Paul's new build.

While I'm on the subject of calcium reactors, I made some discoveries regarding my ever present pH problems. I broke down and bought a CO2 meter on Amazon. Using it I found the main source of CO2 in my house is my calcium reactor. Over the years I've made a lot of contraptions in my sump to try and off-gass the CO2 in my reactor effluent. What I never realized was that I was just taking the CO2 out of the water and putting it into the ambient air of the house. I thought my exhaust fan in the basement would take care of that but the CO2 meter shows that it doesn't. The readings in the basement around the sump can be up in the 800ppm range. I've been spitting into the wind all this time.
So after some brainstorming, I modified one of my contraptions. Fresh air is pumped thru the bottom of this while reactor effluent drips down from the top. It's filled with arm media. As it drips down, the effluent is exposed to outside air. This moves the CO2 out of the water and into the air.
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But instead of that CO2 loaded air going into the room, I vented the thing so the air goes back outside. I basically sealed it. CO2 levels have dropped 200ppm in the room.
Its such a mess down there with all the holding tanks and equipment. I can't wait for the new tank so everything is cleaned up.
 
The new calcium reactor arrived today. Nicely built but no instructions whatsoever on how to put it together. Even on their website just generic calcium reactor info. If I was a newbie I would be completely lost.

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I won't set this up till the new sump is in place. The old one can handle things till then. It leaks, but since its in the sump it doesn't matter.
Speaking of sumps I went with the basic one. No frills or fleece filter. I can always add that on later if I want to. It's 84x24x18 so plenty of room to play with. It should be here in a few weeks. I started building the stand for it.
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Nice Paul, is that the 818? Did you say the reactor is leaking or your old reactor?

I almost bought the Geo but went with an 8” stacked AE reactor. May end up regretting it but who knows!
 
Nice Paul, is that the 818? Did you say the reactor is leaking or your old reactor?

I almost bought the Geo but went with an 8” stacked AE reactor. May end up regretting it but who knows!
Yes, I have a Tunze reactor. I went to remove it from the sump to clean it and it fell apart in my hands. It was full of media and some water. I glued it back together but it leaks so it was time for a replacement. The Geo is the 818.
 
The stand for the sump is complete. Everything seems ready for the next step which is the removal of the old sump and installation of the new. It will be tricky because somehow I have to tie in the three holding tanks that are filled with fish and coral. I'm hoping the sump is large enough so that maybe I can eliminate one of the 75 gallon holding tanks and house the fish, coral and gigantea anemone in it. That tank has to come down before the display upstairs gets filled with water. A support column needs to go there.
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On another topic, I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade my skimmer. I've had the bubble king for over a decade and I think I could probably use a larger model. Mine is the 200 or 250 deluxe can't remember which. I would need to go with the 300 deluxe for a system this size. I remember debating with Greg Hiller many years ago whether it was worth spending big $$$$$ on an expensive skimmer. I have to say, I never regretted the purchase. Now the question is whether the upgrade would make enough of a difference to warrant the expense. My old tank was filled with detritus. That and the insufficient flow made for a lot of problems. The flow problems will be fixed with this tank. I will be using filter cups/socks in this sump all the time which I didn't do before. Should I upgrade the skimmer too? Added benefits would include higher pH. I could even run them both with outside air.
 
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I’m a big fan of an oversized skimmer for certain. Do you feel like your current one is underpowered or underperforming, or both? Have you thought about looking into do of the commercial styles? Like a super tall lifereef or some of the more custom ones?

The BBK 300 is for sure a beast though. I love my 200. Now that I’m moving to a bigger sump the options open up.
 
I think the skimmer I have is slightly undersized when the tank is full of coral and fish and I have a frag tank connected to the system. I just don't know if I would see enough of a difference to justify the upgrade. On BRS they have the opinion that undersized is better than oversized. Don't know if I agree with that. They think oversized skimmers never function properly and can't remove organics as well.
 
I think the skimmer I have is slightly undersized when the tank is full of coral and fish and I have a frag tank connected to the system. I just don't know if I would see enough of a difference to justify the upgrade. On BRS they have the opinion that undersized is better than oversized. Don't know if I agree with that. They think oversized skimmers never function properly and can't remove organics as well.
I've found exactly this. The problem is that an oversized skimmer simply doesn't have enough proteins to interact with the air bubbles to keep it stable enough to get pushed over the top and into the collection cup. I know many people that have large skimmers that will talk about how sometimes it's skimming wet sometimes it's dry and they never quite get it dialed in. On my new 120 I'm using a curve five and it is performing better on this tank than it ever did on the 40 gallon that I was running when I first moved out here. Just some food for thought
 
So I have the tank drained and the fish relocated to their temporary digs. Its a bit tight for the larger fish in the 75 gal. The rest of the fish are spread out into the two frag tanks. I can only catch a glimpse of the ones in the tank that holds the anemone. This is the way its got to be till next april.View attachment 148861View attachment 148862View attachment 148863View attachment 148864

What a time getting the sand out of this and I still have more to go. This week or next All Things Aquatic is coming to take it away. Then I have to demolish the stand and fix the tile on the floor. Good Bye tank it was a great run and I won't forget you.
I'll ask..... what brought on this decision? LOVED your last tank.....

