Canopy and Stand Build for 42 Gallon Hex Tank

[n2585722]

That is sweet. Considering the same setup for my tank. Have you double checked the alkalinity values with a salifert test and is it close?
Are you going to connect your alk to the X10 to allow it to adjust the alk on it's own?

I have ran several test at the same time and they are never the same but it varies as to which ones are higher or lower than the others. I was doing the Hanna, Fauna Marin, Salifert, KHC and the iV/X10 when testing. It has been a while since I have done that and now just do the Hanna once a week when doing my other manual testing. They are usually within .3 of each other. There is an offset you can change on the Hydros to make it read closer to the manual test you will be using to double check. I would wait for the pumps to break in and recalibrate after a few days of use though. I do use dynamic dosing to dose All for Reef and a KH buffer using the alkalinity readings from the iV/X10. Below is one of my KH schedules for daytime. I use a different one with lower doses for the night time. Those are the first 2 screenshots. The last 2 screenshots are the dosing schedule for All For Reef dosing.

 

[tritonpower]

I have ran several test at the same time and they are never the same but it varies as to which ones are higher or lower than the others. I was doing the Hanna, Fauna Marin, Salifert, KHC and the iV/X10 when testing. It has been a while since I have done that and now just do the Hanna once a week when doing my other manual testing. They are usually within .3 of each other. There is an offset you can change on the Hydros to make it read closer to the manual test you will be using to double check. I would wait for the pumps to break in and recalibrate after a few days of use though. I do use dynamic dosing to dose All for Reef and a KH buffer using the alkalinity readings from the iV/X10. Below is one of my KH schedules for daytime. I use a different one with lower doses for the night time. Those are the first 2 screenshots. The last 2 screenshots are the dosing schedule for All For Reef dosing.

great. thanks

 

[MickeyCT]

Great thread! Awesome skills!

I was very interested in what you did for your mixing station with having everything through the lids. One question and I apologize if you included this information somewhere in the thread and I missed it. What are you using to actually mix the saltwater and how does the cord for the mixing pump come through the lid? Do you also have a heater in there?

I assume you aren't using a PMUP to do the mixing.

 

[n2585722]

Great thread! Awesome skills!

I was very interested in what you did for your mixing station with having everything through the lids. One question and I apologize if you included this information somewhere in the thread and I missed it. What are you using to actually mix the saltwater and how does the cord for the mixing pump come through the lid? Do you also have a heater in there?

I assume you aren't using a PMUP to do the mixing.

I use a Sicce 1.0 pump. I have three of these since I was also using them with a couple of reactors I originally had setup. So I figured I could always use it as a spare if I needed. I do not have the reactors setup on the tank at this time though. I don't use a heater in the mix tank or fresh saltwater reservoir but I do auto water changes and that is split into 4 times a day. There is not much changed at any one time so temp has not been an issue. It does not make a change in the temp when the water change happens. If I want to do a manual water change then I would need to heat the water to the correct temp but I would move it into containers that were near the tank. As far as wires other than the low level and full float switches those are just draped over the side of the brute can and the lid clamped shut. Since the water is not heated there is not too much evaporation to worry about. I usually wait for the warmer days to add the salt mix when mixing and add several smaller amounts over 2 to 3 day time period. Once it has the right salinity I just press a button to let the controller know it can be used to refill the fresh salt water container. I have a temp sensor that is at at air temp in the garage where the reservoirs are at and it has got in the low 40's to over 110 degrees at times. Usually the cold weather will only last a couple of days at a time.

 

[MickeyCT]

Thanks for the explanation.

I am almost done with a project moving my sump from under the stand to my basement. Just need to clean up the wiring and the DOS's and dosing tubes. Next project i to build a new mixing station and your ideas really interested me. I'm heavily invested already in Apex but I can do a lot of what you've done with my existing Apex equipment.

My big decision is whether I want to change from doing 20% water changes using 1" hose/piping, to something smaller and daily water changes. Water changes now only take me about 15 minutes tops. If I switch to 3/8" tubing, then I'm really ruling out larger water changes. Hmmm. Need to think about that.

 

[n2585722]

I don't think there would be an issue doing it with an Apex. I was using a Archon to do it before going to the Hydros. I don't have a basement so I used the garage for my mixing station. When I got my first Hydros controller I was passing signals between the Archon and Hydros and slowly added to the Hydros. I now have 14 controllers in my Hydros collective. CoralVue decided to take a different approach and instead of having a main brain and several modules they decided to make each module where it can be a stand alone controller or be a member of a collective of controllers. In the collective the inputs and outputs are shared with the collective and it act like one large controller.