* dekand's 65g rimless w/20L display fuge *

[dekand]

* * * * FTS as of 2/2/13 * * * *

 

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Hey guys, it has been quite a while since I've been around the forums, lots of life happening taking precedence over the reefing hobby. As a result my 34g Solana was neglected quite a bit, not to the point that things were dying but just not flourishing as it once was before all the life drama!

Unfortunately in Jan. of this year after 4 years running with the Solana, while my life was settling down back to normal, that 34 Solana sprung a leak only to continue the drama, fortunately my GF was home and noticed it before it was really bad, but still the carpet was soaked and I had to rush into a decision as to what I was going to do. I had been wanting to upgrade for a while anyway, I just needed a push and this was it.

So I am going to start a thread here now but the new tank is officially 6 months old now, so I will post from the start what I have and then update regularly once we get to present time

So here are the quick stats

Display Size: 65 Gallon Rimless (36.5 x 21.5 x 21)

 

• DSA Neo 65 Rimless
• Fill Date: 1/25/12
• 60 lbs Ocean Direct Sand
• 65 +/- lbs of live rock (30 from previous tank, 35 more added in the transfer)

Sump: 30 Gallon Acrylic 3 Chambers

 

• Return Pump: Eheim 1262
• Lowe's light growing Chaeto (quite well actually)

Remote Refugium

 

 

• 20 Gallon Long (added to system 6/3/12)
• 40 lbs Ocean Direct Sand
• 15-20 lbs Liverock added (transferred from sump)
• Crappy light over it, just growing pods right now

Lighting

 

 

• 24" Solaris I5 LED
• Radion XR30w (2) on Ecotech Long Rail Kit + Hanging Kit

Filtration / Reactors

 

 

• Skimmer: SWC 160 Cone w/Oversized Cup
• BRS Reactor w/HC GFO (Run off manifold from Eheim 1262 Return Pump)
• BRS Reactor w/ROX Carbon(Run off manifold from Eheim 1262 Return Pump)

Flow / Circulation

 

 

• MP40w (Upgraded from old MP20)
• MP10w

Auto Top-Off / Water Changes

 

 

• Genesis Renew (AWC)
• Genesis Storm (ATO)
• Genesis RocV Module (Controls RODI Unit On/Off)
• 25 Gallon Rotomold Containers x2 (Fresh RODI/New Saltwater)
• BRS 75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage Standard System

Dosing

 

• BRS 1.1ml/min Dosing Pump (2)
• BRS Ca/Alk 2 Part + Magnesium

Controller

 

• Reefkeeper Lite / Head Unit / PC4

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So when the tank leaked, I decided on a 65 gallon to put in it's place, that was the biggest I could fit into the space the Solana was taking up and that's the only spot I wanted a tank in the house right now. I am happy with the decision and the dimensions of the tank, it's definitely nice having the added space and water volume, not to mention a real sump and the options that gives you.


Temporary Home for the fish, rock, and coral from the 34g, *pretty* much everything made the transfer ok, a few minor losses, they were in there for 3 days if I recall.


New tank setup (My GF's super helpful brother in the reflection)

After the leak, we decided to rip up the soaked carpet and stain the concrete below, a decision I have not regretted as I am pretty sloppy with water and it tends to get on the floor, which is a towel wipe to fix rather than soaking into the carpet / wood floor.




New tank with the old livestock from the transfer in it

[Deleted User 4]

The new setup looks really nice. Great job ahah.

[dekand]

Thanks!

 

FTS as of 2/13/12

 

I added another 50 lbs of live rock in addition to the 30lbs or so from the transfer. Most went into the display, some down in the sump fuge section until I could get my display refugium going.

 

The sump / control center as of 2/13/12

 

 

[Mojorizn]

Nice setup.

[iPhone]

Nice tank,following along!

[Deleted User 4]

So....I'm guessing you upgraded from 2 radions to solaris leds??? Your lighting info confuses me hahaha.

[dekand]

So....I'm guessing you upgraded from 2 radions to solaris leds??? Your lighting info confuses me hahaha.

 

No the Solaris I5 was from the previous tank, I originally had a Sunpod 150w MH then I got the Solaris for free after the company tanked and they weren't worth very much resale. It's not a bad light actually quite ahead of it's time, but currently I have two Radion XR30w's over the tank, I just haven't gotten that far in posting the progress

[Deleted User 4]

No the Solaris I5 was from the previous tank, I originally had a Sunpod 150w MH then I got the Solaris for free after the company tanked and they weren't worth very much resale. It's not a bad light actually quite ahead of it's time, but currently I have two Radion XR30w's over the tank, I just haven't gotten that far in posting the progress

 

Ohh ok, that makes much more sense. Because I was thinking, hmmm that does not look anything like the radions in the pictures ahah.

