Zachtos’ unique 240G reef w/ 375G sump/fuge-growout/RDSB/aggro tank

[obsled]

Good information on the carbon zachtos! How much do you plan on using at once?

I've been watching your thread with interest. Keep us updated. I think I am more interesting in having multiple average sized tanks than one huge tank (time will tell), so I'm very curious about the tie in methods, etc.

Good luck!

 

[zachtos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9750127#post9750127 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by obsled
Good information on the carbon zachtos! How much do you plan on using at once?

I've been watching your thread with interest. Keep us updated. I think I am more interesting in having multiple average sized tanks than one huge tank (time will tell), so I'm very curious about the tie in methods, etc.

Good luck!

I'll fill up one entire 2lil fish's phosban reactor full of carbon and probably throw it away whenever the water starts getting that 'not so fresh feeling'...

I just ordered a buttload of supplies, including my T5 lighting setup, test kits, salt, maxi jets, 3 maxi mod kits, bulk carbon, bulk calcium chloride, bulk magnesium chloride, two nice 300W rena heaters, topoff pump and digital thermometers. I'm getting ready to order fans, 12VDC powersupplies and cold cathode tubes for moonlighting next.

Soon it'll be building my light hood, my culture station, filling the main tank, setting up the refugium, hopefully my ca reactor and skimmer and media reactor as well... and the 75G still needs to be drilled and have the overflows designed and piped through the wall to the existing manifolds. WORK WORK WORK.

 

[Sold4JC]

zachtos, everything looks good. Please keep me informed on your water flow with the modded maxi jets. I'm setting up a 210 and thinking of doing several modded maxi jets. I want to know how they work for you.

 

[zachtos]

electric completion photos: wired just like the diagram showed.

new reefkeeping buddy john and myself (grey shirt) working

3 new 15A breakers w/ labels, the lighting circuit is a GFI breaker

all tests passed, no rewiring was needed

dual GFI sockets for heaters, load to be split evenly in case one heater blows the GFI socket, the other half of heaters will still work

return pump has it's own socket and switch @ 120V

lighting and pump sockets for growout/fuge equipment

lab culture wall sockets for lights and pumps w/ switches

4 GFI light sockets on the left for lighting the display tanks, 3 standard sockets for the display pumps etc and one GFI socket for the powerheads in the displays - the 75G will have have extension cords going to the other room through the wall (I didn't wanna drill more holes in my virgin dining rom floors, I'll pull the cords through the holes in the drywall where the drain/return lines will go later - easy repairs)

I also ordered a wattmeter to help determine what wattage the icecap660 ballasts are actually overdriving my T5's at. And to determine the wattages of 4 'mystery' heaters that came w/ my used tank setup.

I ordered 4 x 15" blue cold cathode lights for moonlighting and 6 x 80mm 12VDC fans for cooling the overdriven lights. I still need to order power supplies for everything and get some relays for the autotopoff switches and the DIY backup generator air pumps.

I need to build my lab culture benches and order starter cultures next. I also need to build my light hoods and reinforce the shelf for the ca reactor and skimmer.

 

[zachtos]

This weekend I plan to get supplies necessaryto build my culture/lab benches and wood necessary to build my light hood for my T5's and cold cathode moonlights.
***Anyone able to tell me what type of wood to use?***

I ordered my electronics parts for my little projects. One project is the relay based float switches in series ($25 for this setup not including pumps). That's very simple though, I'll post photos later when I do that. Another is a relay based spa timer that will turn off the maxi jets during feeding time (may or may not do this one, only $25 to do this). The other project is more complex. It's a backup generator system that will turn a powerhead on in case of an electrical outage. The system is expandable by adding more batteries. I estimate that the pump should stay on somewhere between 10 hours and 40 hours... it's hard to say because I can't find a spec sheet for battery I've chosen. I'm not doing a deepcyle battery, (I find it cheaper to parallel 2-3 lead acids, I don't need high amps, just alot of reserve capacity). I want a air pump to go on as well but I don't want it on 24/7 obviously.

*opinions needed before i finish this!

 

[obsled]

Following along intently.

On the wood - my guess would be to pick what goes well. I don't have any experience building my own hoods, but staining the inside with a weather based sealant might be a good idea.

