TKG Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Gonna try this one again and post more about the tank this time. I wanted to get a smaller higher tech tank and when I ran across the Cadlights Artisan, it was a great deal and perfect for what I'm looking for. I actually started this back in October, but have had few setback including having to order a second tank and sump due to some carlessness on my part. Water went in last week and everything is looking good so far. Equipment: Tank - Starfire, Rimless 36" x 16" x 16" Sump - Cadlights 17g Rimless Skimmer - Bubble Magus NAC3+ Reactor - TLF 150 and BRS Biopellets Reactor - TLF KW100 Kalkwasser ATO Pump - Eheim Compact 1000 Return Pump- Eheim 1262 Plumbing - Hard plumbed with SCH80, Manifold to feed reactor Flow - Vortech MP10ES Lighting - Sunbrite Slimline Controller - RKL L3 Sand - Caribsea Seaflor Now to the pics. They do a great job with the tanks. The seams line up perfectly, edges are smooth. It's definitely low iron glass, much clearer than the back panel/sump, but has more of tint to it than my AGE which uses true Starphire. The sump is perfect for what I'm wanting to do. From left to right, the first section of the sump will house the heater, water pump inlet and float switches/probes. Second chamber will be used for frags. The top chamber on the right will house the overflow and BP reactor. Bottom chamber will house the skimmer. I was too pleased with the plumbing that was supplied, so it will be replaced with these. Sump Layout: Plumbing to Tank: Sump inlet: This is SO quiet and controls salt creep well, plus it was about all I could fit next to the reactor. Big thanks to www.wetacrylic.com for building it. Tank starting to cycle with temporary T5's. LED's came in! I love these. This is newer model where the LED's are more spreat out, has the 80 degree lenses and the integrated timer. Very cool so far. (Pic is a little dark. Will work on better ones once my kids go to bed.) Will post more as I can. So far the only inhabitants are my B&W clown, a cleaner shrimp and a few turbo's. I do have a Yasha/Pistol on order that should be here in about a week. I added MB7 to the reactor when I first started cycling and I've had 0 Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate for the last 4 days. It seems to work well. Link to comment
TKG Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 Thanks, here's a bit better pic, just ignore the white crap all over the back of the tank. When I first hooked up the ATO, the float switch got stuck and dumped a ton of kalkwasser in the tank. Luckily nothing was in it at the time. I've slowly been scraping and siphoning it off. This pic was taken a couple of days ago and looks much better now. Link to comment
TKG Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Here's a few more pics. I picked up this little ottoman cheap and it houses all of my electrical spaghetti. It keeps it out of sight and up off the floor if anything happens. I do have the SL1 mounted behind the stand to help keep the wire runs down. I need to get everything cleaned up and mount the vortech driver, just havent messed with it yet. I'm also debating mounting the RKL head unit in there, but I like being able to see everything from in the stand. I ordered a fan kit for the cabinet, with the doors closed, my temps were still at 80 and I designed for this to be as low heat as possible. With the doors open, it'll get down to 76-77 with no problem. Skimmer seems to be working great. It put out a TON of microbubbles for the first couple of days, but other that, I'm really happy with it. My first few corals went in. A couple of Magician and a Monster Lips Paly, the blue LED's really help with color. I had them under T5's in a temp tank and they look a lot better in here. Full tank shot, diatoms getting a little heavier. Link to comment
tiomm Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 That's a sweeeeet tank! How much does it evaporate during a day/week? Link to comment
TKG Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 That's a sweeeeet tank! How much does it evaporate during a day/week? Thanks! I'm not really sure just yet. I'm on day 10. I'm currently running a clip on fan over the sump until the cabinet vent kit comes in. I know that's not helping, but I seem to be going through 3/4 -1g a day. It should improve once I'm able to cool the cabinet without have a fan directly over the sump. Link to comment
TKG Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Small update... I was getting some waterfall noise from the overflow, so I decided to use a little sponge to help stop it. A couple of dabs of superglue holds it in place and can be pulled off with little effort. I plan on changing them when I do water changes. I added this little guy to keep the clown and Yasha company. And a FTS... The anodizing on the fixtues has worn off pretty bad, I'm going to take them and have the front bracket cut above the water line and use a little black silicone to coat it. That should prevent any other problems. So far so good. Link to comment
squirrelieygrrrl Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 suhweet tkg! i wish mine had the dual return. looks great, definitely love the scape! Link to comment
TKG Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 suhweet tkg! i wish mine had the dual return. looks great, definitely love the scape! Thanks, The original tank I had had the dual returns and I ended up chipping it and ordered a replacement. When it showed up, it only had the right side return. I had a local shop cut it off and build me a new overflow and lid. I like it much better that way. Link to comment
latteslave Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Very nice. Those streamlines look sweet! How do they do with the depth on the tank and overall coverage? Link to comment
