Mikedb's 140 Gallon Peninsula

[mikedb]

Current Pictures (Apr 2020)

Stocking list, in order of addition:

• 2x Ocellaris clowns
• 1x Radial fliefish
• 1x Yellow Watchman Goby
• 1x Melanurus Wrasse
• 1x Golden Midas Blenny
• 3x Lyretail anthias
• 1x One-spot Foxface
• 1x Rhombodialis Wrasse
• 1x Flame Wrasse
• 1x McCosker's Wrasse
• 3x Blue-Green Chromis
• 1x Purple Tang

Current Invertebrates:

• ~20x Trochus Snails
• ~15x Blue-legged hermit crabs
• 8x Strawberry Conch
• 2x Halloween Hermit crabs
• ~5x Nassarius snails
• 6x Pencil Urchins
• 1x Tuxedo urchin
• 1x Emerald Crab
• 1x Porcelain crab
• 1x Tiger pistol shrimp

Equipment List:

• Tank/ Stand/ Sump: Red Sea Reefer 650
• Lighting: 4x AI Hydra 26 HD
• Flow: 2x MaxSpect Gyre XF350
• Sand: 30lbs Tropic Eden Miniflakes, 30lbs Tropic Eden ReefFlakes
• Rock: ~90lbs Caribsea Liferock Shapes
• Heaters: 2x Cobalt NeoTherm 300W
• Refugium Light: Kessil H160
• Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 200INT with Automatic Neck Cleaner
• Mechanical Filtration: Clarisea SK-5000
• UV Sterilizer: Pentair Smart UV 40 Watt
• Return Pumps: 2x Varios 8 (not happy with these, one will be replaced)
• Controls: Neptune Apex, 2x EB832, 3x FMM, 3x DOS, 2x DDR, 1x ATK, 1" & 1/2" Flow sensor

After a 10-year hiatus from the hobby, my wife and I settled in a long-term home and I finally had an opportunity to build my dream reef. The home was a new build, and we were given the opportunity to remove the wall between the den and dining room to make one large, 22.5'x12.5' room- the perfect space for a peninsular room-dividing aquarium! Even better, the room was right above the basement mechanical area, making a basement sump practical. The perfect solution for me was the Red Sea Reefer 650.

Goals:

• A beautiful, living room divider for our new home.
• Minimal livestock losses and impact on natural reefs
• Low maintenance, with as many tasks and parameters automated as possible
• A variety of soft, LPS, and SPS corals comprised of a variety of bright colors
• Peaceful, colorful fish
• Redundant systems to minimize the possibility of losses due to equipment failure
• Minimalist design, with few visible wires and pumps
• Watch livestock grow from juveniles/small frags to adults/colonies

I have learned so much from this forum, and hope that I can share my experiences and setup with other members. The tank is now about 9 months old, and as you can see, there is lots of stocking left to go. Over the coming weeks, I will be posting about:

1. Strengthening floors for a peninsula aquarium
2. Plumbing a basement sump
3. Saltwater Mixing Station and Automatic water change system
4. Automation, maintenance-reducing strategies and my preventative maintenance schedule
5. Nutrient Removal Systems and Strategies
6. Nutrient Replenishment Systems and Strategies
7. Electrical Wiring and Backup
8. Livestock selection & comments

Tank Shots (October 2019):

Right side:

Left Side:

End side:

End/Right side:

 

[Peace River]

Wow! Gorgeous tank! This should be amazing especially as it fills in - good luck!

 

[Devaji]

love LOVE LOVE peninsula tanks! I have a little 18.5 nano Peninsula I just set up, looking at the RS 500P too.

show us the sump room.
how do you like the stand?
keep the updates coming

 

[mikedb]

Tank Location and Structural Considerations

Our home was a new build, and upon looking at the plans, we realized that there was the perfect space for a room divider peninsula aquarium setup- and as a bonus, our home's mechanical room was right underneath! We were able to make a few slight change to the home plan, in order to remove the wall between the two rooms that the tank would be dividing, and open up a few of the walls around it.

The first step once we moved into our house was to decide where exactly the tank should be located. We used masking tape for the task, and were able to settle on a location where the tank would be visible from nearly every corner of the first floor.

Once the location was decided, the next step was to evaluate whether the floor was capable of supporting the tank.

Houses in North America are generally designed for a 40lbs/square foot load. The Red Sea Reefer 650 weighs around 2000lbs when filled in a footprint of 60"x24", or 10 square feet. At a load of 200lbs/sf, that was way over the design load of the floor.

