Mike's 360G Build

[mike810]

vuqchu came by my house a few days ago to pick up a fish and suggested I post my build thread here. He said you guys would appreciate a build like mine so I hope you guys do!

Here is the link to my build thread I made in the Reef Discussion section. I'm too lazy to post all the pictures again so if you're interested, please check out the link. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2636864

I'll copy the first post I made on that thread with the equipment list. I'll post updates on this thread as I go along.

Figure it's time to start a build thread as the tank delivery date is nearing. Some history, been in the hobby about 8 years. Last tank was a 240G peninsula. Long story short, had the 240G setup for three years before we decided to move. Left behind the tank as a show piece for the next owners as I wanted out of the hobby. That was back in July of 2016, come December, I had the itch again. We were now closer to all the good fish stores so I put in a order for a new tank.

My old 240G build thread can be found here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2371868.

Now onto the new build,
Tank: 8x3x2, low iron, Euro brace top & bottom
Stand, 10x3x3, front glass doors, apex panel on one side
2x ATI Hybrid PM
4x MP40QD
2x Tunze 6255
New Apex
KHG Alkalinity Monitor
RE Deluxe 250
RE ATO reservoir
RE Dosing containers
RE Dream Box 8D
RE RD3 230w Return pump
RE RD3 80w reactor pumps
RE 5L & 2.5L reactors
GHL Doser Master & Slave
BRS 150 GPD, booster pump, auto flush
50w Pentair Aquatics UV Sterilizer

 

[vuqchu]

One of the best tank builds I've seen that's for sure. Will look spectacular once you fill it up with corals and they get big.

Thanks again for the powder brown.

 

[mike810]

One of the best tank builds I've seen that's for sure. Will look spectacular once you fill it up with corals and they get big.

Thanks again for the powder brown.

Thanks buddy, I hope the tang is doing well.

 

[Dhoggs]

Great build!!

What made u decide to go with DOS over GHL for your AWC?

 

[vuqchu]

Thanks buddy, I hope the tang is doing well.

Tang is doing great. Chilling in the sump of the tank I have at home. Waiting to release it with another tang at the same time hopefully this weekend.

Looking forward to your review on that KH Guardian alk testing/monitoring unit. First time seeing in person on your tank. Looks pretty cool

 

[wishntoboutside]

very nice set up. great job.

 

[mike810]

Great build!!

What made u decide to go with DOS over GHL for your AWC?

The GHL has a much slower flow rate compared to the DOS, it would take hours just to change out one gallon with the GHL. I would also have to buy separate optical sensors for the GHL to monitor sump water level. With the DOS, it can operate with the apex of course and use the optical sensors already in place. From a safety stand point and speed of the WC, I went with the DOS.

Tang is doing great. Chilling in the sump of the tank I have at home. Waiting to release it with another tang at the same time hopefully this weekend.

Looking forward to your review on that KH Guardian alk testing/monitoring unit. First time seeing in person on your tank. Looks pretty cool

Sounds like a plan, I hope they get along in your tank. I will most likely be setting up the KHG this week. I plan to put a test SPS in soon so I'll get the KHG up and running before I do that.

very nice set up. great job.

Thank you, much appreciated.

 

[mike810]

I didn't realize RC now lets you edit old post so here is a copy and paste from the build thread in the reef discussion section.

Hey guys,

Figure it's time to start a build thread as the tank delivery date is nearing. Some history, been in the hobby about 8 years. Last tank was a 240G peninsula. Long story short, had the 240G setup for three years before we decided to move. Left behind the tank as a show piece for the next owners as I wanted out of the hobby. That was back in July of 2016, come December, I had the itch again. We were now closer to all the good fish stores so I put in a order for a new tank.

My old 240G build thread can be found here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2371868.

Now onto the new build,
Tank: 8x3x2, low iron, Euro brace top & bottom
Stand, 10x3x3, front glass doors, apex panel on one side
2x ATI Hybrid PM
4x MP40QD
2x Tunze 6255
New Apex
KHG Alkalinity Monitor
RE Deluxe 250
RE ATO reservoir
RE Dosing containers
RE Dream Box 8D
RE RD3 230w Return pump
RE RD3 80w reactor pumps
RE 5L & 2.5L reactors
GHL Doser Master & Slave
BRS 150 GPD, booster pump, auto flush
50w Pentair Aquatics UV Sterilizer

Here some pics. I already have pretty much all the equipment except for the tank and stand. Some equipment not pictured. Still wanting to buy more toys. Probably some equipment I forgot to list.

Some pics of the Dreambox being built

Finished product

ATO Reservoir and dosing containers

 

[mike810]

This is a sketch up of the tank and stand

Some of the equipment that has been collecting dust waiting for the tank to arrive

KHG Alk Monitor

Some of the plumbing, I have bought a lot more

Eight bags of Tropic Eden grand select sand,some Fritz RPM salt and Bio-spira to kick start the cycle once the tank is here

Panworld pump for the mixing station

75g RODI & SW containers

300 pounds of pukani and shelf rock

That's pretty much it for now. Still waiting on some more equipment to arrive along with a shed to house the SW mixing station. More pics to come as they arrive.

