Planning a 225g reef tank
- Thread starter DaveWC
- Start date
Michael Mota
New member
looks great, I love the rock scape!
Michael Mota
New member
your Coraline algae seems to be taking off really well, soon (like it been said before) the green algae will be nothing more than a memory. I really like the pic posted last, what a nice view when walking into your office. Keep us posted with some pics as the reef grows!
Michael
Michael
It's all operational now and falling into place. I had a bit of an accident with the solenoids on my top-off leaking when shut off... well not leaking, but letting water get through. So my kalk was running all night and now my alkalinity is a little high. It's dropping with w/c and I lowered the pH threshold for the controller to open the solenoid on the kalk vs. fresh water.
I also got the ca reactor going and broke down & bought a peristaltic pump to feed it. Much, much easier then fiddling with ball valves and now I have complete & accurate control. I think in the long term this is the way to go.
I noticed that as my lights came up to full power (they're new bulbs so I used the "New" function to slowly bring them up from 75% to 100% over a couple of weeks) that my tank temp is getting to 82ºF in the daytime. I decided that that was too high and tried a simple fix to see if it would work. I got two 4" fans and mounted them on the side of the stand that isn't visible, pointed over the sump. The controller turns them on whenever the tank temp gets over 79ºF. It's now 1:00pm and normally the tank temp is around 81ºF but the fans are keeping it low and the temp is currently sitting at 78.9ºF. So that worked great.
Here's a current pic with all of the equipment in place. I managed to squeeze the 10lb co2 tank in the middle of the mess. Even with it that packed I can easily remove the skimmer cup and any piece can be removed pretty simply by taking off the side MDF board. It looks tight but it all seems to fit as if it were planned that way. I need a proper base for the kalk mixer though. An acrylic stand about 5"Lx5"Wx10"T would be ideal.
Someone asked if I would identify what is in this space so I numbered it here:
#1 - Deltec AP851 protein skimmer
#2 - Ozone equipment mounted on a board with magnets stuck to stand - Ozotech Poseidon, dryer & Luft air pump
#3 - MTC Ozone reactor
#4 - Co2 tank & m[sup]3[/sup] regulator
#5 - Deltec PF601S calcium reactor
#6 - Deltec KM500 kalkwasser mixer
#7 - MTC SR7 Carbon water filter (for ozone output)
#8 - Cole Parmer Masterflex peristaltic pump
#8a - John Guest valved previously used for ca reactor
I also got the ca reactor going and broke down & bought a peristaltic pump to feed it. Much, much easier then fiddling with ball valves and now I have complete & accurate control. I think in the long term this is the way to go.
I noticed that as my lights came up to full power (they're new bulbs so I used the "New" function to slowly bring them up from 75% to 100% over a couple of weeks) that my tank temp is getting to 82ºF in the daytime. I decided that that was too high and tried a simple fix to see if it would work. I got two 4" fans and mounted them on the side of the stand that isn't visible, pointed over the sump. The controller turns them on whenever the tank temp gets over 79ºF. It's now 1:00pm and normally the tank temp is around 81ºF but the fans are keeping it low and the temp is currently sitting at 78.9ºF. So that worked great.
Here's a current pic with all of the equipment in place. I managed to squeeze the 10lb co2 tank in the middle of the mess. Even with it that packed I can easily remove the skimmer cup and any piece can be removed pretty simply by taking off the side MDF board. It looks tight but it all seems to fit as if it were planned that way. I need a proper base for the kalk mixer though. An acrylic stand about 5"Lx5"Wx10"T would be ideal.
Someone asked if I would identify what is in this space so I numbered it here:
#1 - Deltec AP851 protein skimmer
#2 - Ozone equipment mounted on a board with magnets stuck to stand - Ozotech Poseidon, dryer & Luft air pump
#3 - MTC Ozone reactor
#4 - Co2 tank & m[sup]3[/sup] regulator
#5 - Deltec PF601S calcium reactor
#6 - Deltec KM500 kalkwasser mixer
#7 - MTC SR7 Carbon water filter (for ozone output)
#8 - Cole Parmer Masterflex peristaltic pump
#8a - John Guest valved previously used for ca reactor
FuzzyLogic
Member
What is SWC?
It's a laboratory-grade Cole Parmer Masterflex peristaltic pump. There are tons of models, many available on ebay... check this link for an example of what's there now. What you'll find on the net are typically used units, as was mine. But the head is brand new, and that's the part the breaks down if anything is going to. Do a search on RC for Masterflex and you'll see that lots of people use them. Some models have dual channels so you can set it to pump water out of your sump into the drain and have another channel pumping water into your tank as the exact same rate. In other words, automatic water changes. Mine just feeds my ca reactor.
