hello, a biography

[iwantacans]

well i am new to this site, i was actually refered here by your wonderful member ross. im not from texas no where neer actually... im from the frozen north... minnesota actually. id say you should come n visit however up here you got like a 3 day window for decent weather, so it really isnt worth the hassel. anyway on to the reason why this board was made reeftanks..... well let me see here, i have been in the hobby for about 5 years. i have 2 years of marine studies (yes it is available in mn) however these are mainly broad classes covering alot of the general basics, my current set up is a 10 gal tank housing my corals till i move, and i set up my dream tank. this tank will be a aga 210 with the so-called megaflows (yeah they do a whopping 1200 gph)... it is sitting in the basement collecting dust till me and my fiancee find a house... so hopefully in the next 3 months or so ill have it up n running.. anyway this tank will use a mrc mr-3 skimmer... which from what i understand is a great performer.... now i have never seen a pice of eqipment like this... this skimmer is HUGE!. my lighting will consist of 3 250w se's... either xm20k or if i want to spend 150 bucks more every 6 months radiums.. no chiller is planned yet, but i do know it may hafta be in the works and added at a later date. my sump will be a big ol 100 gal rubbermade tub. heck this is the one area where we can kinda short cut so i figured wth. as far as stocking goes i will have alot of fish however none will be big. i am wanting to get a few schools going so i am planning on 11 green chromis, 11 bengai cardnals, 7 leyretail anthias, and my 2 black saddlebacks. as far as lr goes i have 200 lpb of uncured lr on the way so i can start cooking it asap.. my coral list is very simple.... acans, acans, acans, blasto, euphyillas, scolys, cynairas, 3 different carpet anemonies(i have 2 a green and blue) (red will be ordered later)... some colorful rics and zoas... well im sure you can paint the picture from there..
i still am in the process of figuring out a few things... should i go tunze or ocean motions... the reason for this is i am scared and i dont want to drill this tank... i shopulda custom ordered it but hey i got the tank at such a nice cost that i cant complain.
my other dilema is on the lights de or se... i really really really want radiums. ( i dont however want to get new ones every 6 months...) but that is the price you pay... the only way id go se i think is if i were to use radiums.... i might go de but i cant make up my mind....
anyway feel free to ask questions or post comments.... i have a tendency to ramble.. so please bear with me


nice to meet you all, and thanks for the link ross!

[MikeDeL]

Welcome to MAAST....... you need a chiller in Minnesota?LOL

[iwantacans]

Welcome to MAAST....... you need a chiller in Minnesota?LOL
hehe... well i really want to respond to this, but i dont know quite how to....
Joshua... no sps... didnt you see my stock list.... acans, acans, acans, acans... lol... if i were to do any sps it would be some colorful caps, and a frag of my neighbors pm... but that is it... the rest all lps rics and zoas

[iwantacans]

mn isnt that bad..... not much to do round here except golf in the summer and ice fish in the winter....
and thanks guys for the welcome, i duno if outsiders are welcome :).... but hey wh o knows maybe oneday ill be in the area

[Ross]

Welcome aboard bud. :)

[::pete::]

Welcome ...

[NaCl_H2O]

Welcome & Enjoy, you should have plenty of time to spend in doors!

MN Chiller = Run 1" PVC throught he wall with a short piece exposed to the weather ;)

[iwantacans]

Ahh don't worry about it...everybody is a Texan deep down! :P
i wear cowboy boots does that count :)

[iwantacans]

NaCl i was currious i saw your avatar is that 3 tanks in wall? if so could i see a bigger pic, cuz that is totally amazing

[Ram_Puppy]

all are welcome...

