My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

[dahenley]

I get bored easily so I might end up making some changes in the future if it becomes any bit of a pain. I can easily remove the hangers, clean up the glue spots and put new ones in. I was also thinking about modifying the original skimmer lid for the SCH motor and was down so that the lids was white like the rest of the skimmer parts.

i dont want to spend your money, but you are very confident in your acrylic guy, and he seems to be doing very well from my computer chair.

the lid doesnt look that hard to make, but the motor might be hard to change....
i cant wait to see what is next!!! (you always think of something to amaze the rest of us)

[slief]

Originally Posted by dahenley

i dont want to spend your money, but you are very confident in your acrylic guy, and he seems to be doing very well from my computer chair.

the lid doesnt look that hard to make, but the motor might be hard to change....
i cant wait to see what is next!!! (you always think of something to amaze the rest of us)

The motor is removable. If I modify the original white lid, all it would need is a hole with 5 screw holes around it. I would probably do it myself. A hole saw for the motor cutout and a tap for the nylon screws would be all I need. We will see how bored I get.

I just got back from home depot where I ordered a new shed. Thank god for home depot credit cards. That plastic shed that the water tanks are in now isn't big enough. I will be swapping the pair of 55G drums for a pair of 100G vertical holding tanks. The new 8'x6' tuff shed will give me space for all my supplies, water etc. I will also move the RODI unit into the shed as well to free up some wall space in my closet. That will be next weeks project assuming they get the shed done by the end of the week.

Last night I did my second 10ml Lanthalum treatment dripping the solution into 10 micro socks. It knocked my phosphates down to .01! A total of 2 treatements at 10ml of Lanthalum to 2 literes of water reduced my phosphates from around .1 to .01! That stuff is amazing.

[slief]

I figured I would post an update on the thread.
I came to the conclusion that I am lacking space for my supplies and as such, I have been looking for a larger shed to house my RODI and salt water tanks. Home depot was also gratious enough to arm me with a no interest for one year credit card. Last weekend I decided to order a tuff shed which will be installed today.

Also, my LFS had to clean out their storage and in it they had a pair of 100 gallon water storage tanks they were looking to get rid of. I couldn't pass them up as the price was right and I felt I needed more water storage.

Yesterday I tore out my rubbermaid shed and 55 gallon drums. I have finished installing all the bulk heads into the new containers. I just need to add my float switches for the RODI and the john guest fittings for the water supply. That is part of todays project. I will update with some pics of the new storage unit later tonight after I get the floor sealed, vinyl flooring down and water tanks in. The RODI unit was also removed from my closet as it will be going in the shed as well.

I also found a killer deal on a 70 gallon system complete with stand, canopy, sump and skimmer which will be use as a QT tank. I have some more cleaning to do on that before I set it up but the deal was too good to pass on as it didnt cost me a thing out of pocket. I will post pictures of the QT setup once I get it cleaned up.

[slief]

Busy day today. The shed arrived at 12:30. They finished it up around 5:00. I sealed the floor and put down a roll of vinyl flooring. Moved the tanks in. Installed the RODI in its new location. Move the Topoff pump to its new location. I am now making RODI water and will pump my other water in to the new tanks in the AM.

[bullitr]

its looks good Scott !
i was planning to built a more sturdy shed myself in a couple of months using cement blocks to replace my current rubbermaid plastic shed too!

[Bax]

There's the beauty of living in warmer climates. Outdoor support systems! Can't do that in north Jersey! Your shed and WC set up look great.

What did you use for the bale in you DIY ozone reactor?

[slief]

Originally Posted by Bax

There's the beauty of living in warmer climates. Outdoor support systems! Can't do that in north Jersey! Your shed and WC set up look great.

What did you use for the bale in you DIY ozone reactor?

Its called Bio Bale. I got it from Marine Depot. I still need to finish the reactor up. I just got side tracked with the shed.

[techreef]

slief, what's the purpose of the bulkheads located in the middle of each water holding tank? i know the tank on the right is your saltwater mixing tank and the left is RODI, and I see how your pump moves the saltwater while mixing up new batches, but I don't understand why you want bulkheads in the middle of the tanks.

