vanpire
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How did the solatubes work for you on growing corals. I am also in Phoenix and thinking about adding solatubes on my next build for a large and 36" deep aquarium. I love SPS and wonder how the tubes would work.
Tim's 800 Gallon Phoenix Reef
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garbled
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They add LUX, and are enough to grow really good coraline all by themselves, however, I don't think they are enough to grow corals just by themselves. I think a few pages back I go over my general thoughts about them, but, they add some really nice color, amazing effects, but aren't super powerful. They do alot more in the summer.
I'll try to get some PAR measurements off them in July, just to get a baseline of what they really do. I like them, but they also get in the way alot... I'm 50/50 on them.
I'll try to get some PAR measurements off them in July, just to get a baseline of what they really do. I like them, but they also get in the way alot... I'm 50/50 on them.
vanpire
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I was thinking of skylights like these instead of solartubes. http://www.veluxusa.com/products/skylights. I can supplement with halides or T5 in the evening with something to lower the lights at night and raise them out of the way in the morning so they won't block the skylights. I also heard from some reefers that the solatubes do degrade in power output in a year or so. Nothing that is noticeable to the eyes, but they do degrade.
You said that they add nice colors, but is that for the fish or the corals? I know you said that the location is not optimal so they skylights might not do well.
You said that they add nice colors, but is that for the fish or the corals? I know you said that the location is not optimal so they skylights might not do well.
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garbled
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I like a whiter light than most reefers, so, when I get the super white laser beam from the sun, it makes me happy. Also, there is a cool effect when a cloud moves over..
They do degrade, and no, there is very little you could do to fix it. Overall, I wouldn't suggest someone do it, other than if you like the natural light look, which, is a real thing, natural sunlight looks way better than any halide/t5/led/magicbeam you could place with electricity. IMHO at least. (for corals and fish) The idea that it will save you money on power usage is, well, completely not happening. Maybe it could be done, but.. eeeehh..dunno.
A few of the fish I had before liked to dance in the beam, it was a neat behavior.
They do degrade, and no, there is very little you could do to fix it. Overall, I wouldn't suggest someone do it, other than if you like the natural light look, which, is a real thing, natural sunlight looks way better than any halide/t5/led/magicbeam you could place with electricity. IMHO at least. (for corals and fish) The idea that it will save you money on power usage is, well, completely not happening. Maybe it could be done, but.. eeeehh..dunno.
A few of the fish I had before liked to dance in the beam, it was a neat behavior.
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garbled
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Oh, just followed that link. I would say that would provide you the same effect as a window. It would be far less concentrated than a solar tube, and would just meander about the room depending on sun position. I would think you would be very unhappy with that result.
vanpire
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I am using halides and don't really like the overly blue lights. Radium on HQI or overdriven electronic ballasts is about as blue as I want to get, and I am thinking of moving to 14K Hamiltons once these bulbs are no longer good.
Anyway, I don't plan to use solatubes for the very reasons you described and will be lit in the evening by halides. It is good to know that the corals can look good with some sunlight.
Anyway, I don't plan to use solatubes for the very reasons you described and will be lit in the evening by halides. It is good to know that the corals can look good with some sunlight.
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Buddy of mine tried them here in CT - too far North and too much day/night variation for them to work really well. During the longer days in the Summer though, the tubes give an authentic look to his tank that is as close to a natural reef as I have ever seen. I'd use them if I lived closer to the equator.
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garbled
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Day 17, The arrival of summer
It's March in Arizona, which means, it's basically about to be summer. This brings with it all the fun concerns of heat and the tank. But first, FTS!
On March 1st, at pretty much 1am, the Apex woke me up to tell me that the tank was too hot. 77 degrees. This confused me a bit, because on Feb 28th, it was happy at 76.7. I run a slightly modified version of the Apex temperature table (the one that varies month to month). But why is it suddenly a problem, when all winter the tank has been struggling to keep up to 76.5?
Well it turns out, on that table, the coldest month is March. Jan, Feb, all warmer than March. This is no good, and also explains some of my pain the last 2 months with the heaters. So the first thing I did was shift the entire table up by one month, so now the coldest month would be Feb, which is more in line with reality in Arizona. This should also shut the heaters up a little bit next year. I have other plans for the heaters, but not today, today is about cooling...
So, knowing that summer was here, it was time to test out the big wall mount fan that is mounted in the room, as it would soon be needed. Turns out, it was dead. No point in trying to repair it, I just got a new one. The old one had a plastic blade, and years ago, I was awoken to a horrific rattle in the middle of the night. The fan had built up some salt crud on the blade, which increased the weight, and it literally ripped the blades off the fan, which were smacking around inside the cage. I did replace that blade, but it was a pain. So goals for the new fan:
A big tank needs a big fan. This should do the job. On a setting of 1, it moves a decent quantity of air.
Next step, the humidity. This fan is going to evaporate some water. That water will build up in that sealed room, and then pain and sorrow. On the wall above all the equipment, I have a register in the wall. It ducts through to a register in the hallway, so air can move out of the room. At the bottom of that wall, there is an in-wall fan, that blows cold air from the floor level of the hallway into the room. Problem is, the air just doesn't move around enough. I used to have 2 120mm computer fans bolted to the register to blow air out, but as with all computer fans, they die in salt, so they were rusted shut.
So I went on Amazon, and found a basement crawlspace fan. This is a fan specifically designed to reduce humidity in a crawlspace. I got the AC Infinity AIRTITAN T8. It has a little digital display, where you can set the temp and humidity level where it turns on and off, and a little remote probe so it senses the room, not the fan itself.
A quick hackjob with the saw, and I expanded the opening to fit, and now we have a fan!
You might notice the fan in that picture says the temp in the room is 84. 84! It was a bit warm in there. It's not that hot in the house, maybe 76 degrees, but that room was warm, and the heat rises, plus humidity. I think the humidity in the room was around 55%. No good.
Fan immediately spun up to full power, and within an hour, it was telling me the ceiling temperature was 79, so it quickly did it's job! It also dropped the humidity to about 40%, but it's struggling to keep it there. My goal is 45, so it runs pretty often. Once the house AC is on, I think it will be easier, without the AC running, it's just kind of dealing with stagnant airflow. Overall, for $90, a good buy! For the curious, the fan in that configuration blows air OUT of the room, not in. Also, the width of the fan is pretty much the width between 2 studs, so the screw holes line up perfectly to the studs. Easy as pie to install.
Now those of you who are more observant, might notice that something is different in the FTS shot. If you said fish, you sir, would be correct. I kind of did a thing.
Normally I am super conservative when it comes to stocking. I also have a QT setup all setup and ready to go. My plan was, go to the LFS, and find a foxface, put it in QT, and in a few weeks, deal with the algae that was starting to grow a little. Ok, easy plan.
So I get to the LFS, and of course, they have a tank with anthias. I love anthias. Why did I want a 800 gallon tank in the first place? So I could have a giant school of anthias around a big acro head.
