Sarah Ann's Fluval Spec III Pico Reef

[Sissy]

2 hours ago, Five.five-six said:

Apex Jr seems like a bit of an investment. 

 

 

You seem pretty handy otherwise I wouldn’t have even mentioned this but it will save you a ton of $$$

 

https://reef-pi.github.io/

Thanks for the recommendation! I could probably give this a go, but seems like more than what I will need. I also did more research on the Apex Jr., and that will be a no go, as I don't have an ethernet connection by my tank, and it really does way more than I need it to, especially since I have the light controller already. I really just need a way to monitor and emergency shut off an ATO, so I think the wifi power strip from Amazon will be the way that I go. I would really like to have a temperature sensor and possibly salinity sensor, but I think I would need a controller for that and does seem like overkill on such a small tank.

[A Little Blue]

InkBird temperature controller comes with temp. probe and shuts your heater’s power off when it goes over preset temperature by the user. Easy to use and around $30 on Am@zon. 

ATO are pretty reliable these days. I own older one (the one with the float) and it is pretty reliable as long as you clean it every few months or so. 

[Sissy]

1 minute ago, A Little Blue said:

InkBird temperature controller comes with temp. probe and shuts your heater’s power off when it goes over preset temperature by the user. Easy to use and around $30 on Am@zon. 

ATO are pretty reliable these days. I own older one (the one with the float) and it is pretty reliable as long as you clean it every few months or so. 

I will check that out! Thank you!

[Five.five-six]

Temp sensor is good, salinity monitor is for people who are in search of something to spend money on. 

 

 

[A Little Blue]

 

 

[Sissy]

I got the Ink Bird temperature controller, NeoTherm heater, and WiFi controlled power strip. 

The NeoTherm heater is much larger than I thought it would be. My temp is staying at 81-83, according to the controller, even though my house is 74-78. I’ve unplugged the heater to see if it could be the problem. Could my pump be running hot? I can’t imagine it is the light adding any heat. I wouldn’t expect my tank to be 7 degrees hotter than the surrounding environment? I live in AZ, and now I’m worried because there’s no room for a chiller and I really don’t want a sump. 

[Five.five-six]

Looking good 👍

[SeaFurn]

On 6/1/2018 at 10:37 AM, Sarah Ann said:

I got the Ink Bird temperature controller, NeoTherm heater, and WiFi controlled power strip. 

The NeoTherm heater is much larger than I thought it would be. My temp is staying at 81-83, according to the controller, even though my house is 74-78. I’ve unplugged the heater to see if it could be the problem. Could my pump be running hot? I can’t imagine it is the light adding any heat. I wouldn’t expect my tank to be 7 degrees hotter than the surrounding environment? I live in AZ, and now I’m worried because there’s no room for a chiller and I really don’t want a sump. 

Do you have another thermometer (or two) that you can check the temperature with? My Inkbird always indicates about 2 degrees higher than the actual temperature. 

[Sissy]

15 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

Do you have another thermometer (or two) that you can check the temperature with? My Inkbird always indicates about 2 degrees higher than the actual temperature. 

I do have a little mercury one. It seems like the inkbird is about 0.5 degrees high, so nothing major. I think it can be calibrated, so I'll play with it. I took the lid off, and that helped lower the temp 2 degrees. I would like a small fish, maybe in the future, so will need a lid. I might order another lid from Amazon for less than $10 and try to cut out the whole center part inside the edge rim, and add some plastic mesh in there instead of the solid plastic. Since my house is 75 degrees, and this morning, before the light came on, the tank was 78, with no heater plugged in at all, I'm thinking the Nuvo 10 pump is throwing a lot of heat. I might try the smaller Tunze centrifugal pump.

 

My sps and torch coral seem to have acclimated well over the last week and are happy and active. I may pull the trigger on a couple of super RFAs from aquasd.com. I'd also like a really sweet encrusting monti for the top peak of the rock, and some nice zoas for a slope in the back of the rock, pictured earlier in this thread. Also, some rics and shrooms for the front, another sps acro that is multicolored, and maybe some acans again. I like chalice corals, but am worried it might try to take over in such a small tank? I'm in no hurry for any of these, and will wait until I find killer specimens, but that is kind of my plan for the layout. I'm really enjoying my torch and may do a hammer or something else also, maybe on the other side.

[JBM]

Rfa, torches and hammers oh my!

 

sounds like a solid plan. Especially since there are some super pretty hammer and rfa colors

[Sissy]

30 minutes ago, JBM said:

Rfa, torches and hammers oh my!

 

sounds like a solid plan. Especially since there are some super pretty hammer and rfa colors

I'm also eyeballing the beach bum monti on aquasd.com. They have so many amazing corals I want!

 

 

[Sissy]

I have decided to go with Innovative Marine’s Hydrofill ATO system. It will be here today. I messed up the old little tank that I was going to use as the sump, so I’ll need to get something else. 

Here’s my $15 additions I found today, the blue rhodactis, and the green and yellow rhodactis. I saw several zoas I liked and a pretty nice RFA. I am thinking I may choose a red flower pot coral as my other LPS. I took some angled tank shots, hoping for some recommendations on how to fill some of my ledge areas and what might look great and do well. The ugly shrooms on the middle back ledge will eventually go. The shrimp seem to like them for now though. 

I really love the green and yellow rhodactis. I’ve never seen anything like it. 

[Lula_Mae]

Tank is shaping up very nicely. It's hard to tell but the green and yellow rhodactis may be a bit bleached, so I'd keep a close eye on it.  I also see what looks like some bubble algae on the rock in the pic with the sexy on the shroom.  If you can remove the rock from the tank and carefully remove the bubbles, trying not to pop them, maybe do a spot treatment with peroxide, then rinse well and put back in tank--you definitely don't want that stuff taking hold!  I'd be careful with flower pot corals, too, as they can be difficult to keep, but if you're feeding heavily, it might do alright.

[Sissy]

5 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Tank is shaping up very nicely. It's hard to tell but the green and yellow rhodactis may be a bit bleached, so I'd keep a close eye on it.  I also see what looks like some bubble algae on the rock in the pic with the sexy on the shroom.  If you can remove the rock from the tank and carefully remove the bubbles, trying not to pop them, maybe do a spot treatment with peroxide, then rinse well and put back in tank--you definitely don't want that stuff taking hold!  I'd be careful with flower pot corals, too, as they can be difficult to keep, but if you're feeding heavily, it might do alright.

Thank you! I’ve read that goniporas an be tricky. I can’t get the bubble algae off confidently, but it’s not growing fast. 

The green and yellow rhodactis has stronger color in person, but that’s why I left it in the sand for now, so it’s a bit further away. It’s hard to describe. It seems more pastel than bleached, and has very even color.  

[Sissy]

I got my IM Hydrofill ATO setup installed! I had to search for the right size tubing and do a bit of rigging with zip ties and a foam pad to secure the inlet and return bracket. I used my old Top Fin Retreat 2.5 as my top off water sump. I razored put the rear chamber so it is just a glass box. 

The pump originally wouldn’t prime, then wouldn’t turn on when the water was low, but that resolved itself when I disconnected and reconnected the sensors. It just started working after that. So far, so good! I will be getting two water sensor alarms that will alert my cell if things start heckin. 

[Lula_Mae]

8 hours ago, Sarah Ann said:

I got my IM Hydrofill ATO setup installed! I had to search for the right size tubing and do a bit of rigging with zip ties and a foam pad to secure the inlet and return bracket. I used my old Top Fin Retreat 2.5 as my top off water sump. I razored put the rear chamber so it is just a glass box. 

