drummereef's 180g in-wall build
- Thread starter drummereef
- Start date
prop-frags
SPS Slave
UPDATE:
...This FTS was taken ~30 minutes after adding the last bag of sand and doing some final grooming for the night. Amazed again at how clean the sand went in. It would have been a solid few hours of cloudiness using another brand of sand. I'm a sand guy but, IMO, a nice sand bed makes ALL the difference. :beer:
Glad to see your reef has sand! :dance: Gotta love those Reeflakes - it is the cleanest sand we have ever used.
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drummereef
Team RC
Thanks so much suoirotoN. Your wish is my command, new pics on the way!
Glad to see your reef has sand! :dance: Gotta love those Reeflakes - it is the cleanest sand we have ever used.
Thanks Mike! I can't say enough good things about this sand. It's GREAT stuff.
drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
Some new pics for you guys...
Good morning on the reef. (if by morning you mean 8pm haha)
Getting some good polyp extension on one of the new frags.
One of the heads on my Agu Frogspawn receded severely during the dino battle, but it looks like a few polyps held on. Hopefully it will make a recovery. The other 2 heads luckily made it through unharmed.
Since I modded the skimmer inlet to accommodate the biopellet effluent it's been pulling some really nasty junk. Nog shots!!
Close-up... Ewwwww. :lol:
Dinner time FTS.
Some new pics for you guys...
Good morning on the reef. (if by morning you mean 8pm haha)
Getting some good polyp extension on one of the new frags.
One of the heads on my Agu Frogspawn receded severely during the dino battle, but it looks like a few polyps held on. Hopefully it will make a recovery. The other 2 heads luckily made it through unharmed.
Since I modded the skimmer inlet to accommodate the biopellet effluent it's been pulling some really nasty junk. Nog shots!!
Close-up... Ewwwww. :lol:
Dinner time FTS.
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drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
I decided to upgrade my Kalk dosing setup by adding a dosing pump to regulate the dosing more accurately. So I ordered a 50ml/min BRS doser today, should be here early next week. But in the mean time, I definitely needed a new pH probe since the one I had been using was old and wouldn't properly calibrate anymore. Jeremy at PA gave me a good deal so I went with the Sybon Lab Grade pH Probe this time. This will be a good backup measure for the Kalk doser. I will be able to turn the doser off if the pH should get too high.
First attempt at a top-down pic. :hmm3: Between the glare off the lights and not exactly being able to see what I was shooting, these aren't easy. :lol: I'll keep working on it, but this is the center island and Monti outcropping from above.
I decided to upgrade my Kalk dosing setup by adding a dosing pump to regulate the dosing more accurately. So I ordered a 50ml/min BRS doser today, should be here early next week. But in the mean time, I definitely needed a new pH probe since the one I had been using was old and wouldn't properly calibrate anymore. Jeremy at PA gave me a good deal so I went with the Sybon Lab Grade pH Probe this time. This will be a good backup measure for the Kalk doser. I will be able to turn the doser off if the pH should get too high.
First attempt at a top-down pic. :hmm3: Between the glare off the lights and not exactly being able to see what I was shooting, these aren't easy. :lol: I'll keep working on it, but this is the center island and Monti outcropping from above.
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drummereef
Team RC
Thanks Pete!
Not super consistent with cleaning the skimmer but on average ~3-4 days. I don't let it get over half full because I tend to spill some if it's too full trying to make it to the sink. :lol: I just kind of eyeball it and clean it when it looks dirty (and smelly) enough.
drummereef
Team RC
Snapped a couple more shots tonight...
Caught the Yellow Tang in action.
Current state of the sump room.
Caught the Yellow Tang in action.
Current state of the sump room.
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bmullikin1
New member
Nice and clean, front and back.
psteeleb
Team RC
^ +1
drummereef
Team RC
Mr Tang doesn't miss a meal that for sure.
Thank you bmullikin.
Thanks Pete!
drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
The BRS 50ml Dosing Pump came in today so I installed it this evening. Funny though, Sunday at 2pm Alk tested 8.00, Monday at 2pm Alk tested 8.06!! :facepalm: No dosing was done during this period. I tested twice Monday to make sure it was correct, so either my Sunday test was incorrect or something really weird is going on. :crazy1: I will retest tomorrow and see where it stands, then hopefully I'll be able to start dosing Kalk again.
The BRS 50ml Dosing Pump comes with a mounting clip and necessary screws, along with a few feet of both vinyl and rigid airline tubing (not shown in pic).
I decided where I was going to mount the pump , then I used the supplied drywall anchors and screws to attach the mounting bracket.
The pump installs easily over the mounting bracket.
Tubing installed. I used the rigid tubing on the feed side since I didn't want the tubing to kink where it enters the reservoir. I used the vinyl on the output side since it was a relatively straight shot to the sump.
Here's an overall shot of the setup. Kalk on top, fresh water top-off on the bottom. Not completely finished yet... I have my eye on some new reservoirs that will make filling and mixing a bit easier, but this is what I was using for top off and kalk dripping so I adapted them to the new setup for now.