Again, normally, a few anthias wouldn't faze me. But they had all juveniles, so super likely to be female, all same species (I think!) all arrived at once, and there were 26 of them. Yeah. 26. In 20 years, I've never seen more than 10 at a store at once. I couldn't pass it up. But of course, there is an issue here. My 40g breeder QT is not equipped to handle 26 anthias at once...
So bad decision dinosaur won the argument, and 26 Dispar anthias went straight into the big tank. There are no other fish in there, so worse comes to worse, nobody else gets sick. I could not pass up the opportunity to have the school size that I really wanted, all at once (which IMHO is the best way to stock anthias), and.. well... I had to take the risk.
The foxface however, is currently in the QT tank. Seems to be doing well.
Interesting thing about the anthias though.. I'm 99% certain they are Dispar.. but when they were bagging them up, I swore for just a second I saw vertical bars on one. Then later, when the lights went out in the tank, I saw, just for a second, vertical bars on two of them.
I'm not aware of any juvenile mimicry in anthias, but it's possible I have 1-2 individuals of a different species in there, that are mixing together. They are all acting as a single school right now, but I wonder if there is something else in there. The only thing that matches the vertical bar pattern I saw was a Sunset Anthias. It only shows up in the fright or night coloration, and only sometimes, but I suppose it's possible.
Excited about all the new life in the tank, I am barely able to go to sleep...
It's March in Arizona, which means, it's basically about to be summer. This brings with it all the fun concerns of heat and the tank. But first, FTS!
On March 1st, at pretty much 1am, the Apex woke me up to tell me that the tank was too hot. 77 degrees. This confused me a bit, because on Feb 28th, it was happy at 76.7. I run a slightly modified version of the Apex temperature table (the one that varies month to month). But why is it suddenly a problem, when all winter the tank has been struggling to keep up to 76.5?
Well it turns out, on that table, the coldest month is March. Jan, Feb, all warmer than March. This is no good, and also explains some of my pain the last 2 months with the heaters. So the first thing I did was shift the entire table up by one month, so now the coldest month would be Feb, which is more in line with reality in Arizona. This should also shut the heaters up a little bit next year. I have other plans for the heaters, but not today, today is about cooling...
So, knowing that summer was here, it was time to test out the big wall mount fan that is mounted in the room, as it would soon be needed. Turns out, it was dead. No point in trying to repair it, I just got a new one. The old one had a plastic blade, and years ago, I was awoken to a horrific rattle in the middle of the night. The fan had built up some salt crud on the blade, which increased the weight, and it literally ripped the blades off the fan, which were smacking around inside the cage. I did replace that blade, but it was a pain. So goals for the new fan:
- Metal blade!
- Closer to the wall so I have more room to move around.
A big tank needs a big fan. This should do the job. On a setting of 1, it moves a decent quantity of air.
Next step, the humidity. This fan is going to evaporate some water. That water will build up in that sealed room, and then pain and sorrow. On the wall above all the equipment, I have a register in the wall. It ducts through to a register in the hallway, so air can move out of the room. At the bottom of that wall, there is an in-wall fan, that blows cold air from the floor level of the hallway into the room. Problem is, the air just doesn't move around enough. I used to have 2 120mm computer fans bolted to the register to blow air out, but as with all computer fans, they die in salt, so they were rusted shut.
So I went on Amazon, and found a basement crawlspace fan. This is a fan specifically designed to reduce humidity in a crawlspace. I got the AC Infinity AIRTITAN T8. It has a little digital display, where you can set the temp and humidity level where it turns on and off, and a little remote probe so it senses the room, not the fan itself.
A quick hackjob with the saw, and I expanded the opening to fit, and now we have a fan!
You might notice the fan in that picture says the temp in the room is 84. 84! It was a bit warm in there. It's not that hot in the house, maybe 76 degrees, but that room was warm, and the heat rises, plus humidity. I think the humidity in the room was around 55%. No good.
Fan immediately spun up to full power, and within an hour, it was telling me the ceiling temperature was 79, so it quickly did it's job! It also dropped the humidity to about 40%, but it's struggling to keep it there. My goal is 45, so it runs pretty often. Once the house AC is on, I think it will be easier, without the AC running, it's just kind of dealing with stagnant airflow. Overall, for $90, a good buy! For the curious, the fan in that configuration blows air OUT of the room, not in. Also, the width of the fan is pretty much the width between 2 studs, so the screw holes line up perfectly to the studs. Easy as pie to install.
Now those of you who are more observant, might notice that something is different in the FTS shot. If you said fish, you sir, would be correct. I kind of did a thing.
Normally I am super conservative when it comes to stocking. I also have a QT setup all setup and ready to go. My plan was, go to the LFS, and find a foxface, put it in QT, and in a few weeks, deal with the algae that was starting to grow a little. Ok, easy plan.
So I get to the LFS, and of course, they have a tank with anthias. I love anthias. Why did I want a 800 gallon tank in the first place? So I could have a giant school of anthias around a big acro head.
Again, normally, a few anthias wouldn't faze me. But they had all juveniles, so super likely to be female, all same species (I think!) all arrived at once, and there were 26 of them. Yeah. 26. In 20 years, I've never seen more than 10 at a store at once. I couldn't pass it up. But of course, there is an issue here. My 40g breeder QT is not equipped to handle 26 anthias at once...
So bad decision dinosaur won the argument, and 26 Dispar anthias went straight into the big tank. There are no other fish in there, so worse comes to worse, nobody else gets sick. I could not pass up the opportunity to have the school size that I really wanted, all at once (which IMHO is the best way to stock anthias), and.. well... I had to take the risk.
The foxface however, is currently in the QT tank. Seems to be doing well.
Interesting thing about the anthias though.. I'm 99% certain they are Dispar.. but when they were bagging them up, I swore for just a second I saw vertical bars on one. Then later, when the lights went out in the tank, I saw, just for a second, vertical bars on two of them.
I'm not aware of any juvenile mimicry in anthias, but it's possible I have 1-2 individuals of a different species in there, that are mixing together. They are all acting as a single school right now, but I wonder if there is something else in there. The only thing that matches the vertical bar pattern I saw was a Sunset Anthias. It only shows up in the fright or night coloration, and only sometimes, but I suppose it's possible.
Excited about all the new life in the tank, I am barely able to go to sleep...
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garbled
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Day 18, Powerheads be thy bane
FTS!
It's been a rough few weeks, with a few ups, and a few downs.. more or less up though. But there have been some developments....
I purchased most of the remaining equipment needed for the tank all at once. I honestly don't even remember everything that was in this order. It was big. But I've been slowly working through installing all of it.
First order of business, was tops for the tank. Because no fish were in there yet, I hadn't bothered to make tops for the tank to keep them safe. I already had some kits on order from BRS, so ideally it was only going to be about 2 days without tops for the little Anthias swarm. Turns out that was 1 day too long for one of them. One of them got adventurous on the morning the kit arrived. dang. Either way, I quickly got to work building some screens, and got them on the tank ASAP.
Next order of business, was the Tunze Safety Connector. This tank is big, and valuable, and I'm really not interested in losing the whole thing due to a brownout or something stupid. But I want to be really safe, so I went big.
Step 1, Optima marine battery.
Step 2, float charger.
