Intellidick.com - Pure Insanity

In what can only be referred to as a ridiculously long time in between updates, I proudly present you with Stupid Aquarium Tricks Part 2. Finally, an update to the original SAT. Without further ado, here we go!

Q) What kind of pump should I run? Internal or External?
A) External if you can. I was originally intimidated by external pumps due to the plumbing requirements and leaking possibilities. After sticking with internal pumps (Mag-Drive, Eheim, Rio, etc) for a while, I have finally made the leap to external. Sure, it’s more plumbing, but i’m getting more than double the output on my Reeflo Dart than I was on my Mag 18 for about the same power draw. I also have a lot more capability with that pump and it adds less heat into the water. I won’t say it adds no heat to the water, but i’ll definitely say less.

Q) What kind of circulation pumps should I run?
A) None! Build a surge and/or a closed loop! After several iterations of circulation pumps (Tunze, Seio, Hydor, etc) I can safely say that they all suck! The nice ones are certainly not a cheap solution and although they seem to do a good job, it’s nothing compared to what even a small surge device can do. Toss in the required controller to make the Tunzes really do their thing and the cost of a surge and/or closed loop is negligible. Let’s do the math, i’ll grab some prices from MarineDepot…

• 2x Tunze 6125 pumps - $535.78
• Tunze 7095 controller - $270.27

Total for the circulation pump solution… $806.05! Yeah, almost a grand for two little pumps and a controller.

Now let’s do a closed loop with a wicked OceansMotions 4-way on it for that nice random flow effect.

• Reeflo Dart - $259.99
• OceansMotions 4-way 1.5″ x 4x 1″ with #3 Drum (Source : OceansMotions) - $389.00

Total for the Closed Loop solution… $648.99. Almost two hundred dollars less! You could actually toss in another small pump and a surge device and still be around the same price as the circulation pump setup.

Just remember… most circulation pumps will add heat to the water, provide a very directional and laminar flow pattern, and have to be cleaned a lot. Also remember that circulation pumps leave you staring at this ugly black/grey plastic pump in the middle of your nice reef tank. Closed loops have to be cleaned as well, but they’re not nearly as horrid about it from what I can tell. Just make sure that when you plumb a closed loop that you use unions and valves so you can remove it for when you have to clean it!

Q) Where should I put my tank? I’d like to put it right up against the wall so you can’t see behind it!
A) Remember, if you can’t get behind the tank, you can’t WORK ON IT. Think long and hard about this one because once the tank is in place and full of livestock it’s nearly impossible to move! Tanks belong 12+ inches from the wall, especially if you’re running closed loops or you’re plumbing your returns up the back of the tank.

Q) How does Kalkwasser work?
A) I won’t go into the dynamics of how Kalkwasser actually works, there are plenty of articles on that. The basic thing is that you mix the Kalkwasser powder with fresh water and drip it into your tank. The solution that is created is high in pH and very rich in Calcium. Some people use their ATO to push Kalk into the system, but I highly discourage that. Quit being cheap and get a separate container to run your Kalk in… then drip it into the tank. Running it through your ATO is disastrous when your evaporation rate increases or you do a water change and don’t put enough water back in the tank. When the ATO kicks in to compensate you get a large dose of water that’s 14pH into your reef. Next thing you know, you’re sitting at a 9+ pH and hoping everything survives. Trust me on this one, it’s worth the secondary chamber (like a Kalk reactor) or a simple bucket drip setup.

Q) Kalkwasser sounds dangerous! Is it worth it?
A) Absolutely. Just go read up on it and learn from the mistakes of others. Kalkwasser is a really inexpensive way to supplement the water in your reef and it does work quite well. Just be prepared to set it up properly.

Q) PVC pipe is hard to work with, should I use flexible tubing?
A) No! You should learn to plumb and/or get help from friends! Trust me on this one. Flexible PVC is one thing, but the tubing stuff can be very restrictive on flow. Not to mention the fact that it’s clear and builds up algae inside of it really fast. I’ve gone down the flexible tubing road a few times because it was so easy to deal with, only to realize the error of my ways later on and regret it. The simple reality is that PVC takes a little practice, but it’s cheap so you can afford to make a few mistakes.

I almost quit the hobby last night! I was working on my new MTC PROCAL reactor and noticed a leak in the main chamber seal. I shut the reactor pump off and was fiddling around with those annoying little screws and decided to go ahead and pull it out of the stand.