 

And I have to agree with you. The solaris leds looks pretty nice as well.

[dekand]

So although the main display setup was rushed, in my plans for an upgrade I always wanted to setup my master closet that is separated by a wall from the tank as a filtration/water change room as well as put a display refugium and possibly QT tank when needed.

 

I have a fairly large master closet and I wanted to make better use of the space, since I end up just using the shelves and such for piling junk up, and a bunch of clothes I never wear

 

 

So I got to planning...

 

 

We all know what happens when sketchup gets loaded up right? Well I figured out a way to make good use of my new space.

 

Two 25 Gallon RotoMold Reservoirs

to hold my RO/DI water, and saltwater

 

 

Fortunately, my closet also shares a wall with my laundry room, so an RO/DI feed was easy to grab from my washer setup and snake around the wall, that also allowed me to run a small drain pipe around the wall for the RO/DI Waste and old SW from the water changes.

 

(Not finished in this photo, excuse the mess)

 

 

 

UPS brought a new toy (my little helper is pretty excited about it)

 

 

Another toy arrived at the office, it was hard to stay at work!

 

 

Time to start the build!

 

The fresh smell of lumber about to get chopped up

 

 

Framework coming together

 

 

Out with the old, in with the new!

 

 

 

With the help of my gf's brother who does a lot of construction/plumbing/everything we designed the stand/frame to be as minimal as possible while still being able to hold up the two 20g tanks at full capacity at the top, it was important to not have to use a center brace as it would interfere with all the guts of the system going on below.

 

 

It is not freestanding, it is tied into the walls so that adds some stability, but can be easily detached as well for the future. I think it will hold up just fine.

 

 

I'll post more later tonight!

[Deleted User 4]

Dude, you are lucky to have a hand in help from your girlfriend's brother. This is going to be a sweet looking setup...

[dekand]

it is definitely helpful, he's done a lot to help with the build including electrical which I try not to touch unless I have to

 

Everything is pretty much wired up here, dry fitted plumbing all around -- it's all glued up as of now but haven't snapped the photos yet.

 

 

LOTS of wire organization to do, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's messy wiring.

 

Genesis Storm / ROCv float switch wiring, goes up the pipe and out, keepin' it clean.

 

 

Drain Pipe

This drains the RO/DI waste, the old water from the water changes, and the pipe going up will connect to my 20G QT tank for easy drains of that when necessary.

 

[evo_2679]

Sweet build !!! Awesome job on converting closet into a plumbing room.

[Deleted User 4]

Wow, you guys done a tremendous job on the piping...

[Brad'snanocube]

Im gonna keep up with this build

[dekand]

Sweet build !!! Awesome job on converting closet into a plumbing room.

 

Thanks! Who needs clothing right? It's actually a fairly large closet, and fortunately I have a very supportive other half

 

Wow, you guys done a tremendous job on the piping...

 

Thanks, it's just mocked up in that photo and much has been done since -- I won't say I enjoy plumbing but it's a lot of work, but worth the efforts, and my gf's brother didn't help with that, he left the tedious stuff to me but I'm not complaining...

 

 

 

Added another piece of DJ'ing gear, so I can get my dubstep on of course... :bounce1:

 

 

Drilled some holes under each unit to snake the crazy amounts of wires back and around

 

[Deleted User 4]

Either way, you've done some neat plumping there. Btw, what does the genesis systems do? I know one is an ato, what does the other function as?

[dekand]

Either way, you've done some neat plumping there. Btw, what does the genesis systems do? I know one is an ato, what does the other function as?

 

 

Thanks!

 

The Genesis Systems are 2.5 part. The Storm is ATO, the Renew is Auto Water Changes, and the Storm has an add-on called the RocV which controls your RO/DI and will kick it on/off to make sure your RO Water reservoir is always filled up. It does this with the float switches you see in the reservoir picture I posted.

 

The Storm and Renew also talk to each other so that it won't try to top off the tank when water changes are happening.

 

Each unit has a lot of features but they are really simple to use - I have been doing the auto daily setup with the Renew for a while which I set to 2 gallons / day.

 

So all I have to do as far as ATO/WC maintenance is mix salt once every 2 weeks or so -- no more lugging water from the store it's been an outstanding investment, couldn't be happier with the products.

[Deleted User 4]

Wowwowowow. Dude that sounds like a major save. Now you can just sit back, have a beer while you glance at your beautiful tank when most the work is done for you ahah. Wish I had an awc system...haha

[dekand]

Wowwowowow. Dude that sounds like a major save. Now you can just sit back, have a beer while you glance at your beautiful tank when most the work is done for you ahah. Wish I had an awc system...haha

 

Haha yeah it is definitely nice, I'm more of a sit back with a scotch guy but yeah fortunately since my system came from a 4 year old established system, and with the stability of the auto water changes and top off, it has been pretty easy going on the maintenence thus far.

