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Unread 05/21/2010, 08:45 PM   #1226
easydoesit
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I think the light blue is too light, the black is unnatural and it does highlight particulate matter, but the dark blue is just right. I have black background but that's because I have no sump and all my equipment is black so it blends well. After staring at it for months I would definitely go a blue shade if I ever get a new tank (and a sump, oh how I'd love a sump).

My vote is dark blue.

I like your new camera. I just bought a new waterproof (20ft) Pentax Optio W90 (P&S). Plan on using it snorkeling and diving on vacation in a week. Then we'll see if I can do some shooting in the tank for fun. The new pictures look good, can't wait to see more.


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Unread 05/21/2010, 09:01 PM   #1227
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Taqpol View Post
Can you stand at your tank and take a picture of what the rest of your fish room looks like? I think we haven't seen it before and I am busy brainstorming my next fishroom.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drummereef View Post
I'm working on something better to help you out. Give me a bit and I'll post it up.



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Unread 05/22/2010, 04:55 AM   #1228
patro
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amazing build

do you have a stocking list? fish? corals? inverts?


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Unread 05/22/2010, 07:14 AM   #1229
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i will be tagging along. i am building a 180 inwall but it doesnt compare to urs. great work. cant wait to see it stocked


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Unread 05/22/2010, 10:06 AM   #1230
drummereef
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Quote:
Originally Posted by easydoesit View Post
I think the light blue is too light, the black is unnatural and it does highlight particulate matter, but the dark blue is just right. I have black background but that's because I have no sump and all my equipment is black so it blends well. After staring at it for months I would definitely go a blue shade if I ever get a new tank (and a sump, oh how I'd love a sump).

My vote is dark blue.

I like your new camera. I just bought a new waterproof (20ft) Pentax Optio W90 (P&S). Plan on using it snorkeling and diving on vacation in a week. Then we'll see if I can do some shooting in the tank for fun. The new pictures look good, can't wait to see more.
Thanks for the advice easydoesit. Have fun on vacation, wish I was going snorkeling this week!

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Sorry for the delay Alex, been crazy busy but hopefully I'll post it by Sunday for you.

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Originally Posted by patro View Post
amazing build

do you have a stocking list? fish? corals? inverts?
Not quite yet. The first fish will be my yellow tang I'm transferring from my other tank. Probably some anthias too but will mainly be a coral driven tank.

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Originally Posted by coraltastic View Post
i will be tagging along. i am building a 180 inwall but it doesnt compare to urs. great work. cant wait to see it stocked
I'm sure your 180g is great coraltastic. Do you have a build thread yet?


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Unread 05/22/2010, 11:01 AM   #1231
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no, no thread yet. i might put one together today.


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Unread 05/22/2010, 11:44 AM   #1232
prop-frags
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Coming along nicely, Brett.
Love the new DSLR... we splurged on the Nikon D300S...but it is SOOO complicated Terry bought a D300S for dummies book (which is like 500+ pages)

As far as your nitrates...1.0 is all but non-existent. Ours are still at 1.0 and we put water in at the end of March! They're down from around 3.0 or so at the worst point of our cycle.


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Unread 05/23/2010, 11:34 AM   #1233
drummereef
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coraltastic View Post
no, no thread yet. i might put one together today.
Great!

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Originally Posted by prop-frags View Post
Coming along nicely, Brett.
Love the new DSLR... we splurged on the Nikon D300S...but it is SOOO complicated Terry bought a D300S for dummies book (which is like 500+ pages)

As far as your nitrates...1.0 is all but non-existent. Ours are still at 1.0 and we put water in at the end of March! They're down from around 3.0 or so at the worst point of our cycle.
I was referring to 1.0ppm Nitrites. Right now my nitrates are hanging around 10ppm but I haven't done any water changes yet either. As soon as the Nitrites get down to 0 I'll do a water change and start slowly stocking. Congrats on the camera, that one is a beast!


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Unread 05/23/2010, 11:42 AM   #1234
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UPDATE:


A few people have requested more detailed pics of the sump room but I could never get a wide enough shot to accurately detail the size of the room and how it is set up. So I decided to put together a short video... Presenting the Sump Room Tour.


