3 Foot Long Nano

[DaveFason]

@Scorched updates yo! 

[Scorched]

18 hours ago, Ellery said:

Scorched,

 

Love this build thread.  Definitely one of the cleanest out there. Will be following some of your methods on my 12 gallon Mr Aqua dedicated clam tank plumbed into my 420 gallon SPS dominant system.  

 

The only down side is some of the photos in the early parts of this thread are gone 😞  Wonder what happened.

 

How are things lately?

 

Thanks.  Good luck with your 12 gallon as well.

The original photos were most likely on photobucket or some other old hosting site.  The links are all broken.  I most likely have some of the old photos but I can't be sure which ones go with what post.  If something seemed really important and you wanted to see I can investigate and send it to you.

 

I've been around but honestly haven't done much reef stuff for a few months.  The tank has suffered because of that.  Phos, Alk, Calc, Mag, etc all got outta wack.  I lost quite a few corals.  I got my butt in gear 2 weeks ago and did a massive water change and redid my dosing from scratch to hope things get restabilized.  So far I think things have but the damage has already been done to the corals.  The ones that didn't perish have lost most of their color or large sections of tissue.   So any new readers take note:  Once things are going well, you have to keep doing it over and over and over.  As soon as you get complacent and go autopilot mode things go downhill.  I need to confirm that the corals I do have continue to show improvement before I reinvest a bunch of money into replacements.

 

[uwdanno]

On 7/16/2018 at 12:51 PM, Scorched said:

Thanks.  Good luck with your 12 gallon as well.

The original photos were most likely on photobucket or some other old hosting site.  The links are all broken.  I most likely have some of the old photos but I can't be sure which ones go with what post.  If something seemed really important and you wanted to see I can investigate and send it to you.

 

I've been around but honestly haven't done much reef stuff for a few months.  The tank has suffered because of that.  Phos, Alk, Calc, Mag, etc all got outta wack.  I lost quite a few corals.  I got my butt in gear 2 weeks ago and did a massive water change and redid my dosing from scratch to hope things get restabilized.  So far I think things have but the damage has already been done to the corals.  The ones that didn't perish have lost most of their color or large sections of tissue.   So any new readers take note:  Once things are going well, you have to keep doing it over and over and over.  As soon as you get complacent and go autopilot mode things go downhill.  I need to confirm that the corals I do have continue to show improvement before I reinvest a bunch of money into replacements.

 

Update? Still in the reefing funk or are you back in action? 

 

Side note - I know you were an LoL player. Are you playing AoV on Switch by any chance?

[Scorched]

Long time no post.  This tank is still up and running but it was a crazy summer/fall.  I lost almost every coral in the tank.  I have 1-2 photos of how it looked and will post them to be honest with everyone.  I still don't definitively know the reason.  I got slightly lazy but I was still doing water changes and cleaning out the socks.  There was just a build up of something causing slow necrosis on everything.

 

Fast forward a few months and I think I have things under control around Oct.  We have our local frag swap and I pick up a bunch of replacement corals to get things going again.  Everything was doing great, no deaths and no more necrosis.

 

However as the months go by and we get to Dec and around Christmas the tank starts going downhill again and I have no idea why.  I send in ICP tests and the only thing that comes back out of the ordinary is my PO4.  Rather than it being the typical 0.02 it was 0.7!!  But the tank has almost zero algae so Im kinda stumped.  I add in GFO again even though its caused me trouble in the past.  All Dec I started picking more test kit refills and I try to be deligent about checking my Phosphate with my ULR Hanna checker (which would max out at 200 for a long time).  Eventually it started to get down to .2, still a long way to go though.  The corals weren't looking any better and some were necrosising and had thin tissue.  When this happened to me before it was a nutrient deficient issue.  My biopellets combined with GFO were taking out too much and causing weak corals.  This made me assume I was Nitrate starving everything with high phosphates.  No algae was present because they were out of ration.  Curious if that really was the case I bought a Red Sea Pro Nitrate test.  (I have never owned or tested my Nitrate in almost 7 years).  The test kit finally arrives and I start doing the low range test expecting 0 or very close to it.  Guess what?  It was maxed out purple.  Which meant it was over 4ppm.  I redo the test this time on the high range scale.  Any guesses on what it was....?

 

It was maxed out purple on the high range test!!  So I had over 64ppm Nitrate and .7 Phosphate.

 

Ok so I love my corals and fish and figure I need to get this sorted out.  More orders for aquarium stuff starts taking place.  I order myself some NoPox, a new bucket of salt, a new heater for water changes, and a beefy skimmer.  I have ran this tank without a skimmer the whole time and I thought I was fine.  Well my sump was made to accommodate one and my tank obviously needed reliable nutrient export.