The BRS 50ml Dosing Pump came in today so I installed it this evening. Funny though, Sunday at 2pm Alk tested 8.00, Monday at 2pm Alk tested 8.06!! :facepalm: No dosing was done during this period. I tested twice Monday to make sure it was correct, so either my Sunday test was incorrect or something really weird is going on. :crazy1: I will retest tomorrow and see where it stands, then hopefully I'll be able to start dosing Kalk again.
The BRS 50ml Dosing Pump comes with a mounting clip and necessary screws, along with a few feet of both vinyl and rigid airline tubing (not shown in pic).
I decided where I was going to mount the pump , then I used the supplied drywall anchors and screws to attach the mounting bracket.
The pump installs easily over the mounting bracket.
Tubing installed. I used the rigid tubing on the feed side since I didn't want the tubing to kink where it enters the reservoir. I used the vinyl on the output side since it was a relatively straight shot to the sump.
Here's an overall shot of the setup. Kalk on top, fresh water top-off on the bottom. Not completely finished yet... I have my eye on some new reservoirs that will make filling and mixing a bit easier, but this is what I was using for top off and kalk dripping so I adapted them to the new setup for now.
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Taqpol
New member
I take it the blue line going in to both tanks is how you fill from your RO/DI. Do you have a bigger RO/DI container somewhere so you dont have to run the RO/DI machine so much just to fill up a five gallon bucket? Also, how long does a five gallon bucket of top off last you?
cromedogg33
Member
Brett,
How rigid is the tubing they sent you? Is it the white tubing I see going into the top of the reservoir? I've been searching high and low for 1/4" rigid tubing and can't find it anywhere.
I've been wanting to use a uniseal bulkhead in the top of my containers for a clean look, but have a hard time finding those as well.
How rigid is the tubing they sent you? Is it the white tubing I see going into the top of the reservoir? I've been searching high and low for 1/4" rigid tubing and can't find it anywhere.
I've been wanting to use a uniseal bulkhead in the top of my containers for a clean look, but have a hard time finding those as well.
Chebby
New member
I have found it at Petco before.
drummereef
Team RC
nice!!
I see a float switch and solinoid build coming in the future
I was just thinking about this.
Once I get the new reservoirs I love to put one on the RO reservoir and have it timed so I'm not constantly filling every couple days. I'm assuming once my kalk dosing increases I won't have to fill the RO reservoir as much but it would be a time saver for sure. I'm afraid if I automate everything I won't have anything to tinker with anymore. :lol:Hey Alex, yes the blue line which comes from the RO/DI Tees to both the Top-Off reservoir (bottom) and Kalk reservoir (top), simply to make refills easier. When I upgrade the Kalk reservoir I'm at the very least going to put a float valve in there for peace of mind. Right now I just have to time it out and watch it each time I fill it to make more Kalk. I have a 32g Brute I use for water changes that I could use for an RO/DI reservoir but I haven't done so yet. I was always concerned about TDS creep by making large amounts of "unsealed" RO/DI water. If I had a proper water storage tank that was sealed relatively tight I would be less apprehensive I think.
Yes, that is the rigid tubing coming from the reservoir that feeds the dosing pump. I believe it's the same stuff you can buy to plumb an ice maker on your refrigerator. I was at Lowe's last night and saw some on a roll where they keep the vinyl tubing and it looked exactly the same. Not positive, but I think it's the same stuff.
You can only get a Uniseal as small as 1/2" unfortunately, I researched the same thing. Either you'd have to go with a 1/2" Uniseal / small piece of 1/2" pipe / threaded adapter / 1/4" threaded tubing adapter if you want to adapt to a dosing pump. If you can stay with John Guest style fittings, BRS has a bulkhead adapter but it has a metal nut - not so good... http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/1-4-push-connect-bulkhead-tank-adaptor.html
The only other option I've found for airline tubing adapters are the mini-bulkheads at Jehmco. They have an airline tubing bulkhead that might work for your application. I don't know if it has any metal parts though so you'd have to inquire. It would make a very clean look though. Here's the link...
Scroll down to the "Miniature Bulkhead Hose Barbs".
http://www.jehmco.com/html/bulkhead_fittings.html
Cool!
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Taqpol
New member
I was always under the impression that TDS creep occurred when you filled a small container over and over again vs. one large container one time. In fact, I've never heard of problems with unsealed containers, and I make up batches of RO/DI one 44 gallon brute (with the lid on) at a time. Could you elaborate a tad more on what you mean?
drummereef
Team RC
I'm not basing any of my theories on fact... :lol: In the past I had noticed a slight increase in TDS in my top-off reservoir but nothing that ever concerned me. I also noticed some increase in TDS in my Brute but that could be from salt residue / film etc... I haven't really done a "scientific" evaluation of my reservoirs lately though so I couldn't tell you if there's significant creep over a few days or not - or if there's a significant difference between 5 gallons or 55 gallons. Do you regularly test your RO/DI reservoir to see if there's creep?
Part of the reason for using a 5g bucket for my top-off is the manual backup safety measure. I manually turn a valve to fill the bucket which stops the flow via the float valve. I refill as the bucket empties, roughly every 2 days. That way, worst case, only 5g's gets dumped into the sump vs having a flood. Just a little piece of mind since my top-off reservoir isn't fully automated with a fill timer. Ideally I'd have a solenoid valve plumbed to a float switch in the reservoir to automate fill times.
