Reef Pi Build

[Bigtrout]

I have another 700 gph pump I can use if I need to. Just thinking a nice DC pump would be cool.

Im thinking of a dc pump for my sump...love the adjustability factor and efficiency

 

[b4tn]

Well here it is up and running on my 29. I will be moving my 14g cube tonight and getting that tied into the system. The light rack is only temporary till I can get to the store and buy something to hang them from the ceiling and I also still need to get a couple containers for 2 part but as of right now my demand is so low I can get away with just dosing saturated Kalkwasser.

Wow!! I don’t check for a few days and you post this. That looks amazing. I’m still trying to figure out how I will be mounting mine. Looks great!

I'm looking at the jebao DCT 3000. It's rated at 845 gph and should run my skimmer just fine.
https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-DCP-30...qid=1546223005&sr=8-1&keywords=jebao+dct+3000

I have one. It’s a beast of a pump! I used it to replace my sicce 3.0 700gph pump and had to run it on its lowest setting to match my setup.

 

[b4tn]

I stand corrected. I have the DCS 7000. But I’m still happy with it.

 

[Diamond1]

Wow!! I don’t check for a few days and you post this. That looks amazing. I’m still trying to figure out how I will be mounting mine. Looks great!



I have one. It’s a beast of a pump! I used it to replace my sicce 3.0 700gph pump and had to run it on its lowest setting to match my setup.

Thanks! I like the final product it was a process to get it where I wanted but I'm very happy with it overall.
I've been looking at the dc pumps for a while but I just lost one of jebao wp10s so I need to replace that first. I had that particular pump for almost 5 years before it went bad. Not bad for a $35 pump.

 

[Erica-Renee]

I stand corrected. I have the DCS 7000. But I’m still happy with it.

Those are ok if you like to clean them .. I have a dcp 8000 and a older model. i think its dc blaa blaa i forget. both work until they get a bit dirty. you gotta take them out soak them..

They are now on the shelf of MISFIT PUMPS with other try to save money equipment.. All while my REEFLO PUMP Keeps Running along at its very slow rpm hummmm .. I Did not even clean it earlier this year when i changed out my sump . 5 years running not shut off not cleaned .. it just works..

 

[Erica-Renee]

oops

 

[Matt Carden]

I have the dcp8000. So far so good. It's only been running 7 weeks so we'll see. If I run over 48% with my valve almost all the way open, herbie, the water flowing over my weir is too loud.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I’ve read a lot of good things about jebao pumps. I have a couple pp-4’s in my tank. I couldn’t be happier with them.

I would rather control them with my reef-pi though.

Their return pumps I’ve read great things about to. Some complain about having to keep them clean. But hey I clean everything anyway. It’s part of me keeping an aquarium. Regular maintenance of equipment. That being said I have slacked on my pp4’s before and let them get totally covered in coraline but had no issues with them when that happened.

 

[Diamond1]

Got my 14 gallon cube moved today and hooked up and running on reef-pi. So far so good.
I have temp/heater control, ATO and outlet control on both tanks.
The 14 gallon is just 2 channels of t5s on a timer.
Waiting for the sandstorm to subside in the 14.

 

[Ranjib]

Love that leather. You are not concerned about it outgrowing the tank?

 

[rushbattle]

Love that leather. You are not concerned about it outgrowing the tank?

How is that a problem? Just means he needs a bigger tank!

Edit: Could also frag it.

 

[Diamond1]

Love that leather. You are not concerned about it outgrowing the tank?

It's pretty close to being to big for the tank, it started out as a golf ball sized frag and now it's about the size of a soccer ball.
I can't get rid of it my clown has hosted in it for 5 years.

I'm actually thinking about replacing the 14 gallon with a 25 gallon cube and making that leather the center piece of a softie only tank and turning the 29 into an SPS dominate tank.

 

[Ranjib]

I got rid of most of my big corals, frogspawn, hammer, monti caps during the apartment move. I have learned a lot and I think I can keep some harder to maintain corals, but I had no space, also all of these corals were growing pretty fast :-/ . But I bet clown+leather combo is pretty neat

 

[rushbattle]

I got rid of most of my big corals, frogspawn, hammer, monti caps during the apartment move. I have learned a lot and I think I can keep some harder to maintain corals, but I had no space, also all of these corals were growing pretty fast :-/ . But I bet clown+leather combo is pretty neat

Monti cap is one of my least favorite commonly kept corals, but I have a soft spot for Euphyllia and my wife loves corals that move. A traditional reefkeepers problem, high flow for the Acropora sp. that we love to keep, or moderate flow for a mixed reef. Can keep most corals but not optimized for any of them... Or start a third system.

