RUNAS

WOW! its only me in Boris that do water changes then. Maybe it was a too much silly question :dunno: Ill keep my silly question to my self in future I think. Thanks for taking the time to reply Boris :thup: RUNAS

Seems sort of silly,but just curious. What percentage water changes do people do and how often with marine tanks? Keen to hear about quanties during cycling of tanks too. Thanks in advance RUNAS

Theres no kinks or kings :slfg: blockages or any other changes made, just uped the salinity abit. Its not a problem, it was just a observation. Whats even weirdier that buleether noted that it would add another 2 cm of head..... thats about how much the water level dropped in the overflow. :dunno: Tank still going great 3 months on, gees these little marine fish a greedy buggers. I suppose its about time I put some pics up aye. all the best RUNAS

ok being a little lazy on the typing out numbers my salinity reads 1.022 it was 1.020. Thinking that's spot on? tested NSW on weekend and thats what it read too. RUNAS

Im not sure if the title gives the right discription of my question but I will get to the point This came as a little surprise to me but the salinity of my tank was a little low so over the course of two water changes I have increased it (was .20 now .22) What I have noticed is that flow from the main return pump has decreased(it is pumping it 14 ft from under my house) quite dramatically. I understand that the salinity is measured by gravity but would .2 have made that much difference? It is what it is, but Im just wondering if anybody else has noticed this type of thing? RUNAS

Same here I could quite easily turn mine into a tropical marine by incresing the set temp on my chiller, for this reason alone. The plug fell out for the chiller unit and within 12 hours it was 26d. with no heaters, the high for the day was only 16 and we had no heating on in the house. I have been toying with the idea of running my main return pump externally of sump instead of in sump to try and keep this temperature down. If anyone one has done this before Id sure like to hear from you. RUNAS

Yes, at a guess about $3 per day increase, some may gag at this, but I dont have sky tv, dont drink or smoke, gamble and its only me and wifey at home. I was warned about the costs of running a cold water local marine and its within budget. The upside to it all is apart from the actual tank and sump size I can double the size of my system and not purchase any more hardware, all was purchased twice as big than required with the idea of not buying twice if I want to go bigger in the future :thup: So far its all working out fine. RUNAS

Hi there, Im no expert by any streach of the imagination, but a coarse filter sponge in the first baffle before your return pump should/could take care of the micro bubbles. Also I found with my tank, if the return pipe in the tank has an anti syphon hole near the top which intermitantly breaks the surface thats a great way to make micro bubbles :thup: Regards RUNAS

Cold, Thankyou :thup: RUNAS

I should have asked as well. Is there any percautionary measures/additives for NSW to remove any unwanted guests. Should it be filtered etc,or do you just take as mother nature intended and get what your given. Just wondering. Thanks in advance RUNAS

A little weird one but, if I was to go and collect NSW say 200 lts is it fine to sit in 20lt containers, for say 3 weeks? or does it require filtration while its sitting. My reasons are if I collect it, it will be more cost effective the more I get,over making syntheic water, closest for me is an hour away,hence I would get a minimum of 200 lts which would give me about a months worth of weekly 60 lt changes to make the trip worth it. I can get 20 lt food grade drums through work for free, I may even be able to get a plastic 250 lt drum with a screw lid. If I charm the right people I could get a 1000 lt maxi bin free, who wants NSW in Hamilton :thup: Any advice appreciate! Oh yeah quick up date, new tank going primo! filter socks doing awsome job! RUNAS

Thanks LA, no problems with that happening, I'm thinking I have a good little supply of those little buggers in my tank already, I see them crawling on the glass. Even though its only 6 week old system? I did a little research on them and it appears theyre a good thing to have. RUNAS

Oh ignorace is bliss, not to be a pain LA but do you mind explaining this a little more for me please. Are the mysid or pods the little white bugs that I see on the glass etc sometimes ? RUNAS

Just let you all know, I got some 100 micron socks from Ivan at Particle Solutions, very nice guy to deal with had the socks the next day by 9 am, fantastic service. I got three socks, one in, one ready, and one being washed so I can cycle them weekly or when required. Being a noob at marine I really dont know if this is right or wrong but...... I made up a little perspex holder for it last night and installed, I removed the fine and coarse filter sponges I had in sump, replumbed the out of protein skimmer to past through sock as well to take out the fine bubbles. The result... GIN CLEAR water. :thup: I dont know if there will be adverse reaction within water chemistry( i doubt it) but on the fine particulate level I have none. A very pleasing result RUNAS

