Jason's 210 Reboot.

[JAustin]

So, I've built this setup before. About 1.5 years ago I setup this tank and shortly after I got orders overseas for a year. I didn't want to burden my wife with looking after our two kids, house, dogs, AND my reef, so I took it down. Now I the process of building it and dealing with it running for half a year I learned several things.

I have made many modifications to the sump, tank overflow, and my equipment list.

First thing was I chopped the skimmer down. I had a 4" section in the front of the skimmer that channeled my water to the 2" bulkhead that fed the Reeflo Super Dart (4,000 GPH). This section was a mistake. That crap was like a white water rapids that was loud and impossible to rid the setup of micro bubbles.

Second I ditched the Reefkeeper. I feel DA just isn't keeping up with the times. Not to mention the salinity probe madness. So I jumped ship to Neptune. I recently picked up a full Apex with an extra EB8 and breakout box.

Third: I downsized my skimmer from the SRO 5000 External to the SRO XP 3000 External. I'll hang on to the 5000 just in case I have such a huge bio load it needs it. The XP 3000 External is rated for a 200g heavy bio load and the 5000 External is rated for 300 heavy bioload. The XP 3000 External seems like a better match for my tank.

Fourth: I lost the hood and moved away from the two 400W metal halides and two T-5s. I now have a ATI Dimmable Sunpower 8x54W light fixture that I will suspend over the tank a few inches. I recently put bulbs in this bad boy and fired it to see the color"¦"¦all I can say is I'm impressed. This is the first tank I've ran 100% T5s over and I'm excited. For light I went with the following bulb combo which gives me a solid 14-16K look:

Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
GE 65000
Blue Plus
Coral Plus
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

Once I move everything in place I'll take some photos of the tank setup. I plan on updating this thread with photos of my progress and coral growth. More details on equipment.

Thanks for following along, I hope I can keep this interesting for everyone!

Jason

 

[ghellin]

Awesome!!! Glad to see you back at it!

 

[JAustin]

Here's the tank with what I'm sure will be how I have my rock. Used some hydraulic cement sold by Marco at Marco Rocks. Great stuff. Super easy to use. A buddy of mine who ownes Custom Reef Creations in Moore Oklahoma showed me the difference between the Marco Rocks and the traditional pond foam, Fiberglas resin process which takes a few days tondo and cure. The Marco Rock cement is ready to tank in 24 hours!

 

[cFloor]

Aquascape is looking really good! I too went from MH to all T5s and I never regretted it. Following along...

 

[JAustin]

Thanks cFloor!

The scape is back in its tub. Even though the rock is pretty clean, I went ahead and started a soaking process. I'm running carbon on it to help pull out anything bad that may be in the rock. Trying to avoid algae growth in the DT.

Here's a shot of that and my pile of madness.

 

[JAustin]

Going to use Red Sea salt to fill the tank. A friend of mine said the mag is a tad low but the alk and cal are spot on. I was going to use IORC but the alk is just too high. Same with Red Sea Pro.

Should get water in the tank this Tuesday/Wednesday! I've got 110g of RODI already made and as soon as I use them up I'll start filling the rest with my 75 GPD unit. So it should be full by the next day.

I figure I'll leak test the plumbing with RODI in the tank, then add the salt afterwords. Once that's all good to go I'll crank up the mp60 and the wp60 and add salt to get 1.025. Add the rock, reposition the pumps and hang the lights.

The last step is to program the apex. That I can take my time since I'll be waiting on a cycle.

Anybody run their controllers in an outdoor electrical box. I'm thinking about picking up something like this:

 

[LNell]

I never did, but I think they used outdoor boxes on this build: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2309792&referrerid=56221

 

[dave.m]

You'd want to know your equipment fairly well before enclosing it in a plastic box. A lot of reef equipment runs pretty hot and needs the air circulation that an open board provides.

