jolt

Awesome update.  Your pictures came out really well I think

From the ebay guy?

Yeah super nice regulator!

I have two industrial grade stainless steel dual stage regulators from Alan Le.  I love them!  The ones affinityaquatics is selling on ebay look nice.    I have no experience with other regulators, but would not hesitate to go the same route if I did it again.

In three years I’ve only ever had to mess with the first chamber. Never touched the second. 

I run a 6" geo single on my frag tank (70 gallons) and a 8"x6" geo dual on my display (180).  It's funny but the Ph on my frag tank runs higher than my display even though I put the dual stage on to counteract Ph drops.  Go figure.  I've been very happy with both units.  From my own experience I would say run the single if you are space limited and you will be fine.

Deal!

Oh that is too painful John

I think @Caravanshakahad posted some zoas for sale. 

I don't understand the fuss, what's 1/4" difference amongst friends?

That picture is scary looking!  Looking forward to hearing more about your build, and yes you can get lots of good advice and experience here

I like them dimensions! Did you go with 24" height? 

8 minutes ago, BBMarlin said:

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!

That is disappointing.  I used this spears style (except schedule 80) on my manifold and like them quite a bit:

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=65319

Dang, I thought those were cpvc valves, but figured you knew what you were doing

49 minutes ago, victoly said:

I have a BS in wit and got a masters in sass from UT. 

I thought you had a Masters in BS ?

7 hours ago, Gig 'em @ NDstructible said:

 

Not at the moment, just that the stand is at the powder coater to get a nice red coat!

 

Did you mean "maroon coat" ?

Very nice!

Whoa that looks like 300 gallon territory! 

I could frag some hawkins if nobody else has any frags ready ...

Yeah I also siphoned them out as best I can. I found 0.08 phosphate seemed to be enough. Also keep nitrates up I shoot for 5ppm. 

Sometimes that green stuff on the sand can be amphidinium dinos, which are difficult to get rid of because they do not go into the water column ahence UV is ineffective on them.  I fought them for about 11 months.  They thrive if your phosphate is too low, which keeps other organisms from competing with them.  If you ever want to get an ID on that stuff bring me a sample and we'll throw it under the microscope.  

That avast pump will be loud, fair warning!   I put mine at the aquarium, not at the RODI tank.  It works like a champ

I use the diaphram pumps from Avast Marine.  They are noisy but it pulls from the garage up through the ceiling down the inside of a wall, probably like 45 feet or more

I have a 60 gallon RODI reservoir in my garage and the RODI unit is in the house on the same wall as my washer/dryer.  I use a float valve on the tank to shut off the flow, and I have a booster pump with a pressure sensor shutoff switch.  I manually run the RODI unit whenever it looks like the big tank needs topping off.  When it's full the float closes which turns off the booster pump.  I also have a HM Digital FM-2 filter monitor that beeps at me when it the flow is cut off.  I don't like to leave the RODI unit on when not needed.   My ATO pumps draw topoff water directly from the tank in the garage.