The official reef-pi display tank - RedSea Reefer 300 XL

[Ranjib]

I think everyone on this thread has way more experience than me, but figured I'd leave a few thoughts anyways maybe one of them helps



I read that bay area water has chloramine and that the regular carbon stages don't do enough to remove it. Some cursory research supports the suggestion that bay area water has chloramine and that carbon filters designed for chloramine are recommended.

Whether you're on the same water or not I don't know. I also know you have been running fine without a chloramine filter so :shrug:

I have an extra carbon stage on mine

Pentair Pentek ChlorPlus10 Carbon Water Filter, 10-Inch, Under Sink Chloramine Reduction Carbon Replacement Cartridge, 10" x 2.5", 1 Micron



It's by design ... Looks good but kind of sucks for reef keeper. The tanks actually tend to lean slightly forward all the time because of this. I have a red sea reefer and I thought it was my floor, but after a tank move and additional research, I found that red sea themselves say that this lean is natural and the tank is designed to tolerate it.

Makes sense. The rodi unit I’m planning to use base dual carbon and dual membrane cartridge. I am planning to add extra di resin cartridges in addition.

 

[Ranjib]

Working on the salt water mixing station . I went with these 55g water containers , since that’s what available on Amazon. Initially I was thinking about building the shelves using 2/4 s , but then noticed this husky shelves in Home Depot, and liked it

plumbing will be little tricky. Working on that now . Thinking of using the bottom container for rodi and the top one for salt water.
plumbing is hard :-/, settling of a manifold design will take some time

 

[Ranjib]

Got some time to work on a more feature rich controller today. Till now I was using just a pi zero with temperature sensor and wifi based power strip to monitor the tank temperature and current draw of various equipment.
For the next iteration (of controller ), I decided to re purpose an old ph monitoring module. This module is the same one that’s pictured in adafruit guide. It’s a three year old pi zero and atlas ezo circuit based module that does just ph monitoring. It was built before the wifi power strip support.
I decidedto extend the circuit to support a temperature sensor and a float sensor. With this I have now almost a full blown sensor (since light has its own controller ).

Both ato and temperature sensor uses Audio jacks (I have way too many of these for past 5 years , lol ).

Here is how it looks in the sump .

I plan to mount it somewhere above the skimmer , once I’m happy with the features and everything is tested.

And voila, i have pretty much all the basic controller support i needed, ph, ato, power, temperature. Dosers will be on timer + wifi outlets, so thats not an issue. I cant think of anything else i might need immediately, we'll see how this goes. This should allow me to take care of the tank for the first few months at least.

Here is how the pH monitoring looks like. Note, tank is still cyling, and the ph probe is also not calibrated, since last usage.

In the coming days i'll try to get an understanding of how much ATO usage will be. My ato container decision will be influenced based on this data.

I am also planning to get and test a neotherm heater, i have heard them having very good built in control. I have the ability to set the eheim titanium heature to a higher temperature (82) and then control it straight with reef-pi, but i want to do that at the end, and push down reliability requirements across all equipment.

 

[Gedxin]

Controller setup looks great! I just recently got my Reef Pi pH monitoring solution working as well (thanks for your help in Slack!) Next up is adding a temperature probe and I actually intend on adding dosing pumps as well (somewhat following your https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-guide-5-dosing-controller guide, but I've got a Leviathan controller so it may be a little less involved.) Curious why you're going with wifi dosing over integrating with Reef Pi?

 

[Ranjib]

Controller setup looks great! I just recently got my Reef Pi pH monitoring solution working as well (thanks for your help in Slack!) Next up is adding a temperature probe and I actually intend on adding dosing pumps as well (somewhat following your https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-guide-5-dosing-controller guide, but I've got a Leviathan controller so it may be a little less involved.) Curious why you're going with wifi dosing over integrating with Reef Pi?

The dosing is controlled by reef-pi. By wifi I mean using the kasa power strip and a 12v power adapter . I put a manual , knob based speed control in the dosing pump housing. It’s just I never needed to control the speed after initial setup . Hence I’m not opting for l293d based speed control yet.
Though, I may need significantly more sophisticated doser in future, we’ll see how it pans out .