Step 3, Box to hold the battery, to keep it off the floor, and protect it from errant splashing.
Perfect.. sorta...
The problem I have now is, the pump on that side of the tank has been acting up. I have an original version of the Tunze 6255 on the tank. Well, I have 2. The one on the side of the tank that will be getting a battery, well that one seems to be having issues with it's speed controller. It runs at 100%, or off, nothing else. And randomly, if you turn it on and off, it won't turn on, and takes a few cycles to get going again.
This is no good for the powerhead that will keep everything alive in a power outage. I even tested it with the connector, and about 50% of the time it would just shut off when power was removed. No good.
So I decide, well, lets go get a Tunze Stream 3. Those things look great. Not as awesome in power as the 6255, but pretty good, and it will do the job. Nope.
Tunze shows up, I read the manual, and there is one little gotcha. The new streams, when set to external control (like 0-10v apex) will shut down completely when the external control is off. This means in a power outage, the tunze will just shut off. Argh.
So I decide to goof around with the old 6255. It doesn't have the big fancy box with buttons that the new one does. It's got this tiny little brainless box with a single knob and some connectors. Turns out, it runs just fine when power is pulled AND 10v is pulled. Only problem is, the working one is on the other side of the tank.
So both 6255's have to come out, the right one gets swapped to the left side, the new Stream 3 goes into the right side. OK, all wired up, seems to work, I'll call this good.
I still have the problem of insufficient flow in the tank though. A pair of Tunze's does not an 800g tank make. I've dug and dug and tried to find a way to put an apex controllable powerhead onto 1 1/8" thick acrylic, and nothing exists for that problem. The WAV claims 1", but that's just shy of working.
So I buy a WAV, and a giant magnet. I mean giant. Some 4" diameter 1" thick n52 monstrosity off Amazon, that ships with a dozen warning labels. They both show up, and I try the combo out on some big chunks of thick acrylic that I've shimmed to the right thickness. The magnet grabs the pump, and then pushes it sideways. Argh.. why?
So what I incorrectly assumed was, aquarium pump magnets were north south through the thickness of the mount. Instead, the mount contains 2 magnets, one north, one south. If you try to rotate the magnet, the pump rotates with it. The giant honking magnet is a single pole, so it grabs one side really strong, and repels the other side. I guess I need to do something else entirely.
I go to KJ Magnetics, and get a pair of rubber coated 2" x 1" x 1/2" magnets. About $34 each. With much difficulty, I manage to orient them north/south like the WAV, and test. It works!
The WAV however, isn't super happy. The magnets are kind of at a bad angle, and the WAV whines about POSERR every now and then. It's a stable hold, but it's probably shaking a bit..
Enter the 3d printer:
OK. Now What I did here was take the original back magnet from the WAV, and measure the centers of the magnets. Then, I positioned the big ones so the centers lined up. I printed this super thick, with tons of infill, so the magnets wouldn't tear it apart. Does it work?
Why yes, it does! I've since printed another one, and ordered another WAV for the other side! Here is the Tunze in it's new home as well:
(The deep yellow color is from the sun being out, and the solar tubes doing their job. It's not that yellow in real life, but the camera does funny things.
What you might also notice in that photo, is the foxfaced rabbit. He made it out of QT just fine, and has joined the Anthias in the main tank. The Anthias, thankfully, are doing ok. There are about 23 of the original 26 left, which is roughly what I expected, but it's hard to count, because they don't sit still. A male is also beginning to emerge, so it's exciting in there. They are all eating well, and looking pretty healthy. There are a few scrawny little ones that I'm a bit worried about, but they all eat, and there hasn't been any bullying.
Speaking of water flow, the surge bucket made me completely insane this week. It just stopped working. No obvious reason, it just stopped firing. Every now and then, it would goof up, and I would have to reset it. No big deal, shut the feed pump off for 1 minute, let the bucket drain, turn it back on, it fired normally. This would happen maybe once a week. But suddenly, it stopped working entirely. I messed about with it over and over for a week. Nothing I would do would fix it. I had literally no idea what was wrong.
So I took the main tube inside it apart. The zip tie that holds the little RO tube to the side of this was loose. So I tightened it up, hard. Then I put it back in, and started fiddling...
Turns out... that zip tie loosened up, and the tube moved downwards. This caused the pressure equilibrium to come off it's center, and make the whole thing fail. A few test fires, with me moving the tube up and down a bit, and suddenly my week long nightmare was over. Thank goodness. My Anthias need their autofeeder!
However, in the meantime, I figured out some code, to sorta bodge the problem. I needed to auto-reset the surge whenever it failed. This way the fish get fed, even if I'm not home to fix it!
This is what I came up with:
COR15:
Fallback 50
Set 100
If LeakR1 CLOSED Then OFF
If SOVERF OPEN Then OFF
If Output Surge_B_Time = ON Then OFF
Min Time 004:00 Then OFF
Surge_Break:
If Surge CLOSED Then ON
Defer 045:00 Then ON
If Output Cor_Acc_V = OFF Then OFF
Min Time 005:10 Then OFF
Surge_B_Time:
Set OFF
If Output Surge_Break = ON Then ON
If Output Surge_Break = OFF Then OFF
Min Time 005:00 Then ON
The "Surge" device is a limit switch at the top of the bucket. When the bucket fills, right before it hits the apex, the limit switch is activated. This code, more or less, watches that switch. If the switch doesn't fire for 45 minutes, it assumes the surge is broken, and turns on Surge_Break. Once that is set, it sets a 5 minute timer, and turns off the feed pump. This resets the whole system, and fires off the surge again. It actually works pretty good!
I also got a pH probe for my kalk reactor. While I was in there, I decided what I wanted was some code that would run the stirrer in the reactor, for about 20 minutes, immediately following the kalk dose. That way the newly added RO water would mix in nicely.
KalkTimer:
Set OFF
If Output Kalk = OFF Then OFF
If Output Kalk = ON Then ON
Min Time 045:00 Then ON
Kalk:
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/008:00/352:00 Then ON
KalkStir:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Output KalkTimer = ON Then ON
If Output Kalk = ON Then OFF
Perfect! Now the kalk strirrer turns on for about 30 minutes immediately after the kalk is dosed. The best part of this is, I don't have to maintain the programming for both. If I adjust the OSC statement in the Kalk outlet, it just magically works! Woo!
In other minor news, I upgraded my DI system to a dual reactor, just so I don't have to swap the media out as often:
I got my second QT tank up and running:
And I got some new life!!
Barely visible. A hermit crab, and 2 emerald crabs. Also, more trochus snails.
And in the QT tanks:
A royal gramma, and 2 purple firefish. (Look healthy, hope they do well...)
And what I believe is a male yellow-finned fairy wrasse. He looks healthy, so here's hoping all of them do well in QT!
Well, it's been a long and difficult day, so I trudge off to bed, after feeding all the fish..
FTS!
It's been a rough few weeks, with a few ups, and a few downs.. more or less up though. But there have been some developments....
I purchased most of the remaining equipment needed for the tank all at once. I honestly don't even remember everything that was in this order. It was big. But I've been slowly working through installing all of it.