Most aquariums get away with exceeding this design load because the aquarium is located against a wall, and design loads are calculated for an evenly distributed load across the length of the joist (the wood members that span the room and support the floor). Since a joist is much stronger near the ends where it is supported (the walls), and many aquariums sit on multiple joists (as long as they are perpendicular to the joist direction), a structurally safe result is reached despite exceeding the design load.

But my aquarium sat on only two joists, and protruded right into the middle of the room due to its peninsula design. Without additional structural support, it would be a major safety hazard.

My solution was to install a Floor Jack under each of the joists that carried the tank, directly underneath the end of the tank that protruded into the middle of the room.

Most basement floors are very thin, and not capable of taking significant load (thicker footings are generally poured underneath the home's structural supports). Therefore, there was a very real concern about the floor jacks cracking or punching through the basement floor. To spread the load, I poured a small pad with a few small pieces of rebar for extra support:

The final step was to install the floor jacks (this picture was taken much later, but you get the point)-

One handy feature of the floor jacks- they can be used to level the aquarium! So long as the aquarium was level when it was empty, the jacks can be used to remove any sag in the floor and raise it back to its previous, unloaded level. No need to compensate for sag by raising the little feet underneath the aquarium stand.

The end result is that the floor near the aquarium is very strong, and I an no concerns about structural integrity- even with 10+ guests gathered around the tank. In fact, I can feel that the joists that carry the tank actually shake less as I walk over them then those on other parts of the room, due to the extra mid-span support.

In my next post, I will talk a little more about the plumbing and installation of the basement sump!

 

[mikedb]

love LOVE LOVE peninsula tanks! I have a little 18.5 nano Peninsula I just set up, looking at the RS 500P too.

show us the sump room.
how do you like the stand?
keep the updates coming

To be honest, I am happy with everything about the RS P650. The stand seems flimsy to be supporting 1200lbs, but seems to handle the weight just fine. The stand and light fixture (with some wiring modifications) are the cleanest, nicest design out there, IMO.

There is a overall shot of the sump room above, but my next post will be all about it!

 

[mikedb]

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to post or update quite as much as I'd hoped, but now is as good as ever!

Everything has been running very well, for the most part. My Amphidium Dinoflagellates have returned, and this time silica dosing doesn't seem to be having much effect. I have now on my fourth bottle of SpongExcel, and if I don't see much progress I might lay off for awhile The corals don't seem to mind.

All corals are growing very well- many of the frags have encrusted and are starting to grow quickly! Unfortunately, there is one exception- my plate coral. It stayed quite deflated during the last bout of dinos, and when I lifted it, I noticed that the flesh underneath the base had receded substantially and and the dead flesh was being eaten by amphipods. Since then, the flesh continues to recede and not the top is visibly losing flesh. Since plate corals are one of my favorites, this is disappointing. I am considering moving it off the sand bed and onto the rocks to see if I can reverse the decline.

Latest full-tank shots:

I am currently in the process of changing my dosing regimen. I was previously using pre-mixed Aquaforest 3-part and had great results, with ideal monthly ICP results. However, the cost and plastic waste involved with the 3-part made it unsustainable in the long run. I was already consuming 125ml/day, and that was just with the small frags that are currently in the system. With my 2l dosing containers, refills were poised to become an issue as well in the event of travel.

I was researching how to self-mix the aquaforest solution, and called Lou ( @Lou Ekus ) at Tropic Marin on a whim to see what he would suggest from the Tropic Marin line (I learn something from him every time we interact). He suggested the DIY version of their 1-part All-For-Reef, and the benefits sure sounded tempting. The single part has just over twice the dKH/L as the AquaForest/Balling method, meaning half as many refills. And, having freed up two dosing containers, I am going to fill another with All-for-Reef, meaning even fewer refills- from once every two weeks to once every two months! Even more important, using two dosing containers provides me with redundancy in the event one dosing head fails and I am travelling. The ReefBot will alert me that the alk is falling, and I can remotely adjust the Apex dosing units to compensate.

Anything that removes a single point-of-failure for life-critical systems is a big deal for me, considering that I am often away from the tank for as much as a week at a time.

I mixed my first batch on the 24th:

I strongly recommend a magnetic stirrer (it takes a while to dissolve) and scale to ensure the amounts are accurate.

I filled my dosing container later that day and started dosing!

To avoid a shock to my system, I used my fourth pump/reservoir for the All-for-Reef and kept my existing 3-part system online. I reduced the dose of 3-part from 125ml/day to 105ml/day, and started adding 10ml/day of All-for-Reef.

So far, my alkalinity is stable and all is good! If everything stays stable for the next few days, I will continue increasing the dose.

More updates to come!

