Wazzel
New member
The last two months have felt like an eternity!
Ha, seems fast to me. I picked up my tank in October and it is still dry.
d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
Ha, seems fast to me. I picked up my tank in October and it is still dry.
reefanatik
Member
The last two months have felt like an eternity!
:
I feel your pain. I'm still waiting on my BOA Sump. As soon I get that I'm getting it plumbed and filled. I do still need to talk to a carpenter to get it skinned, but that's no holding me up.
My German Shepherd does this, the whole counter surfing thing. I ended up using some mouse traps modified for noise to startle/scare her(not break her confidence mind you, she is only 8 months
). Took a bit of work but it did the trick. She was also a digger. That was easier. Just buried a balloon in her last whole and when she went back to dig, POP, and she came running Nice tank, good work as always and nice home. The effort in clearly shows in all you do.
d2mini
Premium Member
The drain itself is very quiet. If the water level is near the top of the overflow where it should be it's pretty much silent. But....
This whole time I was assuming the drain was a siphon, with the amount that it can potentially flow. But it's not, it's more of a fancy durso standpipe. Well, kinda in between the two.
The drain has an inner and outer pipe. The outer one rotates around the inner, which is what adjust the amount of flow.
The inner has a slot cut out of the bottom of it, about an inch or two from the base of the overflow.
This is where the water drains from. So when power goes out, the whole overflow drains.
Which is fine because it's a small overflow.
And this pipe is open at top, but if the water rises in the overflow, water will trickle down the pipe from the top. And if it rises high enough, it should create a siphon.
But... when you slip on the outer pipe, which also has a slot cut out of the bottom, it slips down and covers or reveals the slot on the inner pipe. This is how the flow is adjusted.
The problem I'm having is there is an air hole at the top of the outer pipe so it sucks air down into the plumbing.
So now there is a bunch of air bubbles coming out of the spray bar.
They are big bubbles that rise to the surface and pop.
This is creating a lot of moisture along the top of the sump rim because the water level in the refugium is only a couple inches from the top.
My solution is to build a cover for the refugium which I was thinking of doing anyway.
The bubbles don't seem to be a problem as far as getting back to the tank.
Temporarily, I'm running the tank with just the inner pipe. No big air bubbles and I adjust the flow with the Cepex ball valve I have on the drain in the stand.
This runs it pretty good and my Vectra L1 pump is running at 60% with the valve on the drain closed nearly half way.
The flow coming back out seems pretty good. There is the main return by the top of the overflow and then there is the second return coming out of the base of the overflow.
I extended the secondary one to almost the center of the tank with an elbow that shoots it toward the front glass.
And then I have the single MP40 on the rear wall on the left side.
The entire surface of my water has movement/ripples.
Here's a couple pics to show the water movement.
The water is quite cloudy. Probably will be until I get rock and sand in there.
On another note, I ran 50ft of Cat6 cable to the mixing station today!
And installed my old GHL Power Bar inside the shed.
Another step closer to getting the ATO working.
Now I can get my level sensor hooked up to the Profilux and hook up the little Cole Parmer peristaltic pump.
LOL, that's awesome. And thanks!My German Shepherd does this, the whole counter surfing thing. I ended up using some mouse traps modified for noise to startle/scare her(not break her confidence mind you, she is only 8 months
Nice tank, good work as always and nice home. The effort in clearly shows in all you do.
slief
RC Sponsor
Wow Dennis. I haven't been keeping up with your new build well enough. It looks great! I can't wait to see this come along. I think you're going to love the Radions. I'm sure you've seen o2manyfish's (Dave) tank? His SPS thrive on the Radions with no supplemental lighting. I've seen that tank first hand and without a doubt, those lights work great. Looking forward to following along!
d2mini
Premium Member
Check out the height of the radions over these grow out tubs...
http://ecotechmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Ecotech_CoralLab_WP1.pdf
24"... that's nearly 2.5x the height I've had previously.
I shouldn't need to go that high having more lights per square inch but I'll definitely have them quite a bit higher than I've had before.
So until the optics change, playing with height is our best bet for increased light spread and decreased shadowing.
Thanks, Scott!
I'll re-look at dave's tank.
Mr. Brooks
MASVC Member
I just finished an experiment with Radion lenses on my build. I have my radions sitting perpendicular, like yours. I put wide angle lenses on the back pucks and left the standard lenses on the front pucks. The idea was to have intense light in the front of the tank to punch through to the lower rock work, and less intense light to hit the rock work higher up in the back.
Unfortunately the par difference was too great. I was getting like 300 par in the front and only 150 par in the back (measured by a par meter positioned on the rock work). I swapped the wide angle lenses out for standard lenses over the weekend.
Unfortunately the par difference was too great. I was getting like 300 par in the front and only 150 par in the back (measured by a par meter positioned on the rock work). I swapped the wide angle lenses out for standard lenses over the weekend.
d2mini
Premium Member
There's multiple ways to do it.
If you wanted to hard plumb the whole thing, you could just get an imperial threaded to slip adapter and screw that right into the bottom of the overflow. But that leaves zero room for error and it would be more difficult to make changes if needed.
So i decided to do a combo where I had a short run of the supplied corrugated and silicone tubings connected to the base of the overflow and then transition to the hard pvc. I asked Elos send me a second set of barb fittings which they were nice enough to do. I just screwed them into threaded to slip adapters from home depot. The valve you are asking about sits right on top of the sump bulkhead. Then the adaptor and Elos barb fitting.
