Raxnar

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It has begun!

My wife and I have decided on not going quite as large as I posted in my Introduction thread back in October. We were thinking the Red Sea Reefer 350 Deluxe.

The Den where the tank will be is not massive but it can accommodate the Red Sea 250 Deluxe nicely. In fact the overall floor footprint of the Tank and stand is no bigger than the empty, unused desk that is in the den now.

I don't have any pictures for my first post but will add some soon!

We are ordering our Red Sea 250 Deluxe through Aquarium Depot out of Toronto. Just waiting on the shipping quote.

We decided to go with the Deluxe kit and not purchase a separate light unit at this time to keep it simple. Down the road if there are issues that the lighting cause we'll address them then.

In the mean time we've placed our first order for equipment.

That being our RODI unit, Tunze RO Water Controller.

In Canada there are not a lot of big suppliers unfortunately. But I did find a good one in aquariumdepot.ca

I need to hire a plumber to help run a water and drain line properly. I could DIY the job likely but I'd much rather have it done professionally. Beside the den we have a 1 piece bathroom so I'm thinking/hoping the RODI unit will fit beneath the sink. Then both lines can easily run down into the crawl space and over about 10-15 feet into the Den. Plan B is to place it in our crawl space access area which is not more than another 5-10 feet away from the den. Either way it should be good. Will need to physically see the size of the RODI to decide on placement.

Reminds me I'll need an electrician to put in an outlet once the RODI's final location is determined.

Our goal with this tank is as much automation as possible. I work in IT and Automation is our specialty! We'll see how this applies to the hobby.

In the next post I'll list out the wallet killer list, A.K.A. Shopping list :)

I'm nervous but I think this adventure will be fun!
 
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Raxnar

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Wallet Killer

I must give credit where credit is due. @pelphrey took my decision from not sure I can handle this to "I got this!" Watched all the video's of his journey. All of his selections for equipment are pretty much the same conclusions I came to in my own research over the last few months. With a few tweaks :)

So a huge Thank you to documenting your progress in your V Log's!

Here we go!

Tank: Red Sea Reefer 250 Deluxe
Return pump: Reef Octopus VarioS 6 Pump
Protein Skimmer: Nyos Quantum 120
Water Management:
Spectrapure MaxCap 90GPD 5 stage with TDS Meter RODI unit
Tunze RO Water Controller
Neptune ATK
2 x Maxspect Gyre XF230 with advanced controller
Aquamaxx Fluidized GFO Reactor
Blue Tide Acrylics Custom RO Water Resevoir (Credit to @pelphrey , his designs).​
Tank Management:
Neptune Apex Complete
Neptune Systems FMM (Fluid Monitoring Module)
Neptune Advanced Leak Detection Low Profile Probe
Neptune Magnetic Prob Rack​
Substrate:
Caribsea Life Rock
Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Live Sand​
Miscellaneous:
Air pump by aPump
Eheim Jager TruTemp Heater 150w x2
RedSea Coral Pro Salt
ReadSea Marine Test Kit
 
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Raxnar

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And So it begins! Things are starting to arrive!

Today the RODI unit and Tunze RO controller Arrived!

It is a rather large unit! Any idea what kind of distance this unit can handle before a pump would be required?

I'll be mounting it approximately 20 feet away from the RO reservoir.

Beer is for perspective on size! lol

RODI-ROController.JPG
 
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upload_2017-12-6_13-43-59.png


I hate it when your shipment is on a long leg of its Journey and you don't know where it is! lol

The good news is that estimated Delivery day is Monday December 11th!

Even better news, that just happens to be my Flex Day!

Still better news I have the following day off!

The wait is killing me!
 
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Today we tackled Plumbing.

We used a Fridge box for the water in from the RODI unit. As well we drilled and fed a 1/4" Poly tube in for drainage. This drain will be used for the planned Automatic Water changes down the road.

Beginning the work in the den!
Plumbing Begining.jpg


Work complete in the den!