 

[anonomous09]

That’s a beautiful tank! Although I am partial to a good living room peninsula lol

 

[jack_aubry]

I am also using the tropic marin carbocalcium and I remeber seeing the mix yourself all-for-reef, but I can't find it now. Can you let me know what ratios you used? From memory I thought it was 8 parts carbocalcium 1 part A 1 part K 1 part mg+, but I don't know.

Nice reef btw

 

[TheOne]

Following along. Loving the build so far. I can tell you from experience that maintaining a tank while traveling becomes a real challenge. The best advice I can give is find a lfs and ask about their services in case you have an emergency come up. For me it was my wife over facetime, ha.

Apex and all the automation helps tremendously as I have every bell and whistle also but there will be times that you will have to physically have someone adjust something in an emergency.

Plus you had me chuckling at the low maintenance thread title. Good one! Come back in another year and let me know how that's working out.

 

[mikedb]

I am also using the tropic marin carbocalcium and I remeber seeing the mix yourself all-for-reef, but I can't find it now. Can you let me know what ratios you used? From memory I thought it was 8 parts carbocalcium 1 part A 1 part K 1 part mg+, but I don't know.

Nice reef btw

Thanks!

I followed the recipe here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...-tropic-marin-thanks-zack.659055/post-6647576 .

My testing is going well so far. The All-for-Reef solution seems to be a little stronger than I had anticipated, as my alkalinity kept rising for the first two days. I have since dialed my 3-part down to 80ml/day (120ml/day originally) and maintained my 10ml/day dose of A4R. Alkalinity has been stable since then. Now I need to get it back down before proceeding further, so I have backed off the 3-part to 70ml/day.

I'm not sure yet, but I think the next step will be 15ml A4R, and 60ml 3-part.

 

[mikedb]

Following along. Loving the build so far. I can tell you from experience that maintaining a tank while traveling becomes a real challenge. The best advice I can give is find a lfs and ask about their services in case you have an emergency come up. For me it was my wife over facetime, ha.

Apex and all the automation helps tremendously as I have every bell and whistle also but there will be times that you will have to physically have someone adjust something in an emergency.

Plus you had me chuckling at the low maintenance thread title. Good one! Come back in another year and let me know how that's working out.

Thanks for the kind words and advice! For what it is worth, I am at the 11-month mark and find the maintenance requirements to be quite reasonable- no more than 40 minutes a week aside from feeding and 'capital improvements'. At least half of that amount is glass cleaning (I have 24 square feet of glass), but I really don't mind that. My 6-month old son and I do it together

It's probably about time for me to explain a little more about my 'low' maintenance strategies...

Automation, maintenance-reducing strategies and my preventative maintenance schedule

My previous foray into reefkeeping, a 4G pico reef with a clownfish and plate coral I had kept for nearly a decade, came to an abrupt end when my heater stuck on and cooked all the inhabitants. The foray before that ended when I left for a week and the tank sitter overfed the tank and caused a nasty algae bloom that proved impossible to overcome with such a simplistic setup and a waning interest in maintaining an increasingly-ugly tank.

My guiding principles:

1. Reducing single points of failure for life-critical systems, where possible.
2. Reducing and automating maintenance, to keep this hobby from becoming a job!

Automation

The key to controlling any variable is to be able to measure it. So I have outfitted my Apex with an array of sensors to keep tabs on as many aspects of my tanks as possible"

• Apex base unit: Standard 4 probes (PH, ORP, Temp, and Salinity), with 0-10v control of pumps.
• Sump Energy Bar: Provides On/Off capability and current monitoring to key equipment in basement (the heaters in particular), and acts as a hub for my FMM and DOS units.
• Sump FMM: Manages the optical sensors for the ATK, and the flow sensor for the UV, and a leak sensor for the floor under the sump
• Mixing station FMM: Manages optical sensors for the freshwater tank (full, refill, and low-fault) and NSW tank (refil alarm), and powers the solenoid for the RO system.
• Tank Energy Bar: Provides On/Off capability and current monitoring to lights and powerheads
• Tank FMM: Manages the return flow sensor and the leak sensors inside and below the stand
• Mixing Station DOS unit: Manages automatic water changes
• 2x DOS with 2x DDR reservoirs: Manages dosing of 3-part, phosphate, and nitrate.

Overall, the system works well. The weak point with the Apex is the alarms, which are, unfortunately, very rudimentary compared to other automation products I have used.

And, of course, my ReefBot, which automates testing and allows me to monitor the tank chemistry from anywhere.

