lost some stuff while at work over the weekend

jimmybling31 · Jan 20, 2009

well I got my new light set up last week, and I thought the tank would be good. well I left it over the weekend while I had to work out of town and I came back and my tank had lost tons of water and the salinity was up to 1.037. I thought all was lost and all. well I lost torch, hydnaphora, and half my zoanthids. pretty smart eh. lol. my fault shouldn't have changed lights and then just not paid attention to it for 3 day afterward. If I had paid attention and been home I would have been able to top it off and save it, but whatever spilled milk. Just thought I would post up my stupidity.

on a side not I have my garage ready to start setting up tanks. :bigsmile: I am setting up a 40 breeder, 60 cube, possibly 75 gallon, 29 gallon, and 2 10 gallons with a 55 gallon plastic bin as my sump. I can't wait to have it all set up. I will only be lighting the 75,40, and 29 gallon with powerful enough lighting for corals. the 40 will have the metal halide, the 75 would have compact flouresent, and the 29 will have 4 bulb t5. the 10 gallons will be refugiums and the 75 I am still trying to figure out if I do it. the 40 will be a frag tank and the 60 will be a fowlr with small fish or just a dwarf lionfish.

I am open for suggestions on any of the setup. I still haven't completely figured out what I am doing for skimming. I am thinking about having all the tanks' overflows flow into a recirculating reef octpus. and I am considering in sump ones too. i am open to suggestions.

AlexStinson · Jan 21, 2009

my best suggestion would be consolidate to one large tank... you'll save money in the long run.
Also... how in the world did it lose enough to be at 1.037!!! that would mean you lost a quarter of your water volume in 3 days....

jimmybling31 · Jan 21, 2009

AlexStinson said:
my best suggestion would be consolidate to one large tank... you'll save money in the long run.
Also... how in the world did it lose enough to be at 1.037!!! that would mean you lost a quarter of your water volume in 3 days....

I had 250 watts of metal halide lighting a foot over a 29 gallon tank. i was losing 3 gallons a day til I raised it to 2 and a half foot over it yesterday and I barely lost any since then. the temp wasn't bad though. stayed at 77. lol. I didn't listen to the advice everywhere that said put it way above or not do it at all with that tank.

the reason I am doing multiple tanks is because I have them and my wife insists I wait til I find a big tank used before I set up one in the living room and I want to grow some frags before I set a big tank up too. I really want to set up a big tank. 180-300 is where i am looking used. I am checking craigslist every day. I found one, but I called the guy again 2 days after going to look at it and the 280 he had for sale was already gone for 700. wish I had gotten it. my wife said it was ok, but too late.

revhtree · Jan 21, 2009

Sorry to hear bro...

You really should get an Auto Top Off (ATO).

jimmybling31 · Jan 21, 2009

revhtree said:
Sorry to hear bro...

You really should get an Auto Top Off (ATO).

I will soon. right now I just wanna keep what is left alive and the new setup is just what I am focusing on. I know I should be able to keep frags from anything I like in it.

bkv1997 · Jan 21, 2009

Every good system is planned around a very large skimmer..... a skimmer shouldn't be an afterthought.

jimmybling31 · Jan 21, 2009

yeah I am still trying to figure out which one I am gonna get. I want an external one, but I don't wanna pay an extra 100 dollars for it. I am thinking about getting the asm g4, g5, or g6. or if I can find a used orca 200 for under 700. I am just still trying to decide. I want the most powerful one I can get for the money. I am not gonna go spend 1000 dollars on a skimmer. I actually like a medium sized reef octopus I was looking at.

bkv1997 · Jan 21, 2009

If your skimmer doesn't hold atleast 20% of your total water volume it is to small.

jimmybling31 · Jan 21, 2009

bkv1997 said:
If your skimmer doesn't hold atleast 20% of your total water volume it is to small.

ok so i need 3 orca250's? lol. how about 10 g6's. lol.

bkv1997 · Jan 21, 2009

Hey alot ot people skimp on alot of things..... I mean just look at alex's wavemaker....

Not saying it can be done another ways just stating my opinion.

And pulling your chain a bit.

ironman · Jan 21, 2009

you really should add smilies or at least tell people "in my opinion" brandon. someone might actually get confused and think you know what your talking about. LOL

bkv1997 · Jan 21, 2009

bkv1997 said:
Not saying it can be done another ways just stating my opinion.
QUOTE]

Maybe you should learn to read Plus i was just trying to get jimmy to lighten up a bit he always seems so serious..

ironman · Jan 21, 2009

that apears to refer to alexs amazing idea of a wavemaker! :tongue:

AlexStinson · Jan 21, 2009

I just hear jealousy

Alan&Rene · Jan 22, 2009

there is a guy in nashville that has a 220g for sale for 350.00 pm me if interested i will send you his email.

jimmybling31 · Jan 22, 2009

bkv1997 said:
Hey alot ot people skimp on alot of things..... I mean just look at alex's wavemaker....

Not saying it can be done another ways just stating my opinion.

And pulling your chain a bit.

I knew you were joking. I was trying to joke back. lol. that's what the lol is for....

I have heard about your skimmer that holds 20percent of your water volume. that is so overkill. I am still trying to figure out what I am doing on a skimmer. just waiting for a used one to come along. if I even find a asm g4 used i would jump on it. I would love to have a g5 or g6 though. the g6 would kick some butt on my new setup. an orca 200 would be just overkill and great for it. I could move an orca200 onto any tank that I would ever want.

sorry I'm so serious. reef tanks are challenge to me and that's why I like it so much. i love how it looks when you do it right, but I like the challenge more than anything else about it. right now I am working on getting better at managing a reef tank and I'm not gonna try to set up a big tank til I have a good place for it and know that I won't crash it.

ironman · Jan 22, 2009

smart man, sucess in this hobby comes from patience and planning.

ironman · Jan 22, 2009

Or sometimes like in brandons situation throwing lots of money at it has some success

jimmybling31 · Jan 22, 2009

Alan&Rene said:
there is a guy in nashville that has a 220g for sale for 350.00 pm me if interested i will send you his email.

I am waiting to get a big tank til I have a place and skills for it. need some more practice with the tanks. need to learn about keeping a reef tank and figure out what type of dosing I would want to do. need to figure out what type of salt I would want to do a big tank with. I have only used h2ocean and oceanic, so i need to find which one i like the most. I also want to try different wavemaking methods.