It's hard to do an update because we are always doing something new. I can't keep track of what I've shared on here and what we didn't end up doing that we said we would
The 6 Orphek LED lights or the Mars invert system arrived yesterday. Mounting options are limited with the Mars construction, but I figured out a way to do it properly and will have them installed this week.
We added some more corals on friday. They are colouring up nicely and the tank is starting to look like a reef, but we have a lot of stocking to go.
I managed to crack the Schuran Calcium reactor on the top and bottom of the tube while adding the media. I find it hard to believe that it was due to over-tightening the four plastic screws by hand, but what can you do. I tried acrylic glue and epoxy, but it cracked again. I'm hoping the replacement body doesn't cost more than a (perhaps better) American-made complete calcium reactor. The control valves are cheap on the Schuran unit, I'm not crazy about the amount of work involved in changing the media, and it doesn't have a second pass reactor to remove/buffer residual carbonic acid (low PH). The body is thin acrylic and the bond is weak. I may have to get a replacement part fabricated locally to save time and money. I will fire off an inquiry to Schuran tomorrow.
Let's see, what else did I break recently...
We received our Blueline 70 pump for the RK2 skimmer venturi. It's installed and running
WAY better. I can't believe they don't supply it with this pump from the factory. It's magnet coupled (safer) and provides more bubbles and pressure for the wash-down feature... Oh yeah! I broke a bulkhead and the garden sprinkler solenoid on the RK2 when we moved it last time
We will be replacing the solenoid with a 1/2" Hayward AC actuator valve. We will add a second actuator (run on the same timer) to run the inner wash-down feature. Does anyone know where I can get these at a decent price? Georg Fischer wants $370 each
The 130 gallon hospital tank came in and looks great. I'm ordering an 80/20 T Slot stand for it tomorrow. We will be using our Aqua-Ilumination SOL LED to illuminate it. I ordered a new controller to replace the one we broke
The Aqua-Medic order came in today. We received a large kalkwasser reactor that we will put online now and add kalkwasser to later as needed.
We played around with LED supplemental lighting for the display, but I will let Peter handle that one...