Maintenance Reducing Strategies

The key drivers of maintenance on my tank, and how I have tried to manage them:

• Feeding: Once daily. I am backer #80 for the AF4 auto frozen feeder, and look forward to the opportunity to spread the feedings out a little for the health of the livestock.
• Glass Cleaning: Given the penalty for failure (scratched glass), I do this myself, every 3-4 days.
• Sand cleaning: I manually turn over the sand every few months using my Tunze grabber. I am looking for a 'natural' alternative to this, but it appears a Diamond Goby is my only option and I am nervous about the downside of getting sand everywhere.
• Auto-top-off Replenishment: I have two float switches in my 60-gallon RO water tank. When the lower switch opens, the solenoid to my RO system opens, slowing replenishing the tank. When the upper switch closes, the solenoid closes. I have a backup float valve inside the RO tank in the event of a solenoid failure.
• Mixing NSW: I have a 60 gallon mixing container, and replace 2 gallons per day using my AWC system. Since I always have 60 gallons of RO water on hand, mixing an new batch is as simple as transferring the water between tanks, adding a pre-calculated amount of salt by weight, and opening the valves for my transfer pump to mix.
• Skimmer emptying/cleaning: The reason I chose a Reef Octopus skimmer is the Neck Cleaner accessory, which works fantastic. I have the collection cup plumbed into my sink drain, so I never need to empty it. To keep debris from building up, I drain my AWC system into the collection cup, so there is always 2 gallons per day running through the drain line to prevent it from getting clogged. The skimmer gets torn down and cleaned every three months by my maintenance guy- otherwise, I don't touch it.
• Mechanical filtration: I retfitted my Red Sea sump to accept a Clarisea SK-5000. The jury is still out on this one, since I have been having issues with motor jamming and failures, but it is still saving me time over filter socks. I seem to be going through a roll every 6 weeks, and they take about 10 minutes to replace.
• Pump maintenance: Both pumps get torn down and cleaned every three months by my maintenance guy.
• Powerhead maintenance: Both Gyres get torn down and cleaned every three months by my maintenance guy. The Gyres get loud and lose flow before then, but I just increase the power in the app and everything is OK.
• ReefBot: Every week, I refill any necessary reagent vials and refill the RO reservoir. The unit drains into my sink.

Preventative Maintenance Schedule

• Daily: Feed 4 cubes of frozen food. Enjoy the tank!
• Twice-weekly: Clean glass
• Weekly: Fill Reefbot Reagent
• Monthly: Mix more NSW, change Clarisea Roll (if required), clean sand, trim chaeto in refugium
• Quarterly: Schedule maintenance guy to remove debris from sump, clean skimmer/ needle wheel, pumps, and powerheads.
• Annually: Replace one heater, replace UV lamp, replace RO filters (as required).

Maintenance Team

It is hard to ignore the biggest single point of failure- me! Or more simply, my presence or lack thereof. I use the following resources to overcome this:

• My 12-year old neighbour: Comes over when I am away to feed the fish and visually inspect the tank and sump for anything awry.
• My brother: I have trained him on how most systems in the tank work, and he can come over if there is an emergency. Unfortunately, he lives 30 minutes away.
• My wife: We often travel together, but she is able to follow basic instructions via FaceTime if she does happen to be home.
• My maintenance guy: He is a marine biologist, so can conduct advanced troubleshooting if necessary. He changes a 2-hour fee to show up, so is a last resort for a true, complex emergency.

 

[mikedb]

Santa bought the reef a present over the holidays... an Abyzz A100 return pump!

My disappointment with the Reef Octopus Varios pumps is pretty well documented here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/upgrading-my-return-pump-suggestions.662775/ . Summary: the Varios pumps don't meet their performance specifications, and Coralvue will void your warranty for using them within those specifications.

I installed the Abyzz last weekend, and everything went pretty smoothly. It was well packaged, with good instructions. Plumbing the pump into my PVC plumbing required no less than three different glues to go between the ABS pump housing, the ABS imperial conversion ring, my PVC barbed fitting, and a few other modifications to my PVC...

Nevertheless, getting it plumbed into my system was pretty easy. I use true union check valves for both my master and slave pumps, so each pump is somewhat 'modular'...

Then, installing it was as simple as swapping out one of the Varios pumps for the new Abyzz (forgive the salt spray... the flash really brings it out!):

The Abyzz controller is larger than the Varios controller it replaced, so I needed to move some things around to make it fit. One nice feature is that the Abyzz controller has an integrated power supply, so no big brick to hide, and no cheap no-name power supply to fail. One of my Varios supplies failed at about 5 months... if I didn't have a redundant pump my tank would have been toast. Forgive the lack of wire management... I am waiting on some more zip ties.