 

It's been said a thousand times, but nothing good happens in this hobby quickly, and certainly without proper planning.

 

Everything has been running GREAT -- I don't regret any of the decision to build this. I am VERY glad I opted for the RO/DI unit along with the RocV module for the Genesis Storm to control the filling/refilling of the RO reservoir. Originally I was just going to lug water from the store and refill 50 gallons at a time, that would have been fun

 

Here is the closet almost done

 

I am currently changing 2 gallons / day without fail. When the ATO drains all the water out it kicks the RO/DI on automatically and refills the reservoir. This is supposedly better for the RO/DI unit as it's doing 20-25 gallons at a time rather than kicking on only to make a little bit of water as it gets used.

 

My water bill has not seen any significant impact as a result of the addition, so that's good.

[Deleted User 4]

Haha yeah it is definitely nice, I'm more of a sit back with a scotch guy but yeah fortunately since my system came from a 4 year old established system, and with the stability of the auto water changes and top off, it has been pretty easy going on the maintenence thus far.

 

It's been said a thousand times, but nothing good happens in this hobby quickly, and certainly without proper planning.

 

haha Yeah, that is a really laid back hobby for you now. So you're a scotch guy ehh? Lots of people I know are like that these days...haha.

 

Wow, the paint job is done fairly well. How did you guys paint the frames when there's equipments attached onto it...seem like you guys removed it temporary?

[dekand]

haha Yeah, that is a really laid back hobby for you now. So you're a scotch guy ehh? Lots of people I know are like that these days...haha.

 

Wow, the paint job is done fairly well. How did you guys paint the frames when there's equipments attached onto it...seem like you guys removed it temporary?

 

 

Yeah I test fitted everything then took it off to paint the stand/wall.

 

Shot of the 2 BRS Reactors I run off of the return pump (Eheim 1262). It runs the main display, pumps up to the remote fuge, and runs the BRS Carbon and GFO reactors. I was a bit worried about the 1262 working all this but it's actually perfect for my needs thus far.

 

 

 

All setup

[dekand]

It took a few days to get the rail kits in but the Radion's are hung (6/20/12), and I'm absolutely loving them -- I am a geek and the ability to dive in and tweak the timing and color to whatever i want is outstanding. The software is a bit clunky and I can't wait for a Mac App but I can make do for now, if you aren't very computer savvy I imagine the software might be a bit of a challenge for some, but once you get the hang of it it's not that bad.

 

I can say the addition of the red LED's make a big difference already on corals in my tank with red pigments, under the Solaris I5 (which has blue/white/green) they were becoming very brown and dull, and the full spectrum of the Radions really brings out their color immediately, and I imagine the results will be more dramatic with time.

 

I need to get a better lens for shooting my tank but these pics will do for now...

 

** This Meteor Shower made an amazing recovery, it had been in my tank during the transfer and was all but a piece of rock a few months ago... can't wait until it starts encrusting it's gorgeous when it colors up **

 

Alien Eye Chalice

 

Magician Palys still in the coloring up process from being almost bleached

[Deleted User 4]

Dude, looks like you're all set, ready to go. Btw, is that a refugium tank on the top left? I couldn't figure it being the quarantine tank because it seems to be connected to your display tank as well as I can see.

[dekand]

Dude, looks like you're all set, ready to go. Btw, is that a refugium tank on the top left? I couldn't figure it being the quarantine tank because it seems to be connected to your display tank as well as I can see.

 

 

Yeah that is the 20g refugium, the QT tank I was originally going to have next to it always ready to go but i'm using that space for other things, and in the rare case that I need a QT tank I can move stuff around set it up pump up 20g of water to it and run it as necessary.

 

The fuge is directly connected to the main tank and drains down into the sump -- it's main purpose is going to be pod production and added water volume, but I will be growing some nice macro algae in it as well, as it is a display fuge -- I still grow chaeto very well in the middle chamber of my sump.

[Deleted User 4]

Yeah that is the 20g refugium, the QT tank I was originally going to have next to it always ready to go but i'm using that space for other things, and in the rare case that I need a QT tank I can move stuff around set it up pump up 20g of water to it and run it as necessary.

 

The fuge is directly connected to the main tank and drains down into the sump -- it's main purpose is going to be pod production and added water volume, but I will be growing some nice macro algae in it as well, as it is a display fuge -- I still grow chaeto very well in the middle chamber of my sump.

 

Wow, it's like you have two refugiums since you have the cheato in the sump....haha It's definitely going to be stable per say your tank. Those are some sweet looking magicians as well.