My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

[slief]

Things are looking good. Anemone is happy after his shift around his rock.. I shot this video tonight just after the lights were in sunset mode so things are looking a bit "blue'er" then normal. Still love the shimmer the LED's provide and wave motion from my Apex controlled Tunze's makes it all the more pleasing!

Enjoy!
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[Newbie Aquarist]

Excellent video and tank.

 

[slief]

I did a bit more work on the tank this weekend. If you have followed my thread, you know that I have a couple Tunze 6205's running off my Apex with several different profiles. The two pumps make some great waves. I also had a couple Koralia pumps in the tank as well. I've had a new Tunze 6105 sitting in my aquarium shed for several months now which I had planned on using to replace one of my two Koralia pumps. I finally decided to swap it in yesterday.

This pump was mounted to some Nylock line that I had a Koralia mounted to. Earlier in the thread I detailed how I mounted the Koralia to the nylock. Well it turned out that the Tunze mount when removed from the magnet has a little hole in it that happened to be just the right size to mount to the Koralia ball/mount. It made the install easy as I didn't have to fabricate anything. All I had to do is remove the 6105 control box from the wire, run the wire through the nylock and reconnect the Tunze control box to the end of the cable.

The end result is that my wave at the end of my tank now reaches about 2" in height. The cardinals get bounced back and forth in the current. I've always been impressed with these Tunze's. Especially when coupled with the Apex. I have different profiles for different times of the day that range from a big wave motion to a more subtile wave motion, a calm night mode and a flush cycle that really stirs the tank up which helps to kick the detritus up off the bottom so it gets exported into the overlfow and then into my filter socks. The additional Tunze improved everthing substantially! The different flow profiles kick in at various times of the day as well as at random times based on timer and OSC commands within my Apex. Now I just need to get one more Tunze 6105 to replace the last Koralia. I happen to really like the Koralia's as they have proven to be great for standalone powerheads. I've never had an issue with one yet but I like the Tunze's and their ability to be controlled by my Apex. Video of the wave action to follow as soon as it's done uploading.

Anyway, here is the new Tunze mounted in place of one of the last two Koralia's.

If you look close at this picture, you can see how the Koralia mount pin at the end of the ball fit into the Tunze mount.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Pretty clever man.


Sent from my reef tank and my skim doesn't stink.

 

[slief]

Pretty clever man.


Sent from my reef tank and my skim doesn't stink.

Thanks! My 6205's are mounted on the back wall of the tank on bulkheads with the wires going through the bulkheads and the back of the tank through a PVC pipe that sticks up above the water level. It keeps unsightly wires out of sight not to mention that due to the thickness of my acrylic, magnet mounts wouldn't have worked well to begin with.
This is one of my 6205's on the back wall of my tank.

 

[slief]

Here are a couple short clips showing the wave action from the Tunze's.
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[dotcommer]

Nice wave action.

 

[slief]

Nice wave action.

Thanks! Once you go to wave making pumps it's hard to imagine the tank without them. I really love it and with the profile capabilities of the Apex, the wave and flow variations are really limitless. I have a profile setup to stir the water up and it always amazes me how well it will kick stuff up off the bottom of the tank and get it moving towards to the overflow.

The other thing I love about the wave action is watching the fish bob up and down in the current. Depending on the profile at any given point in time, the waters motion makes it impossible for the fish to stay in one place depending on where they are in the tank. Usually they will move up and down a couple inches in a bobbing motion as a result of the flow. It makes for a more natural looking environment.

Having been in this hobby for 25 or more years, the technology progression has really presented some pretty cool possibilities for our hobby! Being a technology junkie, I really appreciate some of the new gadgets like these pumps, my Apex as well as the automation aspects that come with these controllers. It amazes me looking back to my first tanks and how crude everything was back then compared to the newer high tech stuff of today.

 

[h.cordero]

nice way to hide the electric cord! Hows the vertex alpha doing any issues?

 

[slief]

nice way to hide the electric cord! Hows the vertex alpha doing any issues?

Thanks!! I thought it was pretty clever myself! It worked out better than I could have imagined, especially considering that I originally came up with that idea for Koralia pump and was able to utilize it for the Tunze's when I upgraded.

