300xl Build

[Bob E]

I added /mounted and hooked up the Apex Jr and DOS mainly to be used and a small daily water change

this pic shows the Apex junior mounted on the wall next to the tank on the right side

this pics's I'm trying to show where I mounted the DOS. Mounted on wall right behind the cabinet

 

[Bob E]

I purchased the apex jr and DOS mainly because we will be doing a lot of traveling in January thru march. and my hope is that the DOS will help keep the water a little more stable with auto water changes. The Jr to help let me know of any issues that push to my phone.

I hooked up the Jr first and completed the setup process was for the most part simple. the one issues I ran into was the Sky was already running for a year and would not just switch over to the apex fusion I had just setup. So I deleted the stand along light on fusion and added to the new one i just created. this forced me to setup the light again to the setting i was previous at. I'm sure there was a simpler was but I went this rout because it wasn't going to add must time

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Here is some pics of the fish

Love the fish you have!!!

 

[Bob E]

with some of the larger power adapters taking up one and a half spaces I was running out of plug in spaces I went purchased a few of these short extensions.

These will give me access to a couple of more spots to use for future use
one of the extensions used in pic below so I could get access to the other plug

 

[Bob E]

When I mounted the DOS under the cabinet and started to run the lines across the house and into the basement I realized there was going to be to much distance between mixing station and sump of tank

Mixing station below before update. saltwater on right side

After realizing this I went out and got another brute can to place closer to tank. this will also still be in the basement. No place place upstairs it could reasonably be placed

I'll add a new line from saltwater bin to this bin that uses the exiting pump on the mixing station

 

[Bob E]

Some of the plumbing for the new salt water storage that I'm hooking up to the DOS for auto water changes

I placed the brute can under the stairs in the basement. this is as close to the tank as possible

the inside

I didn't have a plan in place for keeping the line in the bottom of tank. I dug thru my buckets and found a 1" union that I thought would have enough weight to keep on the bottom. I drilled a hole thru the side and slide the waterline into hole and out the end. see below. has been working well so far

 

[Bob E]

Ran the line from the mixing station to the bin for the auto water changes. have quick attach cam to first two pics show tube attached to fill bin. the lines back behind tubes and thru the wall over to the bin for water changes

this pisture shows when tube is not in use. I just unhook and set it in the catch pan

this just shows the fill tube to bin. the one thing I wish I did before I filled the first time was add an indicator tube line to be able to see how full bin is with just a glance. I 'll have to go back and get that done. need to order parts first

 

[Bob E]

Going to a indicator line to be able to see the water level in Brute bin. I already had tube left over. The rest I had to order

It's done but I will need to change the tube with a all-clear tube to be able to see the water level. right now it's a little hard to see unless I'm within a couple of feet

 

[Bob E]

This morning this gut was found at the bottom of my tank
I posted this on the hitchhikers thread to try and see if he could be identified.
sounds like the consensus is stomatella

Top view

Head to the right

Underside

 

[Bob E]

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Aplysia sp. is a good guess as Aplysiid (taxonomic family Aplysiidae) sea hares have shells,* but - given that I can't see the rhinophores (the chemosensory bunny ears of the sea hares), I'm leaning more toward a bubble snail species (taxonomic family Haminoeidae). Unfortunately, I haven't researched these guys or their relatives much at this point, so I'm not sure what species, but I'd guess either a Haloa sp. or a Haminoea sp.

Also, for anyone curious about sea hare shells:
The Sea Slug Forum - The shell in Sea Hares
https://txmarspecies.tamug.edu/invertfamilydetails.cfm?famnameID=Aplysiidae
Edit: Just to add, bubble snails should be beneficial algae-eaters either way.
Click to expand...

Thanks
after searching the web this is the closet one. body shape is exactly on. pattern is same but colors are a little different
One in my tank on left web search on right

 

[Bob E]

A short video I found about Bubble snails

 

[Bob E]

Ok time to get caught up.

Back on black Friday I purchased an Apex Jr and a DOS. For starting in Mid-January thru mid-March I was going to be traveling being gone for over 50 percent on that time. The Apex Jr was going to help me monitor tank. The DOS I wanted to setup for a daily auto water change in the mornings. The plan was 1.5 gallons a day. My idea was this would be good enough until I would make my returns and make any additional changes as needed at the time. I prepared daily food for the house sitter to avoid any mistakes with feeding. I figured the most likely issues the house sitter would be keeping the RO water tanked filled so I placed the Optic sensor in the sump return to give ma a heads up. Then I could get ahold of them and get it filled before the return would run dry. My freshwater tank is a standalone eight gallon unit.

The first half of trip went off without any issues. Then I got the sump low alarm on my phone and contacted house sitter and yes, she forgot to refill freshwater tank. She refiled tank was good to go.

At the end I was going to be gone for about two weeks and on the second day gone I was getting apex not connected. Had house sitter unplug apex unit. Didn’t make any difference. After several days of back and forth we were unable to figure out what was going on and gave her instructions on to watch for and call me if an issue arrived. With the apex Jr not working the lights were staying on more than they should, the DOS stopped water changes and I was getting push notices a few hundred times a day. When I contacted Neptune and they looked into it they said there is likely a hardware failure and will need to get a replacement. I gave Neptune a deposit of 60 dollars plus shipping and eight days later the new head unit arrived. Had to get the Light and DOS re-setup like I did the first time and will need to re-calibrate probes and optic like before. Not much different than getting a new unit the first time. They did say if I have a lot of programming I could copy and paste back and forth but I just had the basic wizard setup so I had continue like a new setup.

I was getting behind on the maintenance because of my travels and by the time I got back home and received the new head unit. The tank was having a large algae outbreak.

In all the numbers where of a little but not too bad. All the fish are good and the one zoa and hammer were fine. Just currently making larger water changes to get the nitrates down.

I forgot to send the old head unit back which would have been Friday and also forgot on Monday and now we are having an April winter blizzard that is forecast as potentially one of the biggest in many years. So maybe Friday if the plows can get here.

 

[Bob E]

I visited New Wave Aquaria this week have a few pictures below.

Had to take a picture of the BRS 160 that New Wave Aquaria is setting up

 

[Bob E]

added a Skunk Shrimp to the tank a couple of days ago

 

[Bob E]

Shrimp going after food. right up to the defroster

 

[Bob E]

It's hard to see but my shrimp is cleaning the head/mouth of the starry blenny

 

[Bob E]

Tail-spot Blenny poking out of his claimed home

 

[David3147]

Going to a indicator line to be able to see the water level in Brute bin. I already had tube left over. The rest I had to order

It's done but I will need to change the tube with a all-clear tube to be able to see the water level. right now it's a little hard to see unless I'm within a couple of feet

Toss a little red plastic ball in there and maybe u could see it easier...

 

[Bob E]

using the idea from above. I have a friend who works with boilers and he gave me some sight gage balls or float balls. they are about .40 inch in diameter. so a bit small

this image shows without float balls

this image shows two float balls in tube

it does allow me to see the water level from a distance and maybe could be good enough. I still plan to get a clear line sometime in the future

 

[Bob E]

I made a time lap video of the tank video is 20 seconds, but actual time is 20 minutes.