"Giant Mini Fridge" - Red Sea MAX E-170

[revnull]

Post from Dec 20, 2017:

I'm totally bummed out tonight. I got a call from my wife this afternoon that there was water on the floor next to the tank. Like a pro, she powered everything off and soaked up the water before it could do any damage. When I got home I turned the return pump back on fearing that my new manifold was to blame. Turns out that I was half right. The leak was a slow drip coming from Red Sea barbed adapter on the return line. I replaced the stock barb with a 1-in to 3/4-in threaded barb. I've read others have had good luck using 3/4-in NPT adapters with a ton of PTE tape. I opted to use RectorSeal 5 and made sure not to over tighten. It held for 3 days without a drip. Then today, it developed a hairline crack almost dead center in the middle of the fitting. I'm sure this is my fault for trying to use NPT and BSP together. I'm guessing I'll need to order a new adapter from Red Sea and try to find the correct BSP barbed fitting to get this to work.

 

[revnull]

Post from Dec 21, 2017:

Since this is the 2nd Red Sea fitting that I've cracked, I feel like the inside pressure (along with doing dumb things like I did) is it's achilles heal. I'm thinking of buying a 32mm slip x slip coupler to try and reinforce things from the outside. The outer diameter of the Red Sea fitting is just shy of 32mm. The OD of my 1-in spigot to 1-in barb is 33.3mm.

If I sand down ~0.7mm of the circumference of my 1-in barbb (slip side), it should fit in to the 32mm coupler nicely and still leave plenty of "meat" for structural rigidity.

 

[revnull]

Post from Dec 23, 2017:

Today is my first attempt un-breaking the bared fitting. I found that the inside diameter of the lasco 1 1/4-in female thread to 1-in barb adapter was a near perfect fit for the outer diameter of the Red Sea fitting. After a little loctite plastic epoxy I think I have a solid bond. I only have about a 1mm gap between the edge of the lasco adapter and the twist lock ring, but it still spins.

An extra layer of epoxy along the inner seam will hopefully prevent any leaks.

 

[revnull]

Post from Jan 24, 2018:

I recently picked up a Skimz MBR127 algae reactor. Out of the box it runs a Skimz Quietpro 1.2 DC pump.

I wanted to see what it would take to run this reactor from my manifold and started to take things apart.

Based on the size of the pump hole a 1/2-in close nipple and 90 degree female thread to 1/2-in barbed adapter (found both in Home Depot sprinkler section) seems to fit nicely.

Add a 1/2-in flexable elbow from my old TLF phosban reactor and we are ready to plumb.

Now I'm just waiting for my "clean" cheato from aglea barn to fire it up.

 

[revnull]

Post from Feb 3, 2018:

My Algae Barn order showed up this week.

The chaeto from Algea Barn lived up to it's name, it was very clean, but I do not recall my old chaeto ball being this brittle in my last tank.

At night with the lights out, I dosed 1 bag of pods to the display and the other directly to the reactor. I let the pods marinate for about 30min before turning the main return pump back on.

The next day, fully plumbed with the lights on.

Today's project was increasing the size of my ATO container in preparation of an upcoming trip. I picked up a 50lb Vittles Vault from chewy.com that holds about 13 gallons of water. Using a stepper bit, I drilled a 3/4-in hole near the top for a BRS 1/4-in bulkhead. Using a nibbler, I cut a small channel for the PMUP power cord and rounded it out with a drill bit. This has the side benefit of allowing air into the container to break the vacuum.

I installed a check valve to prevent back siphoning. Since the check creates a small mount of back pressure, I figured it would be better to locate it in the container with the PMUP where the head pressure is the strongest.

All filled up and ready to rock. Next step is to install a level sensor (I still have 1 open port on my FMM) to notify me when I'm down to ~1/4 tank.

 

[revnull]

Alright, that brings us up to today. Please feel free to comment or question on anything in past posts. I realize there are gaps and things I just forgot to post about. I'll try post more consistently moving forward.

 

[mmw64]

following this build. Love the scape!

 

[revnull]

So far so good! I’m liking this thread already!

Thanks Zack!

 

[Zack K]

I see clowns in that last picture... I think we need an updated Full tank shot, as well as a stocking list. Also what lights did you settle down on?
-Zack

 

[revnull]

Current livestock list:

• A mated pair of clowns (they were my first livestock purchase 12+ years ago; older than my children)
• 2 Turbo Snails
• 4 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
• 1 Blood Shrimp
• No corals in this tank, yet. (Sold off my softies 2 tanks ago when considering taking a break from the hobby)

As for the lights, I ended up keeping the AI Hydra 26HD (for now). I miss the shimmer and Apex integration of my Kessils, but while I FOLR, the Hydra is more than enough.

Current tank shots:

Yes, Chia Homer made it into the scape. I drilled out a 2" hole in the back of his head to make another hiding spot for future fish.

Side shot from my favorite chair (after dosing Alk, hence the cloud).

 

[revnull]

This evening I spent some time preparing my BRS space saver containers for the day I finally decide on a doser (I'm open to suggestions based on personal experience). I picked up a length of 1/4-in ridged acrylic tubing from Tap Plastics and cut a 13.5-in section with a small pipe cuter.

