210 Gallon SPS dominante system.

[alexjoha]

Finishing the overflow

After some research and a lot of hours on google! I found out that I would never be satisfied with just a baffle on top of the overflow, I needed an acrylic sheet to cover up the durso and other pipping.
But I couldn’t find anything online. I finally found a local guy that had a Chinese 100w laser, and he could order med an acrylic plate and cut out the overflow for me.

This is what came out of the CO2 laser ;Happy

It fit perfectly in the tank ;Drool

The wire part wouldn't be supported by glass and the thickness of the material was only 4mm so i decided to make it a bit stronger with some supports.

Here are the supports added to the back, They will rest against the top of the glass plate and will stiffen up the top part of the wire ;Happy

Soo shiny!

Here is what it looks like in the tank

here is from the back, you can see the supports there

And it`s all glued inn

 

[alexjoha]

Plumbing the sump

Now that the tank was in place I could start on the plumbing in the sump area,

I have decided on using one return line and pump back to the main display, and one pump that will give more flow in the refugium area and will be connected to a manifold.
The reason for not using the main pump on the manifold is that I am running a bean animal overflow.
And I don’t want to adjust the return line every time I connect or disconnect a reactor to the manifold.
It will also give me more flow in the refugium area without having to use pumps in that section that would easily get clogged.

Return line in place with the locline outlets

The return lines are plumbed in with clear pipes to be able to see if something is clogging them up, and it also gives a better understanding of when you have the right amount of water in the durso.

Here is the final product after all the plumbing is done here you can see my 2 return pumps and the manifold i always use silicone hoses to connect pumps to hard plumbing so that i don't get any vibration transferd to the surrounding area i hate noise Also test fitting the Nyos Quantum 220 skimmer from the outher tank

 

[alexjoha]

The Aquascape

I finally had the time to travel to my local shop to get all the Real Reef Rock I had ordered.

It`s a two and a half hour drive one way so maybe it`s not that local

In the back of the car of the local shop owner got him to meet me outside opening hours ;Joyful Great service

Finally came home with all the rock first thing to do was to make a outline of my tank and give it a maximum perimeter ;Woot

Sooo how will i be able to fit those 3 large peaces in my tank, well let`s find out!

Ok! that`s just insane! the packaging on the plated rock carton from Real Reef is laird between every plate with bubble wrap!

Tried to put it all out on the floor so that i would get an overview of what i had

After some trial and error, I decided to not use the floor anymore, it was way too difficult to imagine the final result, so I just started putting stones in to the tank

And the final result! to bad i didn't have my light rig up and running so that you guys could see the scape better

Not the best picture but ;Facepalm oh and yes i got some water in the tank! i didn't use RO water on this tank, since my TDS in to the RO system is 32 and i really didn't care if i got some algae in the beginning.

 

[alexjoha]

D-D Jump Guard DIY

In this tank I am going to have several wrasses and I don’t want them to be able to jump out of the tank.
My GF love the tank and the fish, but she would not put a fish back in to the tank if one of them would have jumped out when I am away at work.
She’s afraid of the fish so I can`t get here to go in to the tank with her hands either ;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm

So she got really happy when I ordered the jump guard so she didn’t have to be afraid of coming home to fish on the floor

The jump guard was easy to assemble and looks good on the tank, they should have an add on with a tiny door for feeding so you don’t have to open up the lid every time though.
Guess I’ll have to design this and print it on my 3D printer

It came in a nice cardboard tube like the one on the picture

here you can see it mounted on the tank

i don't really notice it anymore

 

[alexjoha]

Noisy skimmer

So after not having a tank running in the living room for a while we got used to the silence, this became a problem when the new tank got started since the noise from the skimmer was really loud.
After 2 days we had to address the skimmer noise problem, I have never really been happy with my Nyos skimmer.
They do a great job at cleaning the tank but it is advertised as a quiet skimmer when it first came out and everybody gave it good reviews.
What nobody tells you is that the see through pump house is brittle and break easily, the pump mounting system is in brittle acrylic and the adjustment screw can’t be taken apart to get cleaned.
The skimmer is also quite noisy compared to DC skimmers. :mad:

The lower part of this is more or less impossible to clean, you can't take it apart

Getting inn to the groves here are also a pain

And you cant take apart the air muffler either so the cleaning process takes a lot more time then needed I hope they fix this in the next design

After a lot of vinegar and rubbing this is how clean i got it looks great tho! the design is stunning

So after looking in the local adds for a used skimmer i found this ATB skimmer with a DC pump
But i shoulden't have rushed it like i did since this skimmer didn't fit my sump the outlet didn't have enough space to flow freely and ended up making a lot of noise ;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm
Sooo back to the internet! i needed a new skimmer ;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm And i was now the proud owner of 2 skimmers i couldn't use ;Blackeye