The pump originally wouldn’t prime, then wouldn’t turn on when the water was low, but that resolved itself when I disconnected and reconnected the sensors. It just started working after that. So far, so good! I will be getting two water sensor alarms that will alert my cell if things start heckin. 

 Clever reuse of the old tank!

[Five.five-six]

Looking good 👍

 

ATO is a major stability improvement for your tank.

[Sissy]

7 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

 Clever reuse of the old tank!

Thanks! It's a perfect size and everything, so I'm happy I got it to work. If I broke it, I was actually going to just go buy another one and mod it the same way. They're cheaper than an acrylic sump, and I wanted something clear and decent looking because the door where it is housed is glass. I'm keeping an eye on the corners in the back for leaks I may have caused from slicing and yanking out the old rear chamber piece. It should be really easy to reseal if I need to though.

1 hour ago, Five.five-six said:

Looking good 👍

 

ATO is a major stability improvement for your tank.

Thanks! It seems to be working well and as intended. I'm going to keep checking the salinity to make sure it stays stable, but I'm really happy with the IM Hydrofill so far.

[A Little Blue]

26 minutes ago, Sarah Ann said:

Thanks! It seems to be working well and as intended. I'm going to keep checking the salinity to make sure it stays stable, but I'm really happy with the IM Hydrofill so far.

Looking into the same ATO to replace my old Tunze nano. From what I hear, it’s a solid performer. 

You mentioned earlier that you get notifications on your phone...... what did I miss? Did you get Apex or something else? 

[Sissy]

7 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

Looking into the same ATO to replace my old Tunze nano. From what I hear, it’s a solid performer. 

You mentioned earlier that you get notifications on your phone...... what did I miss? Did you get Apex or something else? 

No, it will be a moisture alert alarm from my home security company. 

[A Little Blue]

2 hours ago, Sarah Ann said:

No, it will be a moisture alert alarm from my home security company. 

Moisture alert seems like a useful feature. Thought I missed some major upgrade. 

[Sissy]

1 hour ago, A Little Blue said:

Moisture alert seems like a useful feature. Thought I missed some major upgrade. 

I thought about getting the Apex Jr., but it really doesn't do anything for me that my current setup doesn't/didn't already do, except allow remote control of electrical components, with the major failure that it isn't wifi and requires a hardwired connection. I got the wifi power strip on Amazon for about $30. If I get a moisture alert, I can power off my return pump or my ATO in an emergency. I think most home security/automation companies offer a moisture sensor.

 

 

 

[A Little Blue]

26 minutes ago, Sarah Ann said:

I thought about getting the Apex Jr., but it really doesn't do anything for me that my current setup doesn't/didn't already do, except allow remote control of electrical components, with the major failure that it isn't wifi and requires a hardwired connection. I got the wifi power strip on Amazon for about $30. If I get a moisture alert, I can power off my return pump or my ATO in an emergency. I think most home security/automation companies offer a moisture sensor.

 

 

 

I can only imagine the pandemonium among forum members upon arriving news of Apex tricked-out 2.5g wannabe. 👀 (tempting lol) 

Wifi power strip is a smart way to make your life a little easier while working around your tank. I’ve been using those for a while. They are super convenient during maintenances etc. 

 

Curious what you’re going to think of next. 

 

[Sissy]

Surface skimmer/intake mod. I couldn’t get my InTank skimmer thingy to work, as water is able to travel around it. Also, there’s a stupid hole lower in the back that probably acts as an emergency intake, which naturally, as a reefer, I must stop by shoving some putty in it. Is it technically a prototype if you’ve just cut apart the clear window part of an iPhone case box? #winning #omgitworks 

[Sissy]

I didn't pull the trigger on the JF Beach Bum Monti yet, but everything else should be here Wednesday or Thursday!

I would really love the monti, but I will add these first and maybe get it in a couple of months? It is such a great discount now though. 

I think I'm going to go pick up a fluorescent yellow RFA today.