Rebirth: ReeferEric's 210G Peninsula

[ReeferEric]

Got some work in today, didn't think I was going to have the lights hung up completely. Still a few things to work out but nothing too crazy.

Changed up some stuff on the hanging kit. Redid it with thinner wire and less bulk on the ring where the bolt goes in. Gave it just enough slack to adjust it as needed. The darker black piece I raided from my RapidLED Onyx kit.

PVC board with 4 mounting points to distribute the weight. I almost swear I can hang off it! Used a pulley so that I can add a winch if needed or wanted later on. This thing is rock solid and way over built for its purpose.

Lines crossed because I had to turn the fixture around.

Plenty of line if I wanted to add a winch.

Suspended, everything worked out great. Measurements on the ceiling.

This will be the height more or less once everything is done. Maybe a few inches down but I will figure that out later down the line. Took a quick par reading with all the lights on and old bulbs. 200par on the bottom and 350 towards the top, not super high but good enough for what I plan to keep.

Still have to deal with this mess later. I already know wires are going to be extended on all of them so the extra weight can be taken off the fixture.

Tomorrow I will be draining the tank and start the process of filling it up with saltwater. In truth I should call a water delivery service to fill it up but what fun would that be?!

 

[ReeferEric]

Got the skimmer in place, had to pull the sump out towards the garage doors but I got it in! Lucky for me the cup barely has enough space to get out on its own but I'll have to drain the cup before removing it for periodical cleaning.

About a 1" clearance!

Draining the tank to start the fill. Yup, the garage is a big mess. I think I have space for one more tank on the right! LOL

 

[ReeferEric]

Little by little the tank is coming together. Managed to get in a layer of sand, tiles in place and some of the aquascape. Tank was about half way filled tonight, should be good by tomorrow. Did a few large water changes to the other two separate systems. I have to give credit to my great girlfriend, she did a job that I was dreading... cleaned up all the hair and coralline algae. Tanks are all spotless now, except for the 56G Reef Savvy tank.

Can't see it but some of the tiles are not flat with each other, its annoying to me so the rocks might have to come out or I will just put more coarse sand to give it a layer. Saw a few nice displays at MACNA that I'm considering.

On another note, anyone use the MarinePure stuff? I'm taking an interest in it but considering my system has no mechanical filtration, this will probably clog easily.

 

[ReeferEric]

Small update, paid a visit to my friend Matt who does my acrylic work. He had a nice piece of thin acrylic that I could use for above the skimmer so poo didn't splatter all over the place when it overfills or goes nuts. I'll be working on this tonight to get it up.

We finally also got around to building the 2-part dosing container. Just have to drill some holes for the rigid airline tubing later.

Tank is still filling up, dumping bags of salt in to mix it while it fills.

 

[KorL]

Looks good. I plan on modifying an aquatinics fixture as well

 

[ReeferEric]

Looks good. I plan on modifying an aquatinics fixture as well

Makes the fixture so much better! If I could find the 48" version now, 7 bulb is the perfect amount for 5 bulbs and 2 strips of LED.

 

[ReeferEric]

Got the poo poo defender up to prevent the skimmer cup/lid from messing up the nice wood.

On top of that, I made a few brackets to mount some of the controllers. Fits like a glove and looks great!

Dual pair of MP40wQD on the far side of the overflow. Both running at 100%, plenty of flow of one side I think. lol

Jecod/Jebao DCT-15000 return pump along with the Maxspect Gyre 130 (won at the RAP Orlando show) Thanks @revhtree!

I hated wires and the Gyre for this reason, speaking with one of the Royal Exclusiv guys at MACNA 2015 (where I purchased my BK 250 double cone) he showed me how he went about with running wires so they aren't seen coming out of the tank. It gave me a great idea! Run my wire through my overflow holes (1.5" pass through.) Ingenious! So the Gyre 130 is now mounted on the overflow box which takes up little to no space and wire isn't a big deal anymore.

Hard to see but the wire leads upwards.

 

[ReeferEric]

Also gearing up for a local frag swap, got some stuff I can't want to put in the new tank and let them grow out! Tank is now on day 3 of cycling. Will be ghost feeding it manually for now. Apex AFS and space EB8 coming Monday so I can start switching stuff over.

 

[ReeferEric]

Quick update, tank is filled and I'll be waiting for it to cycle before transferring corals over... or not. Already threw in some Dragon's Breathe macro algae and a regular orange/red cap to see what happens.

2 Vortech MP40wQD on the far side. As soon as I dropped the cap in and the algae it started to get pulled around by the under toe current. More water movement then I thought, maybe I will dial it down a bit later.

