MikeTR Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 Hmm.. chiller is on back order.. guess I get to rethink if I want to change chiller types and plumb it to the outside or not. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 12, 2012 Author Share Posted May 12, 2012 Mp40s, ballasts, bulbs and salt showed up today. Reflectors get here tomorrow. Also have a calcium reactor conversion kit for a koralin denitrifier on order. Picked up the whole denitrifier setup with tank, regulator, probe, and Milwaukee controller for $350. Cost me about another hundred for the conversion, which is basically the lid and a check valve. Not bad for a little under $500 for a reactor that'll handle up to 400g. Can't barely buy the reactor alone for that. Might just pick up another probe so I don't have to mess around as I have no idea how old it is. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Not too much to update. Got all the hardware in that I ordered. Electric is done. Apex controller with wireless module to control the vortechs is on order as of today. Have to start figuring out how to deal with plumbing the chiller outside. Gonna go with the tradewinds 1/3hp and drill a big hole in the living room wall to go outside. That should make the wife happy. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 Having second thoughts on these reflectors. Seems like a lot of that goin on with me lately. Probably going to sell both my skimmers and get something better as well.. oof.. anyway, I completely overlooked the lumenmax elites which are only 4.5" deep and 14" wide and might offer a better spread over the tank. It would also make it a lot easier to mount these readyfit T5's without having to do as much work. Maybe because the lumenbrights looked so shiny in the picture I was unknowingly duped into buying them.. oh look, shiny thing..oooooh aaaaahh add to cart.. I'll make up my mind over the weekend, our local marine club http://www.swfmas.com is having a tour of homes this weekend and there's a guy that has these elites installed. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Well I wasn't sold on the elites... they were mounted pretty high and I wasn't overly impressed with them. I'm going to stick with my lumenbrights.. Got started thinking about how to do some of the plumbing.. and that's about as far as I got. I did fire up one of the halides for the fun of it. My wife walks out of the bedroom and says, "oh my gosh you are going to burn everything." Also, need to get the sump out into the yard and see where the water levels sit. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Following Mike, nice to know there are some experienced reefers here that understand cutting corners leads to failure. So what are you planning for livestock, and nutrient export, you might have stated previously. Have you ever cycled a tank using GFO and MB7 (bacterial additive)? Not to speed it up necessarily, just to prevent algae blooms that could haunt you later. Will be nice to see water in this tank. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 I am sooooo ready for water to get in this thing!! I'm going to get my hands on a Super Reef Octopus XP3000 External SRO-XP3000E and run some cualerpa prolifera and chaeto in an eshopps R-300 2nd gen sump. Plan to get some reactors for GFO and biopellets. I hope all this fits under the stand! Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 Phew.. just got all the important pieces of the plumbing ordered, and with not a minute to spare.. had to get my order in by 4:30 so it would ship today and I hit confirm at 4:29. This would have delayed my whole project. Have to pay a little extra for 2 day shipping, but eh, whatevs. Part of me wishes I'd have left out the adventure part in the title, I'll be heading to west palm on Fri to pick up the chiller cuz guess who waited till the last minute to find one of those too. I still have to get a ton of other fittings at the hardware store, but at least all the ball, gate, and union valves are schedule 80.. Still on schedule to do a majority of the plumbing this weekend.. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 We need some progress pics Mike Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 As you wish... It just looks like a fish tank has thrown up all over the front room. Boxes piled up all over. Tons of equipment to hook up. Lots of elbows, tees, pipes, ball valves.. stuff is everywhere! And to think it's all going to fit underneath this thing somehow. Went and picked up my chiller today. Got a good price and didnt have to pay shipping. My 3/4" bulkheads didn't make it in the box from BRS so I'll have to get those from an LFS tomorrow. Also one of the gate valves is faulty. Gonna end up just capping those lines off for now. All the really important fittings are there. The 2" union is almost as big as the pump.. it's serious. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Looks like a big mess, a good mess Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 Progress. Sump plumbing done and shower pan liner is in the bottom of the stand. Link to comment
jgpico Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Lookin good. I wish I was this far along with my 120 build. Link to comment
redwhiteandblue Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 love seeing other 180 builds! you are about there! Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 Ugh... one pvc fitting is delaying my whole manifold. I need a 1.5in elbow w/side outlet. $4 in parts.. $9 in shipping. Ah heck, guess it don't matter at this point.. Budget is out the window on plumbing. Must be done if I'm going to cram this ginormous skimmer under the stand. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 Super Reef Octopus XP3000 External SRO-XP3000E 204074 1 $684.99 Spectrapure Ultra-Precise Auto Top-Off 202304 1 $239.99 Subtotal $924.98 Good thing I get paid 3 times this month. ooh look.. visa's calling. please confirm you have just spent too much money on your reef tank. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Got a 3" piece of pvc in the wall leading to the outside. Wow I'm glad that's over. What a pain in the butt to drill through concrete and all.. Remainder of my pvc fittings should be here Mon or Tues so I can finish up the plumbing. Day ended up on a good note. a few beers and a dip in the pool. Need to finish up the housing for my chiller.. but I guess I should stear clear of the rotozip for now.. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 MIKE, Money well spent IMO, this is a great hobby with so many rewards. Good to see things are coming along nicely. There are no shortcuts to successful reefing, if there are I don't want to know about them. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Skimmer and part of the spectrapure order came in.. missing the litermeter pump. This is the second order from them where they left out parts. They better not give me any crap about it either. I'm a little perturbed. I even sent in the search hound for a final look to make sure it wasn't lost in all the peanuts. I was leary if the skimmer was going to fit or not. Soo excited that it does. It was close. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Yes cute Mike , Glad it all fit in, looks tight however it looks like it will work fine. Have you water tested yet? Link to comment
MikeTR Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Not yet, i only have about half the plumbing dry fitted. There's less than an inch between the bottom of the return pipe on the skimmer and the union on the main pump. That's really the only spot that's tight. There's a good amount of clearance on the gate valve, and I think I'm actually going to move the gate valve up quite a bit so I can clear the sump. I do have to really think about the plumbing on the skimmer though as i'll have to remove it at least once every 6 months for cleaning and to do maintenance on the return pump. Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I am also wondering about vibrations from the pump. All your lines are solid PVC. Do you think you should have some rubber tubing between the pumps and skimmer etc to damper vibrations? Also Mike, I am wondering why you went with Spectapure Litre Meter, I am not familiar with the unit personally but I would have thought a GHL doser would be cheaper overall and just as flexible for programming. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 I am also wondering about vibrations from the pump. All your lines are solid PVC. Do you think you should have some rubber tubing between the pumps and skimmer etc to damper vibrations? Also Mike, I am wondering why you went with Spectapure Litre Meter, I am not familiar with the unit personally but I would have thought a GHL doser would be cheaper overall and just as flexible for programming. Well the supply line to the skimmer will be rubber tubing coming off the manifold. The skimmer doesn't touch the main return pump at all. I went with the litre meter because of it's ability to pump water 60ft up. I'll be keeping the freshwater in the garage and it's about a 50ft run through the attic. Is the GHL doser able to do the same? Link to comment
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