 

[Ranjib]

Playing with the housing for all control systems . As per your suggestions, I got a prototype in place with expanded pvc sheets.
I like how it looks. It’s basic, simple , quick and not too bad looking . Everything is still accessible and tidy . Although I’m not sure if I can build the whole thing with pvc sheet. I’m planning to make this into a a full blown mini console like furniture, with all other faces made in wood. It will be right where the current panel is, outside the cabinet .

Thoughts ?
I wan not able to find a lot of resources on how to make joints with these pvc sheets .

 

[attiland]

Playing with the housing for all control systems . As per your suggestions, I got a prototype in place with expanded pvc sheets.
I like how it looks. It’s basic, simple , quick and not too bad looking . Everything is still accessible and tidy . Although I’m not sure if I can build the whole thing with pvc sheet. I’m planning to make this into a a full blown mini console like furniture, with all other faces made in wood. It will be right where the current panel is, outside the cabinet .

Thoughts ?
I wan not able to find a lot of resources on how to make joints with these pvc sheets .

You have your tank on such a neat space so you want to keep it that way so put your board in the cabinet maybe as a drow that slide out.
you wanted change so here you go

 

[jhuntstl]

Use whatever material you're comfortable with. You'll get the PVC recommendation because it doesn't absorb moisture, it's easy to clean, and matches the many white stands you see nowadays. It is a great product for the application.

If you're trying to create a display level control board outside your tank, I would personally use wood. A high grade plywood would probably be the easiest way to go. Wood would work just fine inside the cabinet as well. Maybe give a little more thought to your stain or paint choice if it's going to see a lot of salt creep.

And I could be incorrect, but it looks like you picked up 3/8" PVC. They make 3/4" material that would be much easier to join.

 

[Ranjib]

Tank is still cycling. API test kits show ammonia at highest level :-/ . I'm in no rush, but I do plan to start 0.5 G water transfer the nano tank, every day..
Meanwhile, trying to dial the temperature control system. Moved heater control to reef-pi from. Next I plan to crank up the heaters internal so that its always on, to limit the influence of its own internal thermostat (which is rather inaccurate)

pH sensor is running smooth. Im pretty surprised to see the ATO is so consistent, its running almost 9s every 30 min or so. Im using a 3W pump for ato with float switches, mounted on 3d printed bracket.

 

[Ranjib]

The cycling process has finally kicked in I think . It took some time but I can see some brown bacterial growth on the rocks now. I think since it’s all dry rock , it made the process little longer .
Still there’s lot of ammonia (according to api ), but it’s lesser than before .

tank state

Brown microbial growth

rest is business as usual. Controller setup remained exactly same.
I really like looking at the bare tanks and stuff observing life slowly taking a hold. Makes me nostalgic as it reminds me of the first days of the nano tank .

 

[Spieg]

Tank is looking good. API Ammonia test is known to give higher than true readings. Never seen one actually read zero.

 

[Ranjib]

After more than a month of cycling , I have started adding, moving livestock.
Throughout the past week I have been doing incremental water changes. Sometime with 5G fresh salt water mix and some time with 1G tank water , from the existing nano tank. My hope is it will help both tanks as the nano tank has more bio load now . Api test readings got better , but as known to most , never went completely yellow. I have the baseline parameters (temperature, ato, pH cycles ) for past month now. Heater needs some improvement (more on that later ) , but rest does not look concerning, at least for the starter corals.

With that , I decided to start introducing livestock . I moved my grandis colony yesterday . And it was time to visit lfs, I got myself 5 sunset anthias. These are hardly suitable for 80g tanks, but we’ll see . I was hoping to but only one or three , but these were a group, and I went kinda impulsive :-9.

