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d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
d2mini
Premium Member
I take this as Richard fully supports this ideahaha
There's plenty of exciting things in the works, and maybe even some changes coming. So keep checking back.
Couple minor updates from this week...
"¢ Both of my old Ecotech battery backups were dead. So a new one arrived yesterday. Time to switch that out.
"¢ A 200g bucket of Tropic Marin Pro salt arrived... Recommended by Triton. Different than my usual bucket of Salinity.
"¢ Picked up my new-to-me 24" LifeReef skimmer this weekend and changed out the tubing and gate valve.
"¢ Changed my mind on how I'm plumbing the sump, so now I'm waiting on a couple extra fittings from Elos.
"¢ Got some storage jugs to mix/store the Triton Elements. And working on dosing containers.
"¢ Two new 300w Finnex Titanium heaters are arriving today.
"¢ New Cepex ball valve arriving today to replace the one I ordered previously in the wrong size. :face palm:
ClownsRCoo
New member
Did you see the new magnetic stirrers from ghl? Would that be useful for your triton dosing liquids?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Arkayology
Active member
Great tank build so far. I'll be following.
Reel North
New King of Quarantine
Dennis. When I move you are coming over. And organizing all my stuff.
Beast! Awesome thread
Beast! Awesome thread
d2mini
Premium Member
I have seen those. I'll have to double check, but I don't believe the Triton liquids need stirring once mixed.
Thank you!
hahaha, thanks.
bmullikin1
New member
awesome build as usual, knowing your pretty handy, the ecotech marine batt b/u are not difficult to recycle, just drill the rivits, replace battery and pop in some new rivits, good to go again, and alot cheaper than new ones
d2mini
Premium Member
Ya I've seen that and thought about it briefly.
This was one instance where I felt like by the time I went out, bought the battery, bought the rivet gun and rivets and took the time to do it, I'm just gonna get a new one under warranty.
But maybe in the future when I have less going on.
This was one instance where I felt like by the time I went out, bought the battery, bought the rivet gun and rivets and took the time to do it, I'm just gonna get a new one under warranty.
But maybe in the future when I have less going on.
CafeReef
New member
Ya I've seen that and thought about it briefly.
This was one instance where I felt like by the time I went out, bought the battery, bought the rivet gun and rivets and took the time to do it, I'm just gonna get a new one under warranty.
But maybe in the future when I have less going on.
if you feel like finding a home for one of your dead ones let me know
d2mini
Premium Member
UPDATE 5-12-16
It's been a while since the last update but I have been busy.
This build is taking a couple interesting turns and it hasn't even gotten wet yet.
For one, I decided to redo the equipment board... for a couple reasons.
The main thing though was there was just something about it that wasn't sitting right with me. I think it was the lack of access to behind it. This didn't bother me originally, but once I placed the sump in the tank, I realized how little room there was. The sump is very large, taking up most of the interior of the stand. The left end of the sump was mere inches from the equipment mounted on the board, particularly the GHL Power Bars.
I had mentioned earlier that I wasn't fond of the "Panduit" electrical raceways that many people use because they take up valuable space, and I also just wasn't particularly keen on looking at all those big bars running up, down and across.
I hope the owner doesn't mind, but here is just a random example from a google image search showing what I mean...
Now don't get me wrong, this is a very nice example of cable management and everything is nice and tidy and clean looking.
But I just don't have a lot of space to play with.
So after some thinking, it finally dawned on me... what if I just ran the raceways around the perimeter? They would almost disappear in comparison. I also realized I don't have all that much equipment that needs to be mounted, for instance... it's not like I have a bunch of Apex modules. Most everything I need for my Profilux is part of the Profilux computer itself, which is sitting on that shelf I made. So I went to the computer and started laying it out. After a little playing around, spec'ing 2"x2" raceways around the perimeter, everything fit! I found the plastic ones on amazon and ordered two 5' lengths. They arrived early this week.
And while I was waiting for the raceways to arrive, and needed to tear everything out. All the equipment had to be removed from the board, the board had to be removed from the supports, and I had to go out and buy another piece of wood that I could cut down, paint and remount.
So I'm walking around Home Depot and I come across something PERFECT that I didn't see last time. They had 2'x4' sheets of 3/4" particle board with white melamine laminate!!! I wasn't going to be drilling holes through this and the white melamine would match the stand perfectly! No painting required. And it was quite a bit cheaper than the plywood. Bonus!