Noise:

My first reaction when starting it up... dang it! I just spent $1200 on a pump that is just as loud as the Reef Octopus ones! But as the instruction manual says, it takes about 3+ days for these pumps to 'break in' and quiet down. And, as promised, it has. After five days of operation, the pump is now acceptably quiet. It isn't silent (yet), but has a much nicer high-pitched sound that doesn't travel as far- the Varios had a much lower pitched hum that really carried. Standing right beside the tank, you really have to listen for it now. You can no longer hear it from the kitchen across the house, or the baby room two stories above. Mission accomplished!

Power:

This thing certainly has plenty of power for my needs! I am running it at 82% and getting ~430gph. I might be tempted to go a little higher at some point, but right now the gorgonian across the tank (4' away from the return) is getting blown over above that flow rate. I might consider a vortex generator to allow for more, distributed, flow going forward.

Consistency:

One issue I had with the Varios was that it was constantly changing in pitch, making the noise especially unpleasant. The return was also difficult to tune because the flow seemed to be jumping around, although I wasn't sure if that was just the Apex flow meter....

The Abyzz is much better! (Note the different scale on the left side- from a ~30gph variation to a 6gph variation!

In sum, I am very glad I made the upgrade!

 

[Erick Armanii]

Beautiful tank! Love the peninsula style and your setup is so clean and simple! Where did you get the mount for the lights?! Can you go a little more in depth on the automation aspect of your tank?

 

[mikedb]

Hey! Thanks for the kind words.

The mount for the lights is the one that is included with the Red Sea Reefer Peninsula Deluxe versions. Previously that package included AI Hydra 26HD lights, but I believe Red Sea now uses its own lights in a similar looking fixture. My only modification was to run the wires through the wall instead of using Red Sea's poorly thought out wire management (which is conspicuously absent from all marketing images).

As for automation, thanks for asking! It has been a big focus of mine- I travel for work often, and also have a young family that sometimes leaves me little ability to care for the tank, sometimes for days at a time.

A big goal of all of this automation is Redundancy. My goal is to have zero life-critical systems without a backup, except for the obvious: the tank itself and plumbing. I am getting pretty close.

Here are the various systems in my tank, and how I have 'automated' them:

• RODI Supply: I have a BRS 150GPD 5-stage system hooked up directly to my cold water supply. It feeds into a 60-gallon plastic water storage tank. A solenoid controls water supply to the system, and turns on when the water in the tank drops below a lower optical switch, and turns off when the water level goes above an upper optical switch.
  • Backups: A float valve is installed at the top of the RODI tank to prevent overflow, and a third optical switch is located at the bottom of the RODI tank to notify me if the system fails to turn on
• NSW Supply: Not fully automated. I have a 60 gallon plastic water storage tank, connected to the RODI tank with a pump. When the water level in the NSW tank drops below a optical switch, I get a notification through my Apex. When this happens (a few times a year), I open the valves/activate the pump to fill the NSW tank from the RODI tank, and then add a predetermined amount of salt by weight. By flipping a few valves, I can set the system to recirculate the NSW tank until the salt is mixed. I also have that pump turn on for 5 minutes every night to stop that water from becoming stagnant.
  • Backup: As a manual system, no backup is needed. If I run out of NSW (the float switch fails), the conductivity probe on my Apex will notify me that the salinity is dropping.
• Auto-top off: I use the Neptune ATK system, with the PMUP at the bottom of the RODI tank and the double-optical switch/mechanical float valve assembly in the return chamber of my sump.
  • Backup 1: The conductivity probe on my apex will let me know if there is an issue.
  • Backup 2 (TBD): I will soon be adding another PMUP to the RODI tank, in the event the primary PMUP fails while I am away.
• Auto water change: I use a Neptune DOS pair, with one head pulling NSW from the NSW tank and adding it to the sump, and the other pulling OSW from the sump and adding it to the skimmer cup
  • Backup: Monitoring conductivity readings and shutting down the system if necessary
• Return Pump: I have an Abyzz A100 pumping water to the display from the basement sump. It is controlled by a 0-10V signal from my Apex, which allows me to slowly ramp flow after feeding time (to allow the siphon to fully re-establish). An Apex 1" flow meter monitors the flow.
  • Backup: Based on readings from the flow meter, a second Varios 8 pump kicks in if a loss of flow from the primary return is detected.
• Skimmer:I use a Reef Octopus Regal 200 skimmer, with the Auto Neck Cleaner Accessory. My skimmer cup is plumbed to my sanitary drain, keeping it empty (the AWC OSW also drains into the cup, to keep the line from getting clogged with gunk). Using this setup, the skimmer only needs to be touched every three months or so.
  • Backup 1: TBD: A float switch mounted in the skimmer cup will shutdown the skimmer if the drain line gets plugged. An Apex alarm (on the amp draw from the skimmer outlet) will alert me to this.
  • Backup 2: A spare Varios 4 pump and needle wheel is kept on-hand (and used as the NSW supply pump) in the event of a skimmer pump failure
• Temperature: Two Cobalt 300W heaters are set to 78*
  • Backup: The temperature is also controlled by my Apex, and the PowerBar cuts power to the heaters if the temperature exceeds 80*
  • Backup 2: If necessary, I can change the temperature of the home remotely via my ecobee thermostat in the event of heater failure while I am away.
• Mechanical Filtration: I modified my sump to accomodate a Clarisea SK-5000 roller filter, which has an audible alarm in the event of runout or failure.
• Water Parameters: I have a reefbot that tests Alkalinity, NO3, and PO4 twice daily
• Alkalinity: I dose the DIY version of Tropic Marin All-for-Reef, using a Neptune DOS and DDR reservoir
  • BAckup: I have a second DOS head and reservoir filled with All-for-reef, which can be activated through my Apex if there is an issue with the primary dosing head
• Phosphate: I dose a self-made version of Brightwell NeoPhos as required to keep PO4 in the 0.03 range
• Nitrate: I dose a self-made version of Brightwell NeoNitro as required to keep NO3 in the 0.03 range
• Lighting: Controlled on a schedule through the AI Hydra App
• Circulation: Controlled on a schedule through the Maxspect app
  • Backup: One of the Gyre's is on an APC battery backup, so if anything fails with the Apex, it will still run and I will get an audible alarm.
• Electricity:
  • I have two different power feeds, on two different phases- one that runs upstairs and one that runs downstairs. My two Apex EnergyBars are powered by either phase, so my Apex has power (and alarm capability) even if one circuit breaker/ GFCI should trip, or if one phase suffers a brownout
  • I have a Generac 16kW whole-home natural gas backup generator in the event of a utility failure
  • I have an old Yamaha 1KW natural gas backup generator in the event of a utility failure and a natural gas failure, or an issue with the whole-home generator.
  • I have the aforementioned APC battery backup to provide flow if all else fails.

