Time for Control!

[WvAquatics]

So for refugium i will be adding multiple sources of macro. I just am not sure which ones will remove the most and which ones will be decorative. Id love most to be edible to the fish! Know a few good sources on macro. Algea barn, the macro lady, and Corals Anonymous are 3 im lokking at heaviky. First is well known. But any experiance from the other 2?

Pods k have a population already in rocks but im losong a bit removing rocks to dry. So ill be adding pods to refugium and tank with TBS live rock. Just to replenish some lost!

Stocking:
This is where it gers difficult haha.
Current Fish: mated Maroon clown pair.

Planned stock:
I want a large amount of fish as i like the fish as much as corals. So my plan os as follows.
Aftercycle: Add pods, CUC (small batches as needed)TBS rock.
1- Foxface
2- Jawfish (depends on level of sand)
2b- Goby pistol shrimp pair of no jawfish.
3- Royal Gramma
4- Coral beauty
5- Anthias 1-3 idk read they all end up with one.
6- Firefish
Thats load 1.
Next Load:
1-4Wrasses maybe 4. Will pinpoint exact types
5- Maybe a few chalk or lantern bass (will 2-3 work)? Should theu not or ve added with royal gramma?
Last load:
3- tangs. Blue tang, sailfin,yellow and purple tang or just 1.
1-cobberband butteryfly.
Too much? Can i add more?

 

[WvAquatics]

So I did this thing! Bought some SBB corals.. So I have now replaced both t5 bulbs and got test kits!
Alk-8.6 Cal 400 Mag 1230
Mag might be a little low. Might also add those aqueon t8 fixture for more light!


180g-
I have been working on the rock work. Thos is a pain. Every structure i make I break. So I have a few structures together. I am not messing with any more until I emarco mortar them.

Meh thos is tough!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So I did this thing! Bought some SBB corals.. So I have now replaced both t5 bulbs and got test kits!
Alk-8.6 Cal 400 Mag 1230
Mag might be a little low. Might also add those aqueon t8 fixture for more light!


180g-
I have been working on the rock work. Thos is a pain. Every structure i make I break. So I have a few structures together. I am not messing with any more until I emarco mortar them.

Meh thos is tough!

Love the design of the aquascape!

 

[WvAquatics]

Love the design of the aquascape!

I did too. An as always broke a few weaker pieces again. But the more it breaks the better my bonds are. Hopefully get some mortar on this week. Then the plan to move the tank in.

 

[WvAquatics]

Update:
So I have been slacking a little. Mainly trying to figure out how to get the 180 in the house. Figured it out and it's in place.


Few views of the setup and aquascape. Not locked in yet but it's a start. Now to plumb everything this weekend.

 

[WvAquatics]

Update:
So I'm in the middle of dry fitting plumbing. Go to fit on my gate valve and guess what? I got 1" gate valve needed 3/4". So sent the 1" back to BRS then ordered the right ones. Got everything dry plumbed. I have a few more unions I'm going to work into the plumbing. Next I go to put return pump in amd realized I have only a 1" connector to the return pump again need 3/4". So I ordered thoose parts should be here beginning of next week!
Now I have severely underestimated salt I needed. Used half a bucket of IO. 10ppt. So I goto local fish store. A 50g bag of IO 30$ . Dump the whole bag in guess what. 25ppt. So I need one more bag blah. Should be at proper salinity by tomorrow and get all plumbing glued. Then fill sump and last of aquarium and really start the cycle.

 

[WvAquatics]

Update:
Everything is dry plumbed. Will cement the replaced parts and water test the corner overflows. If we are water tight will be working to fill sump this weekend.

I need salt but really holding out for Black Friday deals if any on salt. I'm thinking between Nyos Pure and Aquaforest Reef.

