E_reefer
Active Member
Hey beautiful setup you have here, you are definitely doing it right! I hope to one day do a large reef savvy build (oh, to dream!). And that sump is slick- I will be checking them out for sure.
My Reef Savvy V2
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- Thread starter Chris155hp
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the compliments. Yes check out Ben at Building An Obsession as his work is top notch and his CS is incredible (Plus he's just a genuinely good person).
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
working on the update. Will update soon. Had some issues which resulted in a few changes/upgrades. And once again Zaffor Saves my a** =)
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
Lol all kidding aside my build would look like poop if it is wasn’t for him. Glad to call him my friend!
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
So the update: As may or may not know 2017 has been a heck of a year personally. Started with a major fire on the the family farm, had an employee pass away of a heart attack while on break, my mom passed from cancer, my grandmother (on moms side) gave up and passed as well, I got married and we had a major hurricane (while away on our honeymoon) which caused significant damage on the farm. My tank sadly was no different. Plumbing sprung a leak (not a huge deal) and lost about $600-$700 of fish due to a sudden marine velvet outbreak (should have listened and QT’ed). So I broke down the Tank, ran a 10% bleach solution, drained it, ran tap water with prime, drained that, dried out the Tank/sand, ran citric acid to cleanup calcium residue from well Water and now putting sand back into the tank. What a mission! From now on everything goes threw QT/cupramnine!
So out of all the Fish, the cheapest fish of course were the only survivors (a fire Fish, lyretail and a dispar). They went to zaffors qt tank in which he saved them with copper. In the mean time I was able to setup the same 40 breader Qt that he has. I had BAO cut the overflow, got a nicrew led from amazon, mp10qd, 100w neotherm heater, tunze ATO and a 1.5 Sicce for the return pump.
Here’s a quick couple of pictures
The QT uses a 4” sock and some marinepure and some Siporax ( sintered glass) for bacterial surface area that was seeded with Dr Tim’s Denitrifying Bacteria.
As for the DT, we decided to upgrade/change some things. First off decided to get rid of the Kessil H380 over the Fuge. It grew algae so well it was overtaking the skimmer/skimmer section due to light bleed. If only I had a larger Refugium. Decided to go with the Skimz MBR157 that I got during Black Friday. Second change was getting a 3rd EB832 that goes behind the stand to reduce the amount of cables being routed to the electronics compartment. It also is going greatly help with probes and new equipment when the tank is filled and against the wall.
Lastly decided to run the Tank on its own 20A circuit and breaker so ran a new 12 Guage line from a new breaker in the panel. Also put a manual transfer switch on the house to connect a mobile generator we have after a hurricane.
So out of all the Fish, the cheapest fish of course were the only survivors (a fire Fish, lyretail and a dispar). They went to zaffors qt tank in which he saved them with copper. In the mean time I was able to setup the same 40 breader Qt that he has. I had BAO cut the overflow, got a nicrew led from amazon, mp10qd, 100w neotherm heater, tunze ATO and a 1.5 Sicce for the return pump.
Here’s a quick couple of pictures
The QT uses a 4” sock and some marinepure and some Siporax ( sintered glass) for bacterial surface area that was seeded with Dr Tim’s Denitrifying Bacteria.
As for the DT, we decided to upgrade/change some things. First off decided to get rid of the Kessil H380 over the Fuge. It grew algae so well it was overtaking the skimmer/skimmer section due to light bleed. If only I had a larger Refugium. Decided to go with the Skimz MBR157 that I got during Black Friday. Second change was getting a 3rd EB832 that goes behind the stand to reduce the amount of cables being routed to the electronics compartment. It also is going greatly help with probes and new equipment when the tank is filled and against the wall.
Lastly decided to run the Tank on its own 20A circuit and breaker so ran a new 12 Guage line from a new breaker in the panel. Also put a manual transfer switch on the house to connect a mobile generator we have after a hurricane.
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
So I setup my new skimz reactor today in a bucket to run cheato. It’s going to stay separate from the Tank for another 45 days (it’s been running a month) to ensure no ick or other pests are introduced to the DT. He’s some pictures:
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Victoria M
5000 Club Member
wow, Chris, that was one heck of a year.
Chris155hp how are you liking the skimz reactor? I am really considering getting one for my build..
super clean build! great attention to detail. what made you choose the linear rails over full extension drawer slides or something a lil cheaper lol for your battery backup?
good idea on the cheato quarantine! i definitely would have dropped the ball on that one.
good idea on the cheato quarantine! i definitely would have dropped the ball on that one.
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
So far so good. I can definitely see what the reviews are talking about the o ring being a little difficult to get in place. If you stretch it out a bit it becomes much easier and other then that I like it from what I can tell. Pump is pretty quite (not silent) but won’t be heard if there’s any other noise from falling water etc. The light seems bright and should to grow algae well. Right now I have it running in a bucket to Qt the algae for 80 days so don’t expect much growth without added nutrients. Just trying to keep it alive for now. Contemplating whether I’m going to leave it running with the stock pump or adapt it to run off my manifold
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
Thanks! It took a lot of planning and even with the setbacks I’m please with how it’s coming out. I owe most of it to Zaffor as this wouldn’t have come close to what it is without his help!
I chose to go with rails as the backups are surprisingly heavy and didn’t have confidence in drawer slides holding up over time. I’m glad I went with the rails as I was originally only planning to have one battery backup and being “over built” allowed Me to expand to two batteries (the hurricane changed my mind)
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That’s smart of you to QT the Skimmer /Algae . I am looking at one due to the staff that I don’t have a fuge in my diy sump and I am looking at the smaller one to add to my setup , to help reduce unwanted nutrients. Good to know about that o ring I did read that in the reviews .
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Chris155hp
Well-Known Member
There’s also Another option to fix the on ring issue once and for all. The issue is that the stock o ring is very “soft and elastic” so it tends to roll before you can put the lid back on. I thought about taking the reactor and o ring to a local hydraulic supply store and having them replaced it with a matched hydraulic o ring as this are much more sturdy and won’t roll out of place
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newbreefer316
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Good idea, I may try to do the same with mine.
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