JasonJones

Kim, best of luck with the change. Looking forward to seeing the direction you tank. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Having seen Richard's tank and using a couple of pieces myself, I think Reel Reef rock is the way to go. It is the most natural looking man made rock I have seen and it is already nice and purple. I would not go any other way.

Panty hose makes great filter bags to hold carbon or gfo.

It should be pretty simple to make a cone for something that small with a sheet of acrylic. Just build a mold and heat the acrylic. I think I have a thread on making cone skimmers saved somewhere, lets see if I can find it.

Edit: This isn't the one I was looking for, but it should work. http://theprodigalcube.blogspot.com/2009/09/diy-cone-skimmer.html

Seeing this thread makes me happy. I built one of these 7 or 8 years ago that I ran on my first SPS tank. They work great and aren't that much to assemble- less than $100. Mine had a probe holder to monitor pH. The outlet was controlled by a small gate valve in the return line. It always worked really well.

After seeing this thread, I decided to dig it out of the attic and see if it was still alive. Much to my delight it is! Not sure I will ever run a Ca reactor again as I prefer the balling method, so who knows what I will do with this thing.

Here are a couple of pictures of it.

Back left is the probe holder. Top hose fitting is the outlet, below that is the inlet, and right before the pump is the CO2 inlet.

This shot shows how the water enters the reactor, sorry it is a bad shot.

I have had it for 3 months now. There are little issues with creating new codes and attaching new hardware sometimes, but these are all easily resolved by asking questions on the forum or directly to the owner, he is great at helping out. The learning curve for the code is a little steep, but doesn't take long to figure out the basics. The controller itself has run flawlessly and I have had no issues from it.

The challenges with the system is the directions are mostly all outdated and sometimes it is hard to find the current information. They have done a great job of continuously improving the software and the products, but they have done a poor job of going back and updating the information to correspond. But as I said, this is easily resolved by asking questions. The owner has remote logged into my computer on a couple of occasions to help get something set up properly.

If you ever want to come by and get a feel for the controller and the programming required, just let me know. I am happy to give you a tour.

Who were you with, BTW? I thought I remember seeing a mention of III Corp somewhere. I did some time with 4ID.

Excellent choice. I have been really happy with mine. Let me know if you need any help getting it set up, it can be a pain.

Your led fixture looks really good. I might consider raising the number of RB and lower the number of blues. Too much blue gives a windex look. Additionally, I might considering adding in some true voilets around 420nm.

Your mix indicates you have done a research, but if you have not seen this thread, it is really good. The last 10 pages are very good. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394

Additionally, you have the same spread in the shallow and deep ends of the tank. I might consider adding in some more on the deep end. Also, the 4" spacing is kind of wide and may lead to some color banding issues near the top. I might put them in small pods of three or four to give a bit less banding.

What drivers are you planning on using?

Brooks- Thank you. I have to do my best to keep up with you!

Rob- Thanks for the comments. I really miss the ric garden. It was one of my favorite parts of the tank. Hopefully the next tank will help me take everything to the next level. I think it will be a pretty neat tank.

Can a mod move this over to the tank building forum. It probably fits better there. Thanks!

I cannot believe it has been nearly a year since I updated this post. There have been a lot of changes to the tank. Mainly because of a crash that happened over Memorial Day. I had moved the tank to Dallas for the summer and everything was going well. However, when I came back from Memorial Day, the breaker the tank was on had flipped and the tank had been without power for some time. I lost every fish and every SPS except the encrusting montis. Most LPS and polyps pulled through, but I lost 99% of the rics to bleaching over the next month. It was devistating and made me lose some interest in the tank. The tank basically sat in that condition for the rest of the summer. I hardly did any water changes and it just limped along.

I have slowly been rebuilding the tank and have focused more on the SPS than anything else. I am still looking for a few pieces (sunset montipora, Palmer's blue milli and a green slimer) if anyone has some frags. Enough blabbering, here are some pictures.

I am hoping in the next month or two to have someone with a better camera come over and take some shots.

Red Planet and Hawkins are coloring up nicely. Thanks Calvin.

I accidentally broke the blue polyp digi today on the left branch and then glued it on backwards....

New acro in back. I am really excited about this one.

The fish being buddies. The angel picked on the clown the first day, but now they follow each other around all the time. My randall's goby was being shy and didn't want to be photoed. Cant complain about modesty.

A shot of the acros with the dendro in back. The dendro has been growing well.

A shot down the side.

Couple of other points to note. I added a dosing pump for Ca and Alk. I have them pretty tuned in now and everything is staying stable. I am keeping Ca at 480 and Alk at 8.0. Keeping this constant has really helped with the growth and color.

