Soulpatch's 150 SC build

[soulpatch]

OK well I got everything mounted in the canopy but did not put in the ATO. I need some airline for it as I got it used but it did not come with the actual line. Regardless I spent the weekend and a couple trips to Home Depot to get everything in the canopy done.

SOme issues I ran into revolve around the Kessils as I wanted them on the sides angled in but I had to move them to the front due to the eurobrace. I put them on the door though so when I lift it up they are out of the way to slide the T5 unit out.

Enough chat here are the pics:


Space on the left side for exhausting the heat from the unit:



Fans suck the air in. I wish I could run the power through the rear of the canopy but I didn't want to cut a large opening to get the ballast through.



Here you can see where everything goes:



Unit slid out:





Hard to see but the plexiglass can slide out the left side when the light fixture is pulled out.

 

[Teecz]

Looks sick I love the light setup... I had a rough time time week with my build. I had to take a break before I punched a hole in the glass lol

 

[soulpatch]

I was close this weekend to throwing the light across the room. I had to cut those metal supports and cut one too short. I also had to punch a ton of holes in the brackets and such to keep everything secure. Then to top it off I did not account for the eurobrace so I mounted everything and went to put the canopy back on and the Kessils tapped the bracing. UGH.

So braced up the canopy and had to remove the Kessils and find a spot for them to go where they could angle in but not be a nuisance to the T5 or touch the Eurobrace. Nearly pulled my hair out and was sitting with my beer staring in anger at it when the wife comes down and asks why I dont mount them to the door of the canopy. I both wanted to kill her and kiss her at the same time. The door gave me a couple of inches in leeway and since it flips up I get the lights out of the way to slide out the T5. Win win


I bought the panel to mount my electronics to but I did not get around to that over the weekend. I need to test fit my extra EB8 and other components and test mount in the stand. Then I can move over the Apex from my cube. The only thing really running on the apex right now is the heater, temp probe, and Kessil. I have the skimmer, reactor, and ato offline as the tank preps to either be sold or connected to the 150.

The idea with the panel is to have a false door behind the far left door that is on a hinged slider that opens outward and slides back into the stand. Think doors on entertainment centers around the TV. The apex display will be mounted on the outside of the stand but otherwise everything else will be in stand on the panel. Since I am running all neptune I wont need the other controllers showing. The RW4 in the refugium will be set and forget so not worried about that one. Same with the gyre in the frag tank.

Regardless for this week is to get the ATO online, put bulbs into the T5, and wire the 2 Kessils together so I can make any edits needed to the lighting. Also start the panel test fit so I can do that install this weekend.

 

[Mr.Tan]

dang, i've really missed alot by not knowing this section of the forum existed LOL. Everything looks awesome so far.

 

[soulpatch]

Yes I believe this section is newer as most of these build threads used to be scattered in various sub forums.

 

[WDKegge]

Hey soulpatch, I just posted MY build to move from my biocube just now, quit following me around to the other forums! Just kidding, looks great man, funny how we both outgrew our biocubes.

 

[soulpatch]

I was here first. Stop stalking me bro. LOL

Biocubes have their place but I need more space for my corals and fish. Still going to keep it though it will be plumbed into the main tank as a frag tank.

I can see doing a lagoon tank or such upstairs in my house as a annenome clown fish only tank. I think it would be cool to watch and the daughter would like it. Need this one up and stable first though.



For the actual tank my ammonia is still reading high so cycle is still going. I will start testing nitrites as well tonight but I suspect that it will be a bit longer before cycle completes. I am considering getting some Dr. Tims or other bacteria suppliment to speed things along though right now I am not in a rush. Once my fish get ordered in though I will be on a sort of deadline to be ready for them.

Still working through potential clean up crew as well. Currently thinking (forgive misspelled names):

Astrea snails
nassurious snails
Cerith snails
fighting conch (1)
Mexican turbo (2)
Nerite Snails
Porcelin crab (5)
Brittle star (2)
serpant star (1)
pep shrimp
cleaner shrimp
Probably do some dwarf hermits as well

 

[ReefWreak]

I still want to do a lagoon/dedicated anemone tank too at some point. A nice carpet anemone and just inverts and fishes that live in it, and maybe some sea grasses...

List of cleaners looks pretty good. I would avoid the nerite snails, porcelin crabs, and pepermint shrimps unless you really need any of them. Nerites look like they can get into trouble, porcelin are crabs so I don't trust them, and peppermint shrimp can eat corals or steal food from corals by opening up the coral and pulling the food out through the tear in the flesh. If you have aiptasia, then fine, but if you don't, I wouldn't add them.

Also, how are you qualifying the difference between brittle and serpent stars? I imagine that brittle you mean the tan/brown/black striped ones, and serpent star you mean the green ones? The green ones eat fishes, don't add it.

I loved having a conch, they're really cool and eat all algae within the bottom 3" of the tank.

You'll just need to make sure the tank is really mature enough and has enough algae when you add these guys. I think you'll want to purchase maybe basic snails in the beginning, then slowly add more of them as time goes on. The conch and potentially stars can easily starve to death in a new tank (same with linckia star fishes).

 

[soulpatch]

The asterea and ceriths will be only things added at first.

I like porcelins and since they are filter feeders I havent had any issues with them in my cube and they look cool.

I have nerites now from reef cleaners and never had an issue with them. I get them around the rim at times but otherwise they are fine. I can avoid them and add more other types without issue.

The pep shrimp would be added later if needed though planning on the spend for them now. The main will be cleaner shrimp as I happen to really like them.

You are right on the stars. Brittle will be all I go with for now though I want something like a sea star that will be more out for the daughter. I can deal with some compatibility issues if needed depending on what they are.

Conch will be added later when the tank is mature as I want it more so to keep the sand bed churned up as I will have some dead spots in the tank

 

[welshintheusa]

Looking really good. Its great to look outside the box.

 

[soulpatch]

Thanks Welsh. The entire intent with this build was to take my time and make sure equipment was done right. I patch worked things on my nano and with this being a bigger tank it would annoy me to more as things would stick out that much more.

My tank is still very high on ammonia so cycle still going strong. I did order in some prodibio start up to try this time. I dont need the cycle completed or to rush it but I wanted to try it to see if it works. I have been looking at an empty tank for 4 months now so it will be nice to have something in it even if just snails...

My Tunze tubing comes in today so I can install the ATO. That is on the docket for tonight so I can stop topping off nightly and only worry about topping off the nano.

My skimmer sold last night from the nano giving me some money towards the fish and cuc. If my LEDs from the nano ever sell that will be money for a web cam so I can keep an eye on the tank when away from home. Hard to find a decent priced camera that can pan, tilt, and zoom though. If anyone knows of one for a decent price let me know.

 

[soulpatch]

ATO was finally installed. I also hung one of my reactors in the stand. The tank was dosed with stability and prodibio start up so wondering timelines on all that.

The LED and skimmer sold from my nano and as such I will be trying to take down the apex this weekend and moving it over to the big tank, hooking up my lights to test fire them, mounting the WAV units, and finally building and putting on the screen top.

 

[ReefWreak]

Prodibio is good and should move things along. I'm not sure what stability is (some seachem product that I always believed to be bunk, even though I don't remember what it does), but hopefully it helps too. You shouldn't be seeing ammonia much more than after a few days, particularly with high flow and bacteria supplementation.

 

[soulpatch]

Flow is not too high right now which is the reason for the rush to get the WAV units up and running. I have perhaps 10-15x turnover right now.

 

[DarthReefer27]

question for your dosing pump connection to the dosing reservoirs from BAO. the BAO containers have hard RO tubing coming out but the dosing pumps use softer tubing. perhpas I am making this harder than it is, but I can't seem to figure out the best way to do it.

 

[soulpatch]

question for your dosing pump connection to the dosing reservoirs from BAO. the BAO containers have hard RO tubing coming out but the dosing pumps use softer tubing. perhpas I am making this harder than it is, but I can't seem to figure out the best way to do it.

I have some of these coming in to try I ordered the small ones which should work but I will know better when they come in on Monday or Tuesday

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/mur-lok-stem-adapter-tube-x-hose-stem.html

 

[DaveRaz]

I love the ATI mounting job you did. Do you mind sharing more details of that project? I am running one in a canopy as well and its a pita every time i need to access the tank.

 

[soulpatch]

I love the ATI mounting job you did. Do you mind sharing more details of that project? I am running one in a canopy as well and its a pita every time i need to access the tank.

Sure but as with anything I wish I had taken more pics during the process.

As is I used these for the length so that the fixture sits on these:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Crown-Bolt-1-1-4-in-x-48-in-Zinc-Plated-Punched-Angle-41790/202183466

I put corner bracing on the one end:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-in-Zinc-Plated-Heavy-Duty-Corner-Brace-2-Pack-15444/202034217

On the ends I used these. I cut them in half and doubled up both ends for strength:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Crown-Bo...d-Flat-Bar-with-1-16-in-Thick-18040/100337901

On the end where the splash shield slides out I put these:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-8-in-Zinc-Plated-Corner-Brace-15215/202033926

The last two were important as I mount them on one point so that they can rotate down ever so slightly and allow me better access to pull out the shield.

The frame was mounted to these sliders: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Liberty-...xtension-Drawer-Slide-1-Pair-942405/205171306

I had to use some 2x4 to allow me to drop everything low enough to give clearance for the cord.

I also had to go with a 48" unit so that I had space on the sides of the light for cooling since the unit exhausts from the opening on the shield so have to keep clearance there and room directly above it for air circulation.

Here are a couple more pics and a short vid. Though I moved the Kessils later from the video as they did not fit well with the eurobrace.

Video: http://vid4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/soulpatch/20160131_190748_zpsedzvf6vo.mp4

 

[boostedvq]

awesome build, however I really like what you did with your lights! I'm going to have to steal that idea!

 

[soulpatch]

Thanks Boosted. This entire tank is a bit of trial and error as I attempt to add things to make the tank more efficient. I am sure I will redo some of the things I am doing but that is part of the fun. The downside is that the build is taking MUCH longer then I thought to get fish and such into it. At this rate it will be end of March until I have fish in the tank.

The biggest win is if I can get the apex mounted in a somewhat organized fashion on my panel.


Speaking of panels the electrician is coming next Monday to install my 20 amp GFI line for the tank as well as a transfer switch and outdoor panel for my generator.