Tank

anthias

 

[Ranjib]

Last weekend I slowly moved all my corals from nano tank to this one. During the translation I moved some of the corals to a holding container with 50% existing water and 50% new tank water . While mixing both tank water (with some corals in the nano tank ) in parallel. After few hours of incrementally replacing the reefer 300 water with nano tank water , I slowly placed the corals in new tank. Placements are not permanent yet , but this is how it looks right now

After few days in this tank , they looks fairly ok. Some of the new corals that I got during the anthias purchase are not placed well. I am yet to address those

old corals are all looking good.
Leptastrea

Zola’s

Elegance

Alveopora

green slimer

Controller is also working as expected. I am doing almost 3-4g ato water fill up every week. This will help dialing down the dosing regimen

 

[Spieg]

Corals look great!

 

[Ranjib]

Corals look great!

Thank you

 

[Ranjib]

Tank is humming along. No new additions since last update. One of the clown decided to carpet surf :-( . Except that fatality , rest everything is looking relatively healthy. I rearranged some of the lps at the bottom little bit ,

I’m feeding twice daily. Once calanus and once sprirulina loaded brine shrimp . Anthias are doing ok as of now. They have established a pecking order type thing. One of them is mostly saying in his/her cave , only comes out during feeding.

 

[Spieg]

Looking good. Sorry about your clown... need to develop a motion activated jump guard for those escape artists.

 

[Ranjib]

Some more exciting updates . I got myself a battle box

this was one my long time wishlist. Probably more than 4 years . When I started keeping reefs (6 years almost ), it took almost 1-1.5 years to get a handle on any decent sps growth. Basically learning flow, stable chemistry , alk and light . Any how , since that period , which was around 4 years ago I always tight of what corals I ll get as and when I get a bigger tank. Many times I thought I’ll make the nano sps dominant, but i always loved the mixed reef look , and later Covid/house purchase kept me occupied.
none the less, I have been pondering, searching and researching for all the very best sps vendors out there. Cherry corals , Jason fox , wwc are few of the top ones. But the one vendor that has always shined above be all is battle corals. I like the concept of battle boxes, which is kinda csa. But most importantly the corals are stunning , all reviews of the livestock , and care and details on every bit including shipping and the owner , Adam’s meticulous attention has always kept @Battlecorals way above rest.
Long story short, after 4 years of pondering and almost 2 years since I had decided to get one of these bad boys, now it’s here.
Box was extremely well packed, individual coral was labeled with key facts (hardiness, light/flow requirement , captivity time etc)

Adam has made 1:1 comma before hand to ensure any and all my requests were taken care of. I received a fedex tracking code up front .
I went for the 10 frag/500$ box. I drop acclimate them for 1 hr before moving them at the bottom of my display tank .

These frags are anywhere between 3-4”. All of them are healthy and already showing some pe .

The health of this coral is a testament for @Battlecorals reputation. Thank you Adam ,

Let’s hope I can make these thrive and order the next set in few months maybe , if space permits. I really don’t want to overcrowd things .I want to take the time and grow fewer but larger colonies if possible

 

[Ranjib]

Working on a wooden console for the power adapters housing.


plan is to build a simple but durable piece of furniture that will house the power strip, adapters and vortech controllers. It should provide some space for fish food/small equipment storage (alk checker, specific gravity meter etc) and a speaker . I settled on this design after iterating through a couple of idea.

The left side will have the equipment and right side speaker + small tool storage. I'll use a expanded foam board based facade to mount the power strip and vortech controllers and slide the expanded pvc sheet through the designted notch in the console. The open back and left side of the console will make it easy to access /change equipment. The front left side will have a door with soft close hinge, but I'll add that later. I want to see how it looks without first.


I expect the equipment to be replaced/operated upon, hence ease of access is important. Wify wants this to be in white color to match home palette. This include fancy golden colored metal stands.
I'm going with whatever scrap wood/sheet good i have, except any soft wood. I used two strips of maple for the left side , a bigger red oak premilled board for top and bottom, and two existing white mdf board that the fixer upper folks left (kitchen cabinet spare) as the right and center.

 

[Ranjib]

Here is the rough idea with pieces milled to exact size

They will be joined with dominos