Chris Q's Humble Reef

[Chrisq0904]

Ok I got water in the tank did the leak test and so far there seems to be no leaks with it running for close to an hour. It makes a little noise but still fine tuning the bean animal setup.

I filled it with the hose from outside because things are progressing with the house situation so I don't want to setup the tank when I could be very well moving it soon. Just trying to dot all the i's and cross all the t's.

I added a section in the plumbing to make a manifold for 2 reactors (carbon and gfo) but apparently I wasn't thinking when I ordered the pump and by looking at the flow now I'm not sure I'll have enough power. So for now I just have the manifold section capped off.

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[itz frank]

I added a section in the plumbing to make a manifold for 2 reactors (carbon and gfo) but apparently I wasn't thinking when I ordered the pump and by looking at the flow now I'm not sure I'll have enough power. So for now I just have the manifold section capped off.

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Chris, the one thing I'd recommend is not tying the return to the manifold. I'm sure that people do it but a change in flow through the reactors from GFO and carbon moving around will cause you to have to mess with your drain more often.

I didn't end up just running my return without manifold and even in my own set up, the water level raises and drops fairly frequently. My research lead me to not tie the systems together.

Maybe someone with other experience will chyme in.

 

[rovster]

Mine is tied to my manifold and one thing I will say is you have to really upsize the pump to do this. My pump feeds display, fuge and 2 reactors, and its barely enough. I should have gone one size larger, and my pump is one size larger than I originally planned for.

As far as having to mess with the drains, I wouldn't say its a major issue. I'm running herbie and I have to touch my drain valve once in a while but its minor. Actually I think it has more to do with the strainer on my siphon starting to get plugged up than anything to do with my reactors. It is nice to just have one pump, but a separate pump for reactors may give a little more control and you can make sure you have enough flow.

 

[Chrisq0904]

When I made the manifold I put it on a union, so I bought another union a capped it off. I'll keep everything I have for it in the chance I upgrade my pump but for now I'm pretty happy. So far loving the pump. Someone gave me the idea of mounting the included FS upside-down so if the sump level drops too much the pump will shut off just as an added safety

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[Stylo328]

When I made the manifold I put it on a union, so I bought another union a capped it off. I'll keep everything I have for it in the chance I upgrade my pump but for now I'm pretty happy. So far loving the pump. Someone gave me the idea of mounting the included FS upside-down so if the sump level drops too much the pump will shut off just as an added safety

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The float switch idea is great. Very clever.


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[Zalick]

Ok I got water in the tank did the leak test and so far there seems to be no leaks with it running for close to an hour. It makes a little noise but still fine tuning the bean animal setup.

How is the noise level for the new pump? I have a Vectra M1 and looking for another dead silent pump to power by skimmer and UV system. I was going to get another M1 but then saw this pump was out and it looked very promising!

 

[Chrisq0904]

I don't hear it at all to be honest. The only thing I've ever owned to compare it to is the Jecod dct 12000 and that pump had a high pitch whine to it but nothing horrible. This reef octopus doesn't seem to make any notice though. I can only hear a slight sound from water in the front of my overflow.

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[Zalick]

I don't hear it at all to be honest. The only thing I've ever owned to compare it to is the Jecod dct 12000 and that pump had a high pitch whine to it but nothing horrible. This reef octopus doesn't seem to make any notice though. I can only hear a slight sound from water in the front of my overflow.

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Thanks. Think I'll give it a try too.

 

[Chrisq0904]

Hey everyone! Things seem to be moving along well with the house and I'm scheduled to close on the 15th but we will see how true that is. Anyway, I'm thinking of making a fish/"office" room out of one of the spare bedrooms. I'm contemplating painting the room blue.... having the wall behind the tank an actual blue and all the other walls a much lighter blue (like a gray-blue) and having a white line around the middle that goes all the way across.

What are your thoughts on this?

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[Chrisq0904]

Finally the news I've been waiting for! Just about everything as been processed and I should be closing by the 22nd the latest but the bank told me they are going to push for the closing to be on Wednesday. I never thought this day would come, I'm getting pretty excited and can't wait for the move to happen and get the tank up and running!