 

[mike810]

The shed came in today so I got right to work putting it together. The delivery guys delivered the shed to the wrong house! Luckily, my neighbor was nice enough to let me know.

Seeing how much space I'll have to work with once the tanks are in.

Comes with it's own skylite :thumbsup:

Done, was pretty easy and straight forward.

Waiting for the plumbing parts to come in for the mixing station. Should be here in the next few days. Still need to purchase an EB8, PM2 and probes for the SW container. I'll also be adding a break out box. Might want to try doing automatic water changes so I'll need some float switches for the sw container. Right now I'm thinking I may use the apex DOS for the awc. I've read many people are using it with great success. One issue I'm concerned about is longevity of the DOS using it in this fashion.

 

[mike810]

Got a shipment today, the UV sterilizer and plumbing parts came in for the mixing station. I made two mistakes when placing the order for the plumbing. I ordered a slip x slip union instead of slip by thread for the pan world pump. I also ordered a bulk head instead of a uniseal. For some reason, I thought the top of the containers were horizontally flat, it's sitting at a slight angle. So I'll have to place another order for the two slip by thread unions and a uniseal. I'm trying to look for a used EB8 and PM2 for the shed but haven't had any luck. May just add these to the order also.

I went to work on the mixing station and got everything dry fitted. Will glue everything together when the unions and uniseal arrive.

This thing is huge!

Plumbing Parts

Cam lever, this thing is pretty cool. I'm going to have two sets of hoses, one to pump SW all the way back into the house for larger water changes when necessary and a short hose to fill up buckets with SW or RO water when. The cam lever is sort of like a quick disconnect.

Here is the mixing station dry fitted. I didn't complete the top portion, waiting for the correct parts to get here. I will have to trim some of the pipes to get the tanks to sit a little closer together before gluing. There's not much space in the shed.

 

[mike810]

Tank and stand is in the house and my monkey in the tank inspecting it.

 

[mike810]

High and low float switches for the ATO container. There's also a float valve and PMUP install. I will have an RODI line run from the shed to the ATO container. I will be installing a solenoid to automatically shut off the RODI when full. The lower switch will send me a text when the water gets low. Then I can go into the Apex and turn it on, the high switch will trip the solenoid, turn off the RODI and text me so I can manually turn a valve to shut off the line completely. The float valve will be an emergency. There will also be another emergency shut off I haven't installed yet. I'll take a pic once that is setup. I do not feel comfortable letting the Apex automatically fill the ATO container.

High and low float switches for the sump. One of the float switch bracket broke so I'll have to fix that. I may switch to the Neptune ATK once that becomes available. I can't get the image to flip correctly.

Float valve for the ATO line going into the sump.

Probes installed.

LED lights for the stand

LED lights installed in the stand

Magnetic switches installed on every right door to turn automatically turn on the LED lights in the stand,sump,ato container and dosing containers.

Apex panel nearly complete. Waiting to finish the plumbing and MP40 driver holders to arrive before mounting to the panel. I left a space open between the WXM module and breakout box for the FMM module I plan to get in the future. I'll begin programming the Apex in Fusion.

 

[mike810]

Was able to hide a lot of the cords. I'll have to buy some cord raceways to mount to the back of the apex panel. Once I mount the four mp40s, two tunzes 6255 and vortech battery back up, I'll have a ton more cords and power adapters I need to manage.

Installed a light, the RODI unit, booster pump, pressure switch and auto flush in the shed. Waiting on a EB8 and PM2 to arrive. What do you guys do with the probes in the SW container? Do you just let it dangle at the bottom of the tank? I plan to install a temp probe and salinity probe. Waiting on more RO lines to come in so I can run lines from the intake to the RODI unit and the RO waste line to the drains. BRS shipping department has been seeing my name pretty often, LOL. I will also run an RO line into the house to the ATO container.

Some non reef related news. I got word that the exhaust I've been waiting weeks for will be arriving Tuesday!!! :dance: The month of May is turning out to be a great month, getting a lot of new toys. Not so great on the wallet, there's a big burning hole in it. :spin2:

 

[mike810]

Neptune ATK came in today.

I had to re-orientate the optical eyes and float valve so it can better fit in my sump. The wires for the optical eyes were just long enough so I can it over to the Apex panel where the FMM is located. Ideally, I would like to have enough slack so that the wires can run along the floor and out of sight until it reach the FMM but it's currently shooting straight across the back of the sump and the space between the dosing containers and Apex panel has two wires in the air. Not ideal but I don't want to cut into the wires to extend it.

A box full of socks. It wasn't easy finding socks that fit the Dreambox.

Couple of questions, if you don't mind:
1. What is your Apex panel material?
2. Can I see more pictures and description of your mixing station? I'm about to redo mine and looking for ideas.
3. What tablet are you using for Fusion? I was going to order a basic Amazon Fire for mine.

