Deet's 150g Reef Build...

I actually use a finnex titanium with analog controller for my 5 gallon water change bucket....and it works great....I do see on another site they have that 500w with analog controller for like $38....that's a good enough price that I'd buy 2 and put them at opposite ends of my sump

 

Heaters arrived yesterday...I threw them in the barrels to heat up the water quicker...so I brought them to 84 just to mix the salt faster....dumped a 50 gallon bag in each which brought them to about 1.023...so I have to slowly add to get to .025 which is where I like it....then try to go over everything about a million times until I pump the water up into the tank before I have to do the whole process over again.
Pics of the pump I'm using and the outlets I had to put in to power all the heaters a d power heads for the barrels don't judge my 1930 built basement..lol

 

Heres a question for you guys...
How far do you keep your setup away from the wall behind it? I'd love to put it as far back as the equipment will allow...but I'm horrified I'd need to get behind it, and obviously you can't move the tank once its filled....I'm thinking of leaving a little room behind it just in case I need to get an arm back there...or commission my 4 year old to go get something...lol

 

My tank is drilled mega overflows so I can get tank as close to wall as I can and still fit power plugs in behind it.
I painted my back black and don't think too much about cleaning it often .

 

Started to add water today! 2 barrels to get it to where it is.....one more should do it..to top it off and fill the sump.....used about 50lbs of sand...so I still have a bunch left for the fuge chamber in the sump with some rock rubble...so hopefully tomorrow I can get it filled up, as long as the barrel fills today....I started filling it up again around 10am....so in hoping around 8pm it will be ready for more salt

 

Congrats.

 

It.
Is.
Alive!


And noisy as ****! How do you guys silence these things? Over flow into sump makes all kinds of noise....can I drill some tiny hole somewhere to relieve any stored energy?

 

Is the noise coming from the Sump, or the overflow in the tank?

 

It sounds like mostly overflow...the hollow echo of waterflow... and some gurgling....

 

you can find a lot of info here.

 

you can find a lot of info here.

I will have to check it out.....I did see some mufflers online after I posted....so I'm sure there's a way to rectify...

 

Got home from work and its clearing up nicely. Going to start the cycle in the next day or so...haven't decided which route of fishless I'm going to do.....I'm thinking that helix pink and purple coraline In a bottle...and just dosing ammonia....found a nice calculator to use for dosing to desired ppm.....

Also, another setup question....my skimmer is external, with. Pump feeding it.....
That being said, do I still need to worry about the "recommended depth" that it should be in.....
Heres why I ask.....in order for the return to be no more than horizontal, I need to lift it up quite a bit, thus making the water level in the sump pretty low in comparison....
I know that water does goofy things if there's different levels in the normal world ...but not sure if the same rules apply in tanks. I'm thinking since th pump is forcing water in....and essentially out....the level in the sump shouldn't matter, because it's not in the sump...
Any thoughts?

 

Well folks we are smack in the middle of cycling, so I hung the lights for the most part...still haven't set them in their final place, because I don't know if I have to lower them closer to water level or not....
But in the meantime, does anyone have any experience with these older radions? I can get them to stay on to my preset color levels, but only in demo mode...I can not...for the life of me, figure out how to get them to run on schedule mode...
I've been adjusting the. Using the config utility on my laptop, but read somewhere I may also need to login to the eco smart website at the same time to get more capabilities?
This so so much more confusing than setting up the AI prime....ugh

 

I can help on the skimmer .
I have 2 of those [beast]!
You are all good with it elevated as I ran one of mine about 2 1/2 feet above my sump without issue.
I added a pvc tube under the factory return with floss in it to help remove micro bubbles from the return.
I added valves on the pump in and the outtake to have total control.
That skimmer has the potential to go wild for who knows what reason so with it elevated take advantage of the drain in the skimmer cup and connect it to a 5 gallon bucket or something till you have it dialed in..I ran mine off a mag drive model 5.
I also made a floss filter for the air intake as it actually clogged once on me ?
No clue on the radions but you are looking good !
Not sure how I missed your post during the week.

