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Kat's Ol' Max


metrokat

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I would NEVAH put a GFY sticker anywhere on anything visible, it can go inside the cabinet.

Yes I have been looking at life reef, his refugiums cost more than the whole tank and stand! but the sure look cool. For lights I will be upgrading to panorama pros. Ecoxotic will help me install if I run into issues.

 

I finally got the pumps, over flow box, water level to a happy level. But 3 am I woke up to look at the tank and the pumps were blowing bubbles everywhere. topped off with barely a quart of RO and it worked fine. That was not cool.

 

The heater was at 76.5 degrees when I woke up. That was ridiculous. High temp I can understand, why would it keep it low.

 

 

Good luck with your RMS. I miss mine. It was the best AIO tank imo. On the pumps and topping off. Look into a ATO. I also attached some hose to the intake on the pumps. It gave me more play with the water level. I went with a ATO in the end. The pump set up was the only complaint I had.

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LOL

That made my day. :)

 

Good luck with your RMS. I miss mine. It was the best AIO tank imo. On the pumps and topping off. Look into a ATO. I also attached some hose to the intake on the pumps. It gave me more play with the water level. I went with a ATO in the end. The pump set up was the only complaint I had.

 

Thanks for the tip about adding a piece of hose. For the ATO I would need a reservoir for top off water. That just gets me into the whole sump discussion which is not my forte ATM.

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good choice on the RS coral pro, i love the stuff so far. and i also love that BRS is in my back yard so i can go pester them with my questions. last time i was in the guy who grabbed my stuff was acclimating a goby to his cubicle tank. they have a really nice tank in the front area i can sit and stare at while i wait for them to pull my stuff.

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You gotta consider an ATO. Truly, you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Not hard to set up at all. I have the JBJ attached to a 5 gal bucket, but you can put any type container in the stand.

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Be prepared for diatoms for a while lol - new glass - new silicates oh the fun of scrubbing glass...I got diatoms on all my glass but not on the rocks after transfer...lol oh yay

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Thanks for the tip about adding a piece of hose. For the ATO I would need a reservoir for top off water. That just gets me into the whole sump discussion which is not my forte ATM.

 

Why would you need a sump for AUTO ?

trust me/us its the best thing to have its very reliable and saves from the salinity swings .

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You gotta consider an ATO. Truly, you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Not hard to set up at all. I have the JBJ attached to a 5 gal bucket, but you can put any type container in the stand.

Oh-kay. Besides JBJ, would there be something else that would work just as well? I'm placing an order on BRS today so the timing is right.

 

Be prepared for diatoms for a while lol - new glass - new silicates oh the fun of scrubbing glass...I got diatoms on all my glass but not on the rocks after transfer...lol oh yay

Oh yeah, I'm ready for diatoms, GHA, cyno and reef cleaners. You know my snail (John the rockstar) made the hall of fame on reefcleaners.org right?

 

Why would you need a sump for AUTO ?

trust me/us its the best thing to have its very reliable and saves from the salinity swings .

Don't ask me WHY, tell me why. I'm utterly clueless when it comes to ATO, plumbing, sumps, refugiums and stuff. I want to learn and pictures with arrows helps. :P

Edited by metrokat
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Here's the JBJ ATO

 

I got mine from BRS during the group buy I did too. It's easy to set up. You place one sensor in the back chamber where you want the water level to be (this one is what handles telling the pump to turn on) and the other in your reservoir above the pump (this one will make sure to not run it when the reservoir is too low). All you do is get some sort of pump, I use an AC20 with 1/4" tubing, and place it in your reservoir and run the tube into one of the back chambers and violà, your ato is set up making you wonder why you didn't get one sooner.

 

It seems like people really only use the JBJ and the Tunze but the price difference is huge, the JBJ works well for me and a lot of people for less than half the price. :)

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surgicalsense
Don't ask me WHY, tell me why. I'm utterly clueless when it comes to ATO, plumbing, sumps, refugiums and stuff. I want to learn and pictures with arrows helps. :P

 

 

... now that's what I am talking about (and feel about this, too) best rebuttal I've read Kat.

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Here's the JBJ ATO

 

I got mine from BRS during the group buy I did too. It's easy to set up. You place one sensor in the back chamber where you want the water level to be (this one is what handles telling the pump to turn on) and the other in your reservoir above the pump (this one will make sure to not run it when the reservoir is too low). All you do is get some sort of pump, I use an AC20 with 1/4" tubing, and place it in your reservoir and run the tube into one of the back chambers and violà, your ato is set up making you wonder why you didn't get one sooner.

