Chronicle of my 180g Aquarium
- Thread starter Psyire
- Start date
Psyire
Premium Member
It's time for my Aquatronica post!
For those of you who don't know what it is, the Aquatronica is an Aquarium controller much like the Aquacontrollers offered by Neptune Systems. I will be using this controller to automate as much as possible on tank. It will control the following functions.
- RO/DI Solenoid control for auto-top off of my sump with RO/DI water. This will consist of two floats, one will be a redundant 'emergancy' shutoff float incase the first one sticks. I will also have 2 solenoids on the RO/DI line.
- Temp control, via. 2x 250w Ebo-Jager Heaters. (One in the overflow and one in the sump) This includes two temp probes which will be monitored and graphed.
- pH, graphing and monitoring my pH.
- ORP, graphing and monitoring my ORP.
- Metal Halide Lights, control of on/off times for my lights.
- Kalk mixer, control of on/off times for my Kalk Reactor.
- Ozonizer, control of ozone injection based on ORP readings
- Refugium light, control on/off times.
- Moon lights, control on/off times.
- Fan control, on/off times based on tank temp.
- Anytime, Anywhere monitoring and control of my system via. my computer and the PC interface module.
That is my initial list but I'm sure it will end up doing a few more things. Anyway, I spent some time today mounting up the hardware and I thought I'd post some pictures. So here they are:
For those of you who don't know what it is, the Aquatronica is an Aquarium controller much like the Aquacontrollers offered by Neptune Systems. I will be using this controller to automate as much as possible on tank. It will control the following functions.
- RO/DI Solenoid control for auto-top off of my sump with RO/DI water. This will consist of two floats, one will be a redundant 'emergancy' shutoff float incase the first one sticks. I will also have 2 solenoids on the RO/DI line.
- Temp control, via. 2x 250w Ebo-Jager Heaters. (One in the overflow and one in the sump) This includes two temp probes which will be monitored and graphed.
- pH, graphing and monitoring my pH.
- ORP, graphing and monitoring my ORP.
- Metal Halide Lights, control of on/off times for my lights.
- Kalk mixer, control of on/off times for my Kalk Reactor.
- Ozonizer, control of ozone injection based on ORP readings
- Refugium light, control on/off times.
- Moon lights, control on/off times.
- Fan control, on/off times based on tank temp.
- Anytime, Anywhere monitoring and control of my system via. my computer and the PC interface module.
That is my initial list but I'm sure it will end up doing a few more things. Anyway, I spent some time today mounting up the hardware and I thought I'd post some pictures. So here they are:
Psyire
Premium Member
For power bars / surge protectors, I'm using Belkin. They make a very cool version that is suppose to be used under your computer monitor, but ofcourse I had different plans. These are their 'maximum' protection series and are rated for full line duty which is nice. They have 4 'switchable' connections, and 1 non-switched. I stacked 2 of them to give me 8 switches and 2 pass throughs, all with reliable surge protection. You can't beat these IMHO.
Check it out:
Check it out:
Psyire
Premium Member
Answers:
1) No limit that I can think of really. Maybe something very obscure that only your reef does? Everything I've thought of doing I can do. You can also add as many modules/interfaces, probes, & power bars as you want. This would be handy for controlling multiple tanks.
2) Yup, they are surge protectors as well as switched powerbars. (meaning I have individual on/off control of the outlets on the back, which is what the switches on the front do) They aren't necessary, but I like all my electronic equipment on surge protectors due to many lightning storms every year.
Hope that helps!
1) No limit that I can think of really. Maybe something very obscure that only your reef does? Everything I've thought of doing I can do. You can also add as many modules/interfaces, probes, & power bars as you want. This would be handy for controlling multiple tanks.
2) Yup, they are surge protectors as well as switched powerbars. (meaning I have individual on/off control of the outlets on the back, which is what the switches on the front do) They aren't necessary, but I like all my electronic equipment on surge protectors due to many lightning storms every year.
Hope that helps!
Psyire
Premium Member
I bought mine from Aquarium Obsessed, and apparently prices are due to come down very soon. Personally I don't think it's all that bad when you consider what you are getting. If you price out individual timers (decent ones) and controllers, it adds up real fast.
More info on the Aquatronica can be found in this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=514711
More info on the Aquatronica can be found in this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=514711
Ahhh man that is so awesome
I have been talking to Will a bunch about this controller. It seems like an awesome little unit and might use it in my 280 setup. It is costly but I feel its on line with the other brands when you look at what you get. Plus I think this one has an edge over the others. I am looking forward to some user reviews of this so get to setting it up :bounce2:
I have been talking to Will a bunch about this controller. It seems like an awesome little unit and might use it in my 280 setup. It is costly but I feel its on line with the other brands when you look at what you get. Plus I think this one has an edge over the others. I am looking forward to some user reviews of this so get to setting it up :bounce2:
Psyire
Premium Member
Time for an update.
So I finally have life in the tank! Yeah! It's been a long time coming, and I'm excited! Last wednesday I brought the temperature up and added the salt. I then ordered 30 lbs. of Jakarta Live Rock which was here the next day and then added to the refugium part of the sump. My plan is to use the 'fuge as a spot for this rock to 'seed' my tank for the time being. After a few months have gone by I will remove most of it and turn the 'fuge into exactly that.
