Lyle's 150H in-wall build (with pics)

[WaterHazard]

You've not lost my interest. I'm still wringing ideas out of the whole thread. I wish I could offer real help on your issues. I do have questions out of curiosity...

Why wouldn't you use all your containers combined to mix at least enough FSW to cover live rock in the DT? Couldn't you avoid the sand storm then? I must confess that I have never even set up a marine aquarium so I don't know all the do's and dont's (I've got freshwater experience and I'm doing homework here for months before taking the reef plunge. I don't intend to start small).

I assume the spigot is leaking through the outlet, not the threads? I'm sure you would have tried teflon tape if it were the threads.

The apex issues must be driving you nuts. It would for me. What kind of router/switch do you have? How old is it? Are you doing any weird configurations with the network, or just plugging everything in for a basic home network? Are you hard-wiring the apex or using a wireless bridge? Also, have you asked Neptune for help? I'm impressed with the attention Curt has given my questions on occasion. Search the internet first, of course, but email support if you can't find anything.

Finally, if you don't have anything new to put up but you feel the need to post, just show off some pictures of your workshop :fun4:...another hobby of mine and I'd bet many others here!

 

[karsseboom]

your not gonna keep that bio wheel in there are you?

 

[Greenmaster]

This tank looks like it's coming along not too bad... mine was over a year before I got fish to live in mine.

 

[jlylec]

big night...finally got enough RO to do full system test. everything working well so far!

going to add the salt tonight.

 

[T Diddy]

I'm still jealous of the floor drain. The other night I fell asleep with my RO running to refill my remote fuge. Not only did it fill and begin draining into the sump (dropped the salinity down to about 1.021), but it had put several gallons on the floor after the sump overflowed.

You think it is possible to cut a drain into the floor of an existing fish room? That'd be a serious dust storm...

 

[jlylec]

You've not lost my interest. I'm still wringing ideas out of the whole thread. I wish I could offer real help on your issues. I do have questions out of curiosity...

Why wouldn't you use all your containers combined to mix at least enough FSW to cover live rock in the DT? Couldn't you avoid the sand storm then? I must confess that I have never even set up a marine aquarium so I don't know all the do's and dont's (I've got freshwater experience and I'm doing homework here for months before taking the reef plunge. I don't intend to start small).

My problem is that I didn't think to make sure I had enough volume in the ancillary containers to handle the total system volume. The system is about 180gal and my containers combine for about 80gal. The other issue is the timing of filling, mixing, and curing. I have all my rock in salt water in a trashcan curing right now and I want to move it directly into FSW. So I'm going to mix salt in the tank (tonight hopefully) and then add the rock next week...and then the sand. Everything will be covered and kept in salt as much as possible. I think I'm going to put the sand in trashbags and lower them to the bottom of the tank and slowly empty them so there's minimal sandstorm. Stay tuned and see if it works! Worst case scenario though is that you have to let everything settle for 4-5 days. What's another week at this point?!

I assume the spigot is leaking through the outlet, not the threads? I'm sure you would have tried teflon tape if it were the threads.

Yeah the outlet. It's cheap and was real dumb buy on my part. I do wish they stated how much water the thing could hold. It's probably good for 10gal, not 30. Although one of them works fine so maybe I just got a dud.

The apex issues must be driving you nuts. It would for me. What kind of router/switch do you have? How old is it? Are you doing any weird configurations with the network, or just plugging everything in for a basic home network? Are you hard-wiring the apex or using a wireless bridge? Also, have you asked Neptune for help? I'm impressed with the attention Curt has given my questions on occasion. Search the internet first, of course, but email support if you can't find anything.

The internets drives me nuts all the time, but I'm addicted to tech! I have a year old or so Belkin wireless-n router. It was good when I bought it, but I do think it's the problem. I have a new DLink DIR-655 coming today that will hopefully solve all my problems. I have a really good (I think) home network that's less than 2 years old. Everything is wired with 5e and I hard wire anything I can, including the Apex. Nothing crazy other than some DirecTV boxes, and couple computers, the Apex and an IP cam. I think it's the router, but I'll know tonight! I've been impressed with what I saw from Curt and Neptune on here too. That's one of the big reasons I went with the Apex.

Finally, if you don't have anything new to put up but you feel the need to post, just show off some pictures of your workshop :fun4:...another hobby of mine and I'd bet many others here!