Refugium lights ugh months of research. I think I'm narrowed to 2 options
These seem interesting. I think the white pink has better spectrum so going with that. I can add bar by bar until I'm lighting correctly.
Barrina T5 Grow Lights for Indoor Plants, Full Spectrum Grow Light, 2ft 80W (8 x 10W), Plant Lights for Indoor Plants Growing, Pinkish White, 8-Pack https://a.co/d/8uj1tUX

And this. This might be overkill idk. At 80wts maybe it's not too strong!
CINOTON UFO LED High Bay Light, 160W/120W/80W Switchable, AC100-277V LED Shop Lights with US Plug, 24000LM Dimmable 0-10V Commercial Bay Lighting for Garage Workshop 5000K Daylight-UL Listed, 1 Pack https://a.co/d/hNRNZtZ
Thoughts on the 2?
More later

 

[WvAquatics]

 

[WvAquatics]

So after months I finally got everything running! A few mishaps. But we got her running.
Quick full tank shot before lights out.
Put my 2 clowns in and OMG they are so boring. They have always hosted a corner. They have dug 4-5 inches of sand to the bottom of the tank. Like what the heck.
Sump is functional. Just doing some final tuning of skimmer and everything. Then hand off equipment and time to tackle the rats nest!


Ignore my solo cup and pool skimmer socks. Easy to maintain 50 socks for 15$.

Display refugium looks pretty good. Used all my old sand about 4" deep. Full of pods and whatever else. Just stacked rubble under the drains into the refugium. Figure any deteitus becomes sump food.

 

[WvAquatics]

Now on to fish. I am so on the fence to QT myself. Something about it scares me. 6 kids that cannot leave anything alone and cats. So I'm thinking Dr. Reef or Marine Collectors. Price differance is significant.

Starting with bottom 1/3. Figure work up from docile to active fish. So list 1...
2- Blue spot jawfish.
1- Yasha goby and pistol shrimp
1-midas blenny
1- Sand sifting goby. Probably a watchman.
5- Chalk bass
1- Foxface
So I'll be adding these fish in maybe 3-5 fish intervals. Over next months afyer the holidays.
Upon ordering fish I will be adding Macros. Really thinking the 10 pack from the macro lady.

 

[WvAquatics]

Wow Dec 9th was awhile ago! What's new! So first my display refugium has become a refugium that's not attractive.
Just about every kind of algae down here. Macros from The Macro Lady
https://themacrolady.com/ Highly recommend. But it is doing the job. Will do some comparison of display to show algae a month ago. I don't have a lot of photos of display algae who takes pictures of the uglies unless planning on sharing!
Equipment:
1 Again the 10 pack from macro lady amazing healthy plants. The sea lettuce did disappear but the rest are doing great.
2 I went with the barrina 2ft led shop lights 6500k for lighting. Using 5@ 10 watt each. Only think I'd change is going smaller for a better fit. Also maybe a little more care on my end but as you can tell here reflecting off the water. Little crooked due to drain and me being lazy!

So I'm thinking about flow under here. Might try the smallest cheap wave maker to just move around detritus and macros. But that's the display sump that's definitely not attractive. Maybe a light cleaning next water change! Next left half of storage!

 

[WvAquatics]

So for skimmer area! This is a sore spot.
I put the return in the middle of the sump where it works. The adjustable baffles slow the flow to the return a bit more than I'd like. I broke a few sections of the weir to get a little more flow. Works but in all honesty if I could do it again. This 60g would be wide open no baffles and just let everything mix.
Equipment:
1 curve 7 elite skimmer.
2 Current USA 1900gph return pump.
Both used in last build work so why change.

 

[WvAquatics]

Next is the area I'm going to be working on now. Equipment storage.
Just cleaned today. So we just have our rats nest. My skimmate collector. So my plans are
Build some walls inside. Putting all power bricks behind. Thus we have a big white area here. I'm thinking the box on left be a hydros launch. Or maybe on the back wall. Ill need to make access behind but this hides the mess gives me a clean area for controllers and any other upcoming equipment.

 

[The_Macro_Lady]

Wow Dec 9th was awhile ago! What's new! So first my display refugium has become a refugium that's not attractive.
Just about every kind of algae down here. Macros from The Macro Lady
https://themacrolady.com/ Highly recommend. But it is doing the job. Will do some comparison of display to show algae a month ago. I don't have a lot of photos of display algae who takes pictures of the uglies unless planning on sharing!
Equipment:
1 Again the 10 pack from macro lady amazing healthy plants. The sea lettuce did disappear but the rest are doing great.
2 I went with the barrina 2ft led shop lights 6500k for lighting. Using 5@ 10 watt each. Only think I'd change is going smaller for a better fit. Also maybe a little more care on my end but as you can tell here reflecting off the water. Little crooked due to drain and me being lazy!

