floods..high dKH..new tank problems...

[reefer44]

As many of you know i am setting up my 180g at my new house......and many things have gone wrong!!!!!!......and i just have a few questions......first off i have to set it up and get it all finished in a week so that just adds to the crazyness....but anyway i had to fill my 55 with well water and stuff cause my livestock needed to go into a tank.....long story short my water sucks.......really bad.......the alk is about 20dKH and 600 calcium and the phosphates and crap are crazy.........i have been running about 30oz of carbon and about 150g of phosban to help lower the phosphates and other organic compounds.....but i am stuck on what to do about the high alk.....my plan is to have my halmeada (sp) i just bought bring down the calcium and have the sps bring down the alk and then balance everything out.....will this work??????????
....but anyway i am running my iwaki (well am planning to run) it through a sea swirl but the sea swirl isn't turning.....any thoughts???????
on top of this i had a huge flood and my acros were out of water but seem to be cmoing around......they were out for whta i guess is 10 minutes....are the going to be fine???????
Thanks
Brad
oh and congrats John to TOTM on --.com....tank has grown amazingly since i have last seen it

 

[reefer44]

damn it flooded again......i hate this........the onlything that keeps me going is wahts going to be the end result.....
Brad

 

[squidd]

Ain't reef keeping fun...
On the "swirl" ...Try soaking it in vinagar for a couple hours...that will disolve/soften up any calcium deposits that may be binding it up...Rince and repeat as needed...

 

[golfish]

I don't know what to tell you about the alk and Ca except to use RODI water. Your sps will be fine, 10 minutes out of the water wont hurt sps.
Is the SS new, if so send it back. Can you hear the motor turning? I sent both of mine back early this year. They rebuilt both..better then new, 40.00 each I think.
Why is it flooding?

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by Squidd
Ain't reef keeping fun...
On the "swirl" ...Try soaking it in vinagar for a couple hours...
Don't stick the whole thing in the water .........

 

[squidd]

Well yeah, not the motor

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by Squidd
Well yeah, not the motor

you never know about these people here...some guy might come and read that, next thing you know we got a new thread
You ever take a Sea Swirl apart? Oh what fun it is..

 

[reefer44]

the motor seems to be swirling just not the nossle part that water comes out of....and the floods are taken care of now......well after almost going to the hospital for being shocked with like 120 volts!!!!!!..........................also how should i go about getting the micro bubbles out of my sump from the overflow????????????????.....i am not sure on how to do it.....should i put a sock over the overflow nozzle at the top???????????
also through all this mess it seems my corals like the new tank alot better.....birdsnest is now a very bright pink (from brown) and everything else is starting to color up nice and perty
Brad

 

[golfish]

sounds like something came loose inside the SS....
How many GPH are you putting through the sump? and how big is it?

 

[flatzboy]

Did this happen to the new 180g.? When you get a chance could you post some pics of it I can't wait to see what it looks like with the 6x250 hqi's..

 

[sebae0]

so you don't get shocked in the future put your system on a gfi for your sake, its already saved my butt once, best thing i ever did.

 

[reefer44]

yea i am getting GFI....this house was built in like 1712 or something so electrical is sort of bad.....................
the GPH is somewhere between 900-1500..and it is a 55g..i think i have found away to stop bubbles...i am just going to put a 90 degree out put on the return that should make all the bubbles go on one side...
i would love to post pictures....but i don't have a camera right now.....maybe by next wednesday i will have some pictures up....and the color of this lighting system is insane!!!!....i don't have the 10ks on to aclimate the corals...but i ran it over the tank before corals where in it and i just love it..........
now i am going to have a great time studying for College level (AP) Chemistry

Brad