[slief]

Originally Posted by techreef

slief, what's the purpose of the bulkheads located in the middle of each water holding tank? i know the tank on the right is your saltwater mixing tank and the left is RODI, and I see how your pump moves the saltwater while mixing up new batches, but I don't understand why you want bulkheads in the middle of the tanks.

They are for filling jugs with water. I extended them the way I did so the jug could sit on the floor without the plumbing at the bottom interfering with the jugs. To be truthful, I am not crazy about the way they turned out. I need to get a plastic spicket with a hose or something.

[Bax]

Originally Posted by slief

They are for filling jugs with water. I extended them the way I did so the jug could sit on the floor without the plumbing at the bottom interfering with the jugs. To be truthful, I am not crazy about the way they turned out. I need to get a plastic spicket with a hose or something.

Lowes sells CPVC hose bibs that with a few glued fittings, and a threaded bushing, could be threaded in to your bulk heads

[Rosengrant826]

wow! your tank is amazing, and the sump design is insanely sweet.

[Marc]

Any updates or vids from LA fish guys???

Marc

[slief]

Originally Posted by Bax

Lowes sells CPVC hose bibs that with a few glued fittings, and a threaded bushing, could be threaded in to your bulk heads

I actually bought and still have the 3/4" ones. I had hoped they would slip over the PVC but they didnt. I think I will have to look into the adapters to hook them to my bulk heads or just get some ABS spickets.

Originally Posted by Rosengrant826

wow! your tank is amazing, and the sump design is insanely sweet.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by upnext

agreed, also fish room very nice!.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Marc

Any updates or vids from LA fish guys???

Marc

There should be a new episode in the next several days. A week or so ago, Jim had a hard drive with all his shoots go belly up on a computer I built him. Of course none of it was backed up. It was an Enterprise class drive too. It was the result of a firmware bug that I figured out when researching the firmware version and the drive bricked itself to the point that a board swap didnt work. Being a Seagate partner, I got Seagate to do a free data recovery. We put his drive back in Tuesday and he was very happy to be 'able' to do backups. I know that put him behind as well as the local fish show which he was exhibiting his jellyquarium jelly fish tanks.

[Marc]

I hate my computer, it has crashed three times in the last 2 years! I do back up everything at least once a week or if I have some important files or documents stored on my hard drive. That way in case I have another crash Im not going to cry about it. Cant afford a Mac because of my hobby so I had to stick with my PC.

Marc

[slief]

Originally Posted by Marc

I hate my computer, it has crashed three times in the last 2 years! I do back up everything at least once a week or if I have some important files or documents stored on my hard drive. That way in case I have another crash Im not going to cry about it. Cant afford a Mac because of my hobby so I had to stick with my PC.

Marc

Stick with the PC. They are easily upgradable unlike a mac. Adware and Viruses are the main threat and mac users are not immune to that these days either.
Make sure your drivers are the most current available. Update firmware on anything you can if running Vista or Windows 7. Both are nightmares but vista especially.

Keep all your media on a seperate hard drive. That helps to insure that if your system crashes, your files are always on a different drive. If that drive becomes corrupt. Simply do a quick format on it. Its important to do a quick format and not a full. Download recovermyfiles and you can retrieve everything. That will even work on an OS drive but you would need a seperate OS drive at that point to run the program and get your files back. The program is not free but you can download and see if it can see and list your files. And it will!

Backing up your OS weekly would be a smart thing to do. Windows backup is not the right tool for that IMO. A 3rd party backup software such as Nova is a better choice. When your system gets hosed, boot from a CD and do a full restore from a backup a week or 2 earlier and your golden. Screw fighting with virus removal tools after your system is hosed. On that note, good virus and internet security software such as Kapersky is a must if you want to avoid most issues in the first place!

