jolt Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Some of you know that I have a new rimless 150 180 gallon tank on order from Reef Savvy. It won't be here for a few months so I won't yet bore folks with details on that -- but I am excited and as we get closer to black friday I'll start to do the big equipment purchases! Between now and then I'll post some of my thoughts on equipment and I hope for your feedback on the tradeoffs of various choices Today's topic: So far my QT, RODI, and SW mixing facility has been geared towards my current 32 gallon tank. So I've spent the last few months doing a makeover to increase my capacity. I did not have much room to work with -- just a small closet in the back of the house. Fortunately it's on the other side of the wall from the washer/dryer so I am able to plumb and get electricity in there through a single hole in the wall. The real trick has been trying to figure out how to cram as much gear as possible into a minimal space. Here's a few photos and brief description. Today I finally started filling the RODI tank for the first time, after testing the float valve and the ASO valve. I'm getting kind of excited as the next phase is to bring one of the SW stations on line and then begin filling the 40B. Some details: Rock prep/Qurantine/Frag Tank I bought a 40B at Petco dollar-per-gallon sale. Drilled it and installed a glass holes overflow. Painted the back and bottom black, and made a stand for it. The idea is to sequence some things through this tank. Starting with preparing some seed rock for the DT. I bought 100 pounds of Fiji dry from BRS and I'm getting another box from Reburn down the road. I'm gonna start cooking some of it now as seed rock and then move that to the DT once I have it. Then I'll do another batch or two. I'm going to put a couple of small pieces of already seeded live rock in here to get the ball rolling. After that, the tank will transition to the QT for initial fish stocking. Eventually I will transition it to a frag tank, unless I have to use copper on the QT at some point. RODI reservoir I bought a 35 gallon tank and drilled it for a float valve and put it in a drip tray. It's plumbed with a union and is intended to be gravity feed to the rest of the system. I mounted it on a shelf I constructed over the 40B. The drip tray is plumbed into the washer drain. Then the float valve is plumbed into an auto shutoff system. So two safety mechanisms. Hopefully no more flooded floors!! Saltwater mixing. I bought two 10 gallon mix tanks that were wall-mountable. These have a sloped bottom sump. I plumbed the RODI outlet over to these and put ball valves for easy fill. They drain out the bottom through a couple more ball valves. There is a third ball valve for straight RODI water, and I'll have a short hose attached to that for filling buckets, etc. I drilled access holes in the top of these to get the wiring in for heater, pump, and digital thermometer. This is all plugged into individually switched outlets, wired through a gfci box. Here's the RODI tank mounted over the 40B: Here's the SW mixing tanks: A closeup of the ball valves for filling the SW mixing (notice the switched outlet bar above for the heaters and mixing pumps): And here's the RODI unit with the auto shutoff and triple TDS meter mounted to it (you can see the gfci box with drip loops beside that) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 This is exciting!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Gona do the new kessils on this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 Gona do the new kessils on this one? I'm thinking not. I am disappointed that they have even less integration capability than the current A360WE. And I think they are awfully expensive. Seeing them in person at Macna could change my opinion, but I am doubtful. Right now it's a toss up between ATI powermodule and Radion. I am expecting Ecotech to announce next gen radions at Macna next week and so looking forward to checking those out. They are expensive, but have a great track record, I've seen the results on SAMs tank, and they have great Apex integration. I think the ATI is a proven coral color and growth machine, but I am not 100% happy with the aesthetics of the unit, with the mounting options, with the ongoing bulb replacement costs/effort, and the lack of integration with the Apex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Yeah I have the t5 right now just because they were built in my tank, I'm actually liking them more than the kessils I had as far as colors on the corals. The radions are certainly proven and if I went led that's the only way I would go. The ati light is crazy cool though, Rory aka Juiceman just got one and it comes with quite the control panel. He hooked his up to the computer of course not the apex that I'm aware of. Cant wait to see it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 Yeah I still need to see the ATI in person, could completely change my concerns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Started 100 lbs of Fiji dry rock cooking in the 40B yesterday. 24 hours later and its pretty nasty in there! Good thing I have a tight fitting glass cover 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Take a good whiff of that thing just to appreciate your bacterial load in your tank. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Back from MACNA. Wow was that a blast! Picked up a JF Shock Tart, a JF Tierra del Fuego, WWC Pink Duster, and a Pink Lemonade from Cherry corals. One decision on equipment for the new 150 was made for me. I won a pair of Neptune WAV pumps at the raffle! For anyone interested, the Sicce rep told me (off the record) that they are building the WAV pumps for Neptune. It's crazy, I've never purchased a flow pump, but I've now won 4 different ones at raffles. Also, I spent a LOT of time with Chris Benner who does the cabinet work for Reef Savvy. My wife loved the example cabinets they brought so I think we got some traction on the cabinet design this weekend. I am 100% sold on the Ecotech Vectra M1 pump. Definitely gonna go that route on the return pump. I also spent a lot of time at the CoralVue booth and I've added the Giesemann Aurora combo T5/LED fixture to my list to consider. It is in third place right now after Radions and ATI Powermodule. Gonna spend more time researching this important