Gilroy 425g Build Thread (All Apex, all the time)
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OP
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No, you didn't jack the thread! This is what it is for 
The Abyzz is super quiet. In fact when it spins up I have to really listen closely as I hardly can tell it is on until the water comes back from the drain or I look at the check valve. I know people that have these in places (near recording studios) where silent equipment is super important.
The Vectra is a great pump. Just remember, even though it is on the same wireless link as the Radion and VorTech, they have not enabled the driver to be controlled by the Apex via the WXM.
For the calcium reactor, if I burn this pump up (which I am certain I will due to the fact it keeps thermally shutting down - likely due to air cavitation from the CO2 recirc as well as the calcium dust) then I will buy some metric adapter unions from FlexPVC, cut off the existing unions and then plumb up a Sicce or Eheim.
The Abyzz is super quiet. In fact when it spins up I have to really listen closely as I hardly can tell it is on until the water comes back from the drain or I look at the check valve. I know people that have these in places (near recording studios) where silent equipment is super important.
The Vectra is a great pump. Just remember, even though it is on the same wireless link as the Radion and VorTech, they have not enabled the driver to be controlled by the Apex via the WXM.
For the calcium reactor, if I burn this pump up (which I am certain I will due to the fact it keeps thermally shutting down - likely due to air cavitation from the CO2 recirc as well as the calcium dust) then I will buy some metric adapter unions from FlexPVC, cut off the existing unions and then plumb up a Sicce or Eheim.
OP
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OP
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hybridazn
Acro killer.....
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No worries. I just have to keep this on track or it will get out of control real quick. If you have a deeper question on a product, future product, etc. then use the controllers section, the Neptune section in the sponsors area, or our forum on the Neptune site and I or someone else can fill you in.
Great review of the Abyzz pump! It is truly an amazing pump. Even other pump manufacturers I have talked to seem to all agree that the Abyzz is alone at the top!I love that this is my thread and I get to tease you guys all I want! So with that, I must apologize ahead of time for that and say that this is not a Neptune Systems announcement.
Instead what I did yesterday was put in place a pump on my tank that was sent in for Apex Ready testing. It completely blew me away. Some of you have for surely heard of it, others have seen it in action, and many have thought - meh, its a pump, why should a pump cost that much?
What I am talking about is the Abyzz A400 pump. Real photos will soon follow later today, but I wanted to at least let you all off the hook and give you the info.
So, let me tell you my experience.
Once I received the pump, I was wondering how I was going to hook it up - it has metric slip fittings and comes with some adapter rings. So I bought all these pieces at Home Depot and came home. They all turned out to be unnecessary.
As you know I have a internal (submerged) application (mainly to keep the heat from the pump) that is has been running a RD230 for about 8 months - and doing an amazing job really. I turned off the RD and took off the adapter segment of pipe I have (basically a 300mm segment of 1.5” pipe that has a union on one end and the RD union fitting on the other.) I then took the adapter segment and behold, the union internal diameter fit exactly over the output of the A400 and rested on the ridge - 40mm diameter exactly I guess - not a sealed fit, but good . Just for giggles I put the pump in the sump with piece and it was the exact same height as the red dragon. Perfect fit. If they did not intentionally design it this way (the same vertical offset as the RD) it was an awesome lucky coincidence. The plumbing put enough downward force that the pipe and pump was not going anywhere. Would it be a perfect seal - no - but this was internal anyways - so what if there was an super-tiny loss.
Now I went to turn it on. I have 80' meters of 2” of flex PVC plumbing under the house and about 15' of vertical head - altogether about 16' of head pressure when you include the pipe distance. I have a 2” clear check valve right above the pump so I do not lose all that water on pump power down.
So I turned on the pump and at about 50% it finally opened the check valve against all the head pressure. At 70% I ran upstairs and could not believe the flow. Somewhere around 2x the RD by my estimation - the RD flowed a nice gentle flow - but this was a power stream. At 75% I went upstairs again - crazy. At 80% I went upstairs and said “OK, we are now above the level of safe” in terms of the ability to gravity drain the flow. So I went downstairs, quickly threw on a Kill-a-watt and the pump was doing 250W. WOW! Amazing. Well over double the flow of the RD at nearly the same wattage. So I backed off the pump to 72% and it is flowing about twice as hard as the RD at 200W at the wall (180 on the A400 display). Amazing my friend. Wow.
