Ben's 160 Gallon Reef Tank

[Ben1]

Thanks for the tips. Problem is my vortech is shot now :evil: I woke my son up for school this morning and he came up stairs "Oh Dad your tank is leaking again." So I go down and realize I forgot the ro line I left in there to fill it. My basement was raining by that point. The vortechs controller was sitting on the bottom of the stand in a puddle and not working. The 6 strip was almost covered in water but the return was still running since the 6 strip didnt get wet on the plugs and trip the breakers. So I think oh sh*t the 6 strip is almost underwater better flick it off. Sump is already full when I did this, and the anti-siphon holes I drilled didnt seem to work for some reason, next thing I know I am standing in an inch of water half asleed going ahh WTF did I do. The basement flooded with water, the wood floors are satuated (good thing they are junk and I am single). I used like every towel in the house to clean up the tank stand and floor around the tank. I went down stairs plugged in my wet dry to try to suck up some of the puddles and was electricuted since when the basement was raining it rained inside my motor for the wet dry and I fried that too.

I don't think I have ever had this many issues before.....I didnt go to work again today. I need to relax and fix this back siphon issue, I think I am just going to ditch the educters doesnt seem I need the extra flow anyhow. The basement will dry, I am goin to let the vortech dry for a few days and try it out. If its not good I will send it in for repair. I can't wait untill I get this thing dialed in and running smooth.

 

[Anonymous]

oh man...

 

[Anonymous]

God Ben, that sucks.

 

[Anonymous]

<jaw hits floor> Bet that jolt woke ya up right quick, didn't it?

When it rains, it pours. You should be all good for that crap now, right? Good thing your son noticed when he did, too. It's gonna smell 'ocean fresh' in there for a little while I bet. Just get yourself rested, you'll get it all sorted out.

Or, look at it this way--it was either this, or have a bunch of inhabitants wiped out by that unseen mantis shrimp. :shock:

Oh yeah, if you have a problem with odor, get yourself something called Odorcide.

 

[Ben1]

It's gonna smell 'ocean fresh' in there for a little while I bet.

I enjoy the smell, I didnt like the mouthful of SW when I was trying to siphon out some water from the sump today though lol.

Or, look at it this way--it was either this, or have a bunch of inhabitants wiped out by that unseen mantis shrimp.

Thanks..that would be just my luck.

Anyhow, all is well. I skipped work yet again today, and got it all sorted out. The educters are gone, I just used street elbows and backed the flow a bit with the ball valve and all is well. The sand storm stopped, the leaky bulbhead stopped since the back pressure from the educter is gone, and the tank is running again with more salt added to adjust for the overflow. The only thing thats toast is the controller for the vortech. It was an original that I upgraded with the new controller and magnet, so I had the other controller in the closet and put it back on and the vortech is working fine. Its just back to gen1.

I turned on the skimmer and the zeoreactor today and seems all good now. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

WHEW! Is it done raining yet?

 

[MartinE]

Well that was a bit of the old run of bad luck. Glad your getting it all sorted out now.

 

[WhoDey]

Ouch! Good luck with the mildew containment 8O

I used to overflow my 75g so much that the flooring in the stand bowed and ended up being to warped to put my sump in :lol: I am a deadman if I overflow my current build so I am playing it safe with siphon break holes, no deep plumbing, and keeping the water levels to a minimum in my sump and just topping off every day before work... Fun stuff :?

 

[Ben1]

Not much to update on, got my skimmer working again kind-of with out overflowing. I need to add some shelves to the back right corner behind the tank. I need to put my CA/ALK jugs there and my LM3 that I use for top off and 2 part. It's out of the way enough for my taste and allows me to easily work with out having to cram it all in the stand. I threw a clown that was in my 20L in the tank, and threw a green acro frag in there to test the waters.

