Twins

I rearranged the rock work in Tank 1 and now have a 4 x 39w T5HO fixture running 1 ATI True Actinic, 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 UVL red. I had to put a new fan in the fixture.

I put the new LED unit in the Tank 2 canopy. Although the unit has a fan, I wonder if I should put an additional canopy fan on it? What I found shocking was that the Artificial setting on the LED has the same light color as the 20,000k MH lamps. My neighbors have said that Tank 1 looks like the shallow sea and Tank 2 look like a much deeper sea.

I emailed Marc about a sump. He has raised enough concern that I will do a mock up on another sump tank to see what problems pop up. I normally like experimenting.

I will be initially using my 30g long sump with the double baffles. The nice thing is that I already have a stand for it. Tonight I put the Reef Octopus skimmer in and it fits very snugly in the right most compartment. Skimmer return can go to the center compartment or back to the skimmer compartment. I am not sure which would work better.
I am thinking that the center will be the return, however that makes the far left compartment the refugium. It is only 4.5 inches wide. The center is 14 inches wide.

I can cut out 2 glass panes from the baffle on the left and increase the size of the left compartment to 8 inches. That might be OK for a refugium but the return should be bigger. If the refugium is on the left and the return in the center how will I circulate the water to that compartment on the left? Normally there would be a drain line run to that side. Do I do that in this case? I was planning to have the drain lines come in at the bottom corners of the sump. This means that the water would rise in the sump to a point of equilibrium between the three tanks not counting the means to stop this from going to far.

Having written this out, I think that I will go ahead and drill 2 drain holes, one in each corner.

For the return line, I don't know if I need a bulkhead or not. Right now the mock up is sitting here and I have a flexible spa line run for the return from the pump up and out of the tank. I think I will go ahead and plumb it that way initially to see what happens.

Does anyone want to help me or watch what happens "live real-time"?
 
I just want to hide this post in here that the twin tanks are now parallel with a common sump. I saw a TV show about the Roman aquaducts and I used the same concept as they did for their water as I did for my drains. I was only able to accomplish the feat through the help of my brother. It is too bad I don't know people in the club better, you all could have laughed at my cats during the job.

The thing I am most amazed by is the total lack of bubbles anywhere. Really! I think its because all the connections stay underwater the whole time. And it is dead quiet.

For those waiting for my report of water on the floor you will not be disappointed. I had used an old drain valve from another setup and it ended up leaking. I had to cut it off and replace it with another. Water did get on the floor.

And we did have some excitement when I turned it on. Getting the valves adjusted turned out to be a fluke of luck rather than skill on our part. It is still interesting to me what is affected by each valve. It is not necessarily what a person would think.

I can post pictures if anyone is interested.
 
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I am really enjoying this setup. I was able to clean debris that settled out in the skimmer section by using a siphon hose. It was very easy.

And cleaning the skimmer cup each day involves no bending on my part.

Also, I can watch all my equipment easily. What a nice gift this is, I just can't say enough about how pleased I am.
 
I purchased an LED light for the chaeto compartment. It is one of those Skkye lights. It has got to be the ugliest light I have ever seen. It does however shine a small pattern which is what I was after.

Also I purchased a Petco food container about the size of a 20gallon trashcan to use for topoff water. Now I just have to make enough RODI to fill it.

I am selling off some fish and had to take all my rocks out to get them. So I get a new aquascape.

Any requests for pictures?
 
I finally hooked up the auto top off. What a relief to have that running.

I am working to finish the canopy extensions. I routed the corners and now I am searching for the correct color stain.

I ordered a bunch of T5 bulbs to do a retrofit in Tank2 canopy. I am considering using 6 bulbs.

However, now that I have everything for T5 I am wondering about going back to metal halide or going to LED.

Does anyone have a Iwasaki metal halide bulb I could try?

Oh! The aquascaping turned out very nice I think.
 
Well even if no one looks the thread serves as a kind of diary about when I get things done.

I added my Flame Angel to Tank 1 and a Passar Angel to Tank 2. No nipping so far.

I got the extension for the canopy stained and 4 bulb T5HO retrofit into the canopy of Tank 2. In addition I have another 2 bulb fixture for the back. I had to order individual reflectors. I broke a brand new bulb going through the door with it and not concentrating on its position. Just snapped in two.

