Last year I helped a friend build the reef system he has always wanted. When we sat down to figure out what he wanted it was pretty simple - a 180 in the basement and a 240 upstairs, oh and it should pretty much run itself. There were a lot more items on the list, but you get the idea - he wanted to spend his time enjoying the system and not maintaining it.
Water changes were a big item - they should be made as easy as possible. So i discovered Genesis Reef Systems and a fellow named Kevin. His flagship product is the Genesis Renew system - a dedicated system made to change water for you while you work, sleep and enjoy your tank.
The concept is to change one gallon of water at a time over a duration of fast as possible, a day, or a week. The idea of continuous water changes has been around for a while and is discussed in this article by Randy: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php#13 In this article he estimates that a continuous water change of 30% matches a batch change of 26% with the benefit that the introduction of changed water is more gently on the life in the tank. The gently exchange of water also has the perk of not having to heat the water (at least not for my friends 450 gallon system and my 250 system) - with a gallon at a time the water temp doesn't budge.
After some conversations with Kevin we decided to give the renew pro system a try. We also got the storm, I'll do that review another time, also a great piece of equipment. I unfortunately don't have one so i need to go over to my friends house for pictures
The unit showed up well packaged with lengthy, but comprehensive instructions. To scale templates were included to make mounting things easier. everything was labeled making plugging things in straight forward.
The head unit has a solid feel to it with good quality buttons which provide a great response.
There are two metering reservoirs used to measure 1 gallon of water each - one old tank water, and one fresh mix. The reservoirs are well made and have a removable top allowing access to the internal float switches.
The system included two pumps, which for this application were tailored to have one larger pump (discussed later).
The float switch brackets are pure genius - a cube with a sliding plate which doubles as a bracket or a float switch holder. The best part is the "extension" used can be replaced with standard 1/2" PVC which makes placing floats in large reservoirs much easier.
summary: the system has been running EXTREMELY well for about 8-10 months or so. There was a firmware update which Kevin applied for free that resolved a couple small issues which you would need to work hard to make happen. From day on Kevin at Genesis has been FANTASTIC - he answers e-mail very quickly, answers the phone for questions, an is always courteous. After using this i can't imagine any other way - this just works. no calibrating pumps to match - it just works. The system has been rock stable - no crashes or anything of the sort.
Earlier this year I had to work 14 hours a day 7 days a week for over a moth - if it wasn't for the renew i probably wouldn't have done any water changes out of pure exhaustion.
The Pro system (all the bells and whistles) including pumps is $499 - after using this I must say it is worth every penny!
Changes I would like to see:
The system monitors the levels of the holding containers, it would be great to have an output to connect to an RKE or APEX to let me know. My RKE text messages me if anything happens - it would be great to have this connected. I would say the price, but honestly it has been worth every penny and the build quality is fantastic.
*** note the pictures are from my system, after seeing my buddy's in action I had to have one!
head unit:
green button - select between continuous (water change the selected amount back to back until complete), one day period, or one week period - it does the math for you and spreads out the water changes.
yellow button - has LEDs around it providing status of the water change. the button can be used to suspend or cancel the water change
screen with gallons to change - use the up and down buttons to select the number of gallons from 1-99
lower left - sump status - indicates the water level in the sump along with the dual float switches in the old water metering reservoir.
lower right - replacement status - indicates the water level in the replacement water holder along with the dual float switches in the replacement water metering reservoir
all the ports are nicely labeled:
metering reservoirs - two identical units.
there are three hose connections - one pushes water into the reservoir, one drain for when the reservoir is full, and one to drain the bucket to it's destination. The overflow tube should run back to where the reservoir is being filled from.