Changing to this 3/4 material vs the 1/2" plywood had one downside... i was already tight on room in the stand. But since I wasn't going to be hiding all my wires behind the board this time, I removed the supports and cut them down, making up more than the 1/4" in space. Bonus again. Then I remounted the supports. By now the raceways had come in so I cut and mounted those around the perimeter, did a test fit/layout of all my equipment, and then mounted the board to the supports. Finally I was able to start mounting all the equipment and running the cables.
The pic below shows the almost final product.
I still have some stuff to mount in the middle area which I'll talk about in my next update, so the rear vertical raceway cover is not on yet.
And I won't be using the raceways for my sump items like skimmer, heaters, and carbon reactor.
I want to be able to unplug and remove these items easily for not if, but when the sump ever needs to be drained and removed. Again, I'm tight on space so any major work in the stand may require sump removal. These wires will still be neatly secured, just a lot more accessible.
The Vectra return pump is the only sump item going into the raceway.
Oh, and I also hung the refugium light.
As far as plumbing goes, I'm starting laying it out but waiting for a couple last minute little things to arrive from BRS today, and Elos next week.
But the plan is to have the tank wet by next weekend!
So here's where I am now.
There's still some exciting things to come, but that's for the next update.
It's been a while since the last update but I have been busy.
This build is taking a couple interesting turns and it hasn't even gotten wet yet.
For one, I decided to redo the equipment board... for a couple reasons.
The main thing though was there was just something about it that wasn't sitting right with me. I think it was the lack of access to behind it. This didn't bother me originally, but once I placed the sump in the tank, I realized how little room there was. The sump is very large, taking up most of the interior of the stand. The left end of the sump was mere inches from the equipment mounted on the board, particularly the GHL Power Bars.
I had mentioned earlier that I wasn't fond of the "Panduit" electrical raceways that many people use because they take up valuable space, and I also just wasn't particularly keen on looking at all those big bars running up, down and across.
I hope the owner doesn't mind, but here is just a random example from a google image search showing what I mean...
Now don't get me wrong, this is a very nice example of cable management and everything is nice and tidy and clean looking.
But I just don't have a lot of space to play with.
So after some thinking, it finally dawned on me... what if I just ran the raceways around the perimeter? They would almost disappear in comparison. I also realized I don't have all that much equipment that needs to be mounted, for instance... it's not like I have a bunch of Apex modules. Most everything I need for my Profilux is part of the Profilux computer itself, which is sitting on that shelf I made. So I went to the computer and started laying it out. After a little playing around, spec'ing 2"x2" raceways around the perimeter, everything fit! I found the plastic ones on amazon and ordered two 5' lengths. They arrived early this week.
And while I was waiting for the raceways to arrive, and needed to tear everything out. All the equipment had to be removed from the board, the board had to be removed from the supports, and I had to go out and buy another piece of wood that I could cut down, paint and remount.
So I'm walking around Home Depot and I come across something PERFECT that I didn't see last time. They had 2'x4' sheets of 3/4" particle board with white melamine laminate!!! I wasn't going to be drilling holes through this and the white melamine would match the stand perfectly! No painting required. And it was quite a bit cheaper than the plywood. Bonus!
Changing to this 3/4 material vs the 1/2" plywood had one downside... i was already tight on room in the stand. But since I wasn't going to be hiding all my wires behind the board this time, I removed the supports and cut them down, making up more than the 1/4" in space. Bonus again. Then I remounted the supports. By now the raceways had come in so I cut and mounted those around the perimeter, did a test fit/layout of all my equipment, and then mounted the board to the supports. Finally I was able to start mounting all the equipment and running the cables.
The pic below shows the almost final product.
I still have some stuff to mount in the middle area which I'll talk about in my next update, so the rear vertical raceway cover is not on yet.
And I won't be using the raceways for my sump items like skimmer, heaters, and carbon reactor.
I want to be able to unplug and remove these items easily for not if, but when the sump ever needs to be drained and removed. Again, I'm tight on space so any major work in the stand may require sump removal. These wires will still be neatly secured, just a lot more accessible.
The Vectra return pump is the only sump item going into the raceway.
Oh, and I also hung the refugium light.
As far as plumbing goes, I'm starting laying it out but waiting for a couple last minute little things to arrive from BRS today, and Elos next week.
But the plan is to have the tank wet by next weekend!
So here's where I am now.
There's still some exciting things to come, but that's for the next update.
d2mini
Premium Member
Yes, the board is laminated and i sealed the edges with kilz paint.
The board is raised off the floor a few inches. So no worry about spills.
Every stand with equipment in it has to deal with salt creep and humidity.
The stand is ventilated and water doesn't randomly splash out of my sumps.
F. Tietzsch
New member
That looks very neat!!!!
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