BBMarlin

I'm beginning to look at calcium reactors...I've been researching dual reactors and I've got my eyes on the Geo dual 6". I've never run a CaRx before so I'm curious what you guys experiences are? Should I go with a dual? I plan on having a fairly stocked SPS tank, but I'm definitely not going to over do it this time around and keep colonies trimmed. The 8" version will not fit in my stand so if nothing else I'm thinking the dual 6" so I can have more media and contact time as compared to a single and therefor less maintenance in addition to increased PH (marginal) and ALK with the effluent. Am I on the right track?

I started tracking my phosphate levels as soon as I filled this tank late last week. I think it’s really interesting to watch my phosphate levels drop even after I’ve added my 5 fish and feed heavy frozen daily. You can’t see in my photos but I have a large miami hurricane chalice (~9”) as well as a smaller watermelon chalice (~4”) that are behind the rocks. These easy to keep coral are consuming the excess nutrients in my tank already, which is really good to see. I experienced this on my last tank and already on this larger set up. **These large LPS coral are already way more effective at controlling nutrients than any skimmer would be.** PO4 tests using Hanna Ultra Low Range PPB checker. 1. 11/1 PO4 .12PPM Tank filled with cycled rock 2. 11/3 PO4 .10PPM Sump filled and fish + coral added. Feeding started 3. 11/5 PO4 .03PPM Chalice are starting to regain color from being in small holding tank for several months 4. 11/8 PO4 .01PPM Time to start feeding more heavily

Shake n' Bake! I’ve been up and running for a few days now and everything is looking good. I do think my tank is about to get a case of the uglies as I’m starting to see some weird colored stuff on the rocks, so wanted to snap a photo before that takes over! Sorry about the blue photo, I used to use an orange filter on my phone to mitigate the LED spectrum issues but the iPhone 11 is not having it with its multiple lenses, I’ll need to figure out something else. Going to start thinking about my AWC setup, is anybody else doing automatic water changes? Any pitfalls I need to be thinking about before I get going with this enhancement?

I've got my emergency stand pipe about 1cmish below the bottom of the weir and then my full siphon pipe about 7" below the emergency drain. I have my gate valve on the full siphon set so just a trickle of water comes down the emergency pipe. This appears to be the quietest configuration. They also sent me two mufflers, I used them both. While the muffler on the full siphon pipe is submerged it doesn't restrict flow, so I figure it'll keep out snails and other stuff that otherwise might clog/restrict the flow.

Thanks! A bit of a jigsaw puzzle and time sink but in the end it was worth it.

Thanks! It feels good to be done with this part of the project. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did somebody say Union?? Spent a small fortune in time and money getting my plumbing done this weekend. I went ahead and started this job thinking that I could probably get 85% of it done and then pause the effort while I wait for the flexible 1” PVC to come in, so that I can finish the drains. To my surprise once I got going, I figured out that I could strategically place a couple of unions and plumb things just like I hoped and not have any wasted space under my tank and have hard plumbing throughout. I think It turned out great, although the threaded fittings did give me a few fits I eventually got all the leaks out. The tank is SILENT with the herbie overflow and maggie muffler. Currently running GAC to clean things up a bit before I dump in my livestock.

More goodies arrived today! I’m a bit nervous now that I have an extra 65 gallons plumbed directly into my tank for topoff and future AWC. While the tunze has its own float switch for safety, I figured I will add another for redundancy with my apex. Given I have a first-generation apex junior I had to buy the PM1 to get the I/O port. Since I plan on adding a calcium reactor once I get going, I figure it’s a decent purchase since I’ll be needing a PH probe anywho.

Thanks for the info, I did not know that! I’ll let you know once I get the pipe, I’ll have plenty left over. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Really???

Ended up ordering these Legend ball valves with true union from HD. They are really easy to turn and have interchangeable slip vs threaded fittings, so I can have one side slip and one side threaded. This will make it really easy to add my john guest fittings to my manifold. Overall seems like a solid valve, hope it holds up over the long haul.

Ya it’s not going to hold heavy rock together for long. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did not use any epoxy. I have not had long term success with epoxy in the past, my vote is to stick with acrylic rods and/or pvc.

Great looking tank!

Had a pretty productive weekend. Rock formations are done and have been aptly named: The Giant Pile of Rocks and The SPS Triumphal Arch - both formations are super stable with acrylic rods. Spent quite a bit of time making sure I will have lots of space and varying placement levels for my to be purchased frags. I’ve been marinating the new rock since early August in my garage, a few of the pieces I was able to salvage from my other setup. Moved my water station in the garage from an opposite side over to below the tank and plumbed it into the recently run ATO line, works great using a tunze osmolator wired directly into a litermeter peristaltic pump. Changed all my RO/DI filters as well, now running at a strong 55 PSI. I’ve been hung up on the plumbing now for several days. I’m trying to maximize as much free space as possible under the tank as my sump is rather large. What I’ve settled on is hybrid flexible PVC and hard PVC plumbing. I can plumb it all hard, but I would be wasting an inch or more with the way the elbows and 45s are working out. I should be able to maximize all the space with the flexible PVC and not have to deal with so many 90’s, we will see how it turns out. I should get all my plumbing parts in this week and I hope to be up and running next weekend! Sorry for so much glare in my photos, this will be resolved once the lights are up and on.

Know what I doing? Ha! I wish!! What's frustrating is I knew that there was something different about the valves and even asked, only to be told that it was just a different brand..lol. And what's worse is that this great information came from a plumbing specialty store!

Guess you learn something everyday, didn't know cpvc was a thing. Back to the drawing board to find some nice manifold valves.

Looks massive! Any more details on the tank!?

Found these sweet spears ball valves at Ferguson’s today. So smooth and easy to turn and just a few bucks each. Perfect for the manifold. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After doing a bit more research pretty sure I'm going to go with a LiterMeter peristaltic pump as it appears I can wire it directly into the tunze osmolator and not have to do a switched outlet. Kind of a pricey pump but with the switched outlet from tunze and the avast pump together it's about the same amount of money and the litermeter is a higher quality pump. Maybe I can even use it to fill my tank.

Ya, I remember you mentioning this which is why I ran wires for it down to the garage. Docs say it should be able the head, we will see!

double post

Progress update! Ran two hoses through the wall down to my garage where I already have a 65gallon tank for my RODI. For one of the hoses, I plan on using my Tunze ATO with the Avast diaphragm pump to pump water up to the tank. I will repurpose my DoS pump for continuous water change with the effluent plumbed into the adjacent sink drain, need to get another tank in the garage to accomplish this. This is such a big improvement over my previous set up, I’m really excited to bring everything online!

Waterproofed the stand today with matching gray shower pan liner. This simple and inexpensive stand tweak has saved my floors countless times over the years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Indeed you did!