Dallasg's "Blue Bottle" Experiment!

[dallasg]

Sketch up, design and road ahead

Tank 1200x800x500 12mm glass with 2 sides starphire, 2 sides viewable

Sump is 750x350x350, with 700x120x400 RO chamber

Stand is 50mm square tube, 850mm high clad in 18mm ply painted black with one side having a glass window, there will be a built in waterproof cupboard for the electrics and power station which will be 2 x 105A deep cycle batteries with an Ellies 600w/1000VA inverter.

Skimmer: Reef Octopus Bubble Blaster Skimmer with a Bubble Plate 3000-INT "“ bubble blaster 3000 pump

Filtration: Zeolith Reactor Reef Octopus ZF-140 with OTP2000 pump, Filter sock and ZeoVit Blue bottles. Carbon I will run on a Reef Octopus Phosphate reactor powered by a OTP500 pump. Reef Octopus Calcium Reactor fed via my return pump.

Temp Control: Jager 300w heater, Haelia 500A chiller controlled by a Digital Thermostat controller with temp probe

Lighting: Silver Ceiling 8 x 54w T5 unit, with geiseman globes ( Aqua-pink, actinic, midday, actinic+), I will however upgrade to KZ New gen & KZ Fiji Purple T5's

Flow: 2 x Vortech MP40W ES mounted on the back pane, with a Atman return 3500Lph

This tank is now going to go full ZeoVit, I will be assembling the stand and new plumbing this week, with the aim of getting water in this weekend, that's the plan anyway. The one thing I like about ZeoVit is that it keeps my sump simple, small and clean.
While I have been debating my lighting I have decided not to use LED just yet, I feel that the light spectrum still needs some massaging, more on this later. So now I am going to keep my T5's (432w), with KZ New Gen and Fiji Purple. I will be using Reefers Best Salt which allows me to do a 5% water change every 2 weeks which keeps a nice balance of maintenance vs laziness since I never did water changes before in any of my tanks

At the best of times I have A.D.D. when it comes to tanks, but I think this is going to have to be it for at least a year, well that's my goal. The only add-on I would do is the reef angel controller which I am currently looking at building.

I am planning to aqua-scape using the Iwagumi way, inspired by the minimalistic scaping of ADEE's tank and Yano from ZeoVit.com. The bonus is less rock in the tank, so more flow for the vast Colonies I plan to grow J

My Fish Stocking list will be my Favourite 5 I have had for ages:
15cm Yellow Belly Regal Angel (Paracanthurus hepatus var.)
16cm Vlamingii Tang (Naso vlamingii)
10cm Sailfin Tang (Zebrasoma veliferum)
Long-nose Hawkfish (Oxycirrhites typus)
Lemarck Angel (Genicanthus lamarck)

While I am still out on what I will keep, I know it will only be the rare and sought after, while in the past I have been an impulse buyer with way to many fish in my tank, I am now going to be more selective with the only planned additions so far being some black percs and a pair of Spotbreast Angelfish (Genicanthus melanospilos) and a pair of Bellus Angelfish (Genicanthus bellus)

As for Corals, this will be SPS dominated with odd scatterings of brains, blasto's and Scolys. Namely:
Echinophyllia sp. (chalice)
Acanthophyllia deshayesiana (meat coral)
avites pentagona (war coral)
Favites bestae (Christmas favia)
Scolymia sp.
Blastomussa sps.
Acanthastrea echinata
Acropora sps.
Montipora sps.


That's it for now, until my next rambling"¦

PS. I don't have a super-dopper camera as I am rather buying Acro's and new globes
But I will be adding some videos and the like as often as I can during the build, of course once the tank is stocked I will have to post regularly on the Blue-Bottle tank.

The next post will have pics of the equipment and setup

 

[dallasg]

Materials, construction and equipment shots

Ok I realised that most of my equipment is Reef Octopus, kind of happy about that.
I have battled with getting the tank level, my floor is skew and cracked a tile, so over December, we lifted and fixed the tiles, now every thing is level. I have chosen to go with a simple sump and place everything in the same chamber.


I opted for a chiller so that I can make sure my tank says at 25deg, the heater and chiller are controlled by a external thermostat and temp probe so that if eighter should fail there is a failsafe. The return pump is also controlled with to level switches that will prevent the sump running dry and the DT overflowing.


Here are some pics of the equipment, and a few of them with things installed. My last bit of construction is the stand shelving which I will do while the tank is cycling. The last thing lift to do now is plumb the return pump and overflow pipes which I will do this evening.


