A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system
- Thread starter danfeig
- Start date
S14Swap240sx
New member
rofl i just bought my first home, and reffered to this thread as a gift idea :celeb3: 110% sure it wont happen, but always worth a try
shiladitya1991
New member
Awesome brotha.. keep the pictures flowing.. 
jjk_reef00
New member
I would be extremely nervous about my qt connected to my main tank, even if by ball valve, just saying...
dca22anderson
New member
I think this can be successful as the QT tank is isolated offline while in use holding corals/fish then totally cleaned before flowing tank water through it again. I'm planning on a similar set up without much concern.
Love your build! Great job!
Love your build! Great job!
danfeig
.Registered Member
I have. I am planning on pairing up several different species/schools of tangs and anthias. Included in the list once the tank is established will be several rare species. It is my intention at some point to include a pair of black longnose tangs, gem tangs, and several borbonius anthias.
danfeig
.Registered Member
I have. I am planning on pairing up several different species/schools of tangs and anthias. Included in the list once the tank is established will be several rare species. It is my intention at some point to include a pair of black longnose tangs, gem tangs, and several borbonius anthias.
danfeig
.Registered Member
Thanks boxers18!
I am very lucky. My wife knows how much pleasure I get out of my fish and corals! Keep showing your wife the pics and perhaps you'll one day gain her permission.
Thanks for following along!
danfeig
.Registered Member
Thanks allsps40! You really can't be too careful these days. I will be dipping, scraping/cleaning, quarantining and inspecting everything twice before placing in the main display.
david00061
New member
this is going to be a fun build to watch
reefkeeper2
Premium Member
So Michael was able to get a good deal on a Dialyseas. The prior owner primarily used it for automatic water changes but it does so much more! The unit appears to be in very good shape.
According to the companies website, these are the key benefits of the system:
1) REMOVES WASTE WHILE MINIMIZING ORIGINAL WATER AND SALT LOSS
2) DIALYSEAS MAKES AND ADDS NEW DEIONIZED WATER AUTOMATICALLY WITH "0" PHOSPHATES
3) REMOVES ALL CONTAMINANTS NOT JUST NITRATE
4) DOES NOT USE OR RELY ON ANY FORM OF BACTERIA TO BREAK DOWN WASTE
5) DOES NOT ERADICATE PLANKTON IN REEF AQUARIUMS
6) ELIMINATES EUTROPHICATION
7) ULTRA RELIABLE, ULTRA SAFE, IMMEDIATELY EFFECTIVE
8) NEVER CHANGE WATER AGAIN DIALYSEAS DOES IT AUTOMATICALLY
9) CONSISTENT HIGH AQUARIUM WATER QUALITY AND TOP OF WATER QUALITY
10) INCREASE AQUARIUM BIOLOAD UP TO FOUR TIMES
11) STABILIZES ALKALINITY THEREFORE STABILIZES PH
12) CONTINUOUS SUPPLY OF CALCIUM AND OTHER TRACE ELEMENTS
13) REDUCES AQUARIUM MAINTENANCE DRASTICALLY
14) REDUCES STRESS ON ALL LIFE FORMS EXCEPT PARASITES IT KILLS THEM
15) AUTOMATICALLY TOPS OFF AQUARIUM WITH R.O.D.I WATER AND THEN ADDS THE PROPER AMOUNT OF DISSOLVED SALT
16) LOCAL AND REMOTE MONITORING AND CONTROL OF ALL MACHINE PARAMETERS
17) EASILY MAINTAINED
18) USE ANY POWDERED SALT YOU LIKE
Has anyone used on of the Dialyseas units before? I currently have a Reefkeeper monitoring unit which I will be installing on the tank so I am certain there will be some redundancy. I figure redundancy on a tank of this size will give me more of a checks and balance system.
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Dan, thanks for refering me to your build thread, it has been wonderful to read.