I can't remember where I read it, probably on reefcentral, when mearsuing lux or par, cant remember which, a coupld of friends were startled to find that a 250 watt ushio 20K was emitting a significantly larger amount of light than a 400w radium... makes ya wonder. (sorry, i wish I remembered where i read it)

As far as oceans motions versus tunze... well, I can tell you I plan on getting an oceans motions here in the next couple months, but I also have a tank drilled for it. I am very anti-powerhead in every regard, the more power heads / pumps you have in a tank the more potential points of failure you have, the more heat emitters you have, anemone scramblers, things to pull out and clean every few months so on and so forth. That being said, there are some people here who love the tunze's and I respect them all so I can't argue with success.

I just take solace in the fact that the only piping that will be seen in my tank is one return and two bulkheads for a closed loop... (and maybe the oceans motions revolutions) other than that, it will be a nice clean look.

hope that helps...

oh, and I suspect your 210 may be made of tempered glass, if that is the case, drilling isn't an option, though an overflow box is. You may be far away, but a member here, Dan, makes awesome overflow boxes that could totally eliminate your need for drilling.

[NaCl_H2O]

NaCl i was currious i saw your avatar is that 3 tanks in wall? if so could i see a bigger pic, cuz that is totally amazing

Yup, sure is - just finished it a few months ago, you can see the whole project in My Gallery (http://www.maast.org/modules.php?set_albumName=NaCl_H2O&op=modload&name =gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&page=1) :D

[iwantacans]

ram thanx for awnsering some q's... as far as temperd glass i believe only the bottom is. i will email aga nd find out since i tore off all stickers....
as far as tunzes go, my biggest concern is the same as yours... i hate having powerheads in the tank.. i want it as clean as possible myself, hence the oceanmotions... i have talked to the lfs and for 600 more or so i can get a tank custom made and they will take back the old one since it has just sat.. which is nice of em. and that way i can have it done to my specs. which i may do but in all honesty this year i am getting hitched, and my first child will be born.. im not going to take any short cuts however if i can save 600$ then i am all for it.

i am currios as to what you mean by an overflow box? are you saying add another? one that hangs off the back? im currious... please tell me more

[wtrujillo]

welcome to maast. this is a great group of helpful people.

[iwantacans]

dang yall post at once..... nice pics Na... omg that is awsome! wow.... i love that!

[Ram_Puppy]

Add another? is the tank allready drilled and has an internal overflow?

By overflow box, I mean a box hangs on the inside, and on the outside, a siphon is maintained inbetween, the one on the outside can drain into a sump. If your going to do a closed loop, you don't even need to do that, just use PVC and serrate a pipe with lots of cuts (so you don't suck in anything) You could paint it with black epoxy but it will be covered with coraline soon enough, place it behind a live rock island and no worries there. as far as oceans motions go, the returns all pipe in to the top of your tank, so you don't have any drilling concerns there... (just realized you said you were going to have a sump, so sounds like your set.) you can use an oceans motions on your return from the sump I guess, I just decided I liked the idea of it on a closed loop better, on the sump you have to balance out to what your megaflows can handle, on the closed loop, I just have to keep from bodyslamming my fish into glass and rocks.. so I can, theoretically, open the reef dart (pump I am planning on using) wide up and let all 3200 GPH (- head pressure and what not) blast through it, getting more of that beautiful turbulence. Like I said, not bodyslamming my fish is my main concern. :)

[Ram_Puppy]

oh, and if there is one thing I can tell you I have learned in the last year, is shortcuts and saving money should never be a priority in a reef tank. If you think you will regret not spending that 600$ now, then hold off and get the custom tank, even if it means waiting another few months... do it RIGHT FOR YOU. Once you put water in that glass, it's very hard to make changes.

