Apartment Reefer

[Quintis]

Hello Sps brethren. I'm getting very close to kicking off my build and thought I would go ahead and get my thread started. I am in no way an SPS guru so I will be needing some help and guidance from you all.

The Plan

Tank- 112g custom build. 50"x 26"x 20"
Stand- DIY
Lighting- 8bulb ATI Powermodule
Sump- Custom Trigger Systems. 38"x 22"x 18"
Skimmer- AquaMaxx ConeS-2
Flow- 1-MP10, 1-WP10, 1-WP40
Heater- 2- 200W Cobalt Aquatics Neothems
ATO- Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155
ATO Container- Custom 10g
Dosing- 2x BRS Drew's Dosers, not sure on containers yet
Controller- Apex
Return Pump- Sicce Syncra 4.0

I think that's about it for equipment, although I'm sure I am forgetting something. In about two-three weeks I will be placing orders for everything. Skimmer will be here tomorrow.

In the meantime here are some pictures of my stand progress and some water changing system. I live in an apartment which isn't the most reef friendly place, but you can make it work. I am lucky and have an attached garage which is where I put my water mixing station. My RODI is in the wash room which the girlfriend isn't thrilled about buuuut she'll be ok. :lmao:

The stand is coming along nicely as I am no carpenter and have made tons of mistakes on it but it's mostly just things that I see. I will be stained to match the living room furniture once finished. I am also putting in a door on the side. I sectioned off a small area that will house all of the controllers, power strips and dosing gear to keep it out of the sump area. That door will have a glass pane in it so I can see through to the controller.

I look forward to this thread growing and sharing my experience with this tank. Like I said I will be asking a lot of questions in regards to SPS and decisions with the tank. I welcome all comments and advise. Thanks for looking and here are the pics.

Stand progress:















RODI area




Water Mixing station

 

[chefzif]

I would go with Profolux or Bubble Mangus two part doser! More accurate! IMO

 

[Quintis]

I would go with Profolux or Bubble Mangus two part doser! More accurate! IMO

I orginally selected the BM doser but I was hearing that it wasn't very accurate. Some people had no problems and others had tons, so it's just one of those things. I may research some more into them but the ones I selected have gotten very solid reviews all around.

 

[Quintis]

The skimmer came in today and it looks very nice! :bounce2:

 

[williewilliams]

I love the skimmer choice. I wish I had a chance to actually see one in person. Very interested in them.

 

[shih87]

Wow! Nice.

 

[biggles]

Looking great Quintis

That's very nice work on the stand mate, looks very classy. Your equipment list seems to have everything covered as far as i can see and all good quality gear. :thumbsup:
You have a WP10 listed, do you mean the WP25 like i use or something different. The RODI area looks great, if you have a partner i bet they love the way you integrated it so unobtrusively into the laundry, can hardly tell it's there lol..........no way would i have ever got away with that one mate - well done. :beer:
That is one fancy looking skimmer, that or the inside workings of a new acrylic jet engine or something..... points for having a damn cool looking skimmer mate :thumbsup:
Are you keeping the LED tank i see running or transferring it to the new display. Looking forward to seeing things progress, good luck

 

[Quintis]

I love the skimmer choice. I wish I had a chance to actually see one in person. Very interested in them.

Thanks. I've heard nothing but great things about them. I will post up some more pictures and videos of it in action soon.

Wow! Nice.

Thanks. Having the mixing station will make life much easier for sure.

Looking great Quintis

That's very nice work on the stand mate, looks very classy. Your equipment list seems to have everything covered as far as i can see and all good quality gear. :thumbsup:
You have a WP10 listed, do you mean the WP25 like i use or something different. The RODI area looks great, if you have a partner i bet they love the way you integrated it so unobtrusively into the laundry, can hardly tell it's there lol..........no way would i have ever got away with that one mate - well done. :beer:
That is one fancy looking skimmer, that or the inside workings of a new acrylic jet engine or something..... points for having a damn cool looking skimmer mate :thumbsup:
Are you keeping the LED tank i see running or transferring it to the new display. Looking forward to seeing things progress, good luck

Thanks biggles, I'm glad you found the thread. Yea I meant WP25. I already have the WP25 which is still in the box and my MP10 is on my small tank. I think that should be enough flow since I see a lot of people saying that the WP40 is very strong. I might just run the WP40 and the WP25. I'll just have to play around with it and see. LOL, yea the RODI area isn't the most practical, but it works. The apartment life limits my space so I had to be crafty, lol.

