Bought a house...came with a tank.

[branflake12]

Hey 77. thanks for chiming in. I realized after finding the bakpak manual online that it is the valve. I havnt messed with the skimmer yet, just the emporer HOB. I will check tonight. I emptied the cup when i moved in and there was stuff in it. I cant see behind the tank to know. I am probably going to take it off this weekend and clean up the salt creep and run vinegar thru it (not sure of it has "bio bale" but if so i will take that out and keep it wet).

It sounds like, given the current bio load, I may not even need the HOB filter?

 

[fsn77]

Ok, a valve on the end would be better, although that may not even be needed -- something to more easily determine after cleaning the skimmer and seeing how it is performing with the valve installed. When you get to cleaning the skimmer, definitely be sure to clean that valve real good, as it doesn't take all that much salt spray / salt creep to start clogging one of those up. If possible (although things sound really space limited), it would be advisable to route the intake airline so it can draw in clean, fresh air.

Unless I've missed something major, it doesn't appear to me that you need the HOB filter to actually filter the tank. However, it's creating circulation and surface agitation that would likely need to be replaced by installing one or more powerheads if you want to remove the HOB all together. It's up to you, but I would strongly consider removing it and replacing the lost flow with one or more powerheads (unless you like having the HOB to run carbon or other chemical media). If for no other reason, I'd switch it out in favor of powerheads to help reduce the overall amount of splashing / salt spray / salt creep.

 

[branflake12]

well if i pulled the HOB, i would have the skimmer and two (very old) powerheads. I would love to take the weight off the back glass that the HOB adds as my center brace is kinda cobbled together. Do you think one more decent powerhead could replace the flow of the two waterfalls from the HOB? I bought some chempure to run in it for a while, so i may just deal with that part of it when the tank is a bit more "cleaned up". I am starting to see how a bit of neglect and one of these would really get away from you.

All i have to do with my rift lake tank is a 10% change every week and swap the filter cartridges.

 

[greech]

Did you ever confirm the size of the maxi-jets you have in there now? The problem with those is that they don't have a very wide flow unless you buy the mod kit. But yes one more good power head will work but try and get one with a wide flow pattern. 2 wide flow PH's would be best though. The new Koralia Evolutions are pretty good pumps and reasonable priced. There are better pumps but they will be more expensive. Flow is a critical part of your system IMO. It helps ensure adequate oxygenation, pH stability, detritus suspension and proper biological filtration.

 

[branflake12]

Did you ever confirm the size of the maxi-jets you have in there now? The problem with those is that they don't have a very wide flow unless you buy the mod kit. But yes one more good power head will work but try and get one with a wide flow pattern. 2 wide flow PH's would be best though. The new Koralia Evolutions are pretty good pumps and reasonable priced. There are better pumps but they will be more expensive. Flow is a critical part of your system IMO. It helps ensure adequate oxygenation, pH stability, detritus suspension and proper biological filtration.

I didnt confirm that. So much algea (the hard kind) on them there is no writing. I also reconfirmed with the old owner and the support "fix" he did was holding the glass OUT in order to have a place for the glass tops to rest on. I pulled it out (it wedged in there tight enought that when i got it out the tank de-bowed about 1/4") and removed the broken glass tops. Going topless.

I noticed something disturbing this morning. There is an arm of the brittle star laying on the ground...without the star. Its still moving. Very creepy. Is this a kind of reproduction? I remember from science class stars reproduce with a chunk of the "disc" but i see no disc. Will get pics soon. Creepy.

 

[greech]

Not sure if this is accurate but a quck google search came up with this. Makes sense if vital organs are housed in their arms that a new star could develop.

"Amazingly, sea stars can regenerate lost arms. This is useful if the sea star is threatened by a predator - it can drop an arm and get away. Sea stars house most of their vital organs in their arms, so some can even regenerate an entirely new sea star from just one arm and a portion of the star's central disc. It won't happen too quickly, though. It takes about a year for an arm to grow back."

That's just odd about the brace and purposely pushing glass outward. Isn't this a standard 55. Most/all 55's I have seen have a center brace and come with standard glass tops.

 

[branflake12]

Thanks for the tidbit. Interesting.

As for the tank, its a standard. The regular brace broke when he was installing it (im guessing he tried to use it as a handle) so he wedged the wood inthere as a place to rest the glass tops' middle edges. Must not have occurred to him that it was there for another purpose other than to hold the tops. Its been that way since 1999...Im going to looking into joist hangers as a way to pull it together a bit, but my theory is that it is fine as is. I just need some peice of mind.

Did a 2 gallon top up yesterday with RODI fresh and checked salinity today. Down to a touch over 36, small steps but i dont want to shock them too hard with a big change. The aiptasia i JJ'd is gone and i see only a few new baby ones. Ran out of JJ, going to try lemon juice. LFS charged me $20 for JJ and i bought it on impulse and now im kicking myself...could have had 3 for that price.

 

[Tasty Burger]

I had a 55 with a broken brace as well. You can replace the entire top rim (not really safe with the tank full) or do what I did.

I took a piece of clear acrylic and attached some "L" brackets on both ends. Cut to size, I pulled the top of the tank in on itself a little, and slid my custom brace over the tank where the original brace should have been. If the sight of the bracing bothers you like it did me, I custom-built a hood that accomodated for the slightly wider bracing. It hid everything, and I had full light penetration without the original center brace. I actually liked it more that way!

 

[branflake12]

Sounds like a good idea burger...got a pic?

 

[branflake12]

You could probably stand to replace them with something like a couple of Koralia Evolution 1050s or Tunze 6025s or 6045s which provide a wider flow pattern.

Do all of the Koralia's need there magnet support on the other side of the glass? I was hoping to attach one of these to the side about halfway down to get a "cross current" going, but due to the way its built in, I cant get the magnet between the tank and the cabinet. Do any just use suction cups?