I love love love my Alpha. I've had a lot of skimmers over the years and this one is by far my favorite to date. It's been perfectly reliable (not a single issue) and more consistent that any skimmer I've ever owned. It's so consistent that it's almost ridiculous. At least if your sump level is consistent like mine is. Heck, with my SCH on it, I only remove the collection cup to clean it every 6 months or so when I clean my skimmer pumps. It runs like a well tuned machine.

That said, it would be really cool if it had variable speed pumps like the Red Dragon 3's instead of the adjustable volutes. That said, since I really never need to adjust anything, that is just the tech junky in my mind never being satisfied. It had crossed my mind recently to play with a couple of those Waveline 5000's on it but I wouldn't want to sacrifice my reliability. Also, those DC pumps add a lot more heat transfer compared to the Red Dragons I have now and I like the fact that I no longer need a chiller to cool my tank. One warm pump can change that so I've refrained from going there. I think the only skimmer I would consider replacing it with would be a BK SuperMarin 300 with the Red Dragon 3's. I'd love to have that skimmer!!

Heck, I was almost contemplating an experiment using one of those new Waveline 12000's in place of my Reeflo Dart Gold circulation pump and controlling it via my Apex so I can sync it up with my Tunze's. My recirculation pump returns to the tank at the base of my overflow through a manifold that circles the overflow. The water is blown out under the rocks all around the center. I couldn't stop thinking about how cool it would be to have the recirculation pump pulsing and ramping in conjunction with the Tunze's.

The once thing that has held me back with that endeavor besides the fact that the pump is not available yet is heat transfer. I have good reason to believe that the DC Pump will have more heat transfer than my Dart Gold and a degree or 2 difference will decrease my comfort level. I'm OK with a max temp of 80.5 to 81 max in the summer without having my chiller come on which is the status quo now. I can control my tank temps just fine with the fans on my light rack and I'm afraid that a pump change could impact that for the worse. Still, I might just have to try it and worse case have to come up with means to cool the pump. I've got some spare computer CPU liquid cooler I might be able to put to use! :thumbsup:

 

[h.cordero]

Yeah the BK Supermarine 300 is my first choice, but i could buy the alpha 300 and use the extra cash in something else its my first reef/saltwater so lots of things to buy :uhoh3::uhoh3::uhoh3: Heat i think it wont be a mayor problem with 81F ambient weather
What are the advantages of the BK RedDragon DC pump?
Do have have your tunzes program with the apex?

 

[slief]

Yeah the BK Supermarine 300 is my first choice, but i could buy the alpha 300 and use the extra cash in something else its my first reef/saltwater so lots of things to buy :uhoh3::uhoh3::uhoh3: Heat i think it wont be a mayor problem with 81F ambient weather
What are the advantages of the BK RedDragon DC pump?
Do have have your tunzes program with the apex?

The Red Dragon 3 on the supermarin allows the skimmers air/water flow to be adjusted with the push of a button instead of turning the volutes on the standard red dragons. Overall, that is just a convenience factor more than anything but the Supermarin is a super skimmer beyond just the pumps.

As for my Tunze's, they are controlled by my Apex. All my programming is listed someplace in this thread as well as a thread I started in the Apex section here and at the Neptune.com forum as well.

Here is a link to my programming information here at RC.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1994312

 

[slief]

New toy arriived today. For the last couple years I've been using a Litermeter 3 for automatic water changes. While it worked great, I decided to make a move to something a bit more flexible. I had considered designing my own solution that would use my Apex but would operate similarly to the Genesis Renew however I caved in and went the path of least resistance. It was a somewhat easy decision for me considering that I have a Litermeter 3 along with 3 or 4 extra pumps that I can sell to offset the costs.. I will however use my Apex as the failsafe. The Renew will be plugged into an Apex controlled outlet which will shut off in the event of salinity being to high or water levels being too high or too low.

None the less, my new Renew arrived today. I started in the shed where I mounted one of the metering bin which will be the one used for water replenishment. The second Metering bin will be mounted under the tank near the sump. I must admit that I am very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the system. The controller is very heavy which to me is a good sign of quality. The metering bins are very well made as well. I am really looking forward to putting this thing to good use while also taking advantage of it's faster and more flexible water changes.

