scubaguy2010
New member
Ok, a little background. I have associated myself with aquariums for quite some time now. In 2002 I was dabbling in freshwater aquariums, all the way to injecting CO2 into the water to make the plants grow. I was quite successful but marine aquariums in 2002 were not really being sold.
Then work had me relocate from UK to Houston, Texas and that is where I tried out marine aquariums for the first time. However, back in 2002, there was no YouTube (that wouldn't arrive until 2005) and little in the way of online forums. So, I dived in with a few books as my guide. I mean, how hard and different to freshwater can it be I thought? What an unmitigated disaster that was. I had no clue about the importance of RODI systems, water flow, lighting, filtration (they sold me a trickle filter!!!), what to test for and monitor, additives, etc. The corals I bought quickly died and the aquarium just looked hopeless. I poured money down the drain and gave up!!!
Then fast forward to late 2012. I'm back in the UK and I start reading about marine aquariums on the internet and looking at loads of YouTube videos. Videos from MrSaltWaterTank and BRSTV were inspirational. The reasons for my failure in the states was starting to make sense. I was hooked again!
So, I designed my new marine system and got it built.
However, there was still much to learn and some big hurdles to address.
This was the system I built.
Note the top off tank to the left of the aquarium in a matching wood box and the 2 EcoTech MP40's in the tank.
Built around an Aquatronica tank controller (the Neptune Systems Apex controller was not available in the UK at that time. If it had been, I would have definitely selected that controller), I had control over everything. It was hooked into my Ethernet also so I had remote control too.
Note:
I had selected the expensive Vertex Illumina SR260 LED lights and it has performed brilliantly. Note the fans and the temperature thermometer in the hood. One fan blows, the other sucks. They are PC fans that I have connected to a power adapter. Should the water or hood temperature get too high, the controller turns on the fans. Temperature has never been an issue for me but it would have been without these fans.
I installed an RODI system which comprised of:
I also created a log so I could keep track of all the parameters on my tank. The test kits I use are:
I believed I had thought of everything and I almost had but there were a few design choices that made me pay dearly.
The first of which, that I didn't realise until 18 months in was that the seal on the top of my DI canister was faulty and my RO water was bypassing the DI media. So, the water that was going into my tank was always around 6 TDS. Not good. I replaced sediment filters, carbon filters and DI media like it was going out of fashion but I could never get the TDS of my filtered fresh water to 0 TDS. This resulted in my tank always having a mild algae problem. It also caused algae in the bottom of my 2 x 25L plastic jerry cans, all of which was going into my tank. No wonder I had algae problems.
The solution, a 15p (20 cents) replacement seal for my DI Resin vessel, and the TDS came crashing down to zero. No more algae in the jerry cans now. I replaced the clean-up crew in my tank as well as getting a brown tang and before long (within 1 month) the tank was free of algae. I then invested in some additional digital TDS monitors so I could monitor the effectiveness of each stage of my RODI system. I created the log below to allow me to monitor the effectiveness and know when to change stages.
I can't emphasise how important the cleanliness of your input water needs to be. Everyone focusses on what's happening inside your tank but if you can prove the TDS of your RODI water is perfect, everything else becomes simpler.
The second thing that went wrong did so while I was travelling for a couple of months. All of a sudden, my aquarium controller started emailing me in the middle of the night on the other side of the world to say that the sump level had dropped too low and the main pump had been shut off as a precaution. What had happened was that the submersible pump in my top off tank had failed and was no longer topping off the evaporation in my main tank. I tried through relatives to get the pump working again but to no avail and I had to remotely switch off the lights to limit further evaporation and leave the tank with the main pump off too for more than 1 month until I could get home. The result, I lost all my coral and most of my fish. What I did to correct this was install a peristaltic pump (by Avast) so no longer was the pump in contact with the water for top off. Much more reliable.
The third thing that I was having difficulty with was controlling my Nitrates. So, I installed a submersible bio-pellet reactor behind the skimmer so I could direct the outflow from the bio-pellet reactor into the intake for the skimmer. Now my Nitrates are always zero.
So, now my aquarium looks like this.
I do 20% water changes once per month and this leaves me with a stable system with no algae. The coral frags I have added are growing, my tank parameters are perfect and the TDS of my top-off water remains zero. I think I'm in a much better place.
If I had to leave some lessons learned for others they would be:
So, I hope you have found my journey useful, informative or just simply interesting. By no means do I consider myself as an expert but I feel more in control now than ever before.
Then work had me relocate from UK to Houston, Texas and that is where I tried out marine aquariums for the first time. However, back in 2002, there was no YouTube (that wouldn't arrive until 2005) and little in the way of online forums. So, I dived in with a few books as my guide. I mean, how hard and different to freshwater can it be I thought? What an unmitigated disaster that was. I had no clue about the importance of RODI systems, water flow, lighting, filtration (they sold me a trickle filter!!!), what to test for and monitor, additives, etc. The corals I bought quickly died and the aquarium just looked hopeless. I poured money down the drain and gave up!!!
Then fast forward to late 2012. I'm back in the UK and I start reading about marine aquariums on the internet and looking at loads of YouTube videos. Videos from MrSaltWaterTank and BRSTV were inspirational. The reasons for my failure in the states was starting to make sense. I was hooked again!
So, I designed my new marine system and got it built.
However, there was still much to learn and some big hurdles to address.
This was the system I built.
Note the top off tank to the left of the aquarium in a matching wood box and the 2 EcoTech MP40's in the tank.
Built around an Aquatronica tank controller (the Neptune Systems Apex controller was not available in the UK at that time. If it had been, I would have definitely selected that controller), I had control over everything. It was hooked into my Ethernet also so I had remote control too.
Note:
- Dual media reactors (Carbon and PO4)
- Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium dosing bottles. Dosing via dosing pump.
I had selected the expensive Vertex Illumina SR260 LED lights and it has performed brilliantly. Note the fans and the temperature thermometer in the hood. One fan blows, the other sucks. They are PC fans that I have connected to a power adapter. Should the water or hood temperature get too high, the controller turns on the fans. Temperature has never been an issue for me but it would have been without these fans.
I installed an RODI system which comprised of:
- Pump
- Stage 1 = Sediment Filter (5 micron)
- Stage 2 = Carbon Block (CTO)
- Stage 3 = Dual in line 150 GPD membranes
- Stage 4 = 2 x 3.2 Gallon Drinking Water Pressure Tanks
- Stage 5 = 1 way valve to DI Vessel to ensure DI water does not backflow into storage tanks
- Stage 6 = 2 x 25L Plastic Jerry Cans that store the RODI water that then gets supplied to the top off tank next to the aquarium by gravity. These allow me to travel for up to 1 month before they need refilling.
I also created a log so I could keep track of all the parameters on my tank. The test kits I use are:
- pH via probe connected to tank controller
- Salinity via probe connected to tank controller or refractometer
- Nitrate via high sensitivity test kit by DD Solutions
- Phosphate via Hanna Pocket Checker
- Alkalinity via Hanna Pocket Checker
- Calcium via Hanna Pocket Checker
- Magnesium via Salifert Test kit
I believed I had thought of everything and I almost had but there were a few design choices that made me pay dearly.
The first of which, that I didn't realise until 18 months in was that the seal on the top of my DI canister was faulty and my RO water was bypassing the DI media. So, the water that was going into my tank was always around 6 TDS. Not good. I replaced sediment filters, carbon filters and DI media like it was going out of fashion but I could never get the TDS of my filtered fresh water to 0 TDS. This resulted in my tank always having a mild algae problem. It also caused algae in the bottom of my 2 x 25L plastic jerry cans, all of which was going into my tank. No wonder I had algae problems.
The solution, a 15p (20 cents) replacement seal for my DI Resin vessel, and the TDS came crashing down to zero. No more algae in the jerry cans now. I replaced the clean-up crew in my tank as well as getting a brown tang and before long (within 1 month) the tank was free of algae. I then invested in some additional digital TDS monitors so I could monitor the effectiveness of each stage of my RODI system. I created the log below to allow me to monitor the effectiveness and know when to change stages.
I can't emphasise how important the cleanliness of your input water needs to be. Everyone focusses on what's happening inside your tank but if you can prove the TDS of your RODI water is perfect, everything else becomes simpler.
The second thing that went wrong did so while I was travelling for a couple of months. All of a sudden, my aquarium controller started emailing me in the middle of the night on the other side of the world to say that the sump level had dropped too low and the main pump had been shut off as a precaution. What had happened was that the submersible pump in my top off tank had failed and was no longer topping off the evaporation in my main tank. I tried through relatives to get the pump working again but to no avail and I had to remotely switch off the lights to limit further evaporation and leave the tank with the main pump off too for more than 1 month until I could get home. The result, I lost all my coral and most of my fish. What I did to correct this was install a peristaltic pump (by Avast) so no longer was the pump in contact with the water for top off. Much more reliable.
The third thing that I was having difficulty with was controlling my Nitrates. So, I installed a submersible bio-pellet reactor behind the skimmer so I could direct the outflow from the bio-pellet reactor into the intake for the skimmer. Now my Nitrates are always zero.
So, now my aquarium looks like this.
I do 20% water changes once per month and this leaves me with a stable system with no algae. The coral frags I have added are growing, my tank parameters are perfect and the TDS of my top-off water remains zero. I think I'm in a much better place.
If I had to leave some lessons learned for others they would be:
- Do your research. Read some books, watch YouTube channels, read some forums. Prepare yourself.
- Design your system down to the last detail before you buy anything. All the way from producing RODI water to tank controllers to what automated systems do you need in place to allow you to live your own life, i.e. it's no fun having to top-up the top-off tank manually every 3-4 days. Automate as much as you can.
- Be expected to invest heavily in the beginning. This is not a cheap hobby and it will be bloody expensive if you get things wrong because you cut corners to get started.
- Monitor and log everything you can. Especially on your RODI system to tell you how it's performing. Don't leave such an important input to chance.
- Keep an open mind and keep learning.
So, I hope you have found my journey useful, informative or just simply interesting. By no means do I consider myself as an expert but I feel more in control now than ever before.
Last edited:
maybe I need a replacement. 
