Soulpatch's 150 SC build

[DarthReefer27]

question. the lights in your stand. are they the blue LED strips that BRS sells? if so, is it just one or did you daisy chain multiple?

[soulpatch]

No the lights in my stand are a single multicolor waterproof led strip. I will put up the link soon as I get in Computer to find it again but it is posted on one of the last pages of my nano build thread

[soulpatch]

Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o00_s01

[dabob79]

Following!

[soulpatch]

So not too much was done over the weekend outside of the water change station.

I added a power strip and some brackets to wrap cords around on the change station and used it for a water change on my nano last night.

The large tank was drained most of the way and fresh RODI put in. The sand is still making my water cloudy so probably one more decent water change and should be good to go.

I added some handles to the doors as the SC design forces you to grab from bottom of door to open which I hated.

Finally should be some more items done this week as I am supposed to get my BAO shipment tomorrow for my dosing and ATO containers. I can then dry fit where they will go along with my doser and get those situated. Doing so will also show me the available space for my electrical panel.

By this weekend I will have all of my rock to set up my aquascape and kick off my cycle. Ammonia is standing by and I have some marine pure in my nano to seed it.


I think the biggest thing I am looking forward to is the silence. I had to do a water change on my nano yesterday and it is right next to the large tank which has its pumps running right now. I head nothing save for the slightest trickle of water over the overflow. Taking the nano down and plumbing it into the big tank will save a ton of noise in my room which will be awesome.

[soulpatch]

All of the rock came in and I will shoot some pics tomorrow night as I play around with potential scapes.

My BAO gear came in and WOW. Ben at Building an Obsession does beautiful work. His communication is top notch as well and he worked with me on the location of the ATO float sensor which was not typically included. I might be going to him shortly to replace my biocube with an acrylic frag tank that will be plumbed and potentially have a move robust frag rack system built in.

That said here are some pics:







I will use the sensors and tie it into my apex so I can kill my ATO or doser if I get low so as to not have anything run dry. The doser has its own warning built in but that is reliant on me entering the amount I fill in the containers. So these floats are backups to remind me to make more as needed.

I pick up my ATI fixture tomorrow night as it is being held at the UPS center till I have time to get there. They wouldn't drop it at the house as it requires 21+ signature (weird I know).

Items for this weekend:

Mount light fixtures in canopy
Get rock scape finalized and get it in tank
Water change to remove any residual cloudiness I kick up putting rock in
Mount doser and put the BAO containers where I want them
Paint electrical panel
Move apex to the large tank (I think my one aquabus cable is long enough to reach the EB8 in the biocube)
Cut vent hole and install fan unit in the stand.

[Tarheel Reefer]

Been following your builds Soulpatch, I get all my best ideas from you

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by Tarheel Reefer

Been following your builds Soulpatch, I get all my best ideas from you

Its like trickle down aquariums then. I get a lot of ideas from others on here like D2Mini. He is the reason I have at least the life reef skimmer and knew of Ben at BAO.

Though I do think my electrical panel will be fairly unique. I am really hoping I can install it but still have room for my apex gear in the cube stand. I might need to order in a longer aquabus cable to do it temporarily till I can take down the biocube completely and run it fully offline.

[soulpatch]

I added in my fans and hung the basket for the doser. Got my ati fixture in but need to get tip home depot after the blizzard to build some l brackets for the canopy.

[DarthReefer27]

Where did you get the fans? How/when do they turn on?

[soulpatch]

Amazon and they can either be turned on at certain temp or on all the time. Need to see how I want to set it up when fully running

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

Items for this weekend:

Mount light fixtures in canopy
Get rock scape finalized and get it in tank
Water change to remove any residual cloudiness I kick up putting rock in
Mount doser and put the BAO containers where I want them
Paint electrical panel
Move apex to the large tank (I think my one aquabus cable is long enough to reach the EB8 in the biocube)
Cut vent hole and install fan unit in the stand.

So this was my list but with the blizzard it was not all done. I did not do the light fixtures in the canopy or move the apex. THat said I get everything else done between shoveling the 30+ inches of snow in front of my house.

Electrical panel is at least painted:


Here is the server rack I am using to tidy up electrical wires and look nice. Will have more on the panel to keep things organized:





Rock scape for now. Might change it up a bit more and I might add some more rock as well. Still undecided:



left side:


right side:


Sorry about cloudy water. I took these after I added the rock. The tank was then drained and is currently refilling with salt water from my change station so I can add ammonia tomorrow night and kick off the cycle.

[ReefWreak]

Lookin good. Are the rocks on the sides too close to the wall to clean the sides of the tank? Looks a bit tight.

I'm helping a guy here in NYC setting up his Red Sea Reefer, and he went with the two pillars, and I'll be honest, it's growing on me. And since everyone is using marinepure blocks these days, no harm from less rock.

Still, lookin good though. Don't be afraid to smash a few rocks to make large-size frag/coral mounts that you can move around the tank.

[soulpatch]

Yes a piece on the one rock is a bit close and I will rectify that later. I think the angle of the camera made it seem as if they are almost touching but that is not the case. THe piece of rock that is close is not in that pic.

[soulpatch]

So I have been thinking about the canopy light mounting. The Kessils are easy as I bought some articulating mounts for them. The ATI fixture is a bit more difficult since I want it in canopy (top center of the canopy is cut out so plenty of air exchange) but with the top as is mounting it will be a pain. I also need access to the bulbs for obvious reasons.

