Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

[jason2459]

I can not wait to get my Turbo's Aquatics L8. That will probably be my last big upgrade for the year. Bud's working towards getting the high priority scrubbers done. I'm stupid and keep saying I'm low priority. lol

My L3 is still kicking rear end. Every 2 weeks pull and scrape. That easy.

 

[jason2459]

Well maybe not the last upgrade but last big upgrade.

As I may do little things like this.

I just replaced two mj1200's for two of these pmups. This frees up two outlets on the RB832s which is awesome. I was completely filled up with all 16 outlets occupied.

Very small

Compared to an mj1200

3/8" quick connect and 3/8" outside diameter tubing and you're all set. Or 3/8" to 1/2" quick connects are easy to get and can use the same tubing the mj1200 was using by chance.

Set it in

Plug it in and copy over the programming

That was easy. And even though they are rated for less flow their rated head pressure is a lot higher and I'm getting a lot more flow from the two I just put in compared to the mj1200s.

 

[jason2459]

I scored another apex brain. I like having redundancy in as much as I can especially the brains of the tank. Thankfully Neptune put in backup and restore support in the last firmware which makes things a lot easier. I'm still surprised it wasn't there before that.

 

[jason2459]

Amazing what a change lighting can make. Everything is really starting to look better.

Cyano is getting cut back

Fiji yellow is starting to look fuller like the mushrooms

Bubble tips are filling out again now that they aren't stretching up and coloring up well

The branching sps and and lps on the sand are still pale

And WOW! The 5watt Cree Royal Blues are awesome! I didn't notice this before either because I missed it or my anemones are REALLY starting to color up.

I have never seen my Bubble tips glow like this under blue lights. The Anemones are ready for night time and they do some funny stuff sometimes. Usually though not anywhere as full as during the day and sometimes all puffed up at the base.

This is with 1% Channel 3 Royal Blues only. And it's even more impressive in person!

The selection of LEDs used in the Photon V2s is one of the reasons I went with them over other fixtures in this price range as well. They are basically high end fixture type LEDs. No Epi or Bridgelux LEDs. Epi being slightly better of the two but the Cree, Osram, and Semi in their specific wavelengths are better. From what I've researched at least.

And right now I'm very happy. [emoji4]

 

[jason2459]

So, I just posted this in the MTC skimmer club thread. [emoji4]

Sweet

I noticed it spun better in one direction over the other and positioned it that way.

Stock 684 with 3/8 to 1/2" bushing and 1/2" tubing

So far that's my favorite setup. Back down slightly to pulling ~147 watts, ~26scfh, and now I know the Flow! I was guessing around 300s but its landing around 245gph so far.

I'm actually quite impressed with the accuracy of the Watts pulled. Its wavering between 145-147 and mainly staying between 146-147. Will see how that flow reacts now over time. I wish I had this setup from the beginning but it just came out. I'll have to swap stuff around again just to see. I bet the dual 584s is closer to that 300gph.

 

[jason2459]

And just posted this in the Reefbreeders photon v2 thread I started I thinj is interesting

1st day of measuring par and watts used with the new settings and bulbs. The Par has some variance as I couldn't get the live readings early but is pretty close but having lots of fish will cause some shading that is not conducive to snapshot readings.

That pretty much shows me T5s are not very efficient lights. lol

But they sure are pretty. As soon as the T5s kick on the watts used jumps over the PAR produced. But as the LEDs were really starting to ramp up the PAR started edging back closer.

Average PAR for the 15 hour period was 112
Average Watts used for that period was 110 watts

 

[jason2459]

Opps correction. I shouldn't do excel at 1am

And FYI the T5s added about 170watts so you can Subtract 170 watts from the 12:30 to 8:30 numbers to get just the LEDs watts used.

So, this still shows T5s aren't very efficient and pulled far away from PAR produced once they turned on.

 

[jason2459]

FYI there is a direction molded on the back side. And apparently there's a video explaining that which I haven't watched.