Also, blowing out your computer once a month with the cover removed will keep the system much cooler, prevent premature fan and hardware failure and help avoid graphic card failure which is the most common hardware failure in computers and is usually the result of getting plugged full of dust and debris. It is amazing how much crap collects inside a computer.

Sorry for the ramble.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by slief

Stick with the PC. They are easily upgradable unlike a mac. Adware and Viruses are the main threat and mac users are not immune to that these days either.
Make sure your drivers are the most current available. Update firmware on anything you can if running Vista or Windows 7. Both are nightmares but vista especially.

Keep all your media on a seperate hard drive. That helps to insure that if your system crashes, your files are always on a different drive. If that drive becomes corrupt. Simply do a quick format on it. Its important to do a quick format and not a full. Download recovermyfiles and you can retrieve everything. That will even work on an OS drive but you would need a seperate OS drive at that point to run the program and get your files back. The program is not free but you can download and see if it can see and list your files. And it will!

Backing up your OS weekly would be a smart thing to do. Windows backup is not the right tool for that IMO. A 3rd party backup software such as Nova is a better choice. When your system gets hosed, boot from a CD and do a full restore from a backup a week or 2 earlier and your golden. Screw fighting with virus removal tools after your system is hosed. On that note, good virus and internet security software such as Kapersky is a must if you want to avoid most issues in the first place!

Also, blowing out your computer once a month with the cover removed will keep the system much cooler, prevent premature fan and hardware failure and help avoid graphic card failure which is the most common hardware failure in computers and is usually the result of getting plugged full of dust and debris. It is amazing how much crap collects inside a computer.

Sorry for the ramble.

Thanks for the advice, I never was an Apple Mac fan anyways excepts for my Iphone...

[slief]

Originally Posted by Marc

Thanks for the advice, I never was an Apple Mac fan anyways excepts for my Iphone...

I second that emotion and I need to own Macs for testing! I too love the iPhone though! Especially with my apex.

[Antonais1391]

PCs are sooooooo much more versitle then macs. there hardware and software from my exp.. great advice as well. i learned all that last summer when i build my gaming PC. still works wonders. my bros is rediculas he has a 48in plasma as his moniter and runs a gtx 275 i think. also has a blue ray so his video quality is amazing.

[slief]

There is a new episode up on you tube. He is a few changes behind! LOL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqDT8wjC5uU

I had a little more fun with my Apex today.... Everytime I add salt to my salt water container, I have to run to my computer to turn the mixing pump on.. I decided to add a garage door open switch to my shed. Its a 2 wire switch that closes when the button is pushed. Its wired to my breakout box for my apex. I then added program to my Apex that turns my mixing pump on for an hour when the button is pressed. It works like a charm too!! Now when I add salt water, all I have to do is push a button in the shed and the pump turns for an hour.

[bullitr]

i love the redundancy on the float sensor.
how many cleaner shrimp did you buy?
also love the vette! did they fix it right?

[slief]

Originally Posted by bullitr

i love the redundancy on the float sensor.
how many cleaner shrimp did you buy?
also love the vette! did they fix it right?

They did a decent job on the vette! Still not sure if I'm keeping it though.

The redundancy on the floats was simple and effective! Best of all is that I didnt have to bust out on the solder iron (not that I mind that). Speaking of float switches. I just got done stinking up my house with Weld-On 40 as I was glueing some float switch brackets to magnets. The wife just loved that smell!

I am going to do away with the suction cups. They have been fine thus far but I just dont trust them long term.

I have 4 cleaner shrimp. I have had them for around a year or so. There is a coral bandit as well. Per your suggestion, I got a cleaner wrasse not too long ago but I think it decided to explore the overflow and got eaten by my filter socks... I think my Vlamingi is probably happy about that as the wrasse was a bit relentless.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by slief

There is a new episode up on you tube. He is a few changes behind! LOL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqDT8wjC5uU

I had a little more fun with my Apex today.... Everytime I add salt to my salt water container, I have to run to my computer to turn the mixing pump on.. I decided to add a garage door open switch to my shed. Its a 2 wire switch that closes when the button is pushed. Its wired to my breakout box for my apex. I then added program to my Apex that turns my mixing pump on for an hour when the button is pressed. It works like a charm too!! Now when I add salt water, all I have to do is push a button in the shed and the pump turns for an hour.

