Of interest to Bemidji reefers

Because I have to research everything... I bought the following books and I will gladly loan them to my Bemidji group if they are interested. I have also bought a Hydor Koralia Magnum 7 for the 210. If Holly, Jodi, or Cammie could find time to advise where to put it in the tank- it will be here towards the end of the week..I would really appreciate it.

Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder"
Moe, Martin A., Jr.; Paperback;

The Reef Aquarium, Vol. 3: Science, Art, and Technology"
Sprung, Julian; Hardcover;

Algae: A Problem Solver Guide (Oceanographic Series)"
Sprung, Julian; Paperback

Ohhhh anywhere on the back wall. Did the one powerhead completely stop working, by the way?

The one that was used for mixing saltwater. I've been siphoning red slime, we did another water change today of 20 gal. Now we need to fix the baffles on the sump, they are all broken. I've been trying to find a simpler design, thought that might be better- this is the second time they have broken.

Is it a glass aquarium for the sump? if yes, get glass for the baffles. The silicone will not hold to acrylic baffles and they will continue to break. Glass it adheres to and will not let loose, assuming it is done right and given the 24 hours to cure.

It is acrylic. There are 3 chambers divided by 2 double sets of baffles. The middle chamber has live rock. I am reading all I can find and the only way to fix this seems to be to drain, dry, and reglue the baffles, which of course are acrylic too.

How do you keep acrylic sumps from breaking the seals on baffles?

Wait, you mean the separating panels to make the different 'areas' of the sump?

I wouldn't worry about those to be honest. Let 'em break. I have rigged up a box around my pumps so air and 'other miscellaneous junk' doesn't go into my pump heading upwards. There isn't much in the way of bubbles going in and out of the sump. If anything, truly only one would be needed on each side to keep the rocks in the giant refugium area.

Anyhow... here's a link. Pressure-locking baffles

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i1/Baffles/bafflesart.htm

It looks like from what I can see on diagrams that the one set of panels should be raised so water flows under them? This is the set next to the intake for the skimmer?

If it doesn't matter much that they are propped up with rock, etc- I'm not going to worry about it.

Should I put that new Koralia over on the right hand side of the tank where the food stagnates? Bloody hell..I really don't know what I'm doing!

Thanks for the link- I think we can do that.

hehe. The powerhead can be put wherever it seems that it will go best. If its in the food settling part, if its on one side, blowing along the back, if its dead center, blowing around. That's up to you guys.

The way the baffles are SUPPOSED to go is down, up, down. The 'up' one is a gap beneath a high 'wall' so that water goes under it instead of over, reducing the bubbles in the sump. the HSC sump is set up so the water goes into the left, goes over then under a baffle (getting rid of bubbles from the skimmer and tank output) into the refugium, and under/over again into the pump area. In my opinion **MY opinion-and others will differ I'm sure lol** you only will need two 'baffles' to block off the refugium area from the rest of the sump space. Why? Its a HUGE sump. GIANT sump. I think that the refugium and the 2 baffles would keep the bubbles out of the tank without having anything fancy. And less fancy, less fuss=better and easier to take care of!

Oh. And I think I'm gonna stop in tomorrow and throw in some zoanthids.

Thanks! If you have time will you show Frank how to do the test kit? Scope it out and see how we are doing? 20 gal water changes every week should be helping, the red slime continues to return but the pace is slower. Aptasia is still there, so the file fish has food.

I'm afraid the fish feeding is still being done with somewhat wild abandon on certain days. Since it is every other day, perhaps that isn't so bad.

lol Keep the skimmer tuned as high as it will go and hopefully the feeding won't do too much harm. Make tea, not coffee.

Wish I lived closer if you could have the sump down during the frag awap I could fix your baffles up really quick, I'm working on a sump build right now for one of our members.
and to remember if your going to have them run there skimmer wet,they will need to watch there testing a little closer,for running your skimmer to wet it will skimmate more supplements from your water column.

True.. but for a while there they weren't running the skimmer at all.... That's most likely why they had all the issues that are being resolved slowly now.

Okay!
yeah from what I've heard on this tank keeping up on the skimmer is a must.

Does anyone one know what there parameters are?
What's there TDS readings?
How deep of a sand bed are they running? Why? is it shallow (just for looks) or 3+" LS Bio filtration bed.

They DO need new ro/di filters. Funding is short for that unfortunately. The sandbed is a few inches. Too much for a shallow sand bed, not truly enough for a deep. I'd put it just at 2-3 inches. They ARE supporting a sand sifting star in there.

Really, it was set up to beable to support sps, but because of ease of maintenance and not many hobby people helping, its a softy/easy lps tank. Think of it more as a 'tank to please an audience' than a hobbiest tank. I know they want more fish, because people SEE fish. So high nutrient tank also.

I didn't realize the skimmer wasn't being used at all for a while, but it doesn't really surprise me.

The AC jr with DC8 isn't being used either. Someone misplaced the directions and I can't get a decent download of the online even the company is no help with this.

http://www.aquacave.com/Manuals/NEPTUNE-AquaControllerJr-MANUAL.pdf

Try printing it. That is the problem.

What she meant by the skimmer not being run at all was that it wasn't turned up enough to pull any junk out. It was plugged in and running...just not doing anything and it ran that way for a long time.

I agree with Swan about the sump. There doesn't seem to be an issue with microbubbles in this tank so I'd just leave it be. It's probably more hassle than it is worth at this point.

If I remember right, all they have is old tests and some test strips for testing. Frank is wanting tips on testing so I think that will be coming in the next week or so. I can bring my test kits in for a comparison.

I'll be in in about.. 30 mins.

Warming up the car and throwing on something other than whole filled sweats.

hole...


Anyhow, ran in, grabbed the old filter sock (ewwwww) the tank really needs a filter bag for carbon, there was no place to put the sock properly. Or get the carbon thinggie working (yeah, I don't remember the name of the tube on the wall for all that)

Skimmer looks to be running perfectly, as does the tank. Ohhh it looks so nice. Oh, and I rescued the baby BTA from the sump and put it in the tank. Glad the mangled one made it

I forgot to tell you the mangled anenome made it! So that was one in the sump..I thought it might be.

I am glad you think the tank looks better, I've been having a lot of fun doing the little I can with it.

I did change the carbon a couple of weeks ago but I thought that set up was strange and not very efficient.

I'll put the Mag 7 in the tank when it comes but replace it with the Mag 5 when I get it at the swap. I'll save the Mag 7 for my own tank some time. This 210 is enough for now, if we can get it healthy with enough people who understand how and want to take care of it then I will be happy. Really makes me feel good you think it looks better! Thanks!