I think I will be running:
2 ATI Blue Plus
1 ATI Coral Plus
1 ATI Purple Plus
1 UVL Actinic
1 ATI Blue Plus
 
Tank 1
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Tank 2
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Black Cap Basslet - color not correct
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Yellow striped Cardinal - color not correct
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I added a Green Mandarin and a swordtail Jawfish to Tank 1. The previous wrasse ate all the Nassarius snails so I have to make another order.

I put the Melanarus (Hoeve's) wrasse in Tank 2. Now it has to compete with the Black Cap Basslet.

I can't believe I finally got the lighting to Tank 2 complete to my liking.

I ended up with 2 x 175 Iwasaki bulbs MH and an ATI Purple Plus in the back and an ATI Blue Plus in the front. It finally looks good light wise. I like the Iwasaki bulbs I hope they make the SPS grow.
 
I added a Potter's Angel, small to Tank 2 the SPS tank. It is doing fine.

On a totally different note, I can't believe I have been trying to do this since 2007. This last thing I found out was about dinoflagellates. And them producing toxins that inhibit coral growth. No wonder my stuff never grows. Then I find out that I am running Ca too low at 400-410. I am supposed to run 440-460. Its no wonder everyone else's tanks look nicer than mine. And I am supposed to run Ph at 8.5.

I wish I could have lowered my sump 6". I think that would help some. I had stopped my pumps and was cleaning out the returns only to find that those tiny hard tube worms had completely closed off two of my return nozzles. That really chaps me.
 
I got one of those Chinese LED fixtures. It has two switches and dimmers and two cords. I mounted it with "L" brackets onto the fixture studs and then screwed into the canopy. I LEFT the 2 T5HO lamps from the MH installation in the canoopy to see what difference it would make. When I got the canopy back on the "extra" light from the T5's really helps brighten the tank. It appears the same brightness as the 6 x T5HO setup in the tank next to it. And also the same nice colors are in both tanks now.

When did I start this? And it has taken me this long to finally get my setup "done"?

I do not see any more dinoflagellates. My tanks light cycle was only 4 hours since my MH ballast fried.

This is what gets me, that Chinese LED fixture cost $50 more than a replacement MH ballast. Go figure.

My Potter's Angel got fungus on its eye. I have had to dose my entire system. This is after I made a special effort to have the LFS keep that fish for quarantine. From now on I do my own and dip and quarantine coral also. I got flatworms in my other 20gal.

I changed out my PhosBan and my Carbon.

My corals have really opened up nicely and the SPS polyps are really extending. I just hope I can keep this up.
 
Wow, its been a long time since I posted on this thread. My setup works fine. I had to take Tank 1's rock out and then acid washed it to get all the bubble algae off. The foxface and the PJ carndinal are all that is in there. Tank 2 I re-did the rockwork and am very pleased. 2 is mostly an SPS tank. I have a black cap basslet that is about 3 years old now, a striped cardinal about 2 years old, a Potter's angel and a Blue Cheek Trigger. I am amazed by the trigger. So far it is a model tankmate. Plus its cool looking.

Since I got the kalkwasser setup my parameters are much better and my SPS is actually growing. Tank 1 with the zoanthids is not doing as well. I can't get the rocks the way I want them.

I did get all Tunze powerheads for circulation.

The main bad thing now is the maroon algae that is on everything.
 
The Skyye light for the refugium fell into the water after I cleaned it. It has a stupid suction cup that failed. I raced to get it out and under the faucet. I let it dry and tried it out. It was dead. Because I am just too curious I decided to take it apart, what harm could I do. I noticed that the saltwater had eaten the copper connectors to the LED lights. I decided to try soldering the tiny stubs back to the plate. Amazingly this worked and I saved myself from buying another light.

I am hoping my fix to the valve on the kalkwasser bottle fixes the backflow problem. When it works my corals actually grow.

I got some emerald crabs for Tank1. Unfortunately the trigger died in Tank2 while I was away.
 
I cleaned off all the bubble algae in Tank 2 by hand with a knife and wire brush. That took all lot of time. I got the rocks in but the aquascape is not as nice as before. I need to put the coral back in.
 
Well the wire brush method did not work as well as the acid wash. All the rocks are covered with bubble algae in Tank 2. I have removed most of the coral I had left and will take out the rocks.

I also found a leak in the back of my sump. It has been leaking for years I guess and I never looked back there. It is a bulkhead seal. I suppose I will have to drain the sump and get a new seal.

One observation I have is that the T5's in Tank1 seem to outperform the Chinese LED in Tank 2.
 
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