Even then a single test at $50 is 200 gallons worth of salt. If one sets up an AWC station and uses right size containers then you only need to worry about mixing up water every other week or monthly. IE my 75 gallon drum if I set it to do my 20% weekly will last me 2 weeks without touching the tank for water changes. I can mix up the 30 gallons in the smaller tank and send to the 75 gallon tank as needed... easy peasy.
Valid point! And, like I said, since I am already planning on setting up AWC for my BC29 it makes sense to just follow suit with the new tank. I will definitely want to pick your brain around the setup once I am closer to learn from you. I am thinking I may need bigger than 75g drums for two reasons: 1) Depends on what size my new tank is, and 2) So I can only worry about monthly maintenance in that regard. (man I am lazy)
I still would say the Pacific Sun Kore 5th doser over the GHL. Hell you might be able to buy mine from me if you are serious further down the line as I will likely go to the calc reactor route myself since I am getting more and more into SPS. I am not sure I will want to deal with 2 part when it really pops off. I have yet to use the doser myself though as I just started stocking up on the sps.
Was that the doser you and I saw at MACNA?? I was thinking that one was the GHL... I guess they look similar, but everything was still so new to me when we went to MACNA. ;-) I am also thinking I'd like to go fairly heavy on SPS... it's just so cool looking and the wife likes it.
For the DOS doser it is what it is. I can't comment on the noise yet but plan on using it for AWC so I dont care much about potential noise too much. In the grand scheme of things the slight bit of noise from the tank is a non issue for me. I hear the fans of the lights and the slight hum of the pumps if I am close and the kid/wife aren't yelling about something.
Same here on the noisy house. It's not like it will be in an area that would disturb someone from sleep (unless I put the BC29 in the boys room). I'm still trying to figure out where the DOSes would need to be for the best performance.
When you set up your next tank will it be in same room? If so run an aquabus line to the other apex and you can control everything off of one unit without having to buy another system. you can get any modules you need or just eb8s.
Should you really want to get a second system let me know and maybe we can work something out there as well if you dont need everything on the new system. I would like the salinity monitoring and the new EB32 would allow me to get rid of a few wires I have now with my 1 link module. I just can't justify spending the money fresh for upgrade for stuff I dont need when there are other things I can spend on like coral, calc reactor, dedicated frag tank, ect.
I guess I never even considered using the same Apex for multiple tanks, but you are SOOO right!! Duh! However, I currently have two Apex's (1 gold and 1 Jr) and I do like that each system is for its own tank. Nice delineation... but I'm sure I could make it easy to figure stuff out with labeling on a single controller.
What the heck is the EB32??? A 32 outlet Energy Bar?? I currently have two EB8s and am only using 8 outlets for my BC29. That would change possibly with the AWC setup, but easy enough to add another EB8.
The two tanks will most likely NOT be in the same room, but I believe you can run a very long Aquabus cable (I thought I remembered reading it could be 300ft), and my house isn't that big. ;-)
BTW did you see that BRS is now selling those new IM tanks we had talked about before? They are sweet looking. I am considering trashing my biocube and grabbing on of them as a frag tank. The panorama tank looks pretty slick.
Just looked... VERY cool! Those abyss tanks are so cool. While I was on there that IM SR120 caught my eye again. I LOVE the look of that long shallow tank... but I hate the AIO in the sense that it doesn't easily/elegantly allow for a sump. AND, I hate that you lose precious inches of aqua scaping to the rear sump. Of course, I could always look at getting a custom tank similar to that design that is meant for a sump. My two main concerns around getting a regular sump are the skimmer and wanting to run a large refugium.
as for coding:
When is the return turning off? Do you kill it for feed mode? If so add the same code to the ato as the return pump to turn off during feed mode and give the delay an additional 5 minutes so that the level is down enough before it turns back on.
Evap would actually cause your salinity to rise. You can tie the unit to the salinity probe similar to how everything else is tied to the temp probe. I dont have the probe so I dont know what they call it in fusion but it would be similar to:
if salinity > 1.026 then on
I do have the ATO setup as a pump and use the feeding schedule and a longer delay. It works fine in that regard, but I was thinking for when I do maintenance it would be great to only turn off the main pump and have the ATO automatically turn off.
I think I messed with the Salinity thing, but I guess the programming alluded me. I think you have to set it off as the first line, and then anything else would turn it on?? I tried a couple different things and looked around for help to figure it out, but ultimately couldn't get it to work the way I wanted and just gave up and went back to the pump setting.
