Broken Calculator; Rea Sea 350 Build

[the_cros]

I was the proud owner of a fresh water community tank, but a move across the country in July forced me to shut it down. The allure of salt water fish and reefing has always been strong, but in the past I talked myself out of it because of the price tag.

Before the holidays I knew I wanted to setup a new tank (take advantage of no travel for work for 8 weeks). At that point I was still debating fresh/salt water, but a cancelled fight in Toronto lead me to the local reef supply store with a broken calculator (aka tired brain from 2 hrs of sleep). This was where I saw my first Red Sea tank in person, and when I decided the time was right to start this new adventure. HOPEFULLY!!! FINGERS CROSSED!!!

The tank arrived on Dec. 10 and I had it setup, levelled, water tested and running by the weekend.

I had a small leak on the return, but nothing a little plumber’s tape couldn’t handle.

I started my cycle on Christmas Eve; thanks to a very lengthy delay to my ammonium delivery. In the end, this maybe good thing because it allowed me some time to play and learn the layout and behaviour of sump pump and skimmer.

Initial Equipment List:
- Red Sea 350
- Red Sea 600 Skimmer
- Red Sea 90 LED x2 (with arms)
- EcoTech S1 return
- 200w Hydor Heater x2

Unfortunately my calculator was still broken (impatiently waiting for ammonium), so I ended up with some additional loot:
- EcoTech MP40
- EcoTech Battery Backup
- Apex EL
- Apex ATK
- Apex WXM

After a quick trip to IKEA, I was able to build a simple control panel and install a few LED drawer lights to brighten thing up.

I have been loving this forum and reading the posts; especially all the great tank builds.

I am still not 100% sure which way to go for coral ... and I will need lots of help and guidance when I get there. For now I am concentrating on completing the cycle, stabilizing the water parameters, and getting used to RO/DI systems and mixing salt water.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! And congratulation on the new tank and the move to the dark side of the hobby (saltwater). ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

You are doing this right, taking your time. And you are sure buying nice hardware!!! Keep asking questions, we are here to help!

Keep looking at build threads, they are full of good ideas. I just tore down my 40g cube to build a new 90g (36"x30"x20") tank. Both build threads are in my signature below. This is the 40g cube from about a year ago:

 

[NanoDJS]

Welcome to the Reef ! Looks like you have got the makings of a fine reef going. Keep staying focused on the path youve layed out , that will give you the tools and knowledge to keep any corals ./ fish./ inverts you want moving foward. ^all the things Ron said also , patience and practice is the whole game.

 

[the_cros]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! And congratulation on the new tank and the move to the dark side of the hobby (saltwater). ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

You are doing this right, taking your time. And you are sure buying nice hardware!!! Keep asking questions, we are here to help!

Keep looking at build threads, they are full of good ideas. I just tore down my 40g cube to build a new 90g (36"x30"x20") tank. Both build threads are in my signature below. This is the 40g cube from about a year ago:

Thanks for stopping by. That cube looks amazing. I just read through your latest adventures (new build) and will be following along.

 

[the_cros]

Welcome to the Reef ! Looks like you have got the makings of a fine reef going. Keep staying focused on the path youve layed out , that will give you the tools and knowledge to keep any corals ./ fish./ inverts you want moving forward. ^all the things Ron said also , patience and practice is the whole game.

Thanks checking in. It took a while, but I learned patience with my fresh water tank. Too much unwanted stress when you hurry .

My cycle is almost complete, so it is almost time to start adding some things. I have a work trip next week...so I’ll be patient and wait until I return.

 

[SPR1968]

The tank looks great so far and keep the pictures coming!

And welcome to R2R as well!

 

[rahger]

Welcome, looks like you're off to an amazing start with that gear! Can't wait to get mine started as well.

 

[the_cros]

The tank looks great so far and keep the pictures coming!

And welcome to R2R as well!

Thanks for coming out. I just realized I forgot recent picture.

I need to replace that ATO tank (Red Sea special) with something I don’t need to fill every 2nd day. Maybe I’ll commission you to build me a fish room It will require a lot more insulation in Canada

 

[the_cros]

Welcome, looks like you're off to an amazing start with that gear! Can't wait to get mine started as well.

Thanks for stopping by. It’s been a thrill so far. I love how things have been coming together. Can’t wait to get some life in there.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I need to replace that ATO tank (Red Sea special) with something I don’t need to fill every 2nd day. Maybe I’ll commission you to build me a fish room It will require a lot more insulation in Canada

Having an ATO reservoir that needs to be manually topped off every 2 days kind of defeats the purpose of an ATO, doesn't it? I resisted using an ATO until the ones with optical sensors became available. I had lots of issues with floats in saltwater. And here in SW Florida where we run air conditioners A LOT, means we have quite a bit of evaporation. So I ended up with a 20g tank as a reservoir. And in my previous build I had a bulkhead in the top of the stand where I could insert a funnel and refill the reservoir without going inside the cabinet (stand). I'll probably do that with my current build as well.

If you don't mind my asking, where about are you in Canada? My dad was from Stratford, Ontario (northwest from Toronto) and my mom was from Cobalt (along the north shore of Lake Superior). I spent my first 6 summers newr Kingsville, Ontario (on the north shore of Lake Erie.

