My 30g SW Reef Build w/pictures

[Frogspawn]

Heres a pic of my new controller, Its a Reef Keeper Elite from Digital Aquatics.
sells for about 400-500 dollars. i wanted to buy a controller for my new aquarium but was saddened by the price of some of its competitors with high price tags well into the 800's and up and, some can be hard to program. then i found this and was a little leery at first till i looked up some of the reviews i found on the net. i was happy with what i seen, So i decided to take the plunge and buy one. i have to say its great so far, with digital aquatics they release updates that can be downloaded via the SID straight from your home pc.
i dont want to go over board with giving them props but i do like this product and would suggest it to all my friends here at Aquarium advice. If i had to suggest something to them, i would ask for them to send directions with unit instead of downloading it off the site or CD it came with.

this is what mine looks like...

As you can see my Temp is 80 degrees and PH is steady at 7.9ish
i can even graph my data so i know when some may have went wrong. their are other probes sold for the RKE but i have nt purchessed them yet, but do plan to in the future. the 2 power strips are great and can be fully programed to turn on and off just about anything you need, settings for wave makers, heaters to turn on when temp get to low and chillers to turn on when temp get to high. i cant explain all the functions this thing does.



by posting this i hope i didnt brake any regulations here at Aquarium Advice. if i did by some chance pls delete this post.

 

[SparKy697]

by posting this i hope i didnt brake any regulations here at Aquarium Advice. if i did by some chance pls delete this post.

I suspect that the only thing you may have done is to make some people here a little jealous . Nice looking setup and great addition of the RK.

 

[neilanh]

yeah, like me. I've been oogling over that RKE for a few months now. Don't be surprised if you get some PMs from me with questions.

 

[pat8you]

yeah, like me. I've been oogling over that RKE for a few months now. Don't be surprised if you get some PMs from me with questions.

Hey no PM's. Your not the only one oogling i would be interested to see some discussion on the controller. I thread of questions and +\- would be great.

 

[Frogspawn]

Thank you
Well besides my on going problem with my hair algae and a skimmer that i am about to throw away, my tanks not doing to bad.. the RK is doing a great job. i have it controlling just about everything from the wave maker to the advance lighting to even the SG and PH monitoring.. i am about to get a TD meter for my RODI some time next month. and i am looking to trade some one for some snails and hermits for my old HQI light.

 

[InfernoST]

Like me. Looks really good, I dig the clean look of the tank it has a euro feel to it.

 

[Frogspawn]

Well, i think i might have my Skimmer under control. I took the skimmer out of the sump and gave it a good rinse with some very hot water (OUCH!) i also swapped out the mag7 for the original mag5 and opened the air valve 100%. I tinkered with the gate valve over the past 24hrs and i think i have the water level just right now. its just a matter of time till the foam builds a thin layer around the collection cup and i should start producing some good protein skim. Well thats my goal anyways.

I just added 10 dwarf red leg hermits (red tip) to my tank and they have went to town on all my hair algae. its been only 2 days and they have mowed down about 30% already! I think my tank might be taking a turn for the better. If i can get rid of all the hair algae and this skimmer starts working like it should a few corals might be in the near future for this 30g. Nothing to extravagant maybe a toadstool to start and see how things work out.

 

[Frogspawn]

Bad news, over the last few days i have noticed i have not seen my sixline and was getting worried. I didnt think it was anything to worrie about, only because there were days he never seem to come out of the rocks, Other days he was fine. although on this perticluar day i have not seen him for going on 3 days. i knew somthing was up and started looking in the tank for signs of him.:-| I came up wth nothing. so i got out his faviorte food and thru that in there thinking that would entise him to eat, that didnt work. so i thought the worst that he might be dead somewhere. As i was about to start moving rocks around i thought to my self what if he jumped out? I figured i better check around the tank before i start moving around rocks. There he was laying on the ground behind the tank. I was so sad, i had him for almost 2 years

Bummer...

But on the upside the tank is coming along nicely, hermits are doing a great job on the algae. But the skimmer has yet to produce any foam.

 

[spoonman]

Sorry for the loss, weird that he would jump after 2 yrs....

 

[InfernoST]

Sorry to hear that dude.

 

[Frogspawn]

I was wondering if it was ok to have a skimmer on a night and day timer? i was thinking about
ON- 4:00am (time i get up for work)
OFF- 930pm

so its off for about 6 1/2 hrs.

Would this work?