First order of business, was tops for the tank. Because no fish were in there yet, I hadn't bothered to make tops for the tank to keep them safe. I already had some kits on order from BRS, so ideally it was only going to be about 2 days without tops for the little Anthias swarm. Turns out that was 1 day too long for one of them. One of them got adventurous on the morning the kit arrived. dang. Either way, I quickly got to work building some screens, and got them on the tank ASAP.
Next order of business, was the Tunze Safety Connector. This tank is big, and valuable, and I'm really not interested in losing the whole thing due to a brownout or something stupid. But I want to be really safe, so I went big.
Step 1, Optima marine battery.
Step 2, float charger.
Step 3, Box to hold the battery, to keep it off the floor, and protect it from errant splashing.
Perfect.. sorta...
The problem I have now is, the pump on that side of the tank has been acting up. I have an original version of the Tunze 6255 on the tank. Well, I have 2. The one on the side of the tank that will be getting a battery, well that one seems to be having issues with it's speed controller. It runs at 100%, or off, nothing else. And randomly, if you turn it on and off, it won't turn on, and takes a few cycles to get going again.
This is no good for the powerhead that will keep everything alive in a power outage. I even tested it with the connector, and about 50% of the time it would just shut off when power was removed. No good.
So I decide, well, lets go get a Tunze Stream 3. Those things look great. Not as awesome in power as the 6255, but pretty good, and it will do the job. Nope.
Tunze shows up, I read the manual, and there is one little gotcha. The new streams, when set to external control (like 0-10v apex) will shut down completely when the external control is off. This means in a power outage, the tunze will just shut off. Argh.
So I decide to goof around with the old 6255. It doesn't have the big fancy box with buttons that the new one does. It's got this tiny little brainless box with a single knob and some connectors. Turns out, it runs just fine when power is pulled AND 10v is pulled. Only problem is, the working one is on the other side of the tank.
So both 6255's have to come out, the right one gets swapped to the left side, the new Stream 3 goes into the right side. OK, all wired up, seems to work, I'll call this good.
I still have the problem of insufficient flow in the tank though. A pair of Tunze's does not an 800g tank make. I've dug and dug and tried to find a way to put an apex controllable powerhead onto 1 1/8" thick acrylic, and nothing exists for that problem. The WAV claims 1", but that's just shy of working.
So I buy a WAV, and a giant magnet. I mean giant. Some 4" diameter 1" thick n52 monstrosity off Amazon, that ships with a dozen warning labels. They both show up, and I try the combo out on some big chunks of thick acrylic that I've shimmed to the right thickness. The magnet grabs the pump, and then pushes it sideways. Argh.. why?
So what I incorrectly assumed was, aquarium pump magnets were north south through the thickness of the mount. Instead, the mount contains 2 magnets, one north, one south. If you try to rotate the magnet, the pump rotates with it. The giant honking magnet is a single pole, so it grabs one side really strong, and repels the other side. I guess I need to do something else entirely.
I go to KJ Magnetics, and get a pair of rubber coated 2" x 1" x 1/2" magnets. About $34 each. With much difficulty, I manage to orient them north/south like the WAV, and test. It works!
The WAV however, isn't super happy. The magnets are kind of at a bad angle, and the WAV whines about POSERR every now and then. It's a stable hold, but it's probably shaking a bit..
Enter the 3d printer:
OK. Now What I did here was take the original back magnet from the WAV, and measure the centers of the magnets. Then, I positioned the big ones so the centers lined up. I printed this super thick, with tons of infill, so the magnets wouldn't tear it apart. Does it work?
Why yes, it does! I've since printed another one, and ordered another WAV for the other side! Here is the Tunze in it's new home as well:
(The deep yellow color is from the sun being out, and the solar tubes doing their job. It's not that yellow in real life, but the camera does funny things.
What you might also notice in that photo, is the foxfaced rabbit. He made it out of QT just fine, and has joined the Anthias in the main tank. The Anthias, thankfully, are doing ok. There are about 23 of the original 26 left, which is roughly what I expected, but it's hard to count, because they don't sit still. A male is also beginning to emerge, so it's exciting in there. They are all eating well, and looking pretty healthy. There are a few scrawny little ones that I'm a bit worried about, but they all eat, and there hasn't been any bullying.
Speaking of water flow, the surge bucket made me completely insane this week. It just stopped working. No obvious reason, it just stopped firing. Every now and then, it would goof up, and I would have to reset it. No big deal, shut the feed pump off for 1 minute, let the bucket drain, turn it back on, it fired normally. This would happen maybe once a week. But suddenly, it stopped working entirely. I messed about with it over and over for a week. Nothing I would do would fix it. I had literally no idea what was wrong.
So I took the main tube inside it apart. The zip tie that holds the little RO tube to the side of this was loose. So I tightened it up, hard. Then I put it back in, and started fiddling...
Turns out... that zip tie loosened up, and the tube moved downwards. This caused the pressure equilibrium to come off it's center, and make the whole thing fail. A few test fires, with me moving the tube up and down a bit, and suddenly my week long nightmare was over. Thank goodness. My Anthias need their autofeeder!
However, in the meantime, I figured out some code, to sorta bodge the problem. I needed to auto-reset the surge whenever it failed. This way the fish get fed, even if I'm not home to fix it!
This is what I came up with:
COR15:
Fallback 50
Set 100
If LeakR1 CLOSED Then OFF
If SOVERF OPEN Then OFF
If Output Surge_B_Time = ON Then OFF
Min Time 004:00 Then OFF
Surge_Break:
If Surge CLOSED Then ON
Defer 045:00 Then ON
If Output Cor_Acc_V = OFF Then OFF
Min Time 005:10 Then OFF
Surge_B_Time:
Set OFF
If Output Surge_Break = ON Then ON
If Output Surge_Break = OFF Then OFF
Min Time 005:00 Then ON
The "Surge" device is a limit switch at the top of the bucket. When the bucket fills, right before it hits the apex, the limit switch is activated. This code, more or less, watches that switch. If the switch doesn't fire for 45 minutes, it assumes the surge is broken, and turns on Surge_Break. Once that is set, it sets a 5 minute timer, and turns off the feed pump. This resets the whole system, and fires off the surge again. It actually works pretty good!
I also got a pH probe for my kalk reactor. While I was in there, I decided what I wanted was some code that would run the stirrer in the reactor, for about 20 minutes, immediately following the kalk dose. That way the newly added RO water would mix in nicely.
KalkTimer:
Set OFF
If Output Kalk = OFF Then OFF
If Output Kalk = ON Then ON
Min Time 045:00 Then ON
Kalk:
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/008:00/352:00 Then ON
KalkStir:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Output KalkTimer = ON Then ON
If Output Kalk = ON Then OFF
Perfect! Now the kalk strirrer turns on for about 30 minutes immediately after the kalk is dosed. The best part of this is, I don't have to maintain the programming for both. If I adjust the OSC statement in the Kalk outlet, it just magically works! Woo!
In other minor news, I upgraded my DI system to a dual reactor, just so I don't have to swap the media out as often:
I got my second QT tank up and running:
And I got some new life!!
