Dary's tank!

[Autumnsky]

Good advice and good memories. I might need to do that for my larger FW tank (eventually). Good remi ders though about how important the water is. Good, better, best.

 

[Dary421]

Good advice and good memories. I might need to do that for my larger FW tank (eventually). Good remi ders though about how important the water is. Good, better, best.

“Good ,better ,best” ,… that tells the story ,…I like that !

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Long time members will remember doug aka “ mr.x “ ,.. he was Frank , harsh, extremely knowledgeable and yet funny too , he always reminded me of judge Judy ,..anyway , he always preached that water changes are your best friend., which is the reason for this post .

Years ago I had a modified 50 gal barrel plumbed to do my weekly pwc’s ,…I would roughly do a 25 -35 gal water change weekly and my water for the most part was beautiful, i could browse all the sps and feel very comfortable knowing that they would grow and flourish in my tank ,… then a few years ago for some reason that I can’t recall except maybe a bout of stupidity I tore out that barrel and replaced it with a cut down 25 gal container ,… well a 15 gal weekly water change for my system just isn’t cutting it ,… not that my present water isn’t good ,it’s just not up to the quality it used to be .

I can hear doug saying something like “Dary ,what the hell were you thinking ? You know better than that ! “

Anyways, for awhile I wanted to redo that mistake and get things back up to snuff,… so off to Dixieline for some pvc fitting etc and the new project was underway ,…after a few adult sodas I wrestled the new modified 50 gal barrel in and got it all plumbed back up and running .

I’m sure over the next few weeks I’ll be back to having that sps water again !!

Thank you mr.x for those haunting words,… you may be gone from the forum but you’re not forgotten !!!

Today was the barrels maiden refill


Going to be doing the full Triton Method that removes the need for water changes on the 75 gallon tank I’m building currently. Pretty excited… relies on a large fuge for PO4 and NO3 control, and a dosing regimen that replaces trace elements. Pretty excited.

 

[Dary421]

Long time members will remember doug aka “ mr.x “ ,.. he was Frank , harsh, extremely knowledgeable and yet funny too , he always reminded me of judge Judy ,..anyway , he always preached that water changes are your best friend., which is the reason for this post .

Years ago I had a modified 50 gal barrel plumbed to do my weekly pwc’s ,…I would roughly do a 25 -35 gal water change weekly and my water for the most part was beautiful, i could browse all the sps and feel very comfortable knowing that they would grow and flourish in my tank ,… then a few years ago for some reason that I can’t recall except maybe a bout of stupidity I tore out that barrel and replaced it with a cut down 25 gal container ,… well a 15 gal weekly water change for my system just isn’t cutting it ,… not that my present water isn’t good ,it’s just not up to the quality it used to be .

I can hear doug saying something like “Dary ,what the hell were you thinking ? You know better than that ! “

Anyways, for awhile I wanted to redo that mistake and get things back up to snuff,… so off to Dixieline for some pvc fitting etc and the new project was underway ,…after a few adult sodas I wrestled the new modified 50 gal barrel in and got it all plumbed back up and running .

I’m sure over the next few weeks I’ll be back to having that sps water again !!

Thank you mr.x for those haunting words,… you may be gone from the forum but you’re not forgotten !!!

Today was the barrels maiden refill


Going to be doing the full Triton Method that removes the need for water changes on the 75 gallon tank I’m building currently. Pretty excited… relies on a large fuge for PO4 and NO3 control, and a dosing regimen that replaces trace elements. Pretty excited.

I’ll be checking that out ,…. I’m just old school ,… large pwc’s and a few prayers lol

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

I’ll be checking that out ,…. I’m just old school ,… large pwc’s and a few prayers lol

Yea I can’t hack the water changes anymore. The Triton Method involved a lot of planning but I finally got everything I need. Large fuge, strong fuge light, 10x display flow, but there is definitely a large overlap… prayers

 

[Dary421]

Well while doing my weekly water change this morning I noticed my ol’ seaside aquatic protein skimmer wasn’t producing the zillion bubbles it usually does ,… , well, long story short I had to pretty much dismantle half the house to get it out and then dismantle the whole thing ,… luckily ,I alway have a gallon of white vinegar on hand cuz my skimmer had more coralline algae encrusted on it than it had clear plexiglass.
After dismantling the whole thing and and scrubbing the crap out of it I finally have it back up and running ,… the air intake hose fitting that connected to the pump was encrusted in a calcium like deposits where it connected to the pump ,..I chiseled that all out and it’s purring like a cat !
Needless to say that was quite the job ! Anyways ,alls well out here and I’m happy to say the powder blue tang thrives !!!