 

Awesome.. I was hoping it was going to be an animal...and I'll heed the advice on the floss at both ends..
I was going to have to be forced to run the drain tube out of the cup, because since I'm putting it so high, itll be easier, so I won't have to remove the collection cup but 9jce a month to clean it....
And I may have figured out the radions....I think....
I was using the old school configuration utility, and when I went to the eco smart site, there was another one to download so you can do it from the website, instead of a separate app....
I messed with it briefly, but it seems like it's the right step....

 

Looks like the schedule works...went out to hemorrhage money with my wife and daughter, and came home to this!

 

Diatom bloom started to show up today.....so were getting close to the end of the cycle....nitrites are still slow to come down...but ammonia is getting processed within 24 hours from 4ppm to 0....

Also, made my DIY ATO finally, losing about a gallon a day to evaporation....

 

Sweet. Looking forward to the stocking.

 

Aaaaaand after getting the ato all together and soldered.....I realize I never put a slosh/snail guard around the float switch....so now it's been taken apart and re assembled

 

Still cycling....water getting cloudy, hopefully itll pass on a couple days...I don't want to intervene and let it not fix itself.
In the meantime, plugged in the skimmer for the first time to see how it works, and it leaks from every connection, and the aspiration pump is seized up...lol....figures...
So ordered the full o ring set for $30 shipped and the air pump assembly for $100..

Now we wait.....
Again...

 

Patience Gotta love waiting. Lol

 

So heres a question I'm in the process of working out...
Lighting for sump.
I'm going to grow macro in the fuge portion of my sump, obviously, but don't know what inexpensive lighting options are available...
I see numerous stick "indoor grow lights" on amazon, but don't know if anyone has had any luck.
Or, do I just get a light bulb socket, and buy a led grow bulb.
I have the AiPrime that will coming off my nano once I move to the big tank....but I really don't want to be the guy that uses a primeHD to grow algae..lol..seems a bit pretentious.
And then maybe if I need supplemental lighting, I could use the prime on the big tank with the xr30s

 

here is the one I use. Works great and has a small price tag.

 

here is the one I use. Works great and has a small price tag.

Now this has uv in the spectrum....if I were to use it, would it kill off any pods in the fuge? The ones with uv jave the perfect spectrum, but I'd think it would cook any critters in the chamber....

 

No. This works great. I haven’t experienced any loss that I can tell.

 

Well I went with this one, had an Amazon gift card from my mother I. Law, so I may as well buy supplies that I could use for the tank..lol...
Has the best blue/red combo and isn't too big for the spot I have....
Time will tell....

I don't know if I should wait til after the end of cycle water change to add chaeto, and probably lettuce, or do it whenever....

 

Yes, wait for your tank to cycle for the Chaeto.

 

Tested nitrite at 0 today! P.u.m.p.e.d!
I'll dose to 2ppm ammo and see what happens tomorrow when I get home from work

In the meantime, fuge light came today, also

 

Nice light.

 

Finally got nitrite levels to 0 daily after dosing ammonium chloride. So yesterday did a 50 gallon water change. Mid week (prior to wc) I transferred an algae eater hermit, then the next day a snail from my nano...basically as crash test dummies because they'd survive in rougher conditions.
Did the water change, waited a couple hours for the water to circulate, then transferred my neon goby over from my nano as well.
Hes swimming around like crazy, and has been doing very well exploring his (in comparison) gigantic new home.

I've got all the equipment pretty much ironed out...have a slight hiccup regarding the skimmer, but I'll figure that out in the near future. Just need to do some thinking.
So now, I decided to run filter socks in my sump. The problem is, I want to run some media in the socks, and after I put them in, it looks like one gets the vast majority of flow, and the other gets practically nothing!
There is a distribution plate that can be up over the top of them, but even still it seems like **** near no water is going through it..
Now I know the sock is still sitting in water, so thusly the media is as well, so it is going to have benefit..but would really love to figure out a way to get more flow through the top of the sock....
Anyone have any suggestions?
Heres a pic showing what's happening, basically..