Using a stepper drill bit and BRS 1/4-in bulkheads, I drilled the caps and assembled all the parts.

It all came together nicely if I do say so myself.

 

[revnull]

Sorry, a couple more blasts from the past.

Post from Dec 30, 2016:

Today, I decided to up my water change game.

Step 1 was to add a 2nd RO/DI chamber to ensure absolute 0 TDS.

Step 2, install and plumb a new 35 gallon norwesco holding tank from Tractor Supply in Gilroy.

I added a 3/4" 90 degree threaded street elbow as a "pickup" tube so i can drain the tank to as close to bottom as possible.

My float valve mounted near the neck of the main opening so I can make fine adjustments without dunking my arm in the tank.

3/4" street elbow -> ball valve -> union -> barb. Still need to find some good flexible hose to finish it all up.

Just a little sharpie to highlight the raised numbers. Not sure why it doesn't come like this from the manufacturer.

A few small updates to my RO/DI water setup. Swapped my ball valve for a stop valve. It gives me a little better control of the flow without the added height of a full gate valve.

Decided to try a couple of flexible sprinkler hoses for my fill hose. I'm getting a few drips of a leak at the coupler in the middle. Not sure why. I may just switch back to a 3/4" barb and flexible bilge tubing.

I re-plumbed my RO/DI setup to separate the RO from the DI section. The old setup used a 4 canister bracket with a single bracket add on. After bit of reading, I moved my pressure gauge between my stage 3 carbon block and my RO membrane input line. Not sure why it was not plumbed like this to begin with, but I bought the system a decade ago so who knows. Now the RO stages are on a more compact 3 canister bracket and my dual DI stages and new TDS meter are on a separate 2 canister bracket. Small changes, but I like the way it all turned out.

 

[revnull]

Post from Feb 12, 2017:

Picked up a new (to me) toy. A friend of mine gave me a great deal on his extra Amcrest PTZ IP camera. It lived on a tripod for a few days until I picked up this suction cup mount today.

Anyone want to take bets on how long it will take to fall off?

 

[revhtree]

Glad to have you documenting your build here!

 

[revnull]

Just a few days after I added my cheato, pods and started dosing live phyto, I start getting hazy/green water with TONS of film algae on the glass. It was so bad that about an hour after cleaning my glass, is was covered once again. All of my water params are good, but I performed a 20% water change anyway. Still no luck. After reading about others with similar issues, I decided to dust off my old Turbo Twist 6x UV sterilizer. This thing has been through hell, epoxied case that leaks a little, been installed on tanks and ponds for different family members. It's almost a family heirloom.

I hacked together quick and dirty plumbing that attached it to my return manifold. Then rigid plumbing on the output that flows directly into my 100 micron filter sock.

Its been running for about 12hrs so far and the water is MUCH better. (Sorry, no before pic)

Another interesting side effect of adding the UV was an increase in pH. Not sure why.

This bout with algae blooms has me thinking I should add a permanent UV sterilizer to my setup. Does anyone have an opinion one way or the other? Do modern sterilizers use LEDs now? Seems silly to burn 20w of power on fluorescent since LED technology has advanced so quickly in the last few years.

 

[Kayzah]

That build is just awesome!!! Congrats

Following with a close eye.

 

[revnull]

So about 60hrs after adding UV, my water is near crystal clear.

Skimming has been extra wet for the past couple of days. I assume its been picking up the die off of whatever was clouding the water. Next step is a full set of parameter tests to see if my water chemistry was adversely affected by this bloom.

 

[Eggpaul]

Post from Oct 1, 2017:

After a 40 hour bleach soak and a power wash.

After the power wash, I let the rock dry in the sun for a few hours. I dumped the bleach water, gave the trash can a good rinse and scrub. Filled back up with fresh tap water and a double dose of Prime. I'll let that stew for a few days then rinse and repeat with RO/DI + Prime.

Nice. I got some used reefsaver rock, "power washed" it with a hose on the jet setting, and soaked it in bleach/water for 10 days. The rocks looks amazing now! but it smells like a swimming pool. I dumped the water and soaked it in RO-DI water for a day. dumped that, then added tap water with a decholrinator. smells a little less like a pool now, but I'm soaking it in RO-DI water again. After that should I just let it dry outside and I should be good?

 

[revnull]

If I recall, I did 3 100% water changes. Each with a triple dose of Prime. They still had a slight bleach smell untill after they dried in the sun. I think the remaining bleach gasses off while drying.

 

[revnull]

Today I added a new optical level sensor to my top off reservoir.

I used an old magnetic single probe holder that seems very similar to the one that ships with the other version of the stand alone sensor saving me $10. (I probably paid more than $10 for that probe holder years ago. )

Oddly, when I plugged in the new optical sensor it was recognized as a flow sensor. I re-inserted the cable into the FMM and it was then correctly identified as an optical sensor. All good, except the state of the sensor was stuck in the "Open" state despite being in or out of the water. Several more inserts ans reboots later, still no luck. The solution I found was to reconfigure the FMM module. I disabled "auto detection" on the port and made sure it was set to "Optical Sensor". For whatever reason this fixed my issue. I'm guessing, the auto detection in the FMM firmware is still a little buggy.