TKG Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 Very nice. Those streamlines look sweet! How do they do with the depth on the tank and overall coverage? Thanks! The coverage is great. I do have one of the newer ones with the 80 degree lenses. I'm debating picking up the 60's and seeing what they look like. They don't use a clear smooth lens like the standard ones for the Cree's. They have a grid pattern over them that seems to really help diffuse the light. It's still too early to tell about pentration and I havne't been able to get my hands on the PAR meter yet. I'll post results once I have them, but it'll probably be awhile, I know I'm a ways down on the list to get it. I know the few zoas/LPS I have at the bottom of the tank are doing fine and my Magicians have already sprouted a new polyp. Link to comment
AquaKing Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Looking great. I was thinking of getting a CAD but also didn't like the default plumbing. Love what you did with it. Is that sump the standard sump that comes with the CAD or did you have it customed? Link to comment
TKG Posted June 13, 2011 Author Share Posted June 13, 2011 Looking great. I was thinking of getting a CAD but also didn't like the default plumbing. Love what you did with it. Is that sump the standard sump that comes with the CAD or did you have it customed? That's the original sump that was offered with setup. I think they have changed it around a little and now offer a little bit larger one. Link to comment
TKG Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 Just out of curiosity, does anyone else with this system experience heat issues. It seems to stem from the cabinet being completely enclosed. I can drop my tank temp 3 degrees by opening the doors. I have a fan kit that I want to install, but not sure how the tank would respond to having a jig saw under it. I tried to build that as low heat as possible (external return pump, LED's, Vortech, etc) and can't see anything else that would be adding heat. Anyone else? Link to comment
Asureef Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Just out of curiosity, does anyone else with this system experience heat issues. It seems to stem from the cabinet being completely enclosed. I can drop my tank temp 3 degrees by opening the doors. I have a fan kit that I want to install, but not sure how the tank would respond to having a jig saw under it. I tried to build that as low heat as possible (external return pump, LED's, Vortech, etc) and can't see anything else that would be adding heat. Anyone else? Can't help you with that, as I'm just starting. But, I'm interested in your leds though. Have you done a par reading on those? Link to comment
TKG Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share Posted June 21, 2011 A few more pics. The Yasha has finally become comfortable enough to stay out for most of the day. The orange acans have colored up well. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the Magicians have sprouted another head. Cyphestrea is growing and coloring up as well. Link to comment
TKG Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 I figured it was time for an update. I've added quite a bit to it. I had a small crash and lost every fish except for my black clown. Everything is back to normal and I got my clown a new friend. I'll be adding a trio of Kupang Damsels in the next week or so and still trying to decide on a pair of Wrasse's that will fit in. Link to comment
Paigee Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Very nice pics in the update what was the crash from? And did you ever solve that heating problem? Link to comment
TKG Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 Very nice pics in the update what was the crash from? And did you ever solve that heating problem? Thanks! The crash was mainly from my stupidity. Long story short, I had some problems with my skimmer and started getting cyano pretty bad. I pulled my BP offline for about a month while I got everything straightened out. Once ready, I drained the water from the reactor and kicked them back on. It turns out it was quite the ammonia factory in there and nuked the tank. Moral of the story, don't let BP sit. I installed the fan and it does help, keeps the tank about 78-79. It's just 2 small low powered fans. I may step up to some more powerful fans and see if it gets me down a little lower. If not, it may be chiller time. Link to comment
Asureef Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Thanks! The crash was mainly from my stupidity. Long story short, I had some problems with my skimmer and started getting cyano pretty bad. I pulled my BP offline for about a month while I got everything straightened out. Once ready, I drained the water from the reactor and kicked them back on. It turns out it was quite the ammonia factory in there and nuked the tank. Moral of the story, don't let BP sit. I installed the fan and it does help, keeps the tank about 78-79. It's just 2 small low powered fans. I may step up to some more powerful fans and see if it gets me down a little lower. If not, it may be chiller time. I hear too many bad stories with BP, that's why I've been reluctant to start it. I had a cyano outbreak also, I let it ride and it went away within two weeks. I've tried the stock fans that came with the sump, but it's a total POS. So, I searched around locally and got a great deal on a JBJ 1/15 ($75) and it's been working wonderfully. Because of the cooler weather now, it rarely comes on. Link to comment
TKG Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 I hear too many bad stories with BP, that's why I've been reluctant to start it. I had a cyano outbreak also, I let it ride and it went away within two weeks. I've tried the stock fans that came with the sump, but it's a total POS. So, I searched around locally and got a great deal on a JBJ 1/15 ($75) and it's been working wonderfully. Because of the cooler weather now, it rarely comes on. I've been really happy with them other than that. Yeah, my stock fan broke 2 wks after I started using it. Mounting the fans into the stand does help, just not quite enough. What a great deal on your chiller, I don't think I could pass one up at that price either. Link to comment
Young80i Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I'm looking for an led for my setup and I was wondering what kind of light is that and where did u buy it Link to comment
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