 

I personally only use socks when I do a WC. I think they are a nitrate factory. Put the media in where the water comes in. That’s what was recommended, and what I do.

 

I just bought some media baskets that go in place of the socks...so we will see if I can get then to work better...I put a foam block over the top of them, so it seems that and the distribution plate may be helping....but time will tell...

Also, picked up a couple guys yesterday and everyone slept fine and came out once the lights starting coming on...

 

What kind of media you thinking about?

 

I have purigen and denitrate in there now....and a bag full of carbon inside my return pump chamber...
But was looking at other options, since those cups can essentially have layers of media in them...

 

I have purigen and denitrate in there now....and a bag full of carbon inside my return pump chamber...
But was looking at other options, since those cups can essentially have layers of media in them...

I just started carbon dosing along with bacteria’s that use the carbon to respirate phosphate and nitrate. It is working great already! Even my fuge is benefiting from it. My skimmer is pulling so much good stuff out right now. I’ve never been able to keep nitrate and phosphate in that good of check before. So I decided to try this. Your rock formation is awesome by the way. I love it man!

 

Tested nitrite at 0 today! P.u.m.p.e.d!
I'll dose to 2ppm ammo and see what happens tomorrow when I get home from work

In the meantime, fuge light came today, alsoView attachment 515314View attachment 515315View attachment 515316View attachment 515317

That COB will do nice things for that sump. I like how they e started to add the COB for the UFOs. My UFO just went out so I’m using some fixture that I got for free for testing it and reviewing it when they were developing the light.

 

Finally got nitrite levels to 0 daily after dosing ammonium chloride. So yesterday did a 50 gallon water change. Mid week (prior to wc) I transferred an algae eater hermit, then the next day a snail from my nano...basically as crash test dummies because they'd survive in rougher conditions.
Did the water change, waited a couple hours for the water to circulate, then transferred my neon goby over from my nano as well.
Hes swimming around like crazy, and has been doing very well exploring his (in comparison) gigantic new home.

I've got all the equipment pretty much ironed out...have a slight hiccup regarding the skimmer, but I'll figure that out in the near future. Just need to do some thinking.
So now, I decided to run filter socks in my sump. The problem is, I want to run some media in the socks, and after I put them in, it looks like one gets the vast majority of flow, and the other gets practically nothing!
There is a distribution plate that can be up over the top of them, but even still it seems like near no water is going through it..
Now I know the sock is still sitting in water, so thusly the media is as well, so it is going to have benefit..but would really love to figure out a way to get more flow through the top of the sock....
Anyone have any suggestions?
Heres a pic showing what's happening, basically..
View attachment 518682

Did you get that Skimz? I’d go to BRS website. They handle all the warranty themselves and they are really good about it and serious when it comes to doing good by their reefers. I have a Skimz monzter minI that I got for 50% off on their page. It only had two star reviews, but it’s rocking in my tank. It is seriously the quietest skimmer ever. Not even audible. The Skimz stuff for the bigger tanks gets good reviews. But their nano skimmers don’t do well on reviews. But mine, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 

Next question is the flow through phosban reactor.
The phosban says to not allow it to tumble, or it will grind itself to powder...which makes sense.
The question is, what's too much tumble. I turned the pump all the way down, and am confident there's too much flow. I ordered a valve this morning which should be here tuesday according to prime. But heres a video of how much tumble I get at the lowest flow setting.
Am I right in assuming this is too much?

 

Following

 

How much phosban did you add [inches]?
I had it so it barely moved but gently tumbled.
That looks like it is tumbling a lot .
Look into GFO for PO4 over phosban.