Todd's ~ 320 Gallon System- A New Biginning?

The vendor at the booth when asked about what the scallop ate, only said it was a 'filter feeder', nothing more.
Got it home and researched it a bit more. Found a really nice article by a Phd online about it.
It really only eats, or can only live off photo and zoo plankton of a certain size range.
I'm quickly trying to give it away to one of two local reefers in my area that I know culture those organisms for their food for breeding fish.
Hopefully it will be gone before it dies. I'll do my best to keep it alive until then.
Also, the lifespan in the wild is only about 3 years anyways.

 

Hey Todd, I'll be happy if my tank turns out half as good as yours. With all that chaeto, how is the copeopod population? The reason I'm asking is that I hope to have a decent amount of chaeto and generate enough pods to help feed the tank. My fuge well be about 17 gallons.

 

From what I understand, copeopods are really hard to see.
Bhy feed the tank, you mean the fish and corals? I know there are fish like mandarins that only eat pods?

I so see many little shrimp like things - amphipods? in my sump on and around the chaeto.

My chaeto would easy fill a 20-30g tank atm.

 

I changed around one of my top most rocks- rotated it actually.

Before:


After/now:


I rotated the big flat rock 90degrees, so it brought one of my large BN's that I have fragged like crazy from the back to the side/front.
I like it and should have done it from the start.

I have lots of scape to play with ;-)

 

Wow, crappy pic- worse than my usual,

lets try that again

 

Well, he's (the scallop) is gone.
No- he didn't perish,

I gave him to a fellow reefer who used to have a fish hatchery business, still has systems, and still raises his own photo and zoo plankton!
So now, he has a fighting chance.

 

From what I understand, copeopods are really hard to see.
Bhy feed the tank, you mean the fish and corals? I know there are fish like mandarins that only eat pods?

I so see many little shrimp like things - amphipods? in my sump on and around the chaeto.

My chaeto would easy fill a 20-30g tank atm.

The way i understand it, many fish will eat pods. My goal is to have some food going in on a steady basis. Pods don't spoil like dead food. My long term goal is to make the tank self sufficient for a week. So i want to use the sump in some way towards that goal. As it is now with my 40, if i leave town for a weekend the tank could be at risk with chemistry and the fish won't have any food going in. I'm thinking that chaeto would help with nutrients as well as a small food supply.

 

Wow, came back from a 2 day sailing regatta I was competing in and of course checked my DT as one of the first things I do when I got home.

Everyone (fish and coral) looked good/normal.
MY intank WP40's (2 of them) were working fine, as were my lights as they are upstairs on a different circuit with a GFCI adapter.

I quickly noticed my C2C overflow was NOT flowing!
I immediately thought-'That DC12000 quit!'

I investigated my sump room, sump is near top- at the RP off level
My GFCI circuit for the sump related items had 'kicked the circuit' off.
I investigfate further- there was some water around and on the wires- kicking the GFCI.
I'm not sure how long this had been shut down, my best gestimates are at least 12-24hr.

Because the DT looked normal, lights, flow, etc., my lovely wife thought nothing of it.
She doesn't know/understand/perhaps care that the C2C wasn't flowing- and that's OK.

My large size filter bag had overflown and dripped some water down near the plug.
I had a 'splash sheild' for times like this, but I guess some dripped down anyways.

My DIY ATO was still working normally. I checked my SG- still rock solid at 1.0265/35.

I replaced the spent bag for a clean filter bag, used my hair dryer (hey, I still have hair) and dried the wires a bit.
Got my (trusty) DC1200 back up and running, and all is well.

MY temp did frop brom 77's to 74's F, currently holding 75's.

All is well- crisis aborted.

 

Glad to hear that all is well. Having such a large system is helpful. I would think that most systems can handle the sump shutting down for a while as long as most of the rock work is in the display tank. Obviously your ATO worked just as it was supposed to. Gives you a lot of confidence in the simple is better approach. Mine shut down for a few hours while i was at work the other day due to a power outage. I normally hook up a generator to run my tank when the power goes out but it went out and came back on before i was even aware of the issue. I think it was out for about 3-4 hours. All was ok with my tank as well other than having to re adjust my skimmer water level.... still don't know why I have to do that every time!

 

This is why, IMO, it's crucial to do a power out test and let all your DT water drain into the sump. I know Todd has done these tests in the past with his different setups. But, just as a general warning, this is something that is always good to remind people of, (lurkers, I know you're out there, I was one myself) that read these posts or are researching setting up a sump/tank.

It's something that needs to be planned for. No matter where you have your rock, one should always leave enough room to handle the drain of the DT. Or else have a plan for it. I know if my power went out, I would be screwed for temp and water movement, but I know I won't have an overflow. It's one of those "in the plans" upgrade, that really should find a higher priority. The only thing I have, is a battery powered pump for O2... which, I would have to be home when the power goes out to be right there to slap it in there.

Glad to hear your GFCI worked for you, Todd. Also another thing, protect your plugs! I had a guy who had a nem stuck in his drain and he came home to smoking parts... Let's just say, the next day, GFCI plugs were installed.