Russ's Reef Build (in progress)

[russ-iv]

Forgot about updating this thread.

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dsuny lights (testing em but they are strong!)
wp40 (mp40 qd on backorder when i did the order)
1/2 hp chiller

still need an ATO, apex controller, and possibly a skimmer although i really want to avoid it.

 

[dawgface]

Go on Coralifes site and order neck extensions for the skimmer your after. I believe 3 fit generally before you need to modify air outlets on them.

I'll take a picture of my 3000 EXT before I leave the house.

 

[russ-iv]

can an op move this to user builds please? seems more appropriate

thx

 

[crew]

Looking good Russ - Can't wait to see some fish threading that bridge

 

[nickh06]

Looks great Russ! Are you kicking yourself for the way you plumbed everything? Looks like a good amount of wasted space imo. I had to redo mine a bit after I bought a couple reactors, what a pain...

 

[russ-iv]

Nickh06;1037706 wrote: Looks great Russ! Are you kicking yourself for the way you plumbed everything? Looks like a good amount of wasted space imo. I had to redo mine a bit after I bought a couple reactors, what a pain...

already added gfo reactor... could add maybe 3 more.

I will probably tighten it up a bit after all the equipment i want is in but i will stick to the same design. Right now it is in concept mode.

tbh it really is hard to "waste" 7 ft of room but to your point; a lot of the piping is over zealous.

 

[nickh06]

Russ-IV;1037715 wrote: already added gfo reactor... could add maybe 3 more.

I will probably tighten it up a bit after all the equipment i want is in but i will stick to the same design. Right now it is in concept mode.

tbh it really is hard to "waste" 7 ft of room but to your point; a lot of the piping is over zealous.

Yeah the apex and all accessories took up a ton of space in mine then when you throw ato containers, reactors, dosing pumps etc on top of it all it gets tight fairly quickly. Luckily you have an extra ft. to play with. I made my stand a bit taller to accommodate most of my equipment. Looking good though, especially digging the scape!

 

[russ-iv]

Nickh06;1037716 wrote: Yeah the apex and all accessories took up a ton of space in mine then when you throw ato containers, reactors, dosing pumps etc on top of it all it gets tight fairly quickly. Luckily you have an extra ft. to play with. I made my stand a bit taller to accommodate most of my equipment. Looking good though, especially digging the scape!

Yeah thanks man. I may lower the cross pipe and 45 it toward the back wall and add a small shelf to the back of the tank above the piping. I have a good 8-10 inches of play behind the sump so dosing stuff can go there.

An ato under the stand is out of the question. I will probably get a custom 18wx18lx30h ATO reservoir and put it on the opposite side of the tank. Even with my chiller i evap about 3-5 gallons a day.

I'll take another shot under the stand this evening.

and as always i love suggestions to tighten things up.

 

[russ-iv]

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and other side with reactor

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still need to get hose clamps but ill wait til next home depot visit

 

[bcavalli]

Looking really nice Russ! I look forward to seeing it progress!

 

[russ-iv]

i could post on several different threads about my issues but i figure ill keep it in this one.

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previously i had a literal 0 of nitrates and phosphates, however after dosing amino acids and other food the following day i received that nice earthy mossy smell from an established tank....

2 days later, it went away.

nitrates are steady at .5 ppm and undetectable phosphate. ive raised kh to 8.5. gfo is offline for now.

some things i noticed were that when i briefly had that established smell, everything went in to hyperdrive. coralline, pods, etc.

i could dose another "operation nitrate factory" again, but i think i would be supplementing nature.

just food for thought and something i noticed during my "new tank" (try to cheat nature) kinda thing

edit: if you arent familiar with my lil journey i had literal 0 nitrates and phosphates and decided to dump 50 ml acropower, 10 ml oyster feast, cyclops cube and like 4-6 heavy scoops of nutricell

day 1: peaked .5 ppm nitrate
day 2: .75 ppm nitrate
day 3 .5 ppm nitrate

 

[camellia]

Very nice!!

You crack me up with your cheating efforts, lol

Do you have a planed location for your ATO? Could you put your RODI else where and run your airline tubing into an ATO unde the stand? There's just never enough room under these stands, uh! Or is it the bigger the tank/stand, the more we need/want for our tanks

 

[russ-iv]

Camellia;1040837 wrote: Very nice!!

You crack me up with your cheating efforts, lol

Do you have a planed location for your ATO? Could you put your RODI else where and run your airline tubing into an ATO unde the stand? There's just never enough room under these stands, uh! Or is it the bigger the tank/stand, the more we need/want for our tanks

lol. sometimes ya cant beat nature ill still keep trying though</em>

as for the rodi/ato. for now it is there temporarily until i get an aesthetically pleasing 20-30 gal reservoir for the other side of my stand. Just not enough room for the gallons i need to do top offs. the chiller does slow the evap rate considerably compared to my old 220.

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a larger version of this is what i had in mind

 

[ghbrewer]

That ATO container in the Pic looks like a DDAcrylics ATO container, I had him build me a reservoir a while back when I had my Nuvo 24. Dan does great work! Got his contact info. if you want it.

 

[dball711]

Why not just add a RODI feed line with a float switch?

 

[russ-iv]

dball711;1040859 wrote: Why not just add a RODI feed line with a float switch?

ill use anything but a float switch. issue is i am done renovating this room. unless there is a painless way to tap my front hose line and feed it through the wall. After laying tile, replacing all the trim, replacing all plugs with gfi, switches, vents, patching and painting. ill live with opening a window to fill the reservoir lol.

(lot of history with this room)

if i were to do anything. it would be to drill outside the back wall of where the aquarium stands to my side yard and plumb things out there.

ghbrewer;1040856 wrote: That ATO container in the Pic looks like a DDAcrylics ATO container, I had him build me a reservoir a while back when I had my Nuvo 24. Dan does great work! Got his contact info. if you want it.

yeah that would be nice.

atm i cannot do it for the next couple of months. my roof is getting replaced next week and i have a garage door that decided to fail on me last week.

/sigh

 

[russ-iv]

weekly numbers profile (for my benefit only)

kh- api 8/ rs 9
ph 8
nitrate .6ppm
magnesium 1360 ppm
calcium 475 ppm
potassium 416 ppm
iodine .08 ppm
iron 0
phosphate .04 ppm

note:
phosphate test kits all suck

elos: undetectable
api: barely detectable
salifert: nothing (trashed)
red sea pro: .04 (finally something measureable)

 

[russ-iv]

par readings of my current lighting schedule.

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[dawgface]

Russ-IV;1040861 wrote: ill use anything but a float switch. issue is i am done renovating this room. unless there is a painless way to tap my front hose line and feed it through the wall. After laying tile, replacing all the trim, replacing all plugs with gfi, switches, vents, patching and painting. ill live with opening a window to fill the reservoir lol.

(lot of history with this room)

if i were to do anything. it would be to drill outside the back wall of where the aquarium stands to my side yard and plumb things out there.

I use this for a direct fill ro/di to tank automatic top off.

Ultimately purchased at Pure Reef but can buy direct from Spectrapure.

 

[russ-iv]

ok quick update.
i got rid of the dsuny lights. they had great par but they died so quick. either lack of fans or heat in the canopy but those drivers would just melt.

so i decided to give led another shot. bay style. so if one dies i can just slide the offending unit out and pop another in at a mere $100. lol.

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this setup gives roughly 2x more par.

1150-1200 @ 100% blue / 50% white 1" below
550-600 15" below
150-200 sandbed