Conundrum Tank - It's a boy! (or maybe girl, or it!)

[Fnard]

So, finally in our new house and getting settled in. Place is really missing something. Ah! A new tank! The BC 8g just ain't cutting it for me. Placed the order for a new Cadlights 45g shallow earlier this week (hope the wife doesn't mind ) . The dimensions are perfect and can't beat getting tank, stand, sump, etc all in one shot.

Equipment List - So far:

Tank - CAD Lights 45 Gallon Artisan II Aquarium
Lighting - 27" Maxspect R420R Razor; T5 Retro'd
Chiller - JBJ Artica 1/10 hp, not needed, not hooked up
Heater - 150W Eheim Jager

Controller - RKL with 3 PC4s (soon to be apex thats sitting in my office)
Waterflow - Jebao RW-4 x2 MP10 wQD x2
Filtration - Refugium (will remove baffles in sump to make a larger fuge area Done)
Skimmer - SCA-301

I guess that's it for now. Really looking forward to getting this thing going.

Oh, any suggestions for powerhead(s)? I've been looking at a bunch and think I've narrowed it down to the following:

1) MP10w es (currently have one that can pair together)
2) Tunze 6020 (x2)
3) Jebao RW pumps
4) preorder a Gyre nano

I'd really like to keep it as clean as possible, but seeing as though these would be the only piece of equipment in the tank and all of these look pretty clean, I'm not super worried about wires in the tank. LMK any suggestions.

[jack1978]

So, finally in our new house and getting settled in. Place is really missing something. Ah! A new tank! The BC 8g just ain't cutting it for me. Placed the order for a new Cadlights 45g shallow earlier this week (hope the wife doesn't mind ) . The dimensions are perfect and can't beat getting tank, stand, sump, etc all in one shot.

 

 

 

Equipment List - So far:

 

Tank - CAD Lights 45 Gallon Artisan II Aquarium

Lighting - 27" Maxspect R420R Razor

Chiller - JBJ Artica 1/10 hp

Heater - TBD

Controller - RKL with 3 PC4s

Waterflow - TBD

Filtration - Refugium (will remove baffles in sump to make a larger fuge area)

 

I guess that's it for now. Really looking forward to getting this thing going.

 

Oh, any suggestions for powerhead(s)? I've been looking at a bunch and think I've narrowed it down to the following:

 

1) MP10w es (currently have one that can pair together)

2) Tunze 6020 (x2)

3) Jebao RW pumps

4) preorder a Gyre nano.

 

I'd really like to keep it as clean as possible, but seeing as though these would be the only piece of equipment in the tank and all of these look pretty clean, I'm not super worried about wires in the tank. LMK any suggestions.

 

Congrats on the new house......and great equipment!

[Markburns43]

Is it totally benificial to run a chiller? Not sure where you are located.

[reefernanoman]

New house, new tank! Great start for a new year! Congrats.

[JMarcink91]

Since you already have an mp10 might as well get another? lol. I have heard good things about the jebao rw as well. I use the small jebao and have been liking it alot

[Fnard]

New house, new tank! Great start for a new year! Congrats.

 

 

Congrats on the new house......and great equipment!

 

Thanks guys. Yeah, def a pretty frustrating experience, but well worth it. Need some work to do to keep me occupied , thus the tank. Plus I figure if the wifey got a puppy, then it was my turn.

 

 

Is it totally benificial to run a chiller? Not sure where you are located.

 

As far as the chiller, def was something I needed at my old place. Second floor apt and boy did it get hot up there in the summer. Not sure what it'll be like here during the summer since the place has central ac, but I have it so why not use it?

 

 

Since you already have an mp10 might as well get another? lol. I have heard good things about the jebao rw as well. I use the small jebao and have been liking it alot

 

Dunno, like the idea of the 2 synced together and getting plenty of randomness in the tank, but also had plans for the mp10. Need something for my ADA going in the office, no?

[Fnard]

Finally made my mind up for the powers. Went ahead and purchased 2 Jebao RW-4s. Couldn't pass up the price, $55 ea, and the fact that they are controllable. Was ready to go with another mp10 to pair with the one I currently have, but not only could I not justify the price compared to the RWs, but the age and sound from my current one led me to think I'd just want to replace it soon. Plus I'll use it on my office tank.

