Carey's Final Reef Upgrade- 180g

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LOL, I wont lie, I actually thought about the police and the huge power consumption. We are at over $300 a month for electric so with halides who knows where we would be.

Got the tank moved in and picked up two overflow kits so now its time to intstall the new bulkheads and get some water in this baby!

Here she is, my beautiful new tank lol


 
carey said:
LOL, I wont lie, I actually thought about the police and the huge power consumption. We are at over $300 a month for electric so with halides who knows where we would be. Got the tank moved in and picked up two overflow kits so now its time to intstall the new bulkheads and get some water in this baby! Here she is, my beautiful new tank lol http://s131.photobucket.com/user/careyb6282/media/20131023_222146.jpg.html http://s131.photobucket.com/user/careyb6282/media/20131023_222155.jpg.html
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The only weed I grow is Xenia. I should put that on my front door. Tank looks very nice!
 
lol @ Greg....true enough about the xenia, I vowed i would never put that in any of my tanks again!

Thanks, it looks awesome with the canopy on, but baby steps.....We are right now putting in the durso's and cutting the return lines down. Will need to wait til tomorrow to get a few more connectors but it looks to be working out so far. :)
 
The process would go so much faster if I lived next door to Bulk Reef Supply. As a Midwestern reefer, I feel like those guys did in the old days when you had to order everything from two weeks away. (Oh Brother, Dapper Dan reference)
 
Yeah, a local store with everything would be awesome. lol

Ran into an issue already, the overflow has an spot on top for the output that is only 1/2 inch wide and the return piping is 3/4 inch. We dremeled out the slot so the 3/4 inch piece fits, hope that was the thing to do. Each overflow will have two output nozzles made of loc line. :) It's a tight fit between the durso and return piping inside the overflow but it just fits. Not sure why it was made that way, kind odd.
Letting the pvc cement dry right now and then I will screw the bulkheads into the bottom. ***fingers crossed*** I hopefully will start getting water into the tank tomorrow. woot! I am gonna run the ro/di unit directly to the tank and mix the salt in there, all three of my garbage cans have live rock or sand in them so thats the plan. I'm guessing two days to fill it completely, not sure if I can run the ro/di the whole time, will it mess up the filters or membrane do you think?
 
Def dont run it that long. It will prob clog the membranes and reduce efficienct. Id flush the membranes every 30-40g to keep it running best.
 
carey said:
Yeah, a local store with everything would be awesome. lol Ran into an issue already, the overflow has an spot on top for the output that is only 1/2 inch wide and the return piping is 3/4 inch. We dremeled out the slot so the 3/4 inch piece fits, hope that was the thing to do. Each overflow will have two output nozzles made of loc line. :) It's a tight fit between the durso and return piping inside the overflow but it just fits. Not sure why it was made that way, kind odd. Letting the pvc cement dry right now and then I will screw the bulkheads into the bottom. ***fingers crossed*** I hopefully will start getting water into the tank tomorrow. woot! I am gonna run the ro/di unit directly to the tank and mix the salt in there, all three of my garbage cans have live rock or sand in them so thats the plan. I'm guessing two days to fill it completely, not sure if I can run the ro/di the whole time, will it mess up the filters or membrane do you think?
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nope, the filter can run 24/7, just uses up the media faster.
 
Thanks Red, I'm trying. lol

I;ve been messing with the controller all afternoon, it got soaked a few weeks back and doesnt work. Still doesnt work it seems which is a huge bummer. $350 out the door due to my own stupidity...
 
carey said:
Thanks Red, I'm trying. lol I;ve been messing with the controller all afternoon, it got soaked a few weeks back and doesnt work. Still doesnt work it seems which is a huge bummer. $350 out the door due to my own stupidity...
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It may be too late. Did you soak it in rubbing alcohol?
 
No alcohol. :-( Its the 3 power strips that got soaked by a pumpthat came dislodged from my reactor. hit them dead on. Two come on but have errors adn one has no power at all.
 
I posted a thread about my probes for the controller, how would I clean them? Can I soak them in vinegar? Or would it ruin the probe?
 
Ok so it was a busy night fish wise. I moved all the controller parts out of the stand of the 125g and started hooking them up again to see if they were working yet. The answer is that 2 of the 3 strips dont work. I will try to hook each one up singularly to the head unit and see if it can be recognized but I am not hopeful. I cant believe i was so stupid! Which brings me to a question, of course lol. Where do you guys have your power strips mounted? Are they inside the stand or outside? I was thinking of mounting them on the back of the stand or on the outside left side since it will be almost against the wall on the left side so it shouldnt be noticeable. or should I mount them inside the stand to the right as my sump will be all the way over to the left? I was hoping to put the ATO reservoir all the way to the right as well and using the space between the sump and reservoir for reactors or other things I may add at some point. I can take a picture if that will help you guys. lol

I also decided to NOT use the sand I got from the setup, instead I am going to go with pool sand again. But not a deep sand bed this time, just about 200lbs I am figuring. The drive to get the really cheap sand is just not practical and I happen to like the pool sand's texture and size, it has served me well in several of my setups. :)

Also gonna make the trip to lowes and home depot for my missing pvc connectors and the pool sand today. Finally. lol I plan on using tubing for 90% of the plumbing, easier to work with and it also helps that the bulkheads are barbed and not slip so unless I want to invest more money to make them slip I am stuck with the barbed connection for the tubing. I am going to put in a check valve I think on the return line near the pump and maybe even a ball valve, just in case the pump is too much for the overflow. It should be an almost perfect match but I'm thinking better to install it now than rip apart everything later.

Thats about it for this installment of carey's tanks! lol Thanks for following, hopefully someone learns stuff like I am from this thread. :)
 
being as to how my stand doesn't have a back to it, both of my surge protectors are mounted against the back wall, one on the left side and one on the right, the center section is too dang hard to get to for me to put a surge protector there. once I get the Apex unit, the 2 power ports will be mounted up a lil higher and im going to buy weatherproof covers for them (simply cut slits into them for the wires.) that's how mine are mounted but I will say that if a pipe bursts or if a bulkhead completely fails, those strips are done for. but atleast I know that when theres water splashin around from my refugium, they are dry and safe
 
Thanks for letting me know your setup. :) Who knew there were waterproof strips? lol I bet they cost a pretty penny too. I'm heading off to lowes now, might checkout what they have as far as electrical protection.
:)
 
$50-60 per strip...yeah they are expensive, but they supposedly allow whatevers plugged in to continue operating. and you cant get shocked with it
 
I thought you were talking about the reefkeeper power switching strips. Those are expensive, so,that's good they were just strip plugs. Rule of thumb, mount all power components high above water levels in the cabinet and have drip loops in place. Look at your install from a leaks point of view, can I make it into a power strip or plug? Screw everything down tightly and use zip ties as a secondary safety.
 
Yep, Greg, the strips I blew were in fact the reefkeeper strips at $90 each. :-(

I got all my plumbing parts so I am gonna try to start that tonight. woohoo!
 
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