Zeolith Reactor - Reef Octo ZF-140

Skimmer Reef Octo INT3000

Kalk Reactor - Reef Octo KR140

CarX - Reef Octo CR100

Carbon Reactor - Reef Octo PHR100

The First line of defence - Filter Sock

To Chill or not to Chill - Hailea 500A

To hot for this tank - Jager 300w

 

[dallasg]

can we say flow - Vortech MP40W

Brine Shrimp Hatchery

PH Control and Level Control - SAGA

 

[dallasg]

Here is by initial cycle dosing
schedule for d.1
- dose 4 drops Bak & SP
- Start3 is dosed 0.3-.4ml 2x's/day
- 1ltr. zeolites[wellrinsed/soaked] @ 400 l/h[takes 9 seconds for the full zeo-rx. to fill a one ltr. container]

beginning day 4 - 14:

- dose 4 drops Bak & SP daily until d.14, then dose these 3x's/wk. until d. 30.
- Start3 is dosed 0.3-.4ml 2x's/day daily
- Add 150ml of carbon[well rinsed/heated/soaked on d. 10

day 30[1st zeolite exchange, then the exchange becomes 6-8wks., thereafter]

 

[dallasg]

The Main Event

Lights - Silver Ceiling 8 x 54w T5 Giesemann Globes

OverFlow

Sumps

 

[dallasg]

Here is by initial cycle dosing
schedule for d.1
- dose 4 drops Bak & SP
- Start3 is dosed 0.3-.4ml 2x's/day
- 1ltr. zeolites[wellrinsed/soaked] @ 400 l/h[takes 9 seconds for the full zeo-rx. to fill a one ltr. container]

beginning day 4 - 14:

- dose 4 drops Bak & SP daily until d.14, then dose these 3x's/wk. until d. 30.
- Start3 is dosed 0.3-.4ml 2x's/day daily
- Add 150ml of carbon[well rinsed/heated/soaked on d. 10

day 30[1st zeolite exchange, then the exchange becomes 6-8wks., thereafter]

i am getting new filters etc for my RO unit at lunch time, then should take 2-3 days to fill, i wont let it run while i am asleep or at work.. murphy laws and all that

 

[Crazy_Beaver]

Everything looks great!You should ask for a better price from reef octopus next time!tagging along!

 

[dallasg]

thanks, our local reef octopus supplier gave me a very good price

 

[allsps40]

Nice looking build.

 

[dallasg]

Nice looking build.

thanks! got a load of corals to show when the tank has cycled

 

[allsps40]

cant wait

 

[Crazy_Beaver]

cant wait

+1

 

[Reef_Noob]

Very cool you have done the equipment planning and got it all setup from the outset itself.
Great to see them all installed and running....most exciting part of our hobby
Good luck!

Happy Reefing!!

 

[Buzzword]

Not to be a downer but I think you will regret having it in a corner like that. Otherwise very nice setup!

 

[dallasg]

cant wait

Me to!

+1

:bounce3: thanks

This looks like it is going to be a very promising thread.
keep up the good work.

thanks, i have a lot planned for it on the road ahead

Very cool you have done the equipment planning and got it all setup from the outset itself.
Great to see them all installed and running....most exciting part of our hobby
Good luck!

Happy Reefing!!

Thanks for the worlds, 4 months planning saving etc

Not to be a downer but I think you will regret having it in a corner like that. Otherwise very nice setup!

Thanks, i have moved it away from the wall, way better, thanks :bounce3:

 

[dallasg]

Zeolith Filter Update

well i managed to convert my zeolith filter from internal to external, it made it more accessible for the bi-daily plunging

got a small DB board and light timers this morning, so will install and post those pictures this eve

 

[dallasg]

another goodie arrived today

 

[dallasg]

LED's, Plumbing complete and electrics

LED's, Plumbing complete and electrics

3. LED's, Plumbing complete and electrics

Ok I had planned to use 8 x 54w T5's but decided to go with LED's and the DIY route. I am going use bridgelux 10k white, 6500k white, and royal blue. I have 4 meanwell 60w drivers which will allow me to run to units of 30-40 LED's each. I have decide on using 400x190 heatsinks with huge fins that are ribbed for greater cooling surface area. Initially I am going to control them using a BoostLED Typhoon 4 channel controller, then I will integrate that into my DIY controller, more on that later.

With work being chaotic I haven't had much build time but today I managed to complete all the plumbing and fit all the equipment. Freshwater water test went well, now I have to neaten up all the 6mm pipes from the CarX and Kalk reactor.

I wired the DB board and added 2 timers for kalk reactor and the temporary vertex illumina's until I have finished my LED units. Luckily I have the 14 day cycle still to go before I add corals etc.

I have also decided to design, develop and integrate my own controller, which will be based on the netduino plus and .NET micro sdk. The controller will control my lights via typhoon integration, and I will add some of the sort after features of late, storm, clouds etc. I will also add vortech wireless control so I can sync vortechs and lights for better simulation. There will also be a pH controller and monitor so one can control and optimise a carx and kalk stirrer. I will also add a 5 channel doser and custom LED driver to replace the meanwells too, thanks to the guys on RC for sharing the schematics and designs, as well as some code from reef angel. This will be a long term project that will eventually replace all the other equipment I have.

Here are some shots from my new camera :beer: