I ordered a custom sump from
@geo. The sump offers a lot of little built in features for cord management, water management, and organization of the equipment and filtration. I'm very happy with the layout and quality of the sump.
I like using mechanical filtration, but I hate changing it. This leads to me putting it off, so I decided to try the automatic filter rollers for the new build. Due to the range of flow, there are two Clarisea SK-5000's. There is a bypass hole that allows water to equalize in both chambers.
I'd like to minimize the filter roll changes as well, so currently I put them on a timer. When I started using the timer, the rollers were coming on only once a day. I monitored the overflow and have adjusted the frequency of the timer as my bioload, feeding, and flow have changed. This is the current state of the rolls after 5 weeks of operation, and currently they come on every two hours after 5am. I am interested to see how long I can make them last.
The skimmer is under sized based on recommendations, and due to the use of the roller fleece removing many of the organics before they have a chance to dissolve. I am using the Bubble King Deluxe 200. It's taken a couple weeks, but it's skimming effectively.
I have two media reactors that run off the individual return pumps. Currently I am only running carbon. Changing the media has been clean and simple. There are also integrated bulkheads for the ATO, AWC (water in/out), and one in the refugium that I will use for the calcium reactor effluent once it's running.
I like the design of the refugium post-return. It keeps the chamber a little cleaner focused on dissolved nutrients. Pods are less likely to be skimmed out which likely is not a significant issue, but I like it regardless. I also like the reefbrite strip with the light directed down into the chamber without light spill into the other chambers. I added some red ogo a few weeks ago and added my first batch of chaeto this week.
White 1/4" tubing line is the ATO connected to a spectrapure water exchange module (WXM) that is spliced into the Osmolator. There is float tree on an acrylic rod that holds the optical / float sensors in the return section. The WXM draws water from the reservoir in the garage with a 90-100' run of tubing between the reservoir and stand.
No water changes to date, but I'm thinking about getting the automatic water changes recalibrated. I've been manually dosing. I tried coralline in a bottle and I am transferring some encrusted rocks from the other system which should get things going. Once I see some coralline, I'll start adding some more sps corals.
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