On a side note I will have beer for someone who would like to help me move the tank. Should only need one other person since the tank is small and going from point a to point b is about a 5min drive.

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[itz frank]

Chris, I live in Dania near 595 and i-95. My work schedule is crap but shoot me a message and I'll see if I can help out.

 

[REDDAWG43]

Chris I don't drink beer but definitely be more than willing to help with anything.... just let me know.

 

[Chrisq0904]

Thank you everyone who offered to help, but I was able to manage a way to get the tank to the new house, and a little help from the comcast guy.

Well I'm somewhat settled into the new house, got caught up with moving and small things to do around the house. While I do not have everything moved over yet, I did manage to bring the new tank over. I filled the tank with 80g of water but I think it could use a gallon or two to get the sump to the level I want. Added salt this morning and wanted to give it 24hrs to mix before I tested the salinity. Tomorrow I will add ammonia and some bacteria if my salinity is good followed by some time and patience. Im glad that the tank is finally up and running. Now to try and take on the headache of the electrical. I believe I will be able to run everything into the closet that the tank sits next to, I just hope the cables are long enough to reach. I will tackle that project in the upcoming weeks after the summer semester is over and I have more free time on the weekend.

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[Chrisq0904]

I purchased a used deep blue 30g cube for a temp/frag/QT/hospital/what ever you wanna call it tank. I transferred all the stuff I had in the 40b last night and switched to LEDs for that tank (still have T5 for the main).

The main tank has cleared up since the last post and did a fishless cycle which seems to be completed by now. Every time I add ammonia it's gone within a few hours. I was going to set up my apex finally since I was able to transfer the old tank but had some company last night and didn't have the time to. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to set it all up or at least most of it.

QT tank

Display tank

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[Chrisq0904]

The display tank has been well cycled and fish were added. Current fish list is 2x clownfish, tomini tang, pink margin wrasse, pylei wrasse, leopard wrasse, and a yellow watchman goby. The tank is going though a small gha phase which kinda sucks but it happens. I tried to run a fuge but the chaeto ball seems to have died off and I don't think I'm going to try and start another one since the compartment is kinda small. I do have some dragons breath that seems to be doing fine. I may have a phosphate issue because I literally have to clean my glass everyday because it gets a "dusting". I ordered some siporax to add to my sump which will hopefully help keep my nutrients at lower levels. I have a few sps frags in the tank and seem to be holding their colors. Was thinking of try biggles juice but I think I may need more coals in the tank to make it worth trying it. Either way that's basically all that has been going on with the tank, hoping to see more improvements as time passes.


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[Chrisq0904]

I've always wanted to run a zeo tank but didn't want to have to stay on top of my tank that much and add an extra reactor. Then came the aquaforest line, I've been doing quite a bit of reading about their products and have become extremely interested in trying it out. I followed a few builds on the forums that seem to be having some great success so long story short I decided to give it a try when I walked into a LFS and saw that they had the entire line. I'm only starting with a few of their products as a "starter" pack and will see how the tank does with just the minimum. I'll observe how the tank reacts and decide if I continue to add more and more of their line or if it doesn't work for my tank I'll stop.

I hope this works as well for me as it did for others. I'm pretty excited about what is to come from Aquaforest


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[rovster]

No question there are some amazing AF tanks out there. Good luck with that. I don't know a ton about their line but I thought some people run zeolite stones as well. Had I not already been invested in Zeo I probably would have given AF a try.

 

[Chrisq0904]

No question there are some amazing AF tanks out there. Good luck with that. I don't know a ton about their line but I thought some people run zeolite stones as well. Had I not already been invested in Zeo I probably would have given AF a try.

AF has their own stones but to my understanding that's not required. If I end up using more of their system I'll most likely end up using it. From what I see people use their stones, carbon and gfo in the same reactor.

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[rovster]

Yeah I don't think you need to pump them like zeo recommends.

 

[itz frank]

I'm not sure if my information is accurate but i think i read that some people have been experiencing high nitrates from one of their supplements. Might want to search for some of the information to make sure my info is accurate and if it is what could be causing it. I've seen some very pretty AF tanks and if I wasn't lazy, I'd probably be all about it.