Potomac Reef 2 - 500 gallons of fun!

[emvanburen]

Here is the unit in place. System is salted and at temperature. Bacteria loaded. Mark left today once the plumbing was looking secure. I’ve gotten most of the main accessories in place. Still working on Apex control of the Abyzz A400 - May never need but it’s a challenge to overcome. Tomorrow I get to be a plumber and install the sink, get some electronics at the mixing station, and get vortecs going.

 

[emvanburen]

Here we have my son doing the honors of the first salting! It took almost two and half buckets of Tropic Marin Pro. Crazy!

 

[jwilliams860]

What are the overall dimensions of the filter roller? Is it designed to sit down in the water? Or does it have plumbing fittings that you plumb the drains into? Does your plumbing drain from the display directly into the roller and then the sump?

Sorry for all the questions

 

[emvanburen]

It is about 13 c 17 and about 14 high. No plumbing fittings. It’s bottom is perforated and drains. You direct water into the top. Happy to answer all questions!

 

[emvanburen]

More roller filter pics for those curious or sad about the Packers last night.

 

[emvanburen]

We have a sink and running water. And music. The outlet is problematic. Will likely depart when the backsplash is added.


And three fish have made the trip to the big swim.

 

[SPR1968]

Yes the outlet does look a little close for comfort and when you start splashing water everywhere......

What is the meaning of ’Potomac’ ? Are you near the river?

I wonder every time I read it

 

[emvanburen]

Yes the outlet does look a little close for comfort and when you start splashing water everywhere......

What is the meaning of ’Potomac’ ? Are you near the river?

I wonder every time I read it

It is like the Thames. It runs right by DC and is a stone’s throw away.

 

[emvanburen]

We have the beginnings of cabinets! And a small leak out of the return line above the tank. Will try and slather some glue on it and see if that stops the drip.

 

[FishTruck]

More roller filter pics for those curious or sad about the Packers last night.

Hi... I've got two of these CADs units that I am going to plumb into my sump soon. I have not figured out how to handle the water dripping out of the bottom tray I.E. how to avoid a waterfall and splashing to the sump's water level a foot below. Eager to see how you do it!!

 

[emvanburen]

Hi... I've got two of these CADs units that I am going to plumb into my sump soon. I have not figured out how to handle the water dripping out of the bottom tray I.E. how to avoid a waterfall and splashing to the sump's water level a foot below. Eager to see how you do it!!

I have it running quietly. As the picture shows it is in a bin with the water draining into the bin. It sits in the bin on two lengths of 1/2 inch pvc so water can exit the bottom of the cads freely. In the bin are two bulkheads into the sump below. It was kinda loud. I put lengths on 1 1/2 pvc into the bottom of the bulkheads which go under the sump water level. Now it’s much quieter. Not living room quiet. But fish room quiet.

 

[emvanburen]

The mixing station is up and running and working well. 105 gal each of saltwater and RODI. My trusty spectrapure liquid level controller has been relegated to overwatch - backing up the apex controlled RODI unit. While a few more solenoids will go in when Mark arrives this week, I have it working on auto now. Took a bit to get the hi / low sensors programmed so the RODI unit wouldn’t come on until it gets to the low sensor. Also have my apex flush valve cycling to flush the membrane when it’s running. Progress!

There are still some things to do. The AWC and ATO will get finished this week. I’d like to get a manual switch for the mix pump - would be good when hands are wet. The hose could use a end fitting that I can shut and a more elegant way to hang it. There is enough head pressure in the tanks to fill without the mix pump.

More fish have made the leap to the big swim. Three chromis, three bartlett’s anthias, two yellow line cardinals, a Scarlett cleaner shrimp and Matt the filefish. Ammonia is zero.

This week we get the beginnings of lighting, and the painted cabinet facade. Just in time for the “closet dividend” that my wife is so eagerly awaiting - when my fish closet becomes hers for repurposing for hats, gloves and dog supplies. If that was what it took to close this deal, I’m feeling good.

