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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
First place I called out of live rock till after the holiday! Don't they know I'VE BEEN WAITING A YEAR FOR THIS??
Second place offerred me a good price on 50lbs of Puke-on-me LR, doesn't sound so good but he says it's great, fused porites. So I'm getting some.
Borrowed some tools from work to run the wire for the AC-3.
Second place offerred me a good price on 50lbs of Puke-on-me LR, doesn't sound so good but he says it's great, fused porites. So I'm getting some.
Borrowed some tools from work to run the wire for the AC-3.
Hey kids, DON'T add 50lbs of uncured LR to your system and go to the movies without adjusting your super-duper skimmer. I came back to find about 10G of SW on the floor of the garage. my home made skimmer waste collector bucket failed to shut down the skimmer enough to stop the flow. I need to add a float switch to shut down the skimmer pump (and return pump) if this happens, it could have burned out. (Hey wait. I could put a float switch in the stupid waste collector and shut the skimmer off that way DUH.)
A little disappointed in the LR. The 50lbs consisted of about 6 baseball-to-softball size pieces, and a whole bunch (6-7 lbs ) of rubble and smaller, and a couple of pounds of wet cardboard. Super nice coralline algae colors though, and some evidence of macroalgae. No critters, not even a stray gorilla crab. Serves me right, I suppose. Smell was really mild, don't think curing will be a problem. Skimmer's adjusted now, making really dry foam till I get home and mess with it again.
Gonna have to buy more LR after the holiday now...
The AC-3 is doing its webserver thing now, very cool. It occurs to me that I can set up a water-on-the-floor alarm that turns on one of the outlets from the AC-3, then plug in some sort of siren or foghorn to alert me if a flood happens again, at least while I'm home.
A little disappointed in the LR. The 50lbs consisted of about 6 baseball-to-softball size pieces, and a whole bunch (6-7 lbs ) of rubble and smaller, and a couple of pounds of wet cardboard. Super nice coralline algae colors though, and some evidence of macroalgae. No critters, not even a stray gorilla crab. Serves me right, I suppose. Smell was really mild, don't think curing will be a problem. Skimmer's adjusted now, making really dry foam till I get home and mess with it again.
Gonna have to buy more LR after the holiday now...
The AC-3 is doing its webserver thing now, very cool. It occurs to me that I can set up a water-on-the-floor alarm that turns on one of the outlets from the AC-3, then plug in some sort of siren or foghorn to alert me if a flood happens again, at least while I'm home.
momof6kids
NJRC Member
Baxreefs said:
Jim, I agree. You are moving forward, yeah!! ;D
I disassembled my old Hamilton lighing unit to harvest the wiring harness. I really wanted to save the old unit to use on a frag tank or something but the prospect of a neatly done, heavy-duty 20' wiring harness provisioned for 2 MH and 2 VHOs and a fan was too hard to resist. The unit uses 9-circuit AMP quick release connectors. I investivated the possibility of making my own 9-pin Molex connectors and it turns out to be a huge PITA, requires special tools etc. I'm using my old Hamilton ballast, which I have gutted and replced the old coil and core ballasts with new Blueline units. So it's like Lincoln's axe, there's nothing left but the box, the switches, and the wiring!
Finally getting some good skimming from the ETSS1000. Dry, dry dry foam. I had three flooding incidents while it was getting adjusted, it's easy to do with that skimmer. The last two just flooded a Rubbermaid bin, since I have the ability to learn a little. An important step was to download and READ THE MANUAL from ETSS, that cleared up a number of issues.
My attempts at building a WORKING waste collector out of a bucket have failed so far. I am going to make one more attempt using a kind of screw-on bucket lid adaptor called a Gamma, which is the basis for most of the commercial ones I see. If I can't make that work I will need to break down and buy a waste collector, this skimmer has too much "floodability" to be run without one!
If the skimmer proves to be too much to handle, I am going to add an extension section and second injector to my existing MR-2, which should make it a pretty adequate unit.
Need to set up the Calcium Reactor at some point, it's never been set up, and I've never set one up.
Finally getting some good skimming from the ETSS1000. Dry, dry dry foam. I had three flooding incidents while it was getting adjusted, it's easy to do with that skimmer. The last two just flooded a Rubbermaid bin, since I have the ability to learn a little. An important step was to download and READ THE MANUAL from ETSS, that cleared up a number of issues.
My attempts at building a WORKING waste collector out of a bucket have failed so far. I am going to make one more attempt using a kind of screw-on bucket lid adaptor called a Gamma, which is the basis for most of the commercial ones I see. If I can't make that work I will need to break down and buy a waste collector, this skimmer has too much "floodability" to be run without one!
If the skimmer proves to be too much to handle, I am going to add an extension section and second injector to my existing MR-2, which should make it a pretty adequate unit.
Need to set up the Calcium Reactor at some point, it's never been set up, and I've never set one up.
Setting up the Ca reactor is far more mind funk than reality. Don't sweat it. And if you're monitoring the PH of the effluent there's not a whole lot you can do to goof things up. Just keep an eye on your alk while you're getting it adjusted and then of course as you add utilization down the line you'll need to up the output.
Of course you may not even need it until you actually have corals in the tank!
Of course you may not even need it until you actually have corals in the tank!
