ADA 120-P + Elos Mini dual NPS tank journal

[uhuru]

Thanks! The back of the fridge says 83W for power input.

I don't run the pumps outside because I want to make the connection from the pump to the water pipe as short as possible, and I want to keep the food cool as long as possible. Remember that when the pump is off, there is always some food still left in the tubing. If the tubing sits outside the fridge, it just goes bad faster.

I control the dosing using the runtime from the dosing pump. I use a Reefkeeper Lite controller.

 

[uhuru]

How I drilled through this fridge (Avanti 1.7 cu. ft.) and narrowly avoided another disaster:

1) Using the correctly sized hole saw, very carefully drill only through the THIN plastic lining on the inside of the fridge where you plan to run the pipe through.

2) Using a large flat head screwdriver or spoon, gently scoop out the insulation all the way through until you get to the metal sheet on the other side.

3) Look inside the hole carefully to ensure that there are no wires or pipes in the way. Then use the hole saw again to drill through the metal. Make sure you use a hole saw designed to drill through metal. Here you can see how I avoided shredding up a wire using this method. The wire is probably connected to the light switch. The light switch also controls whether the fridge turns on or off - so if you destroy the wire, you have no working fridge.

Finished product. Crowded, but I can still get in there and change out the flask or bottles easily. In case you're wondering why 4 pumps and only 3 bottles, behind the bottle of RF is a bottle of OF.

 

[Aquabacs]

Looking good Mike! Like the magnetic stirrer Is the air line looped across the front to an air pump or to something else?

 

[uhuru]

Thanks! The magnetic stirrer just died on me though I tried replacing the fuse but that didn't fix it. What is the deal with my luck? It's rated to work at 0 deg. C so the cold temp shouldn't be the problem. At least this one I can get fixed under warranty.

The airline does go to an air pump. It doesn't mix nearly as well as the stirrer though. The air pump is located on top of the fridge.

 

[uhuru]

Just some equipment pics:

Electrical is located under the Elos tank.

Right side of sump with beast ATB skimmer. The Elos and ADA both drain into this compartment. The seagrass tank bypasses this compartment and goes straight to the return compartment to avoid filtering out beneficial microfauna.

Left side of sump. Reactor w/bioballs is for ozone. It then feeds into the red ATB reactor which has carbon. The blue reactor in the front also has carbon. There is an eheim 1262 that pumps water to most of the equipment. On the very left bottom is an ATB Flowstar 1500 which is the main return pump for all 3 tanks and also feeds into the refrigerator for auto feeding.

 

[Aquabacs]

Mike you have more valves and switches in there than the Titanic :beer:

With the set up you are using for the ozone reactor, did you drill through what looks like a phosban reactor holding to bioballs and conected to it to the ATB reactor holding carbon? Couldn't see in the pic with the aquarium trim.

Mike

 

[uhuru]

I know, thats why the guys at savko know me well now

For the ozone reactor, I used an aquamedic CO2 reactor. It is pressurized and works perfectly for only $70. I didn't have to do any modifications. The output does feed into the ATB reactor. There is even a gas bypass valve to control the pressure in the reactor. The only thing missing is a gauge. But I feed the gas bypass into the ATB skimmer. This way any excess ozone/air mixture is used up in the skimmer instead of wasted.

 

[Aquabacs]

Cool! Thanks for the detailed info. I honestly never messed around too much with ozone; it interests me, but it is something I am not sure I would personally venture into.

Mike

 

[alexruegamer]

hi
why does not the ozone generator directly to the venturi from the skimmer?

alex

 

[uhuru]

I can control the reaction time better with an ozone reactor, and I can collect the water output easier to run it through carbon. The reactor is like a wet/dry filter where the water just trickles down the bioballs very slowly. This maximizes air/water contact.

 

[adddo]

Awsome thread thanks for sharing! Oh and your tank looks great!

 

[uhuru]

Thanks Bjarne I like how yours is coming along too!

DD has a Bellus angel female coming up tonight I was thinking of grabbing it but I'd really prefer a pair. Or maybe I should send a PM to Aquatouch to see what they can do. Now that this brutal summer is winding down I can cool my tank temp down again I'd like to get it down to 74 but I may need to add another chiller before next spring. I wasn't planning on this much water volume when I got the teco.

 

[jakano]

Man Uhuru your set up is looking amazing. If we ever do another CORA tank tour I hope you sign up for it. I am seriously considering going NPS with my tank right now, but I am of course concerned with my ability to keep up with the feedings needed. Any chance I could come over sometime and see how you have everything setup?

 

[uhuru]

Yeah I would sign up for it if I can also go on the tour as I want to see other peoples tanks too! Hopefully its not for a while though as my system is still going through some growing pains. The summer heat and tank move was also pretty brutal on my more established elos mini. You are welcome to come by and see the setup though. I'd be happy to help steer you in the right direction if you want to join the dark side Just shoot me a PM.

 

[jakano]

Yeah I did the tank tour we had a couple of years ago, did you go to that? My stop was the house before Norm. He had asked me if I wanted to go after him and I was like uh no Norm I don't want to have to follow your tank LOL. I'll pm you soon I'd love to see what you've done. I have become pretty bored with my reef and would love a new direction and challenge.

 

[uhuru]

If you guys haven't checked out the latest issue of CORAL magazine yet, go get yourself a copy. The focus is on coral feeding, and there is a decent amount of discussion pertaining to azoox corals. There's also an interesting article on a theory about sponges providing food for corals, and it actually makes a lot of sense but I'm no expert.

 

[glparr]

Waiting for the Post Office to deliver mine. Wanted to grab one at MACNA, but the lady at the booth asked if I was a subscriber and I was honest. "Your copy will be coming in the mail in the next few days." So I'll be patient.
Gary

 

[uhuru]

Did you get a chance to look inside? Some really nice photography, ALMOST as nice as yours!

 

[glparr]

No, she was very protective of the couple of issues she had left on Sunday morning. I just figured I'd wait until my copy arrived. Thanks for the compliment. They have some talented people providing photography for that magazine.
Gary

 

[uhuru]

Say goodbye to carrying buckets up and down the stairs! Finally finished plumbing my continuous water changing system. I'm running over 300 ft. of poly tubing, at 10 ft. vertical distance and 150 ft. horizontal distance each way. I'm using a 150g tub as the SW reservoir and will be setting the litermeter to change 4g/day. This should come out to about 100% of my water volume per month. About $10/week in salt. Hopefully as the seagrass tank matures this will decrease. I'll take pics of the setup soon!