B1N4RY

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Some Closeups of the Acros & Clam in the Aquarium.

Here are a few photographs of the current state of my aquarium and the corals. I'm not entirely please with the coloration of the corals but their polyp extension is acceptable. My clam on the other hand has no issues. I'm concerned about the slime coat on the water since I don't have a surface skimmer and I cannot ramp up the vortechs without creating a sandstorm.




My aquarium as of Monday, September 23, 2013. See the film on the surface of the water.





One of my Teal Acropora Corals. Not sure if that is growth or a burn tipped on the right hand branch.



My Derasa Clam enjoying itself as usual.



Another Acropora Coral. I'm not sure if the white areas are signs of growth.



My Purple Tipped Acropora Coral. Not entirely happy with the color and the poly extension on this one.




My Green Acropora Coral. I'm happy with the poly extension but I am not sure if the white areas are signs of growth.




Some of the coralline algae encrusting the aquascaping rather quickly.
 

B1N4RY

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EcoTech Marine Vortech MP10 ES RF Module Upgrade.

So I currently operate 2 EcoTech Marine Vortech MP10 ES pumps on my 20 gallon aquarium. One pump was purchased without the Wireless feature and the other came with the wireless feature standard. I have been having a few issues with my pumps in tuning the proper water flow within my aquarium because the pumps were not synchronized wirelessly. If I turn them up too much I get a sandstorm tornado of sugar sized aragonite sand which make my aquarium look like a white Christmas. If I turn them down too low I don't get the proper surface agitation to break up the slime coat on the surface of the aquarium water, mostly due to not having an overflow or surface skimmer (which I don't plan on using because I want the system to be small and manageable). So I placed an order for the RF Module upgraded directly through EcoTech Marine and hopefully I can improve the water flow within the aquarium once the pumps are synchronized.




The contents of the overly huge box shipped from EcoTech Marine. One instructional manual and an RF Module contained in an Anti-static bag.


The installation process took less than 10 minutes to complete properly. What is involved is literally removing the 3 screws from the back on the driver. Sliding the circuit board out from the guiding poles and snapping the RF Module into the receptacle appropriately. I installed it wrong the first go and the circuit board would not fit back into the plastic housing. No worries, just remove the RF Module and flip it around. Once done place the control board back into the plastic housing and secure with the three screws and power the unit back on. You will know that the installation was completely successfully because the W will light up accordingly.



Opening the driver housing and removing the circuit board.


The socket where the RF Module will be installed.


The RF Module installed incorrectly on the circuit board.



The RF Module installed correctly on the circuit board.


The EcoTech Marine MP10w ES Driver closed and mounted back on my aquarium.


After the installation it was time to synchronize the two pumps, one set as a master and the other set as a slave which is simple enough following the instructions from the pumps manual. So now I can experiment with different settings to see which best suits my aquarium. So far I have managed to increase the overall output of the pumps without causing a sand storm so that is a definite improvement.


My two EcoTech Marine Vortech MP10w ES pumps synchronized and operating in Tidal Swell Mode. (Please note that the W is actually on, for some reason my DSLR displayed these lights flickering when using the LCD Viewfinder.)
 

B1N4RY

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Simple Solution to Removing Surface Film without an Overflow.

Since my aquarium is sumpless, I don't have the added benefit of having the surface of the water constantly being skimmer from falling into the overflow to remove the surface scum that builds up in the aquarium. And rather than purchasing a surface skimmer that looks very unsightly, I though of a simple method that I can do to remove some of the film and hopefully over time get a handle on the situation. During my water change I would use tubing to siphon water from the aquarium into the container. But I thought maybe I should try just taking a glass and pushing it in the aquarium to basically mimic the overflow and remove water and the surface scum. I think it worked quite well and over the course of the next few week it should clear up more than it already has from a single water change.




Surface film covering the aquarium water about 1 week ago.






Surface film covering the aquarium water after Friday's water change.
 

tosiek

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A simple temporary fix for the surface film while providing your tank with extra oxygen would be to raise the MP10 higher in your tank. You want the surface to be moving well without splashing which aside from negates the unsightly look of surface film but also will increase your oxygen which will balance your PH. It would also allow you to run the MP10 a little higher. Either way, one MP10 is enough for the 20. No need for 2 and its the cross currents that would be the main issue with sand storms. Keep raising the pump until you start seeing it pull in air from the surface. You'll see a little tornado forming after 30-60 secs. Just nudge it down till it doesn't for anymore.

Also, you might want to think about changing out that sugar argonite for something chunkier in a tank that size. I had it in mine and changed because the sand storms were getting a little ridiculous. Since I've done that I was able to turn the pumps up a bit more giving me better overall flow in the tank.
 

B1N4RY

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Considering a Large Fluidized Sandbed Filter for Additional Biological Filtration.

It has been a while since the last update to my aquarium and things have started to go really well. Unfortunately most of my time has been devoted into settling into a new job but I have managed to keep up with my aquarium maintenance and I have even added a few fish. Unfortunately, most will agree that I have overstocked just a bit which has affected my water quality and aquarium in a few ways but not too drastically that it cannot be resolved with a little engineering and a few more pieces of equipment. Prior to me adding two fish about 5 weeks ago and then another 3 about 3 weeks ago my water quality was impeccable. My biological filtration was more than capable of handling the bio load as was reflected n my water parameter test and my sandbed was immaculate not showing a single sign of discoloration from algae even with a 12 to 13 hour photoperiod. But with the additional 3 fish added for a total of 5 fish the obvious happened. My bio load increased and nitrates increased from undetectable to 5.0 PPM. However, as the biological filtration in my aquarium adjust over the past few weeks the latest test from last week shows my nitrates slowly dropping and are currently at 2.5 PPM (not including this mornings test which I haven't completed). However, my sandbed is showing sign of brown algae as well as some small pockets of cyano and I am not please with that (even though its my own fault again). So I want to integrate a large fluidized sandbed filter in my aquarium to take my biological filtration of the top again.

So I am going to be purchasing the largest media reactor that I can find that doesn't dwarf my aquarium and look like an eyesore, as it is going to be placed in plain site to the left of my aquarium. For this I will be going with an Avast Marine MR16 Media Reactor that has an overall height of 17.5 inches and a footprint of 9 inches x 9 inches. This will hold approximately 24 cups of media and will be powered by an Ehiem 1260 pump as I need to have everything plumbed externally as not to crowd the aquarium with unsightly equipment. I will be utilizing Carib-Sea Arag-Alive Oolite Sand as the media. Although I understand I will have to refill this over time which means additional monitoring of the aquarium, I still believe it is a better choice than using silica based sand which will not break down and have to be replaced but theoretically can feed diatoms. Now I understand that this is a great for converting Ammonia into Nitrite and Nitrate into Nitrate which I have no issues currently but in theory if the unit was tall enough the oxygen rich water on the bottom half of the filter should get used up by the bacteria converting it to nitrates and the upper half should be able to provide an anaerobic area for the nitrate to be converted to nitrogen. If this is the case it will be a trial and error setup because I cannot place an extremely tall filter in that area but I can simulate height by daisy chaining additional fluidized sand bed filters together for the same result. Now one of the most important design aspects of implementing this is that I cannot allow a power outage to stop the water flow within the reactors for more than a few hours to prevent a tank crash due to fowled water from the bacteria smothering itself to death. So I will be employing an additional stand alone APC Batter Backups that should give me about 24 hours or more of runtime in the event of a power outage. Who knows I might even tee to feed pumps together with check valves to reduce any single points of failure. Any thoughts?
 

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