 

[the_cros]

Having an ATO reservoir that needs to be manually topped off every 2 days kind of defeats the purpose of an ATO, doesn't it? I resisted using an ATO until the ones with optical sensors became available. I had lots of issues with floats in saltwater. And here in SW Florida where we run air conditioners A LOT, means we have quite a bit of evaporation. So I ended up with a 20g tank as a reservoir. And in my previous build I had a bulkhead in the top of the stand where I could insert a funnel and refill the reservoir without going inside the cabinet (stand). I'll probably do that with my current build as well.

If you don't mind my asking, where about are you in Canada? My dad was from Stratford, Ontario (northwest from Toronto) and my mom was from Cobalt (along the north shore of Lake Superior). I spent my first 6 summers newr Kingsville, Ontario (on the north shore of Lake Erie.

I need suggestions for an ATO reservoir that will fit the Apex pump easily. I’m ok with drilling/modifying as needed, but the open concept of the Red Sea one is only great for supporting double evaporation (Tank and ATO).

I lived in the Toronto Area (Mississauga/Brampton) for 20 years ... but in July I moved back to Nova Scotia to be closer to family.

 

[the_cros]

...and now I’m making H2O.

My order finally arrived with the piggy back and booster pump. Now I’m running at 80 psi and getting about 5 gallon an hour. Before this showed up my RO/DI was pretty much unusable; I was only getting 40 psi and there was too much waste water.

Any good reservoir I can look for? I’d like to setup 2 (ATO and Saltwater) and run some small pumps upstairs to my tank. I think a 10 gallon ATO and a 15 gallon saltwater for ~20% water change Saltwater.

 

[Crabby48]

Welcome to R2]R

looks like a great start so far. I use a 5 gallon container for top off. Like this https://images.app.goo.gl/twq1wD7xZ1ehp8B1A
I evaporate little more the a gallon a day so it’s small. I drilled a hole in the cap to fit water line and power cord.

 

[the_cros]

Welcome to R2]R

looks like a great start so far. I use a 5 gallon container for top off. Like this https://images.app.goo.gl/twq1wD7xZ1ehp8B1A
I evaporate little more the a gallon a day so it’s small. I drilled a hole in the cap to fit water line and power cord.

Thanks for the kind words and for the recommendation. I’ll check it out. I definitely need something with a cover/lid.

 

[the_cros]

It has been too long since my last post ... So I figured I would add a few small updates on where my system is at now.

I spent some time setting up a water mixing area in the basement. It started with building a small stand for RODI and Salt water and has evolved since.

Back in March I took the pallet that my tank showed up on and a spare 2x4 to built the stand.

I sized it up to fit two 16 gallon containers that I already had on hand. In the end, I had to include extra support on the sides to deal with bulging containers.

My original idea was to have a gate valve leading from the top (RODI) to the bottom (Salt Water). I also wanted to include other valves to allow me to get easy access to RODI & SW.

It was a great idea ...

...until it started to leak .

The combination of flimsy containers/poor cuts for the bulkheads and pressure from all the water just didn’t work. After about 2 weeks, I walked downstairs to find a split in the upper/RODI container and about 5 gallons of water on the floor.

Oh well. Live and Learn I guess. Hence the need for evolution.

 

[the_cros]

The Evolution Continues ...

I ended up reworking my whole water setup. I started by moving my RODI unit into my small workshop.

This sits beside/above the shelving I built (in the last post) for my mixing station.

I have a few Apex components to help control the overall setup. I have an Apex Solenoid and FFM setup with 3 optical sensors;
1. ATO reservoir full
2. Salt water full
3. Salt water low

I also have an Apex EB4 power supply so that I can control my equipment based on the optical sensors.
1. Shut off my flow & heater in the salt water reservoir when the level is low.
2. Shut off RODI booster pump & Close Apex Solenoid (water supply) when ATO or SW is full.

I ended up removing the top container from the previous post (leaking @ bulkhead) and used my ATO reservoir that was sitting beside my DT upstairs. I also put in a simplified lower container for the salt water to reduce the chances of another leak.

The programming is working well; I am able to walk away and forget it while things are refilling. I have alarms set for when the containers are full ... and I always set timers on my phone so I can run down and check after everything is supposed to be done.

Hopefully I have every solved for this little project and I can move on to setting up automatic water changes.

 

[Crabby48]

I like the water change station. Hard to beat apex to control, monitor things. Great piece of mind when your not around.

 

[Crabby48]

How is the build coming along

 

[the_cros]

Suffered some fish loss, so now I’m finalizing a QT setup. I’ll have to post that build for everyone soon. Unfortunately I might have to go fallow for a while ... if I can successfully get my fish out of the DT without destroying everything.

 

[the_cros]

Now for the QT fun.

I picked up a cheap Coralife 29g saltwater kit to jump start the process. The heater was a little small for my cold Canadian basement, so I had to upgrade to something I had on hand. I was able to reuse an air pump from my old fresh water tank to hookup a sponge filter and an air stone.

I have a RODI line running to the tank to help with setup. For water changes, I setup an Apex FMM module to control a PMUP (same as ATO kit), and a Solenoid. This gear takes care of the water removal.

For adding water, I run my waste water line from the DT auto water change system; this adds about 2 gallons a day into QT.

I have a schedule on my Apex to remove 2 gallons from the QT before the auto water change cycle kicks in. It is setup to stop based on an optical sensor.

Note: I cannot use this while treating copper b/c it is important to only add saltwater with copper already added.

I use the solenoid, when I shut the PMUP down, to prevent a siphon after I am done removing water