400 Gallon Starfire Build - Mixed Reef

[AJsTank]

Couple reasons for running ro to a large container and not directly to your sump.

first is safety, those float on/off switches have a pretty high failure rate. also, murphy's law says it will eventually fail when you least expect it and you don't want it failing to an infinite source of water. its a cheap safety check to have it fed by a pump that you can shut off in case salinty drops, etc.

second is the ro is most efficient running for long periods instead of on/off. the ro water that comes out when your first run the ro is usually higer tds than later on. you can check this with a tds meter.

hope that helps and great tank build.

My RODI is literally a floor below and on the opposite end of the house. I had the 1/4 inch tubing ran and drilled up to through the floor when the house was built. So what if I drip the RO water into an acrylic 10 gallon box with a float switch and then go from the acrylic box to the sump? Doesn't that just give me 2 pieces of equipment for possible failure now? It just seems like the float switch can fail just as easy in the container as the sump. I'm guess I'm not seeing what you are talking about here. Would love some more feedback and/or ideas.

Thanks

 

[monkiboy]

that sounds like a better idea. on a system your size, you may want to go bigger though. also, you wouldn't have the RO/DI connected directly to the ATO box or to the sump. you refill the ATO container manually otherwise you are in the same situation of having a container that can automatically refill should there be a situation where your ATO fails and keeps pumping and it has an endless supply.

ideally, the the RO/DI goes to your freshwater reservoir/brute/water storage, you run the RO/DI for a longer duration (you don't want to use your RO/DI in short intervals as it exhausts media too quickly, is not efficient, and product water is compromised quicker), and you take water from there to put into your smaller ATO box/container.

some folks use their freshwater storage as their ATO and have a lot of confidence in their ATO not failing open. the float switch variety are a lot more likely to fail than say an avast pressure switch activated ATO. the difference in the above idea is that if there is a failure it's not one where you end up with livestock death because of water pumping into the tank but rather a contained puddle from overflowing container. much better to have a failure outside of your tank then inside.

and yes, using the APEX here is a great idea. leak sensors and float switches to detect wet floors and overflowing water containers to auto shut off ATO pumps and your RO/DI with a solenoid is a great idea and way to stay informed about the status of your tank. but one must assume the worst and prepare as if you won't have access/you'll be on vacation/your phone is dead/etc and try to minimize as much risk as possible.

 

[Reloadeddevil]

Nice build tagging along.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Beautiful tank and the aquascape looks great! Looking forward to watching your progress...

 

[AJsTank]

Got my sump from Elite Aquatics yesterday. I'm VERY impressed by the high quality and attention to detail.





There is a couple spots for heaters and an adjustable gate to raise and lower the water level for my skimmer.



A place for my probes. I'm adding 3 more




This is for my solenoid valve that will be hooked up to my break out box for my Apex. 3 spots for my 1/4 inch tubing - Cal, Alk, Mag

 

[AJsTank]

And... We've got sand!

 

[AJsTank]

I ended up dropping the emergencies into the refugium and the skimmer side. Trying to run 4 1.5 inch schedule 80 pipes to the back was nearly impossible.




These Asahi valves are really nice, but they were really expensive. $200 bucks for these 4 valves alone. I know of 4 commercial aquariums that use these valves because of how easy they come apart after a very long time, so I decided to grab them. Over all, it's not much more of an increase in cost, but the extra quality of valve will hopefully be worth it in the long run.




I T'd off one of the returns for my UV and Vertex Reactor for my Bio-Pellets.

 

[AJsTank]

Last Post for today.

I had Elite Aquatics build this custom stand for me. I wanted to be able to mount my controllers on here and then move it around off to the side, etc if I have to. I did not want to mount everything to the cabinet because of accessibility. Salinity Module, WXM Module, Leak Detection Module and Break Out Box were added.

 

[monkiboy]

stuff looks great, sir!

where do you plan to mount the electronics/the neptune modules, etc?

 

[thenissantech]

Looking great! This is going to be an amazing build

 

[gunguy05]

Outstanding build! That custom sump is insane. Those folks did a great job of finishing that off around the corners and making everything look neat.

 

[TrishW]

Elite Aquatics build some great looking stuff. Functionality is great but I think we all like it when equipment looks good.

Your build is beautiful!

 

[AJsTank]

Here is a shot of how everything fits nicely under the cabinet. Customization was the key to making it fit right.

 

[AJsTank]

Bad news. Over the weekend, I broke BOTH of my Reef Octopus DC 10500 pumps.

The housing on both of the pumps broke and cracked off the top. As you can see, I used a PVC thread lubricant. The first one I hand tightened and then it snapped off. The second one, I tightened down with a pair of channels locks about a half turn after I hand tightened it and it snapped off as well. I called Coralvue and they are charging me $70 to ship the parts to me. I actually spoke with a distributor here in Utah and he broke one as well when he was tightening his pump on the one in his store display. I WOULD NOT recommend these pumps. I'm trying to find a replacement for them and I'm going to use them for just mixing salt or something. I'm really bugged that Coralvue acknowledged the problem, then they still charged me for the parts, even when I have other people here locally that did the same thing. It's obviously an issue with the pump.