Yeah I'll post some pics of the workshop. It's nothing fancy but has most everything I like in it. It's funny I built a comfy house and spend most of my free time in the cold unfinished part of the basement!

 

[Bilk]

Great build. Really well thought out and executed!! Following along here.

 

[jlylec]

You've not lost my interest. I'm still wringing ideas out of the whole thread.

One piece of advice for anyone tempted to use small pumps...always get the bigger pump. I needed small pumps for the GFO reactor, ATO, FSW, and dirty out and went with the Maxi1200 for all of them. Great little pumps but they're highly affected by head and annoyingly slow to move water. They're supposed to be good for like 250GPH and I bet at 4' head height I'm getting 70GPH at best. I got them because you can easily plumb them into 1/2" systems using those speed fittings, but I bet I end up swapping the two that pump dirty water out and FSW in. That process is going to take 20min longer than I was expecting. At least it'll be automated! I think they're probably fine for the dual carbon/GFO reactor since I starting buying them because BRS recommended that pump for that reactor.

 

[jlylec]

I'm still jealous of the floor drain. The other night I fell asleep with my RO running to refill my remote fuge. Not only did it fill and begin draining into the sump (dropped the salinity down to about 1.021), but it had put several gallons on the floor after the sump overflowed.

You think it is possible to cut a drain into the floor of an existing fish room? That'd be a serious dust storm...

ouch...I'm real sorry to hear that Diddy. That's exactly why I put the drain in. I had 2 experiences like that in my old house and I think my wife would have put an end to the entire hobby if I hadn't assured her it couldn't happen again. Of course that assurance is impossible to insure so now I'm just hoping I don't screw something else up!

 

[jlylec]

Great build. Really well thought out and executed!! Following along here.

thanks Bilk!

 

[jlylec]

your not gonna keep that bio wheel in there are you?

?

 

[WaterHazard]

The internets drives me nuts all the time...

It's just a series of tubes...

Yeah I'll post some pics of the workshop. It's nothing fancy but has most everything I like in it. It's funny I built a comfy house and spend most of my free time in the cold unfinished part of the basement!

Me too. The poor lonely wife.

One piece of advice for anyone tempted to use small pumps...always get the bigger pump.

Thanks - good tip.

 

[jlylec]

things got salty last night.

Additionally I crashed the display on my Apex while I was dicking around with my home network. I got this Foscam IP camera that just terrorizes my network for some reason. I got a new modem and router yesterday thinking the old ones were my problem...hooked them up and everything ran great...connected the camera and 1min later everything is down again. I had to disconnect and restart everything on the network like 4 times to unbind them. And even after that my speed was down from 30MBPS to like 5MBPS. ugh. So now I'm working with Curt to get the Apex display fixed via updating firmware, yadda, yadda, christ. Fortunately I can still control the Apex via the web or my iphone or else I'd be in a huge pickle.

 

[jlylec]

I fired up the skimmer just to see it in action and to my surprise it started producing gunk in about 2min. What I don't understand is where is it coming from!? There is only 180gal of RO/DI water and enough salt to make it 1.025 in there. I guess the salt mix has some organics in it?

There are more than a few bubbles in here now.

 

[jlylec]

It's just a series of tubes...

haha...if only I understood it as well as he does! I felt like the way he sounds in that clip last night...confused.

 

[jlylec]

I got a probe holder. Salt water has been running for a couple days now with nothing in the system. pH is 8.22, ORP 173, and I'm keeping the temp at 78.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Just spent the last half hour reading through your entire thread. Really really cool build and I admire your patience and crafty ability to do everything yourself.

 

[jlylec]

I played around with 'scape ideas this weekend. I'm quickly realizing that this is a daunting part of the process! I really want something different and great and my strength is not artistic design like this entails. It's like a really hard puzzle without a true solution! What do you guys think? I put the rocks back into my cure can so I likely won't get either back exactly like this, but which concept do you prefer? First or second? I don't want a pile of rocks, but I know I need some hiding spots and area for coral placement...while maintaining swimming room for the fish.

 

[jlylec]

Just spent the last half hour reading through your entire thread. Really really cool build and I admire your patience and crafty ability to do everything yourself.

thanks so much...I really appreciate it! It's been a bit trying at times as I'm really winging it on some stuff!

 

[Greenmaster]

Both look nice.