[Scorched]

The skimmer I decided on was the SR Aquaristik Pro-80.

 

 

It had the perfect footprint and height ratio to fit in my tiny sump.  It was even short enough to allow easy access to my media reactors hanging on the back wall.

 

 

But then the issues continue.  The skimmer was beautiful and fit perfectly but when I turned it on it hummed and growled like a lawn mower or weed whacker.

 

https://i.imgur.com/evVOgbs.mp4

 

I emailed the company and got in touch with the owner.  We had a few back and forth emails that night and it eventually turned into sending text, videos, images and speaker chatting for close to an hour.  We tried disassembling the whole thing and putting it back together making sure the impeller was seated properly and that the air intake was working correctly.  But everytime I adjusted the power over 50% it hummed like crazy.  We called it a night and he said he would chat with me the next day.

 

That afternoon I get a call and we finally figured it out.  The pump in the new model has been upgraded and is slightly more powerful.  It also has some built in safety features that can ramp up and down its speed automatically based on sensing pressure and water intake.  If it senses its not getting enough water it will increase power or if there was a valve on the output that was dialed down it would automatically power down since its can sense the output is being constricted.

 

Well the venturi has an air intake and hole on the front for water intake.  The new models going out have too small of a water intake hole.  When the skimmer turns on its craving water and it just wasn't getting enough so it would ramp up to 100% all the time demanding more water.  The water/air mixture was still more air than water so it caused a ton of noise.

 

So the solution was to drill out the intake and make it larger to let in more water.  Luckily I have a drill press and some nice forstner drill bits for clean holes.

 

 

 

 

Now its in and super quiet.  It is also \much more powerful.  So much so that I almost filled the whole cup overnight.  I needed to dial back the pump speed and dial down the adjustment tube this morning, so hopefully it will skim better while I'm at work.

 

 

 

[Scorched]

Oh hello there.

 

[Tamberav]

Is that thing finally out or you a tester? Your engine under the hood looks nice 🙂 Mine is ghetto 😜

 

Sorry for all your troubles 😞 

[Scorched]

5 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Is that thing finally out or you a tester? Your engine under the hood looks nice 🙂 Mine is ghetto 😜

 

Sorry for all your troubles 😞 

I’m a Neptune Systems Insider (beta tester)

 

The Trident has gone out to a bunch of various previous testers, people who tested the ATK and COR like I did and a few promonant tanks (Richard Ross, MrSaltwaterTank, etc)

[jbb]

10 hours ago, Scorched said:

Oh hello there.

 

Unicorns do exist 😂

[Scorched]

On 1/26/2019 at 4:31 AM, Tamberav said:

Is that thing finally out or you a tester? Your engine under the hood looks nice 🙂 Mine is ghetto 😜

 

Sorry for all your troubles 😞 

 

Just out to the NSI group and a few prominent saltwater people I recognize.

 

Thanks.  For right now the engine is the only thing that looks decent.  I need to get the water all sorted out and I hope other things start to fall into place and show improvement.

[mitten_reef]

Let's see some current pics!  You TOTM winners can really turn things around, I believe you have the system that would be able fix itself with some TLC from you. @ninjamyst and @HarryPotter both had pretty rough 2018, but their tanks came back in a big way.  

 

It's also inspirational to others (or some, or just me specifically) that hiccups do happen to even the best of us.  But with the right approaches, things can be fixed.  

[TJ_Burton]

1 hour ago, micoastreefing said:

It's also inspirational to others (or some, or just me specifically) that hiccups do happen to even the best of us.  But with the right approaches, things can be fixed.  

THIS!

[kristonenicolas]

Hey scorched, what're the dimensions of your sump?

[kristonenicolas]

Actually, while I'm at it, do you know the dimensions of the stand too? I'm setting up a 21g long and I wanted some reference. Thanks in advance!

[Scorched]

9 hours ago, kristonenicolas said:

Hey scorched, what're the dimensions of your sump?

 

ZeroEdgeAquarium Series7 Sump Built to these dimensions.

25" Wide, 10.75" Deep, 10" Tall

7" Waterline and 7" Ring Sock

 

 

39 minutes ago, kristonenicolas said:

Actually, while I'm at it, do you know the dimensions of the stand too? I'm setting up a 21g long and I wanted some reference. Thanks in advance!