... and I think that is about it! I'm sure I have forgotten a thing or two, which I will edit and add as I remember!

 

[mikedb]

Thought it was about time for some updated tank shots!

As you can see I am dealing with a moderate outbreak... heart algae, bryopsis, cyano, and bubble algae all started growing rapidly after I beat dinoflagellates. I am trying not to overreact, and thus far have added a few clean up crew members, have manually removed about two pints of algae, have decreased NO3 and PO4 levels, and most of all, am dosing vibrant twice a week.

I am most optimistic about the Vibrant, having seen so much positive feedback! It really does seem that the right mix of bacteria is key to keeping nuisance algae at bay.

 

[Erick Armanii]

Hey! Thanks for the kind words.

The mount for the lights is the one that is included with the Red Sea Reefer Peninsula Deluxe versions. Previously that package included AI Hydra 26HD lights, but I believe Red Sea now uses its own lights in a similar looking fixture. My only modification was to run the wires through the wall instead of using Red Sea's poorly thought out wire management (which is conspicuously absent from all marketing images).

As for automation, thanks for asking! It has been a big focus of mine- I travel for work often, and also have a young family that sometimes leaves me little ability to care for the tank, sometimes for days at a time.

A big goal of all of this automation is Redundancy. My goal is to have zero life-critical systems without a backup, except for the obvious: the tank itself and plumbing. I am getting pretty close.

Here are the various systems in my tank, and how I have 'automated' them:

• RODI Supply: I have a BRS 150GPD 5-stage system hooked up directly to my cold water supply. It feeds into a 60-gallon plastic water storage tank. A solenoid controls water supply to the system, and turns on when the water in the tank drops below a lower optical switch, and turns off when the water level goes above an upper optical switch.
  • Backups: A float valve is installed at the top of the RODI tank to prevent overflow, and a third optical switch is located at the bottom of the RODI tank to notify me if the system fails to turn on
• NSW Supply: Not fully automated. I have a 60 gallon plastic water storage tank, connected to the RODI tank with a pump. When the water level in the NSW tank drops below a optical switch, I get a notification through my Apex. When this happens (a few times a year), I open the valves/activate the pump to fill the NSW tank from the RODI tank, and then add a predetermined amount of salt by weight. By flipping a few valves, I can set the system to recirculate the NSW tank until the salt is mixed. I also have that pump turn on for 5 minutes every night to stop that water from becoming stagnant.
  • Backup: As a manual system, no backup is needed. If I run out of NSW (the float switch fails), the conductivity probe on my Apex will notify me that the salinity is dropping.
• Auto-top off: I use the Neptune ATK system, with the PMUP at the bottom of the RODI tank and the double-optical switch/mechanical float valve assembly in the return chamber of my sump.
  • Backup 1: The conductivity probe on my apex will let me know if there is an issue.
  • Backup 2 (TBD): I will soon be adding another PMUP to the RODI tank, in the event the primary PMUP fails while I am away.
• Auto water change: I use a Neptune DOS pair, with one head pulling NSW from the NSW tank and adding it to the sump, and the other pulling OSW from the sump and adding it to the skimmer cup
  • Backup: Monitoring conductivity readings and shutting down the system if necessary
• Return Pump: I have an Abyzz A100 pumping water to the display from the basement sump. It is controlled by a 0-10V signal from my Apex, which allows me to slowly ramp flow after feeding time (to allow the siphon to fully re-establish). An Apex 1" flow meter monitors the flow.
  • Backup: Based on readings from the flow meter, a second Varios 8 pump kicks in if a loss of flow from the primary return is detected.
• Skimmer:I use a Reef Octopus Regal 200 skimmer, with the Auto Neck Cleaner Accessory. My skimmer cup is plumbed to my sanitary drain, keeping it empty (the AWC OSW also drains into the cup, to keep the line from getting clogged with gunk). Using this setup, the skimmer only needs to be touched every three months or so.
  • Backup 1: TBD: A float switch mounted in the skimmer cup will shutdown the skimmer if the drain line gets plugged. An Apex alarm (on the amp draw from the skimmer outlet) will alert me to this.
  • Backup 2: A spare Varios 4 pump and needle wheel is kept on-hand (and used as the NSW supply pump) in the event of a skimmer pump failure
• Temperature: Two Cobalt 300W heaters are set to 78*
  • Backup: The temperature is also controlled by my Apex, and the PowerBar cuts power to the heaters if the temperature exceeds 80*
  • Backup 2: If necessary, I can change the temperature of the home remotely via my ecobee thermostat in the event of heater failure while I am away.
• Mechanical Filtration: I modified my sump to accomodate a Clarisea SK-5000 roller filter, which has an audible alarm in the event of runout or failure.
• Water Parameters: I have a reefbot that tests Alkalinity, NO3, and PO4 twice daily
• Alkalinity: I dose the DIY version of Tropic Marin All-for-Reef, using a Neptune DOS and DDR reservoir
  • BAckup: I have a second DOS head and reservoir filled with All-for-reef, which can be activated through my Apex if there is an issue with the primary dosing head
• Phosphate: I dose a self-made version of Brightwell NeoPhos as required to keep PO4 in the 0.03 range
• Nitrate: I dose a self-made version of Brightwell NeoNitro as required to keep NO3 in the 0.03 range
• Lighting: Controlled on a schedule through the AI Hydra App
• Circulation: Controlled on a schedule through the Maxspect app
  • Backup: One of the Gyre's is on an APC battery backup, so if anything fails with the Apex, it will still run and I will get an audible alarm.
• Electricity:
  • I have two different power feeds, on two different phases- one that runs upstairs and one that runs downstairs. My two Apex EnergyBars are powered by either phase, so my Apex has power (and alarm capability) even if one circuit breaker/ GFCI should trip, or if one phase suffers a brownout
  • I have a Generac 16kW whole-home natural gas backup generator in the event of a utility failure
  • I have an old Yamaha 1KW natural gas backup generator in the event of a utility failure and a natural gas failure, or an issue with the whole-home generator.
  • I have the aforementioned APC battery backup to provide flow if all else fails.

... and I think that is about it! I'm sure I have forgotten a thing or two, which I will edit and add as I remember!

you should have a back up apex to add even moreeeeee redundancy!! Haha jk that’s a beast of a tank man! Your automation is what dreams are made of! Great work and great build!

 

[EVReef3]

you have an amazing setup. I’ve been out of the hobby for over 7 years and have been thinking about getting back into it. I’m taking particular interest in the peninsula tanks. I’ve successfully kept a mixed reef before but with a lot of manual maintenance. I think my biggest challenge will be clean plumbing and learning all the automation systems.

 

[mikedb]

Wow, thanks! If a peninsula tank works for your space, I highly recommend it- we were fortunate that we could make changes to our new home build to create the perfect room divider setup.

If you are worried about plumbing, you can always use braided flexible tubing. It may not look quite as pretty, but can save a LOT of time and effort. I have at least 6 full days of work into my plumbing, and while I found it a fun challenge (that I will never do again), for most people I think flexible tubing is much more cost- and time- effective.