All that in mind I am thinking of spending this weekend to build a slide out for it. The hiccup I need to look over is the power cord. Since it comes out the top that impacts the ability for sliding or I need to lower it more to compensate.

That said I think I can use drawer sliders with 100lb weight limit to handle the light. I would glue and screw in some wood cross beams to mount the slider to. On the light side I would put a small piece of wood again with corner braces on it for the light fixture to rest in on the one side and a few L braces on the other so I can have access to the splash shield.

Thoughts or any issues you see with this?

[DarthReefer27]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

Amazon and they can either be turned on at certain temp or on all the time. Need to see how I want to set it up when fully running

thanks. i see models with or without the thermostat control. my concern with using the model without the thermostat is how do we determine the temp? or should I do it based on the temp of the water? i hope this doesn't seem like a dumb question. i know i can turn it on and off per the temp of the water via the apex but is that what we should be basing the fan usage on?

[soulpatch]

I am not using it for tank cooling. I am using it to vent my stand. This will work with the other holes for air exchange. I will try the thermostat but I imagine I will instead run it at set intervals throughout the day via my apex.

For tank cooling I have other fans if needed. The tank is in my basement so I have more heating issues then cooling right now (though I dont have all pumps/powerheads or the lighting on which will add heat). Should I need those I will run them off of my apex temp probe in the sump.

[DarthReefer27]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

I am not using it for tank cooling. I am using it to vent my stand. This will work with the other holes for air exchange. I will try the thermostat but I imagine I will instead run it at set intervals throughout the day via my apex.

For tank cooling I have other fans if needed. The tank is in my basement so I have more heating issues then cooling right now (though I dont have all pumps/powerheads or the lighting on which will add heat). Should I need those I will run them off of my apex temp probe in the sump.

i meant for the venting the stand. i was curious how you were going to have it run. now i see you have the thermostat or will just run it periodically throughout the day. thanks! by the way, just ordered my 120G SC aquarium!

[soulpatch]

I saw your post on the SC group on FB. Congrats. Great tanks.

[DarthReefer27]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

All of the rock came in and I will shoot some pics tomorrow night as I play around with potential scapes.

My BAO gear came in and WOW. Ben at Building an Obsession does beautiful work. His communication is top notch as well and he worked with me on the location of the ATO float sensor which was not typically included. I might be going to him shortly to replace my biocube with an acrylic frag tank that will be plumbed and potentially have a move robust frag rack system built in.

That said here are some pics:







I will use the sensors and tie it into my apex so I can kill my ATO or doser if I get low so as to not have anything run dry. The doser has its own warning built in but that is reliant on me entering the amount I fill in the containers. So these floats are backups to remind me to make more as needed.

I pick up my ATI fixture tomorrow night as it is being held at the UPS center till I have time to get there. They wouldn't drop it at the house as it requires 21+ signature (weird I know).

Items for this weekend:

Mount light fixtures in canopy
Get rock scape finalized and get it in tank
Water change to remove any residual cloudiness I kick up putting rock in
Mount doser and put the BAO containers where I want them
Paint electrical panel
Move apex to the large tank (I think my one aquabus cable is long enough to reach the EB8 in the biocube)
Cut vent hole and install fan unit in the stand.

Can you do me a huge favor? I want to order two of those dosing containers but my space is limited. I have 6 inches to play with and while on the BAO site it says they are 5" wide, I want to be sure that is the total width and not just the container itself. it looks like the base and have a larger footprint. Any chance you could measure the base/lid to be sure it is 5" and not larger? I appreciate it.

[DarthReefer27]

Originally Posted by DarthReefer27

Can you do me a huge favor? I want to order two of those dosing containers but my space is limited. I have 6 inches to play with and while on the BAO site it says they are 5" wide, I want to be sure that is the total width and not just the container itself. it looks like the base and have a larger footprint. Any chance you could measure the base/lid to be sure it is 5" and not larger? I appreciate it.

I found my answer and already placed an order for two. No need to measure. thanks though.

[soulpatch]

For anyone else who sees they are exactly 5 inches at the wider base

[Teecz]

Those containers look really nice and decently priced

[soulpatch]

Yeah I am really impressed with them. Figure $120 for 2 containers that have all the bells and whistles including the float sensors which is nearly 1/2 what Neptune charges for their DDR.

I got some more goodies in last night and placed another order with BRS.

Got in:
bulbs for the T5 unit
Screen top kit
some extra socks
Some long RO tubing so I can move my RODI unit and add my 2 canisters to make it 6 stage

Ordered:
Another BRS deluxe reactor. I have one that is moving from the nano but this will give me two so I can run GFO and Carbon seperate.
silicone reactor tubing. Got this to hook up to my manifold easier
Another heater (apparently my basement is too chilly in winter for 2 200W heaters so adding a third)
Finally some BRS reef saver rock. I think I want a bit more rock in to play around with so I ordered in 15 pounds. If I dont like it or with to use it then I will smash it for real looking frag plugs.

I need to get to Home Depot tonight so I can try to piece together the parts for my T5 light slider rail.

[Blink2824]

Soulpatch I'm following along buddy. Awesome set up!