New algae scrubber tank

[les]

LAST UPDATED ON THE 06/0/2017.

This is my latest 100 gallon reef tank set up it was bought secondhand with some equipment but most transferred over from my previous tank, most of that equipment inc the AI Hydra 26s which were also bought secondhand along with the Maxspect gyres. At the time of writing, I still have more to do to complete it.

Tank specs.

AC Aquatics tank and stand. Stand in Ultra White Gloss.
54" long by 20" deep by 19" front to back with Starfire front glass and corner RH weir and overflow.

2 x Maxspect 150 gyres.
1 x Maxspect 130 gyre.
1 x Tunze 6040 pump.

Sump.

36" long x 17" deep x 12" front to back,
Sump equipment.
Jebao 1DC8000 return pump.
Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer
Genio 120 calcium reactor.
Marine sources CO2 scrubber.
25mm Siporax in a DIY egg crate basket. 12" x 8" x9" (you do the maths lol)
Aqua Medic Multi medium reactor with phos media.
Atlantis 2 Algae turf scrubber..
Schego 600w Titanium heater Wired to a ATC1000 external thermostat.
Tunze 5017 ATU with 20ltr resivour.


Lighting.
4x Hydra 26s fitted to DIY wall brackets with reeflink control.
4' 460nm LED colour bar

In Tank.
1.1/2" of Reef flowers Pearl White Sand 1 to 1.4mm grain size (medium)
Living rock.
Numerous SPS and LPS corals most grown by me from frags in my previous tank all of which have been transferred over to this new one.
Various small fish.

 

[les]

some pics.
FTS

Top down

Sump

 

[penzo]

Tanks look superb,nice variety of corals,good top shot.Big Thumbs Up

 

[penzo]

Tanks look superb,nice variety of corals,good top shot.Big Thumbs Up.good idea having the nem seperate from the main corals,less likely to wonder.

 

[les]

Tanks look superb,nice variety of corals,good top shot.Big Thumbs Up.good idea having the nem seperate from the main corals,less likely to wonder.

Cheers. The nems split twice and was a problem in my last tank plonking it'self on corals so it was either it goes or it keeps to the far right of the tank, so far so good its been there for 6 weeks although I know it could get up and move anytime but hopefully it will stay around the same area.

 

[CEECH]

Wow nice looking tank and specs. Great pictures :thumbup1:

 

[les]

Wow nice looking tank and specs. Great pictures :thumbup1:

Thanks. My Delteccalc reactor is having problems keeping up with demand at the mo. However I am getting there.

 

[CEECH]

Thanks. My Delteccalc reactor is having problems keeping up with demand at the mo. However I am getting there.

I can't say I am surprised looking at that spread

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[merser]

Nice! I've heard about this tank before and always wanted to see it. Impressive stuff. Can I ask why you have two algae scrubbers and siporax? Aren't they all doing the same thing?

Jamie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[warby]

That looks stunning matey.

Sent from my s6 using Tapatalk

 

[les]

Nice! I've heard about this tank before and always wanted to see it. Impressive stuff. Can I ask why you have two algae scrubbers and siporax? Aren't they all doing the same thing?

Jamie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I alternate cleaning of the scrubbers so when I clean one and reduce the algae considerably I don't get such peaks and troughs in take up of nutrients. I sue the siporax to aid nitrifying bacteria and denitrifying bacteria the scrubber removes the excesses nutirents esp phosphate which siporax does not cope with.

 

[les]

Nice! I've heard about this tank before and always wanted to see it. Impressive stuff. Can I ask why you have two algae scrubbers and siporax? Aren't they all doing the same thing?

Jamie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anytime you want to pop over your welcome.

 

[les]

A short video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mCkASTP3ek

 

[372xp]

2 scrubbers would seem logical. Every time I clean mine you can guarantee I will have to clean the glass the next day. I did consider just cleaning one side at a time on a 5 day rotation.

 

[merser]

Ah I see. So when you change out the scrubber you are only getting a 50% dip in performance rather than 100%? The rise of siporax has got me intrigued. From what I have read about it, it simply shouldn't work the way people are saying it does. The lack of a non oxygen area defeats it. Yet almost everyone has jumped on it and almost everyone seems to have had results. Another one of reefings little mysteries for me. I am very glad it is working for you though pal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[les]

Ah I see. So when you change out the scrubber you are only getting a 50% dip in performance rather than 100%? The rise of siporax has got me intrigued. From what I have read about it, it simply shouldn't work the way people are saying it does. The lack of a non oxygen area defeats it. Yet almost everyone has jumped on it and almost everyone seems to have had results. Another one of reefings little mysteries for me. I am very glad it is working for you though pal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes that is my reasoning and 2 being better than one ATS.
With regards to Siporax, I used it when it first arrived on the market approximately 25 years or so ago. It worked back then as it does now. Not sure why you think it should not work as it works in 2 separate ways, outer core airobically inner core anerobically in a low oxygen environment due to the extremely slow flow within. Anyway, whatever the reasons for why it works what matters is that it works as I want it to. I employ it more for it's nitrification ability with my ATS taking care if the rest.

 

[merser]

I don't see how it can possibly have an anaerobic area? It is thin and has holes in the centre. Unlike say a live rock. There is precious little scientific evidence out there about it which is surprising really when it has such great uses. Maybe it's because it's only a small company?

Why did people stop using it back in the day Les? Was there a reason? Or did it just fall out of fashion?

There is a good debate about just this on Facebook that I was following. I'm not expert but a couple of guys I know were very knowledgable on the topic. In fact [MENTION=11655]LittleOcean[/MENTION] was one of them. I'm just hanging on the cost tails of what he said in the thread.

I've been tempted to try it but I've been burnt using things I don't understand fully before.

Lots seem happy with it.

Jamie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bob1888]

They are quite thin but the walls are like a honeycombe and the water drawn into the inner core so does work in a similar way to live rock there is a video on YouTube I think using ink that shows how the water is drawn in through each tube of siporax. I used it about 25 years ago as well in a wet and dry trickle filter and worked great but then it just seem to disappear off the market for some reason

 

[LittleOcean]

Think in a similar way to pearls siporax works, highly unlikely there's any anaerobic area within even in the slowest of flowing sumps in our systems , it's all about high flow and oxygen in our reefs, but you could get anoxic conditions in a separate reactor ..

 

[les]

Quote from Dr. Bodo Schnell

"Nitrate breakdown with sera siporax: What kind of filter is suitable?

Hello,

I've read that your product sera siporax can handle nitrate. Can I use a canister filter to achive this function?

yes, this is possible. The filter type isn't that important, both internal and external setups will work just fine.

If so, what would be a good filter setup be to achive this? I'm thinking of flow rate through the filter, amount of sera siporax and what else I should use in the filter, like prefilter etc. The tank that I would use to test this in is a heavily stocked 400 litres tank.

The setup is pretty simple: The first step is mechanical filtration, e.g. sera biopur (clay tubes) or sera biofibres. The amount depends on the waste amount, practical values range from 0.5 liters - 1 liter. The main step is biological filtration with sera siporax, and in this case I recommend about 4 liters plus a relatively slow flow rate (200 - 400 liters per hour). After a few weeks (activation period) this will take nitrate values down considerably.

There is, however, another way: A separate slow flux filter in addition to the normal biofilter. This filter (a passive bypass system is OK) should then hold 2 liters sera siporax, with a water flow rate of only 1 - 2 liters (no typing error!) per hour. This setup will produce virtually nitrate-free water.



Best regards

sera GmbH

Dr. Bodo Schnell"