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

I’ve always made it a habit to let the air intake suck in a couple cups of RODI water once a month or so to help with the cal deposits like that

 

[Gregcoyote]

Well while doing my weekly water change this morning I noticed my ol’ seaside aquatic protein skimmer wasn’t producing the zillion bubbles it usually does ,… , well, long story short I had to pretty much dismantle half the house to get it out and then dismantle the whole thing ,… luckily ,I alway have a gallon of white vinegar on hand cuz my skimmer had more coralline algae encrusted on it than it had clear plexiglass.
After dismantling the whole thing and and scrubbing the crap out of it I finally have it back up and running ,… the air intake hose fitting that connected to the pump was encrusted in a calcium like deposits where it connected to the pump ,..I chiseled that all out and it’s purring like a cat !
Needless to say that was quite the job ! Anyways ,alls well out here and I’m happy to say the powder blue tang thrives !!!View attachment 322636

Hey Dary!
How’s tricks? My reef is about to get torn down after over 30 years. We are finally moving to our retirement home on our farm. I have a 400 gallon I’m reconditioning to move the old reef too if I have the energy. Glad to see you are still at it!
Greg Heifner

 

[Dary421]

Holy smokes !!! So cool to hear from you !!!
A 400 gal tank sounds awesome ,if not time consuming, but you’re retired now so you’ll be able to devote all the time it needs .
I personally have learned so much from you over the years , keep in touch !!! …..now if we can only get doug back too, lol ,…..take care Greg !!!

 

[Dary421]

“Well if it’s not one thing it’s another”,… the large barrel I recently recycled for my weekly water changes started leaking thru the bulk head ,…I had reused that bulkhead that I salvaged off of another barrel and I’m sure the rubber gasket was cracked or compressed to the point that over time it started seeping ,… it was causing quite the mess so I decided to order a new slightly smaller barrel and NEW bulk head and start over again ,… we’ll the barrel arrived last night and after installing the new bulkhead (with silicone glue this time ) she’s holding water without any seepage ,… it’s now installed and being filled with fresh rodi water as we speak .
While doing all this maintenance last night I glanced down at my heater / cooler controller and noticed that the tanks temperature had dropped about 2 degrees !!…. Thru trial and error I discovered that the old trusty controller has finally died, there’s no power going into the line that powers the heater even tho it says there is ,…that controller has been in service for well over ten years without a hitch so I guess it was time to finally give up the ghost .
Luckily,I grabbed the water change submergible heater and put it into the main tank and now the tanks temperature has been creeping back up to normal again .
I ordered a new controller this morning manufactured by the same company but of a different design.
Fingers crossed all goes well… kinda amazing how you become ,a biologist ,plumber,electrician,carpenter and overall zoo keeper when you take up this hobby .
The fun just never seems to end !! Lol

 

[Autumnsky]

Wow, never a dull moment!
(Hi Greg!)

Looks great. But so many problems at once! That sort of thing seems usual. If nothing's wrong I feel like something's about to hit the fan somewhere!

 

[Dary421]

Wow, never a dull moment!
(Hi Greg!)

Looks great. But so many problems at once! That sort of thing seems usual. If nothing's wrong I feel like something's about to hit the fan somewhere!

Lol …. Isn’t that the truth !! Oh well, I guess it’s just part of the game

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Think a uniseal instead of a bulkhead would have been a better option?

 

[Dary421]

Maybe but …… at this point as long as things stay dry then I’m a happy camper

 

[Autumnsky]

Lol …. Isn’t that the truth !! Oh well, I guess it’s just part of the game

Yes, the annoying part,

 

[Dary421]

My new inkbird controller arrived on schedule and was installed immediately,… it’s settings seemed a little different from the older previous one I had,..but got it fired up in minutes,….and so far it’s been maintaining the tank right at 79 degrees which is nice to see again !
Whoopee , that’s one small battle won,…but I’m sure there’s many more to come .

 

[Autumnsky]

Good job!

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

My new inkbird controller arrived on schedule and was installed immediately,… it’s settings seemed a little different from the older previous one I had,..but got it fired up in minutes,….and so far it’s been maintaining the tank right at 79 degrees which is nice to see again !
Whoopee , that’s one small battle won,…but I’m sure there’s many more to come .

I like the InkBird controllers. The apps can be a bit dodgy and sometimes flat out programmed incorrectly, but for the most part they are solid. Just bought a pair of 300w titanium BRS heaters today to hook up to mine- my 150w Jagers weren’t keeping the tank warm enough.

 

[Dary421]

Good job!

Thank you autumn ,…it’s funny that you said earlier that it’s kinda ominous when everything’s working smoothly cuz you know something’s about to blow !!! Lol,…years ago I was driving my old truck with a friend into the mountains to go fishing ,…mind you this old truck had about 200,000 miles on it ,… as we neared he mountain peak I looked over at my friend and said something like “ wow,the old truck has never run better !”,… well, 3 miles down the road I was calling for a tow truck when the transmission blew up !

 

[Dary421]

I like the InkBird controllers. The apps can be a bit dodgy and sometimes flat out programmed incorrectly, but for the most part they are solid. Just bought a pair of 300w titanium BRS heaters today to hook up to mine- my 150w Jagers weren’t keeping the tank warm enough.

Yeah, saw that on your thread ,… the last one lasted for 10 years or so before it bit the dust,…hope yours does as well ,…those extra heaters might come in handy down the line in case of a emergency