 

Oh, also went with 80#s of CaribSea Super Reef sand. Will certainly be more than I need, and really wanted to go with Bimini Pink, but was a fair compromise. Thinking/hoping this may be the last purchase needed to get this tank going (if it ever get here )

[Benny314]

You won't be disappointed with the RW-4's. I have 2 in a 3x2x2 at the moment and the lower one shifts sand on the far side of the tank. I've not sync'd them together, I have read people having trouble with it, but for randomness leaving them un-sync'd with one set to else and the other on w1 or w2 its all pretty mixed up in there.

The cool thing with the jebao's is the speed dial that changes the on/off pulse time, you could have one wound back to slow and the other wound up to fast and they would come in and out of sync intermittently and at random also gives great flow changes.

[Fnard]

Thanks, glad to hear it. Figured between the price and the reviews I've read, it was worth a shot. Have seen this on amazon and ebay. Looks like a nice lil controller someone put together. Not something that'll I'll be ordering, but just keeping it in mind. Want to play with the RWs first and see if anything is lacking. Wonder if anyone has had experience with it?

 

Well, I guess the next order of business is tackling this bugger.

 

 

Pretty much every outlet is 2 prong. Have been replacing them slowly. Now the question is to GFCI or not?

[Benny314]

I've read about them, look interesting. My lighting is going to be arduino controlled so I'm building a reef controller (currently based on Jarduino) and as Jebao use PWM to control their pumps I'll be able to use the controller (once I've got my head round writing code and reprogramed the bugger) to control the RW's much like the wave does.

My current feeling is the pulse even at slowest is to quick to get a good wave action in a 3 foot tank with the small RW-4 (also as the tank is 3 sides viewable all the pumps are up one end of the tank), so when I get them hooked up I'll be experimenting to see what a longer pulse will do.

[Fnard]

Sounds like a nice setup. Had looked into building an arduino controller awhile ago for another setup. Seems daunting, but something that can be done if I had the time. Good luck with it. Are you going to be posting your progress on it? I'll keep on eye on it and see if I have anything to offer.

[cnseekatz]

Sweet! Starting to see a few of these tanks pop up on the forums now. I thought I was the only one! I'll be interested to see how you put yours together. I'm loving mine... top down viewing is amazing!

[Fnard]

Thanks! Had been following yours since I ordered the tank. It has been coming along nicely. Hope to get there one of these days. Going to TRY and take it slow though. Quick questions if you don't mind, did you keep the ATO outside? Was planning on getting something along those lines. Why are you thinking of replacing the fuge light? Plan on opening the fuge are like yours and putting a bunch of macros in there. Do you think the stock light will support that?

[Benny314]

I'm considering doing a build thread, but I haven't been that up on taking photos to document progress so it would be patchy at best. The DIY LED arrays are the reason I ended up going with an arduino as it was the best way to control the LED's the way I wanted and on doing some research and realising I could do so much more than just control the lights it was the obvious thing to do.

 

As for a reef controller, the Jarduino and alternative controllers aren't that much work, as someone (Jamie in the case of the Jarduino) has done all the work already on the program, you just need the right bits to make it work and the arduino boards and components literally plug together with no soldering or electrical skills needed.

 

Where it becomes interesting is if you want to modify or add hardware or add program features. Jarduino has wave maker control for instance, but it's for AC pumps and just alternates turning relays on and off. So I'll have to write something and replace the current code to control DC PWM signals to run the Jebao's.

Also I'm wanting to control the colour channels on each of my 3 arrays independently of each other. I have a 16 channel PWM control board. But I need to incorporate it into the Jarduino code and re-write the menus for led testing and control and the front page display of lighting levels. But the aim is to be able to do really cool storm affects, clouds coming in from left to right, right to left, centre out, stuff like that. I'd also like to add a 1 touch acclimatization feature where there's a single button that will dim the lighting to a set level and then bring it back over a few days/weeks to it's normal full intensity so you don't have to constantly change the pre set levels yourself after making new additions.

[Fnard]

Dayum, that sounds good. Really like the idea of automating the light acclimation. Would really be helpful for the initial stocking. With that said, I prolly wouldn't rack your brain over it though. Once you have the first stocking over as you add more you're prolly better off just shading the new corals. I wouldn't want to be established corals through that over again.

