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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank

jimroth

jimroth

Added a couple of ORA orchid dottybacks to my desolate tank and they settled right in, pretty sure they're gonna pair up.

The Tub-Sump is all drilled and I've rigged some eggcrate to mount the float switches for topoff. But not installed yet. I've re-done my droopy PVC cave so it's supported at all corners like a box. Have to drill some rocks to hide the new legs so it looks slightly less crappy. LFS swears he can get me a piece of shelf rock to go on top as I originally intended. Currently only adding kalk for Ca supplementation, working on getting my MRC Ca reactor going again.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Decided to just clean all the calcium crap out of the sump and try to get the encrusted heater out of there. I pulled the sump, shut down the skimmer and return and took it outside. I manually removed some of the calcium but couldn't get the cord of the heater loose by pulling or even with a paint scraper. I started with the muriatic acid, which is hella nasty stuff. I wore eye protection, neoprene long gloves, and an apron. I used it straight at first, a few splashes at a time then dumped it in. Gotta watch the fumes. Finally the heater came loose and to my great relief the cord was NOT broken and leaching metals into the tank, so that is not my problem. I added another gallon of acid and filled the sump up to soak it. That stuff is amazing, all the calcium just disappears. I'm letting it soak overnight, then clean and neutralize it before reinstalling it.
 
Cdiggy

Cdiggy

If you want to try something a little less caustic, vinegar got all the hard water deposits off my backpacking pot I use to boil water out in the bush. The stuff was hard as hell but soaked it in warm water and vinegar and the stuff wiped off with a sponge a couple hours later. Should work with calcium deposits in a tank. Muriatic acid is some pretty nasty stuff. I've used it to clean concrete!
 
jimroth

jimroth

This stuff was so hard. The last time I tried to dissolve it I used 4 gallons of vinegar overnight and it did not do the trick. The downside of the HCL is that it has to be used outside, but it's like 100x more powerful.
 
Cdiggy

Cdiggy

Damn. That's crazy tough stuff. And the hcl doesn't bother anything else? I would be afraid it would damage the seals or etch the glass or something! Guess I am a little paranoid...
 
jimroth

jimroth

Well it dissolved some snail shells! After the acid, I filled it with kalkwasser to neutralize any remaining acid, and then plain water with chlorine remover for an hour long soak. The whole thing is cleaner than it's been since it was set up, it's all back together, the skimmer has been disassembled and cleaned too.

Cdiggy said:
Damn. That's crazy tough stuff. And the hcl doesn't bother anything else? I would be afraid it would damage the seals or etch the glass or something! Guess I am a little paranoid... 
Click to expand...

Glass etching is the province of very nasty specific acid (hydrofluoric I think). And the seals seem fine, although I was wondering if I would get up in the morning and find the tank in its component sheets of glass on the deck.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Cdiggy said:
Damn. That's crazy tough stuff. And the hcl doesn't bother anything else? I would be afraid it would damage the seals or etch the glass or something! Guess I am a little paranoid... 
Click to expand...


I believe Jim made a good choice in using muriatic acid. Yes it is hydrochloric acid and should be handled with great care. It will burn skin and eat holes in your cloths. However, it will do nothing to glass and most plastics. So again, if you have a totally calcified piece of equipment, muriatic acid is and excellent choice and will quickly dissolve the calcium deposits.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Added a new cleanup crew and a purple tang. Brown and green hair algae has covered everything, I can't really add anything from MACNA. I think when I get back it's going to be time for more hydrogen peroxide and some days with the lights off! Think I need a bristletooth type tang too.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Beat down the hair algae with hydrogen peroxide, looking better. Also removed a bunch of the worst rocks from the tank and put them in the cooking barrel in the garage. Took out a good amount of cooked rocks (squeaky clean!) from the barrel. Also changed the water in the barrel! I'm going to remove or modify my beloved PVC "fish cave" in the reef, I think it interferes with flow and traps detritus. Maybe a smaller cave. Chucked out the overgrown hydnophora, never a good looking piece, out you go.
My darn fancy tru-temp heater controller is having a problem, tank went down to 76F. Have to call JBJ in the morning, controller won't adjust, display just says "HI".
An old-time member of the club broke down his reef and gifted me his remaining livestock. I added three colonies of Duncans, a multicolored prism-type brain and a pair of Royal Grammas. I swore I would ban Caribbean in my tank this time around, but that's life. Very nice pair. I never had Duncans before, they seem happy in my tank. I have some mysis left in the freezer, gonna take a shot at feeding them.
Did a test on most tank parameters last week and was surprised how good everything was. Ca, Phos, Alk, all in good shape. Didn't test Mg, the test kit lost its instructions.
Hoisted the big MRC skimmer onto the bench, try to get it set up next week. Suddenly realized how easily I can make the switch. Only hang up is the missing gate valve on the skimmer, have to either steal the valve of the ETSS skimmer or get one somewhere.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Jim, I’ve run both an MRC 2 and MRC 3 on my tank and without question the best skimmer I’ve run as far as skimmate production. So good choice with your big tank. My only complaint was the energy consumption for the pump and the noise….very loud, even with the air intake muffled. However, if you have a basement sump….no problem.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Yeah, I have an MRC 2, used it for a while on my 90, too much skimmer for that tank! This new one is a huge recirculating dual-beckett thing, should be fun. Used to belong to Bax. I love the ETSS 1000 I run now, but it's hard to get it dialed in to even skimmate production. It will cruise along for a week or two making a pint or so a day, then something happens in the reef and it fills my (5 Gal!) waste collector, usually when I'm not around. Plus the Iwaki 100RLT is a huge noisy pump. Cleaning the ETSS means taking the bioballs out of the 4' tall tower and hosing them off, not much fun in the winter. It does pull an amazing amount of stuff out of the water! This new one will use two smaller pumps, probably not saving anything much in power but more controllable, easier to clean.
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

Jim

If you are going to around thursday I can stop by in the morning and look at the MRC configuration.

I had it dialed in to generate 1-1 1/2 gal a day of skimate. Which I dumped and replaced as tank volume daily as part of my water change regimen. I could dial it back to run it dryer too. Even running it as wet as I did I needed to clean the cup once a week and it would be thick with sludge. I loved that skimmer! ... sniff .... sniff Way too big for my current tank though!

You do need a gate to control discharge.
 
jimroth

jimroth

Thanks Bax, but I need to wait for a new gate from Savko as the gate on the ETSS is all but shot. Questions: 1) What model is it? 2) what is the closed up port between the two Beckett pipes? The yellow recirculating pump got a little wet during Sandy, there was a flood. I'm hoping it works but if not I'll get a new one. The little curved pipes, they go in the box at the end of the recirculating pipes from the Becketts? I'll figure it out.

Since you mention it, if I can get it dialed in right, maybe I'll set up an Aqualifter or something to replace skimmate with fresh saltwater.
 
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