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TeenyReef's 10g Fusion - ATO Disaster


teenyreef

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So glad I did my research before finalizing the order :)

 

I think I'm going to skip the urchin for now and just get the crab. I had a lot of algae in my 4g tank too at this stage, and it all went away with just the snails eating it after less than a month. In this tank there's a lot more macro algae which I don't mind as long as it doesn't take over. I'll just wait and see how the snails and crabs do before adding something else.

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reefernanoman

So glad I did my research before finalizing the order :)

 

I think I'm going to skip the urchin for now and just get the crab. I had a lot of algae in my 4g tank too at this stage, and it all went away with just the snails eating it after less than a month. In this tank there's a lot more macro algae which I don't mind as long as it doesn't take over. I'll just wait and see how the snails and crabs do before adding something else.

For some reason I can never keep those crabs alive. They always disappear on me. Meanwhile, my tuxedo urchin lived for over 2 years unil she got murdered by my evil female maroon CF.

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OK, red mithrax crab is on order for delivery when I get back at the end of the week. Along with a Harlequin Serpent starfish and a Red Brittle starfish, just because I like starfish, as well as a couple of "mystery color" rics. I love KP Aquatics :)

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OK, red mithrax crab is on order for delivery when I get back at the end of the week. Along with a Harlequin Serpent starfish and a Red Brittle starfish, just because I like starfish, as well as a couple of "mystery color" rics. I love KP Aquatics :)

Keep an eye on the red mithrax! I've never had luck with them. They are the best at eating algae but they are the worst for attacking corals LOL. Hopefully you'll get an angel :).

 

The harlequin stars are awesome. Great for eating up leftover food!

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On the ATO, yes, I put a Hydor Smart ATO in the third chamber. The problem is that when the MP10 really gets cranking, the level in that chamber rises. Then it goes back down again when the MP10 slows down. The level actually goes up and down by about an inch.

 

Since the sensor is thermal, it needs a minute or two to register a change in water level, so I'm not sure it's going to work. I tried it for a day or two in chamber 1 but of course the level there doesn't change enough to kick in when it needs to. So I've got it back in chamber 3 as of tonight. I turned the MP10 down a little so that level isn't going up and down as much. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I suspect this would be fine with a traditional level sensor using a float valve. You could just put it deep enough that it only kicks in when the water level gets really low, and it wouldn't care about the level going up. You could then use a secondary sensor for overflow detection.

 

If I can't make this work I think I'll get a Tunze.

 

I'm not familiar with the Hydor ATO, but assuming it doesn't reset every time the power is cut you could put it on a timer. Find out how often your mp10 has a large swell (since it's a repeating pattern) and have the timer only come on say twice a day during that period. This is what I did for my 75 gallon tank. I had the timer turn on for 15mins, three times a day. That way if a snail or something got on the float valve or it got stuck my fuge wouldn't overflow because the topoff would keep running. ;)

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I'm not familiar with the Hydor ATO, but assuming it doesn't reset every time the power is cut you could put it on a timer. Find out how often your mp10 has a large swell (since it's a repeating pattern) and have the timer only come on say twice a day during that period. This is what I did for my 75 gallon tank. I had the timer turn on for 15mins, three times a day. That way if a snail or something got on the float valve or it got stuck my fuge wouldn't overflow because the topoff would keep running. ;)

That's a good idea, but the Hydor does reset every time it gets powered on. So if the water level was low when it powered on it would just alarm instead of filling up the tank :(

 

Keep an eye on the red mithrax! I've never had luck with them. They are the best at eating algae but they are the worst for attacking corals LOL. Hopefully you'll get an angel :).

 

The harlequin stars are awesome. Great for eating up leftover food!

Good point! He will definitely be on probation once I start adding corals.

 

I've had a Harlequin Star in my 4g, and I never worry about overfeeding because he takes care of everything. The only problem I have is that he'll steal food out of the corals on the sand bed if they are too slow. I just wish he'd come out for pictures! All I can ever get is one or two legs coming out from under the rocks.

