pelphrey Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 ATO container shipped yesterday! Quote Link to comment
blizzardscout2 Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Wow, this is a spectacular build and documentation there of. Are you planning on making the Red Sea ATO a fuge? 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 Wow, this is a spectacular build and documentation there of. Are you planning on making the Red Sea ATO a fuge? I may convert it to a fuge later down the road, once the new container comes in I will be pulling the stock ATO out. I still have some work to do in the stand and with the stock ATO sitting higher than the sump it makes it a pain to get to what I need to get to. I've thrown a few idea's around, I thought about getting a container made to fit next to the skimmer. I also tossed the idea around of having a container made that would sit in the location the stock ATO sits, but I would have it made 3 or 4" shorter. With the stock ATO only being about 2 gallons if I reduced that to a gallon I think that would be plenty of room for macro algae. On the flip side I've thought about adding one of the aquamaxx rectors and making it a cheato reactor. I've got a few more project's I want done before I address this, maybe by March I'll have something figured out. 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 Local buddy of mine went to Louisville, KY yesterday and visited Aquatica, he was awesome enough to pickup some snails for the Reefer! Not everything in a reef tank is always nice to look at! Quote Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 thats some algae in there mang.... better beef up that clean up crew! 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 My buddy bought all of the snails the store had, well we split them. I'm going to Nashville next Tuesday, going to pickup more! New tank syndrome beating me to death, got lazy on the CUC because I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for shipping! Quote Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 I take it there aren't stores close to your house! 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 I actually have a store about 5 minutes away and they have an awesome selection of fish, their invertebrates and snail's never last long (people grab them quickly). I've built a pretty good relationship with them I could probably have them order me some. I heard a rumor over the weekend that they actually are adding a coral table, as of right now their selection on coral is very limited. I like to spend as much money as I can there to help support, hopefully if the coral table is true their prices will be competitive. Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted December 2, 2016 Author Share Posted December 2, 2016 BRS single reactor added to the tank with carbon and GFO - For now the reactor is running off of the MJ1200 until I can get my manifold situation figured out - After a week in the Reefer 250 the Nyos 120 is doing its job! Quote Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 One day, I will rid myself forever of the Nano AIO sump and get a REAL sump with a REAL skimmer that can do THAT.... enough of these undersized wanna be skimmers that just bubble into madness..... 2 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted December 3, 2016 Author Share Posted December 3, 2016 ATO Container has arrived - Fresh water test - Into the stand - This is a temp feed line, it will be changed to PVC. The reason behind this is to prevent a siphon from happening! Float will be wired to Apex BOB for low level notification - AKA Lazy Switch! Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share Posted December 20, 2016 Been a little while since I last updated the build process. I battled a pretty bad algae outbreak, water changes, clean filter socks and manually getting into the tank and scrubbing the rocks seems to have solved the problem. I wish I had taken some pictures, one of my rock structures was completely covered in algae. After getting in the tank with a good brush a couple of times I am hoping I am over that battle. I was rotating new filter socks every 2 days, this has now moved to every third day. I run one mesh and one felt, the felt sock is in the first chamber catching most of the stuff and doing all of the major work. The Nyos skimmer is pulling great skimmate, I have had to adjust the skimmer a few times and it is a pretty painless process. This skimmer is still dead silent! I did chop up my plumbing, I do have parts in to redo the plumbing and that will be done at a later date when I have the time. I was running my reactor off of a MJ1200 and no matter what I couldn't get the MJ1200 to run silent. It was literally the loudest part on the entire system, to remedy this I made do with the parts I had on hand and Tee'd off the return. I realized I didn't need all of that plumbing, I do plan to add 2 manifold ports, maybe 3 but in a different configuration that doesn't take up the space in the back of the stand. I have a few plans that will take place sometime next year, being a hardware junkie I can't seem to stick with equipment very long before I want to try something else! Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Took a small road trip down to Nashville TN yesterday and visited Aquatic Critter. This place was suggested by a guy I know locally. I was not disappointed, the shop was really nice and the guy I spoke to while there was friendly and very helpful! 1 Quote Link to comment
nd12nc Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Great build thus far, your attention to detail if amazing. I have to admit I'm a bit of an equipment junkie and it's awesome seeing all this cool tech put to great use. Keep it up! 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Great build thus far, your attention to detail if amazing. I have to admit I'm a bit of an equipment junkie and it's awesome seeing all this cool tech put to great use. Keep it up! Thank you! I really enjoy equipment, I have plans to make some changes to some equipment at some point this year. Probably later in the year. I've spent a lot of time researching and trying different equipment, I want to focus on water quality and live stock care and knowledge now for 2017! Quote Link to comment
burtbollinger Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 your tank made me buy the reefer....so glad I did. also took your lead and going equipment first...everything else later. so much better this way. you the man! 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 your tank made me buy the reefer....so glad I did. also took your lead and going equipment first...everything else later. so much better this way. you the man! That's awesome! Just read through your thread, I love setting up tanks. Probably why this is my third tank in a year. I am going to keep this one for awhile finally! haha Glad to see you back and I am very happy to hear I was able to provide some useful information! 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 Wanted to try out an Algae Turf Scrubber, when I got the chance to grab the Santa Monica RAIN2 I jumped on it. I haven't got it installed on the tank just yet! GEM5 lights Currently there is 1 GEM5 light installed in the ATS. I do have all 4 lights and will install them as needed! Test fitting the ATS in the sump of my Red Sea Reefer 250. Still not sure if I will install it here, but I wanted to see how well it would fit! The ATS with the hood on for test fitment- The Nyos 120 skimmer have proven to be a work horse and is still dead silent! After a Week - Cleaned and ready to return to service- Be sure to always do your research when buying fish! I decided I wanted to try a Butterfly fish, the fish was beautiful no doubt. Shortly after introducing the fish into the tank I noticed that my zoa's were closed up. I knew the Butterfly was responsible, I wasn't worried about the zoa's as they are one of my least favorite corals. But when the Butterfly decided to start picking my my scoly and acan's it was time to go! Luckily for me getting the rock out of the tank is simple. Since I used the Emarco 400 to bond my rock work together to make 2 large structures I removed both structures and trapped the Butterfly! This seemed like a good time to flip the rocks around. I used to have the large structure on the left, I decided to put it on the right and see how it looked - 1 Quote Link to comment
pelphrey Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Frag's that I put into the tank over a week ago are doing well! Can you help me identify this frag? It looked amazing in the display at Aquatic Critter and I had to have it, I did look at the name and as soon as I got home I forgot what it was! Quote Link to comment
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