Susan's RS Reefer 3xl 900 Fantasy-Dream Build

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Susan Edwards

Susan Edwards

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Wow...You got lots done...or maybe I should say hubby got lots done...lol. Awesome!!
He did lol's. That water station has been his baby which is why it cost 3-4 times what I had planned lol's. I did more some of the xmas out to shed. Rest goes to garage. Need to make a list as this week will go fast. 4 hrs work tomorrow, 8 on tue. Wed off I hope and then 3 more half days
 

ReefCheef

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He did lol's. That water station has been his baby which is why it cost 3-4 times what I had planned lol's. I did more some of the xmas out to shed. Rest goes to garage. Need to make a list as this week will go fast. 4 hrs work tomorrow, 8 on tue. Wed off I hope and then 3 more half days
That controller box he made for the water change station is AWESOME!
 

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Are using the calculators for the calcium? If your at 300 in order to get calcium to let's say 420, you would literally need ( goes to calculator page), 2000ml roughly of liquid calcium so 15 ml a day is never going to raise it anything. Follow that instruction and only do 50 ppm a day . That was for200 gal tank . Have to remember that's not your uptake but that's what ya need to do to get it to that level if thats what it is . Once you get it there ,monitor it for 3 or 4 days to see your consumption then 60 or 70 ml might keep it stable
 
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Susan Edwards

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I have used calculators before. Right now, I am adding to what I normally was dosing until it gets where it needs to be. Example: 10 ml a day worked, upped to 20. Then needed more so went to 50. Still dropping and low so changed to 65 on the doser, and tossing in some extra for a boost manually. Added an additional 25 yesterday. Doser is set to dose over a 24 hr period. Maybe it would be better to dose 4 x's a day instead, with more each time to reach the total for the day?
 

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Right , but if your calcium is still 300 is it doing anything? That's literally the point of the calculator it let's you know that if your at 300 and want to get to let's say 350 you'll need x. If your consumption is let's say 60 to keep it stable , adding 75ml isnt going to raise it . In theory it makes sense ( it's what I used to do as well) but when you type it in the calculator youll see the difference . For instance, the example I gave you earlier for 300 to 410 in 200 gallons of water is literally 1k ml of solution . So you see adding an extra 10 ml isnt going to do anything .think of it as super saturating the water . So if you're nervous, like I was , add 250 ml( obviously check what you actually need) more then retest and see if it moves the needle . Spreading out the calcium over longer periods shouldnt make that much of a difference compared to alk once you can keep it stable and know what you need daily .
 

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Also why have the doser do 24 hrs for calcium that's like literally 3ml every hr .set your alk up at night over a couple hours 6 or 7 and make sure they dont overlap . Have the calcium like you said over maybe 2 4 hr blocks during day ..just my thought process and theres really no right or wrong just throwing out ideas
 

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Water change station pics. When it is all done and neat and pretty, I'll do a forum post showing everything from the set up to the board my hubby designed and wrote software for in case anyone is interested. He'd share it!

He also ran wires into my office where the tank is so the alarms will drive me nuts until I figure out what to do lols

Light showing the saltwater tank is too full
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sensors on the saltwater tank showing full and overfull. There is also a drain line for the excess if all fails but it will fill a container fast due to the pump lol's. And yeah, the nozzle on the water pipe is wrong.... Need to replace
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Super nice water station!
 
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Susan Edwards

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Super nice water station!
should I do a forum post when all is done and cleaned up for others to have ideas (or get programming from me to diy?) I hadn't seen anything like this out there
 

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should I do a forum post when all is done and cleaned up for others to have ideas (or get programming from me to diy?) I hadn't seen anything like this out there

I think that is a fantastic idea Susan. Please do!!
 
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Susan Edwards

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okay, I have to laugh here. I was hearing a faint ring, like an alarm. Hubby is working from home so I asked him if he was making that irritating noise. He said no. I said there is an alarm going off. He said from garage? We open the door and holy cow! Ear busting alarm!

One rodi chamber was leaking onto floor and set off the "water on floor" alarm. Also, the "rodi container is full" light was on (water goes out to front yard for that). So he unplugged the floor alarm, said this is all you have to do. I'm like "how am I supposed to reach that! 2 brutes under where he mounted the box....

Then he tells me he will be hooking up the alarm into my office where tank is, so when anything goes wrong, I get blasted... Think I'll tell him the laundry room is close enough...

Something else to learn to deal with... But it works lol's
 

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okay, I have to laugh here. I was hearing a faint ring, like an alarm. Hubby is working from home so I asked him if he was making that irritating noise. He said no. I said there is an alarm going off. He said from garage? We open the door and holy cow! Ear busting alarm!

One rodi chamber was leaking onto floor and set off the "water on floor" alarm. Also, the "rodi container is full" light was on (water goes out to front yard for that). So he unplugged the floor alarm, said this is all you have to do. I'm like "how am I supposed to reach that! 2 brutes under where he mounted the box....

Then he tells me he will be hooking up the alarm into my office where tank is, so when anything goes wrong, I get blasted... Think I'll tell him the laundry room is close enough...

Something else to learn to deal with... But it works lol's

You mean to say that with ALL of that hi-tech controller board for the water station, nobody thought to install an auto-shutoff?
 

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should I do a forum post when all is done and cleaned up for others to have ideas (or get programming from me to diy?) I hadn't seen anything like this out there
Absolutely!!
 
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Susan Edwards

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You mean to say that with ALL of that hi-tech controller board for the water station, nobody thought to install an auto-shutoff?
Lol's. Yes, it has an auto shut off. For redundacy I'll still shut the valve that opens the water line from water heater. And another safety, if the container is full, and it doesn't shut off, there is a drain that goes down the pvc pipe from the water heater and heater/ac. The condensation outlet I think. That outlet drains from garage to the outside of the garage and I use a hose to let the water drain into the plants under the front window.

He has a few tweaks yet. Like he's not sure why the alarm for being full isn't going off, and there is a line that needs switched etc. But at least the water on floor sensor works.

The water on floor came from one of the rodi canasters--the seal was gunked up so cleaned that so nice that it works

Water in. I don't have to shut it off but will for my peace of mind
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Solinoid shut off. I think he wants to adjust here to be sure no metal inside to get into tank water? Something about it needing to be before or after RO. Don't ask me. Right over my head lol's
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Susan Edwards

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I just got a hanna high range checker. 2 readings today: 19 and 23. API has been consistant 5-10.

PO4 today was at 0 with 2 tests (didn't believe the first). Yesterday also 2: 0 and then .17 so am assuming the 0 was true.
So if my po4 is at 0, I'd be inclined to believe my no3 is closer to the 10 range. Or the hanna no3 could be more reliable?

Either way, I'll dose some neophos-just a bit and retest tomorrow and cut down on feedings a bit. 2-3x's a day but a bit less

Dosed Mb7 for the nutrients. I've been dosing every other week, but have been dosing 3x's a week. I don't usually turn off the UV or skimmer for 4 hrs-always afraid I'll forget to put them back on but did 3 hrs for skimmer and 3.5 for UV. I'll test tomorrow and decide if I need to dose again. Also added vibrant. I really want to keep ahead of the algae on this tank.

While the skimmer was off, I removed the cup and cleaned. Ran a brush into the skimmer as well. Maybe nitrates coming from there. 1st cleaning in 3 months as I usually just empty it via the hose.

Also raked sand bed. No gunk so flow does its job along with cuc and sand sifter goby. Ordered more cuc.

So far ato is working. It does shut from auto to off. Not sure why or if it will turn back on or not. Still not leaving it on unsupervised. Dosing extra Calcium beside the doser amt. Got it from 300 to 320.

Loving the tank but wow, between work and tank, that is my life lol's
 

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OK I have been looking for this new build and now have some reading to do!!!!!!
 
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Susan Edwards

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OK I have been looking for this new build and now have some reading to do!!!!!!
lol's. And welcome!!! I admit I am a rather chatty person! And that is the truth as all my teachers can attest too lol's
 
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Received trident calibration fluid yesterday.
Ca 366 Tonight api at 360 so pretty close. Been dosing extra to get it up
mg 1516 api been around 1450 so lowered the dose a bit
alk 8.92 hanna been around 9.2 so pretty close. Lowered dose a bit to keep more to 8.5

Looks like my atk top off is working. Will let it go all night and put a water sensor on floor. Don't have the apex ones hooked up yet so will use the one hubby made for my old tank. Tomorrow I'm off work so will try to get a leak detector hooked up and maybe a redundant high sensor in sump.

Still trying to get the led's under the cabinet installed and need to neaten up the dosing lines. Got more clips. Next month will add a second red sea doser so I can auto dose the trace colors.

The dehumidifyer is working <groan>. Hubby hooked it up to an external sump pump and that sucker is loud when it empties! Ugh!

Am so dang nervous about leaving my tank for almost a week. A good 5 days. Need to make up a bunch of food in squirt containers to freeze for hubby! I feel good at least with all my apps! Won't be able to do any testing so I hope things stay controlled!! And slowly, everything is getting done. When I get back, we'll get the cords and controller boards finished and route all cords etc.

ETA on my clearview lid is end of feb. maybe

got the Apex leak detector hooked up. Had some fun there as it messed with the ATK. Finally got it showing the 4 sensors (only 2 plugged in) but no module. So not sure if it is hooked up or not...

So, 2 weeks into the new year, how is everyone's tank doing?

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Susan Edwards

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Trident seems to be working. Did manual testing to compare. Alk close, Mg close, and even ca now closer. Me at 400 and trident at 370. So I can be fairly confident in the numbers. Will be ordering more regent so will see how many calibration bottles I get. Plan to calibrate when I change.

Hanna no3 is much higher than api which makes sense as I have algae growing. 10 vs 22. Not bad but has my attention. Dosed more MB7 with skimmer and UV off. Added some Prime to try to neutralize the no3. Added a new bag of Boyd's elite. Po4 was at .09 and added a new purigen bag. Will test on Sunday before I leave. If pO4 is too low I'll remove the Boyds and any phos guard. Tank will be what it will be while I'm gone.

Going to cut down on food including the AB+ this week while I am gone. I won't include coral food in the food bottles I leave for hubby and maybe up the phyto a bit. Will add some phyto to the bottles of frozen cubes and freeze

Looking at my tank I can only see 2 anthias. Hope the 3rd is in the rocks somewhere... It had a white spot on nose--looked like a wound but could have been ich except no other signs.

All looks good but I want to keep it that way lol's.

Off to write a book called "Tank Instructions" for hubby
 
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Susan Edwards

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3rd Anthia still alive. Must have gone to bed early last night!

Tested no3 with hanna and it is 3.3. Yesterday, 3 tests all around 22! So I will test again in morning. If still low, will have hubby dose AB+ at least every other day and not to worry about feeding. Don't want it to totally bottom out!

excited to go spend time with my grandson! Will have to take some pics of my son in law's 500 gal system. It's fallow right now but it's an awesome tank.
 

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