So I'm thinking about flow under here. Might try the smallest cheap wave maker to just move around detritus and macros. But that's the display sump that's definitely not attractive. Maybe a light cleaning next water change! Next left half of storage!

Thanks for the shoutout!

 

[WvAquatics]

The Downward Spiral: 6 Disasters in 6 Months
After 6 months of success with my 180g display and 60g sump, things were looking up. My macroalgae was thriving and I had just added 10 new wrasses. Then, the "summer of disasters" began:
Disaster 1: During a July vacation, my RODI reservoir ran dry. I returned to a dry return pump and a tank full of bubbles. Result: 4 wrasses lost.
Disaster 2: My kids accidentally removed and lost my ATO. I shifted to manual filling while debating which controller to buy.
Disaster 3: While filling the sump manually, I left for my son's soccer practice and forgot the water was running. Result: A massive flood that drained through the floorboards into the basement. The resulting salinity swing killed all but one remaining wrasse.
Disaster 4: My 5-year-old pair of clownfish passed away.
Disaster 5: A week later, I flooded the house for a second time.
Disaster 6: To top it off, my RODI unit failed. Out of desperation and defeat, I began using tap water (70 TDS).
Current State: The tank is overrun with hair algae. My stock has been decimated down to a Foxface, a Flame Angel, and a Sleeper Goby. I’m done sulking so here is the plan.

 

[WvAquatics]

Alright, Today starts the execution of my future plans. This has been a multi-week journey to try to plan everything out correctly. We are going to move to control for my aquarium. The goal is to completely automate all water tasks. This includes running of RODI system to filling of mixing bins. I am also going to fully automate my water changes! I have the plans in my head and parts have begun to arrive! Pics coming with the unboxing tonight or tomorrow! I'll get pics up with each phases equipment. Rodi control and then AWC control.

First we have our current holding containers. This is probably where every bit of the plans hang. They caused the most issues in planning. As you can see in the next photos the lids are very textured and make mounting equipment a little bit of an issue.

Top.

Bottom. As you can tell it is limited on places to place things. When i first started seeing mixing stations. One thing that always made me wonder. Why do most have their mixing pump externally? Why do most AWC use dosing pumps. The latter is simpler. For pumps it is kind of obvious no one wants to dump a large pump into the mixing container and take up space. What most don't realize is the holes needed to pass your pumps plugs through. Bulkheads for water removal. Now you are drilling multiple holes into the container. When this plan started weeks ago i originally planned a Sicce zero inside of my bin to move fresh saltwater. Now that i solved my issue that plan is still possible.(Once i solved passing power cords). I made a short post last week asking about my AWC plans and got some great feedback and Implemented it into my plan.

For AWC dosing pumps remove and add water simultaneously. This keeps everything stable and less areas of malfunction. This could be a route going forward, but for now with my rough year I need continual transport of nutrients. The limitations of dosing pumps on large changes makes them not ideal for my task. I plan to do 20g changes at one time or within a day. Dosing pumps would wear down fast. Using third party pumps to move water leaves area for WIFI issues. So I am aiming to have my new HYDROS controllers do all of this 100% natively. Unfortunately, the whole project will take 3-4 weeks to complete. The one part that will make or break this whole build was on backorder and I am waiting for the parts to arrive!

 

[Gtinnel]

I used to have my ato reservoir completely automated to where when the water level got low a switch would open a solenoid to produce water then shut off when the container was full. It was incredibly convenient, but eventually the solenoid that shuts off flow failed open and I dumped a lot of water down the waste line without even realizing it was happening. When setting up automated water production remember that everything will fail at some point. Not trying to discourage you from automation just make sure to take into account what happens when any piece of the system fails.

I think most people use an external pump on a mixing station so they can use it to move water from one container to another and not just mixing the saltwater. I personally gravity feed from my freshwater to my saltwater container so I do use a internal pump for mixing.

I use peristaltic pumps for my awc because they are great at moving precise amounts of water long distances. My mixing station is not near the tank so I have lines in my ceiling to pump the water around. Any reason you want to change 20g of water a day? Usually people change out a few gallons a day.