Barely visible. A hermit crab, and 2 emerald crabs. Also, more trochus snails.
And in the QT tanks:
A royal gramma, and 2 purple firefish. (Look healthy, hope they do well...)
And what I believe is a male yellow-finned fairy wrasse. He looks healthy, so here's hoping all of them do well in QT!
Well, it's been a long and difficult day, so I trudge off to bed, after feeding all the fish..
McPuff
Valuable Member
It's coming along nicely!!
Regarding the Tunze stream 3 (6150)... I noticed you used the flow rectifier which is a good call. This GREATLY improves the performance on large/long tanks. But be careful with the way you orient the pump. When I added the flow rectifier, the whole pump shifted and ended up shooting about 8-10 gallons of water out of the tank. Found out at 4:30am one morning. Argh! :0) I run 2 Tunze 6105 off my Apex, but I have left the stream 3 to its own controller. Maybe just do that as well? Tunze do have a stronger magnet for the stream 3 as well (maybe you already have it?). After my aforementioned incident I actually tried to use a magnavore to hold it in place. All that did was result in an error and the pump wouldn't work. Consequently, I reduced the max power to about 80% (instead of 100%) and made extra sure that it was as perfectly horizontal as possible. It really is an awesome pump!
Regarding the Tunze stream 3 (6150)... I noticed you used the flow rectifier which is a good call. This GREATLY improves the performance on large/long tanks. But be careful with the way you orient the pump. When I added the flow rectifier, the whole pump shifted and ended up shooting about 8-10 gallons of water out of the tank. Found out at 4:30am one morning. Argh! :0) I run 2 Tunze 6105 off my Apex, but I have left the stream 3 to its own controller. Maybe just do that as well? Tunze do have a stronger magnet for the stream 3 as well (maybe you already have it?). After my aforementioned incident I actually tried to use a magnavore to hold it in place. All that did was result in an error and the pump wouldn't work. Consequently, I reduced the max power to about 80% (instead of 100%) and made extra sure that it was as perfectly horizontal as possible. It really is an awesome pump!
OP
OP
garbled
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So in a way, I'm kinda lucky with the design of the Stream 3 in the specific spot it is in. I have it mounted to the overflow, which is about 1/4" acrylic. Because it sits there, and is designed to work at a right angle like that, it's pretty much a perfect setup. The 6255's were actually setup like that, and sometimes had issues because they were basically at a 90' angle to the little clamp mount, and would jump out of it if I cycled them quickly up or down.
You aren't kidding about that flow addition. I looked at it in the box and thought "huh, I bet this adds some randomness to the flow", so I slapped it on. Wasn't even in the manual. But wow. at 100%, the flow hits the other side of the tank 8-9 ft away. No lie. And not "barely" hits it, I mean flow was visible on the algae on the wall, despite being right next to a 6255 running at 40% power.
I actually have the upgrade magnets on my 6255.. Still not enough for the thick tank. The WAV's were the real issue, because they had to mount directly to the side.. thats why they got the upgrade.
You aren't kidding about that flow addition. I looked at it in the box and thought "huh, I bet this adds some randomness to the flow", so I slapped it on. Wasn't even in the manual. But wow. at 100%, the flow hits the other side of the tank 8-9 ft away. No lie. And not "barely" hits it, I mean flow was visible on the algae on the wall, despite being right next to a 6255 running at 40% power.
I actually have the upgrade magnets on my 6255.. Still not enough for the thick tank. The WAV's were the real issue, because they had to mount directly to the side.. thats why they got the upgrade.
McPuff
Valuable Member
I am considering moving my stream 3 onto the overflow box as well and then I'll be able to dial up the power a bit. Right now it's on the back wall and it obviously doesn't hold well enough to run at 100%. I'd need the stronger set of magnets. Have considered getting a second one, but I found that by putting the narrow flow on the 6105 that does a pretty good job too. Switched one out... will probably switch the other soon. Since all 3 pumps are at one side, it would be most effective to gaining some flow on the opposite side of the tank.
OP
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garbled
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The good, the bad, and the ugly.
2020 Was not a great year for me.
A bunch of family issues kept me away from the tank, and really screwed up my pacing.. But things are finally in order, and I'm able to get back to dedicating time to it. That said, some problems popped up, some I dealt with immediately, some I've had to put off:
1) Cyano. I couldn't keep up with a few things, so I have a bunch of cyano. I should be able to get this fixed up now, so I'm not concerned. I think this is primarily because I couldn't keep up with harvesting the Chaeto.
2) The power supplies on both COR20's died. One when I powered it down to do some maintenance, the other one when I took a power outage. They shut off, and did not turn back on. Luckily BRS sells the 1Link supplies, that are direct replacements, despite saying they aren't. After the second one died, I just went ahead and got 2 to replace it, so if another one dies, I have a spare brick on hand. Not 100% happy with the reliability there.
3) On Nov 24th, the Spider Farmer red LED blackbox died. Not surprising, it was cheap. I got another cheap replacement off Amazon to keep the chaeto in that sump going, but I'm not super happy with it. Yet another 150W fixture that pulls only 30W from the wall. Sigh. Luckily, it was only $25, so again, who cares?
4) Both Orphek OR2 120's bit the dust. Barely lasted over a year. Cracked one open, and the lenses on all the chips are brittle and falling apart. I'd say of the 36 LED's in each fixture, 8 are straight up dead, and the other 28 have brittle and breaking lenses. I don't mean the focusing lenses, I mean the ones built into the chips themselves. Super unhappy with those. Just ordered 100 3W epistars off ebay, and will have to spend a day or two replacing all the chips.
5) The skimmer was just not doing what I wanted. I ended up moving it about 3" up in the water column, and I think it's doing better now. Skimming is new to me, I've always run skimmerless, so, I'm still learning here.
6) The filter socks are driving me insane. I have to swap them every 3 days. I'm sick to death of washing them, sick of replacing them. I need a rollermat. Problem is, on the left side of the tank it's just not possible to install one. I think I can fit a clarisea SK-3000 in the right side though, so I'm going to try that.
7) After like 7 years of use, one of the MeanWell drivers for the LED's died. I keep a spare on hand, so that was an easy replacement. Really happy with the power pole connectors here, just crimped some on the replacement and swapped it in. Yay MeanWell. Yay PowerPole.
8) The Kalk feed peristaltic pump wasn't pumping. At $12 on Amazon, I didn't feel like debugging it, so I just bought a new one, swapped it in (I used PowerPoles there too!) and it's back and running. Took the old one apart to see what was wrong. The pump was fine, just the tubing was cracked, so, yeah, these things are reliable. Very happy with that.
So here is the plan for 2021, to make all my problems magically dissapear.
1) Rollermat. Even on one side only this will save me so much pain. So. Much. Pain.
2) Super happy with the big cannon LED's, but I need more light. Kinda 50/50 still on the solar tubes. One problem is they are just in the way of me putting in more LED's. I kinda have a plan though. I think I can get 3 Kessil 360W's, and mount them on arms, so they are just right next to where the tubes are, and with the small size, more or less get them in the sweet spot. This won't add much PAR, just kinda fill in some blue the tank is missing for pop. I would MUCH rather just build 3 more cannons, but the stupid tubes are in the way, and well, I also kinda like the tubes, so I'm not ready to eliminate them, and well, sigh.