 

The Red Brittle star will be new to me. I wanted something less "spiderish" compared to the Harlequin ;)

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It's always a little stressful being away from home, but worrying about the tank adds a whole new level of stress. Yesterday, while I'm in the middle of running technical meeting with about 30 people, I get a text from my wife:

"The fish tank in the family room is loud"

Hmmm...she's never complained about it being loud before?

As the meeting progresses, I start to wonder why it's "loud". Has the water level gone down? Maybe she's hearing the waterfall into the third chamber? Is the ATO working? Is the return pump running dry and burning up? :blink:

I spent the next hour and a half playing phone tag trying to catch up with her during two minute breaks from the meeting, and trying not to be too obvious about texting during the meeting. Finally I got on the phone with her. She tried to hold the phone near the noise but I can't hear anything.

"Is it coming from the back of the tank?"

"No, more like on the right side...you know, where that black thing is."

"Hmmmm....hang on a minute."

I was able to pull up the web site for Apex controller, and I turned off the MP10.

"That's it, the noise just stopped!"

 

Yay for Apex!

Boo for the MP10. Hopefully the wet and dry sides just got out of alignment somehow. Otherwise I get to learn more about how to change the bearings in the MP10. Good thing there's a thread for that here on NR :)

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Yeah, I've got to admit that wasn't one of the uses for the Apex I had in mind when I got it, but it sure paid for itself if it saved by MP10 from self destruction :)

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I got a chance to catch up on non-work email tonight, and found all kinds of goodies will be waiting for me when I get home tomorrow:

 

- My Nanobox has arrived!!! omgomgomg

- KPA's mithrax crab and starfishes are coming tomorrow afternoon.

- 8 outlet Apex power bar and temperature/Ph module. So now I can extend Apex control to the 4g CAD Lights in the room next door, and add a Ph sensor to this tank. Plus now I will have enough outlets to control the world.

- Hanna checkers for Alkalinity and Calcium.

- Plus I have the new Tunze ATO waiting to be installed.

 

I took full advantage of the Black Friday sales this year!

 

So I'll be completely redoing everything in the cabinet under the tank. Again. But it will be worth it.

 

Maybe someday I'll actually put some corals or fish in this tank fingerscrossed



I would have been s****** bricks all day ;)

 

Good to hear that all is well man, hope its an easy fix.

That's a pretty good description of what it was like :wacko:

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The tank held up great while I was out of town. The ATO worked fine and didn't run out of water. The macro algae has grown some, and there's no sign of cyano or diatoms.

 

And - I was able to get the MP10 working again. It had a small snail stuck in it getting the washing machine treatment :blink: Once I shook the snail out it worked fine.

 

Unfortunately, the package from KP Aquatics with the crab and starfishes didn't come today. It's priority mail so 2-3 days is normal, but I get nervous when things don't show up on the second day. Hopefully it will come on Saturday and everybody will still be OK.

 

Hopefully I can get the Nanobox Mini set up tomorrow. I forgot that we decorate for Christmas this weekend so there will be lots of competing activities. My wife loves Christmas trees and I think we've got like six or seven of them scattered throughout the house :eek:

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Great equipment score- Apex- I am jealous

The more I use my Apex the more I realize it really is probably the most essential piece of equipment I have after pumps, lights, and ATO. I can't imagine running a tank without it :)

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The more I use my Apex the more I realize it really is probably the most essential piece of equipment I have after pumps, lights, and ATO. I can't imagine running a tank without it :)

 

Ya- I never thought it was necessary for a nano but reading all the uses people list really changed my mind. What functions are you using?

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Ya- I never thought it was necessary for a nano but reading all the uses people list really changed my mind. What functions are you using?

Not as much as I'd like :)

 

Right now, I control the return pump, skimmer, MP10, and heater, and have a temperature probe. My temperature is very stable now, within 1/2 a degree. It's really nice for feeding, since you can turn off the return pump to avoid filtering out the food, but leave the MP10 on to move it around the display tank. Likewise, you can leave the skimmer off for a while after restarting the return pump after feeding so it doesn't go crazy.