I still am not sure when to switch over. Diatoms are blooming on the rocks now. I think I will be safe to switch next weekend. If the green acro frag is still alive next weekend, it's a go :!:

 

[Ben1]

BTW, I am not waiting on much of a cycle since I had the live rock in proper saltwater with a skimmer for months before it went in the tank. Otherwise I would be expecting a cycle, and would have not put the fish or coral in there.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I think you've been doing this long enough that you can go by feel as much as anything else. I'm very glad you got the plumbing issues sorted out. Has your hair un-frizzled yet?

 

[Ben1]

Has your hair un-frizzled yet?

Guess not I overflowed my 58 last night...

Since i took the ATO off to move the to new tank I have had to do manual top off in the 58. Well again this morning my son came upstairs, Dad the fish tank is overflowing, doh....

The salinity dropped from 1.025 to 1.020 overnight, hope I dont have any RTN.

 

[Anonymous]

Oy.. Ben. Methinks you have a LOT going on, eh? I left my sprinklers on the other night, fortunately they're the ones that come off that 1/4" tubing. Hey, I fell asleep!

Oh, go to the island and check my threads. I've been digging.

 

[Anonymous]

Dangit Ben!

 

[Ben1]

Havent had much time for an update. The tank is doing well, but lacking in flow and this has me worried. I must have gotten water on both of the vortech controllers in the switch over becuase now neither one is working. I moved everything over this weekend but can tell the SPS are stressing, probably becuase of the lack of flow. The only flow is from the returns untill I figure out my vortech issues. In anycase I moved the LPS over midweek and did the SPS this past saturday night.
I had a real hard time moving the SPS out of the tank since they were all encrusted on the rocks and I didnt want to break them all off. The 58 had three main peices of rock in it, all large and heavy. The biggest was basketball size. When I made the switch over I intended on a nice open feeling tank with valleys and such. With the huge rocks from the 58 I ended up with an ugly mountain. I might have to rethink my scaping but for now, it is what it is. I also have no frag tank set up now and will have to keep my frags in the sand for the moment, yuck! Hoefully I will get a frag tank plumbed inline this week and can move them over.

 

[Anonymous]

For a thrown together aquascape, that's pretty darn sweet. 8O

Hope you get your flow issues sorted out.

 

[Anonymous]

If nothing else, perhaps an air bar dropped in will help. It looks to have great potential, Ben, even if you don't like the 'ugly mountain'.

 

[Ben1]

Well to get some flow in there untill I get the vortechs figured out I threw one of the eductors on my old return pump, which was a eheim 1262 and dropped it in the tank. I also added a Karalia 4 I had in my frag tank before. Things seem to be picking up again.

 

[Anonymous]

If I could think of something snappy to rhyme with circulation you'd have something snappy to remember.

 

[Ben1]

Ok I havent been keeping up with this I wil have to update later with some progress shots and such.

I added a few fish and as of now have

4 bangaii's
1 yellow tang
1 sailfin tang
1 Emperor angel
2 squarespot anthias
1 cinnomin clown
2 black percs
1 mystery wrasse

I think thats it, I will probably still add a CBB and a few more squarespot anthias. I have been feeding the tank 4 cubes of frozen mysis a day along with 3 4"x4" sheets of algae either green purple or red. I also added a small goni that looks incredible and a couple acros. Otherwise its been cranking along just fine. I also got my two votechs fixed. Once I get my frags out of the main tank it wont look so crappy and I think it will be a sweet tank in the following months. I am honestly regretting not ordering a tank with more length, I think within the next few years I am going to reorder a tank that will most likely be more along the lines of 8' long 30" wide 2' tall. The light although rocking everything in the middle doesnt give enough spread to hit the outer few inchs on the front and back of the tank making rear placement of acros more difficult. The angel I know will eventually need a bigger tank anyhow. The angel also as I kinda expected started picking at the acans so they went into my sons tank. If he ever goes for the sps then its a different story and I will find him a new home. The fish load will be pretty high but I gotta say they seem to be co habitating well in the tank and all the movement really improves the whole vibe I get from the tank. I will update with some pics later.