Did some quick amp readings via Apex. Amp_7 is what I'm trying to be careful about.

9.3amps with everything running. Good thing the garage has A/C! No chiller, just a regular fan blowing across the sump.

Didn't get much else done due to the frag swap tomorrow. Anyways, bed time... after I finish loading my car. lol

 

[BrotherReef]

I hope you have luck at the frag swap. You always have some nice pieces.

 

[ReeferEric]

I hope you have luck at the frag swap. You always have some nice pieces.

Thanks, had a blast! The tank is in a diatom bloom stage already, this might be a one week cycle. I've already thrown some test corals in to see how it's doing.

 

[KDawg0623]

I was quite honored to see your setups. They are even cooler and beautiful in person! Thank you for showing my daughter and I your beautiful tanks and for sharing your great information with me for my tanks! Can't wait to see your new tank full of corals!

 

[ReeferEric]

I was quite honored to see your setups. They are even cooler and beautiful in person! Thank you for showing my daughter and I your beautiful tanks and for sharing your great information with me for my tanks! Can't wait to see your new tank full of corals!

Anytime! Soon enough it will be with my transfers.

 

[ReeferEric]

As usual, I'll be using @marke of ME Coral's Wash Off when transferring the corals. The stuff going into this new tank will be looked over twice and dipped prior to going in. All the corals will be frags or aquaculture pieces from my existing systems. I'll have to pick up a few bottles with all the stuff I'm planning to put in.

Other news, I got a big order of bulbs that just came in BUT I still need to take the fixture down and do some rewiring. No more dimmers on the LEDs either or rather I will decide that once I do a par measurement. More details coming soon, still recovering from this weekend.

 

[BrotherReef]

As usual, I'll be using @marke of ME Coral's Wash Off when transferring the corals. The stuff going into this new tank will be looked over twice and dipped prior to going in. All the corals will be frags or aquaculture pieces from my existing systems. I'll have to pick up a few bottles with all the stuff I'm planning to put in.

Other news, I got a big order of bulbs that just came in BUT I still need to take the fixture down and do some rewiring. No more dimmers on the LEDs either or rather I will decide that once I do a par measurement. More details coming soon, still recovering from this weekend.

Which version of the wash off you gonna use?

 

[MrDJeep123]

MarinePur is excellent stuff. The porosity is amazing. That much surface area should give excellent bacterial growth. I use the balls in the sump and have not seen them clog per se.

 

[revhtree]

Nice job bro!

 

[ReeferEric]

Which version of the wash off you gonna use?

More then likely the Wash Off Dip 2x strength, I've used his Bug Off before and it worked great. He was explaining to me about how the new formula is much better. I'm a big believer in the ME Coral line, it's great stuff.

MarinePur is excellent stuff. The porosity is amazing. That much surface area should give excellent bacterial growth. I use the balls in the sump and have not seen them clog per se.

A little expensive but I think I will pick up the spheres for the sump as well. More then likely it will sit in the drain camber from the tank, plenty of flow should keep detritus from settling on it.

Nice job bro!

Your alive!

 

[ReeferEric]

Today's project: Extending wires for the sump light, the correct way!

I'm avoiding taking down the lights to rewire them, I did get a bunch of new bulbs so this will be a weekend project after fixing a car.

A while back I picked up some Ecoxotic LED bars for dirt cheap. It was like $20 for 2 12" strips of white LED and the power supply. Did a test fit the other day and the connecting wire between the two were short maybe a few inches. I decided to extend them, it's a fun little project but these puppies sure do light it up under the stand!

Wires cut:

Solder job

Heat shrink

Still working, tomorrow I will probably install them.

 

[ReeferEric]

Got the LEDs set up in the sump so I can work and see now. These little ecoxotic LED strips are pretty bright.

Also managed to pull down the light fixture to do more work to it now that I've got new bulbs and are ready to change them out. First step was to remove the dimmers, just unnecessary as they do not put out a lot of par. I already knew thing before getting them, all they are is for the eyes. Will also need to get wire extensions, was going to cut and add to it but the extensions are so cheap its not worth it to do all that work. Anyways, I managed to rewire the T5 set up. One channel will be 2 strips that are ATI Blue Plus bulbs and the other channel of 3 strips will be ATI Aquablue Special (2), Coral Plus (2), & Purple Plus (2). This should be a really good spectrum of lights. Once everything is up and good to go I will do a par reading. Fixture will be out of commission for the next week or so but I'll be adding a clean up crew this weekend. Tank is in full effect and diatom stage is already here.