Keep posting, a lot of good ideas here. Also please advise how the 12vdc inverter works. This looks a bit cheaper than a small generator, but of course singular.

 

[zachtos]

12VDC inverter converts DC voltage to AC power. It clips the sine wave which means it's bad for motors. That's the best description I can give at the moment, I'm gonna stumble down to the bar now, later!

 

[obsled]

Oh gosh - didn't mean to ask you to explain the linear circuit theory behind it, but more how it works for your application vs. a generator in the practical aspect.

Keep bringing your EE approach. It still seems like there's a lot of voodoo going on with this hobby. This combined with your LED threads are going high in my bookmarks.

Hope last night was well. I'm waking up at 10:30 and not finding any beer cans in the tanks.

 

[zachtos]

Did carpentry work this weekend. Lots and lots and lots to do this coming week.
***** MAY 4th is the target date for starting the cycle ****
I'm getting live rock from a friend on that date. The RO/DI unit is working in overdrive to fill the system as we speak. I need to test out the pump and start filling the display among many other things this week.

Look at my friends hard at work helping me build my lab culture stations and light hood!

My new Lab Culture station!!!

the fuge now has 2" of silica sand and a mixture of honeycomb baserock and my DIY baserock

* I need feedback on stocking numbers for fish now - like how many fish I can have maybe? Just to get an idea rolling (a school of flame angels and chromis, lots of tangs, mandarins, clown pair)

 

[zachtos]

So last night I built the hood for my lights and weatherproofed it. I plan to just set it on top of my tank and lift it up whenever I need to feed the fish... not a real good solution, but it'll have to do. The entire unit will be wired such that there will be only ONE cord coming out of the rear and it will be a EIC computer cable and detachable. The Timers will be on the rear of the hood along with the ballasts and 12VDC power supplies.

I also started adding RO/DI water to the tank. The RO/DI unit is working overtime now. I rewired the return pump to 110VAC and cleaned it, but it is leaking when it's running. I don't know what to do! It's spraying water droplets where the shaft exits the propellor and enters the housing for the motor. I dont think I can solve that problem... I don't know if it's a real problem either, maybe 1-10 gallons of loss a day from it? I don't know what would happen if I left it as is! I can't afford to buy a new $400 pump (this one is four years old, a sequence 4600)

New light hood on the tank, it's made from sanded plywood and coated with weatherproofing sealant. The hood is light enough to pick up by the handles myself. It should be fairly light even w/ the bulbs and ballasts and fans, shouldn't weigh too much.

The new hood, dimensions are 74" x 6" x 20". I plan to install 6 DC 80MM fans in the hood, I have no idea where I want to put them yet.
** I was thinking of mounting the fans all on the rear, or glueing them on the ends and blowing air inward, what do you think?

 

[zachtos]

I'm ordering a replacement gasket for my pump housing from mdcinc, the manufacturer for my 4600seq22. Pricey, $50 plus shipping, ouch. I had a fun night learning about siphon holes. I created a water beam death ray by making a very tiny anti-siphon hole . Glad I own a mop to say the least. Learning is fun.

My T5 lighting equipment is here with my icecap660s and moonlights etc. I just need the wiring equipment to show up and I'll start making more stuff. The tank is still filling w/ RO/DI slowly. I'm hoping I solved all the leaks in the tank manifolds, but that's wishful thinking.

Here's some shots of my custom Ca reactor and skimmer being constructed by reeferman75 at reefcentral.

 

[zachtos]

new tank shot, cold cathodes

new hood, bottom, 39W x 12 T5 on icecap660-009's, the ballasts are being sent in for repair

hood construction shot, cold cathodes shown

refugium running

sump return running

top of my custom hood. It has one power connection that is removable. Basically, each fan has it's own power supply, the moonlights have their own socket, the T5's have their own as well.

pump gasket repair/replacement

 

[zachtos]

maxi mods ready for construction

parts laid out

bulk carbon, 50lbs for $90

bulk magnesium supplement, still waiting on my calcium supplement

growout tank

remote deep sand bed setup and running

my custom calcium reactor, waiting for it to get shipped next week

my custom skimmer, waiting for it to get shipped next week

Updates: Tank cycle has begun. Live rock from two different tanks has been added. I spent a lot of time building the light hood only to find out the ballasts were all damaged and did not function. They are getting sent in for repairs. The cold cathodes are the only lights at the moment. The return pump is not very quiet. My skim/reactor is on the way still.