I did get a new skimmer tho! more in the next post

 

[alexjoha]

The Skimmer

After searching the web for a few days, I found a Bubble King Supermarine 250 with rd3 pump, the pricing was good, and it looked more or less brand new.
I contacted the seller and he could send the skimmer with the buss the next day if I wanted it. (it was on the other sider of the country)

The next day I had the skimmer at my door! I got the skimmer mounted in my sump and turned it on, and I couldn’t believe how quiet it was!
The only thing I can hear from my tank now is my Vectra L1 pump that`s mounted on my return.
This skimmer is unbelievable, I do understand the high pricing, the build quality is amazing and it`s one of the easiest skimmers I have ever tuned in.

A local reefer told me that since this skimmer is rated for 264gallon(1000liter) and upwards to 792gallons (3000 liter) and would be a bit on the large side for my tank and setup,
I should then tune the Wattage down to between 37-39w and keep the water level in the beginning of the skimmer neck so that I skimmed quite dry.
The reason for this was so that I wouldn’t take out too much nutrients and over skim the tank.

Not a lot of space left for reactors and so on, but I did manage to squeeze in a deltec reactor for my carbon

 

[CoralWealth]

this is a great setup! Definitely following along

 

[acabgd]

Love the story and the photos and also how you describe the errors and problems as well as the good stuff. Following.

 

[alexjoha]

Love the story and the photos and also how you describe the errors and problems as well as the good stuff. Following.

Thank you I was afraid that i maybe where a bit too harsh or negative Trying not to be though

 

[alexjoha]

Keeping the cheato in place

I do run a full Triton Core 7 system, and when doing so you need to have a refugium.

My refugium is setup with flow from a manifold connected to my Boyu 3000L pump.
The lighting is a Kessil H380, the lighting period was set to 8 hours every night, I have programed the Apex to turn the light on when my main light goes off.
This is done so that I can keep a stable PH throughout the night.

I didn’t have a good way to keep the cheato in place in the beginning, so I used some eggcrate until I could find something better.
The local shop had heard about an easy to install comb from D-D that was called Ultra-Flow Weir Comb that you just clip in place over a glass plate.

They had them in different sizes all the way upwards of 1.5 meter (4.9 feet) so I didn’t need to glue a lot of them together and my sump didn’t need to shut down under the install.

Here you can see my quick fix with the eggcrate

Here you can see the new overflow comb as shown on the product website

And here it`s installed, sorry for the poor picture but i didn't have any other at hand

 

[alexjoha]

Flushing my reactor

Often on the local Facebook group I am a part of I see people talking about how to clean rowaphos or carbon before adding it to their tank. Some say, “use RO water to flush the media”
and some say, “run it under the fosset until it doesn’t run cloudy anymore”.

I personally change 25liters (6.6gallon) of water when I change out my Rowa and Carbon.
I then use about 5-8 liters (1.5-2gallon) of tank water to get a clear stream from the reactor.
That gives me about 18-20 liters (4,7-5,2gallon) of water for other maintenance like siphoning out detritus from the sump.
This is more or less the only time I do water changes on the system, so I like to clean when I do it.

The reason for the 25 liters is that my buckets are marked with liters on the side and I know the amount of salt that needs to be added so it`s easy for me to remember it all.

Here you can see the process

 

[emvanburen]

Noisy skimmer

So after not having a tank running in the living room for a while we got used to the silence, this became a problem when the new tank got started since the noise from the skimmer was really loud.
After 2 days we had to address the skimmer noise problem, I have never really been happy with my Nyos skimmer.
They do a great job at cleaning the tank but it is advertised as a quiet skimmer when it first came out and everybody gave it good reviews.
What nobody tells you is that the see through pump house is brittle and break easily, the pump mounting system is in brittle acrylic and the adjustment screw can’t be taken apart to get cleaned.
The skimmer is also quite noisy compared to DC skimmers. :mad:

The lower part of this is more or less impossible to clean, you can't take it apart

Getting inn to the groves here are also a pain

And you cant take apart the air muffler either so the cleaning process takes a lot more time then needed I hope they fix this in the next design

After a lot of vinegar and rubbing this is how clean i got it looks great tho! the design is stunning

So after looking in the local adds for a used skimmer i found this ATB skimmer with a DC pump
But i shoulden't have rushed it like i did since this skimmer didn't fit my sump the outlet didn't have enough space to flow freely and ended up making a lot of noise ;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm
Sooo back to the internet! i needed a new skimmer ;Facepalm;Facepalm;Facepalm And i was now the proud owner of 2 skimmers i couldn't use ;Blackeye

I did get a new skimmer tho! more in the next post

I had the same frustration with the NYOS. Plus cleaning the pump requires complete disassembly. Sold it.

