Dreamy Reef without a Fish/Equipment Room

[Ironfish]

And then

that seems odd. How many gallons is your setup? My ozotech says it does 400 mg/ hr. I have their matching air dryer, and it’s mounted in a room behind the tank which is ac/ dehumidified. I run it about 75 percent it runs alot but have an Orp controller set to shut it down at 440. I generally stay in the 400-450 range Maybe try a bucket test to make sure yours is functioning correctly. My setup doesn’t need the alita as my skimmers a Beckett with iwaki 70 pumps and pulls lots of air but those Alitas should be able to push enough air.

System is 260gal.
I got the Ozotech Poseidon 200 (220mg/hr) and the Ozotech Air Dryer Gen 2 with the air intake outside of the cabinet in the living room. Window has been open all summer long and air is on the dry side.

I guess your idea of testing it in a bucket is what I should do

 

[Ironfish]

Day of the BIG move.

First pic 10:30am
Second pic 3:30pm

It took 7 guys and a LOT of sweating in between.

 

[Ironfish]

I placed some thin unfinished wood strips on the floor just to protect my wooden floor.
At this point it's important to level the stand and aquarium because once the sump is in place there's no access to the little pegs and screws used to level it.

Then all the plumbing from overflow to sump and back was pretty easy to install. Everything comes pre assembled.
Just make sure to tighten pretty good all the pipes inside the overflow. It's also pretty awkward to grab the pipes in that small space.

The tank comes with 2 options for return pump/s and I didn't really like the 2 pump option. It should offer some longer pipes to get closer to the pumps and then attach hose to each pump. But instead the pipe/hose adapter comes pre assembled by the elbows. So you need to add some longer-than-what-I-wanted pieces of flexible hose to attach both return pumps.

I tried to find PVC pipes and junctions in several Hardware stores to modify this but no luck. Since here in the USA the standard for PVC is different and this tank has all European standard PVC.
I really wanted the nice looking red pipes down but ended with just black hose from BRS.
After the fact I realized that the pumps are kinda hidden behind the ReefMat so it's fine.

 

[Ironfish]

I did a lot of layout work since I wanted so much equipment inside this cabinet and some ideas that looked really good in paper didn't work because of the same reason of not being able to find sexy red PVC and Fittings.
For example I wanted to have the UV in line on one of the return pumps but ended up installing it in a different way with its dedicated pump.

Actually after some weeks of having everything running I realized that the complete system is so quiet, vectras M2, Vortech MP60s, BK Red Dragon Pump... except the little pump that came with the IceCap Algae Scrubber and the Sicce Syncra I used for the UV.
So I might replace those 2 pumps with nicer (more quiet) pumps in the future $$.

Then remounted my 2 Kessil AP9X from my previous tank and added a third.

 

[Ironfish]

I ended having to add a small cabinet (Adaptive Reef Controller Cabinet from BRS) next to the tank in order to house most of the cables, wires and transformers.
The cabinet just gets the work done but it's not very sturdy.
And my preference would've been something with a door in order to cover all equipment.
I know some hobbyist like to display and show the equipment. I don't. Unless i want to work on it and have access to everything with good lighting. Otherwise i prefer everything out of sight.

Sadly some equipment (still) come with short cables so I had to install some stuff inside the aquarium cabinet.

It really calls my attention that big pumps like the MP60 only come in one cable length and it's impossible to even add an extender. Large pumps usually go on large tanks and longer cables (or options) should be available.

I would've like to put all 4 controllers for Versas and Vortech in the small electronics cabinet but the cable of the mp60 mounted on the far left side of the tank doesn't reach

Same with the Red Dragon (skimmer pump) cable and controller. It's on the shorter side. I made it work but it's barely making it to the front of the electronics cabinet.

On the left side of the tank I placed an ATO container.
I really liked the larger Royal Exclusiv Water Tank but I wanted something in black since it goes outside of the cabinet.
The Hmahli 16gal ATO reservoir was my second option but I couldn't justify paying double $ for it vs the IM 15gal Hydrofill Reservoir.

 

[Ironfish]

After a lot of thinking and comparing dosing pumps I decided to go for the Versa. And so far I'm loving them. Probably the one thing I'd add to it would be remote access through wifi. The pump is only accessible through the mobius app with Bluetooth.
I got the 4 pump with the mounting plate.
The mounting is easy since the plate comes with the hardware, template and even an integrated level

I wanted 4 heads to dose the following:
1. Kalkwasser
2. Tropic Marin All for Reef
3. Magnesium. Right now using the Red Sea.
4. Some kind of coral food or aminos. Right now using Red Sea AB+

For dosing I went with some Red Sea dosing hose. They come in several colors and include the attachments to run the hoses organized.
The only drawback is the length. They only come in 3mt packages and for longer tanks it would be nice if they offered this in longer options.

Since one Versa head will be dosing kalkwasser from a reactor, I needed a dosing container with 3 compartments.
I got the Simplicity 6L Triple Dosing Container (3x2lts). Its simple, good looking and priced right.

I ordered a couple little shelf from amazon to place the dosing container and this one fits just perfect:

 

[Ironfish]

I used ozone 20 yrs ago in some quarantine tanks and never again.
But over the last year I've been reading about more people using it just for water clarity and it makes sense. If I could not use reactors with carbon or other media I'll be so happy.

After some research I went for:
Ozotech Poseidon 200
Ozotech Air Dryer
Alita In-Line Vacuum Air Pump (I'm impressed at how silent it is!)

I'm still fine tuning the use of it. Initially I went having the dosage controlled by the apex and the ORP value but now im trying to dose for a couple hours a day also controlled by the apex but this time as a timer dosing during hours when usually nobody is around the living room.

The layout is pretty simple.
The pump sucks air through a hose away from the tank, into the air dryer and through the generator to end into the skimmer through the dedicated ozone inlet.

 

[Dan Palmer]

Beautiful setup.

I ordered a couple little shelf from amazon to place the dosing container and this one fits just perfect:

I have the same dosing container, good shoutout on that shelf.

 

[Ironfish]

I knew I wanted to dose Kalkwasser but I wasn't sure how to do it. After some research and comparing different units (Deltec, Avast, Geos, IceCap, MRC and Reef Octopus) I decided to go with the Geos Reef.
They are all between $350 and $650 (equivalent sizes)

Why did I pick the Geos?
- I wanted a sealed Kalk Reactor to avoid any potential overflow.
- Good size and color options, matching the rest of the red/white setup.
- PH probe port.
- Drain Valve.

I wasn't sure at first if I needed a PH probe in the reactor but after some time running it I realized its better to have the info instead of playing the guessing game. I added a second PH probe to my Apex so now I can see when the solution inside the reactor needs more Kalk powder. Since I sometimes travel for several weeks at a time, the more info and the more automated I have the entire system, the better and easier it is for the kids who come to take care of the aquarium while I'm away.

At first I didn't even value having a drain valve built in. But after a couple months of running the reactor I realized this is an amazing feature that most other reactors don't even have or offer as an option. It makes the process of adding more kalk really easy. And I'm sure it will make the cleaning also easier.

For dosing and mixing this is my schedule:
Mixing pump on for 5 mins every 6 hrs controlled by Apex. At 12a, 6a, 12p, 6p.
Then the Versa pumps for 4.5 hrs.
I do dose more at night.