3) Better grow light for the right sump. That "150W" unit is cute, but won't cut it long term. Moar Power.
4) "Repair" the Orphek OR2's, and by repair, I mean basically gut and replace the innards completely.
5) The moonlight makes me cry. Apex and it's moonlight control is stupid. But I have a soldering iron, 35 years of coding experience and a plan. I'm testing it out right now, and in a few weeks should have a fun update on that. Stay tuned!
6) When family life gets in the way of reefing, simple things like the RO can get out of hand. Sure I have a TDS meter on there, but if I don't go in the room and check it when it's running, I don't know the values. Out of sight out of mind. However, I have been mucking around with a solution to this too. I know I can program and solder my way out of this problem.
7) The kalk stir output clogged once, and overflowed onto the floor. Luckily it's inside the rubber sheeting, so no damage to anything other than destroying a leak sensor, but that's annoying. I think I'll drill a hole in the top and add a float switch.
8) Tunze pumps rule. But one thing about them is stupid. If you have them hooked up to an Apex VDM, then the safety connector doesn't work. As long as they are wired to something, the safety connector is useless. Sigh. I think the tank needs a little more water movement anyhow, so my plan is to buy a second Stream 3, not attach it to the Apex, connect it to the safety connector, and just set it on some kind of pulse mode. I will also likely add a third WAV.
It's nice to be back, overall the tank is doing ok. Basically not much progress was made, just kinda kept things running, so it's just a box full of rocks with some peaceful fish. Will make some progress there once I do a month or two of backtracking.
2020 Was not a great year for me.
A bunch of family issues kept me away from the tank, and really screwed up my pacing.. But things are finally in order, and I'm able to get back to dedicating time to it. That said, some problems popped up, some I dealt with immediately, some I've had to put off:
1) Cyano. I couldn't keep up with a few things, so I have a bunch of cyano. I should be able to get this fixed up now, so I'm not concerned. I think this is primarily because I couldn't keep up with harvesting the Chaeto.
2) The power supplies on both COR20's died. One when I powered it down to do some maintenance, the other one when I took a power outage. They shut off, and did not turn back on. Luckily BRS sells the 1Link supplies, that are direct replacements, despite saying they aren't. After the second one died, I just went ahead and got 2 to replace it, so if another one dies, I have a spare brick on hand. Not 100% happy with the reliability there.
3) On Nov 24th, the Spider Farmer red LED blackbox died. Not surprising, it was cheap. I got another cheap replacement off Amazon to keep the chaeto in that sump going, but I'm not super happy with it. Yet another 150W fixture that pulls only 30W from the wall. Sigh. Luckily, it was only $25, so again, who cares?
4) Both Orphek OR2 120's bit the dust. Barely lasted over a year. Cracked one open, and the lenses on all the chips are brittle and falling apart. I'd say of the 36 LED's in each fixture, 8 are straight up dead, and the other 28 have brittle and breaking lenses. I don't mean the focusing lenses, I mean the ones built into the chips themselves. Super unhappy with those. Just ordered 100 3W epistars off ebay, and will have to spend a day or two replacing all the chips.
5) The skimmer was just not doing what I wanted. I ended up moving it about 3" up in the water column, and I think it's doing better now. Skimming is new to me, I've always run skimmerless, so, I'm still learning here.
6) The filter socks are driving me insane. I have to swap them every 3 days. I'm sick to death of washing them, sick of replacing them. I need a rollermat. Problem is, on the left side of the tank it's just not possible to install one. I think I can fit a clarisea SK-3000 in the right side though, so I'm going to try that.
7) After like 7 years of use, one of the MeanWell drivers for the LED's died. I keep a spare on hand, so that was an easy replacement. Really happy with the power pole connectors here, just crimped some on the replacement and swapped it in. Yay MeanWell. Yay PowerPole.
8) The Kalk feed peristaltic pump wasn't pumping. At $12 on Amazon, I didn't feel like debugging it, so I just bought a new one, swapped it in (I used PowerPoles there too!) and it's back and running. Took the old one apart to see what was wrong. The pump was fine, just the tubing was cracked, so, yeah, these things are reliable. Very happy with that.
So here is the plan for 2021, to make all my problems magically dissapear.
1) Rollermat. Even on one side only this will save me so much pain. So. Much. Pain.
2) Super happy with the big cannon LED's, but I need more light. Kinda 50/50 still on the solar tubes. One problem is they are just in the way of me putting in more LED's. I kinda have a plan though. I think I can get 3 Kessil 360W's, and mount them on arms, so they are just right next to where the tubes are, and with the small size, more or less get them in the sweet spot. This won't add much PAR, just kinda fill in some blue the tank is missing for pop. I would MUCH rather just build 3 more cannons, but the stupid tubes are in the way, and well, I also kinda like the tubes, so I'm not ready to eliminate them, and well, sigh.
3) Better grow light for the right sump. That "150W" unit is cute, but won't cut it long term. Moar Power.
4) "Repair" the Orphek OR2's, and by repair, I mean basically gut and replace the innards completely.
5) The moonlight makes me cry. Apex and it's moonlight control is stupid. But I have a soldering iron, 35 years of coding experience and a plan. I'm testing it out right now, and in a few weeks should have a fun update on that. Stay tuned!
6) When family life gets in the way of reefing, simple things like the RO can get out of hand. Sure I have a TDS meter on there, but if I don't go in the room and check it when it's running, I don't know the values. Out of sight out of mind. However, I have been mucking around with a solution to this too. I know I can program and solder my way out of this problem.
7) The kalk stir output clogged once, and overflowed onto the floor. Luckily it's inside the rubber sheeting, so no damage to anything other than destroying a leak sensor, but that's annoying. I think I'll drill a hole in the top and add a float switch.
8) Tunze pumps rule. But one thing about them is stupid. If you have them hooked up to an Apex VDM, then the safety connector doesn't work. As long as they are wired to something, the safety connector is useless. Sigh. I think the tank needs a little more water movement anyhow, so my plan is to buy a second Stream 3, not attach it to the Apex, connect it to the safety connector, and just set it on some kind of pulse mode. I will also likely add a third WAV.
It's nice to be back, overall the tank is doing ok. Basically not much progress was made, just kinda kept things running, so it's just a box full of rocks with some peaceful fish. Will make some progress there once I do a month or two of backtracking.
OP
OP
garbled
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- 772
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What works, what doesn't work, and my 2021 Shopping list.
Just kind of a follow up, I'm going to talk about what does and doesn't work on the tank, and the shopping list to fix it all.. or some..
1) Trident Ruby Sumps: 3 stars. Sumps are good. No leaks. The design is a bit non-ideal because there is a plate over the filter socks, meaning I can't easily rollermat the system with a drop-in style.. I'm kinda ehh on them. I feel like one of these days I could drop 2 large and replace them both with something custom.
