TheKingInYellow Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 Yeah I wrote a review of D-Ds customer service (or lack thereof) in the hardware review forum. 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 Anyhow, project mostly complete, I spent a ton of time sanding down a 3/4" coupler and jammed it together. It sucks but it'll hokd until I can get an adaptor shipped in (at my own expense, thanks D-D!) The key to fitting everything was removing one baffle on the left side of the sump and using the remaining one, plus some rigid piping from the feed pump to make a support for the algae scrubber. The Clarisea fits at the front of the sump next to the skimmer and I should be able to reach everything for maintenance. I had to replace two bulkheads to make this work but it's a cleaner solution and it's all connected with silicone tubing if I need to move anything around. I was worries about the leftmost chamber being wasted space but I have the output from the scrubber feeding into it now, so I moved the Marinepure balls into that as well. I'll plumb the carbon reactor output into it as well to provide more flow as well. That reactor and the ATO are the last bits to add to the system, and then on to cable management. The cycle looks complete and the QT fish continue to look good and eat well. Sold have a fish in this tank in two weeks or so! 1 Quote Link to comment
Wonderboy Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 Very nice - those are some quite large equipments still very nicely tucked under there - awesome job keeping things accessible and modular Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Honestly it would have been enormously helpful if the sump was six inches shallower. Getting the Clarisea in was not fun. 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 1 hour ago, TheKingInYellow said: Honestly it would have been enormously helpful if the sump was six inches shallower. Getting the Clarisea in was not fun. I saw a couple of people built the sump shelf attached a heavy-duty drawer glide, so the sump can slide in and out for maintenance. Your sump may benefit from such setup. and you seem handy with projects 🙂 I think @Justind823 has such setup under his tank. Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Great idea but I can't imagine trying to implement it now. 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Bae caught me slippin' Honestly the first time I saw him with this colouration I thought he was sick or dying. I rapidly learned that they have Chromatophores in their skin, and that this is simply 'blend' mode. He's eating like a pig so I assume he's fine. 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 6, 2019 Author Share Posted September 6, 2019 Damn Durso drains are noisy as hell. Looking for plumbing advice: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/408076-help-silence-my-overflows/ 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 7, 2019 Author Share Posted September 7, 2019 Quieter overflows? Check. Blacked out theme enforced? Check! 2 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 So the cycle is definitively finished, I've done a couple of water changes and got my nitrates down to about 20ppm. The foxface and damsel have one more week in QT before they move into the display and my LFS just got in a Multibar Angel that they are holding for me, so things are finally going great right? So of course, I have to have some sorry of disaster. During my water change today, I knocked my Apex display directly into a bucket of saltwater. Sigh. Soaked it in fresh water and I'm letting it dry but I'm guessing it's going to be an expensive mistake. I mean I guess I don't *need* the display but it's so handy to have! Quote Link to comment
A.m.P Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Oof, yeah, not familiar with the part itself, but electronics in saltwater usually mean tearing-down, opening-up, spot-rinsing with distilled and rubbing alcohol and allot of manual-drying of components... Hopefully it either works okay or there's some kind of warranty-coverage. 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 Nah nothing like a warranty on it. If it's dead I think I can live without it. Certainly a loss of convenience though. 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Three more days and I'll move the first fish into the display, and reload the QT. In the meantime, got a much nicer pic of Mulder! 4 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 Got the Osmolator wired up last night finally. Just the carbon reactor to connect and then I can deal with wires. Last thing that is bugging me is pH. Runs between 7.7 overnight, and barely squeaks over 8.0 during the day. Debating adding a BRS CO2 scrubber, but $20 a month in media isn't particularly attractive 😕 2 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 So I was watching my pH on fusion today and it didn't even hit 7.9 today. I figured out why when I got home. The osmolator stuck on and I had the high water level sensor set high enough to not freak out when the returns turned off so it dumped about 4g of fresh washer into the tank. Thank God I didn't have any corals yet. I think it failed due to bubbles on the sensor but I'm not sure. Salinity dropped to about 1.023 so not terrifyingly low anyhow. The good news is that this means that the QT tank and the display are at the same salinity, so I'm considering moving Mulder and Scully up to the display tonight. It's only about a 20 day QT but there is zero sign of disease and both are aggressively eating as soon as I feed the tank. There is even a tiny bit of brown growth on the rocks for grazing. I'll let the extra freshwater evaluate and finish acclimating the fishes to 1.026 that way. 1 Quote Link to comment
Wonderboy Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 4 hours ago, TheKingInYellow said: Mulder and Scully 😆 Awesome names!! I think Mulder was very, maybe even too, clever - lol - Looking forward to seeing them exploring DT! Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 Fishies are happy in the display tank. https://i.imgur.com/goTXBkZ.gifv Also a miracle has occurred, the apex display still works! 3 Quote Link to comment
A.m.P Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Ah I love damselfish lol, look at that sassy, tiny, fluffy little-terror XD Glad to hear the apex display made it through its' swimming lesson. 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 And the QT tank can't be left empty, right? 3 Quote Link to comment
Wonderboy Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 Nice! The fish look great in there! Very pretty multibar 👍 1 Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 14, 2019 Author Share Posted September 14, 2019 Man I have so much trouble reading these kits. I want to add a few snails and maybe a shrimp but I'm concerned on my current nitrate levels. What do you think my nitrates are? Quote Link to comment
A.m.P Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 15 or 20 by my eye, but the camera will mess with what it actually looks like big-time. Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 My eyes are as bad as any camera lol. 1 Quote Link to comment
A.m.P Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 I meant more that the camera will likely shift the color of the liquid more/differently than the color of the cardstock Quote Link to comment
TheKingInYellow Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 Fair enough 😄 Local guy suggested cutting the sample 50/50 with RO and that came back between 5-10 pretty clearly, so I think 20ish is right. Should be okay for inverts, and I'll try dosing NoPox for a bit since doing more water changes just seems wasteful at this point. 2 Quote Link to comment
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