If your in the Victoria area and need plumbing these guys were great! The Right Man Plumbing company.

Plumbing Finished.jpg


Then in the entrance to our crawl space we placed a 2" drain that drains right into the crawl space flood drain. The pipe with arrow up is the water supply to the RODI Unit. The pipe with the arrow down is the pipe back to the den to feed the RODI Reservoir.

I can always cut in a 1/2" Poly line into the box very easy for an emergency drain as well.

RODI-Plumbing.JPG


Tomorrow I mount the RODI unit. It will be about a foot or so above the pluming connections.

Later tonight (probably within the next hour so I have an electrician coming to change the 2 outlets in the den to their own circuit and put 2 x GFCI Outlets in.

Prep-work going well!
 
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Haven't posted any progress for a while, busy holiday season!

That being said, I have finished probably 90% of the Hard Plumbing.
Hard Plumbing almost done.JPG



What you see is I've inserted a one way check valve into the return line, probably overkill but I had one so I used it.

The Tee just above the return pump breaks off to a true union ball valve which will remain closed until I decide what will be attached. Possibly a reactor.

Next, my RO Reservoir arrived from https://www.facebook.com/Bluetideacrylics/ which I also picked up a magnetic holder for the Neptune ATK's Pump that will reside in the RO Reservoir.

The specifications on this container which fits perfectly beside the Sump in a Red Sea Reefer 250 are credit to @pelphrey ! This should do nicely.
RO-Container2.jpg


More updates over the next few weeks!

Rax
 
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More details on the RO Reservoir.

I had Blue Tide Acrylics cut a 1" by 1" hole or notch in the back of the lid. This is to allow for my Tunze RO Water Controller sensor's to be mounted to the rail they came with.
RO LID Modification.jpg


Next This is a shot of the Tunze RO Water Controller's float switches. The ON switch (the bottom one) is set at the 3 gallon mark currently. That's as low as the included rails would let me go. It came with another piece of rail, so if I decide to lower the ON Switch to the 2 gallon mark I think I can glue on a piece that I cut from the second rail. Or I can try super gluing the rail to the RO Reservoir wall. Though keeping it at the 3 gallon mark should mean that the ATK Pump will never suck air.

RO Container with pump and floatswitches.jpg


Bit of a glare from the clear acrylic but there you can see the beautiful acrylic pump holder. Held on with 2 very strong magnets.

May start playing with the rock tonight!

Rax
 
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It's been a couple weeks, parties, hangovers and lots of fun with family and friends!

Where do I begin!

How about the equipment cabinet that I found at Ikea!
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/70333944/
Equipment Cabinet 1.jpg


This cabinet matches the Red Sea 250 White cabinet absolutely perfect!

Then inside I've already mounted 90% of the equipment I have so far. Work in progress.
Equipment Cabinet inside 1.jpg


Needs some clean up still but I think it'll work out nicely.

We were able to fairly quickly figure out our rock structure thanks to the Fiji Life Rock being so easy to work with and in shapes that fit well together.

Here is the tank, with the Rock work all done, no cement needed! and the RO water being added using the Neptune probe holder. super convenient!

Rockwork Done 1.jpg


I've also managed to get the Sump area nearly dialed in.
Sump setup 1.jpg


A tour!

On the right you can see the custom acrylic RO Reservoir, designed by @pelphrey , made by Blue Tide Acrylics

In the RO reservoir you can see the Neptune ATK Pump. Orange Tube is RO Water over to the Neptune ATK Optical Sensor and Float switch assembly. Black/Blue tube is the RO input which is controlled by the Tunze RO Water Controller 8555. Works great!

Left side you can see the redundant heaters, Filter socks, Neptune Probes resting temporarily there while I fill the tank. and the Hard Plumbing (Schedule 80 fittings).

Tanks filling up with water today as well!

Then I'll be mixing Salt and adding the Fiji Pink Live sand.

Had to share this cool picture while the tank was filling.

Water Tension 1.jpg


Hard to capture the coolness of water tension. I tried to capture a video as the tension burst but I didn't have the patience lol.