I have been obtaining quotes for my tank upgrade this fall. I am thinking it will be 40" x" 30" x 20". Should be right around 100g. I think I will go with a DIY wavebox and a closed loop on a VFD for flow. I am still really up in the air about lighting. It will either be a MH/T5 combo or a DIY Led fixture.

I have been following along since the beginning. This is an awesome idea and I really like the look of the drop off tank.

I hate to be Debbie downer, but I agree a lot with where hydro is going. Unless this is your house, or the owner is a family member who guarantees you can rent the house forever, I would think long and hard about setting up a tank of this scale. To do it right, I would also want to have a dedicated fish room to house all the equipment and quarantine/hospital tanks, etc... I just cant imagine the investment of time and money that it would take to get this going if I ever thought I might have to move it.

I would also say Hydro knows what he is talking about. He has been through a very similar build as you know. As I said, awesome idea, I would just be hesitant to do it right now.

I dont know how I missed this build. Pure excellence!

I really like the dimensions of this tank. This is almost exactly what I would build if I were settled. Great job.

Great woodworking! This looks like it is going to be a beast. Looking forward to seeing it all come together.

Chris,

How is the tank coming? I was at Calvin's yesterday and heard you were coming by a little later. Sad I missed you.

Hope all is well.

There is no problem with using it as long as there are no chemicals in it. I would soak it in a weak bleach solution and then put it in RO water for a few days and test for copper. If you don't detect anything, I would put the pieces in one at a time over a couple of weeks and watch for any adverse effects.

Mike, I agree. I think the zeo system bacteria provides a double benefit by cleaning the water and serving as a food source when the zeoliths are daily shaken and bacteria is released into the water column.

I have mixed opinions on this. I am short on time, so I will only give an outline.

I think bacterial dosing alone without a carbon input is not necessary. In fact I don't think bacteria dosing is really necessary in an established tank, even if carbon dosing. If carbon dosing, the bacteria population will grow on its own to reach equilibrium.

Bacterial supplements in a bottle: Many of the chemist on RC say there is no way that bacteria can be suspended alive for a long period of time and that the products basically dont work. At least not after the first couple of doses.

Bacteria in the aquarium: I am focusing on the zeo method with zeoliths and the recent introduction of solid carbon dosing. Both methods provide a home for bacteria to grow and flourish. I think these systems work.

The basic chemistry of all of this is simple. The limiting factor for bacterial growth which will reduce phosphates and nitrates is carbon. By adding additional sources of carbon, you reduce the limiting factor and allow larger bacterial populations than could occur naturally, which are then able to convert more phosphates and nitrates.

There are some downsides. What happens when you stop dosing carbon, bacterial die off because the population cannot be maintained. Dosing liquid carbon sources (vinegar, vodka, sugar) seems to create red slime problems, solid carbon dosing doesn't seem to have this problem, possibly because the carbon is contained within the reactor.

Just some thoughts.

Curious why you tossed the LEDs.

WHat brand were they?

Sorry, I didnt see you had said someone took it earlier.

While the 85s are nice, the 40 was perfect dimensions for a project I was thinking. I will have to pass on the 85s but let me know if the 40 falls through

Michael,

I will take the 40g. I can find a use for it someday in the future as a frag tank. Just too good to pass up.

Thanks,

Jason

I would suggest the ehiem as well, but the 1260 instead. At 6ft of head height, it looks to put out 350gph or so (hard to tell from the chart I looked at). This would be more than plenty for that size tank and give you nice slower movement through the sump (less microbubbles, less noise, and a convenient place for detritus to settle where it can be easily removed.

I think those would work fine. I would consider looking at the ice cap DIY kits because the workhorse ballasts (the BRS lkit uses these) are mediocre at best. I think that a 6 bulb kit would probably be sufficient, but 8 bulbs may allow you to keep SPS very low, if that is your goal.

One of the biggest things with T5s is the keep them cool. The light output goes down as the bulbs get hot. Some of the high end T5 units have a fan for each bulb. This unit provides a good example and is considered one of the best. http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/ATI/Powermodule_Fixtures/60_inch__6x80W_Powermodule_T5_High-Output_Fixture_w!_Bulbs_by_ATI

This is my favorite thread that I go to for inspiration when aquascaping. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1658490&page=14

They look like really nice units. The CREE XPEs are a couple of generations outdated, but they are still great LEDs and would add a substantial amount of light. The LEDs in the marineland are only 1w LEDs and I would be concerned about their ability to penetrate. Also, the consensus among the serious LED people is that 3w LEDs are the minimum that should be run. I would go with Vertex unit over the Marineland unit personally.