Mixed Bag

[Wiskey]

I use IO because it has been around forever (great rep) and is consistant batch to batch. That is what is important to me. The CA is a little low, and so is the Mag, but that is easy enough to fix with some CaCl and Mag cloride and/or epsom salt.

Whiskey

[VWD]

I just want to say that this is one of the best treads that I have read in a long Time , and I think that we are all lucky that Weatherman is a Mod of this Forum.

[Weatherman]

10% (maybe more?) water change #6 is complete. About half of the old water has now been swapped out.

Everything’s hunky-dory.

Ca: 410 ppm; alk: 8.5 dKH; specific gravity 1.0255

Almost all of my 160-gallon bucket of salt is gone, so I’m thinking I may be running a bit faster than 10% a day (unless the yield on a 160-gallon bucket is very poor). I’m going to go to the store and pick up another 160-gallon bucket tomorrow.

I read a post on another site from a person who is considering doing the same thing I’m doing right now – switch from NSW to ASW. The recommendation from one of the resident experts was to switch over at a rate of 5% a week.

I guess, if you aren’t having significant problems with your tank, that’s a nice, safe transition rate, but it would take about six months to convert 75% of the tank water over to ASW at 5% a week.

Clearly, one has to weigh the risks vs. the rewards in deciding how fast to transition from one type of saltwater to another.

[Weatherman]

Just got notification that my new 6100 Tunze Stream and multicontroller have just been shipped.


I already have one 6100 in my 120 (along with the two Iwaki 55-driven eductors), and will now be able to have two Tunze Streams running on “Interval #1”. The back and forth rocking motion should be nice. Waveboxes look kind of neat but they scare me. In a 180-gallon tank, that’s about 1500 lbs of water sloshing back and forth.

I think I have more money sunk into Tunze Streams and multicontrollers than just about anything else. With this purchase I will have six 6100s, one 6000 and three multicontrollers. I also have a whole bunch of spare single-controllers from before I went with the multicontrollers.

You can probably guess… I like Tunze Streams.

[Weatherman]

Here’s the “canary in my coal mine”. This picture was taken just minutes ago.

I purchased this little acro about a week before making the decision to switch from NSW to IO.




This little coral is going to be my judge, jury and executioner on both my decision to switch salt and my decision to switch salt quickly.

[gwaco]

jack , i know you have said that all of your paramiters are in check , but how are you feeling about the switch ! , i mean is your gut feeling telling you that you have made the correct choice ? have you seen any dramatic differences good or bad ?
you should add the wave-box in conjunction with all the streams ! although with your size tank you would probally need an extension box $$$$ . i am so sold on the thing i can't imagine my tank with out it now .it creates such a new dynamic with the water you just can't believe .

[Weatherman]

I’m feeling pretty good.

The little acro, in the picture above, slimed up pretty bad with the first water change last Sunday, but hasn’t responded one way or another since then. The first four or five 10% changes are the most traumatic. Now, with each change, half the water I’m swapping out is water I put in less than a week ago.

My Pavona and Seriatopora are starting to get their nice, deep, rich color back. An encrusting Monti now has its polyps out nearly all the time (I thought I was going to lose that one). I’m still waiting on my two Stylophoras to start to respond. They are still looking a bit pale.

It has been like doing a quick tightrope walk to keep my calcium and alk in line, tweaking the bubble count on my calcium reactor, adjusting the number of teaspoons of Ca(OH)2 I’ve been adding to topoff water, and dosing CaCl, but my water check yesterday evening revealed everything is ok. I don’t know whether I’d recommend a 10% change a day, every day, for two weeks to everyone. It takes pretty careful monitoring of things. But it can be done, if you are careful.


As for Waveboxes… when I first saw one in action I thought it was the neatest thing imaginable. But, then I started to think about resonance oscillations and “Galloping Gertie” (the Tacoma Narrows Bridge), and decided it wasn’t for me.

"Galloping Gertie" (for those who may not recognize the name):

http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/Exhibi...mith/fig09.gif

[gwaco]

i agree that the stand needs too be built with the wavebox in mind . i have heard of one disaster here locally from someone using a wavebox on their large tank ! later it turned out that his stand was made using stacked cement blocks with boards across them ! nolonger felt sorry for him !
keep us updated .

[Weatherman]

If I was real talented and could build my own in-wall tank, I'd definitely get a Wavebox.

Make the tank about 8’ long, and have strong, lateral braces running up both sides of the tank to the top. Put a couple of numbers into my handy-dandy seiche calculator (2.44 m length, 0.6 m depth and modal number 1):

http://www.coastal.udel.edu/faculty/rad/seiche.html


Nice 2-second period.

[Weatherman]

10-12% (somewhere around there ) water change #9 is complete. 2/3rds of the old water has now been swapped out. I’m going to do two more water changes (Tuesday and Thursday), then return to my normal 5% a week water change routine on Saturday.

My new 6100 Tunze Stream and multicontroller arrive Wednesday, so I’ll have a new toy to play with Wednesday evening.

I’ve been thinking about this a long time, and I decided to buy a 48” Nova Extreme 4x54 watt T5 fixture to supplement my two 250-watt PFO Minis. I think I’m going to place the Nova fixture toward the front of the tank and move the PFO Minis back a couple of inches from where they are right now.

My objective with the T5s is to have a longer total photoperiod (push it up to 11 hrs) on the tank and mix in some diffuse light with the stark shadows produced by the halides. The halide photoperiod will be reduced to three hours, initially, to cushion the coral against photoshock.

Then…. I’M GOING TO QUIT TINKERING AROUND WITH STUFF!!!!

[Wiskey]

You are doing some major changes here, but I think it is for the better. Just remember that the people who really use them say T5's are only good for 6-9 months before bulb replacement, other than that they have great output.

I would love some tunzes on Multi controlers, I think they are really slick, I may just have to buget that into my next tank build. Have fun with yours, I love nothing more than playing with new equiptment.

Your canary coral is really cool, I wish it and you luck. Keep us informed.

Thanks,
Whiskey

[Weatherman]

From what I’ve read, the short lifespan is mainly due to people overdriving the poor little bulbs like crazy to squeeze every last photon of light they can out of them. I get plenty of high-intensity light from my PFO Minis, so I don't have to do that.

I’m looking at providing some nice, subdued early morning and late afternoon light as a counterbalance to the stark mid-day glare of the halides.

[gman0526]

Well Wiskey, we might finally get more out of our cheapo SEIO's

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by gman0526

Well Wiskey, we might finally get more out of our cheapo SEIO's

What the *&^8 They said that would be out 1000 times but I never epected it to really be. How did you get it? Where can I get one? Does it work?

I need info!!!
Whiskey

[gman0526]

You got PM bud . But they're not out YET Marine Depot says probably within the next month or so. From what I've read it will be running somewhere around $200.