I did a lot of research on skimmers (well everything actually for the tank) and found these aquamaxx skimmers. I haven't read one bad review on them and they perform very well for the price point they are at and have nice quality. I'm not too sure what I going to do with the small Nuvo16 I have now. I was thinking about maybe turning it into a frag tank or a QT for new fish but I can't decide.

Right now the only things I can't really decide on equipment wise are:

-Dosing. Thinking about changing maybe to the GHL dosers, but can't decide.

-T5 bulbs. The used 8-bulb ATI PM I'm getting is coming with slightly used ATI bulbs. I'm thinking about switching to the KZ bulbs which is costly, so I'm not sure. I've heard good things about them but not sure if they are worth the extra money over the ATI bulbs.

 

[Quintis]

I have the tank and custom sump on order and will be getting everything else on order this week. I keep going back and forth on the lighting. I'm thinking about going with MH now, but the only thing is that I don't want to have to add a chiller. I would run two 250w pendant fixtures on the tank if I did. I keep my apartment at around 70 degrees. Anyone have any idea if the MH's would add too much heat to the tank without a chiller?

 

[trueblackpercula]

I read in a few threads that the brut pails give off lots of phosphates I would check into this before using them.

 

[Quintis]

I read in a few threads that the brut pails give off lots of phosphates I would check into this before using them.

Thanks for the heads-up as I didn't know about this. Once I saw your post I did some research and it seems pretty much 50/50 of people saying they caus phosphates and others saying they don't. I have had fresh RO/DI sitting in one for a couple weeks now so I will test it tonight and see if the Hanna picks anything up.

 

[premilove]

Nice! I'm very curious to see how that skimmer performs.

 

[animalkingdom]

Thanks for the heads-up as I didn't know about this. Once I saw your post I did some research and it seems pretty much 50/50 of people saying they caus phosphates and others saying they don't. I have had fresh RO/DI sitting in one for a couple weeks now so I will test it tonight and see if the Hanna picks anything up.

they dont cause phosphates, that is just another case of people wanting to find blame for something that is going wrong in their tank...
very very few everyday plastics leach phosphates in any kind of form that resembles or can be converted into a form that is bioavailable

 

[trueblackpercula]

Read this
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2257765

 

[Quintis]

Read this
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2257765

I understand some people seem to have problems they feel lead to the Brute containers, but there are also plenty of people that use them and don't have the problem. I have no idea if it's just a luck of the draw as to if you get one that leaches or not, but right now all I can do is test my RODI water in the container to check. If my checker shows phosphates then I'll have to regroup on my mixing station, which sucks since It is complete.

 

[trueblackpercula]

I am sure everything will be fine. I just shocked when I read that thread and just wanted to share with you.

 

[Quintis]

I am sure everything will be fine. I just shocked when I read that thread and just wanted to share with you.

I do appreciate it very much as I do want this build to go smoothly and have planned it that way. I will just make sure to test the water in the Brutes often to make sure it is phosphate free so I don't have problems down the road.

 

[Miyagi570]

Nice! Can't wait until it's up and running..

 

[dowtish]

Great looking stand! I'm am about to have to build one for myself, and may steal some ideas from yours.

 

[Arc Drafter]

I have the tank and custom sump on order and will be getting everything else on order this week. I keep going back and forth on the lighting. I'm thinking about going with MH now, but the only thing is that I don't want to have to add a chiller. I would run two 250w pendant fixtures on the tank if I did. I keep my apartment at around 70 degrees. Anyone have any idea if the MH's would add too much heat to the tank without a chiller?

I use my ac to cool my tank.. I do have a temp spike at mid day but nothing I worry about and my ac is set to 72. My friend has 3x250 watt mh and he doesn't have a chiller or problems w/ temp spike. If you are concerned maybe try a few fans. or run it w/o live stock and watch your temp and see how hot it gets. I will be interested to know what you find cause I am doing a very similar build in a month or so.

As far as phosphates from your brute trash cans I am calling malarkey on that. I rinse my brute out after every mix though. Maybe the people that are getting phosphates are not.