*Apologize in advance for the mess of wires. Not quite done with the conduit project yet. Still a lot of details to take care of.






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Unread 05/23/2010, 01:13 PM   #1235
prop-frags
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The "mess of wires"

You crack me up Brett - that's gotta be the cleanest sump room in the history of the hobby! I've seen messier operating rooms!


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Unread 05/25/2010, 04:39 AM   #1236
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Nice sump room. You need a counter and sink in there for clean up/fragging purposes..


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Unread 05/25/2010, 06:31 AM   #1237
patro
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[QUOTE=drummereef;17140360]
Not quite yet. The first fish will be my yellow tang I'm transferring from my other tank. Probably some anthias too but will mainly be a coral driven tank.
QUOTE]

maybe you could put a single specimen of something special. like a rare angel or a gem tang would look awesome through a school of anthias


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Unread 05/25/2010, 08:52 AM   #1238
Nanook
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Looks impressive!! Your attention to details is amazing, control freak to the max


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Unread 05/25/2010, 01:30 PM   #1239
Megabite
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Too sweet! I hate having to jam all my crap under the cabinet. So Jealous!

Great work man.


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Unread 05/26/2010, 08:44 AM   #1240
easydoesit
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Way cool. You're definitely the envy of many a reefer right now. Nice work!


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Unread 05/26/2010, 12:12 PM   #1241
drummereef
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prop-frags View Post
The "mess of wires"

You crack me up Brett - that's gotta be the cleanest sump room in the history of the hobby! I've seen messier operating rooms!
Haha, I take it you work in operating rooms?

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Nice sump room. You need a counter and sink in there for clean up/fragging purposes..
I installed a utility sink a couple months ago in the adjacent unfinished/laundry area of the basement so that angle is taken care of. I would, however, like a "workstation" for fragging etc as time goes on but need to install a couple other key items and see how much space I have left. On the other side of the door is my shop where there's plenty of counter space to work in the interim.

[QUOTE=patro;17152420]
Quote:
Originally Posted by drummereef View Post
Not quite yet. The first fish will be my yellow tang I'm transferring from my other tank. Probably some anthias too but will mainly be a coral driven tank.
QUOTE]

maybe you could put a single specimen of something special. like a rare angel or a gem tang would look awesome through a school of anthias
Agree and am currently taking donations.


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Unread 05/26/2010, 12:13 PM   #1242
drummereef
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Quote:
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Looks impressive!! Your attention to details is amazing, control freak to the max
Haha, and coming from you who build the most robust sump room I've ever seen........ Thanks Nook!

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Too sweet! I hate having to jam all my crap under the cabinet. So Jealous!

Great work man.
Thank you Megabite.

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Originally Posted by easydoesit View Post
Way cool. You're definitely the envy of many a reefer right now. Nice work!
Don't know about that but I appreciate the kind words.


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Unread 05/26/2010, 03:00 PM   #1243
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very nice! just went through this entire thread!

scott


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Unread 05/26/2010, 04:30 PM   #1244
Taqpol
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That is one extremely sweet setup! Any plans for underneath the RO/DI machine? A Top off reservoir/water change system seams like it would be perfect! Also, how are the plans for the refugium coming? Will it be a normal refugium or some type of cryptic zone?

Lastly, whats the thing you zoomed in on in the last few seconds? I thought it might be a humidistat or something. Spekaing of which, and sorry if you've already covered it, what was your plan for dealing with humidity and heat in the fish room?


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Unread 05/26/2010, 07:35 PM   #1245
crvz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prop-frags View Post
The "mess of wires"

You crack me up Brett - that's gotta be the cleanest sump room in the history of the hobby! I've seen messier operating rooms!
I was thinking the same thing. I'm rather jealous of the tidiness of the room... my seems to be in a perpetual state of "work zone." I'll need some Brett lessons before too long.


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Unread 05/26/2010, 10:54 PM   #1246
drummereef
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Quote:
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very nice! just went through this entire thread!

scott
Thanks Scott.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Taqpol View Post
That is one extremely sweet setup! Any plans for underneath the RO/DI machine? A Top off reservoir/water change system seams like it would be perfect! Also, how are the plans for the refugium coming? Will it be a normal refugium or some type of cryptic zone?

