Ace25's 75G Build Thread

how did the new seam at the union shut off hold up? Considering the number of colonies we had to move, I think it went well overall. Though, wasn't it ironic that the most damage occured after transport, in the tank itself? Go figure. The digi snapping at the base was actually a pretty lucky break (kept it's uniformity).
The fast growth rates in your tank will have the damaged colonies back to original form before you know it. And the accidental frags will be so primo for the Ventura frag swap.
Did you see the advance purchase frag tank deals on the RAP home page? They look top quality for hardly more than what it must have cost for materials.
 
Good to hear man glad all went well! im beyond excited for the frag package! hope all goes well with the re set up of everything man
 
Yea man post that update weve been waiting for. and pm your address soon so i can ship your goodies haha
 
My tank is still in "recovery mode" and really not up to my standards right now, but each day it is getting better (should be doing 3 50% waterchanges a week). Hours and hours spent with tweezers pulling out as much hair algae as I can. Didn't help I made a dumb mistake yesterday that overflowed my sump.. luckly nothing but wet carpet from that ordeal and a bruised ego. I caught the problem fairly quickly after it started.. ok.. I admit.. had my filter sock too high in my sump, got full, and overflowed.. out of the sump. Only about 1 litre of water made it out and it was my ATO kicking on more often than it should that caught my attention to the problem. Good thing I was low on Kalk solution in the ATO bucket and had mostly RO/DI water so I didn't get a pH spike, just slightly milky water for an hour or so and me drying out the carpet.
 
How do you like that high-cap carbon from BRS?
Been using chemipure for so long, but seems it's simply activated carbon and DI resin. Wondering if using BRS high cap carbon and their newest GFO in a fluidized reactor would be more effective. Been using Rowaphos for quite awhile too, but I just used the last 125ml out of 1000 and looking to save a few bucks.
 
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Don't use their ROX 0.8 carbon in a reactor. I can't speak for Ace, but I loved the carbon, but it just isn't reactor-friendly. It works faster and longer than any other carbon I've used. I've since switched to lignite, which works pretty well and is much cheaper.
 
Thanks for sharing your insight with ROX 0.8 and lignite Amphiprion.

The specs show that ROX is in fact harder than lignite, so why is it not reactor friendly?

I saw that there are large and small granular sizes available for the lignite versions. Which one are you using, and are you employing a reactor?

I'm still on the fence about employing a reactor for carbon, but the fluidity would seem to increase surface contact and prevent caking. But, if you've found same or better longevity/performance simply using bags please tell.

You did mention that ROX last longer and faster than any other carbon you've used. Can you specify how much longer it lasts compared to the lignite you're using (1.5X, 2X...)?

I know that's a lot of questions, but just trying to learn from your actual experience. Thanks again!
 
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So far I think the Rox carbon is far superior to Chemi-Pure, but I am using it in filter bags in both my tanks. Some reason I never liked the idea of fluidizing carbon like I do with GFO. Not sure exactly why.. just something I always steered away from. Maybe because Chemi-Pure always came in bags and I have used it for close to a decade now with good results I never seen a reason to put carbon in a reactor. On my 75G the carbon usage is more of an after thought/peace of mind thing, but on my 29G that is sumpless/skimmerless the carbon is much more critical IMO and so far my 29G is looking better than ever since switching to the Rox carbon. I am sure the move/rescape, and new sandbed in the 29G helped as well but now I am seeing why some of the locals around here are going back from SPS down to a softy tank again. SPS is fun but high stress and high maintanence and for those with families it is hard to find the time needed to maintain an SPS tank. A Softy/anemone tank on the other hand seems so easy after a year of diving into the SPS world. No sump, No skimmer, just a HOB filter, heater, and GFO reactor with good lighting on my 29G is all it seems to take to keep it going good. After to rescape of the 29G now my long spine urchin can move around much better and has really made a huge dent in the hair algae that tank was experiencing. Too bad I can't use that solution for my 75G.
 
flomojo said:
Thanks for sharing your insight with ROX 0.8 and lignite Amphiprion.

The specs show that ROX is in fact harder than lignite, so why is it not reactor friendly?

I saw that there are large and small granular sizes available for the lignite versions. Which one are you using, and are you employing a reactor?

I'm still on the fence about employing a reactor for carbon, but the fluidity would seem to increase surface contact and prevent caking. But, if you've found same or better longevity/performance simply using bags please tell.

You did mention that ROX last longer and faster than any other carbon you've used. Can you specify how much longer it lasts compared to the lignite you're using (1.5X, 2X...)?

I know that's a lot of questions, but just trying to learn from your actual experience. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

The shape is the issue. It is similar to mechanical pencil lead in shape and it tends to pack quite badly. I never tried to fluidize carbon, since all of it is clastic, regardless of the hardness, so you'll end up grinding it away no matter what. What I did is blast water through it, with weekly (or so) shuffling to ensure more even exposure. Again, though, the ROX 0.8 tends to pack too much and it would clog extremely quickly. The lignite carbon is more reactor friendly as a result (of course, no fluidization). I am currently using large granules.

I'd say it lasted about 10-15% longer. That may or may not justify the price for you. What it does excel at is how quickly it works. I noticed very fast color reduction. The ROX 0.8 would (noticeably) reduce water coloration in a matter of hours (this was running with a lot of water flow), whereas other carbons would take overnight or longer to get the same effect using the same method.
 
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