...never mind... I read enough to see you had RTN issues. That sucks. Looking forward to the next one.... Are you going Triton? I'm building an acrylic ~550G Triton in the basement. FYI - I am not going to follow the 10x turnover rate though..... I'll have a few closed loops for circulation, and 2 dedicated return pumps for turnover.

Good Luck Paul! (I was looking for your annual tank update on youtube, and when I didn't see it I thought maybe something was up...)
 
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I'll ask..... what brought on this decision? LOVED your last tank.....

...never mind... I read enough to see you had RTN issues. That sucks. Looking forward to the next one.... Are you going Triton? I'm building an acrylic ~550G Triton in the basement. FYI - I am not going to follow the 10x turnover rate though..... I'll have a few closed loops for circulation, and 2 dedicated return pumps for turnover.

Good Luck Paul! (I was looking for your annual tank update on youtube, and when I didn't see it I thought maybe something was up...)
There were problems with circulation because of the large internal overflows. That was what probably led to the rtn on the large colonies in the first place. I also needed to switch to a glass tank. I've got a bad disc in my neck and buffing scratches out of acrylic is not something I want to do anymore.
 
Time for an update. I've been thinking about possibly changing my lighting for the new system. Right now I have 8 Radion XR30s gen 4s and two XR15s set up above where the tank will be. It's overkill, but since I had them I figured I would use them. I hate the fan noise of the Radions and there are power supplies everywhere to deal with. So I keep looking at other lights.
I see two other possibilities. I like the Phillips Coral Care 2s, but they would need some supplementation. They are not par monsters but from what I've seen and read people are very happy with them. I would add some ReefBrites if I went that route. They are huge and heavy though and I might have trouble mounting them. Only four cords and no power supplys!
Next are the new Kessil 500s. I would need four of them. They have awesome shimmer and should have plenty of par but I worry about the single point light source of the Kessils causing a lot of shadowing. Again, I would need to supplement with Reef Brites . It would be great to have a lot less fixture hanging above the tank. BRS said a combination of Kessil and ReefBrite was the most visually beautiful light combination they have seen. Im waiting for BRS to do one of their evaluations before making any decision on the new Kessils.
I spoke with Felix of Reefsavvy a couple weeks ago and there is no date for delivery of my tank. Covid has set him back and there is a shortage of glass. :( My sump came in last week but was damaged. They put a rush on replacing it so it should be here before the end of the month. The new BubbleKing Skimmer has arrived and it's a beast. I'm anxious to get going!
 
Check out the ATI Stratons
 
The Kessil A360x ReefBreeders bar combo that I had for a short time was agreeably visually beautiful and quieter. The Radion G5’s that I have are noticeably louder than the A360x and AP700 that I used before. Either that or the pitch of the Radions is just irritating to my ears. The AP700 was silent from what I recall. I can currently hear the Radion fans running in the other room as I type this...

I am seriously considering either going back to T5 or something fanless like the Coralcare or Straton in a year or two.
 
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Time for an update. I've been thinking about possibly changing my lighting for the new system. Right now I have 8 Radion XR30s gen 4s and two XR15s set up above where the tank will be. It's overkill, but since I had them I figured I would use them. I hate the fan noise of the Radions and there are power supplies everywhere to deal with. So I keep looking at other lights.
I see two other possibilities. I like the Phillips Coral Care 2s, but they would need some supplementation. They are not par monsters but from what I've seen and read people are very happy with them. I would add some ReefBrites if I went that route. They are huge and heavy though and I might have trouble mounting them. Only four cords and no power supplys!
Next are the new Kessil 500s. I would need four of them. They have awesome shimmer and should have plenty of par but I worry about the single point light source of the Kessils causing a lot of shadowing. Again, I would need to supplement with Reef Brites . It would be great to have a lot less fixture hanging above the tank. BRS said a combination of Kessil and ReefBrite was the most visually beautiful light combination they have seen. Im waiting for BRS to do one of their evaluations before making any decision on the new Kessils.
I spoke with Felix of Reefsavvy a couple weeks ago and there is no date for delivery of my tank. Covid has set him back and there is a shortage of glass. :( My sump came in last week but was damaged. They put a rush on replacing it so it should be here before the end of the month. The new BubbleKing Skimmer has arrived and it's a beast. I'm anxious to get going!
What’s the coverage on the 500x? I’m in the process of building a custom hood, and after seeing the same BRS video, I’m putting in a dozen A360we’s and 6 retrofit T5’s
What are the dimensions of the new tank Paul?
 
What’s the coverage on the 500x? I’m in the process of building a custom hood, and after seeing the same BRS video, I’m putting in a dozen A360we’s and 6 retrofit T5’s
What are the dimensions of the new tank Paul?
Supposedly the 500x has a spread of 36x36 with the 55 angle lens and is good for 3 feet deep. It has an optional 35 and 55 angle lens also. The new tank is 96x36x28. Wouldn't you be better with the ReefBrites instead of the T5? They look better and according to BRS work as well.
 
Supposedly the 500x has a spread of 36x36 with the 55 angle lens and is good for 3 feet deep. It has an optional 35 and 55 angle lens also. The new tank is 96x36x28. Wouldn't you be better with the ReefBrites instead of the T5? They look better and according to BRS work as well.
Well now I’m reconsidering! Lol. I like the idea of a t5 tube to dissipate any disco ball effect and remove shadowing ... if I could get that from the reefbrites with less power/heat, it would be nice. hmmmm....never ending choices, right?
 
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