d2mini's "Mixed Reefalicious" Cade 600 Build

[d2mini]

D2, here’s the sump. I still have work to do but wanted to share how it looks since you seemed interested in it. It’s an amazing sump, I had to change up red seas layout, haha.

Very nice. Tag me in your build thread when you start one.

 

[d2mini]

For those of you who don't know, Houston got hit by a surprise storm that brought with it Tornado activity (very unusual for us) and severe straight-line winds. We live in one of the areas that got hit with the more severe straight-line winds... they reported anywhere between 80-120 mph gusts.

Power is out right now with no indication of when it will be back. The initial number was 1,000,000 customers in the dark. Could be hours, could be weeks. Some have been restored, thankfully my aging parents is one of those homes. And thankfully, we do have a whole-home generator (Generac) that has been running now for 36 hours.

We lost our massive tree in the front yard. Luckily it missed both the house and one of the cars that was parked in the driveway by mere inches. Many other people around me were not so lucky, who now have homes that are shared with their tree or their neighbor's tree, making them inhabitable. We also lost 40' of privacy fence and a couple of smaller trees we had planted this past year. All-in-all though we were lucky. The family is all good, the house is good, just a bit gutted by the loss of the tree. Nature is a b----. lol

The tank is ok since we have the generator. With the money this is costing me in emergency tree removal and fence repair I could have purchased a whole new reef!

 

[ScottD]

Glad to hear you’re ok and safe. Hopefully you get power back sooner than later. It’s nice having the whole generator in situations like this. We installed one for our house after a tropical storm came through and knock us out of power for a week. My wife was pregnant at the time and decided we couldn’t deal with the stress of that again with kids on the way.

Good luck with the cleanup and fingers crossed you get power back soon.

 

[Arkayology]

Wow! I'm glad you and your family are OK! I wish you luck with the tank and getting everything cleaned up! It's hard to see all of that $$ go!

 

[d2mini]

Thanks all.
Still running on generator power! Oil level got real low so added more this morning.
About 60 hours so far.

Clean-up is pretty much done. Was happy to save all trees in the backyard that were smashed by the fence. Amazingly the trunks BENT rather than snapping so I was able to upright them. Hopefully they will recover, outside of a few broken branches.

So other than power we are back to as normal as can be expected.

Unfortunately, many of my neighbors were not so lucky.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Glad you are OK & have electric.
Stay Safe.

 

[d2mini]

Power is back and seems stable! Came back last night.
So a little over 72 hours.
The standby generator was a lifesaver! Up until now it has been convenient when power has gone out for short periods, but having experienced an extended outage now... TOTALLY worth the purchase price!

Now back to your regular scheduled programming.
(how much longer can we say this until it ages out and no one even gets it anymore?)

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

For those of you who don't know, Houston got hit by a surprise storm that brought with it Tornado activity (very unusual for us) and severe straight-line winds. We live in one of the areas that got hit with the more severe straight-line winds... they reported anywhere between 80-120 mph gusts.

Power is out right now with no indication of when it will be back. The initial number was 1,000,000 customers in the dark. Could be hours, could be weeks. Some have been restored, thankfully my aging parents is one of those homes. And thankfully, we do have a whole-home generator (Generac) that has been running now for 36 hours.

We lost our massive tree in the front yard. Luckily it missed both the house and one of the cars that was parked in the driveway by mere inches. Many other people around me were not so lucky, who now have homes that are shared with their tree or their neighbor's tree, making them inhabitable. We also lost 40' of privacy fence and a couple of smaller trees we had planted this past year. All-in-all though we were lucky. The family is all good, the house is good, just a bit gutted by the loss of the tree. Nature is a b----. lol

The tank is ok since we have the generator. With the money this is costing me in emergency tree removal and fence repair I could have purchased a whole new reef!

wow! this is crazy man. Glad things are back on and everyone's Ok and your generator pulled it off!

 

[Quiverfull]

Hey Dennis:

Glad you are back up and running. The generators are a life saver - may never need it but when you do, it makes all the difference.

Was wondering if you have modified the ATO on the 600 so you do not have to keep refilling the reservoir? I am looking for ideas as I am going to do this for my system. I have already placed a low water sensor from my Apex so at least I get an alarm when it is low but want to automate this so when I am away, I do not need to worry about it. Happy if others following the thread have ideas!

Best,

Greg

 

[d2mini]

Hey Dennis:

Glad you are back up and running. The generators are a life saver - may never need it but when you do, it makes all the difference.

Was wondering if you have modified the ATO on the 600 so you do not have to keep refilling the reservoir? I am looking for ideas as I am going to do this for my system. I have already placed a low water sensor from my Apex so at least I get an alarm when it is low but want to automate this so when I am away, I do not need to worry about it. Happy if others following the thread have ideas!

Best,

Greg

I haven't!
It's not impossible, but the location of the tank is not in an easy spot to get RO/DI water to.
So I keep a 2 liter plastic pitcher near the tank and most days I will fill it up once or twice and dump it into the reservoir. This requires I walk from the tank, to the garage where I have my mixing station, then back to the tank.

Not a huge deal, just one more thing I need to do.

And I do the same for daily(ish) water changes, changing out two of those 2-liter pitchers.
I empty the water into the sink in the bathroom adjacent to my office and then do the same walk back an forth to the garage twice.

 

[d2mini]

Just a few random reef things

 

[2Plus2]

@d2mini it's been a while, FTS please.

 

[d2mini]

@d2mini it's been a while, FTS please.

Hey, sorry... had to wait till i've had time at night since I get so many reflections during the day from windows.
Been bad at posting pics and updating.
I barely have time to feed the fish let alone do anything else with the tank.

 

[ScottD]

Tank is looking nice.

 

[d2mini]

Tank is looking nice.

Thanks!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Hey, sorry... had to wait till i've had time at night since I get so many reflections during the day from windows.
Been bad at posting pics and updating.
I barely have time to feed the fish let alone do anything else with the tank.

Beautiful!!

 

[2Plus2]

What kind of sand do u have? size of the grains if you know?

 

[d2mini]

Beautiful!!

Thanks, Daniel!

What kind of sand do u have? size of the grains if you know?

The sand is from Tampa Bay Saltwater.
It's a mix of everything from powder to pebbles/broken shells. But overall i'd say the scale of it is on the larger side. IMO, it's a bit large for anything under a 40g.