I plan on finishing up the install this weekend as I have to pick up a bunch of hose line as well as some bulkheads. More updates to follow hopefully this weekend or sooner.

That package contents:

Metering Bin:

Inside the metering bin:

Replenish bin mounted:

Controller mounted. I may move the controller from the shed to the sump are under the tank. Not sure though. If I do, I will do that after the system is installed.

 

[biecacka]

How big are those bins?

Corey

 

[slief]

How big are those bins?

Corey

According to the Genesisreefsystems.com site, the specs are approximately (10″ tall) x (8″ wide) x (8″ deep) front-to-back. They hold 1 gallon each.

Here is a picture for perspective.

 

[biecacka]

Much bigger than I thought. Looks great man. I'll be watching these on your set up

Corey

 

[slief]

I finished plumbing the Genesis renew this weekend. It was a bit of a chore as I mounted one metering bin in the shed outside near my salt water mixing tank. Coming from the litermeters 1/4" tubing, running long lengths of 1/2" lines for the Renew was a bit of a pain! I had to drill a new hole through the house between the shed and tank closet area and ran a 1.5" PVC pipe through the hole and into the shed so I had something to route the new 1/2" lines and cables through. I didn't take a picture of that but I will say that using a 1.5" hole saw designed for wood on a stucko/concrete exterior house is not fun!

I have yet to fire the Renew up as I had to make up a bunch of RODI water to fill my salt water mixing tank. I will probably start the renew today when I get home and finishing mixing my water.

The pictures were taken before I installed the plumbing. You can see the metering bin mounted above my holding tanks.

I mounted the Renew controller between the RODI tank and the mixing tank.

The second metering bin was mounted under the tank near the sump.

I figured this would also be a good time to clean out my 100 gallon salt water mixing tank. I decided to dump a 100 gallons of mixed water and start out fresh so I drained the tank and removed the tank from the shed. I rinsed it out, filled it back and with water and a gallon of bleach and let it sit overnight. Then rinsed it again, filled it and added 4 gallons of vinegar and let that sit for several hours. Then rinsed again and scrubbed.

After monkeying around with and cleaning the salt water mixing tank, I decided to do something I wished I had done a long time ago which was to add a line from the salt water mixing tank pump directly to the tank. This would come in handy for large water changes when I do vacuuming and other maintenance. Not sure why I didn't put that in when I set the shed up but it's done now.

I ran the lines from the mixing tank to the display tank out of 1/2" PVC.
If I close the black ball valve and open the red one, that will allow the water from the mixing pump to draw from the mixing tank and send it directly to the top of the display.

Here is where the water will dump into the tank.

I am going to add an additional garage door opening switch to my Apex. This one will be used for adding salt water to the tank in bulk when I do larger water changes. I will program it so that when I push the button, the mixing tank pump will turn on and run until the ATO floats sense that the sump is full. That will allow me to add just the right amount of water. Since the new water line I added from the mixing tank runs to the top of my tank, there is no risk of any kind of siphon between the display tank and the mixing tank.

 

[slief]

Got the Genesis Renew fired up. I'm thinking this will have been worth the effort of running the lines. Given my tanks size, it will be much more practical than my Litermeter 3 which was doing my water changes before I got this thing. It's currently set for 3 gallons a day. I will likely increase that but given my light load and water quality, I think 3 would be fine.

The couple test gallons I ran went off without a hitch. I do like the fact that I can do larger successive water changes faster with the push of a button where as with the litermeter, that would be much more cumbersome (having to program it in ml) and slow.

So now that it's installed, I'm pretty happy to have it. It's simple enough by design that it should prove to be very reliable and worth the investment. Especially considering have now have a Litermeter 3 and a couple extra pumps to find new homes for which will offset the cost of the Renew.

 

[slief]

My giant platter sized rose anemone decided to split sometime between last night and today. While this would thrill most people, I'm not exactly excited. Last time I had a rose split, one half found its way to a power head. These two better stay put!!

 

[abdullah]

Very nice build!

Abdullah