sg:1.026
temp:78degF
calc:450ppm
dkh:10
ph:8.3

next on the list:
-build my float switch
-build my generator
-start my tetra/nano phyto cultures
-start copepod/brine cultures
-drill and setup 75G and plumb into sytem
-add fish/coral after cycle

 

[chris wright]

You sure have a lot going on at the moment :lol: Its good to see that your progressing, shame about the ballasts. Its going to be good to see the lights on. I see alot of debate over lighting, but I think the t5's are good.

The skimmer and the calcium reactor look good, bet you cant wait to get them going.

Have you thought about using streams, or is it easier and cheaper to mod the maxi-jets?

Cheers,
Chris.

 

[chris wright]

Double post

 

[zachtos]

much cheaper to do maxi mods... i have random turbulent flow from the seaswirls already... I may mount a maxi to them though for even for chaos. I haven't built them yet since they are low priority since I have no coral for the next 2 months or so.

*I ordered my phytoplankton cultures today and will finish absorbing my friend's tank and fish this week. He has no where to place them since he's moving home for the summer. I also bought 16lbs of baking soda and 10lbs of epsom salts to make 2 part solutions and magnesium supplements.

 

[zachtos]

Ok, updates:
-my 3 icecap ballasts were indeed toasted, and are repaired now. The service person from icecap told me to boot up only one at a time and check for continuity before I plug in each ballast. I believe all of them pass now, so hopefully everything will be fine and you'll see my lights turn on either saturday or monday afternoon for the first time.
-ammonia is at 1ppm, so the cycle has started slowly, kick started by frozen mysis shrimp and 75lbs of live rock from a friend locally, he's adding his fish this week, i know i know, it's his choice not mine.
-the top off switch is done and installed, it operates on a series of two switches, that way if a snail crawls on one, the tank can't top off unless the other switch closes as well... redundancy for protection. the tank fills up w/ dual aqua lifters slowly and a green light kicks on to inform me that it's running.
-the generator circuit is basically done, I just don't know what devices I want to run when the power goes out. I couldn't figure out a simple/safe way to make a maxi mod stay on when the power goes out w/o backfeeding the system.
- I can easily add a feeder circuit that turns off the recirculating pump and all powerheads in the tank by splicing into the juncion box downstairs and running a relay to make the spa timer run in reverse operation (off when on)
-phyto cultures should be here soon, I'll start those when I find time... I plan to run brine and copepod cultures and eventually rotifiers when I get into breeding later.

 

[zachtos]

My friends fish, watching him for the summer

My generator circuit is complete. I decided to just have it turn on only during a power outage. It will only power air pumps because the modified sine wave from the inverter can not run power heads. The power heads just pulse on and off rapidly.

Maxi mods are complete, they hum and grind everynow and then, not super quiet, but effective and powerful. My living room is not very quiet, even with the return pump in the basement. Noise is a problem, I'm getting complaints from people already... I don't know how to solve any of this.

I mounted my maxijet mods onto my seaswirl returns so they can oscillate. Can I just say that the flow in my tank is stunning? The liverock on PVC skeleton is so fantastic. You can see food particles etc cruising in and out of every nook and cranny and the fish love the caves all over.

My watt meter, $25 online, and the best friggin toy evar! Shows volts, amps, watts, VA, power factor, all at the push of a button, so convienient... I used it to determine the watt usage of my maxis, pumps, and monitor the heaters and how much they are turning on with it's KWH mode. I'll use it soon to test how much the icecaps are overdriving my T5s soon as I get the ballasts back and test em.

Bulk Calcium chlroide, aka dowflake, aka kent turbo calcium. Lifetime supply for around $50


*I haven't setup my photoplankton cultures, I'll do that this weekend. My paramaters haven't been checked in a while, I'll do that soon to see how the cycle's going. I can see food decaying all over the place, so it must be going well. I hope ryan's fish survive the cycle.

 

[leeweber85]

where'd you get the bulk carbon?

 

[zachtos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9879306#post9879306 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leeweber85
where'd you get the bulk carbon?

first page, there is a banner and a link to general carbon