Wouldn’t ya know, I managed to find the only piece of tubing that didn’t have a clamp on it! (Lesson 1 : Tubing is easy, PVC doesn’t come loose) Apparently I neglected to go back and clamp that one piece of tubing on that end. What a dumb mistake and a testament to why one shouldn’t get in a hurry when building a tank… needless to say, I knocked the drain hose off with a big reactor in my hands.

Water is now going EVERYWHERE. I scrambled to get the reactor back on the ground, grabbed the hose and got it back on the bulkhead. As i’m walking away to go get an army of towels, the pump runs dry. Enough water had run out of the tank to successful drain the pump chamber. And then… I start to hear the inevitable “sizzle” sound from a surge protector that had gotten wet. Any body want to guess where a large portion of my electrical was sitting? Fortunately, all of the GFCI actually worked and everything shut down. (Lesson 2 : GFCI. Always, Always, Always)

Now here’s where it gets interesting. Just when I thought I had it back under control…

I get all of the affected electrical out of there and start soaking up water. During that process, I managed to KNOCK OFF THE CANOPY! Okay, so apparently, my canopy has no nifty piece of wood on the back to prevent it from sliding forward off of the tank! (Lesson 3 : If your canopy will slide off of your tank with just a push, FIX THAT ASAP)

What a mess… i’m standing there, wedged behind my tank, holding on to my canopy that’s loaded with expensive lighting and reflectors. Anybody want to guess where I set my new electrical stuff that I was about to install? You guessed it! On top of the canopy! Seeing as the canopy is now at a 45 degree angle, everything has now slid off… into my ATO reservoir, which I just moved to the front of the tank so I could get behind there. (Lesson 4 : 12″ from the wall is NOT far enough, you will need more space! Deal with the look of it or run a smaller tank that you don’t need to get behind!)

So I have now managed to ruin my old electrical stuff as well as my new electrical stuff, gotten water all over the floor, and have no idea what equipment works and what doesn’t. I got the circ pumps back up, set two of them to break the surface tension, tossed in a heater and WENT TO BED. (Lesson 5 : If you’re that tired, you’re probably doing more harm than good)

Insert 8 hour sleep break here

I have now spent the better part of the morning putting everything back together, all of the “core” equipment is working but I have yet to test the calcium reactor, ATO, etc… my 3 IceCap 660’s survived the splashing and all of the bulbs survived. Even my moonlight LEDs made it. I’m not sure about the reactor pump just yet, but I consider that a minor loss if I have to buy a new one. That last piece of flexible tubing is now CLAMPED in place. (Lesson 6 : Using Flexible tubing as PVC elbows is a neat concept but turns out to be a big PITA in the end)

So, that’s the end of my story. I was ready to start bagging livestock and taking it to the various stores. But man… i’m sooooo close. I can’t help but love this hobby. I’ve invested all of this time and money to get it running, and now i’ve learned yet another lesson that will make my next tank even better!

I’m still in the fight, but wow did I want to quit.

Let me summarize all of this into one small, informative list and add one more…

Lesson 1 : Tubing is easy, PVC doesn’t come loose
Lesson 2 : GFCI. Always, Always, Always
Lesson 3 : If your canopy will slide off of your tank with just a push, FIX THAT ASAP
Lesson 4 : 12″ from the wall is NOT far enough, you will need more space! Deal with the look of it or run a smaller tank that you don’t need to get behind!
Lesson 5 : If you’re that tired, you’re probably doing more harm than good
Lesson 6 : Using Flexible tubing as PVC elbows is a neat concept but turns out to be a big PITA in the end
Lesson 7 : Big calcium reactors are freakin’ cool… After all of this crap, i’m staring at my PROCAL going “Wow… that’s just cool”

When we got the 90g tank, it came with a Lifereef LF1-125 Berlin system. This was a great deal for us because we had heard of Lifereef and heard it was good, and it saved us from having to go find a pump, sump, and refugium.

Being relatively new to the hobby, I didn’t really know how to hook up all of that stuff, so I took a chance and sent an email to Lifereef. I got a response from them requesting a model number and telling me where to look to find it. Within a few hours, I had the instructions faxed to me and I was up and running that night. That was my first interaction with them.

Later on, I had some more questions about how I should design my new system that i’m building… I fired off an email to Lifereef to see what they offer. Once again, I received a thorough response showing me their offerings and some realistic suggestions. It’s nice to work with a vendor that’s not all about pumping their products.

So anyway, more Lifereef equipment is on it’s way to my house and I just can’t wait.