I have had my Dialyseas unit for seven years. It was on my previous 120gal for a year before I upgraded to my present 427 gal. It has definitely spoiled me. One piece of advice I can give you is to watch your alk should you change the brand of salt you use. Since the water is constantly changed, the alk will slowly shift if you switch brands. It can take you by surprise.
The initial setup takes some time, but I think you will love it.
danfeig
.Registered Member
Awesome brotha.. keep the pictures flowing..
Thank you Shiladitya1991! I hope to have a ton more tomorrow and Monday as we complete the plumbing. Glad you are following along!
danfeig
.Registered Member
I appreciate your concern about my quarantine tanks. I am very conscientious about contaminating my main display.
The way I am planning on having the system plumbed, it will be easy to disconnect the qt from the main system and run strictly off a canister filter. With the amount of water I will be changing on a regular basis, it will be easy to completely drain and clean my quarantine tanks (and canister filter), thereby removing any contaminants, copper and/or other medication, fill and reconnect to the system.
I am pretty diligent/anal about my qt's and am not the slightest bit concerned.
danfeig
.Registered Member
Thank you dca22anderson! I have really been enjoying your build! One of my favorite posts, I have showed my wife a few times, was the picture of your 7 year old holding his breath under water in your tank. Classic!!!
danfeig
.Registered Member
Thank you David! It means a lot to me coming from you!
I am hoping that I have the same success from my Radium units as you have documented. The growth in your tank is astonishing! I keep checking to see if the hanging kits have arrived so I can get my lights installed. I am also anxious to hear more about Ecotechs new lense covers!
Thank you for following my thread. I am sure I will have a lot of questions for you once I get the Radions installed!
danfeig
.Registered Member
A Little more Plumbing...
A Little more Plumbing...
So I spent the weekend working mostly on plumbing in the fish room.
A good portion of the time was spent connecting PEX (or crosslinked polyethylene) from one of my restrooms to the fish room. I did this via tight quarters, or a roughly 32" crawl space above my ceiling. It was a lot of fun in 90+ degrees heat and loose, itchy insulation.
The end result was having a nice water line run into my fish room that I can now connect my RO/Dialyseas System into.
[/IMG]
I also addressed another one of my big concerns, drainage. I did not have a drain in the fish room and was originally planning on running drainage up and over the room using some sort of sump pump.
After discussions/suggestions from Dave (BigOldReef) about running the RO wastewater through my skimmer cup, I began considering other drain alternatives.
The end result is that I plumbed 1/2" PVC through the outside wall of my fish room and ran it 70' along the flagstone edging against my house. I will have the PVC painted to match our house so that it blends in. I feel much better about having a drain pipe that will be below my RO system and skimmer. Ignore the holes in the wall. I still have a lot of touchup to do.
[/IMG]
Although my Dialyseas System will be making saltwater, I still plan on having 200 gallons of saltwater and 200 gallons of RO water made up at all times.
I purchased a new 200 gallon storage unit that will remain outside. I plumbed a PVC hose connection into the fish room that will connect to a 200 gallon tank located inside. This way, the new saltwater will always be at room temperature. I purchased a mag drive for this storage thank that will always be circulating the water. With the turn of a ball valve, I will be able to fill my tank.
[/IMG]
Tomorrow, Simply Elegant Aquatics plumber, Rich, will be coming to help finish plumbing the three tanks in my fish room plus my refugium that should be delivered around the same time. Hopefully, we will also have time to plumb in the Deltec skimmer!
A Little more Plumbing...
So I spent the weekend working mostly on plumbing in the fish room.
A good portion of the time was spent connecting PEX (or crosslinked polyethylene) from one of my restrooms to the fish room. I did this via tight quarters, or a roughly 32" crawl space above my ceiling. It was a lot of fun in 90+ degrees heat and loose, itchy insulation.
The end result was having a nice water line run into my fish room that I can now connect my RO/Dialyseas System into.
I also addressed another one of my big concerns, drainage. I did not have a drain in the fish room and was originally planning on running drainage up and over the room using some sort of sump pump.
