-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Ricwilli's 215 build
- Thread starter ricwilli
- Start date
Thanks Mike, Phyl
OK, trying to get back on track.
I've always had a bare bottom tank and just got tired of it. So now I'm going to try the sand thing. I had 3.5 gallons of bucket full of used sand in the garage for a couple of months. I thought cleaning it was going to be difficult, but doing a search on-line, I stumble on Meleves website. His website is very informative. I suggest visiting it http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html. I used his suggestions on cleaning used sand http://www.melevsreef.com/rinsing_sand.html. It does take allot of water to clean. I guess it all depends on how much sand you have to clean. I forgot to take pics of this process. Oh well.....
REGENERATING THE KATI ANI
I totally screwed this up the first time. That's what happends when you rush things. I made the mistake of flushing the Ani with the Kati full of Muratic acid. That's a NO NO. You'll understand if you read the NEW Doc, #5 page 5. Before I even noticed that the water TDS was above 100, the tank was full. Yeah, I know. I should have tested the water before filling up the tank.
The items I used.
- Instructions. There are two versions. The ORIGINAL http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8fNNNS-qfTMMzE3YzE2YTEtZDdhMS00ODE4LWFlZGUtNjdlNGVkOGQ4ZWI2&hl=en and the NEW DOC http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8fNNNS-qfTMZDFiOTAyNTAtMGE2ZS00NDljLTlmOGItNDkzYzJhZGZiYWNk&hl=en
- EYE PROTECTION, GLOVES, RESPIRATOR AND BE FULLY CLOTH. NO SHORT PANTS NOR SLEEVES. WELL VENTILATED AREA
- MURIATIC ACID AND SODIUM HYDROXIDE (LYE) - DANGEROUS STUFF
- Carboys for mixing. You can use buckets.
- Water
- An area where children are not allowed.
My regeneration station. Please choose an area where children can not come in contact with any of this stuff. In this pic you can see that the Kati needs regenerating. It is deep RED.
Here is the Kati and Ani after regeneration. The Kati is now light brown. As the water runs through the Kati, it will turn deep RED. The Ani stays the same color.
Since the water in the tank is all screwed up and I did not want to dump it, I decided to cure the rocks in the tank. I will use the Brightwell products to control the algae. I'm crossing my fingers.
Tank with sand, rocks and 100+ TDS water and a shot at aquascaping.
MP40W AND Korilia 4
Closer look of rocks with the weired large rock. I have no idea what made me put that rock like that. I like it and I don't. Lets see what happends.
Side tank shot
OK, trying to get back on track.
I've always had a bare bottom tank and just got tired of it. So now I'm going to try the sand thing. I had 3.5 gallons of bucket full of used sand in the garage for a couple of months. I thought cleaning it was going to be difficult, but doing a search on-line, I stumble on Meleves website. His website is very informative. I suggest visiting it http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html. I used his suggestions on cleaning used sand http://www.melevsreef.com/rinsing_sand.html. It does take allot of water to clean. I guess it all depends on how much sand you have to clean. I forgot to take pics of this process. Oh well.....
REGENERATING THE KATI ANI
I totally screwed this up the first time. That's what happends when you rush things. I made the mistake of flushing the Ani with the Kati full of Muratic acid. That's a NO NO. You'll understand if you read the NEW Doc, #5 page 5. Before I even noticed that the water TDS was above 100, the tank was full. Yeah, I know. I should have tested the water before filling up the tank.
The items I used.
- Instructions. There are two versions. The ORIGINAL http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8fNNNS-qfTMMzE3YzE2YTEtZDdhMS00ODE4LWFlZGUtNjdlNGVkOGQ4ZWI2&hl=en and the NEW DOC http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8fNNNS-qfTMZDFiOTAyNTAtMGE2ZS00NDljLTlmOGItNDkzYzJhZGZiYWNk&hl=en
- EYE PROTECTION, GLOVES, RESPIRATOR AND BE FULLY CLOTH. NO SHORT PANTS NOR SLEEVES. WELL VENTILATED AREA
- MURIATIC ACID AND SODIUM HYDROXIDE (LYE) - DANGEROUS STUFF
- Carboys for mixing. You can use buckets.
- Water
- An area where children are not allowed.
My regeneration station. Please choose an area where children can not come in contact with any of this stuff. In this pic you can see that the Kati needs regenerating. It is deep RED.
Here is the Kati and Ani after regeneration. The Kati is now light brown. As the water runs through the Kati, it will turn deep RED. The Ani stays the same color.
Since the water in the tank is all screwed up and I did not want to dump it, I decided to cure the rocks in the tank. I will use the Brightwell products to control the algae. I'm crossing my fingers.
Tank with sand, rocks and 100+ TDS water and a shot at aquascaping.
MP40W AND Korilia 4
Closer look of rocks with the weired large rock. I have no idea what made me put that rock like that. I like it and I don't. Lets see what happends.
Side tank shot
I kind of like the way you scaped it. What are you going to do about the 100 TDS water in there though?
Do you plan on just curing the rock and doing lots of water changes til it's down to zero? Or will you empty it all out and start with new filtered water? I'd vote for the latter because if there's any copper in there it might get absorbed in your rock and leech out later.