 

[alexjoha]

Kessil fan cover

A bit off topic but fun to share, I like to do DIY stuff and have a 3D printer and soon an 80w CO2 laser that I can use.

A friend had his light mounted under a staircase, so he would like the fan not to suck in air from the top but from the side.
So, he asked me to design a fan cover for his lights, he has been using them for some months now and they work great, wanted to share this design with you guys.

If you would like to print this yourself then you can grab the filer here:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3352091

Not the best print I have had, but it`s functional

 

[DJlee68]

Very nice setup!
The finishes of the Polish aquarium look gorgeous!

 

[alexjoha]

Very nice setup!
The finishes of the Polish aquarium look gorgeous!

Thank you I still have some cabel managment to do, but I am getting there

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Great build so far!

 

[alexjoha]

Avast Marine skimmer swabbie

I have had a swabbie on a skimmer before, and I like the concept. I do travel a lot for work sins I am away 2-3 weeks at a time.
I don`t want my hobby to become a problem and something that would burden my girlfriend to much since she has more than enough to do when I am not around to help with things in the house.
So, I try to automate everything in my tank. A lot of my posts will be about automation and how I use my Apex, I will also review some equipment when I get new thing sins I am a gear junkie

Overtime my skimmer will lose its effectiveness sins I am not able to clean it for 3 weeks, the skimmer swabbie will help me with that problem so that the skimmer neck keeps clean for weeks at a time.
So, this has been on the top of my list for gadget to buy for some time now, and finally Avast had a black Friday sale and it was 15% off so I ordered one with the lid and everything.

My program for the swabbie is simple, every 6 hours or so it turns on for 5 minutes, this is enough for my skimmer to stay clean.

I got the pre-assembled one with the 230v plug so it should be ready for use when it arrived. I did how ever need to change out the power cord so that I got the European one.

The sump is starting to come together still some cable management ;Nailbiting

Here you have the Apex program i run with my swabbie

 

[Aaron-A2]

Great build so far, following!

 

[emvanburen]

Avast Marine skimmer swabbie

I have had a swabbie on a skimmer before, and I like the concept. I do travel a lot for work sins I am away 2-3 weeks at a time.
I don`t want my hobby to become a problem and something that would burden my girlfriend to much since she has more than enough to do when I am not around to help with things in the house.
So, I try to automate everything in my tank. A lot of my posts will be about automation and how I use my Apex, I will also review some equipment when I get new thing sins I am a gear junkie

Overtime my skimmer will lose its effectiveness sins I am not able to clean it for 3 weeks, the skimmer swabbie will help me with that problem so that the skimmer neck keeps clean for weeks at a time.
So, this has been on the top of my list for gadget to buy for some time now, and finally Avast had a black Friday sale and it was 15% off so I ordered one with the lid and everything.

My program for the swabbie is simple, every 6 hours or so it turns on for 5 minutes, this is enough for my skimmer to stay clean.

I got the pre-assembled one with the 230v plug so it should be ready for use when it arrived. I did how ever need to change out the power cord so that I got the European one.

The sump is starting to come together still some cable management ;Nailbiting

Here you have the Apex program i run with my swabbie

A neck cleaner is an amazing thing. I am running the Aquadriver and love it. Never again without! I run it once a day for a few revolutions. That’s sufficient for it but it has a small water pump keeping it wet when running. I think you will be very happy with your neck cleaner. Automating skimmer shutoff on full waste cup is also amazing.

 

[alexjoha]

A neck cleaner is an amazing thing. I am running the Aquadriver and love it. Never again without! I run it once a day for a few revolutions. That’s sufficient for it but it has a small water pump keeping it wet when running. I think you will be very happy with your neck cleaner. Automating skimmer shutoff on full waste cup is also amazing.

The Aquadriver is a piece of kit that most people just dream about, it`s so well made and does a great job. ;Drool

I will mount up my break out box soon, I will be using it for a button panel for feeding and turning off equipment like the skimmer and so on.
I am going to add a float inn to the skimmer cup when the break out box is up and running.
Thank you for reminding me about that, any other automation you have setup on your system?

I did have a skimmer cup float up and running on an older reef tank I had, but I guess I have been a bit too lazy to add it to this setup yet. ;Facepalm
I also would like to program my radions so that when a button is pushed they turn more white and camera friendly. Atm my tank is a pain to get a good picture of, especially with the Iphone X.
I have a D-D Coral color photographic lens that I will be using soon, just haven’t had the time to play with it yet. I will also go Hybrid soon but that`s a story for another post ;Wacky