70 Gallon SPS Living Room Reef

[OrangeGoblin]

I mounted a lot of the Apex components and associated wire management on a “temporary” basis. Given how much work I’ve put in, how much there is to go, and how satisfied I am so far, maybe the controller board project is more of a long term thing! Given the sheer magnitude of crap I am squeezing into a 3 foot stand, plus more things in the works, this may be better. I just think I need to mount an exhaust fan or something like that to keep the humidity down?

 

[OrangeGoblin]

And some bad news on the skimmer, found out why it isn’t working! Glad I discovered this before I fried myself. Have a pump block on order and have my old SWC skimmer in there. This skimmer has been running for the better part of a decade.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

I also ordered 20 lbs of live sand from liverocknreef.com and 20 lbs of Florida live rock from KP Aquatics. The sand came yesterday, rock is delayed until next week due to the weather. The sand is very cool, lots of worms, and micro stars. The rock and sand is for the refugium.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Florida live rock arrived today from KP Aquatics. Shipped overnight so don’t see much die off. There were a few dead pistol shrimp in the bottom of the box. Searched for gorilla crabs and couldn’t find any, but it’s very porous rock and babies could be hiding. Overall this is very cool rock. I got 20 lbs total, could’ve gone with less but now I have a rock wall look that reminds me of my tanks from the 90s.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

 

[rcamps23]

What system did you have the mini 160 on prior ? I just picked one up but only have a 24x24x24 tank. Hoping my bioload can support.

 

[Sippiku]

Looking good!

 

[OrangeGoblin]

What system did you have the mini 160 on prior ? I just picked one up but only have a 24x24x24 tank. Hoping my bioload can support.

it was on about 50 gallons total - maybe a hit small but it did pull some gunk. It’s working very well now even with my limited load.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Did a quick cycle with Turbostart 900. The live sand and rock came in great shape as well with minimal die-off and numbers all look good. Moved over my clown pair, the big black female I’ve had for 5 years. Paired up with the orange one several years ago. She looks great but she’s very mean! Also moved over a softball sized duncan that I’ve grown from a single head over the past several years. The clowns host in it as a surrogate anemone.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

A few other corals. One pagoda that I bought as a frag in 2008. Underneath you can see the original square frag skeleton. He’s looking a little rough as the tank he came from wasn’t doing so great but he seems to be happy in the new spot in back, plenty of room to grow.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Lastly an awesome new trachy from Pieces of the Ocean.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Been pretty busy over the past month! Lots of installing, mounting and organizing the Neptune equipment. Mounted the probes:

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Mounted the FMM modules. One controls the ATO. The second is for the 3 flow sensors on the media reactors, and a leak detector. The wiring took a bit of work to clean up!

Before:

After:

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Mounted the second EB832:

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Got some trachys to expand the collection, as well as a rainbow acan for the front rock:

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Here is the setup that I use for the Lifereef media reactors - filter floss, media (rox carbon and GFO in a media bag), and then the sponge. The floss adds to the mechanical filtration, which is helpful. Second shot is of the BK Mini 160 pulling a lot of gunk!

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Took advantage of the Neptune sale to get a Trident and 2 Dos pumps. Automating Alk/Ca/Mag is top on the list and will make life so much easier. The Trident is going in a spot on the lefthand side of the stand. I'm having some dosing containers made that will also double as a stand for the Trident. The Dos pumps are mounted on the righthand side.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Also got the PAR monitoring unit as a part of the sale and really glad that we did. Renting is one thing but having the capability to adjust the lights over time and be able to monitor the PAR is really, really great. I don't keep the sensor in the tank full time, just keep it at the top of the hood and pull it out for as needed measurements.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

To deal with humidity inside the stand, I installed an exhaust fan. It does a great job of keeping the inside of the stand dry to protect the equipment.

 

[OrangeGoblin]

Finished installing the Dos pumps tubing. I boiled the line to soften it and get the kinks out. Then ran the lines to the dosing line mount in the sump, and back to the left hand side of the stand to the dosing container area.