Lastly, whats the thing you zoomed in on in the last few seconds? I thought it might be a humidistat or something. Spekaing of which, and sorry if you've already covered it, what was your plan for dealing with humidity and heat in the fish room?
Thanks Alex. I do have plans for a fresh/salt water mixing station under the RO/DI, just haven't found the right containers for the job yet. I'm looking for some nice plastic drums that aren't too big as I'll only be doing ~20g water changes. I like the ones on plastic-mart.com but just haven't found the right size/shape for my application. Still in the working stages of the fuge so nothing there yet...

Yes, that was the light switch and de-humidistat on the wall in the last shot. The dehumidistat is wired to an 80cfm Panasonic DC driven bath fan located in the ceiling in the center of the room. Seems to do a nice job pulling out most of the moisture. Along with that I have a supply and return to my HVAC which is in the adjacent unfinished area of the basement. The house has a high efficiency heat pump that can operate in "dehumidify" mode so we have whole-house dehumidification year round. Don't really have a problem with heat at this point, even when I left the lights on for 6-8 hrs, as the basement stays about 68-72F year around. The HVAC supply really helps cut through any residual heat no problem.

Quote:
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I was thinking the same thing. I'm rather jealous of the tidiness of the room... my seems to be in a perpetual state of "work zone." I'll need some Brett lessons before too long.
And likewise I need some "how to grow coral like a pro" lessons from you!


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Unread 05/28/2010, 12:34 AM   #1247
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UPDATE:


OK guys I splurged this week. I've always wanted one of these since I had my 40g but just couldn't justify the cost at the time. Well, the new tank demands a new top off system.


Tunze Osmolator 3155 - New style with magnet holders





Here's a little on how I set it up. I'm still measuring how much reserve water is needed but I think I can really downsize the reservoir volume quite a bit. That should help a little with TDS creep as there would be more freshwater turnover in the reservoir. The 5 gallon bucket is temporary as I see how the system works over the next couple weeks and until I can find a more permanent reservoir.


Tunze Osmolator 3155 - What's in the box




With every Tunze product I've owned you have to install the rubber bumpers to the magnet holders.




Rubber bumpers





Tunze includes two magnet holders depending on your application. I decided to use the combination magnet for a cleaner install. The other option is to use two magnets, one for each sensor.





As you can see the Osmolator uses an optical sensor (right) as the main top off control and a float switch (left) as the backup high level sensor. An audible alarm will sound if the float switch triggers the controller that there is a high level error.




This is the terminal that connects the controller to the pump.






More to come.....


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Last edited by Misled; 04/03/2018 at 05:42 PM.
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Unread 05/28/2010, 12:35 AM   #1248
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Now on to the plumbing...


The temporary reservoir, a 5 gallon bucket.




Float valve that is plumbed to the RO/DI. My RO/DI also has an auto shut-off valve so when it senses back pressure the RO/DI unit will also shut off.




Drilled a hole to accept the float valve.




Float valve installed.






RO/DI plumbed to the float valve.




Voila! We have water.






More to come.....


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Last edited by Misled; 04/03/2018 at 05:44 PM.
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Unread 05/28/2010, 12:35 AM   #1249
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And finally.....


The pump sits in the bottom of the bucket and is plumbed out the side towards the sump via the black tubing.




This is how the outlet of the pump feed mounts to the sump.




Haven't decided where I want to mount the controller yet so I wire tied it to the conduit for now. I think I will permanently mount it under the 4-gang receptacle with the supplied Velcro but need a day or two to decide.




This is all you see in the return area of the sump, very clean and tidy. I'm also going to tidy up the wires with some split flex as you can see here also.




Here's the reservoir positioned on the side of the sump. Yes, that mess of wires will be gone soon! Once I find time to finish the conduit project I can tidy up all the wires.




And for the best part of this story..... THE TANK HAS CYCLED!!! Just about 4 weeks to the nose since I originally seeded the tank with live sand.




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Last edited by Misled; 04/03/2018 at 05:45 PM.
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Unread 05/28/2010, 12:39 AM   #1250
Greenmaster
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WOOT! Time for fish :-D


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