Here a couple pics of the SW mixing station. The shed is located on the side of the house so it's pretty narrow there so I couldn't get a full shot.

Just two 75G tanks run by a panworld pump. Will be adding float switches to both RODI and SW tank to shut off pumps when water is low.

6 Stage BRS water saver, booster pump, pressure switch, auto flush, EB8, PM2, break out box and HM TDS sensors for water in, water after RO membranes, water after first DI canister and water after second DI canister.

 

[mike810]

99% of the plumbing done, just need to glue the drains and plumbing is done. Rock is in the tank and sand will go in tomorrow after the drains are done. I have to remove the overflow box to finish up the drains so I don't want to be stepping in sand. Once that is done, will do a leak test with RODI water. I'm currently making water now in the shed, I can store 150 gallons of water. If all goes well, I'll add salt to the sump to bring the salinity up and get the cycle going.

We have water!

The water making saga to be continued.

I love this cam lever, wish I found out about it in my previous builds. Makes storing or changing out the hose much easier. Getting all the water out of the hose is much easier when you can quickly discount it from the plumbing.

 

[mike810]

So I have some good news and bad news. I'll start with the good. I got up this morning (more like noon) and filled up the tank full along with the sump. Ran the tank and checked for leaks, a couple minor leaks from the unions which I took care of right away. I fired up the skimmer and it started producing a good foam right away even with the pump on the lowest setting and pipe wide open. The water is a nasty yellow/green and stinks. The pukani rock is dirrrrrtay. I checked the ammonia and got a good solid green reading via API test. I threw in 5 bottles of bio-spira and I was on cloud 9. Today was the day the cycle begins!

 

[mike810]

Now on to the bad news.

I know some of the pics are hard to see. The tank was full and running for a full day. Around 10pm while working on the tank, I noticed some bubbles in the eurobrace silicone which I did not remember seeing before. This made me check all the silicone. The silicone on the eurobrace that runs 8ft from side to side of the tank started separating from the side panes. The right side front and rear eurobrace had a couple bubbles in them. When I went to inspect the left side, the eurobrace completely separated from the side panes. Needless to say, this made me extremely nervous and thankfully, I had the builders cell. I sent him a text with pictures and he told me to partially drain the tank and he will come over tomorrow morning to inspect. Hopefully he can fix it with the tank in place, otherwise he will have to take the tank back to his shop.

I went from cloud 9 to rock bottom in a day. I just dumped in a box and half of fritz rpm salt, 5 bottles of bio-spira. That's a lot of money down the drain literally. Not to mention all the wasted rodi and rodi waste water down the drain. The rodi also burned thru half a canister of DI resin. I'm so bummed, this build has officially come to a screeching halt. There are still some little things I can do in the shed and under the tank but the tank itself will not be filled for another 3-4 weeks. Apparently that is how long the silicone needs to fully cure and the eurobrace was freshly put in place before tank delivery.

 

[mike810]

While the tank sits partially empty, I went on to work on some things in the shed. The shed is about 45 ft away from the tank so I had to order two 30 ft aquabus extension cables. This means the aquabus connection will be sitting outside. There is a lot of moisture in the air here at night living so close to the beach so I ghetto rigged this weather proof box out of tupperware for the aquabus connection. Dremeled the corners to fit the cable and then caulked it to seal it off.

I also pinned all the rodi lines to the house for a cleaner look. I installed a pmup into the RODI tank along with a float switch to shut off the pmup and text me when the water is low. Also installed a magnetic switch to have the lights turn on when I open the right door of the shed. The left door has pins on the top and bottom to lock down the door and I would always have to undo the pins to get the door open and then turn on the lights. It was a hassle.

Under the tank, I installed a neptune solenoid to cut off water from the RODI PMUP. I forgot to take a pic of that. I'll update this thread after the builder sees what he can do about the eurobracing.

 

[mike810]

Today after the builder left, I completely drained the tank. I need to wait 3-4 weeks for the adhesive to cure. No point in leaving the tank partially filled as the water was getting more foul everyday. The builder will come back to clean up all the adhesive once it dries a little bit making it easier to clean up.

On Sunday, I tested the water and it read 1ppm of ammonia, that is when I tossed in five bottles of bio-spira. I drained the tank but left water in the sump. I have the skimmer, reactor pump and return pump running so water does not get stagnate. The return pump is just running through the UV sterilizer. I tested the sump water and it had a reading of .50ppm ammonia and 20ppm nitrate, little cycle happening in the sump? I threw in several pieces of pukani rock into the sump.

So I have a GHL doser 2 master and slave. I read that the doser can do 1L/hr. I am thinking about using the slave which has four pumps to do my AWC instead of buying a neptune DOS. I already have a line running from the SW container back into the house. I just need to run a line out to the drain for SW out and calibrate the doser. Anyone use the GHL doser for AWC?