After discussions/suggestions from Dave (BigOldReef) about running the RO wastewater through my skimmer cup, I began considering other drain alternatives.
The end result is that I plumbed 1/2" PVC through the outside wall of my fish room and ran it 70' along the flagstone edging against my house. I will have the PVC painted to match our house so that it blends in. I feel much better about having a drain pipe that will be below my RO system and skimmer. Ignore the holes in the wall. I still have a lot of touchup to do.
Although my Dialyseas System will be making saltwater, I still plan on having 200 gallons of saltwater and 200 gallons of RO water made up at all times.
I purchased a new 200 gallon storage unit that will remain outside. I plumbed a PVC hose connection into the fish room that will connect to a 200 gallon tank located inside. This way, the new saltwater will always be at room temperature. I purchased a mag drive for this storage thank that will always be circulating the water. With the turn of a ball valve, I will be able to fill my tank.
Tomorrow, Simply Elegant Aquatics plumber, Rich, will be coming to help finish plumbing the three tanks in my fish room plus my refugium that should be delivered around the same time. Hopefully, we will also have time to plumb in the Deltec skimmer!
BigOldReef
New member
Dan,
I have a friend who store water 50g at a time for weekly water changes. Once a week he adds salts, then within an hour dumps the salt water into the system, and then fills the storage tank back up with RO. The RO water was kept circulated and heated.
Well about a year ago his tank started to go downhill. Not only was he slowly losing established corals and established fish. But all new fish added to the system were dead within 24 hours. Corals were STN'ing at a very very slow rate -- Months and months to take out a small colony.
We checked for bug and parasites. We did massive water changes. We changed RO cartridges. Tested everything and couldn't find an issue.
We found the corals actually were doing worse after a water change.
So, there is a company close to me who supplies me with my RO system needs and they design high end water purification systems.... For the likes of NASA.
They walked me through numerous steps which we had taken, and then came up with a bacterial disease that can form in static water. So we did a Petri dish test and grew out all kinds of bacteria. Came back that the bacteria was toxic to fish, and was formed in the fresh water storage barrel. Adding the salt didn't knock the bacteria out, and in fact added to the toxicity of it.
They recommened UV or Ozone for the water barrel. We opted and put on a small Aqua UV unit on the circulation pump. Did a water change and Voila the tank is a success once again.
This was on a 225 display tank with 300+ gallons of sump and changing 50g a week, plus a couple of liters of carbon a week and running RowaPhos.
Since you are plumbing the Mag pump in to circulate consider adding a UV as well. Especially since your water may be standing for long periods of time due to the Dialyseas unit.
Dave
I have a friend who store water 50g at a time for weekly water changes. Once a week he adds salts, then within an hour dumps the salt water into the system, and then fills the storage tank back up with RO. The RO water was kept circulated and heated.
Well about a year ago his tank started to go downhill. Not only was he slowly losing established corals and established fish. But all new fish added to the system were dead within 24 hours. Corals were STN'ing at a very very slow rate -- Months and months to take out a small colony.
We checked for bug and parasites. We did massive water changes. We changed RO cartridges. Tested everything and couldn't find an issue.
We found the corals actually were doing worse after a water change.
So, there is a company close to me who supplies me with my RO system needs and they design high end water purification systems.... For the likes of NASA.
They walked me through numerous steps which we had taken, and then came up with a bacterial disease that can form in static water. So we did a Petri dish test and grew out all kinds of bacteria. Came back that the bacteria was toxic to fish, and was formed in the fresh water storage barrel. Adding the salt didn't knock the bacteria out, and in fact added to the toxicity of it.
They recommened UV or Ozone for the water barrel. We opted and put on a small Aqua UV unit on the circulation pump. Did a water change and Voila the tank is a success once again.
This was on a 225 display tank with 300+ gallons of sump and changing 50g a week, plus a couple of liters of carbon a week and running RowaPhos.
Since you are plumbing the Mag pump in to circulate consider adding a UV as well. Especially since your water may be standing for long periods of time due to the Dialyseas unit.
Dave