 

[WvAquatics]

I used to have my ato reservoir completely automated to where when the water level got low a switch would open a solenoid to produce water then shut off when the container was full. It was incredibly convenient, but eventually the solenoid that shuts off flow failed open and I dumped a lot of water down the waste line without even realizing it was happening. When setting up automated water production remember that everything will fail at some point. Not trying to discourage you from automation just make sure to take into account what happens when any piece of the system fails.

I think most people use an external pump on a mixing station so they can use it to move water from one container to another and not just mixing the saltwater. I personally gravity feed from my freshwater to my saltwater container so I do use a internal pump for mixing.

I use peristaltic pumps for my awc because they are great at moving precise amounts of water long distances. My mixing station is not near the tank so I have lines in my ceiling to pump the water around. Any reason you want to change 20g of water a day? Usually people change out a few gallons a day.

Yes I have the understanding that eventually parts will fail on the system. I plan to have 3 solenoids is the system helps for backup. If the main water solenoid fails open it will cause water to pump down the drain. Assuming Hydros will catch that at point of failure to their solenoid right? Regardless everything can break. That's definitely something I am prepared for.


I am wanting to do 20g a day for two reasons. Both in time can be solved and the amount lowered. I exhausted my di resin and I topped off with tap water for about a month. GHA is all over the rocks. Went 4 months no Water change. So I need to export nutrients in larger quantities for now. Second as of now I am using Awuaforest reef salt. 72hrs hold time. I have about 60 gallons left and might switch to a salt that will hold longer so I can do smaller changes.

 

[WvAquatics]

What an amazing looking box. I will pull all out tonight and sort. Had dinner plans that held up the unboxing! I might need to learn to use a flash! Updates coming this evening. Just wanted to share a box full of goodies!

 

[WvAquatics]

Alright Here we go with building this controller collective. My goals are to fully automate my RODI and do AWC. I am going to use a Hydros Launch as my brain, and an X2 for needed ports. As one has mentioned i know parts will fail at some point. I am hoping the Hydros system will catch failures somewhat quickly. I have decided to try a different approach to AWC. I am not going to use dosing pumps as most do. Ambitious maybe, fully doable I know it has to be with enough work.

First I ordered these white pegboard displays from Azar displays. These are going to be a nice fit on the side of stand to hold my Launch under my stand. The also have 5" spacers you can buy to lift the board off the surface. So upon opening the screws in the spacer was way to large so I had to buy some shorter screws. Ugh what a headache this was. Hanging a 5-7lb board and drilling it in. Hence my spaghetti mess of cords. Will fix this when i have extra hands this weekend. Here's the Launch plugged in.

Inkbird, Wave pump, and Current USA return controllers all hanging in temporary spots. I have some hooks coming i am hoping to use to hang those 3. Everything is up with Zip ties. Unfortunately the Launch holes are a little off the pegboard so i will investigate a more permanent solution. Next the goodies!

So the main Brain a Hydros Launch. Most of the attached equipment is also in the photo. Explain more as we goo. Feel free to guess how it all hooks up if your a problem solver.

Yet another dark photo smh! Here is my mixing station controller and parts. Hydros X2. This will control the filling of my containers. Again more as I build each section.

Last night We just got some of our stuff loaded into the Hydros app! I will try to remember screenshots of App before i do any programing;
- Temp probe is connected. I didn't secure it! (Plan better than me, this thing has disconnected too much secure it! At least I think that's my issue.)
- Command Bus between the 2 connected and updated both!
- Connected 2 Triple level sensors in my mixing bins and connected to X2.
- Went to connect Micro Pump it turned on dry do we will figure out Drive port connections tonight.
- Drilled my 32mm hole in Mixing bins as displayed in next photo.

This is where we are holding for final setup. I wanted as watertight fit here. To pass the many cords I needed through the containers I had to figure out how to get everything out of the containers and also into them. For now we are just passing through the containers. More on this tonight. I am going to fill RODI bin some for ATO to come online tonight.
- I need to hang my solenoids by my mixing bins. I have a Y fitting then 2 check valves- I'll connect solenoids and send water into the container. This way I have a Check valve on clean water line coming upstairs to stop backflow to RODI system. Then the 2 before the Solenoids. This way i know water wont leave the containers in any event or failure. More to come on the whole RODI control tonight!

Maybe I will utilize a flash tonight!