Ross B Reef'n 170 Gallon & Fishroom Megabuild

Ross B Reef'n · Dec 25, 2019

Just tested a few of my DT parameters for the first time (*whispers* "omg, he's never tested his water before?")

P04: 0.03ppm
Alk: 9.7dKH
NO3: 0.00ppm

Not sure if I totally believe the nitrate reading, will test against the cheap api test kits I have for QT. In-laws on the way so I have to stop here.

Blutspitze · Dec 26, 2019

Loving the look of the fridge feeder, particularly the innovation for the stirring - those stir bars/pills are insanely useful, but can be tough to get moving. I'm curious, as well: how long is the tubing outside the fridge? Is it something that you worry about in terms of heating the food inside too much?

Ross B Reef'n · Dec 26, 2019

Blutspitze said:
Loving the look of the fridge feeder, particularly the innovation for the stirring - those stir bars/pills are insanely useful, but can be tough to get moving. I'm curious, as well: how long is the tubing outside the fridge? Is it something that you worry about in terms of heating the food inside too much?

The stir pill works great, no problems spinning up either. The output tube length doesnt seem to matter. The only thing I'd worry about is it being longer than the volume of food you feed. But it doesnt have any effect on the food in the fridge. The food inside is always cold.

I didn't account for mounting position, so the tube is a little longer than I'd like at about 8 inches.

It looks a lot like R2D2 feeding my tank ;Woot

Blutspitze · Dec 27, 2019

Ross B Reef'n said:
The stir pill works great, no problems spinning up either. The output tube length doesnt seem to matter. The only thing I'd worry about is it being longer than the volume of food you feed. But it doesnt have any effect on the food in the fridge. The food inside is always cold.

I didn't account for mounting position, so the tube is a little longer than I'd like at about 8 inches.

It looks a lot like R2D2 feeding my tank ;Woot

I figured it wouldn't be a huge issue, especially with such frequent feedings. It's not outside the fridge long enough to warm up. Do you have everything linked to flow changes? Shutting off/reducing powerhead flow, then feed type of thing? I imagine it'd be unnecessary with such a big tank and feeding in the middle.

Ross B Reef'n · Dec 27, 2019

Blutspitze said:
I figured it wouldn't be a huge issue, especially with such frequent feedings. It's not outside the fridge long enough to warm up. Do you have everything linked to flow changes? Shutting off/reducing powerhead flow, then feed type of thing? I imagine it'd be unnecessary with such a big tank and feeding in the middle.

Actually, no. It almost seems like my fish are on schedule with it. You can see them start to congregate near feeding times. Then all the food is gone within seconds.

This is probably just my theory, but moving pray might simulate a more natural feeding habit.

It's awesome to see how fast our clown fairy wrasse can move!

Wrangy · Dec 28, 2019

Do you do anything to back wash the tubes after a feed? As I imagine you don't want the food sitting in the tubes for the period between feeding? Or do you just wash the tubes out once a week?

Ross B Reef'n · Dec 28, 2019

Wrangy said:
Do you do anything to back wash the tubes after a feed? As I imagine you don't want the food sitting in the tubes for the period between feeding? Or do you just wash the tubes out once a week?

Just once a week. Keeping the dosing head inside the cooled chamber eliminates the difference between in container and in tube.

Wrangy · Dec 28, 2019

Ross B Reef'n said:
Just once a week. Keeping the dosing head inside the cooled chamber eliminates the difference between in container and in tube.

Awesome! That would be plenty fine

I was just wondering how you make sure it doesn't get stanky but cleaning it once a week is good!

Blutspitze · Dec 30, 2019

For sure having the food move around a bit is probably better, and if it's gone so fast then it likely doesn't matter that much anyway

LBReefer · Jan 4, 2020

This build thread has been amazing to comb through. So many inspiring ideas!

Ross B Reef'n · Jan 4, 2020

LBReefer said:
This build thread has been amazing to comb through. So many inspiring ideas!

Thank you! It makes me happy to hear others enjoying what I enjoyed so much building

Ross B Reef'n · Jan 5, 2020

Dueling Scrubbers

Aldemirgen · Jan 5, 2020

Awesome build! and that frozen feeder is really genius work! i see similar one(different work style but frozen food feeder) while ago at kickstarter and wanted to get one but missed but yours pretty doable i will try to build one for sure

Ross B Reef'n · Jan 5, 2020

Aldemirgen said:
Awesome build! and that frozen feeder is really genius work! i see similar one(different work style but frozen food feeder) while ago at kickstarter and wanted to get one but missed but yours pretty doable i will try to build one for sure

It's a little different from the kickstarter one, as this concept is refrigerated instead of kept frozen. The refrigerated concept allows you to dose things normally kept in the fridge like live phytoplankton.

If you're any kind of savvy with wiring, you can put the doser power converter in the doser case and wire it to the line and neutral of the fridge so you only have one power cable.

Let me know if you have any questions along the way and I'll do my best to help you out.

cmaxwell39 · Jan 5, 2020

Ross B Reef'n said:
Dueling Scrubbers

Really nice work. Did you decide to scrap the multiple tray idea that you had for one??

DS204 · Jan 5, 2020

Looking great! Thanks for sharing!

Ross B Reef'n · Jan 5, 2020

cmaxwell39 said:
Really nice work. Did you decide to scrap the multiple tray idea that you had for one??

Thank you! I did, at least for now. Time's ticking closer to our baby being here. So I just needed some large scrubbers installed and doing thier job well in advance. I built these in a day and a half.

I have about 2 more weekends to make sure this tank is pretty much taking care of itself while our lives transition.

Ross B Reef'n · Jan 5, 2020

Dean Smith said:
Looking great! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! Lights come Wednesday and I'll post updates.

Blutspitze · Jan 6, 2020

Loving the look of the new scrubbers! Hopefully they'll do the job well and you'll be able to get the life transition going without any major issues for the tank in the foreseeable future.

Ross B Reef'n · Jan 6, 2020

Blutspitze said:
Loving the look of the new scrubbers! Hopefully they'll do the job well and you'll be able to get the life transition going without any major issues for the tank in the foreseeable future.

Thank you! I have been noticing that the slide style does allow for organics to get trapped under the screen. Perhaps the waterfall style is the best after all.