 

[jason2459]

I now have flow monitors on both my skimmer and return pump. I'm going to try something a little different now that I have a good rough idea of what their flow rates are. There was a good article gcarroll posted in some thread dealing with sump flow rates and how it could be related to tank size but also needs to keep into consideration a balance of return flow rate vs. skimmer flow rate.

So, I'm going to try and balance between tank, sump, and skimmer. Skimmers going at about 290gph so going to bring my return pump down to about 600gph about double skimmer flow and about 3x tank volume which is a typical 3-5x volume turn over.

I've been tracking very closely how my skmmer performs which includes foam production, what the foam looks like, what the skimmate looks like, how much, etc. So, I'll be looking for any positive or negative changes.

 

[jason2459]

Man, I'm just like going all in with the Neptune Apex stuff. They are really coming out with all kinds of awesome stuff that really works together well.

I picked up a used DOS from another reefer and going to try it out for my automatic water change. The Spectrapure is great and really I haven't had an issue with it. I just had this opportunity so I took it.

Already one thing I do like about the DOS over the spectrapure is the calibration. My line to my floor drain is not in another room and calibration takes two people. You have to hit start and fill a container to 500ml I think it was. Then as soon as it gets there you have to quickly hit stop. Not something I can do now by myself.

The DOS comes with this little 50ml graduated cylinder. You hit calibrated and you sit there with the tube in the cylinder until it stops and read how much it dosed into the cylinder and enter that into the Apex and upload the calibration. Very easy and a one person job. The you do it for the other head.

I'll probably more likely to calibrate more often like I should.

Now I just have to figure out the programming for the AWC. That was the super easy part with the Spectrapure.

 

[jason2459]

Here's the DOS and this little metal basket works out great for the tubes to go down and I can get my fingers through easily and hit the manual dose button if I ever needed too.

I also modified the 1/4" tubing connectors to use quick connect fittings like for RO/DI units. I really don't like those little vinyl tubes that crimp off really easily. I got this idea from someone on the Apex community forum.

1/8" female threaded to 1/4" quick connect fittings and used some Teflon paste for the threading

 

[jason2459]

I finally found that webpage/article that gcarroll link to


How to choose the right return pump for marine aquarium
http://www.danireef.com/2017/02/15/how-to-choose-the-right-return-pump/

 

[jason2459]

I found there are mounting holes on the back of the DOS and taking full advantage of them. I mounted the DOS to a 2x4 above the sump and with the width of the 2x4 and the DOS together was just right to put the peristaltic heads over the sump.

Now if for some reason a tube splits or the fittings leak etc it will just drip right back into the sump.

The John Guest fittings are working great and made moving this that much easier. Also, I've been seeing quite a few people having issues using that stiffer 1/4" ro tubing and it splitting as the Apex uses a little bigger connector. The push fit fittings solve that.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Nice upgrades!

 

[jason2459]

Nice upgrades!

I seem to be missing one more...

 

[biecacka]

I think the DOS is the way to go for the AWC setup. I too have been considering it.

Corey

 

[jason2459]

I think the DOS is the way to go for the AWC setup. I too have been considering it.

Corey

It's very easy to calibrate. I like tracking the dosing on the dashboard too.

Just be warned it is not a quite peristaltic pump by any means. It's not as loud as my stenner dual head beast of a peristaltic pump but it can easily be heard. My BRS 1.1ml/m is probably my quietest and spectrapure right after that. Being in the basement its not an issue. If it was in a bedroom that would be an issue.

But the programming is very easy and could be set to dose while not at home and overnight.

 

[jason2459]

Took this picture the other day and google modified it automagically. Thought it was pretty cool.

 

[ROB2005]

Jason! Been quite a while buddy. I see the tank has gone through some changes. Loving the setup man.

 

[jason2459]

Jason! Been quite a while buddy. I see the tank has gone through some changes. Loving the setup man.

Thanks for checking in. It's certainly has had its ups and downs in the past 7 years. I've learned a lot and keep researching.

I've been out of town the past couple weeks and back now to my surprise with no issues. Usually some problem rears itself.