Staples Innovative Marine EXT 75 Mixed Reef Build

[Staplesofficewar]

Finally - Cycle coming along well. Amm down from 3.0 to about .5, Nitrite still rising. Haven't checked NO3 yet.

 

[HandsyLobster]

Following!

 

[Staplesofficewar]

Small update - valves on order from Aliexpress still - maybe show up by February! Ordered over a week ago and still no valid updates. Plan to work on the control cabinet next weekend. In the mean time, tonights test. Amm appears to be zero, N02 is higher yet, and N03 is showing on the scale. Good progress.

Once No2 drops back to blue (zero) Ill does ammonia again.

 

[Fishy Guy]

Everything looks great! Excited to see where you go from here.

 

[Staplesofficewar]

First cycle complete - 1/19/24 - About 12 Days.

 

[Staplesofficewar]

2nd Cycle started - 1/20/24. This is 24 hours after dose so the nitrites took off fast! I expect this cycle to be much faster. Note this is 15ml of Dr. Tims Amm. Dost based on 75 gallons - Figure my sump and display are about 90, minus 15 gallons to get 75.

 

[Staplesofficewar]

HI all. Take a few min on this Friday night to update the slow processes over the past week or so. Still adding a little ammonia to keep the bacteria going. I got my cabinet ready to start installing my Apex system. Will be a little tough since I plan to keep my 25 running for who knows how long, so I got a 30' USB cable to keep that system up as well. The cabinet is the Ikea Alex cabinet. I modified it so the equipment isnt so far back and added a hidey hole for all the power bricks. Pictures are worth more than I can write sooo...

Here I took the shelf from the EXT 75 and sliced it up for the wall inside the cabinet. This is the backside so you can see the small angles I used to mount it inside the cabinet.

Before adding in the wall, need a quad box to power the energy bars, This is much easier to install with the wall not installed. Also - adding the light in cause its so dark inside!

Here is the outlet box mounted, and the wall installed without the door.

And here it is with the door installed. The apex, EB832, breakout, ? will all mount to the door with small feed holes to the back side to keep the wiring clean.
The door doesn't go all the way over because the front door of the Alex cabinet has internal hinges and doors, so I had to make sure my new door would not hit the old door. This will be more clean in later pictures.

 

[Staplesofficewar]

Also took some time to mount the heat and pump controllers inside the sump area, the ATO controller I built, as well as an outlet under the tank. The outlet has a GFCI in it that feeds the second outlet set within the quad, as well as a plug to feed the alex cabinet next to it

Still working on the ATO - more on that in next post.

Who bars bolted from the inside were used to mount the quad box.

 

[Staplesofficewar]

FINALLY for my ATO solenoid valves in from Alliexpress. Even made Acrylic bases for them so I count mount them to the upper part of the stand. I need something to control the gravity ATO flow from the tank upstairs, so a solenoid NC makes sense. I dont trust them , I I always use two in series.... now the issue. These valves have such tiny ports inside that when the two valves are in series, the pressure of the gravity tank is so low it barely drips out. I worked on these for Hours last week trying to get the water to flow by increasing the port sizes, unfortunately, they wouldn't shut off fully after house of work and trying to make the seat flat enough. So I ruined two decent little valves. I have known working valves from STC on the way, but shipping of EVERYTHING seems to take forever anymore. Amazon has gotten really bad for Prime.

I did get my float switch assembly ready to connect to my ATO controller:
Lots of parts:

So I have a magnetice cradle from IM that was supposed to be used for 1/4" PTC lines for dosing, makeup, whatever. I got it to modify and add my 4 float switches.

(2) longer floats that are ON when water is needed. Wired in series.
(1) Hi Float that goes to the ATO controller.
(1) Hi Float that goes to the APEX IO to be able to kill power to the ATO

And of course, snail guards on all.

So no new valves for the ATO again this week - will work on APEX cabinets and lights for the next update.