 

[emvanburen]

Big day for Potomac Reef. We have cabinets and some light! Still have some work to do on light containment- have a plan with a weatherstripping material.

Lights are 4x3’ T5s. Still waiting on the big guns.

Not finished completely but you get the picture!

 

[emvanburen]

Here is Mark’s livestream of my tank.


Finally got home from a workweek away and got to see it. Very happy but it isn’t completely finished. Many things to work on before Mark comes back with the LEDs and really finishes things. More apex programming, skimmer tweaks, moving out of the fish closet etc.

Managed to add some algae barn pods and marine pure blocks to the Refugium. Tomorrow will add most of the remaining fish.

It’s really coming together.

 

[emvanburen]

I suppose it’s karma. In the reefing game of rock/paper/scissors I have two rules to share. 1. Anemone vs Expensive Coral - Anemone wins. Murderous Anemone vs MP60 - MP60 wins. I’m sad for the clowns though. They will need a new place to call home.

Did a quick 80gal water change to exit the Anemone juice. Since the drain isn’t finished, had to improvise. Worked well! But learned a good lesson that we all learned from Apollo 13. Make things interchangeable. My excitement about hooking the hose from the mixing station directly to the 1” drain by swapping valve unions was crushed by the realization that the hose valve off the mixing station 1” pipe had been reduced to 3/4” before the valve. So the hose fitting was for 3/4” true union valve and the drain was a 1” valve. No way to connect them. Hence the simple siphon!



My temp tank is almost empty. Can’t wait to get it cleaned out and gone.

 

[SPR1968]

Here is Mark’s livestream of my tank.


Finally got home from a workweek away and got to see it. Very happy but it isn’t completely finished. Many things to work on before Mark comes back with the LEDs and really finishes things. More apex programming, skimmer tweaks, moving out of the fish closet etc.

Managed to add some algae barn pods and marine pure blocks to the Refugium. Tomorrow will add most of the remaining fish.

It’s really coming together.

That’s a great video explaining the system

 

[emvanburen]

What a weekend! Got the temp tank cleaned out - fortunately it was next to an egress window which made for a quick drain. Posted for sale!

Also made a quick trip trip to TSM Aquatics outside of Philly. Came back with some cool new additions. I did this now so that all the tangs can go in together, sort their stuff out, and hopefully get along. And speaking of tangs, am really excited by the nice Gem I got at TSM.

They had this crazy serpent star - now named "Beetlejuice" who will live in my fuge until I can find a more boring serpent to swap him for.

 

[Silent]

So you set Super Bowl Sunday as your complete by date. Did you get everything accomplished by then that you wanted to? What do you have let to do that is not done?
Look great BTW.

 

[emvanburen]

So you set Super Bowl Sunday as your complete by date. Did you get everything accomplished by then that you wanted to? What do you have let to do that is not done?
Look great BTW.

To be clear, my wife set Super Bowl Sunday as our deadline. The goal was to have it be presentable, and included an implied expectation of her getting the closet back. Both were completely accomplished. Neither would have been accomplished had I done this project all by myself, nor would she have tolerated the family room being "under construction" for more than about a month. So having Mark on this project was critical, and has been great. He has coordinated the logistics of shipping, movers, freight terminals etc, ordering custom gear, getting the Vortech cables for the left side of the tank extended, and a million other things that would either have not been fun, could have resulted in multiple do-overs, and which he had a solid design.

I did worry that having someone do this project would bother me - couldn't have been farther from the truth. I've been intimately involved in almost every part of this, from Apex programming to plumbing - by choice - but we have stayed on an aggressive schedule. Additionally, I had to manage "the old tank" and its relo to my basement, plus all the livestock. Very happy with how things have gone so far.

Things left to do include main lights, cord wrangling and organizing, frag tank, CA reactor at some point, and some minor plumbing tweaks. Plus getting a new tray for the rollermat now that they prototype Rubbermaid thing works. None critical, none highly visible.

 

[justingraham]

Where are u located? TSM is ten mins from me I love that place