Got another 50lbs of LR, this time from Dr. Mac. Now this is the stuff I like: football sized pieces as requested, very little rubble or gravel, some porites and other coral growth (star coral?) which looks like it might be viable, reasonably fresh looking macroalgae. Good smell, must be fresh from Fiji. No white slime. The ETSS1000 skimmer cranked out a half gallon of coffee-colored skimmate after I put in the new rock!
I stuck a light fixture crossways on the tank so I could look for critters. Surprise, the tank looks better with light. Man, I gotta get those lights mounted this weekend!
So after the new cycle finishes, I do final aquascaping, add the minimal aragonite floor covering, and then I can add some living thing! Maybe a snail.
I have to set up a Q-tank, and a refugium too. Both those tanks are on the floor of the garage right now. I haven't stuck a heater in the tank, for obvious reasons. It's been running 78-82, with no lights.
I stuck a light fixture crossways on the tank so I could look for critters. Surprise, the tank looks better with light. Man, I gotta get those lights mounted this weekend!
So after the new cycle finishes, I do final aquascaping, add the minimal aragonite floor covering, and then I can add some living thing! Maybe a snail.
I have to set up a Q-tank, and a refugium too. Both those tanks are on the floor of the garage right now. I haven't stuck a heater in the tank, for obvious reasons. It's been running 78-82, with no lights.
I thought it might be fun to post my to-do list so far. Obviously it keeps getting longer...
UPCOMING REEF BUILDING TASKS
1) Build and install manifold piece with unions (X)
2) Drain Water, move sump into position (X)
3) Finish Drain end plumbing (X)
4) Finish return pump plumbing (X)
4a) Revise drain end plumbing (X)
5) Skimmer pump plumbing (X)
5a) Skimmer wet box construction (X)
5b) Skimmer return plumbing (X)
5) clean junk out of tank (X)
6) WET TEST!!!! (X)
6a) Fix leaking joints (X)
7) Remove Cabinet from Garage (X)
8) Build water barrel rack
9) Install new RO in bathroom (X)
10) Build new pegboard/install new shoplight/move tools (X)
11) Build lighting rack (X)
12) Add electrical service (X)
13) Build rock support/spraybar(X)
14) Level the tank (X)
15) Locate ballasts etc.(X)
16) Cut access for electric in stand.(X)
17) Skimmer Test run (X)
18) Get sump baffles cut (X)
19) Build and mount probe holder
20) Configure ATO
21) Make 200G Saltwater(X)
22) Build underlying rock structure(X)
23) Order Live Rock(X)
24) Set up second skimmer for rock curing
25) Build jumbo waste collector(X)
26) Mount whiteboard for maintenance tracking
27) Purchase steel doors(X)
28) Install steel doors
29) Set up aquacontroller(X)
30) Set up calcium reactor
31) Configure Aquacontroller
32) Set up Carbon Chamber
33) Set up GFO Chamber
34) Install Chiller
35) Mount Lighting Rack
Hmm, apparently 8-close-parens equals a smiley. I'll leave it in there for yocks.
UPCOMING REEF BUILDING TASKS
1) Build and install manifold piece with unions (X)
2) Drain Water, move sump into position (X)
3) Finish Drain end plumbing (X)
4) Finish return pump plumbing (X)
4a) Revise drain end plumbing (X)
5) Skimmer pump plumbing (X)
5a) Skimmer wet box construction (X)
5b) Skimmer return plumbing (X)
5) clean junk out of tank (X)
6) WET TEST!!!! (X)
6a) Fix leaking joints (X)
7) Remove Cabinet from Garage (X)
8) Build water barrel rack
9) Install new RO in bathroom (X)
10) Build new pegboard/install new shoplight/move tools (X)
11) Build lighting rack (X)
12) Add electrical service (X)
13) Build rock support/spraybar(X)
14) Level the tank (X)
15) Locate ballasts etc.(X)
16) Cut access for electric in stand.(X)
17) Skimmer Test run (X)
18) Get sump baffles cut (X)
19) Build and mount probe holder
20) Configure ATO
21) Make 200G Saltwater(X)
22) Build underlying rock structure(X)
23) Order Live Rock(X)
24) Set up second skimmer for rock curing
25) Build jumbo waste collector(X)
26) Mount whiteboard for maintenance tracking
27) Purchase steel doors(X)
28) Install steel doors
29) Set up aquacontroller(X)
30) Set up calcium reactor
31) Configure Aquacontroller
32) Set up Carbon Chamber
33) Set up GFO Chamber
34) Install Chiller
35) Mount Lighting Rack
Hmm, apparently 8-close-parens equals a smiley. I'll leave it in there for yocks.
I should have said it's only roughly in order. I can't keep my hands off the dang aquacontroller!
That said, I wasn't planning to use it to control my calcium reactor, since I got a pH controller with my setup. Do you recommend I use the AC-3, does it do a good job?
I'm using a dedicated ATO controller I bought, do you use that or the AC-3? That was another quandry I had...
That said, I wasn't planning to use it to control my calcium reactor, since I got a pH controller with my setup. Do you recommend I use the AC-3, does it do a good job?
I'm using a dedicated ATO controller I bought, do you use that or the AC-3? That was another quandry I had...