Devoted Reefer 250

[pelphrey]

what ATO container did you go with? I like the look of it. I would like something different than the 5gal water jug I'm using now..

I had this one made. BlueTideAcrylics on instagram made it for me, I gave him the left over dimensions of my cabinet, so it may be a tight fit!

 

[pelphrey]

Local buddy of mine went to Louisville, KY yesterday and visited Aquatica, he was awesome enough to pickup some snails for the Reefer!

Not everything in a reef tank is always nice to look at!

 

[pelphrey]

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[pelphrey]

BRS single reactor added to the tank with carbon and GFO -

For now the reactor is running off of the MJ1200 until I can get my manifold situation figured out -

After a week in the Reefer 250 the Nyos 120 is doing its job!

 

[pelphrey]

ATO Container has arrived -

Fresh water test -

Into the stand -

This is a temp feed line, it will be changed to PVC. The reason behind this is to prevent a siphon from happening!

Float will be wired to Apex BOB for low level notification - AKA Lazy Switch!

 

[serenity]

Looks fantastic! Great attention to details!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pelphrey]

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[pelphrey]

Been a little while since I last updated the build process. I battled a pretty bad algae outbreak, water changes, clean filter socks and manually getting into the tank and scrubbing the rocks seems to have solved the problem. I wish I had taken some pictures, one of my rock structures was completely covered in algae. After getting in the tank with a good brush a couple of times I am hoping I am over that battle. I was rotating new filter socks every 2 days, this has now moved to every third day. I run one mesh and one felt, the felt sock is in the first chamber catching most of the stuff and doing all of the major work.

The Nyos skimmer is pulling great skimmate, I have had to adjust the skimmer a few times and it is a pretty painless process. This skimmer is still dead silent!

I did chop up my plumbing, I do have parts in to redo the plumbing and that will be done at a later date when I have the time. I was running my reactor off of a MJ1200 and no matter what I couldn't get the MJ1200 to run silent. It was literally the loudest part on the entire system, to remedy this I made do with the parts I had on hand and Tee'd off the return. I realized I didn't need all of that plumbing, I do plan to add 2 manifold ports, maybe 3 but in a different configuration that doesn't take up the space in the back of the stand.

I have a few plans that will take place sometime next year, being a hardware junkie I can't seem to stick with equipment very long before I want to try something else!

 

[burton14e7]

Why do you have a plastic zip loc bag over your skimmer?

 

[pelphrey]

Why do you have a plastic zip loc bag over your skimmer?

It is ugly isn't it? It is just a fail safe, the Nyos 120 is an amazing skimmer and does an awesome job! But I've found out the hard way if I put a brand new filter sock in the sump (without running it through the washer with the dirty socks) my collection cup will overflow. So the bag is on there to prevent anything else from getting dirty/wet if/when the skimmer cup overflows.

I do have floats in the sump connected to my Apex to shut the skimmer down if the water reaches a certain level, but again if that float fails to shut off the skimmer and the water level is to high the bag will prevent spray all over the cabinet & sump.

 

[burton14e7]

Oh very cool, that makes perfect sense. I was just wondering because I've never seen somebody do that before! I'm debating between the Nyos 120 and Nyos 160 for when I set up my reefer 250. One of my favorite reefer 250's is using the 160 but most people I see are using 120s.

I also found the guy that made your ATO on facebook and asked for a quote so I'm totally plagiarizing you and ordering it when my tank is set up.

 

[pelphrey]

You talking about "practical reef"? He is running the 160, but on a 12 on 13 off schedule.

 

[pelphrey]

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[burton14e7]

You talking about "practical reef"? He is running the 160, but on a 12 on 13 off schedule.

Yeah, his tank. I didn't know he was doing a 12 on 13 off schedule. Did you mean 12/12 and typo'd or is he really doing 13 off?

 

[pelphrey]

Yeah, his tank. I didn't know he was doing a 12 on 13 off schedule. Did you mean 12/12 and typo'd or is he really doing 13 off?

Ooops! Yeah 12 on 12 off!

 

[burton14e7]

Hmm, seems like a waste then unless he's trying to do something with his orp levels? I don't know but I guess that means I should just go with the 120 like you. I'm assuming you love yours?

 

[pelphrey]

The 120 is perfect for my system. I was going to go with the 160, after finding out he was only running it for 12 hours made my decision easier. It was simply striping the system of all of nutrients. Plus with the small foot print of the 120 I have half of my skimmer section left over.

 

[pelphrey]

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[burton14e7]

What is the toadstool looking coral you have on the right side of the tank?

 

[pelphrey]

Took a small road trip down to Nashville TN yesterday and visited Aquatic Critter. This place was suggested by a guy I know locally. I was not disappointed, the shop was really nice and the guy I spoke to while there was friendly and very helpful!