Teenyreef's Deep Blue 30g - Massive Reorg

[Pjanssen]

whaaaaat? You're starting to sound like Brandon. Way too complex for those of us with less technical brains. Anyway-looking good.Hope you can get the sump working the way you want it to. Frags look awesome. I foresee a tankation to South Florida in your future! (AKA-come build a sump for me!! )

[ninjamyst]

Sump is the best!!! Sell your 4, 10, and 40 and get the new reefer penninsula!!!

[reeferbrownies]

Wow another tank!

[Oceanbox Designs]

So tired...but it's all wired and plumbed! My goal is to get everything in place needed to start cycling the tank. So manual on/off for pump and lights is fine, and all I need beside a filter sock is the heater.

 

The cabinet lights from Amazon are the bees knees! There are four led strips that mount around the top perimeter, and a motion sensor you can mount wherever you like. When the doors open, the lights come on. Four minutes after all motion stops, they turn off. You can't see the lights themselves unless you get down near the floor. I took this picture from lower down just to show the lights.

 

20170129_024010.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

The powerstrip is mounted where the previous owner put it. I'm not sure I want it to be inside the cabinet, though, it's kind of close to water with the sump right there. Am I just being overly sensitive since I've never had a sump before?

 

Just wanted to point out that the bottom seam looks bad, lots of what I call dry patches from poor weld-on job. I'd keep an eye out as dry patches could get larger in time follow by leaks

[4x5]

Sump is the best!!! Sell your 4, 10, and 40 and get the new reefer penninsula!!!

Those reefer peninsulas look badass.

[FlowerMama]

Looks so cool underneath! More exciting than mine.

[teenyreef]

whaaaaat? You're starting to sound like Brandon. Way too complex for those of us with less technical brains. Anyway-looking good.Hope you can get the sump working the way you want it to. Frags look awesome. I foresee a tankation to South Florida in your future! (AKA-come build a sump for me!! )

Lol, I'm not a sump builder yet! But it's funny how much better I understand all the stuff I've read about returns and drains and pumps now that I actually have a sump and can see how it all works.

 

But I'm always up for visiting friends

Sump is the best!!! Sell your 4, 10, and 40 and get the new reefer penninsula!!!

Those reefer peninsulas look badass.

They are pretty cool! Someday I'll get a bigger tank but that's a pretty long way down the road right now

Wow another tank!

Yep, I'm still in shock at how quick this one happened

[teenyreef]

 

Just wanted to point out that the bottom seam looks bad, lots of what I call dry patches from poor weld-on job. I'd keep an eye out as dry patches could get larger in time follow by leaks

Thanks! I will definitely keep an eye on it

Looks so cool underneath! More exciting than mine.

Yeah but yours has the advantage of being small and simple

[tanacharison]

Soon you will be getting custom sumps built. Sometimes I find designing and plumbing a sump together just as fun as planning and aquascaping a display.

[gena]

Thanks! I don't think I'll ever go AIO again if I can help it, I love having the sump once I got over the learning curve.

I said the same thing when I got my first sump! And now I'm back to an AIO and never want another sump again . The AIO is just so easy .

[FlowerMama]

Thanks! I will definitely keep an eye on it

Yeah but yours has the advantage of being small and simple

 

Very. You're not kidding. Soon to be felt sock. Rock. Pump. Heater. done. This light??? Very temporary.

 

[Hoosierfan]

I just set up my DB30 and I love it. Have you tried adjusting the water level using the floodgate? Seems like water sneaks in underneath it.

[teenyreef]

Soon you will be getting custom sumps built. Sometimes I find designing and plumbing a sump together just as fun as planning and aquascaping a display.

As an engineer, I can see the appeal,

I said the same thing when I got my first sump! And now I'm back to an AIO and never want another sump again . The AIO is just so easy .

That's a good point! Really them main thing I don't like about AIO is having to clean the back chambers.

 

Very. You're not kidding. Soon to be felt sock. Rock. Pump. Heater. done. This light??? Very temporary.

 

That light cracks me up

I just set up my DB30 and I love it. Have you tried adjusting the water level using the floodgate? Seems like water sneaks in underneath it.

I noticed the same thing, it really only works if the flow is fairly high.

 

Have you started a tank thread?

[gena]

That's a good point! Really them main thing I don't like about AIO is having to clean the back chambers.

You have to clean them????

 

[teenyreef]

You have to clean them????

 

Well, no, not if you change tanks every year like some people

 

To my point:

The Pastel Garden

Gentlemen Prefer Cubes (May 2014 TOTM) RETIRED

My Flower Box RETIRED

The 28 Gallon Itch RETIRED

NC12: Diary of an LA Tank (May 2012 TOTM) RETIRED

The Enchanted Forest: My 10g Macro tank: RETIRED

Which reminds me, I need to update my signature for this new tank.

 

...and I just noticed, so do you!

[gena]

Well, no, not if you change tanks every year like some people

 

To my point:

The Pastel Garden

Gentlemen Prefer Cubes (May 2014 TOTM) RETIRED

My Flower Box RETIRED

The 28 Gallon Itch RETIRED

NC12: Diary of an LA Tank (May 2012 TOTM) RETIRED

The Enchanted Forest: My 10g Macro tank: RETIRED

Which reminds me, I need to update my signature for this new tank

 

 

Every two years!!!!

[teenyreef]

I've officially reached the point where I don't want to add up how much I've spent on this super cheap deal frag tank.

 

I started with the idea that all I needed to buy (once I had the tank, cabinet, and sump) were a few parts for the sump, a return pump, a skimmer, and a light. I already had an Apex Jr. that could control four outlets, and a DJ style strip inside the cabinet. Oh, and I also had an old MP10 that I was pretty sure was in working order.

 

So I bought:

Jebao DCS2000 return pump

Coral Box D300 skimmer

Apex adapter for the Jebao pumps

Kessil A360WE light with spectral controller

Vent fan

Lights with motion sensor

Heater

Yoga mat

 

Not super cheap, but not too bad, especially since I didn't order everything in one night. But when I plugged in the MP10, nothing lit up, and it looked like the power supply was dead. Since I had experienced some problems with the controller board and Ecotech had just shipped a new board under warranty, I was worried that just about anything might be wrong. So I found a local guy selling an old MP10 for $160.

 

That was great, and, even better, by swapping parts around, I found that on my old pump, I had a bad power supply, and the ceramic sleeve had come loose from the shaft causing vibration and noise. So I got a $15 power supply on Amazon, and with a drop of superglue I fixed the ceramic shaft. So just like that I had two MP10's.

 

Of course, then the problem was that my existing MP10 was a nice Quiet Drive with wireless, and the used one I just bought was neither. So I ordered the upgrade kit from Premium Aquatics and I can now control both with the Apex, and they're nice and quiet.

 

But then, Markalot and Kyle pretty much forced me to buy a Nanobox Hybrid light.

 

Oh yeah, and last week Rehype posted in his thread about how Marine Depot had the new Aquamaxx Nano calcium reactor on sale for only $100. I only have two dosing pumps, so with a calcium reactor, I could use the dosing pumps for NoPox and Acropower instead of two-part, plus I get to learn about calcium reactors. Sold!

 

So then, for my cheap calcium reactor, I also bought:

CO2 regulator

Calcium reactor media

5 lb CO2 bottle

Apex PM2 module (so I could have a Ph probe to control the reactor)

I also picked up a few plumbing parts to tee off the power head in the sump to circulate water through the sump.

 

Along the line, I also bought:

Aquamaxx FRS-1 media reactor for carbon/gfo

New ATO container

Longer tubing for ATO container

Kindle Fire tablet to use as an Apex display/controller (it was $10/off )

Tons of Command Strips to mount everything

 

So I thought I was in good shape, but I've really been struggling to find places to plug everything in since the Apex Jr. only has four outlets. My plan was to use two for the dosers, one for the heater, and one for the CO2 regulator on the calcium reactor. The MP10's are controlled through the Apex WXM module (which I already had), and the Jebao pumps (return and skimmer) were to be controlled through the Apex adapter. But it turns out the DCS2000 doesn't work with the Jebao Apex adapter, so I have no way of turning the return pump on and off other then flipping the switch on the power strip.

 

So I ordered an older style DC1200 pump, which can be controlled by the Apex. Besides, the DCS2000 was a little too strong for this setup anyway.

 

Last night, to get ready to set up the calcium reactor. I moved the ATO off of the Apex and into the cabinet, plugged into the DJ power strip. But it's not a good situation because the power adapter takes up space for two or three plugs, and I can't turn it on and off from the Apex now.

 

And sure enough, today my wife called to tell me the ATO alarm was going off because it ran out of water, and I couldn't turn it off from work since it wasn't plugged into the Apex. I ended up having her send me a picture which I then edited for her:

 

2017-02-09 by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

So I realized I need to just suck it up and get an EB-8 power bar, and put in in the cabinet in place of the DJ power strip. And while I was thinking about that, I was reminded that the MP10's in the MP40, which are in the other room, keep disconnecting from the wireless controller because they're just on the edge of being too far away. So I also ordered another WXM module to put in the other room. That order alone cost almost as much as I paid for the tank, cabinet, and sump.

 

There, I think that's everything. I'm a little embarrassed when I see how Flowermama is getting her frag tank put together for next to nothing, and her little RFA nursery will probably be prettier than this tank. But I've enjoyed putting everything together, and I have to admit to a weakness for high tech setups, so it's been nice learning about some new stuff anyway.

 

Time to update the equipment list on the first page, I guess!

[J-Ranko]

A good deal can turn into a money pit real quick!

 

To keep myself in check, I have a spreadsheet with all my tank-related purchases. I don't have a 'budget' per se, but I do try not to go overboard. I don't always succeed.

[teenyreef]

A good deal can turn into a money pit real quick!

 

To keep myself in check, I have a spreadsheet with all my tank-related purchases. I don't have a 'budget' per se, but I do try not to go overboard. I don't always succeed.

Oh, it would be very bad for me to keep a spreadsheet, I'd never buy anything! It was hard enough recapping all this stuff without listing any prices

[kguske2]

Everything about that post is amazing. Keep up the good work

[teenyreef]

Everything about that post is amazing. Keep up the good work

Your light will be here on Saturday!

 

I mean my light...

[DaveFason]

If you can swing the money, why not? Hobby's are meant to be enjoyed. So enjoy it!

 

Maybe down the road you can make a couple bucks selling a frag or two.

[ninjamyst]

hahah...it's an endless spiral, especially with a sump cuz u have more room now for more toys

[Hoosierfan]

I noticed the same thing, it really only works if the flow is fairly high.

 

Have you started a tank thread?

 

No plans to do a tank thread. Would be a horribly boring experience for everyone involved!

 

What are you going to do for a cover? The I've picked 4 snails off the floor in the last couple days.

[teenyreef]

 

No plans to do a tank thread. Would be a horribly boring experience for everyone involved!

 

What are you going to do for a cover? The I've picked 4 snails off the floor in the last couple days.

Lol, I totally understand. I always feel guilty when I'm too busy to update my tank threads.

 

Now that you mention it, when I was listing all the stuff I've bought, I forgot to include the cover I have on order from Artfully Acrylic. They say it takes six weeks for delivery so I've got a ways to go before it gets here, though.

 

The cover's really important to keep fish from jumping out, especially in a shallow tank. It's funny, but after a couple weeks the snails actually do seem to learn not to jump out of the tank. But the nerites are the worst. They pretty much learn to stay in, but eventually at least a few try to get out again. In this tank, I had a whole bunch get out in the first four or five days, and after that they've all stayed in. Until today, when I noticed this on the Apex controller

 

20170210_110147.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr