Bandomo's ReefBox: A New Journey...

[Bandomo]

Makes sense. Yes, Radions are ready for the big tank. I had LEDs previously, and now am currently running a mix of LED and a 250 Radium halide. SPS seem happier, Zoas still small and unhappy, but none have died. Been like this for like a year, and gets no better, no worse. Before going to SPS, my zoas looked great, and was getting great growth. That colony of UC I got from you went to 40 polyps!

Kind of frustrating because I like zoas a lot. Sorry to derail your thread a bit. I will try and maybe reduce my lighting and flow for a week or 2 and see if I see a change then ramp up from there. Thanks for the advice!

I feel your pain. I would concentrate more on the light and leave the flow as is for the time being. I know Victor from WWC runs his MH for roughly 4hrs a day. The rest of the time its just LED's.

 

[Bandomo]

ELECTRICAL...

Okay, for the record, I would like everyone to know that I absolutely.........HATE WIRES!
Being the anal retentive neat freak that I am, I wanted to implement a design that was clean looking and practical, but at the same time not to organized that I have to take it all apart just to remove one piece of equipment. All-in-all, I'm fairly pleased with the end result....

The first step was to figure out a way to easily attach and remove the electrical panel, which will house my Apex Controller and hide all the cables from being visible. For this, I created "U" brackets and attached them to the sides and bottom of the cabinet. Now I can simply slide the panel on and off to have full access to all the equipment without have to screw or unscrew anything...



Next, I installed a shelf for the Stenner Pump and Linksys game adaptor...



And whalla!
What you think...

 

[reefsahoy]

Yo jovanny, Looks great! Like a bathroom stall! Lol. Suggestion, why not use a hinge so you can swing it out the way and quit teasing and fill that thing with water!:hmm5:

 

[blackthunda77]

Looks good. I too will probably be following suit on the stenner pump in the future.

 

[Bandomo]

Yo jovanny, Looks great! Like a bathroom stall! Lol. Suggestion, why not use a hinge so you can swing it out the way and quit teasing and fill that thing with water!:hmm5:

Nick, are you saying you want to pee in my tank?!

The door hinge was my original plan. Unfortunately due to the shelf in the back, I couldn't swing it backwards. And once I connected the EB8, etc. on the front panel, I could only swing it forward a couple inches before the corner of the EB8 hits the side cabinet. The "U" hooks worked so much better. This way, I can simply lift and remove the panel out of place to have unobstructed access.

The tank is cycled and ready to go. Just catching up on the build thread
I have been struggling with cloudy water, hence the reason for no full tank shot as of yet.
Not sure if its due to my small studio and the tank being relatively close to the kitchen.
Also, I have yet to dial in the skimmer (waiting for my skimmer stand to arrive) or run carbon. I'm sure things will improve once I incorporate those two.

How's your nano coming along? Are things easier now that you have the Radion Pro?
Thoughts?

Oh, the big tease is yet to come

 

[Bandomo]

Looks good. I too will probably be following suit on the stenner pump in the future.

It just seems like the next logical step. Especially for larger tanks. Honestly I think once the pump is setup, its going to be the MOST valuable piece of equipment. Sure its nice to have an Apex controller and what not, but at the end of the day, it doesn't do anything except monitor and incorporate safety features. The Stunner pump will be the BACKBONE of the system and have a direct impact on the success of the system itself.

 

[Bandomo]

Enough teasing, time to get this show on the road.

Prepping the electrical panel...


Installed all equipment, ran and organized wires...






Counted a total of 36 wires, cables, RO tubing, etc.


And finally, who's your daddy!

 

[Bandomo]

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....

 

[rovster]

Nice. Where did you get the Panduit? I need to order some for mine. Also like the wire wraps you used. I used them on my ghetto tank. They work great for cleaning up the mess. Looks great!

 

[blackthunda77]

:thumbsup:

 

[brians4671]

Geez I feel like a slob after viewing your wiring harness very nice

 

[AquamanE]

Continuing the theme of making this system run on "cruise control", I decided to take the plunge and implement an automatic water change system. Shout-out to DRThompson and Eddie for making this possible! I'm sure it'll be well worth the money spent once I set it up. True Story, before making the purchase, I called Eddie to inquire about the pump and hear his thoughts. Eddie said, Dude right now I'm sitting in the patio smoking a cigar while that "thingamajiggy" is doing my water change! Needless to say I started laughing and purchased the pump that evening. Since I live in a small studio and the pump is relatively loud, I opted for the 100gpd version to help make the water changes quicker.

Here's the link...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2349824


Jeovany- Im not on my patio smoking my Cigar, BUT I AM on the computer drinking a beer, while my water change is getting done, LOL :rollface:

Regarding aquascape, for both you and John (blackthunda), make sure you have enough for biological filtration. I dont believe in the 1lb per gallon theory, but do feel LR is the backbone to all systems. Some of those minimalist tanks put LR in the sump.

And i agree with others. More technical/specs info on those items you used to organize the wires would be appreciated!!!

 

[reefsahoy]

Jovany, you are going over the top on this! Looks impressive and knowing your history, this tank should really rock! My nano is just 2 month old. I'm going all sps and because its a nano i have to be very selective with coral selection. I only have two sps at the moment while i figure out the radion pro. I may have to slow down tho as my youngest daughter is heading to austria and germany for study abroad and internship this summer. We (wife, other daughter and i) will be heading over to europe for a couple weeks so the family can be together for vacation. Not sure how im going to handle the tank then!:hmm6: that was the reason i donated my reef to the museum before as we've been traveling like crazy!:fish1:

 

[Bandomo]

Nice. Where did you get the Panduit? I need to order some for mine. Also like the wire wraps you used. I used them on my ghetto tank. They work great for cleaning up the mess. Looks great!

Thanks Danny! I purchased the cable raceway's on Amazon. I'll supply a link below. I still have a 3' piece left over. It's yours if you want it, just swing by and pick it up.

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-...&qid=1390670331&sr=8-3&keywords=cable+raceway

Geez I feel like a slob after viewing your wiring harness very nice

Thanks for the kind words! My back was on fire after it was all said and done.

Continuing the theme of making this system run on "cruise control", I decided to take the plunge and implement an automatic water change system. Shout-out to DRThompson and Eddie for making this possible! I'm sure it'll be well worth the money spent once I set it up. True Story, before making the purchase, I called Eddie to inquire about the pump and hear his thoughts. Eddie said, Dude right now I'm sitting in the patio smoking a cigar while that "thingamajiggy" is doing my water change! Needless to say I started laughing and purchased the pump that evening. Since I live in a small studio and the pump is relatively loud, I opted for the 100gpd version to help make the water changes quicker.

Here's the link...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2349824


Jeovany- Im not on my patio smoking my Cigar, BUT I AM on the computer drinking a beer, while my water change is getting done, LOL :rollface:

Regarding aquascape, for both you and John (blackthunda), make sure you have enough for biological filtration. I dont believe in the 1lb per gallon theory, but do feel LR is the backbone to all systems. Some of those minimalist tanks put LR in the sump.

And i agree with others. More technical/specs info on those items you used to organize the wires would be appreciated!!!

Thanks for the concern Eddie. I'm definitely on the lower end of the spectrum, only have a total of 40 pounds of sand, which is roughly a .5" to 1" sandbed depending on location and exactly 30 pounds of live rock. No additional rocks in the sump as of yet. If by chance I see that the tank is having a hard time trying to stabilize, I'll implement some changes.

Regarding wire management, I used 2"x2" cable raceways purchased from Amazon (link posted above), good old traditional zip ties, reusable velcro zip ties, and spiral cable wrap all purchased from HomeDepot. I'm good for the time being, but once I have to start unplugging and removing equipment more frequently, I'll probably swap the spiral cable wrap for the item listed below. That little tool thingamajig makes wrapping the cables so much easier.
http://www.amazon.com/Evriholder-Ca...d=1390669586&sr=8-18&keywords=cable+organizer

 

[rovster]

Thanks for the offer buddy! Where are you located anyway? I'd make the trip more to see your setup and get ideas for mine, now that I'm making progress. Also, I've got some corrugated tubing if you ever need any. Would love to see a pic of the whole set-up, but I know you are keeping us in suspense

 

[Chris155hp]

Jovany this is SICK!!! cant wait to come by and see it

 

[Bandomo]

Jovany, you are going over the top on this! Looks impressive and knowing your history, this tank should really rock! My nano is just 2 month old. I'm going all sps and because its a nano i have to be very selective with coral selection. I only have two sps at the moment while i figure out the radion pro. I may have to slow down tho as my youngest daughter is heading to austria and germany for study abroad and internship this summer. We (wife, other daughter and i) will be heading over to europe for a couple weeks so the family can be together for vacation. Not sure how im going to handle the tank then!:hmm6: that was the reason i donated my reef to the museum before as we've been traveling like crazy!:fish1:

Thanks for the kind words Nick! If my tank turns out half as nice as your old one, I'll be a happy man. I'm also shooting for a strictly SPS tank. I'm sure I'll dabble with chalices/zoa's along the way, but as soon as the SPS frags start to mature into larger colonies, I'll start phasing them out. Ideally I would love to just have roughly 10-12 SPS frags and let then grow into monster size colonies, but I doubt I have the patience for that. No matter how nice a coral looks, after time you just get board and the itch to acquire new pieces kick in. Glad to hear that you're traveling quite a bit! Thats something I sacrificed this year due to the build.

Thanks for the offer buddy! Where are you located anyway? I'd make the trip more to see your setup and get ideas for mine, now that I'm making progress. Also, I've got some corrugated tubing if you ever need any. Would love to see a pic of the whole set-up, but I know you are keeping us in suspense

I'm located in Midtown, just off the 195 and Miami Ave. Once I remedy the cloudy tank water, I'll post a FTS. I just received the tracking number for my skimmer stand and a piece of acrylic to hold my Eshopps rectangular filter socks. Once those arrive, the tank should be go to go.
What's corrugated tubing?

Jovany this is SICK!!! cant wait to come by and see it

Thanks Chris, feel free to hit me up anytime you're in the area.

 

[rovster]

I'm located in Midtown, just off the 195 and Miami Ave. Once I remedy the cloudy tank water, I'll post a FTS. I just received the tracking number for my skimmer stand and a piece of acrylic to hold my Eshopps rectangular filter socks. Once those arrive, the tank should be go to go.
What's corrugated tubing?

Never seen those rectangular socks. I'm using the vertex sock holder for my sock. Its REALLY nice! Corrugated tubing is just plastic tubing with a slit in is that you can conceal wires in. Its flexible and clean and is just another thing you can use to "clean up" the wires. I am running the wires from my 3 radions directly into the wall. I will be using the corrugated tubing to hold all the wires and give it a clean look. Might use some in other areas as well.

This stuff.....

If anything, maybe you can find some new creative ways to be anal retentive like me

 

[AquamanE]

Thanks Danny! I purchased the cable raceway's on Amazon. I'll supply a link below. I still have a 3' piece left over. It's yours if you want it, just swing by and pick it up.

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-...&qid=1390670331&sr=8-3&keywords=cable+raceway



Thanks for the kind words! My back was on fire after it was all said and done.

Thanks for the concern Eddie. I'm definitely on the lower end of the spectrum, only have a total of 40 pounds of sand, which is roughly a .5" to 1" sandbed depending on location and exactly 30 pounds of live rock. No additional rocks in the sump as of yet. If by chance I see that the tank is having a hard time trying to stabilize, I'll implement some changes.

Regarding wire management, I used 2"x2" cable raceways purchased from Amazon (link posted above), good old traditional zip ties, reusable velcro zip ties, and spiral cable wrap all purchased from HomeDepot. I'm good for the time being, but once I have to start unplugging and removing equipment more frequently, I'll probably swap the spiral cable wrap for the item listed below. That little tool thingamajig makes wrapping the cables so much easier.
http://www.amazon.com/Evriholder-Ca...d=1390669586&sr=8-18&keywords=cable+organizer

LOVE the organizer ideas. Bought them ALL, LOL :dance:

 

[rovster]

Haha, I bought some as well, LOL!