My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics
- Thread starter slief
- Start date
slief
RC Sponsor
Its 11:00. I just finished up. Still need to clean the wires up. That will come tomorrow along with the photos.. Its been a long day! Fortunately, not any real setbacks other than dumb stuff like glueing in a 1.25" reducer instead of a 1.5" or countless misplaced fittings, pens, tape measures etc. I think the glue got to me..
Will update tomorrow.
Will update tomorrow.
slief
RC Sponsor
Yes. Got the chaeto and 10 mangroves. I didn't end up with as much chaeto as I was expecting..
Since I cant sleep, I decided to upload a few pics. I still need to hang the wires.. I will start cleaning things up tomorrow. I had to dial the skimmer way back. After 3 hours, its already starting to surprise me. Major foam head.
The doors will hopefully go back in Saturday provide the carpinter can do it that day.
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slief
RC Sponsor
Too soon to tell. OK I guess. My temp dropped 5 degrees between 5:30AM and 11PM when I fired it back up. I think I made a mistake keeping the lights off during the swap but I wanted to keep the fish as calm as possible. IO wasnt expecting the temps to drop like that but it was cold yesterday and we kept the windows open as the fumes from the PVC glue were strong. My tank doesnt need a heater as the pumps and lights keep it warm enough to need a chiller. I turned the lights on and left them on all night so its slowly warming back up. I have a bit of concern about the temp dropping and what the results will be on the fish. Time will tell but they will get a good feeding today as I refrained from feeding yesterday.
slief
RC Sponsor
Man.. After last night, I was dead man walking today. I came home and cleaned up things. It looked like a bomb went off in my house, garage and backyard. After cleaning the house, I cleaned up my wires.. I decided to take a few more pictures.
Here are the Power bars for my Apex.
Connections between the 2 sumps.
Mangroves and Chaeto in the fuge.
Another view of the fuge with one light removed.
Skimmer last night an hour or 2 after setup. So far, I have to admit that I am impressed with it. I am looking forward to getting it broke in to see what its really capable of.
There is about 100 pounds of live rock in the skimmer sump.
The lines from the tanks overflow dumping into the sumps overflow. I was able to get about half of my bio balls from the old sump into the filter socks. I will keep them in the socks for a short time until I am comfortable with the sumps ability to maintain the status quo.
I will be also be adding 100 pounds of live sand to go with the 100 pounds of mud in the fuge on Monday.
Here are the Power bars for my Apex.
Connections between the 2 sumps.
Mangroves and Chaeto in the fuge.
Another view of the fuge with one light removed.
Skimmer last night an hour or 2 after setup. So far, I have to admit that I am impressed with it. I am looking forward to getting it broke in to see what its really capable of.
There is about 100 pounds of live rock in the skimmer sump.
The lines from the tanks overflow dumping into the sumps overflow. I was able to get about half of my bio balls from the old sump into the filter socks. I will keep them in the socks for a short time until I am comfortable with the sumps ability to maintain the status quo.
I will be also be adding 100 pounds of live sand to go with the 100 pounds of mud in the fuge on Monday.
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slief
RC Sponsor
I did a tally on the plumbing work I did for this retrofit. There were 82 glue joints, 11 bulkheads, 2 teflon paste threaded fittings 10 union ball valves, 3 regular ball valves, countless elbows, 45's, 90's 1.5" and 2" rigid and flex pvc.... Not to mention millions of brain cells. To my surprise, there is not a single leak!
Only thing left to do is install thecarbon and gfo reactors and calibrate the salinity probe. There is a double union ball valve plumbed in and ready for the feed line and the bulk heads with the fittings for the reactor returns are installed as well.
I have my old knop calcium reactor as well as a large dual 30 watt uv unit. Both of which I am on the fence with. I was thinking about installing the UV unit inline with the reactors which return to the fuge.
Only thing left to do is install thecarbon and gfo reactors and calibrate the salinity probe. There is a double union ball valve plumbed in and ready for the feed line and the bulk heads with the fittings for the reactor returns are installed as well.
I have my old knop calcium reactor as well as a large dual 30 watt uv unit. Both of which I am on the fence with. I was thinking about installing the UV unit inline with the reactors which return to the fuge.
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bullitr
broke but happy
good job!
FishyBiz
New member
Unless the tank was packed with SPS I wouldn't worry about the temp drop.
I think its already been discussed that natural reefs see temp swings all the time.
Great build by the way. I love seeing it progress. The new skimmer is way cleaner then your old one and probably 10x's more efficient. :beer:
I think its already been discussed that natural reefs see temp swings all the time.
Great build by the way. I love seeing it progress. The new skimmer is way cleaner then your old one and probably 10x's more efficient. :beer:
slief
RC Sponsor
I built my reactor manifold today and installed my GFO and Carbon reactors. I'll start the GFO reactor tomorrow with a minimal amount of media but I will hold of on starting the carbon reactor until my Ich treatment is done. All that is left is to finish cleaning up a few more wires and put in a bit more corregated wire covering to finish things off.
Here are some pics of the reactor install. They are mounted to the supporting joists of the tank above the sumps. They are controlled by gate valves and powered from a leg off the return pump. There is a spare valve for a my carbon reactor which I might install down the line or my UV filter which I am debating..
I dont think I put a pic in of the pumps.
Now I just need to get the carpinter back to fix the exterior drywall and hang the solid core doors below the tank.
Here are some pics of the reactor install. They are mounted to the supporting joists of the tank above the sumps. They are controlled by gate valves and powered from a leg off the return pump. There is a spare valve for a my carbon reactor which I might install down the line or my UV filter which I am debating..
I dont think I put a pic in of the pumps.
Now I just need to get the carpinter back to fix the exterior drywall and hang the solid core doors below the tank.
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slief
RC Sponsor
Here are a couple LA Fish Guys videos of the sump install. Not sure what happened with the video quality of the second one but here they are. There will be more videos to follow as Jim gets them done.. Boy did I look "rough around the edges" in that second one! LOL. There are couple discrepencies on the specs he mentions such as the sump height which is 18" and not 16". Also the return pump is 5500GPH and not 4500GPH, the recirc is 4500 and not 6300 GPH.
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/user/lafishguy#p/a/u/1/UvJt-39wH7Q
http://www.youtube.com/user/lafishguy#p/a/u/0/pgH6NIrbtwo
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/user/lafishguy#p/a/u/1/UvJt-39wH7Q
http://www.youtube.com/user/lafishguy#p/a/u/0/pgH6NIrbtwo
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