Does the house have wooden floor or concrete slab? If its a concrete floor ingnore the following, unless you know a carpet layer, concrete cutter guy and builder :thup: If its a wooden floor with enough room to grovel under it(what ive done BTW) and run your pipes under the house to the sump out side this could be a way. To create a overflow in the corners,you could use PVC pipe, say 40mm in two corners, then reduced down to 25mm across the bottom, into a T then a 90 straight down out the bottom through a bulk head fitting(hope that makes sense). Hide pipes on bottom with sand and the rock,you could paint these with rock effect paint to try and hide it more, paint overflows black, trying to get some down inside, not invisible but not real obvious either. The return line can be straight up through the bottom too, similar too the overflow,(opposite end) along the bottom up the corner and tucked up long the back but cap the end and drill multi directional holes (spray bar type of thing). This way when the power goes off it wont drain the whole tank, like it would if it was in the bottom. OR you could make the pipes a feature, model up some little flanges with bolts etc make them look like mini water mains. The only thing you could see would be two pipes under the table, (only just though). I hope that all made sense. The perfect way to do the whole thing would be to run all ins and outs through the legs of the table, way kool :thup: RUNAS

Perfect, thank you all. :thup: RUNAS

Hi there, does anybody know where to source these from in NZ, or a postage freindly supplier in the US that dosnt want $100 US for shipping RUNAS

Um, was " not being impatient just courious" not clear enough,gees!

Hi there, I know all aquariums are different and different nutrient levels etc have a marked impact on how things cycle but on average how long does the diatom/brown algae stage for last for? My phospahte levels are 0.5 or nearly 0, I have little batches of green algae growing slowly on the tops of rock,nothing hairy looking, more like moss and nearly every night when I come home it looks like the diatoms is getting patchy or a white growth is growing over it. The glass shrimp give the stuff heaps,theyre like little energizer green keepers :digH: Could it be these guys making the patches? I dont think the brown is getting worse, it has cerainly slowed down, I keep the lights off all day with the closest curtains shut, the only light is the "blues" for three hours from 5.30 til 8.30. Other levels are Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 I considered geting some local rock pool snails(local coldie FOWLR tank BTW) to see if they will back up the glass shrimp or get more glass shrimp. Im certainly not keen in a "additive" to get rid of it Im not being impatient, just courious :dunno: RUNAS

Spot on! I really hope your getting trade price on those taps, wheew! RUNAS

Hey Faithbleed, Ive been pondering your issue on and off today and one thing came to mind. I think you may find that if you T off your return the water MAY go in the path of least resistance or out the short one, due to the head pressure of the other tube? Am I making sense? SO just as a back up it may pay to have a ball valve or tap on the direct return to the sump to control that output, or you may find the exact opposite to you current situation, all water in sump and not in tank. Just something else to consider :thup: RUNAS

Hey thanks WASP, They are funny creatures I have to admit, I am "trying" as we all do to recreate the natural flows so to speak of the ocean, my setup has great flow and water circulation. I feed the anenomes a micro plankton every second day, when I feed the fish, I shut the pumps down when I do and the result is really cool! The whole tank comes more alive, the anenomes puff right up(more than usual) they must have receptors or some thing cause they know when its feeding time! I shut it down for about half an hour and then start up the tunze recir nano pump 1st then the main return pump 20 mins after that. I have considered timing the main pump to shut down for an hour every six hours and time the nano accordingly but as this stage Ill keep it as is. :smot: Sadly I couldnt get a VSD (variable speed drive) or a VFD (variable freqency drive) for the main pump, if I could have it would have ment I could have a automated control of the main return pump to speed right up eg in comming tide/full tide and slow back down slowly eg low tide, and it change every six hours But because of the type of pumps I have I couldnt do it. YET! Im enjoying it heaps, keeps my brain full. RUNAS

Well on that bombshell, we shall wait and see. I will keep tabs on things. RUNAS

"When I had a cold marine I didn't have much light on it and the red anemones were fine." Sorry Caryl I should have been clearer, I was refering to the sea lettuce, I have a little sprout of a similar looking one to the green varitey but red. Not the anenomes. Does the sea lettuce spore or some such thing to spread? RUNAS

Thanks for that One thing I forgot to ask,will it start growing on other rocks? I would like it to. I also have a little sprout of a red looking one too, which im keeping an eye on, I would like abit of that on other rocks also. Im guessing it will need a fair bit of light(correct me if im wrong)which I "think" I have? 2x39w sunlight and 2x39w blue t5s over a 900x600x350 tank,for the sea lettuce to grow better,but due to my diatoms at the moment Im leaving the off most of the day,theyre only on for about 4 hours total,at the moment. Any advice or info appreciated. RUNAS