Pics:
So I let it sit for a few days just circulating and then added 6 large uncooked tiger shrimp. It's been a number of days and boy does it stink, and ammonia levels are high. (2.0 - 4.0) Just as I suspected the cycle has begun and the shrimp are turning to mush at a fairly fast rate. My base rock should be crawling in microscopic bacteria in no time!
Tonight I worked on hanging my lumenarc's. I got the holes drilled and mounts in place just in time to realize my cable clamps and cable size did not match up. So tomorrow I hope to get the right sizes so that I can make the cables to let them 'hang'. For now I just hung them right up there so they are out of the way, snapped some pics just because.
In other news my PC interface came in for my Aquatronica so I've been messing with it and it's pretty cool. I'll post more info on it later. My Skimmer, Waste Collector, and Kalk reactor are finished and ready to ship out early next week. So I should have them just in time. Things are progressing nicely now, it's a good feeling.
So I finally have life in the tank! Yeah! It's been a long time coming, and I'm excited! Last wednesday I brought the temperature up and added the salt. I then ordered 30 lbs. of Jakarta Live Rock which was here the next day and then added to the refugium part of the sump. My plan is to use the 'fuge as a spot for this rock to 'seed' my tank for the time being. After a few months have gone by I will remove most of it and turn the 'fuge into exactly that.
Pics:
So I let it sit for a few days just circulating and then added 6 large uncooked tiger shrimp. It's been a number of days and boy does it stink, and ammonia levels are high. (2.0 - 4.0) Just as I suspected the cycle has begun and the shrimp are turning to mush at a fairly fast rate. My base rock should be crawling in microscopic bacteria in no time!
Tonight I worked on hanging my lumenarc's. I got the holes drilled and mounts in place just in time to realize my cable clamps and cable size did not match up. So tomorrow I hope to get the right sizes so that I can make the cables to let them 'hang'. For now I just hung them right up there so they are out of the way, snapped some pics just because.
In other news my PC interface came in for my Aquatronica so I've been messing with it and it's pretty cool. I'll post more info on it later. My Skimmer, Waste Collector, and Kalk reactor are finished and ready to ship out early next week. So I should have them just in time. Things are progressing nicely now, it's a good feeling.
Psyire
Premium Member
So I made some more progress today...
I was able to get the correct size of cable from the hardware store and make my cable lengths. It was pretty easy, I just created 2 that worked and duplicated them. I have the fixtures hung so that they are 6" off the top of the tank. This should put the actual halide bulb around 9" off the water. Worked out pretty good.
Closeup's of cables:
So after they were hung, I couldn't resist but to plug in my halides and fire them up. Woohoo! Let there be light! Upon doing so I figured I may have to rethink my color of bulbs and their position.
Right now I'm running: 10K/14K/10K
I may go too: 14K/10K/14K
Or possibly all 14's. I'm going to wait and see how much blue disappears from the 14K as it burns in.
Check them out:
A closeup of rock:
That's it for now, hope you like! I sure do!
I was able to get the correct size of cable from the hardware store and make my cable lengths. It was pretty easy, I just created 2 that worked and duplicated them. I have the fixtures hung so that they are 6" off the top of the tank. This should put the actual halide bulb around 9" off the water. Worked out pretty good.
Closeup's of cables:
So after they were hung, I couldn't resist but to plug in my halides and fire them up. Woohoo! Let there be light! Upon doing so I figured I may have to rethink my color of bulbs and their position.
Right now I'm running: 10K/14K/10K
I may go too: 14K/10K/14K
Or possibly all 14's. I'm going to wait and see how much blue disappears from the 14K as it burns in.
Check them out:
A closeup of rock:
That's it for now, hope you like! I sure do!
matt & pam
Member
How many pounds of rock are in the tank so far?
Psyire
Premium Member
Fur, yeah you can definately see the bulb difference. I'm considering changing it, like I said earlier. However I'm wondering how much different it will be once they burn in.
M&P, Right now there is 162 lbs. of Baserock and 30 lbs. of Live Rock, so 192 lbs. total. Once the Baserock is seeded my plan is to remove 2/3 of the Live Rock that's in the 'fuge. I'm kinda thinking I want a Mantis tank, so maybe it'll go there. (20 lbs.)
M&P, Right now there is 162 lbs. of Baserock and 30 lbs. of Live Rock, so 192 lbs. total. Once the Baserock is seeded my plan is to remove 2/3 of the Live Rock that's in the 'fuge. I'm kinda thinking I want a Mantis tank, so maybe it'll go there. (20 lbs.)
Psyire
Premium Member
I'm not really going for that 'Full of Rock' tank look. I want enough to get the job done but lots of water room for fish to swim as well. I like the 'nook n' cranny' look as well, and the more rock that goes in, the harder this look is to achieve. I feel I've done good at getting what I'm after so far. It's hard to tell from pictures, but the 'rockwall' is a good 3"- 4" from the back overflow, so fish can swim in behind easily.
tigerarmy40
New member
I have to commend yo on going with the black sand. not too many people use it in their big reefs and I really dont know why it looks great!
oh yeah are you planning on painting the back black? it would really tie in the black sand well! I have seen black sand tanks with the sides and back painted and it really makes all your colorful fish stand out!
oh yeah are you planning on painting the back black? it would really tie in the black sand well! I have seen black sand tanks with the sides and back painted and it really makes all your colorful fish stand out!