The granite on top is exactly 36" x 16"   The stand is just a bit under 36" Wide and 16" Deep.  The granite hangs over a bit on all sides.  The left and right are also sunken in slightly to accommodate the large corner posts.  Its approx 31" tall  

 

 

 

[JR!]

wonder what theyd charge for a 12x12x12 sump. their stuff is so sick

[Justind823]

Trident - how cool! How could you not be an Insider with a color scheme like that?

 

How's it going so far?

[Scorched]

2 hours ago, JR! said:

wonder what theyd charge for a 12x12x12 sump. their stuff is so sick

 

Doesn't hurt to ask.  Mine was comparable to their smallest model.  A cube style sump might take some interesting thought and building at that size.

 

35 minutes ago, Justind823 said:

Trident - how cool! How could you not be an Insider with a color scheme like that?

 

How's it going so far?

 

Testing is going great.  The device itself is awesome, a little big for the nano people, but its doing everything its claimed to do.  I've watched some Alkatronic setup and review videos and the Trident, in my opinion is beating it in almost every category.

 

• Its testing all 3 rather than just Alk
• Its cost is cheaper <600 verses $899
• There are way less tubes and cables to connect.  Trident has 3 total - Single 1link power and interface cable, tank water in, waste water out.  Alkatronic is 4 minimum with up to 9 cables or tubes attached.  Power, Tank water in, Reagent in, Waste Out.  Then 2 optional BNCs for controller connectivity, 2 lines for dosing, and USB for updating.
• The Trident has less points of failure, both in equipment and user error.  There is only 1 pump on the Trident, the Alk uses 4 (you better hope those are all calibrated correctly, and if they slip out its up to you to get them reconfigured.)  You also need to mix your own reagent to very precise measurements with the Alkatronic and keep your pH probe in calibration.  The Trident is titration color based and uses an optical eye like the Hanna checkers. 

[Tamberav]

6 minutes ago, Scorched said:

 

Doesn't hurt to ask.  Mine was comparable to their smallest model.  A cube style sump might take some interesting thought and building at that size.

 

 

Testing is going great.  The device itself is awesome, a little big for the nano people, but its doing everything its claimed to do.  I've watched some Alkatronic setup and review videos and the Trident, in my opinion is beating it in almost every category.

 

• Its testing all 3 rather than just Alk
• Its cost is cheaper <600 verses $899
• There are way less tubes and cables to connect.  Trident has 3 total - Single 1link power and interface cable, tank water in, waste water out.  Alkatronic is 4 minimum with up to 9 cables or tubes attached.  Power, Tank water in, Reagent in, Waste Out.  Then 2 optional BNCs for controller connectivity, 2 lines for dosing, and USB for updating.
• The Trident has less points of failure, both in equipment and user error.  There is only 1 pump on the Trident, the Alk uses 4 (you better hope those are all calibrated correctly, and if they slip out its up to you to get them reconfigured.)  You also need to mix your own reagent to very precise measurements with the Alkatronic and keep your pH probe in calibration.  The Trident is titration color based and uses an optical eye like the Hanna checkers. 

Can the tank water in part be long? Would look so ugly on an aio of I can't hide it somewhere. Looks nice for a sump though. 

[Scorched]

13 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Can the tank water in part be long? Would look so ugly on an aio of I can't hide it somewhere. Looks nice for a sump though. 

 

Tank water in and waste out lines are exactly 5' each.  They hold a set volume of liquid and thats very important for getting accurate readings.  If you cut either of these lines to be less, say 3' the values are going to be off.  If you use your own longer lines its going to be off as its now pulling in old water that was in the line (It thought it only had to pull in 5') . It might really screw things up if the lines can't all clear before moving onto a different parameter to test.  They are gauging the need about having longer preset lengths.  Right now its just 5 feet.

[Tamberav]

Sounds good so I have 5 ft to work with which sounds like enough to get it inside a stand and maybe put the hoses in the back of the AIO. 

[DaveFason]

5 hours ago, Scorched said:

 

Doesn't hurt to ask.  Mine was comparable to their smallest model.  A cube style sump might take some interesting thought and building at that size.

 

 

Testing is going great.  The device itself is awesome, a little big for the nano people, but its doing everything its claimed to do.  I've watched some Alkatronic setup and review videos and the Trident, in my opinion is beating it in almost every category.