2) Neptune COR20: 3 Stars. Pumps are good, reliable. The inlet fitting being BSPP is stupid. The power bricks are unreliable trash. I like the controllability.
3) Neptune Apex. 5 Stars. Easy win.
4) Avast Kalk reactor. 4 Stars, needs a float switch to prevent floods.
5) Skimmate Locker: 5 Stars. Works so well. Very happy.
6) Swabbie neck cleaner: 5 Stars, never have to fiddle with it.
7) DC4000 Silent Swirl pump: 5 stars. Just works. I can, and do, forget about it.
8) Suaoki battery charge controller: 5 Stars.
9) Tunze safety connector: 3 Stars. Doesn't work when the pump is connected to an Apex for control. That's just silly.
10) Neptune COR15: 5 Stars, bulletproof.
11) Spider Farmer LED: 2 Stars. Lasted about 1.5 years, good power, grew chaeto like mad, died gloriously.
12) Finnex Titanium heaters 500W: 5 Stars. Still working. Replaced one just for safety's sake, but they are bulletproof. Love them.
13) Tyree sponge bucket: 5 Stars. Full of sponges. Love it.
14) TLF Media reactors: 5 Stars. Easy to replace media, they just work.
15) Carlson Surge: 5 Stars. I haven't even had to glance sideways at it in over a year. It just works 24/7. The autofeeder on the top is amazing. My fish swarm around it right before it goes off, and it's amazing to watch them. I double love it.
16) Apex ATK: 4 Stars. When I initially got it, I really had to tune the crap out of it. Part of this is due to the surge bucket that constantly messes with the water level in the sump. However, I don't think a rock solid one like the osmolator would be able to deal with the shifting water level like my Apex programming can. However, it's been running for 2 years now with no problems, so, I'm happy. It lost 1 star however, because the PMUP's (gen 1, for what I can only assume are obvious reasons) are trash. I had 2, both died. I really need some Gen 2 ones because I just don't trust them at this point.
17) APEX Flo meters: 5 Stars. Love them, saves me from so much BS with the alerts.
18) Apex FMM: 4 stars. The module is good, but the plugs are SO sensitive.. If you accidentally look at one it unseats slightly and loses it's mind. For Leak sensors I'm not sure I trust it fully. The water level sensors are rock solid though.
19) Tunze Stream 3: 5 Stars. Dead solid. Love it.
20) Apex WAV: 5 Stars. They just work.
21) Tunze 6255: 4 Stars, one died, other one is still a monster of flow.
22) DIY LED Cannons: 5 Stars. They just work.
23) Orphek OR2 120's: 1 Star. Trash. Purified trash. The cheap chinese drivers run at like 2 million degrees, no dimming, all the chips are crispyfried after 1.5 years, they don't sell replacement parts, the cords are too short. Took 3 months to ship. Hate Hate Hate Hate Hate.
24) Solar tubes: 3 Stars. When I built this thing, LED was not a thing. The solar tubes were an effort to not have to run a bajillion watts of Metal Halide lighting. The color in the tank is pretty awesome, but I'm not sure they do much. Mostly they get in my way of hanging more LED cannons. But it is pretty at certain times of the day, so I can't bring myself to take them down.
25) MeanWell HLG Drivers. 5 Stars. Bullet. Proof. 5 Drivers, 7-10 years of operation, 1 failure.
26) Jebao 4 head dosing pump: 5 Stars. Just works.
27) 12$ 24V peristaltic pump from Amazon: 5 Stars, constant use, only the tube failed. Love it.
And now, The 2021 shopping list:
1) 2 ESP32's for super secret RO/DI project.
2) A 40W meanwell driver for the Moonlight upgrade.
3) 3x Kessil 360W Tuna Blues for color.
4) A giant bag of Epistar LED's from ebay to fix the Orphek trash.
5) A Clarisea SK-3000 to try and regain sanity in the filter sock department.
6) 2 Apex VDM's, maybe. Or just 1, depends on if I replace the drivers on the Orphek's too.
7) A Tunze 3 Stream, more flow, safety connector stupid.
8) A third WAV, more flow.
9) Mayyyybe a UV sterilizer? Dunno.. Heavily debating this.
10) A new fuge light to replace the temporary one on the right sump.
11) At least 3-4 more float switches for various emergency things.
12) Probably another EB832 for all the new crap I'll have to plug in.
13) Probably 3 more PMUP's, 1 for backup.
14) A big 55g water storage tank, just for funsies.
15) Trident. Must own.
16) Apex DOS. Maybe?
Start drooling Randy, BRS orders headed your way soon...
Just kind of a follow up, I'm going to talk about what does and doesn't work on the tank, and the shopping list to fix it all.. or some..
1) Trident Ruby Sumps: 3 stars. Sumps are good. No leaks. The design is a bit non-ideal because there is a plate over the filter socks, meaning I can't easily rollermat the system with a drop-in style.. I'm kinda ehh on them. I feel like one of these days I could drop 2 large and replace them both with something custom.
2) Neptune COR20: 3 Stars. Pumps are good, reliable. The inlet fitting being BSPP is stupid. The power bricks are unreliable trash. I like the controllability.
3) Neptune Apex. 5 Stars. Easy win.
4) Avast Kalk reactor. 4 Stars, needs a float switch to prevent floods.
5) Skimmate Locker: 5 Stars. Works so well. Very happy.
6) Swabbie neck cleaner: 5 Stars, never have to fiddle with it.
7) DC4000 Silent Swirl pump: 5 stars. Just works. I can, and do, forget about it.
8) Suaoki battery charge controller: 5 Stars.
9) Tunze safety connector: 3 Stars. Doesn't work when the pump is connected to an Apex for control. That's just silly.
10) Neptune COR15: 5 Stars, bulletproof.
11) Spider Farmer LED: 2 Stars. Lasted about 1.5 years, good power, grew chaeto like mad, died gloriously.
12) Finnex Titanium heaters 500W: 5 Stars. Still working. Replaced one just for safety's sake, but they are bulletproof. Love them.
13) Tyree sponge bucket: 5 Stars. Full of sponges. Love it.
14) TLF Media reactors: 5 Stars. Easy to replace media, they just work.
15) Carlson Surge: 5 Stars. I haven't even had to glance sideways at it in over a year. It just works 24/7. The autofeeder on the top is amazing. My fish swarm around it right before it goes off, and it's amazing to watch them. I double love it.
16) Apex ATK: 4 Stars. When I initially got it, I really had to tune the crap out of it. Part of this is due to the surge bucket that constantly messes with the water level in the sump. However, I don't think a rock solid one like the osmolator would be able to deal with the shifting water level like my Apex programming can. However, it's been running for 2 years now with no problems, so, I'm happy. It lost 1 star however, because the PMUP's (gen 1, for what I can only assume are obvious reasons) are trash. I had 2, both died. I really need some Gen 2 ones because I just don't trust them at this point.
17) APEX Flo meters: 5 Stars. Love them, saves me from so much BS with the alerts.
18) Apex FMM: 4 stars. The module is good, but the plugs are SO sensitive.. If you accidentally look at one it unseats slightly and loses it's mind. For Leak sensors I'm not sure I trust it fully. The water level sensors are rock solid though.
