Tank Journal Archive

[Tannum_Paul]

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this up (I normally get it up pretty quick), I have been playing around with hooking the chiller up.

I built a platform for the chiller to sit on and a backing board behind it to seal the warm air behind the the tank between the wall and tank and have cool fresh air drawn in the front of the cabinet under the door overhang.

Yes I know there is a fire hazad under the platform and yes there is a fire extinguisher (try spelling that without google!) beside the cabinet. Under the platform is coming a draw which is currently sitting on the table saw, it will neatly house the electrics in a sorted tidy manner.

The chiller is a Teco SeaChill TR-20 Aquarium Chiller, which on this tank can handle about a 12-15 degree pull down on and ambient temp. That is way more then enough for the hottest day here of about 35 degrees here in summer. (dont worry I will be sweating like a pig on a spit but the fish and coral will be cool!)

Next here are some pics of the sump area, it is just stock standard Red Sea Reefer.

As you can see if you know your gear the only things I run are the Santa-Monica Surf2+ turf scrubber (LOVE IT!!!!! GO buy one!) and a Skimz SM163 Monster skimmer (AWESOME piece of kit!) for filtration, heating is a controller controlling 2 x 300 Watt heaters (not to fancy but hey I live in a bloody HOT place and only need a heater for maybe 2 months!) and my Waveline DC12000 pump (Very quiet, great power consumption, not the best head pressure but it does move A LOT of water!). ATO is gravity fed from the small tank into the pump chamber controlled by a float valve (not my favorite style or design choice, it only holds 2-3days top off and is difficult to fill with buckets).

The pump connects to my manifold I built, it has the main line to the tank then 2 off shoots. ATM only 1 off shoot runs the chiller the other in time might run carbon or bio pellets.

An to close this out just a whole system as it stands shot!

 

[RobbieMVFC]

Looks great, well done , Its got me stuffed why LFS don't stock Skmiz and they stock aqua one skimmers??????
I have the 161 Monster and love it also. Had it for 3 years.
P.S Why is the chiller under the tank a fire hazard ? As i understand it long as it has plenty of ventilation it should be fine.

 

[dimitri]

Looks good, thats the 450 reefer? Nice and neat

I got the 350 reefer and I think the ATO is putrid, need to come up with a better plan for topping off, at the moment I am not even bothering with it, I just bucket in a small amount every morning or afternoon but that won't really do if I go away for a holiday.

I have ordered a Surf 2x! How are you finding it with the skimmer? There is a ton of conflicting internet posts about running both, did you try them in different position (ie one before the other) or just threw them into the main sump area and hoped for the best?

Where did you get those on/off connectors from & what size? it looks like it fits off the shelf for the plastic pipework that comes with the tank.

I was considering running the scrubber and skimmer in the first box and then the Hydro-pure in the second box as a fail safe/to catch anything that goes past the first stage.

My thinking was I'd rather not run/reply on 1 type of filtration long term and run it too aggressively, I'd prefer a few good things doing minimal loading & it kind of makes it idiot proof for whomever has to house sit when we go away, all they need to do is feed and maybe top up if there is evaporation.

 

[Tannum_Paul]

P.S Why is the chiller under the tank a fire hazard ? As i understand it long as it has plenty of ventilation it should be fine.

The cords and electrics are piled up under the chiller self. They are the fire hazard.

 

[Tannum_Paul]

Looks good, thats the 450 reefer? Nice and neat

I got the 350 reefer and I think the ATO is putrid, need to come up with a better plan for topping off, at the moment I am not even bothering with it, I just bucket in a small amount every morning or afternoon but that won't really do if I go away for a holiday.

I have ordered a Surf 2x! How are you finding it with the skimmer? There is a ton of conflicting internet posts about running both, did you try them in different position (ie one before the other) or just threw them into the main sump area and hoped for the best?

Where did you get those on/off connectors from & what size? it looks like it fits off the shelf for the plastic pipework that comes with the tank.

I was considering running the scrubber and skimmer in the first box and then the Hydro-pure in the second box as a fail safe/to catch anything that goes past the first stage.

My thinking was I'd rather not run/reply on 1 type of filtration long term and run it too aggressively, I'd prefer a few good things doing minimal loading & it kind of makes it idiot proof for whomever has to house sit when we go away, all they need to do is feed and maybe top up if there is evaporation.

The ATO in this system is just a after thought/cost saving measure. It should have been the same as the "s" series tanks in the back.

The manifold is just all 25mm pressure pipe from Bunnings, the valves are Bunnings as well (only use the black ones not the white ones! The white ones stick and get hard to turn, these black ones move freely). Sometimes you need to look in the irrigation section other then the plumbing section.

I have run the Santa Monica Surf 2x now for about 18 months, I love it (@Fragalicious, thanks Bek! Awesome service!) It fixed my algae troubles within months in my old tank! I have always run it with the skimmer and they have worked perfectly together. The way I see it is that the Surf will only grow as needed, so if the skimmer reduces things the Surf will only grow slow taking up the slack.

I have never tried hydra-pure but have heard good things, I do agree with running multiple filter systems and backup is always a good thing. I would be very interested in seeing how it goes. I don't believe the locating of equipment in any order really matters as long as it is in the water, just my experience.

 

[dimitri]

The ATO in this system is just a after thought/cost saving measure. It should have been the same as the "s" series tanks in the back.

The manifold is just all 25mm pressure pipe from Bunnings, the valves are Bunnings as well (only use the black ones not the white ones! The white ones stick and get hard to turn, these black ones move freely). Sometimes you need to look in the irrigation section other then the plumbing section.

I have run the Santa Monica Surf 2x now for about 18 months, I love it (@Fragalicious, thanks Bek! Awesome service!) It fixed my algae troubles within months in my old tank! I have always run it with the skimmer and they have worked perfectly together. The way I see it is that the Surf will only grow as needed, so if the skimmer reduces things the Surf will only grow slow taking up the slack.

I have never tried hydra-pure but have heard good things, I do agree with running multiple filter systems and backup is always a good thing. I would be very interested in seeing how it goes. I don't believe the locating of equipment in any order really matters as long as it is in the water, just my experience.

Awesome, good to hear, yes I ordered mine from Fragalicious as well, should be here soon!

How many hrs a day do you run the scrubber? all the time? or just for a few hrs?

Got the company Bunnings card in my pocket, I think some supplies are in order to tidy up the set up under my hood, not happy with the flexi plastic pipes and the kink, as well as unsightly lack of space/cords/cables going every which way.

I honestly don't think I will bother with the ATO, it'll probably come out this weekend and I will run something else instead from outside the tank .

 

[Tannum_Paul]

Awesome, good to hear, yes I ordered mine from Fragalicious as well, should be here soon!

How many hrs a day do you run the scrubber? all the time? or just for a few hrs? .

21 hours a day the light runs, air runs 24/7. That is after it is established and growing and will vary with different tanks. It is easy to work out, just make sure that the algae is really green. If it is yellowing then less light time or your system may be low on nutrients.

You get a instruction sheet with it, just follow that.

 

[saltyfish808]

Very clean set up

 

[MagicJ]

Dragging up an old thread, but are you still happy with the Reefer @Tannum_Paul ?

Anything you would want to change?