Now there are people in the business I associate with that think this pump is just far too expensive. What is the justification they say. I thought the same thing, frankly. Until now. If someone has a two floor situation with a tank over 300g they are already spending $15-30K. This should be a no brainer. This is especially true in areas like mine where the cost of power is about $0.28 per kWh. I did the math and just the difference between the A400 and the RD is about $144 a year. Not much but still a savings. However, if you needed the flow of one of those external pressure pumps that usually draw 450W, you would easily be saving $500-$600 a year…not to mention the reduced carbon footprint!
I know this pump is way out of the price range of most, but if you don't mind paying for super high quality (and a lifetime warranty) and want this kind of power efficiency, I doubt anything on the market will touch it.
For those that are wondering why I would talk so highly of this product when we currently have our own pump in the works, this is a pump in a completely different class and for a totally different market than we are aiming for with the COR.
Later this week I will start testing it with the 0-10V control on my Apex.
aviationreef
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Reasons i hate you...
you are putting a apex controller on your Q tank and I cant afford one on my display... Broke college kids problems.
But just read through all 30 pages and insanely jealous. I want nothing more then a fish room when I have the option. can't wait to see the lights and the corals, surprised you only went with a 20 gallon Q and hospital tank figured you would go for bigger to house the tangs you want to get.
Good luck with the getting the calcium reactor working perfectly, As an engineering student they excite me but I have purposely avoided learning anything about them because the more I learn the more I would want to get my hands on something I couldn't afford.
you are putting a apex controller on your Q tank and I cant afford one on my display... Broke college kids problems.
But just read through all 30 pages and insanely jealous. I want nothing more then a fish room when I have the option. can't wait to see the lights and the corals, surprised you only went with a 20 gallon Q and hospital tank figured you would go for bigger to house the tangs you want to get.
Good luck with the getting the calcium reactor working perfectly, As an engineering student they excite me but I have purposely avoided learning anything about them because the more I learn the more I would want to get my hands on something I couldn't afford.
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Do not resent what you do not yet have, do not be jealous, instead use this build as inspiration for the hard work you are undertaking at school and will have to undertake at your job(s) for a number of years. I was once a broke college kid. Just like a great aquarium requires hard work, ups and downs, perseverance and lots of patience - so does your career. You will get there.
The QT will be big enough for the Tangs I will get - they will grow bigger of course. The exception was the Fowleri I lost which I received in larger than it was supposed to be.
I have no doubt that I will get the CR dialed in at some point. The hardware of the Deltec reactor is great - sans the pump. I see a change out of that in the future for sure.
Stick with the school, pay your dues, work hard, your time will come!
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Since we chatted on the phone a bit about these pumps and you brought it to my attention, it is worth noting here that my savings calculations were not completely apples to apples. I compared the RD230 running wide open and the Abyzz running at 72%. The thing that was likely not made clear was that at those settings, the Abyzz was pumping far more water. How much, I don't know for sure. My lowball estimate is about 50% more. . . could be 80-100% more. At some point with the hardware we have at my office (we can test flow and flow at head pressure) I may put both of these to the test and see real numbers.
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Since they both are super quiet, and this is not in my living space, I did not really see the need to do a dB comparison. I did not notice one being any more quiet than the other because noisier equipment was running.
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I just realized that in about one year this thread has become one of the Top-10 most popular threads of all time in this 180g+ forum - just this week we surpassed 70K views and we are picking up steam. Thanks to all of you for keeping me motivated. I commit to all of you to keep the photos and insights coming. Soon there will be lights, corals, woodwork, and much more goodness!
SchnitzelReef
Valuable Member
No, you didn't jack the thread! This is what it is for
The Abyzz is super quiet. In fact when it spins up I have to really listen closely as I hardly can tell it is on until the water comes back from the drain or I look at the check valve. I know people that have these in places (near recording studios) where silent equipment is super important.
The Vectra is a great pump. Just remember, even though it is on the same wireless link as the Radion and VorTech, they have not enabled the driver to be controlled by the Apex via the WXM.
