My Reef Savvy V2

[adtravels]

Very nice, How will you prevent the fish from jumping out?

 

[Chris155hp]

Following

Thanks for the Sub!

 

[Chris155hp]

So I decided to switch out the 3+ year old battery in my Ecotech battery backup. It still works fine but thought it would be best to do it now before I mount it behind the tank as they only normally last 4-5 years before you start to decrease runtime on the vortechs. Put in a brand new Duracell that I got a Batteries Plus. I had to drill out the Rivets but will be replacing them soon.

 

[dbl]

Wow, it's been a while since I checked in. This came together terrifically. Great build for sure.

 

[DLuce510]

So I decided to switch out the 3+ year old battery in my Ecotech battery backup. It still works fine but thought it would be best to do it now before I mount it behind the tank as they only normally last 4-5 years before you start to decrease runtime on the vortechs. Put in a brand new Duracell that I got a Batteries Plus. I had to drill out the Rivets but will be replacing them soon.

Nice! How much did the Duracell cost?

 

[Chris155hp]

Nice! How much did the Duracell cost?

About $60.

So zaffor came over today and helped install the rail system for the vortech battery backup. This way I can switch out the battery a couple years down the road. Also we think it has pretty cool wow factor

 

[Clayton Jessup]

That rail system is pretty genius I will admit , job well done [emoji1303]!

 

[DLuce510]

About $60.

So zaffor came over today and helped install the rail system for the vortech battery backup. This way I can switch out the battery a couple years down the road. Also we think it has pretty cool wow factor

Planning for the future can be the key to success, gotta love the ingenuity of reefers!

 

[Chris155hp]

So I have gotten a few private DMs regarding the rail system and how it's put together so I figured I would share here. I had a piece of 1/8 aluminum cut to size by a local hardware shop. Drilled the holes for the rail sliders and the screws that hold the battery. I then beveled the edges polished the whole thing with 150 grit sandpaper and the orbital sander. I used stainless hex bolts and a lock but to bolt to the aluminum and just a plan nut to mount the battery. The rails are from PCB linear Corp

 

[Antics]

Yeah...

I'm going to need an update

Thanks.

 

[Chris155hp]

Yeah...

I'm going to need an update

Thanks.

You and me both lol. Getting married this Sunday so life's been a little crazy! Will be back into the swing of things when I get back from the honey moon at the end of the September. I did however wire up the ato container with float switches and some programming of a virtual outlet to auto refill when it's empty

 

[Antics]

You and me both lol. Getting married this Sunday so life's been a little crazy! Will be back into the swing of things when I get back from the honey moon at the end of the September. I did however wire up the ato container with float switches and some programming of a virtual outlet to auto refill when it's empty

Congrats!

 

[Chris155hp]

So house made it threw Irma! Powers out now but have the vortex running off the backup and have my family hooking up the generator to the tank soon. Sucks that I'm away on our honeymoon but glad house made it threw just fine. Worried about the people down in the keys :/ they got smacked

 

[Chris155hp]

So after the events of the hurricane and the power outages I have decided to order a second vortech battery backup. Each MP40 will run on its own battery backup giving me 36 hours in which BOTH vortechs will run, giving me more then enough time to hook up my generator. Also had a manual transfer switch added to my House with a plug for the generator to get power to the panel quickly. Also going to put the return and Skimmer on a separate eb832 from the two vortechs so in the event of an eb832 going bad I still have the other one running some sort of water movement for aeration

 

[Ashish Patel]

How long did you lose power for? My cousins in FT lauderdale thing she lost it for 5 days. I wonder how long MP40 would run at say 40% power on 1 battery backup! - I am thinking the 36 hour is for 10% only. I am debating if I should move the battery backup to my vectra return (from 1 mp40). since water moving slow through the sump will at least give some nutrient export. Which IMO is 3rd importance after oxygen and temperature control.

 

[Zaffor]

You can perform water changes for nutrient control. Most important thing is to keep water movement at the surface to promote gas exchange. If its going to be more than a day, we should really be prepared to run a generator (either small just to run tank or a little larger to run tank and some essentials in your home). Battery backup buys you some time.

 

[Ashish Patel]

You can perform water changes for nutrient control. Most important thing is to keep water movement at the surface to promote gas exchange. If its going to be more than a day, we should really be prepared to run a generator (either small just to run tank or a little larger to run tank and some essentials in your home). Battery backup buys you some time.

I agree for short term power outages the most important is gas exchange - however, I know my sps will start to deteriorate unless I can figure out a way to keep the flow going through the sump (through chaeto, cryptic zone). Its difficult to keep SPS happy in a reef tank with just some flow especially after 24 hours so I would invest in a generator but right now I am in an apartment and no way to run a generator. I have 1 vortech on a ecotech battery back up and this provide some help but I am considering attaching the backup power to the return but i'll have a trade off on run time.

 

[Chris155hp]

So as an FYI (I was wondering as well) you can hook up two ecotech battery backups together and power them off one power supply by daisy chaining them with the skinny cable that normally goes to the drivers

 

[choss]

Chris - incredible build so far. I just caught up and I'm excited to see where this goes.

 

[Chris155hp]

Here’s a little video of my new QT Tank. It’s a 40 breeder and having the peninsula style overflow cut this week. Going to have a tunze osmolator ATO, Vortech MP10 and sicce return pump. It’s located in my guest bedroom at the opposite side of the house from the Tank