Dave.M

 

[iced98lx]

You'd want to know your equipment fairly well before enclosing it in a plastic box. A lot of reef equipment runs pretty hot and needs the air circulation that an open board provides.

Dave.M

Agreed, even some pump controllers, tank controllers etc need to breathe. If it's warm to the touch anywhere or has lights/backlighting consider how much eat will build up in that box before you put anything in them.

 

[JAustin]

You'd want to know your equipment fairly well before enclosing it in a plastic box. A lot of reef equipment runs pretty hot and needs the air circulation that an open board provides.

Dave.M

Thanks for that input. I wonder how hot this stuff runs?

Perhaps I can install a couple of very small fans to keep things cool.

 

[dave.m]

If you are thinking of using the box to prevent water contact through splashes you might consider a hinged, L-shaped piece of acrylic over the top and front of the board you use to mount your electrical modules to.

Dave.M

 

[JAustin]

If you are thinking of using the box to prevent water contact through splashes you might consider a hinged, L-shaped piece of acrylic over the top and front of the board you use to mount your electrical modules to.

Dave.M

Took the day to think about the different options. I did think about making an acrylic splash guard, but I prefer the clean look of the electrical box. I'll use a small fan and mount it at the bottom of heat is an issue. I've got a spare ranco I can use to measure the box temperature for a few hours. That will give me an idea on what's needed to cool the apex components of any.

Two eb8 modules, breakout box, wifi module, and apex motherboard will all be in there.

 

[JAustin]

Breaking in the external xp3000. Got the latest gen if bubbleblaster 3000s on there. The last pump failed due to the impeller magnet swelling and cracking the pump body. Poor thing sat for a year before I could clean it, damn deployments .

Ordered 50' of 3/4" ID black vinal tubing today. That's what I'll use to plumb the chiller and the feed tube for the skimmer. The rest of the tubing will come in handy when it comes time for water changes.

I have a twin 55g water preparation/mixing station in the garage that I can connect the tube to and just fill the tank after k take out the water for water changes. I'll be changing 20g a week and this will keep me from lugging coolers around the kitchen every weekend.

 

[JAustin]

OK well glad I started the skimmer. The cepex 3/4" ST series ball valve is leaking from the handle. I tried to tighten it up but no go. I imagine it needs new Teflon seals and new internal o-rings.

Placed an order for 4 more 3/4" ST series valves. One to replace the skimmer inlet, one for the refugium inlet, and the other for whatever....reactors, or a backup.

 

[JAustin]

Power box came in. I went ahead and mounted some plywood to the back so I could mount the apex modules to.

Turned out nice.

 

[JAustin]

Well thanks to my good friends Tom and Bill, the tank is In position and full of water. I've been working on plumbing and getting all the equipment in place. The last 48 hours have been busy. Still have a bunch of work to do but its all coming together nicely.

Shot of the sump madness:



Well get s hot of the DT once I rinse my sand and get it all on there and the dust settles.

 

[JAustin]

Got all the leaks addressed and finished the rest of the plumbing.

Plan on rinsing and putting in the sand later. Making more rodi water to accomplish that. I've been running my rodi non stop for the past 4 days, lol.



And here is the overflow. 4 1" returns from the OM 4 Way and two 1.5" drains.

 

[JAustin]

Well water on the floor and its day one. One of my 1" bulkheads just decided to crack and spray a tiny stream of water at the wall. Leaked about 1/2 a gallon because I've been checking on it every 15-20 min.

Picking up new bulkhead from my LFS tomorrow to get the #2 feed line up and running. Lucky I have three other 1" feeds off the OM 4 way, I just closed the #2 valve.

Mess cleaned up and dart is running. Hopefully in a few days the cloudy water will clear. I added 150lbs of the most amazing white sand today.

 

[JAustin]

Starting to clear up.

Still have to get the apex online and hang my ati t5 fixture.

 

[JAustin]

The beast is back from ecotech marine and is stirring things up (pun intended).

They also sent me a free gift!!