 

It seems like people really only use the JBJ and the Tunze but the price difference is huge, the JBJ works well for me and a lot of people for less than half the price. :)

 

ow I need a pump too? sheesh! Thank you Joel. I am getting a MJ1200 which I was going to use for my WC. I think I can make do with one pump. ya? I'll just switch it between the top off bucket and the WC bucket. Sigh.

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ow I need a pump too? sheesh! Thank you Joel. I am getting a MJ1200 which I was going to use for my WC. I think I can make do with one pump. ya? I'll just switch it between the top off bucket and the WC bucket. Sigh.

No problem, I would just make sure to rinse the pump off with freshwater after using it for water changes. It would probably be best to have a dedicated pump but you can always get one later.

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Yep, you need tubing and a pump to go along with the ATO. I got all that stuff from intank. I also did the Stevie T tubing mod it makes every look clean with no metal clamps.

 

Trust me my dear, if I can do it you can.

 

IMG_0240.jpg

 

IMG_0241.jpg

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Kat can you take a picture of the top of your tank with the lid closed, and also a picture of your rear chambers with the lid open. And give me a measurement of the width of the tank(picture of the rear chambers with a tape measwure going across would be better) and I can help you put together what you need for turning your bc14 into a sump. Should be relatively easy to do with just modifications to the rear of the lids. Drain pipe will come down into chamber 3 with a filter sock, stock pump will pump water through the bc14 display, come back around to chamber 1 with a skimmer if you haven't put it in the rsm chambers. If you have you could run a small pump in chamber 1 for a reactor hanging off the back of the bc14 or run floss so you have a return prefilter

 

Chamber 2 is small if I remember correctly so you would probably want to use an external eheim pump that sucks out of chamber 2 to return

 

On the rsm if its big enough, chamber 1 can use an overflow box if not a pvc style overflow. Chamber 2 your skimmer, and chamber 3 will be your sump return and dt return.

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:blink: Whoa, that is really awesome of you, thank you so much. :bowdown:

 

I have an update; I 'may' have a buyer for the BioCube 14. I will know hopefully within a week. If so, then I will go with a regular common rectangular aquarium for the sump/refugium. I guess I have to make those divider thingees (baffles?) and what not.

 

So now I need to do some reading....

 

Yep, you need tubing and a pump to go along with the ATO. I got all that stuff from intank. I also did the Stevie T tubing mod it makes every look clean with no metal clamps.

 

What is the Stevie T tubing mod? on the pumps for the water level?

Edited by metrokat
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All that mod does is clean up the look of the tubing from the container you have the RO water in. Also it makes it so you don't have to figure out how to bend the tubing so it fits in the back.

 

Its just PVC pipe that the tubing slides into. It's also painted black for the cool factor.

 

Only one of many Stevie T mods for the RSM. He's the man.

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All that mod does is clean up the look of the tubing from the container you have the RO water in. Also it makes it so you don't have to figure out how to bend the tubing so it fits in the back.

 

Its just PVC pipe that the tubing slides into. It's also painted black for the cool factor.

 

Only one of many Stevie T mods for the RSM. He's the man.

 

You lost me. pictures? link? how to?

 

oh I see the pictures. need the how to.

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Let me know, either way I can help you figure out the RSM side. Sump design for a cube - there are many what would your plans for the sump be? standard skimmer/sock/fuge/return combo? or planning any reactors ect.

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For starters yes the standard sock, fuge, return. The skimmer is in the RSM itself (whether stock or upgraded later to Tunze). If upgrade to tunze that leaves a lot of room in the RSM itself for a reactor like the one NRF made.

 

I would like to have a reactor, not sure for what media though.

 

Cabinet measurements are 21 wide, 16 deep

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Nice build kat. Looks like you are hooked as the rest of us are. I also started out with FW (read this in one of your post). I'm now about 1 1/2 into SW and never looked back. Keep the updated coming.

 

PS. Carbon is the only way to go. ;)

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surgicalsense
For starters yes the standard sock, fuge, return. The skimmer is in the RSM itself (whether stock or upgraded later to Tunze). If upgrade to tunze that leaves a lot of room in the RSM itself for a reactor like the one NRF made.

 

I would like to have a reactor, not sure for what media though.

 

Cabinet measurements are 21 wide, 16 deep

 

I am really digging your Red Sea thread. I will be learning a lot from your thread. Looking forward to this one.

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