Conskis 34 Gal Solana Build

dude i wanna putting effing water in this POS so bad its driving me nuts! im using my oceanic pump, that i replaced with the maxijet 600 from my biocube.

good idea on asking scooter nerd, he never posts on my threads! let him know im interested if you could man id appreciate it. tomorrow is the big day for sure.

I have the option of buying fantastic branchrock from the new place, do you think i should use that and still keep the PVC to push the water upwards, with the branch rock i can put some of it into the sand and use it to hoist up more rocky pieces and other pieces on the PVC.

MY LFS guy said that he doesnt know if the solana pump will be strong enough, im sorta hoping it isnt so that it actually a very gentle flow
 
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mods, excuse the "effing" and clumsy grammatical errors please
 
btw im putting lr rubble in the back with cheto, would an 8watt light be enough to support growth? ill just put it on the other side of the glass right against it
 
I'm happy for you Conski. Even with all the best laid out plans it will take some time to work out all the bugs. Sometimes those cherry picked pieces of equip work out sometimes they don't. Tweeking here and adjusting there will be the order of the day for a while. I know. I've been doing alot of that myself. I got a skimmer that I thought would work well. After tweeking and modding for 2 weeks it just isn't enough for this tank. I'm currently waiting on an ETSS sump buddy to arrive. This puppy is rated for a 250g tank. It should do the trick on my 90g. My halides will be here tomorrow. 2 400w Ushio 14K's and already got 4 48" 110w vho actinics for sups. The only thing missing is a Neptune aqua controller to do the light cycles,heating wavemaling etc. etc etc. Then it's just the waiting game for everythig to get sweet over the next couple months.

Be patient. Thats the main thing. You've done well so far, so don't rush anything now.

Just a thought.Instead of dosing Ca and alk maybe you should consider getting a small Ca reactor in the near future. They are much better than dosing any day. I got my lifereef LCR1 for 200 bucks full of media. Another $150 for the co2 tank,regularor and needle valve. But for a small tank ,like yours ,a used one would be far less.

Anyway enough of my rambling. Good luck tomorrow dude!
 
ill definitely look into a ca reactor, i was looking into a UV steralizer as well..
most important thing i need equipment wise now is a chiller for next summer, how my 14 gal didnt die is a mystery. im gonna test this skimmer out that came with it before i research and buy a different one.

for now i have what i need and have been paitent enough, im gonna be aquascaping alllllll dayy tomorrow :)
 
Don't waste your money on a UV. They really have no place on a reef tank. It will detsroy more beneficial life forms than it is worth. If you've done your homework on keeping SPS the you know that planltonic lifeforms are a food source for that genus of coral. The UV would definitely kill all the planktonic life that passes through it, pods etc. if it is functionig properly. IMO the best application for UV is on a fish only system to kill pathogens harmful to the inhabitants.Use of one on a reef tank is antiquated thinking. In the early eighties they were the rage, until knowledge and technology caught up in regards to reef systems. If you were able to keep SPS back the you truly were a reef god.

Put your money where it counts. The 4 big items with regard to equipment as far as I'm concerned are powerful skimming, powerful lighting and powerful circulation,and stable Ca and alk. These provided for, the rest is kind of easy IMHO.

Don't take thus the wrong way, but the money spent on the phosphate reactor would have been better applied to a Ca reactor. Do you have, or plan on having a high phosphate level? If so,then finding the source and how to eliminate it is the key. Anything else is treating a symptom not the cause A powerful enough skimmer will remove a fair amount of phosphate on its own. Macro algae such as the type found in a refugium will remove it as well. It's truly exported when the macro is harvested out of the tank.

I guess my point is that reefing is expensive enough as it is without making uninformed purchases. Mis-spent money can keep you from affording what is truly needed to make keeping your system as easy as possible while keeping your dad off your back.

Good luck today. We want to see pics when the water clears
 
BTW:

Instead of a chiller why not an air conditioner. It will keep the tank cool and you'll benefit from it as well.That's I've always done,and it works.
 
Ken b said:
Don't take thus the wrong way, but the money spent on the phosphate reactor would have been better applied to a Ca reactor. Do you have, or plan on having a high phosphate level? If so,then finding the source and how to eliminate it is the key. Anything else is treating a symptom not the cause A powerful enough skimmer will remove a fair amount of phosphate on its own. Macro algae such as the type found in a refugium will remove it as well. It's truly exported when the macro is harvested out of the tank.
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JMO but smaller tanks usually = smaller sumps which in turn = smaller skimmer options. It is much easier to get a good skimmer rated for a 34G tank, like a Del-Tec, and couple it with the phosban reactor. Sure, if you had a 200G tank, 100G sump, and could throw in a BubbleKing skimmer the Phosphate reactor would be negligable, but in a small 34G tank the phosphate reactor becomes much more critical to have IMO. Phosphates swing pretty drastically in small tanks, especially around feeding time from my experience, and most people don't want to put a skimmer the same size or bigger than the tank they are running just to remove DOCs. Only those crazy TOTM on RC people do that with their home made 8' tall skimmers. ;)

I still do not have a CA reactor on my tank, 2x the size of the 34G, 1-1/2 years of SPS growth, and I can still handle Alk/Ca easily just with Kalk ATO water and a little B-Ionic. It is going to take many years before a CA reactor should be even close to required on something as small as a 34G tank. I am still not even considering a reactor yet for my tank... a better skimmer is something I need before I need a CA reactor.
 
hahaha im okay with my skimmer for now ive heard they do the trick,

No UV for me then lol, but a ca reactor as tempting as it sounds is expensive and im kinda sick of spenidng the money on stuff when i can do just fine right now with all the stuff ive bought!

I WISH I HAD AC, my dad will by a motorcycle and a bmw but not ac, and a personal one for my room wont fit so im forced to get a nice little chiller! i have the hottest room in the house too.
 
I agree on the UV, I wouldn't use one on a reef tank.

CA reactors can easily end up running $500 for a small setup when all the parts are bought. Used is definately the way to go if you can because you can get it 1/2 price usually. There are a few big dollar items that go with a CA reactor. Are they helpful? Obsolutely. They make CA and Alk levels much more stable than other methods, but the cost of them has kept me away so far since my method seems simple enough and does the job just fine. Sure, it takes a minute of my life each day to dose a little b-ionic but I am right there at the tank anyway so it isn't a big deal. If someone walked up to me and gave me a CA reactor I would set it up in a heartbeat, it is just one of those "down the road" items for me to add to the wish list.

BTW, chillers heat up the room even more when they run.. so if your room is hot you need a way to vent the chiller. If the chiller is too hot and the ambient temp in the room is too high it won't chill the water.

So.... wasn't today the big day? Where are the updates?
 
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