huskerduck

Hello...hello...hello.......is there anybody out there........just nod if you can hear me. Did the stuff sell?

Yeah this is a tough one considering the amount of green involved. The Vortech appears as though it does the job single handedly, you only need one and it has a very wide dispersion according to its users. bad thing is it seems its a 50/50 chance the wetsides going to have to be sent in meaning you need a wetside spare for $68 so this is basically $500 The Tunze ( 6105) looks very appealing but after reading thier manuals for their controller (7096) it seems you need a minimum of 2 to achieve 1 mode simulation and additional pumps up to 4 to achieve all of its capabilities. Im not seeing where you can achieve a Vortech type wave with a single Tunze. The controller for the tunze appears to be more programmable with night cycles and such. Hmmm Does anyone know if the Vortech wireless control can be hooked up to a timer and save its settings, Im just afraid you have to readjust if you had it off at night.

155 bowfront

Im guessing that little black box is the wave controller, or do you need the $389 to adjust waves?

Im just concerned with the "wet side" of these units as Andy stated, it would really stink to have a week or two of downside but I guess you just get a spare wetside for when it goes bad

I noticed you said USED to have, what do you use now?

Got pictures?

Geting ready to get a wavemaker and it appears the Vortech mp40 does the best job of mimicing a real wave. A couple concerns though, first does it change into night mode or do you do this manually? does the MP10 work with same controller you get with the MP40? Does just one Vortech work or does it take multiple? Is there any wavemaker thats programmable to change throughout the day like the real McCoy or does Vortech actually do this? How close to spilling over the top do they get, how many inches of water to rim do they need to make the agressive waves?

Well I did a flow test today out of curiosity and Im running 130 gph through a http://www.thereeftank.com/compare-chillers/sea-line-sl-500a-1-2-hp-aquarium-chiller/spec/ it recommends 400-800 gph It was used when I bought it, and its been run this way for about 2 years and even sat full of salt water for a year by mistake, Im guessing I should increase the flow before it blows up.

Garrett Frags doing well thanks man! Your systems in a garage, a nice cool garage! My system is in an equiptment room with unducted 400w Metal Halides ( this needs to change!) as well as the heating furnace. My chiller runs daily within an hour of halides coming on, Im guessing the rooms temp is 85 degrees with all the factors involved. One of my main things I need to do is vent the room to the outside with a damper but I figure my return vent is grabbing alot of the heat. 1200 gallons per hour on your chiller WOW. I have a 3/4hp Pacific Coast chiller that was told to Tee off the return and have "flow" I may have to call them and ask them if I need another GenX 4100 pump just to run my chiller! My chiller pops on about every 15 minutes for about 1 minute, maybe 30 seconds and that room is HOT as long as the Halides are running, in the summer when airconditionings running and the basement stays constant 68 degrees, my chiller rarely runs.

Does the manufacturer know his product best, or do they want your chiller to run twice as much therefore burning out faster for you to purchase another since " it kept your tank cool". I wish the manufacturer of my Ford Expedition EL knew their product best and I wouldnt be dumping full brake jobs on it every 20K miles for $600. I cant wait til it needs a whole new front end at 120K, the hundreds experiencing this already on 2007 and later are only paying 2k in parts and $1500 in labor. Pumps = heat unless external, buy a chiller and add a heat source ( pump) and yet another device to fail when needed most, Hmmmm. Just size your return pump accordingly and "T" off it through the chiller, therefore you're grabbing the most heat after all the goodies in your sump have added their heat to the equation. While on the subject of pumps and using MJ-anythings Ive noticed Maxi-Jets cute little GPH charts that usually say something to the effect of " at 1' of head" not sure how they word it but if the outlet is higher than 1' this will drop the volume of water and drastically. The one part of the equation they completely ignore is "friction loss" which can have a huge impact on water flow, probably the most actually. In a perfect world water would travel completely straight through a pipe and have little friction loss if the pipe is BIG ENOUGH as to not restrict the water at all, every 90, barbed adapter and every inch of pipe creates friction loss relevant to the original volume and pressure. If water is flowing out of your chillers final outlet completely filling the pipe/tubing and moving at a steady rate as to not introduce air and a chiller manufaturer says you burned up the chiller, I would say find a different chiller manufacturer that doesnt rely on flowrates in making their product reliable. The only issue I could even remotely consider the effect being is ICING and if a chiller can freeze up with 79 degree water moving through it, I WANT that chiller! An interesting test would be take your source piping and fill a 5 gal bucket and time it, then hook up the chiller and fill the bucket and see the time difference and see what friction loss is created in such a simple system, the results may prove interesting and the reason behind 400gph. It probably takes that to create a steady flow. Not getting defensive, just saying.

400gph is slow, I dont own a pump, powerhead, Koralia........ anything that only pumps 400 gph

Very, very slow if possible. Many tap into their return line and valve it to make it as slow as possible but not create air

Are refugiums supposed to be very low flow for the " filtering" to actually work? It looks like you have a wave going on the top

My chiller only comes on after Halides have heated the water, you set it at say 78 or 79 and when the water gets 2 degrees warmer it turns on until the water is that set temp. My Chiller pickup is in the sump by the sock filter and returns right in front of the return line in the sump. Running Metal Halides 10-12 hours during the summer, I dont know how anyone avoids running a chiller A chiller is basically a window airconditioner the water runs through I think. And yes my heater is also in the sump but it only powers up when the halides turn off ( and probably several hours later)

Im up for a chunk

After watching my Foxface eat one Monti and now starting in on a chalice, I know what I wouldnt get

I have my heater on one of those light timer devices, halides on, heater off....visa versa. The heater has 12 hours to overheat the tank and with it in the sump and nearly 200 gallons to heat up, Im keeping my fingers crossed it never happens. Its amazing how much money we keep intrusted to electrical devices that really dont have a great record of reliability unless the price tag matches and even then.......its still an electrical device.

Am I missing something? The way I read it he has an average of 8.02 What I am wondering if daily pH swings from 7.8 to 8.25 in a couple hours are normal ? Alot of plant life in this system?

OK heres the skimmer, its 24" tall and 6" diameter. Whoever ends up with this I would stop by Woodburn ( Pacific Coast , by race track) and get a new pump, this one works but its ran for several years. A new one is probably $20-$40 and you have a new Pro-skimmer and a spare pump if something happens the Pro-skimmer is the PS2000 judging from measurements http://www.pacificcoastimports.com/products.cfm?c=24

Zoos are jumping off the rock and attaching to the foam, 4 so far. I had a monti frag that Kilmca gave me that had turned brownish colored on rock, he has completely turned back too a greenish color again on the foam........co-winky-dink? the power of foam infusion coral growing, stuffs probably leaching all sorts of goodies, all my LPS exploded the day after and are still staying "puffy"

here some pics for those that are interested, I would have put them in the PM but since 2 of you are interested I will be lazy and put them here and link One picture is without the Auto top off container I had made that used a dosing pump and electronic float system with an alarm The other picture shows it without, the refugium is front and center the dirtiness whitish stuff is coralline since I had it stuffed with live rock in the exit chamber

I have one but..........Im pretty far southwest