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SChrisEv’s 375g reef


SChrisEV

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looks good!  if i had to do mine again i'd "sleeve" them... run the pvc through larger PVC. provides that little extra support to avoid sag.  Mine go under a staircase, so its not just the other side of the way 4-5" away.  Another thing to consider if you end up having to redo them in the future... you want the fittings off the wall enough to be able to stop dripping from running down/back the pipe if you ever disconnect.  something as simple as a bead of caulk would stop that,... if you had room.    i'd also have used a larger wire chase... mine is pretty maxed out now *lol*

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30 minutes ago, Isaac said:

looks good!  if i had to do mine again i'd "sleeve" them... run the pvc through larger PVC. provides that little extra support to avoid sag.  Mine go under a staircase, so its not just the other side of the way 4-5" away.  Another thing to consider if you end up having to redo them in the future... you want the fittings off the wall enough to be able to stop dripping from running down/back the pipe if you ever disconnect.  something as simple as a bead of caulk would stop that,... if you had room.    i'd also have used a larger wire chase... mine is pretty maxed out now *lol*

Good points, I do plan to use some paintable silicone to both seal and stop leaks.  I have a temporary whole, but I plan to put in a larger one for a wire chase.  What size did you go with?  I'd like to find a cable grommet that fits some PVC to try and help it look clean.

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Making some progress, I FINALLY got the water fully cycling through the display and the sump a couple days ago.  Added some new live and, and have the wonderful cloudy look going.  Later today and tomorrow I will be putting in some dry rock that has been cycling with some live rock from my old tank to seed it a bit faster, and a big bottle of instant bacteria I'll add in a few days.  Then it's pretty much "hurry up and wait" time.  I expect with my existing live rock, new and some old live sand, and the instant bacteria I should have a very rapid cycle.

Sand.jpg

Got a few new fish that are currently in QT, one great looking Labouti Wrasse, I could not get a very good picture of him, but here he is:

Labouti1.jpg

Labouti2.jpg

Question on the APEX Salinity probe.  I just got it set up yesterday evening, first time I've used one.  For those of you that have a real-time salinity monitor, APEX or otherwise, do you comfortable rely on it?  I'm running at 35.6 ppt, my refractometer shows 35 with the best my eyes can tell.  If you are comfortable with it, what automation, if any do you do with your controller?  I can see shutting off an ATO if is gets below a certain level, but else, aside from alarms?

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I love having an APEX, and the new one has a number of cool new features.... but can someone explain this to me:

APEX_SALT.png

No water has been added or taken out of the system today at all.  I calibrated the probe a handful of days ago.  3.2 to 37 in a handful of hours. :( Has anyone else had these issues with their salinity probe?

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I love having an APEX, and the new one has a number of cool new features.... but can someone explain this to me:
APEX_SALT.png.54578fd919743e977818df127eec806b.png
No water has been added or taken out of the system today at all.  I calibrated the probe a handful of days ago.  3.2 to 37 in a handful of hours. [emoji20] Has anyone else had these issues with their salinity probe?

i heard they were somewhat unreliable so I never bothered to even try it. Maybe jump on the Apex forums and see if people can help you there?
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Mine is showing -1ppt salinity :(  Refracto shows 1.025 on the money

i would never use it to control anything.  They say that they function best wit a ground probe within a couple inches of the probe.  

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30 minutes ago, Isaac said:

did you have 2 threads, i know i wrote a blurb about this sometime this week *lol* .....

found it!  

yesterday... man this week feels like a whole month.

3

Yes, I kind of did.  I posted in the APEX equipment but referenced the entry that had the graph.  I read your post on my cell, but did not respond, meant to when I got back to the PC, but forgot. :)  Thanks for your post, and I think that was related to the big swings.  That said, it still read a bit higher than my refractometer, at least as far as I can tell looking at it.  tenths of a point are not really seen in the refractometer.

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1 hour ago, SChrisEV said:

Yes, I kind of did.  I posted in the APEX equipment but referenced the entry that had the graph.  I read your post on my cell, but did not respond, meant to when I got back to the PC, but forgot. :)  Thanks for your post, and I think that was related to the big swings.  That said, it still read a bit higher than my refractometer, at least as far as I can tell looking at it.  tenths of a point are not really seen in the refractometer.

I have to manually tweak the compensation to make it match... the OCD in me.

2017-05-19_15-18-35.png

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On 5/17/2017 at 5:17 PM, SChrisEV said:

I love having an APEX, and the new one has a number of cool new features.... but can someone explain this to me:

APEX_SALT.png

No water has been added or taken out of the system today at all.  I calibrated the probe a handful of days ago.  3.2 to 37 in a handful of hours. :( Has anyone else had these issues with their salinity probe?

Mine varies with temperature throughout the day.  Temp goes up, "salt" goes up.  Cools down, "salt" goes down.  Mine's varying within 1 pt though. 

 

 

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I think I had bubbles, or something.  It is still off, but as @Isaac pointed out, I might just need to do some manual adjustment because it's not bouncing around like ti was.  Still not sure I'll trust it for programming. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been making some good progress across the board, but have not taken many pictures.  I built a light rack for the new tank, I consider this version 1.0.  Once I build the canopy I will likely want to have this hung from the wall.  Also not 100% sure I will stick with the lights I have right now.  We'll see how time goes.

No Lights:

LightRackNoLights.jpg

With lights mounted:
LightRack.jpg

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And a current FTS, with the light rack on the tank.  I think I like the aquascape, I just did it this morning so it has not fully sunk in yet, fish seem to like all the swim areas.  I had a little something different in mind for the are on the left, but was not getting the stability I was comfortable with.  This is my anemone island.  Was not really planned, but they spread so fast I need a way to isolate them.  Have a couple Sherman Rose BTA and like 6 Rainbow BTA, maybe I need a few other types if I'm going to dedicate this much space to anemones.  The three clowns that live in them are loving it.

I think It's time for some coral. :)

FTS_05282017.jpg

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29 minutes ago, Jimbo662 said:

WOW...great progress and I like that light rack.

Thanks Jimbo, it was surprisingly fast to create, aluminum, square, L, and U pieces, stainless steel screws and nuts from my second home (Home Depot).  It's light and should hold up against the salt for a while :)

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