tank evolves over time.
FishBeard
New member
Dan, just FYI, technically there are only a handful of anemone species that "host" clownfish. Mushrooms and clowns don't create that symbiotic bond. The clowns probably just found the shrooms a suitable replacement for an anemone and decided to move in. And sorry to hear about the saddlebacks those are some nice looking clowns.
DanSreef
Premium member
Thanks George. This is the second set of baby clowns who have hosted in these fuzzy mushrooms. At first I was surprised....but I was told by a clown breeder that these fuzzy mushrooms are pretty similar to nems...and that they make great subsitutes for nems in a nano tank...with baby clowns. Perhaps when I introduce a RBTA in the future...these clowns will jump ship. For now...they are happy as can be in their fuzzy mushrooms.
Jep21
Well-known member
the mushroom is doing very well
its gotten big.lol check out my biocube 14 thread.. My yellowwatchman goby and yasha goby like resting on top of it...
DanSreef
Premium member
Awesome Jeff! Yeah.... when they were in my 72 gal bowfront...the mushrooms were really big. My guess is in this new tank here...they will expand quite a bit..unless they do not like the level of flow. If that is the case... I will slide them back a bit more into a cove that I have created.
DanSreef
Premium member
I thought I would post an update and a couple of pictures. The tank’s cycle is done. Water parameters have Phosphates at 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates as 0-5, KH 9, PH at 8.3 temp at 78 and Calcium at 360. I know that the Ca is low and am already dosing to bring that up.
I had a nice algae bloom on the rocks which was really nasty looking…totally expected. I bought a snail only cleanup crew from ReefCleaners and they went to work in a big way. Not only did they take out the algae on the rocks….but they also eliminated the white hazy deposit layer on the bottom acrylic… this was from dust on the rocks I which I thought it would have been an good foundation for some coralline algae... not to be. The snails devoured that thin film…and as you can see the acrylic is nearly bare again.
I am at about 80% on my actinics and 70% on my daylights…. I will raise intensities 10% next week and then the next…. I don’t want to blast out any of the corals I have in there now.
New acquisitions are a) Red Planet, b) Watermelon Milli, c) Lime Green Staghorn, and a d) unnamed milli. Here is a FTS and a couple of closer in views.
Enjoy!
Full Tank Shot
Green Slimmer
Torch
I had a nice algae bloom on the rocks which was really nasty looking…totally expected. I bought a snail only cleanup crew from ReefCleaners and they went to work in a big way. Not only did they take out the algae on the rocks….but they also eliminated the white hazy deposit layer on the bottom acrylic… this was from dust on the rocks I which I thought it would have been an good foundation for some coralline algae... not to be. The snails devoured that thin film…and as you can see the acrylic is nearly bare again.
I am at about 80% on my actinics and 70% on my daylights…. I will raise intensities 10% next week and then the next…. I don’t want to blast out any of the corals I have in there now.
New acquisitions are a) Red Planet, b) Watermelon Milli, c) Lime Green Staghorn, and a d) unnamed milli. Here is a FTS and a couple of closer in views.
Enjoy!
Full Tank Shot
Green Slimmer
Torch
ColaAddict
New member
Coming together real nice
How did you attach that one rock on the side wall?
How did you attach that one rock on the side wall?
EricTheRed
No, I'm not a communist..
You didn't take any pics of your new pieces...?
I see the lime stag off to the side of your slimer. You should frag me a piece of it I'll trade you a huge chunk of my cap-monti and a nice neon green spongedes.
I see the lime stag off to the side of your slimer. You should frag me a piece of it
I'll trade you a huge chunk of my cap-monti and a nice neon green spongedes.
EricTheRed
No, I'm not a communist..
I can't find it on BRS, what do they call it?