 

[christo203]

Really like this build. So far it is very clean. Love the amount of space you have under the cabinet!

Great build and I am going to be watching you on this one! Wish I could build something like this!

 

[monkiboy]

The housing on both of the pumps broke and cracked off the top. As you can see, I used a PVC thread lubricant. The first one I hand tightened and then it snapped off. The second one, I tightened down with a pair of channels locks about a half turn after I hand tightened it and it snapped off as well. I called Coralvue and they are charging me $70 to ship the parts to me. I actually spoke with a distributor here in Utah and he broke one as well when he was tightening his pump on the one in his store display. I WOULD NOT recommend these pumps. I'm trying to find a replacement for them and I'm going to use them for just mixing salt or something. I'm really bugged that Coralvue acknowledged the problem, then they still charged me for the parts, even when I have other people here locally that did the same thing. It's obviously an issue with the pump.

wow, sorry to hear about your pump troubles and even worse it happened to both but looks like you're on your way to a solution you like. once you get the parts for the volute replacement, i'd be happy to buy them off of you as i really like the ones i have and they'd make for some really fancy mixing pumps for you, anyway, haha.

you always seem open to feedback so i wanted to provide some tips so you don't continue to have these kinds of problems. you don't want to use a thread lubricant on PVC threaded fittings as it just makes the threads slippery and in turn invites the installer to over-torque them which is what looks like happened here. you want to use a sealant. you don't want to use sch80 fittings on the likely ABS fitting off the volute of the pump. you definitely never want to use channel locks. finger tighten with appropriate sealant applied then maybe half turn more.

did you actually notice the fittings leaking before tightening them down further? most folks really get over-zealous and especially when using the wrong fitting and lubricant it's easy to shear/break something from over-torquing. i doubt anything was wrong with the pumps or their design but am glad that you were able to get replacement parts so promptly on the way.

here's a more in depth article to read at your leisure direct from lasco fittings and plumbing on plumbing and working with threaded fittings "The "Do's and Don'ts" of Assembling Threaded Plastic Fittings":
Installation

g'luck sir and i love how clean your area under the sump is. it's so well organized within your space. did you have designs drawn up before hand or just good measurements for everything? very tidy work and got to love the matching color scheme, too!

 

[jservedio]

In response to your ATO problem being automatic, but not turning on/off very quickly: look into a "Latching Relay" setup where you have 2 float switches controlling a solenoid on your RODI system that is connected to an ATO reservoir.

The way it works is that when the water gets below your lower float switch it would open up the solenoid on your RODI system and "latch" the relay closed. The reservoir would continue to fill up PAST the lower float switch all the way up until it hit the top float switch, which would close the solenoid and turn off the system. The solenoid wouldn't be turned on again until the lower float switch fell.

Here is a thread on Reef-Central of the concept working in action along with a wiring diagram and a list of parts: Latching relay for ATO diagram? - Reef Central Online Community

BTW: Absolutely amazing tank! I am definitely following along on this one and can't wait until it is wet.

 

[AJsTank]

wow, sorry to hear about your pump troubles and even worse it happened to both but looks like you're on your way to a solution you like. once you get the parts for the volute replacement, i'd be happy to buy them off of you as i really like the ones i have and they'd make for some really fancy mixing pumps for you, anyway, haha.

you always seem open to feedback so i wanted to provide some tips so you don't continue to have these kinds of problems. you don't want to use a thread lubricant on PVC threaded fittings as it just makes the threads slippery and in turn invites the installer to over-torque them which is what looks like happened here. you want to use a sealant. you don't want to use sch80 fittings on the likely ABS fitting off the volute of the pump. you definitely never want to use channel locks. finger tighten with appropriate sealant applied then maybe half turn more.

did you actually notice the fittings leaking before tightening them down further? most folks really get over-zealous and especially when using the wrong fitting and lubricant it's easy to shear/break something from over-torquing. i doubt anything was wrong with the pumps or their design but am glad that you were able to get replacement parts so promptly on the way.

here's a more in depth article to read at your leisure direct from lasco fittings and plumbing on plumbing and working with threaded fittings "The "Do's and Don'ts" of Assembling Threaded Plastic Fittings":
Installation

g'luck sir and i love how clean your area under the sump is. it's so well organized within your space. did you have designs drawn up before hand or just good measurements for everything? very tidy work and got to love the matching color scheme, too!

Thank you for the reply. It was a thread lubricant/sealent. I looked at several brands and did research and decided to go with this one. The first one I hand tightened and trust me, I'm not that strong. It just cracked. I then proceeded to undscrew it and then it snapped off. The second one would not thread on as far with my hand, so I then decided to just go a 1/2 turn with my channel locks and it cracked too... I know of 2 other people this happened to in my local area as well. I wish I had found these people before I purchased them. I'll let you know what happens..

 

[AJsTank]

Thank you for the link. I will read up on it.

 

[AJsTank]

Really like this build. So far it is very clean. Love the amount of space you have under the cabinet!

Great build and I am going to be watching you on this one! Wish I could build something like this!

Thank you. Everything had to be measured carefully and custom built to fit perfectly. Elite Aquatics did an amazing job.