renman303's - 225 gallon Blog

[renman303]

OK, this is crazy, but good news. A week ago nearly all of the diatoms had vanished. To put them out for good I did a 20% water change (60 gal) and switched to Coralife Salt. Not sure if that is the salt I want but it was available and I'd never used it before. Anyway, the tank has been crystal clear for the past week! Everything is coming alive! And, I mean everything! Even my Pink Birdsnest has about 10 branches that are half full of life again! I almost pulled it out of the tank to use as a decoration in our bathroom! My carpet anemone is about 8" across now (was about 6"), corals are growing and popping all over.

I bought a small Naso (2.5") and think I need a cucumber to go through the sand now that that tank has been up for 10 months. Not sure what kind of Cucumber though?

[+mcallahan]

perhaps its the turf scrubber doing its thing?

[renman303]

I'm not sure if it's all the turf scrubber that's doing it but it can't be hurting! It's working great, growing...ah....like a weed.

Now I need a cucumber to clean the sand bed.

[Rjohn]

Just to be sure, you used Coralife Scientific Grad Salt Mix?

[renman303]

Yes, I am now using Coralife Scientific Grade Salt. Got it from Petsmart for a mere $39! Ten bucks off!

[Rjohn]

Thanks for the tip. I am gonna give it a shot.

[renman303]

I'm not sure it's the best but I like it. It also has 3 pre-measured bags that do 50 gal each at 1.023 sfg.

[renman303]

Well, it's been nearly a month since starting my drip method from Bulk Reef Supply. I am dripping Calcium at the rate of 1 drop every 12 seconds and Sodium Carbonate at the rate of 1 drop every 13 seconds.

Everything is SPOT ON!

Salinity: 1.026 or 35 ppt

Magnesium: 1400

Calcium: 425 ppm

Phosphates: 0

dKH: 9

Still doing 10% weekly water changes every Monday morning. Since evaporation causes the salinity to increase, I have found that by mixing my new salt water at 1.020 or 32 ppt, It drops the salinity back to 1.025. Seems to work really well, no crazy chemicals to add, I'm only testing now "ONCE A WEEK".

Protein Skimmer: I now only run the protein skimmer for 48 hours a week. I plug it in on Saturday and unplug it on Monday during the water change. It's making a huge difference in the amount of growth on the Algae Turf Scrubber and is now barely pulling a thing from the water.

[renman303]

Well, it's been 3 months since going to the Drip Method, unplugging the Protein Skimmer and increasing the size of the ATS from 2 panels @ 8.5"x11" to 4 panels (pic attached).

I've turned on the Protein Skimmer every weekend for two days straight just to confirm my suspicions...(yes, I have cleaned the Protein Skimmer to insure it's effectiveness) and NO waste collects in the Skimmer! I have not used it in the past two weeks.

The only maintenance that I now do is my usual 10% weekly water change(it's slightly less but given I have a 20 gallon barrel it suffices).

Tank readings are

Salinity: 1.025

Calcium: 425

dKh: 8-9

Phosphates: 0.0ppm

Magnesium: 1350

[+mcallahan]

I think I'll spend my money on an ATS vs. trying to find a quiet (yeah right) skimmer.

[renman303]

Yea, spending $26 to build one is better than the $600+ for a skimmer! It just takes a few months to get the Algae to the right point.

[+dapettit]

Looks great Dave. I just don't have the room.

[renman303]

I have tossed out my old ATS. It worked (as in it's purpose)just fine but sometimes the spray tubes would clog with algae and over the course of a day while at work, I would come home to find water running out of the garage as the tube would be spraying in an odd direction due to the clog.

So, While cleaning the garage I cam across my old sump from my 55 gallon. I thought, "Wow, this would solve the issue of the water spraying out due to clogged pvc tubes. Here is what I did. I went to Petsmart and bought 2, 3' hard plastic tubes ($1.99/ea)and cut each of them to length to be placed them just below the "Filter Pad Plate" under the cover. I attached each of my older nylon sheets that have been used for the past 15 months in the old ATS by cutting them down the middle to fit the new ATS's smaller dimensions. No loss of square inches as I'm using all of the sheets (now 8-halves instead of 4-whole). The pump, a Rio 2100, (black tube with control valve) comes from the input of the sump (which is the input directly from the tank itself) and goes into the top of the ATS. This then drips through the plate that would normally hold filter material (NOT used)and "Rains" across the ATS sheets. Once at the bottom, I have a Maxijet 1200 (Red tube with valve) pumping the water from the ATS into an extra "skimmer box" that is taking the water back to the sump at the intermediate section.

Now, I just used silicon to attach the "skimmer box" to the side of the ATS. This can easily be removed. One advantage here is in the skimmer box I have a bag of Carbon. Great place to put Carbon or Phosban as the flow is not so great but does flow all around the bag before exiting for the Sump.

There is one drawback to this setup which I originally did in my first ATS as well. I will be changing this as I just did not have time this weekend.

• The return line "NEEDS" to be gravity fed, not a pump.
  

Using a pump on the return requires very minute "tweeks" to the valves on input and output pumps to regulate the flow of water. These must be checked every few hours at first to ensure that the water in maintaining a constant level. Too much input by even the slightest amount can cause overflow of your ATS. And, if your ATS is in your house and you are at work that can spell disaster! Too much output but the slightest amount can cause the output pump to burn out. Best bet is gravity fed output! Next week, I will turn the ATS in the opposite direction and place the bulkhead, now attached to the bottom of the "skimmer box" directly on the the lower diagonal area of the ATS. Then for Phosban or Carbon, bags can just be placed in the bottom of the ATS near either side of the output gravity fed tube and provide proper filtering required.

Bulbs used are florescent twists in front and an old hood with an 18" 6500k florescent bulb.

Hope this helps some of you!

Dave

[mooric]

This is great. On my next tank I am probably going to incorporate an ATS into the sump design. Do you feel that you still need your refugium? Or would you consider going with a smaller refugium now that you probably don't grow macroalgae in it? or do you?

Charles

[renman303]

This is great. On my next tank I am probably going to incorporate an ATS into the sump design. Do you feel that you still need your refugium? Or would you consider going with a smaller refugium now that you probably don't grow macroalgae in it? or do you?

Charles

The huge sump comes in handy for additional curing of LR because there is enough water to disipate any issues. I also have culerpa (sp) in there. I love it for getting new fish and inverts used to the tank. I can better control the lights. I hate putting a bag in the main tank under 400w MH bulbs. You can cook the fish right in the bag! I also use clear Lexan's to hold coral frags. It's also the best place to do an H2O change and add chemicals (if you do that?).

But, you are right...it's not needed. I could replace it with a 55 gallon tank that I have for a smaller footprint. The ATS cannot be beat. I now do nothing but a once-a-week 10% H2O change and rarely (I mean rarely) add chemicals!

Come up and see it sometime! I need to host another meeting.

Regards,

Dave

[mooric]

I was looking at your old ATS setup and I saw that you had the light shining down in the 5gal bucket. Did you have any performance problems with it? Did you angle the sheets inside the bucket to get as much light on them as possible? I am designing my sump and I have a section in it for the ATS but I'm not sure how I will arrange the lights if I have the scrubber vertical. I will be posting a 3D drawing of it in the next couple of days to get some comments.

Regards,

Charles