Hats off to Lifereef Filter Systems. Check them out their web site and shop with confidence. Lifereef Filter Systems is a high quality vendor with a great product and the willingness to back it up!

The quest for moonlight in the fish tank rages on. A reef is great and all… when you can see it! Not having moonlights in there is doing yourself an injustice. I was against it at first because it seemed rather silly, now I can’t live without it.

When I first got the Current USA fixture, the moonlights feature just didn’t matter to me… until the first night. My aquarium came alive with lots of little nocturnal things. Some of them are out during the day, but definitely not all of them. And the glitter lines of LED moonlights are neat for those of us without point source lighting like Metal Halide.

On to the review… the new 90g tank now has it’s new lighting system, but it needed some moonlights. I did some shopping through the various LFSs and came up dry. A little reading and searching and I came across the R2 Extreme LED Moonlight. It looked good on the web site and seemed to get good reviews… so I ordered one and installed it.

First impressions : You’re kidding… right? I got the unit with 2 LED cylinders and the single power brick. It comes with a cheesy Y-cable that looks like it just rolled out of the bargain bin at Radio Shack! Same thing for the power brick and power switch. Not that I really care that much, but in the aquarium world… exposed metal is a BAD then when it comes to power. A little plastic shielding goes a long way guys. For $40+, a little engineering on the power cord side would be great.

Mounting Setup : Adequate. Nothing fancy, but very usable. It comes with double stick tape and screws so it should suit just about everyone’s mounting needs. I highly recommend powering it up and moving things around a few times to get the lighting position right. For me, right was under the front lip of the canopy mounted horizontally with the LEDs angled slightly towards the center of the tank. Another gripe here is the relatively short length of the crappy Y-cable. It limits how far apart you can place the LEDs. I may have to hunt down another power brick and ditch the Y-cable.

Power On : WOW! Now this is what i’m talking about! Damn… these things are bright and the color is amazing. The glitter lines are really good as well. Very nice and it gets great coverage in the 90g. I tested out the other set on my 46bf tank with similar amazing results. Can’t wait to get them on that tank as well… the old Current moonlights just don’t seem the same anymore. My 46bf looks horrible in comparison to the 90g now.

Overall Recommendation : Buy with Caution. It’s a good product but it definitely has a little bit of growing to do in order to become a great product. If you know your way around AC power, you could easily make up some custom cables to solve the problems that the included ones have. I’m definitely considering a run to Radio Shack or Frys tomorrow for some ends and cable to make my own.

Bullet - The Yellow Coris Wrasse
Here is my latest addition to the 46 bow. A Yellow Coris Wrasse. I’m pretty sure this will be the last fish in this tank. I’m happy with the activity level and such and the bio-load is acceptable.

The new Cleaner Shrimp and Piggy - Who says you can’t train a fish?
I was *trying* to get a video of my new cleaner shrimp for the site. As usual, my Coral Beauty felt the need to see what the camera was all about. Normally, he just swims around and waits for food, but apparently he decided he wanted to get closer to the action. Check out what this fish does… maybe I feed him too much?

I finally got around to making some videos of the new tank. While I was at it, I made some videos of my favorite fish and such. I tried to catch them all doing neat stuff, but some of them just stared at me like I was a dumbass holding a video camera trying to record fish tricks… oh wait, I was. Here’s the videos…

90g FOWLR system
Livestock is currently 5 fish, a cleaner shrimp, and the Rose and Condy Anemones from the 46BF tank.

Earl! The Royal Gramma
All hail Earl, survivor of the 46g marine aquarium. This guy was added almost immediately after the coral beauty and has been through hell and back. He’s fallen out of the tank twice due to rock moves and careless parentry on my part. He’s been chased by pretty much everything in the tank. He had an Ich problem, etc. Give it up for a real trooper.

I actually managed to catch the Coral Beauty (Piggy) going after him, so it made for a funny clip if you’re familiar with the behavioral patterns of these fish.

Pooty and Piggy - The Tomini Tang and Royal Gramma
Here is a quick video of my latest fish in my reef tank… Pooty Tang! He’s a Tomini Tang and was chosen because of his small size. I’ll probably have to remove him later (or get a bigger reef tank!) because he’ll outgrow this tank, but he’s okay for now. He’s under 3 inches but will get to at least 6… way too big for a 46BF. (For those of you who don’t know, Tangs need a lot of swim room. 36″ wide tanks just aren’t enough.)

I also shot some video of the Coral Beauty (Piggy) bullying that Tang around. It didn’t take long to figure out who the dominant fish was in this tank. That may change as the tang gets bigger, but for now, Piggy rules.