 

• Its testing all 3 rather than just Alk
• Its cost is cheaper <600 verses $899
• There are way less tubes and cables to connect.  Trident has 3 total - Single 1link power and interface cable, tank water in, waste water out.  Alkatronic is 4 minimum with up to 9 cables or tubes attached.  Power, Tank water in, Reagent in, Waste Out.  Then 2 optional BNCs for controller connectivity, 2 lines for dosing, and USB for updating.
• The Trident has less points of failure, both in equipment and user error.  There is only 1 pump on the Trident, the Alk uses 4 (you better hope those are all calibrated correctly, and if they slip out its up to you to get them reconfigured.)  You also need to mix your own reagent to very precise measurements with the Alkatronic and keep your pH probe in calibration.  The Trident is titration color based and uses an optical eye like the Hanna checkers. 

Looks great. Curious if you know. 

• The unit itself will not dose on its own unless it is hooked up to a DOS unit, correct? Reason I ask is if so, it will have the same amount of wires/tubes/etc as the other guys. 
• 100% on it being under $600? Can it be stand alone or do you need an APEX with this? So another $300ish? 
• Is it simple to take apart for regent changing and cleaning?

-D

[jbb]

40 minutes ago, DaveFason said:

Looks great. Curious if you know. 

• The unit itself will not dose on its own unless it is hooked up to a DOS unit, correct? Reason I ask is if so, it will have the same amount of wires/tubes/etc as the other guys. 
• 100% on it being under $600? Can it be stand alone or do you need an APEX with this? So another $300ish? 
• Is it simple to take apart for regent changing and cleaning?

-D

Scorched please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe It will only work with the 2016 Apex , and not the classic. 

[Scorched]

3 hours ago, DaveFason said:

Looks great. Curious if you know. 

• The unit itself will not dose on its own unless it is hooked up to a DOS unit, correct? Reason I ask is if so, it will have the same amount of wires/tubes/etc as the other guys. 
• 100% on it being under $600? Can it be stand alone or do you need an APEX with this? So another $300ish? 
• Is it simple to take apart for regent changing and cleaning?

-D

 

• The Trident is a monitor only.  Water In, Waste Out, Power.  Nothing else gets connected to it.   It can however adjust your DOS or Calcium Reactor amount through fusion.  The amount of wires is the same.
• I can not confirm the final price but it is <$600 ($599.99 could be possible).  It needs the latest head unit as that is whats holding the AOS (Apex Operating System) programmed with all the Trident code.  So the full Apex, Apex EL or buying the new head unit and using it with existing energy bars and probes you may have.
• Yes.  The front door slides out and there are 3 color coded caps.  These match color coded bottles.  Unscrew the cap from the bottle and screw on the corresponding cap with the dosing line attached inside the Trident.  Do that 3 times and push the tray back into place.  There isn't really anything to manually clean.  The Trident has a shutdown procedure that purges all of the lines so nothing is left in the cuvette or dosing lines/pump.  

3 hours ago, jbb_00 said:

Scorched please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe It will only work with the 2016 Apex , and not the classic. 

Correct.  Like I mentioned above.  As long as you have the latest head unit and new operating system the Trident will work.  The latest AOS isn't compatible with the classic.  Similar to how you most likely can't install Windows 10 or MacOS Mojave on a computer that is 10 years old (Apex Classic was released in 2009).  The hardware just can't handle the software programming.

 

[DaveFason]

42 minutes ago, Scorched said:

 

• The Trident is a monitor only.  Water In, Waste Out, Power.  Nothing else gets connected to it.   It can however adjust your DOS or Calcium Reactor amount through fusion.  The amount of wires is the same.
• I can not confirm the final price but it is <$600 ($599.99 could be possible).  It needs the latest head unit as that is whats holding the AOS (Apex Operating System) programmed with all the Trident code.  So the full Apex, Apex EL or buying the new head unit and using it with existing energy bars and probes you may have.
• Yes.  The front door slides out and there are 3 color coded caps.  These match color coded bottles.  Unscrew the cap from the bottle and screw on the corresponding cap with the dosing line attached inside the Trident.  Do that 3 times and push the tray back into place.  There isn't really anything to manually clean.  The Trident has a shutdown procedure that purges all of the lines so nothing is left in the cuvette or dosing lines/pump.  

Correct.  Like I mentioned above.  As long as you have the latest head unit and new operating system the Trident will work.  The latest AOS isn't compatible with the classic.  Similar to how you most likely can't install Windows 10 or MacOS Mojave on a computer that is 10 years old (Apex Classic was released in 2009).  The hardware just can't handle the software programming.

 

Great and thanks for the info. So just to make sure. It needs a APEX base or EL. Only reason I ask is I am very curious on the product. If I could stand alone for $600-700 no problem. But needing to buy a "brain" for $399.95 gets it up there.