Glad you got the Kati / Ani squared away. It's also good that you are conscious about keeping it in a safe area where kids can't get hurt. Those chemicals can be dangerous. I'd recommend you telling your kids about the dangers of it as well.
Anyway, keep plugging away Richie. You'll be enjoying your new tank soon.
Do you plan on just curing the rock and doing lots of water changes til it's down to zero? Or will you empty it all out and start with new filtered water? I'd vote for the latter because if there's any copper in there it might get absorbed in your rock and leech out later.
Glad you got the Kati / Ani squared away. It's also good that you are conscious about keeping it in a safe area where kids can't get hurt. Those chemicals can be dangerous. I'd recommend you telling your kids about the dangers of it as well.
Anyway, keep plugging away Richie. You'll be enjoying your new tank soon.
Hawkeye said:
I think I will leave it. Some of the rock in there have been split already. The big concern is, that it will shadow the bottom. I will see when I put the lights on.
I love the these barrels. I have some square type dollies that I got from work, that seem to be working. But I do do prefer the round ones.
TanksNStuff said:
I will will be doing a 150 gallon water change soon. After that, the corals (whats left of them)will be going in the tank.
So I realized that I am going to need another manifold to connect more equipment with a lot less demanding water flow. So, I decided to build another manifold. This manifold will be attached to the 3" manifold.
Intorducing the MINI MANIFOLD....
Starting from right to left connections:
- Brightwells Zeolite Media
- Calcium Reactor
- Carbon
- Kalk Reactor
- TBD
- Aclimating fish and filling test kit vials.(OH I LOVE THIS ONE. No more water in the mouth to start a syphon)
Here it is connected to the 3" Manifold
You can see in this pic that I had a pump running a Fluval 203 canister filter. The Zeolite media were in there. This is a BIG NO NO. I am trying to run only one pump in this setup.
Equipment that will be attached to the MINI MANIFOLD.
Equipment attached to the MINI MANIFOLD.
Connection. I will tidy this up later on.
The big mess.
So, right now, it's a waiting game. Hopfully you noticed the reactor filled with rocks. That is the Brightwells Zeolite Media. I currently have 600 grams of Zeolite Media in the reactor. I put all 600 grams of rocks in one day.
WARNING! DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE ANY TYPE OF LIVE STOCK IN YOUR SETUP.
This will shock the system and can have bad affect on all the livestock. You would normally add 100 grams of Zeolite Media per 100 gallons of water every week. Please follow the directions for Brightwell products if you have livestock. I'm hoping that I can transfer my corals by the end of the week. At this point, I do not have a choice. It must be done.
Intorducing the MINI MANIFOLD....
Starting from right to left connections:
- Brightwells Zeolite Media
- Calcium Reactor
- Carbon
- Kalk Reactor
- TBD
- Aclimating fish and filling test kit vials.(OH I LOVE THIS ONE. No more water in the mouth to start a syphon)
Here it is connected to the 3" Manifold
You can see in this pic that I had a pump running a Fluval 203 canister filter. The Zeolite media were in there. This is a BIG NO NO. I am trying to run only one pump in this setup.
Equipment that will be attached to the MINI MANIFOLD.
Equipment attached to the MINI MANIFOLD.
Connection. I will tidy this up later on.
The big mess.
So, right now, it's a waiting game. Hopfully you noticed the reactor filled with rocks. That is the Brightwells Zeolite Media. I currently have 600 grams of Zeolite Media in the reactor. I put all 600 grams of rocks in one day.
WARNING! DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE ANY TYPE OF LIVE STOCK IN YOUR SETUP.
This will shock the system and can have bad affect on all the livestock. You would normally add 100 grams of Zeolite Media per 100 gallons of water every week. Please follow the directions for Brightwell products if you have livestock. I'm hoping that I can transfer my corals by the end of the week. At this point, I do not have a choice. It must be done.
I like that mini manifold, great idea. I have a oouple of small items myself and was going to tap into the manifold, but never thought to reduce down like that!
Taz
Taz
Yeah that mini manifold is pretty sweet.
CORRECTION -
The Kalk reator will not be connected to the Mini Manifold. That is a typo. I was wondering this morning why I only had one connection that would not be connected to anything. The Kalk reactor will be connected to the ATO pump thats in the white drum in the pic.
CORRECTION -
The Kalk reator will not be connected to the Mini Manifold. That is a typo. I was wondering this morning why I only had one connection that would not be connected to anything. The Kalk reactor will be connected to the ATO pump thats in the white drum in the pic.
awesome set up. kinda jealous. one piece of advise about that phosban reactor 150, id hang it the other way inside your sump. this way if it ever starts leaking, it wont be on your floor. i am speaking from experience. better to learn from someone elses mistakes if you know what i mean. the connectors on those reactors can loosen up very easily. mine came loose when i was doing some work in the sump and i had a small mess to clean up. that day i purchaced those black plastic locking clamps for each connection and turned the reactor around so it was inside the sump.
really impressive set up you have! if i ever redo my tank i am going to copy your set up.
really impressive set up you have! if i ever redo my tank i am going to copy your set up.