 

[Diamond1]

I got rid of most of my big corals, frogspawn, hammer, monti caps during the apartment move. I have learned a lot and I think I can keep some harder to maintain corals, but I had no space, also all of these corals were growing pretty fast :-/ . But I bet clown+leather combo is pretty neat

Yes the clown loves it. The only time she leaves the coral is to eat or bite me if I'm messing with something in the tank.

Monti cap is one of my least favorite commonly kept corals, but I have a soft spot for Euphyllia and my wife loves corals that move. A traditional reefkeepers problem, high flow for the Acropora sp. that we love to keep, or moderate flow for a mixed reef. Can keep most corals but not optimized for any of them... Or start a third system.

Monti cap is one of the corals I just put in my tank to see how things go with sps. I've always loved montis encrusting, digis and caps. The other 2 are pocillapora and a stylopharo. I think with reef-pi running the show and my parameters staying consistent I'm ready to give some colored sticks a try in this tank. If it works out with the first 3 I'll be adding more.

 

[Fishyj]

Love that clown fish and leather. My 2 both like to host my magnet. LOL. How has the reef pi been running? Since you are running more than 1 raspberry pi's,is there a way that they all show up on 1 reef-pi program?

 

[Diamond1]

Love that clown fish and leather. My 2 both like to host my magnet. LOL. How has the reef pi been running? Since you are running more than 1 raspberry pi's,is there a way that they all show up on 1 reef-pi program?

So far so good. I lost one of my temp sensors due to a poorly sealed sensor, so I'm testing out some new options for sealing the sensors in test tubes but other than that everything is working as expected.
I have noticed the cpu usage for my light module is running higher than I would like so I need to do some checking into that.

As of right now both Rpi run separately but I believe @Ranjib is going to be working on clustering for reef-pi 3.0 release.

 

[crusso1993]

So far so good. I lost one of my temp sensors due to a poorly sealed sensor, so I'm testing out some new options for sealing the sensors in test tubes but other than that everything is working as expected.
I have noticed the cpu usage for my light module is running higher than I would like so I need to do some checking into that.

As of right now both Rpi run separately but I believe @Ranjib is going to be working on clustering for reef-pi 3.0 release.

I'm sure you have given thought to running the light reef pi without the UI. Are you not doing so because of the "programming" side?

 

[Diamond1]

I'm sure you have given thought to running the light reef pi without the UI. Are you not doing so because of the "programming" side?

Exactly.
I'm hoping that as soon as I get my lighting intensity and daily cycle dialed in to maximize growth and coral health, I will get rid of the UI and just let it do it's thing. As it is right now it's running at about 25% cpu usage and 20 to 30% memory usage. It's not terrible but I think I could do better.

On another note my OR T247 is not the ideal foot print for my tank. It better suited for a 24" x 24" cube than it is for a 30"x 12" tank. So I'm toying with the idea of taking the fixture apart and building a floating canopy so that I can put the led arrays end to end instead of side by side and adding some T5s for better tank coverage.

 

[Diamond1]

Any led guys care to help me out here?

One of the things I'm not sure about for the t247 conversion to and end to end configuration is the led layout in the fixture. Would I be ok as far as spectrum goes to run the arrays end to end?
Basically I want to put the bottom right side array next to the top right side array doubling the length (should be between 24" to 26" long) and add a sheet of frosted acrylic for a diffuser that runs the length of the light about 2 inches below the leds. I will be keeping the lenses on.
I also want to add a 2 bulb 24 watt dimmable t5 HO retro fit kit from BRS with 2 coral plus or 2 purple plus bulbs. I like the look of a 14k MH so that's kinda what I'm looking to get from this set up. All of this will be stuffed into a floating canopy that matches the stand.

For the frosted acrylic diffueser I'm thinking an 1/8' sheet of acrylic sanded with 360 or 400 grit sand paper. I like the effect I got from doing this on my controller box and it seems to diffuse the leds inside the box nicely.

I know acrylic absorbs light differently than glass does, but how much par would I loose from light doing this? Maybe 20 or 30%?