Automation can have a steep learning curve- I have a background in building automation so the Apex system came easy to me. But the system is relatively simple and there are so many resources out there that I think nearly anyone can get basic functionality out of one.

It has been about two months since I posted some pictures... here are some updates!

 

[ReefRDude]

Wow!!! Killer Tank!! I absolutely love the clean look and the two island aquascape is perfect in my opinion. It looks like you have beat your algae problem. What was the key in doing so?

I have also been on a 10 year hiatus from Reefing. I've got my eye on building either a 500 or 650 Peninsula. I also have the luxury of a basement sump and mixing station. I've been doing lots of research over the past few months to try and catch up on all the new technology. I'm planning on going as automated as possible as well. At this point I'm Just really taking my time and slowly starting to assemble a few pieces of equipment.

If you could go back would you change anything or do anything different?

 

[mikedb]

Wow!!! Killer Tank!! I absolutely love the clean look and the two island aquascape is perfect in my opinion. It looks like you have beat your algae problem. What was the key in doing so?

I have also been on a 10 year hiatus from Reefing. I've got my eye on building either a 500 or 650 Peninsula. I also have the luxury of a basement sump and mixing station. I've been doing lots of research over the past few months to try and catch up on all the new technology. I'm planning on going as automated as possible as well. At this point I'm Just really taking my time and slowly starting to assemble a few pieces of equipment.

If you could go back would you change anything or do anything different?

Thanks!

Algae problem beaten? Not quite....

... blue lights and some manual removal can make a tank with major problems look pristine! I'll explain below where I think I went wrong.

'What I would change' s an excellent one that I wish was asked/answered more in this hobby, so I took a few days to think about it. Here is what I have come up with...:

1. Not using live rock- having experienced this myself and having spoken to other more experienced local hobbyists, it seems apparent that the 'break-in' or 'ugly' period is MUCH longer using artificial rock and sand. For the past eight months, with the aid of my ReefBot and Apex DOS, I have been tightly controlling my NO3 and PO4 levels within ideal ranges- 5ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm PO4. Despite this, I have been battling a rotating cast of nuisance algae/bacteria. At one point a few months ago, I had dinos, cyano, hair algae, bryopsis, and bubble algae at the same time! As you can see from the above photo my current challenge is a simultaneous outbreak of hair algae and dinos.
   
   I am now convinced that starting with a stable bacterial population isa big shortcut when starting a tank. On this front there is a lot we don't know, and I look forward to more hobby-grade bacterial tests going forward. I think there is a lot to a tank's bacterial fauna that hobbyists don'y understand. If I were to do it again, I would probably purchase a significant amount of live rock and keep it in the sump for several months (since I love the Caribsea product so much for aquascaping, despite the fact it soaks up PO4 like a sponge)
2. Wiring: I would purchase larger wire duct- 4x4 minimum throughout. I went smaller in some places and have really struggled fitting all the necessary wires and tubing in. This stuff costs a fortune, but there is a reason the professionals use it. Just leave yourself lots of extra space.
3. Plumbing (Red Sea Specific): I used 1-1/2" PVC for my basement sump plumbing, and would probably use 1-1/4" or 1" if I were to do it again. 1-1/2" was quite challenging to work with- larger holes needed to be drilled, and the space between the bulkheads underneath the overflow barely leaves enough room for 1-1/2" unions. I find that the siphon takes a LONG time to fully establish after feeding time- so much so that I have my return pump slowing ramp up over an hour to stop annoying gurgling.
   
   In any event, since the Red Sea fittings are less than 3/4" in some places, 1-1/2" piping is unnecessary- it has almost four times the cross sectional area!
4. Skimmer Placement (Red Sea Specific): I swapped the skimmer and refugium chambers in my sump based on advice I read on these forums, and regret it. Putting the skimmer downstream of the refugium means that little pieces of chaeto clog up the pinwheel on the skimmer pump, and putting the skimmer right upstream of the return pump means that bubbles make it to the display when the skimmer isn't tuned properly. Unfortunately, my skimmer is too big to fit in the skimmer chamber so I am stuck.
5. Coral supply: I'm not sure if this fits here, but one the biggest things I have learned is to get in touch with other local hobbyists and purchase frags locally! I was always under the impression that 'high-end' corals could only be purchased through specialized stores online, only to find several local hobbyists who were selling frags of those same corals for a small fraction of the price. If I had put the legwork into making those contacts earlier, I would have saved thousands.

I hope that helps! Overall I am very happy how things turned out, but being my first large tank, a few regrets were inevitable!