 

You can automate the time that everything stays off during feeding, so you can just push one button for feeding and have everything go off and back on again when you want it to.

 

I use the internet control all the time. It's actually easier to pull up the Apex Fusion site on my phone to turn a pump on or off than to use the Apex display controller, even if I'm standing right in front of it.

 

With the new stuff I got, I'll be able to turn off the ATO when I change the water so I don't have to reach under the cabinet. I'll also be able to monitor Ph, although I have to admit that's not a very high priority for me.

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My order from KP Aquatics came today :haha:

In spite of taking three days to arrive instead of the usual two, everything is still alive and in great shape. Since inverts tend to disappear once they are in the tank, I made sure to take some pictures while they were acclimating.

 

Group shot:

15935780986_89bc9d4490_b.jpg

 

Harlequin Serpent Starfish:

15774281700_4d82414190_b.jpg

 

Red Brittle Starfish:

15961554485_cdf9488d50_b.jpg

 

Red Mithrax Crab:

15774281220_553ece4306_b.jpg

 

Emerald Crab. Added at no extra charge from KP Aquatics. Score! :happydance:

Of course, now I have two crabs to keep an eye on to make sure they don't decide to eat corals and fish instead of veggies.

 

"Mystery" Rics. KP Aquatics says these are various colors that don't really fit into any of their regular color selections. These look to be a very pretty shade of deep green instead of the usual neon green with blue that they sell.

15935779956_246c464382_b.jpg

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Hehe love that picture.

Thanks!

 

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the second to last guy in line is turned around from the rest. It's like he gave up waiting in line but the guy behind him won't let him out.

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Within about two seconds of being placed on the rock, both crabs started eating like starving men at a Las Vegas buffet.

I didn't know you had to be starving to eat like a pig at an all you can eat buffet? #fatty

 

B)

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I spent some time tonight working on getting this set up:

15964491715_daa8569e61_z.jpg

 

One of the things I wanted to do was increase the capacity of my ATO reservoir, so my old 1g bottle is going over to the 4g CAD Lights, and I'm now using a 3g bottle. I drilled some holes in the top for the pump's power and water lines:

15963841002_91e6188c92_b.jpg

 

The sensor package just BARELY fits in the third chamber, between the dividing wall and the return line:

15777091248_9330c4704e_b.jpg

 

The white sensor is the overflow sensor. It can be mounted on a separate magnet mount if it needs to go higher. The black sensor is the main optical sensor.

I placed the sensor just high enough to trigger the pump, and it promptly overfilled :(

Turns out it pumps for a minimum of 20 seconds to avoid cycling the pump too much. This is different from the Tunz Nano ATO which stays on only long enough to trigger the sensor.

After reading the manual some more, there's an adjustment you can make to decrease the flow rate of the pump so that it won't fill so quickly during the 20 second minimum fill time. I set it all the way down, on "Nano".

Now it seems to be working fine. The only downside of the "Nano" setting is that the pump can't handle as much vertical lift since it's been turned down. But it's fine for my set up.

 

Overall, I think I'd probably get the Tunze Nano if I was buying this all over again. The advantages of the larger model are the optical sensor (snail proof) and the overflow protector. But the smaller sensor package and finer control of the pump in the Nano version is really nice.

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"Mystery" Rics. KP Aquatics says these are various colors that don't really fit into any of their regular color selections. These look to be a very pretty shade of deep green instead of the usual neon green with blue that they sell.

15935779956_246c464382_b.jpg

I'm really curious to see how these color up after they get adjusted and start to grow out. When I first put them in the tank on the sand bed, they were kind of a drab pale green, which is pretty much what I expected since they are still a little shriveled up from the trip.

But late tonight as the lights changed to blue for sunset, they fluoresced and looked yellow and orange. I've never seen a coral completely change colors like this - it's very cool. I'll try to figure out how to get some pictures tomorrow.

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