I’m back! AIO IM 40G build

Tampa Bay Saltwater Live Rock and Live Sand
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Did a 10G w/c today and cleaned skimmer. Got a batch of new acros in as well. Seems I didn’t last long staying away from SPS. Just had to have them.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Good progress. Finally in the paint mode on the stand. I’m using a paint/primer in my graco magnum sprayer. So far it seems to be laying down well. It took almost a half gallon for a couple coats on everything. I’ll sand and paint what I hope is the final coat tomorrow. No pics as I was tired. But I’ll snap some in the morning once it has dried.
 
Looks like some sanding and it should be ok for hopefully the final coat. Second pic is the right door (went for a built in “hidden” door look) and half the frame of the front door.

I have a piece of frosted blue plexi coming today for the center of the door which should give it a nice pop of color.

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AS
Following along. Looking awesome so far. I’m considering the same or similar aquarium
 
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Ruined the plexi cutting it w a jigsaw because I’m an idiot. The upside is I got what should be the final coat on the stand and side door. So tomorrow I can put some of that stuff together.
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My alk consumption has doubled or tripled since adding the acros (two weeks ago) and a derasa clam (five weeks ago). I was dozing 2.5ml to hold a 9-9.1 alk. I’ve added 10ml today staggered to get back up to around 9. I’ll measure again tomorrow to confirm usage.

Makes me wish I had planned for a dosing system because I’ll probably end up getting one. But there should be room on the back of the board. I will probably go with BRS 1.1ml dozers because I’m familiar with them and like the quiet.
 
Hoping to get the controller board finished this weekend and painted. If that happens, I’ll do the swap over of stands since my current one is open anyways. No harm in having one hole instead of 3. I’ll need to get my T5 light pole installed too. Super stoked to have T5 again. I’ll be running 2 blue + and 2 coral + since the Radion is plenty blue.

I also purchased an auto roller mat from reefnrolls. I’m curious to see how it performs versus me being too lazy to change out socks or poly filter.

Gonna be a long weekend of programming the apex as well. I have FMM, MXM, and BOB (in the mail) modules to put up along with an EB832, an EB8 (old style), and the brain. Gonna try to hang the power bricks on the inside of the stand as well.
 
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One thing I’m contemplating is swapping my MP10 for another Nero 3. I don’t mind the vortech, but I like the Nero because I can put it on the back wall of the AIO by food shrinking the magnet.
 
A few pics of the stand and tank. It’s a bit cloudy from coral snow still.

I’ve got tropic Marin NP Bacto Balance, Zeobak, and Zeofood coming from BRS to try out carbon dosing for the first time. If I can shake the algae that’s hanging on in here that would be a win.

I’ve struggled since I took over this tank to get the hair algae eradicated. It’s so much better than it was, but still pesky.
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ReefBot Lab, Automated Water Tester
Started dosing carbon today.

Tropical Marin NP Bacto: 12 drops a day for a week, then reduce
Zeobak: 2 drops twice weekly
Zeofood: 2 drops twice weekly

I’m also getting a DOS (maybe 2) to automate the 2 part. If the second one works, I may see if I could automate the NP Bacto since it is a daily dose. Then I’d have a spare for something else down the road if needed.
 
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Finally finished the front door w blue acrylic. I am pretty happy with how the stand turned out! Second day of carbon dosing, too. 12 drops of NP Bacto for the next 5 days.

I also got a DOS for a song that seems to work so I’ll be setting it up to dose 2 part out of the gallon jugs I have under the stand. I have a second DOS that doesn’t seem to work w the Apex as it booted the system when I plugged in the aquabus.

Also arriving today is a breakout box. I don’t have any use atm for it, but I will eventually have lights under the stand and will use it for any other needs down the road.

And finally, my auto rollermat shows to be delivering Monday. Excited to see how it performs!

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DOS is up and running!! I’ll be keeping an eye on alk and ca to make sure it’s keeping up. Excited to see how it goes. Can’t beat it for $100 :)
 
I got the filter mat yesterday and got it installed today. It is fully automatic, but I may swap it over to the apex so I can control it if needed. So far it hasn’t rolled yet, but I’ll keep an eye out.

RollnReef was easy to work with and I’m a fan of the design as it was custom and fits like a glove.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Finally glued down all the frags I have accumulated over the last couple months. Picked up a PC Rainbow from my LFS and it’s chunky.

Happy to have the frag rack mostly empty. Just a few left that I’m going to give away to a friend.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…

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