19) Tunze Stream 3: 5 Stars. Dead solid. Love it.
20) Apex WAV: 5 Stars. They just work.
21) Tunze 6255: 4 Stars, one died, other one is still a monster of flow.
22) DIY LED Cannons: 5 Stars. They just work.
23) Orphek OR2 120's: 1 Star. Trash. Purified trash. The cheap chinese drivers run at like 2 million degrees, no dimming, all the chips are crispyfried after 1.5 years, they don't sell replacement parts, the cords are too short. Took 3 months to ship. Hate Hate Hate Hate Hate.
24) Solar tubes: 3 Stars. When I built this thing, LED was not a thing. The solar tubes were an effort to not have to run a bajillion watts of Metal Halide lighting. The color in the tank is pretty awesome, but I'm not sure they do much. Mostly they get in my way of hanging more LED cannons. But it is pretty at certain times of the day, so I can't bring myself to take them down.
25) MeanWell HLG Drivers. 5 Stars. Bullet. Proof. 5 Drivers, 7-10 years of operation, 1 failure.
26) Jebao 4 head dosing pump: 5 Stars. Just works.
27) 12$ 24V peristaltic pump from Amazon: 5 Stars, constant use, only the tube failed. Love it.
And now, The 2021 shopping list:
1) 2 ESP32's for super secret RO/DI project.
2) A 40W meanwell driver for the Moonlight upgrade.
3) 3x Kessil 360W Tuna Blues for color.
4) A giant bag of Epistar LED's from ebay to fix the Orphek trash.
5) A Clarisea SK-3000 to try and regain sanity in the filter sock department.
6) 2 Apex VDM's, maybe. Or just 1, depends on if I replace the drivers on the Orphek's too.
7) A Tunze 3 Stream, more flow, safety connector stupid.
8) A third WAV, more flow.
9) Mayyyybe a UV sterilizer? Dunno.. Heavily debating this.
10) A new fuge light to replace the temporary one on the right sump.
11) At least 3-4 more float switches for various emergency things.
12) Probably another EB832 for all the new crap I'll have to plug in.
13) Probably 3 more PMUP's, 1 for backup.
14) A big 55g water storage tank, just for funsies.
15) Trident. Must own.
16) Apex DOS. Maybe?
Start drooling Randy, BRS orders headed your way soon...
Cabinetman
Well-Known Member
Man you’ve had a rough go. I remember reading your thread way back before I sold my 560 gallon tank. I was in the same boat. Diy everything and a plumbing disaster. Changing filter socks every few days. I hated it so much I sold it to a local fish store. Fast forward about a year I made myself a new 375 gallon acrylic. I had kept in touch with the local pet store and he asked me to trade the 560 for the 375 lol. I couldn’t resist the chance to start over knowing what I knew. Plus they had purchased a proper sized sump that was 72x30x22. So I made the trade. This time I set the tank up way different. In sump skimmer in the first section with both drains going into that section. Then it went into the centre section which pretty much took up the whole sump area. This section is for nothing but cheato. I bought 2 grow lights off amazon that pull 185 watts according to my apex which I run 24/7. This massive bed of cheato serves 2 purposes. First it keeps my nutrient level great. Second is it acts like a huge filter. Nothing seems to get through the cheato bed. I don’t run any socks whatsoever and my water is super clean looking. The only thing I did was I made it so I can shut the flow off to the display tank and have it recirculate in my sump. Then when I clean my cheato Out I Recirculate the water in the sump pump in it through a filter sock until it runs clear and then I start pumping it to my display. I only need to do this about once a month and I can usually get to uses out of the sock. I have it set up so that the return going back to the first of the sump actually has a fitting that I can clamp a sock to so that it’s pressurized. Then the next section is my return pump and that’s it. One Jebao dc 15000. I’ve been running one of these pumps forever and I’ve never had one fail. The other piece of equipment that I added is a trident. Keeping my parameters stable has made my coral do amazing. For lighting I kept it simple this time as well and just went with two ATI fixtures. And a few Chinese LEDs for blues. I guess the other thing that is different about this set up is that in the refugium I also have a quite a large amount of miracle mud. My system probably has about 700 gallons and I set it up about five months ago now using some dry rock and a little bit of live rock. I got a bucket of cheato from a buddy and I really never seen a cycle. Hardly any algae either. Anyway they say the proof is in the pudding so to say so here’s a video of my tag. If you’re interested in knowing more on how I got it set up I’d be more than willing to share. I haven’t done one single water change since setting this up either. It pretty much runs itself all I have to do is make sure to keep my top off water full And Add elements as needed according to trident.
Here’s a vid from a few days ago.. enjoyed your thread btw. You remind me of myself lol. Diy to the extreme. I even made my own tank. Did you make yours?
Here’s a vid from a few days ago.. enjoyed your thread btw. You remind me of myself lol. Diy to the extreme. I even made my own tank. Did you make yours?
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garbled
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I did not make the tank, it's a Tenecor.
I feel like my problem is the sumps. I'm not convinced they are big enough. It's not cheap to fix though, I'm going to just have to pay someone for something custom, as I don't think my acrylic skills are going to be up to par fast enough to do anything about it myself. Maybe 2022 will see 2 new custom sumps for me.
I'd love to know specifically which grow light you got? I like the cheapy ones, but its such a crapshoot what the actual power draw is vs the made up rating.
Beautiful tank. Love it.
I feel like my problem is the sumps. I'm not convinced they are big enough. It's not cheap to fix though, I'm going to just have to pay someone for something custom, as I don't think my acrylic skills are going to be up to par fast enough to do anything about it myself. Maybe 2022 will see 2 new custom sumps for me.
I'd love to know specifically which grow light you got? I like the cheapy ones, but its such a crapshoot what the actual power draw is vs the made up rating.
Beautiful tank. Love it.
Cabinetman
Well-Known Member
I got 2 of these running 24/7. Grows cheato like crazy. https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B07HFC7HV5?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
McPuff
Valuable Member
Totally agree with you on the Tunze stream 3... amazing pump! I have considered getting another one many times. I've got a couple 3105s going too and I don't know if I'd replace one of those or just add the second stream 3. Probably the latter because MOAR FLOW! :0) Another option is to upgrade the 3105s to 3255s as they are more versatile with respect to mounting and angling them.
As for your sump conundrum... have you considered building a plywood sump? MUCH cheaper than acrylic and it's actually pretty easy to do. I built one over the summer to fill the limited space I have and it is basically perfect (despite not being actually perfect) for my needs. I spent around $200 to build a 50 x 23 x 18"H (~80 gal internal) which is pretty darn good. I couldn't even find a used 120 gal for that little money.
As for your sump conundrum... have you considered building a plywood sump? MUCH cheaper than acrylic and it's actually pretty easy to do. I built one over the summer to fill the limited space I have and it is basically perfect (despite not being actually perfect) for my needs. I spent around $200 to build a 50 x 23 x 18"H (~80 gal internal) which is pretty darn good. I couldn't even find a used 120 gal for that little money.
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