Rose Anemone and the Onxy Clowns in their new home
Here is a shot of the Rose Anemone and the two Onyx Clowns that host it. They’re now living happily in the 90g tank. Thanks to a pump mishap during vacation, the Rose had moved in the 46g tank and was extremely unhappy. It was move him or lose him, so now he’s in the 90 and bigger than ever!

Cleaner Shrimp
In addition to the fish in the 90g tank, a cleaner shrimp was added. Hopefully he’ll keep the diseases and parasites under control.

Mr Pink - The Lyretail Anthias
The first member of the new 90g tank was a Lyretail Anthias. He was first in after the cycle was complete and is doing quite well now. Very nice fish, although a bit tough to get eating and likes to be fed 3-4 times per day. Good thing for the autofeeder.

Very neat fish though, also very calm and cool with other tank mates. Highly recommended for a community tank if you have an autofeeder.

Tangs and the Angel - Close ups
Here are some better shots of the new Tangs and the Angel.

The purple tang was straight out of the ocean so his behavior is still a bit odd. He’s eating though, so that’s a good sign.

The blue tang and bicolor angel had been at the fish store for a while and took to the tank right away.

In a previous posting, I listed the final head count of my 46g marine aquarium… Boy was I wrong. Vacation came, all hell broke loose, we lost the clam, the anemones hit the panic button, the new tank came out of cycle, etc, etc, etc… needless to say, the final tally isn’t final anymore. For those who care, here’s the most recent tally for the two tanks. I’ll get some videos of the new tank up soon. Until then, here are a few pictures of the bicolor angel and the lyretail anthias.

46g Reef Tank
• 1 Coral Beauty (Piggy)
• 1 Watchman Goby (Spot)
• 1 Royal Gramma (EARL!!!!)
• 1 Tomini Tang (Pooty Tang)
• 1 Mexican Turbo Snail (Fiesta!)
• 10+ Astrea Snails
• 5+ Nassarius Snails
• 20+ Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
• 10+ Red Tip Hermit Crabs
• 3+ Queen Conch Snails
• Many Soft, SPS, and LPS corals and frags…

90g FOWLR Tank
• 1 Lyretail Anthias (Mr. Pink)
• 1 Bicolor Angel (No names as of yet)
• 1 Blue Tang (No names as of yet)
• 1 Purple Tang (No names as of yet)
• 2 Onyx Clowns (No names as of yet)
• 1 Rose Anemone
• 1 ‘Condy’ Anemone
• 5+ Mexican Turbo Snail
• 10+ Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
• 10+ Red Tip Hermit Crabs
• 3+ Queen Conch Snails

I hate to admit it, but I really like the watchman goby… he’s just so cool. I can’t help but stare at him and just watch him. He’s pretty dormant most of the time, but he occasionally dives into the sand or darts up to the surface of the tank… interesting fish. Very neat personality, even if he’s not that active.

So without further ado, I give you Spot! The Yellow Watchman Goby!

So, i’ve finally managed to cram enough inhabitants into my 46g tank that I can officially say that the doors are now closed. Granted, they’re all moving to the 90g tank in a few weeks, but they’re all crammed into the 46g for now. (Well, they’re not crammed, but there are a lot of fish in there) Bio-load is definitely up, but that nice big Euro-Reef skimmer and 45lbs of Live Rock is still keeping water levels acceptable. No spikes of any kind, just more frequent water changes for nitrate buildup.

Current Inhabitants -

• 1 Coral Beauty (Piggy)
• 2 Onyx Clowns (No names as of yet)
• 3 Green Chromis (Curly, Larry, and Moe)
• 1 Watchman Goby (Spot)
• 1 Royal Gramma (EARL!!!!)
• 1 Maxima Clam (Timmy)
• 1 Mexican Turbo Snail (Fiesta!)
• 2 Acro Frags
• 1 Rose Anemone
• 1 ‘Condy’ Anemone
• 10+ Astrea Snails
• 5+ Nassarius Snails
• 20+ Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
• 10+ Red Tip Hermit Crabs
• 1 Black Sea Cucumber

Anyway, here’s the video of everyone in their current home.

Yup. That’s right. A used 90g Clarity Plus Acrylic and a complete Lifereef Filtration System will soon make it’s way to the house. The Lifereef stuff is here, just have to get the tank, stand, and hood now. Then it’s on to water, live rock, lighting, then live stock!
Here is what I have to far.

I’ve definitely lost it.