[Benny314]

True, I was considering making use of my cloud cover plans. So the tank just goes into a particularly cloudy couple of days, maybe with some increasing bright spells something like that.

Reduced lighting for established coral isn't going to cause much harm either I wouldn't of thought given you'll generally get away with 3 day darkness when trying to beat algae.

[Fnard]

Like your thinking there. Think that could work out fine. Wasn't too worried about doin severe harm to est corals, I just hate pissing them off, which reacclimation may do. Knowin my luck they'd be too pissed and will whither away on me.

[cnseekatz]

Thanks! Had been following yours since I ordered the tank. It has been coming along nicely. Hope to get there one of these days. Going to TRY and take it slow though. Quick questions if you don't mind, did you keep the ATO outside? Was planning on getting something along those lines. Why are you thinking of replacing the fuge light? Plan on opening the fuge are like yours and putting a bunch of macros in there. Do you think the stock light will support that?

 

I kept the ATO outside. I got the shiny black one that matches the stand, and while I'd rather have it hidden, it's no big deal. I think the light they included will be fine for macros, but I have a bunch of xenia in there, and it doesn't seem as vibrant as it was before the move. It might be the light, or it might be that it's getting water from the skimmer chamber, and there's not enough junk in there. At some point, I'm going to try a different light and see if that helps. If not, I'll have to split the main drain and have some "dirty" water dribble into the fuge chamber directly.

[reefernanoman]

Any pictures of the tank? It sounds nice.

[Fnard]

I kept the ATO outside. I got the shiny black one that matches the stand, and while I'd rather have it hidden, it's no big deal. I think the light they included will be fine for macros, but I have a bunch of xenia in there, and it doesn't seem as vibrant as it was before the move. It might be the light, or it might be that it's getting water from the skimmer chamber, and there's not enough junk in there. At some point, I'm going to try a different light and see if that helps. If not, I'll have to split the main drain and have some "dirty" water dribble into the fuge chamber directly.

 

Thanks for the info. Gonna wait til the tank arrives to see about the ATO. Like the one you have, sleek looking. Can't believe it is that tight in the stand, but guess fitting everything you can is a good idea. Glad to hear about the light too. Hopefully the macros will do alright with it, if not, there is always the flood light

 

 

Any pictures of the tank? It sounds nice.

 

Unfortunately not. Tank hasnt been delivered yet. Hope it gets here soon. Ordered from MarineDepot but gets dropped shipped from CadLights. Doesn't look like MD updates the delivery process on their site.

[Justin MD]

Thanks, glad to hear it. Figured between the price and the reviews I've read, it was worth a shot. Have seen http://www.amazon.com/JBWave-Jebao-Wavemaker-Controller-Apple/dp/B00R6OQ7GE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1420746020&sr=8-7&keywords=jebao+rw-4'>this on amazon and ebay. Looks like a nice lil controller someone put together. Not something that'll I'll be ordering, but just keeping it in mind. Want to play with the RWs first and see if anything is lacking. Wonder if anyone has had experience with it?

 

Well, I guess the next order of business is tackling this bugger.

 

 

Pretty much every outlet is 2 prong. Have been replacing them slowly. Now the question is to GFCI or not?

you would be nuts not to do a GFI outlet. But I'm not an electrician and im not sure how much of a pain it would be to add the ground.

[Fnard]

Sooooo, was sitting on the couch watching TV and the wifey looked out the window and asked if I ordered anything. I glanced over and saw the UPS truck sitting out front. I was all like . Its here! Its here! So, I got up up looked out the front door and saw him getting packages from the back. So happy! Delivery was quick can't to get this thing setup. Went and sit back down waitin for the bell to ring, and sat waited and waited and waited. What the hell is taking so long?!? Looked back out the window and he was gone. Ok, no problem, he didnt ring the bell. Let me just open the door and it'll be on the porch, right? Yeah, no. Nothing. Damn neighbors. The wait continues.

[creefer]

I've been thinking about one of these tanks. I'm interested to hear what you have to say about it.

[Rehype]

Glad to see your back man... we need a FTS!

[Fnard]

Thanks eu, wish I could supply a FTS. But alas, tank still ain't here. Just sent a msg to MD and hope they can supply some shipping info. Wait wouldn't be so bad, except I've got 80# of sand sitting here and my RW4s should be here tomorrow. Getting a lil antsy I guess.