The pro model has two float switches on the inside.
with back cover removed:
float switch brackets:
these are harder to describe. the picture below shows one assembled and one in pieces. The picture afterwards shows how you can mount them to each other (great way to mount dual ATO switches!)
pumps:
Genesis use ehiem and quite one pumps - both my friend and I have the quiteone pumps and i have been very happy with them. They work well, are quite, start reliably, include hose barbs, and are easy to clean (no tools)
Water changes were a big item - they should be made as easy as possible. So i discovered Genesis Reef Systems and a fellow named Kevin. His flagship product is the Genesis Renew system - a dedicated system made to change water for you while you work, sleep and enjoy your tank.
The concept is to change one gallon of water at a time over a duration of fast as possible, a day, or a week. The idea of continuous water changes has been around for a while and is discussed in this article by Randy: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php#13 In this article he estimates that a continuous water change of 30% matches a batch change of 26% with the benefit that the introduction of changed water is more gently on the life in the tank. The gently exchange of water also has the perk of not having to heat the water (at least not for my friends 450 gallon system and my 250 system) - with a gallon at a time the water temp doesn't budge.
After some conversations with Kevin we decided to give the renew pro system a try. We also got the storm, I'll do that review another time, also a great piece of equipment. I unfortunately don't have one so i need to go over to my friends house for pictures
The unit showed up well packaged with lengthy, but comprehensive instructions. To scale templates were included to make mounting things easier. everything was labeled making plugging things in straight forward.
The head unit has a solid feel to it with good quality buttons which provide a great response.
There are two metering reservoirs used to measure 1 gallon of water each - one old tank water, and one fresh mix. The reservoirs are well made and have a removable top allowing access to the internal float switches.
The system included two pumps, which for this application were tailored to have one larger pump (discussed later).
The float switch brackets are pure genius - a cube with a sliding plate which doubles as a bracket or a float switch holder. The best part is the "extension" used can be replaced with standard 1/2" PVC which makes placing floats in large reservoirs much easier.
summary: the system has been running EXTREMELY well for about 8-10 months or so. There was a firmware update which Kevin applied for free that resolved a couple small issues which you would need to work hard to make happen. From day on Kevin at Genesis has been FANTASTIC - he answers e-mail very quickly, answers the phone for questions, an is always courteous. After using this i can't imagine any other way - this just works. no calibrating pumps to match - it just works. The system has been rock stable - no crashes or anything of the sort.
Earlier this year I had to work 14 hours a day 7 days a week for over a moth - if it wasn't for the renew i probably wouldn't have done any water changes out of pure exhaustion.
The Pro system (all the bells and whistles) including pumps is $499 - after using this I must say it is worth every penny!
Changes I would like to see:
The system monitors the levels of the holding containers, it would be great to have an output to connect to an RKE or APEX to let me know. My RKE text messages me if anything happens - it would be great to have this connected. I would say the price, but honestly it has been worth every penny and the build quality is fantastic.
*** note the pictures are from my system, after seeing my buddy's in action I had to have one!
head unit:
green button - select between continuous (water change the selected amount back to back until complete), one day period, or one week period - it does the math for you and spreads out the water changes.
yellow button - has LEDs around it providing status of the water change. the button can be used to suspend or cancel the water change
screen with gallons to change - use the up and down buttons to select the number of gallons from 1-99
lower left - sump status - indicates the water level in the sump along with the dual float switches in the old water metering reservoir.
lower right - replacement status - indicates the water level in the replacement water holder along with the dual float switches in the replacement water metering reservoir
all the ports are nicely labeled:
metering reservoirs - two identical units.
there are three hose connections - one pushes water into the reservoir, one drain for when the reservoir is full, and one to drain the bucket to it's destination. The overflow tube should run back to where the reservoir is being filled from.
The pro model has two float switches on the inside.
with back cover removed:
float switch brackets:
these are harder to describe. the picture below shows one assembled and one in pieces. The picture afterwards shows how you can mount them to each other (great way to mount dual ATO switches!)
pumps:
Genesis use ehiem and quite one pumps - both my friend and I have the quiteone pumps and i have been very happy with them. They work well, are quite, start reliably, include hose barbs, and are easy to clean (no tools)