decision. I also spent a lot of time with Justin from Avast Marine when I caught him hanging out in the Sicce booth. I did not get to see any of their gear but I got to ask a million questions. I am very impressed with Justin's understanding of my needs and I'm pretty sure I am gonna go with a CS1 skimmer, swabbie neck cleaner, davy jones skimmer locker, and possibly even their ATO unit which integrates nicely with the Apex. I need to go over and check out Reburn's Avast gear soon. And, I spent about an hour talking to a guy from the UK who has been running triton, and I also talked a while with Ehsan. I am still pondering a full Triton setup for this tank. I'm not sure I'm convinced in their testing abilities, but I really kind of like the method itself, especially if it can get me to no water changes as advertised. Go ahead and let me know why it would be a bad idea, I'm interested in all opinions 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 What is it about the Vectra pump? I'm looking for a new one and Ty had suggested that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 I like all the smart features of it. For example you can tune feeding mode to just barely keep flow going but maintain your sump level. And you can tune the max volume rather than using a ball valve. And it's got incredible head pressure. And its only 80 watts for 2100 GPH capacity. And it supports the ecotech battery backup. And it has safety shutoff, monitors its own flow and heat and the integration with Apex through the WXM is coming and should be good. And it's really quiet compared to similar DC pumps. That's it for now 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Very jealous of your trip...even more jealous you got to rub elbows with some industry experts... to top it off, you walked away with an awesome free prize! What a weekend! Any interesting talks that you attended? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 wow...I may have to seriously consider one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Dibs on a frag of that Tierra del Fuego when it grows out!! That geisman light is sweet, did you see any of the ati ones there in person? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 Ty - I really enjoyed the mindstream workshop (very technical, so of course I liked that), the Vectra workshop, the triton Q&A session and the Walt Smith talk on farming corals in Fiji. Also, the Apex users meeting was great, with a free champagne brunch and three good talks. The keynote speech at the banquet was outstanding too. ckyuv - sure, if I don't kill the TDF ;-) It looks great in my tank today, but after seeing all the real pros frags and then coming home to see my system I can see a big difference. I still have a lot to learn, and hopefully a bigger tank, and better lights will help too. One of the best frag tanks I saw was using an ATI fixture, but it was all T5, not a powermodule. Best color in the place after JF. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 I'm very curious what was discussed during the Mindstream and Triton talks. I wonder if they recorded them and going to release them publicly as before. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasReef Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Sounds like you had a great time and congrats on the WAV pumps! I have settled on the Vectra for a closed loop but waiting on the bigger one. Post up some pics of you have time. Sent from my SD4930UR using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 I looked around to see if they were recording the mindstream talk but there was no pro gear setup. Some interesting things: they talked about the way they implemented multisampling across the disc and use that to detect wearout, fouling, etc., , they read each strip 15 times and do statistics on the readings to determine if all is well. They also went into how the flourescence worked through excitation and reabsorption of electrons. I felt like they had a good handle on the physics of what they were doing. For pics, I recommend the R2R thread for MACNA photos. There's a ton of them. I did not take many. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 UPDATE - Black Friday Equipment List so far (note I already bought an APEX gold on sale at C4 last summer) - Custom Geo 618 twin chamber CaRX - Apogee PAR Meter - BRS Deluxe GFO & Carbon reactors - APEX PM1 & Lab Grade PH probe - APEX Leak Detection Module and Probes - 2nd Apex EB8 Tomorrow, Avast Marine is having their sale: - CS1 Recirculating Skimmer - Swabbie neck cleaner - Skimmate Locker - ATO I think that's a wrap for Black Friday .... Now it's hurry up and wait for the tank and stand, and the difficult sump and lights decision LIGHTS: Gonna wait and see if Ecotech and/or ATI do any new lighting products or updates. PUMP: Gonna wait and see what the Neptune COR pump looks like versus the Ecotech Vectra (since I already have the WAV kit and it has an extra port for a return pump). SUMP: And I am really digging the new Synergy Reef sumps, but they are PRICEY .... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Wow, this is quite the set up you have started. I can't wait to see this go together! Any updates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 Well, the main update is that Reburn talked me into adding one foot to the length tank, so it is now a 6'x2'x2' 180! I am expecting the tank probably in April, and I've been working with the cabinet designer a bit this last week. Should have drawings soon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Can I talk you into 30" wide? [emoji4] It's my only regret with my current tank. The depth limits my aquascaping. I'm glad he talked you into 6'. Those future tangs of yours will love it! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 I think Felix would have a heart attack if I changed my order again. He had to re-order the glass for the 6' change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 I merely suggested. You added the armored seams and phantom bottom on your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted January 23, 2016 Author Share Posted January 23, 2016 I merely suggested. You added the armored seams and phantom bottom on your own. Shhhh - trouble maker! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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