Busy couple of weeks and more adventures to come!

If you notice anything in my journals that's bad/wrong/I'm going to regret please let me know! its been 20 years since I've had any kind of tank!
 

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Looks awesome!!! I took the sponge out of the skimmetto return baffle and put my heaters in there!

Will the ATK sensors fit in the return chamber?

That equipment cabinet looks great! Wish I’d started with it VS installed it after everything was up and running. Then switching it out for a new cabinet! Keep it up!!
 
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Looks awesome!!! I took the sponge out of the skimmetto return baffle and put my heaters in there!

Will the ATK sensors fit in the return chamber?

That equipment cabinet looks great! Wish I’d started with it VS installed it after everything was up and running. Then switching it out for a new cabinet! Keep it up!!

Thanks! It really could not match any better!

In regards to the ATK, it wasn't a clean fit back there, or I would have started with it there. Also if I ever have to remove the return pump, having to remove the ATK sensor block first would mean more work.

Where the return pump is, now that I think about it, the float switch fail safe would hit the top of the pump where it meets the piping.

I'm a little ticked that Neptune now has their own pumps out, they announced their pre-sales about 3 weeks after I purchased the Varios 6. I would have loved to keep it all Neptune. I may still lol ;)

Rax,
 

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Looks good bro. Id put the ATK in the return chamber like Pelphrey says. Return pump section is the first chamber to loose water. Also those heaters i think will stick out too much there. I removed thise sponges aswell and filled with marine pure shperes.
 
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Looks good bro. Id put the ATK in the return chamber like Pelphrey says. Return pump section is the first chamber to loose water. Also those heaters i think will stick out too much there. I removed thise sponges aswell and filled with marine pure shperes.
Thank you @Branespikin !

I’ll look at the ATK sensor location today before water has filled the tank. My thought for placement was that it would be best to keep the largest part of the sump topped off. Where the sensors are now it is slightly above the spill over to the return chamber.

By my measurements, the heaters element section should be fully submerged where they are. If not I’ll move them.

The included directions for the Eheim heaters say not to fully submerge them yet I see folks doing just that. Is it actually ok to submerge them fully?
 

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If you are using the VarioS pump you can use their included float in the return section to shut the pump off when it runs low. I see what you are trying to do, but you'll actually want to protect the return chamber and have your ATO sensors in there. Your skimmer section will never change, unless you have the water in the sump higher than the baffle from the start. The baffle going over into the sponge will always keep the skimmer section full of water.

I've always had my heaters submerged 100% with no issues.
 
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If you are using the VarioS pump you can use their included float in the return section to shut the pump off when it runs low. I see what you are trying to do, but you'll actually want to protect the return chamber and have your ATO sensors in there. Your skimmer section will never change, unless you have the water in the sump higher than the baffle from the start. The baffle going over into the sponge will always keep the skimmer section full of water.

I've always had my heaters submerged 100% with no issues.

@pelphrey This makes more sense than what I was trying to do, Big Thank you! Making the changes now for the ATK.

Seems it fits better now, I must have moved the Return pump some when finishing the hard plumbing.
ATK Relocate.jpg


I'm partial to the heaters in the corner but if they aren't able to keep the tank warm properly I'll definitely consider moving and submerging them completely. Glad to know they can actually be submerged and kind of put out of sight.

Tank is nearing half full now! I turned off water production over night.
 

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Looking good!
 

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@pelphrey This makes more sense than what I was trying to do, Big Thank you! Making the changes now for the ATK.

Seems it fits better now, I must have moved the Return pump some when finishing the hard plumbing.
ATK Relocate.jpg


I'm partial to the heaters in the corner but if they aren't able to keep the tank warm properly I'll definitely consider moving and submerging them completely. Glad to know they can actually be submerged and kind of put out of sight.

Tank is nearing half full now! I turned off water production over night.

That looks like it will work! I remember the days of a clean sump, mine is a complete mess! hahaha
 

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