Horace
New member
Dennis...what do you anticipate the monthly Triton additives are going to cost? I read a thread where a guy said he thought his 180g would cost over $90/mo just for the 4 part. I was seriously considering Triton until that. No way I'm dropping that much on additives. I'm thinking of utilizing the triton lab, but still use a CaRx for the main dosing. If the lab test indicates a problem, I can then take action....
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
d2mini
Premium Member
I dunno. This tank is only 120g. Should be fine for quite some time.
And before I was spending $90+ per month on salt (AquaVitro Salinity), which I won't be now.
When you take that into account, I don't think it's that much of a difference compared to two-part dosing.
I also don't know if Triton Part A (alk) is equivalent to BRS's Alk solution? In other words, can they be directly compared?
d2mini
Premium Member
Got the Optical Level Sensor from GHL yesterday along with the magnetic adjustable mount.
Their new store is awesome. So nice to FINALLY be able to easily order GHL items at any time and from a USA based warehouse.
The website is easy to navigate and the shipping was quick.
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/usa/shop/
Hooked it up and I finally have a working ATO, water supplied via the mixing station outside in the shed. Woot!
Their new store is awesome. So nice to FINALLY be able to easily order GHL items at any time and from a USA based warehouse.
The website is easy to navigate and the shipping was quick.
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/usa/shop/
Hooked it up and I finally have a working ATO, water supplied via the mixing station outside in the shed. Woot!
d2mini
Premium Member
I'm in Houston.
I'm sure I'll need to keep an eye on things those one or two nights a year it hits freezing but it should warm up during the day anyway.
It was never a problem in my garage but we'll see how they do outside up against the house.
If anything, I may have to top off manually a couple days.
My profilux will let me know if the ATO runs for the max on-time.
kentuckyclowns
Member
Tagging along. Awesome setup and amazing craftsmanship.
d2mini
Premium Member
UPDATE 5-29-31
Ran the cable and hung up my Profilux "Touch" remote display panel yesterday.
It's just around the corner from the tank.
This location is right by the back door which we use to come and go.
And in the mornings I roll out of bed and walk to this door to let the dogs out.
So at a quick glance I can see all basic parameters or see if there is an alarm notification.
Or I can put the tank into feed mode, check graphs, etc. All without opening the cabinet.
And it's not a big distracting light right next to the tank. When standing right in front of the tank it's completely hidden.
And the 3g mixing/storage containers for the Triton Base Elementz are ready to go.
Located on a shelf in my garage.
Should make mixing and filling of my dosing containers nice and easy.
Ran the cable and hung up my Profilux "Touch" remote display panel yesterday.
It's just around the corner from the tank.
This location is right by the back door which we use to come and go.
And in the mornings I roll out of bed and walk to this door to let the dogs out.
So at a quick glance I can see all basic parameters or see if there is an alarm notification.
Or I can put the tank into feed mode, check graphs, etc. All without opening the cabinet.
And it's not a big distracting light right next to the tank. When standing right in front of the tank it's completely hidden.
And the 3g mixing/storage containers for the Triton Base Elementz are ready to go.
Located on a shelf in my garage.
Should make mixing and filling of my dosing containers nice and easy.
SchnitzelReef
Active member
Just got done going through this thread, build so far looks great. Love the attention to detail.
Made me sad to see you switching to radions. I know some local hobbyists that have been successful with radions and sps, and that is why I purchased them for my Sps dominant tank. Unfortunately 6 months later, I just tore them down and installed ATI fixtures. I loved the bells and whistles of the radions. Sunrise, sunset, moonlights etc etc, but growth just wasn't there. I would say 90% of my acros responded well, but it was that 10% that made me tear them down. I ran the AB+ schedule for 6 months, and in the end I wish I hadn't. Talking to the people I know who have been successful with radions, they all ran schedules with all colors 100%. Before I ordered the ATIs, I made the change to my schedule and started seeing some difference in growth, but soon followed increase algae growth.
It made me sad tearing down thousands of dollars in LED lights. I wanted them to work so badly, but it just never happened. I hope you have better luck, but take a look at the nicest Sps tanks on this forum, a majority run t5s.
Made me sad to see you switching to radions. I know some local hobbyists that have been successful with radions and sps, and that is why I purchased them for my Sps dominant tank. Unfortunately 6 months later, I just tore them down and installed ATI fixtures. I loved the bells and whistles of the radions. Sunrise, sunset, moonlights etc etc, but growth just wasn't there. I would say 90% of my acros responded well, but it was that 10% that made me tear them down. I ran the AB+ schedule for 6 months, and in the end I wish I hadn't. Talking to the people I know who have been successful with radions, they all ran schedules with all colors 100%. Before I ordered the ATIs, I made the change to my schedule and started seeing some difference in growth, but soon followed increase algae growth.
It made me sad tearing down thousands of dollars in LED lights. I wanted them to work so badly, but it just never happened. I hope you have better luck, but take a look at the nicest Sps tanks on this forum, a majority run t5s.
d2mini
Premium Member
Thanks!
Trust me... i've been there and done that.
If you're not familiar with it, take a look at my "200g Reeftastic Build Thread".
The challenge is to see if my experience this time around can change from last time.
We shall see!
And they are few, but there are some pretty nice led success stories out there.
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/164-tank-of-the-month
Trust me... i've been there and done that.
If you're not familiar with it, take a look at my "200g Reeftastic Build Thread".
The challenge is to see if my experience this time around can change from last time.
We shall see!
And they are few, but there are some pretty nice led success stories out there.
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/164-tank-of-the-month
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