My new 240 RR. Ya baby!

[angelo68]

Steve unfortunately the chips where too deep for the gasket to cover. I thought I was done for a while until I came up with the fix. The silicone I used is for aquariums only, thanks for checking.

Thor, thanks for thumbs up. The skimmer drains to a overflow bottle that is equiped with a float switch that turns off the skimmer pump when the bottle is full. The waste is then drained into a condensate pump which pumps it out to the sewer. Except for maintenance it's pretty much hands off.

[steve the plumb]

Wow a fully automated skimmer.Thats nice.

[angelo68]

I'm having a problem with my OM-4 valve getting jammed on the sand that gets blown around whenever I have the closed loop pump on. I've been waiting to put anything in the tank because of this. I used sugar sized sand and now I'm afraid I made a mistake.

[patmack]

Did you use the play sand you were talking about?? that looks nice in there. Also that skimmer looks sweet!!

[TandN]

I would take some sand out and replace it with crushed coral

[rlxwcapt]

I would put extensions on your returns from the OM4way. They look like they are close to the sand. I had the same poblem with mine.

[FOSELONE]

yeah the sand does look good...what kind is it ???

[angelo68]

Sorry for not getting back sooner, I've been working slowly on the tank and making some good progress. I have a few more pics to share.

First off are the new Ice Cap Electronic ballasts 3 400w MH and a URI Elec ballast for the VHO.



These are my new Lumen Bright reflectors, I'm still waiting for the MH bulbs. 14000K should look nice.



I installed a moon light strip. So far it's looking cool.



And here is what I did to eliminate the sand problem with the CL. As you can see I'm still having a problem with the return water moving the sand away from the front glass. It only happens along the one end.



This is the skimmer overflow bottle with the pump shutoff switch.



I was having a problem with my calcium reactor kicking up the substrate and jamming the pump. So I installed a screen on the intake. I also installed a ph probe in the reactor to monitor it.



I hooked up my ozone generator and started using it with a controller. We'll see it works out.





I should be getting the lights hooked up this weekend and getting more rock live rock. Well thats all for now.

[bbehring]

Angelo looking good. Your plumbing looks solid man! I might of missed an earlier post from you on this? but... your sand should settle down over time and allow the OM to work properly. The sugar fine sand is a good choice IMO. I wouldn't add/mix any crushed coral in with the SF sand. How's the OM running lately? I have heard of some sand getting stuck between the drum and and the frame. Might have to pull the drum and clean it out? I've read on a couple threads where he actually shipped out a new slightly smaller drum so that the sand would not be as likely to clog the drum up. Call Paul he'll help you out.

[IS]

Nice job. Can you tell me what's new Ice Cap Electronic ballasts 400w MH size? L*W*H ( centimeter ) Thank you.

[angelo68]

IS ths dim you asked for are 25.40 x 10.79 x 7.62 cm. These are pretty close.

Everyone thanks for the nice comments. I've been taking my time with everything and I hope it shows.
I picked up 110lb of new live rock over the weekend and now have it curing in the sump. I took the 3 clown fish out and put them in another tank during the curing.



I took a few pictures of the new stuff.









These were the more interesting pieces and should be nice to aquascape with. Can't wait.

[angelo68]

Time sure passes by..... I can't believe it's been since February of 08 that I last post. I will get some updated pictures of the tank and fill you all in on what's been going on. I had an ick break out 2 1/2 years ago that took out some of my favorite fish including my Solhole Tank, Powder Blue Tang, Naso Tang and 3 Percula Clowns. I was able to save my Purple and Yellow Tangs along with 2 Peppermint Shrimp. That was crushing and set me back to just maintaining the ones that survived. The tank has been through a couple cycles of hair alge and red slim so I built a coil denitrator a couple of years ago which took me a long time to get tuned in but once I figured out the right flow down came the nitrates and phosphates. Once >30 nitrates now <5 and the phosphates are not readable by my test kit. I know I needed to make changes to my system but I wanted to make sure I didn’t just start stabbing in the dark. I’ve been wanting to get things going again but I first needed to replace my now 10 year old RO system due to the increasing levels of Phosphate and Nitrates coming from the unit. I decided I had rebuilt it for the last time and it’s time for new equipment, so I went with a new setup from BulkReefSupplies.com. I got a 75gpd with a booster pump, auto flush valve, dual DI, dual TDS and filter monitor. Got it all setup, adjusted my 20gallon pressurized holding tank and will do an 80 gallon water change this week. I wanted to change out my diy dual beckett skimmer to a newer style more efficient but I really love the way this thing pulls out the gunk. I had a time finding the sweet spot between too wet or too dry. The most important thing was to set the water level first than add the air, and just like that it works great and no more over flows.

[angelo68]

Here are some pictures of the new RO system.

[angelo68]

Picked up a few things I've been needing. My nitrates and phophates have been and I've been going through some salt trying to get them down. I've added a phosphate removal media which has helped out a bunch but I know that only works short term so I looked for a long term remedy. I see a lot of members have been using the bio pellets so I did a fair share of research and decided to give it a try. Last night the reactor came in along with a few other goodies I've been wanting. I also ordered a new skimmer after decided that my diy beckett style has past it's prime for efficiency and reliability. I decided to go with the Reef Octopus XP 5000EXT and I upgraded my RO/DI from a 75gpd to 150gpd.



Here's the Bio Pellet Reactor working. I have the Mag 5 pump in the sump feeding it. After I get the new skimmer installed I'll feed the reactor output to the skimmer. Can't wait!



This is a shot of all the reactors together.

[angelo68]

It's been a week now since I setup the bio pellet reactor and stopped using any phosphate removal media and carbon. I hope this thing works. Should have my new skimmer by the end of the week, really looking forward to getting that online.

[angelo68]

New skimmer came in last night. This thing is sweet. I got it put together, up and running in no time. Once I hooked up the line from the bio pellet reactor it was obvious I was going to need a bigger pump so I swapped out the mag5 for a aquabee 6000. I'm getting great pellet movement in the reactor with plenty of turn over for the skimmer. I need to take the pump apart tonight as it is a little noisy and can be heard beyond the room.

[IMG][/IMG]

[tarlon]

Originally Posted by angelo68

New skimmer came in last night. This thing is sweet. I got it put together, up and running in no time. Once I hooked up the line from the bio pellet reactor it was obvious I was going to need a bigger pump so I swapped out the mag5 for a aquabee 6000. I'm getting great pellet movement in the reactor with plenty of turn over for the skimmer. I need to take the pump apart tonight as it is a little noisy and can be heard beyond the room.

[IMG][/IMG]

Hi Angelo

first of all, let me to congrats about your tank, I already read all entire build process and is amazing, as someone mentioned here some years ago, you have a lot of patience. I Hope you already keep this setup.
It will be wonderful if you could post some advance about your setup, new equipment, fishes, corals etc etc
Regards