[iwantacans]

k yes this tank is reefready.. 1200 gph through the so called mega flow... :wacko i have seen pics of om run on cl with out drilling the tank using pvc hanging over the edge.. i might go that route.... however for top downshots (of my future acan/blast field) id hate to have pvc running all over the top.... lets take this to the next step... lets say i were to return it and get one made... i like having only 1200 gph for the sump so atleast all this deterious would settle then easy clean up... so id keep the standard overflow...is there a chark with certain ratings for bulkhead size... for example how much water can i force though a singe 1" bulkhead.... ya get what im sayin cuz id like to get 3-4000 though a om either 4 way or 8 way

[iwantacans]

oh, and if there is one thing I can tell you I have learned in the last year, is shortcuts and saving money should never be a priority in a reef tank. If you think you will regret not spending that 600$ now, then hold off and get the custom tank, even if it means waiting another few months... do it RIGHT FOR YOU. Once you put water in that glass, it's very hard to make changes.
agreed. and its not like we cant afford it, cuz we can...... it more along the lines is it nessacary for ua

[Ram_Puppy]

lol... I think every spouse on MAAST can pick up the banner of 'is it nessecary!' (lets nip it in the bud and say absolutely, for our mental health! and we can always fall back on the old scientific facts, aquariums + kids = smarter kids.)

I agree having PVC all over the place for a downward shot would be ugly, but consider, you don't want pvc all over the place anyhow, it would interfere with your lighting.

now, my tank is a perfect cube, so I will not be making long runs, and that may make a world of difference, but with the 4 way, I am planning on running my pipes along the sides, I won't need anything in the middle, that may be different for you guys with long tanks... in that instance, I would say take the long way around and run a pipe on top of a pipe for the oceans motions...

nothing says you can't engineer your hood with pipes that go up and over your lights as well, though, I think that could get messy if you ever want to take your hood off. :)

You could also go down the back of the tank, and right into a live rock island and have nothing but the tip of the pipe popping out of the live rock island, and just hide the pipe that way...

but no matter how you cut it, if you can keep the pipes out of the water except for the actual point of return, it is gonna look cleaner than those tunze's or anyo ther power head, those tunze's especially are ginormous. (at least the ones I have seen.)

[iwantacans]

ram first off thanks for the discussion, i appreciate it.... k next item up to bat.. lets say i did run a few around the perimeter.... would that cause less pressure from the length of pipe from the om.... the tank has 2 cross braces onver the top so i ould run a few there....
thanks once again

[Ram_Puppy]

Yeah, you can go across the cross braces, you don't want your halides over them anyhow, and they would obviously make for nasty photo ops.

yes, going around the perimiter will decrease flow by increassing head pressure, every 90 degree angle is going to rob you of, i think, a foot.

hey, no probl on the conversation, I am typically the only MAAST member awake this late as I work nights, and my job is booooring. (I am installing databse software on about 100 computers right now, all I have to do is kick it off and remotely monitor it, it takes about 2% of my brain power. :) having someone to talk with at night is awesome. :)

[iwantacans]

k lets say i was to run1 pipe down to each corner 2 on each brace (1 on each side) and 2 down between the overflows.. what size diameter would i need to get 3-4000 gph through these.... 2" drain and 3/4" returns?? this is where i get confused......

secondly i am typically up this late so now youll have a chat partner on most nights

[Ram_Puppy]

lol awesome...

well, for my closed loop I decided to go with 2x 1.5 inch bulkheads to drain, at some point they will need to pair down to the size of the pumps plumbing, which is i believe 1", going to the oceans motions were back up to 2 inch (that is the size offered) and each pipe coming off the oceans motions will be a 1.5.

I could be wrong on this, but I think the diameter of the pipe does not so much effect the amount of water going through it, but the velocity of that water... does that make sense? water coming out of a 1.5 inch pipe is going to have a more turbulent and deeper penetrating effect than that coming out of a 2 inch pipe, over all, I think the flows will be relatively close in volume, but I could be wrong in that... someone like Gary, Richard or Tim could easily correct that... I am still very much learning this stuff myself.

[iwantacans]

hmmmm.... very interesting.... hey gary, tim, or richard.. plz cime in and either afree or disagree with ram here!!

[iwantacans]

anyone awnser this?