Great work Scott,

Looks awesome and very complicated... The only thing that would get me is the whole programming aspect of it. Just programming my Neptune III Pro to turn lights on and off gives me a headache. LOL!!!
Have you changed out your sand bed yet? I know you were contemplating on changing out your sand bed in the main tank awhile ago, but that would be a whole new episode by itself.

Marc

[slief]

Originally Posted by Marc

Great work Scott,

Looks awesome and very complicated... The only thing that would get me is the whole programming aspect of it. Just programming my Neptune III Pro to turn lights on and off gives me a headache. LOL!!!
Have you changed out your sand bed yet? I know you were contemplating on changing out your sand bed in the main tank awhile ago, but that would be a whole new episode by itself.

Marc

The crushed coral/sand is still in the DT. I need to start extracting it. Maybe next Thursday when Jim is here and I have some help.

As for the programming. Heck, most of my programming ideas came from Kenargo's site. That was enough to help me figure things out in a matter of days and weeks instead of months. When I find my self stumped I can usually get it answered in minutes on the Neptune Vendor forum here.

Truth be told, had it not been for THIS site and its contributors, I would never be where I am with the Apex. In one way or another, I learned everything I know about the Apex directly or indirectly from this site. It is stupidly unlimited and very logical once you really start digging in. The programming language seems a bit strange though.

Also, the Unofficial Neptune Manual from from Aquamanic is truley invaluable! As the Apex and AC III differ slighly in programming language, it might be worth reading up on the above mentioned Apex manual as changes in commands would be very minimal.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by slief

The crushed coral/sand is still in the DT. I need to start extracting it. Maybe next Thursday when Jim is here and I have some help.

As for the programming. Heck, most of my programming ideas came from Kenargo's site. That was enough to help me figure things out in a matter of days and weeks instead of months. When I find my self stumped I can usually get it answered in minutes on the Neptune Vendor forum here.

Truth be told, had it not been for THIS site and its contributors, I would never be where I am with the Apex. In one way or another, I learned everything I know about the Apex directly or indirectly from this site. It is stupidly unlimited and very logical once you really start digging in. The programming language seems a bit strange though.

Also, the Unofficial Neptune Manual from from Aquamanic is truley invaluable! As the Apex and AC III differ slighly in programming language, it might be worth reading up on the above mentioned Apex manual as changes in commands would be very minimal.

You might have to do what I have done is to remove rockwork from the display tank to access the entire sand bed to remove it. I also would use a very strong powerhead to blow the sand to one side and then extract it. I also took the opportunity to blow all my liverock and discovered pink and purple sponges that I have never seen before! My phophates and nitrates dropped after I removed the old sand. What type of sand are you going to replace it with? Be careful with sugar fine sands and even the sugar sized select as they collect debris easily and its very difficult to get clean. Your best choice is Caribsea's special grade reef sand. It's not to fine and not to course.


Marc

[slief]

Originally Posted by Marc

You might have to do what I have done is to remove rockwork from the display tank to access the entire sand bed to remove it. I also would use a very strong powerhead to blow the sand to one side and then extract it. I also took the opportunity to blow all my liverock and discovered pink and purple sponges that I have never seen before! My phophates and nitrates dropped after I removed the old sand. What type of sand are you going to replace it with? Be careful with sugar fine sands and even the sugar sized select as they collect debris easily and its very difficult to get clean. Your best choice is Caribsea's special grade reef sand. It's not to fine and not to course.


Marc

There is little to no sand under the rock work as I have my recirc pump returning under the rocks and blowing the sand and debris out. around the entire overflow box. As far as what I will replace it with.. I had no sand on the bottom a few years back and I really liked that from and maintenance perspective. If I do put sand back in, it will be a medium fine sand and just enough to cover the bottom. Less than an inch and probably closer to a half an inch deep.