For the calcium reactor, if I burn this pump up (which I am certain I will due to the fact it keeps thermally shutting down - likely due to air cavitation from the CO2 recirc as well as the calcium dust) then I will buy some metric adapter unions from FlexPVC, cut off the existing unions and then plumb up a Sicce or Eheim.
I ended up going with sicce because they used standard threads. I believe with the Eheim, you will need to use flex tubing to make it work. I don't know if you saw my picture I posted earlier, but I was able to buy 1 adapter and get the Sicce to work in place of the Panworld that Geo uses.
Been 7 months, and Sicce hasn't skipped a beat. I ran an eheim on my last calcium reactor for almost 2 years and i only removed it once when I refilled the reactor with media. It ran for those 2 years with ZERO problems. I'm sure either pump will work great.
IMO, the pump is what makes a great calcium reactor. If you gotta reactor with a bad pump, then you got a bad reactor. I was ready to throw my geo in the trash, until I swapped pumps. Now I love it!!
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A glass aquarium of this size will cost anywhere from $3000-$12000 depending on how it is made and who is making it. Wide range but it depends on the glass thickness used, how it is constructed, and if it is done here in USA or in China.
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Some new developments I forgot to put up here from Thursday.
So I take a few frags from my work tank home as they needed room. I have the Kessil in the FishCave running RDP so I figure I can just toss them on top of some of the live rock down there and grow them until I want them up top. So I take them down to the fish cave, splash some H2O2 on them to kill any nuisance algae, look up and see my sump is a little low - I know I know, the Apex guy without an ATO is like the cobbler whose children have no shoes. So I go and turn on the hose from the tank - 1" hose mind you. I then go back to the corals, dip them in revive, wait a few minutes, and then toss them on the rocks. Nancy had the dinner almost ready when I got home (Chile Verde) so I closed the door and ran up stairs. Smash cut to 20 minutes later when dinner is over and - "oh ****!"
I run downstairs and of course the sump is overflowing - what a noob. No biggie though, there was about 90 gallons of room at the top so only 10g on the floor. I look up at the Apex and see it is 29.5ppt salinity. Now that is the benefit of a properly designed system! 100 gallons of freshwater in and it isnt even a critical emergency! So, I had 90g of 35ppt saltwater made so I throw about 12 cups of salt into a bucket (thank god for the anhydrous salt), add tank water to it, and then pour it into the saltwater vat to bring up the saturation there. Then I drain all the water in the sump down to the mid-side level drain level. Added back the saltwater, and bam 15 minutes later I have a 190g water change and my salinity is 32ppt. I brought it up 2 more ppt over the next 36 hours.
Systems with big water volumes are nice. So are sumps with at least 1/3 of the overall water volume.
So I take a few frags from my work tank home as they needed room. I have the Kessil in the FishCave running RDP so I figure I can just toss them on top of some of the live rock down there and grow them until I want them up top. So I take them down to the fish cave, splash some H2O2 on them to kill any nuisance algae, look up and see my sump is a little low - I know I know, the Apex guy without an ATO is like the cobbler whose children have no shoes. So I go and turn on the hose from the tank - 1" hose mind you. I then go back to the corals, dip them in revive, wait a few minutes, and then toss them on the rocks. Nancy had the dinner almost ready when I got home (Chile Verde) so I closed the door and ran up stairs. Smash cut to 20 minutes later when dinner is over and - "oh ****!"
I run downstairs and of course the sump is overflowing - what a noob. No biggie though, there was about 90 gallons of room at the top so only 10g on the floor. I look up at the Apex and see it is 29.5ppt salinity. Now that is the benefit of a properly designed system! 100 gallons of freshwater in and it isnt even a critical emergency! So, I had 90g of 35ppt saltwater made so I throw about 12 cups of salt into a bucket (thank god for the anhydrous salt), add tank water to it, and then pour it into the saltwater vat to bring up the saturation there. Then I drain all the water in the sump down to the mid-side level drain level. Added back the saltwater, and bam 15 minutes later I have a 190g water change and my salinity is 32ppt. I brought it up 2 more ppt over the next 36 hours.
Systems with big water volumes are nice. So are sumps with at least 1/3 of the overall water volume.
