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Exodus New Tank Upgrade


Exodus

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Alright so this week I finally got everything in the 10g moved over to the new tank and I was very impressed with what I say. The Pavona & Stylos polyp extension was double anything I had ever seen from either. My Open brain got stung by the stylos in a water change mishap a couple weeks ago and has been closed up and pissed off ever since, just 1 day in the new tank and its starting to inflate again assuring me there is only 1 small tear where it was stung assuring me its on the road to recovery. I know the pictures suck the only camera I have is my cell phone so its very hard to see the corals but I assure you the pictures do not do the tank justice, I am looking into getting some jel filters and see if that improves anything. I will also get some shots of the equipment within the next week, i have a new EB8 coming in for my Apex so I can control all devices on the tank individually gearing up for SPS! :) now just need to find someone with a good assortment of SPS frags that wants to make a deal.

 

O46CRqB.jpg?1

BpkRdUp.jpg

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That is a cool kit, love the dosing containers!

 

 

Tank still cycling :dry:  I'm gonna pick up a bunch of live rock on Monday, raise the Ammonia up to 2ppm and let it settle and we should be set.

 

I finished ordering the last of the Equipment for the Tank, after much consideration I decided to only do the mini reactor rather than the BRS dual reactor primarily for the real-estate aspect. The 30g requirements for both the GFO/Carbon are so small no point in wasting all that space with a bunch of extra plastic, and the amount of GFO I will be tossing before the end of it's life will be a very small. I also decided on a Jebao Dosing unit and got a decent package deal off of eBay with everything needed, the reviews for Jebao have been good and for the amount I paid, if it goes bad I can buy 2 more before I get to the price of the bigger name dosing units. Also got in the Magnafuge by IM and have it on the tank, Really liking its profile, build quality, and the amount of light it puts out for only 6 watts. I think Cheato will be just fine.

 

fwAx8Hn.jpg

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Love the location, much rather be watching the aquarium than TV!

 

Those gel filters are amazing, you won't be disappointed.  A big leap forward at least for iPhone users.

 

That tank gets to be tied into your apex?!!  Deluxe setup, congrats :D   Love how apex can control any number of aquariums.

 

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Love the location, much rather be watching the aquarium than TV!

 

Those gel filters are amazing, you won't be disappointed.  A big leap forward at least for iPhone users.

 

That tank gets to be tied into your apex?!!  Deluxe setup, congrats :D   Love how apex can control any number of aquariums.

 

Yeah I really liked the kit myself, the Containers are of excellent quality and look clean, The Dosing Pump on the other hand I'm selling as I decided to get 2 of the BRS 1.1mL Dosing pumps instead. As for the Jel Filters I found a link from another post to get an entire swatchbook of filters for free so going to go that route first and see how it does with my Galaxy.

 

As for the Apex I'm really excited to finally have complete control over the entire system with a dedicated outlet for every device on the tank, one of the reasons why i decided to just get the BRS dosing pumps after all i feel its much better security and the only other way  I could think with the Jebao was to plug it in and turn on and off the plug  min before and min after it was supposed to dose but I'm not sure what the longevity of that pump would be after always turning on and off numerous times of the day.

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So heres Some Shots of the equipment

 

first up in the right cabinet we Have all the wiring to tank plugged into an APEX EB4 & EB8 with everything under complete control. Just got done mounting the 2 new BRS 1.1mL Dosing Pumps, my ATO Reservoir and the Dosing Compartments. Last but not least a BRS Mini Reactor, I know I could do a bit more with all the cords but still getting everything ironed out.

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Next is the left compartment, pretty self explanatory with common testing equipment on top and supplements on the bottom, and control displays on the door

J8pSulk.jpg?1

 

And lastly we can behind the false wall of the AIO, It is very crowded and don't really have much room for anything else back here telling me I'm really pushing the AIO to its Extent :) But its what I had intended to do to begin with. The only thing you really cant see if the Magnafuge LED on the back lighting up the cheato right below the filter floss holder.

 

7WVHBEf.jpg

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Looks good! but there sure is a lot of stuff for a so called AIO tank :D

I hear ya, When I planned out the tank I wanted to ensure I had a way of Exporting detritus, phosphates, nutrients, nitrates, and organics in addition to the established ecosystem. I felt completely helpless when I got hit with Dinos in the smaller Nano I had without any sufficient means of fighting them and never wanted to have that fate again. I also really wanted to ramp up the lighting and go after SPS requiring things to maintain stable. I have had an AIO now for several years and the filtration they come with is best suited for softies and some less demanding LPS, If I had the room and option for a Sump I would have definitely went that route but had to make do with what I had and think I maxed it out :) Besides who doesn't like adding pretty gadgets to their reef?

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  • 1 month later...

If things are still doing well for you, and you have some room left, I might have a frag or two I can throw your way as a late tank warming gift. You still in Albany often or just in Salem now, going to next meet maybe? Drop me a line and we can work out a  time to cross paths. All the tanks setup is looking pretty legit, running smoothly for you so far yeah?

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Tank still cycling :dry:  I'm gonna pick up a bunch of live rock on Monday, raise the Ammonia up to 2ppm and let it settle and we should be set.

 

I finished ordering the last of the Equipment for the Tank, after much consideration I decided to only do the mini reactor rather than the BRS dual reactor primarily for the real-estate aspect. The 30g requirements for both the GFO/Carbon are so small no point in wasting all that space with a bunch of extra plastic, and the amount of GFO I will be tossing before the end of it's life will be a very small. I also decided on a Jebao Dosing unit and got a decent package deal off of eBay with everything needed, the reviews for Jebao have been good and for the amount I paid, if it goes bad I can buy 2 more before I get to the price of the bigger name dosing units. Also got in the Magnafuge by IM and have it on the tank, Really liking its profile, build quality, and the amount of light it puts out for only 6 watts. I think Cheato will be just fine.

 

fwAx8Hn.jpg

I still havent started using the dosing unit I bought from you last month. Still trying to get an average uptake before we start with doser. Nice looking setup.

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Put together a Nice Switch Box for control with my Break Out Box, so far I have a switch for Water changes, and another that shuts off the ATO when I messing with the tank

Lucgz4M.jpg

If things are still doing well for you, and you have some room left, I might have a frag or two I can throw your way as a late tank warming gift. You still in Albany often or just in Salem now, going to next meet maybe? Drop me a line and we can work out a  time to cross paths. All the tanks setup is looking pretty legit, running smoothly for you so far yeah?

Hey there!, Yeah I have plenty of room in the new tank. I will be off Mon, Tue, Wed this week. I'm living in Albany now and don't have much planned So I can swing by your place.

 

I still havent started using the dosing unit I bought from you last month. Still trying to get an average uptake before we start with doser. Nice looking setup.

Yeah if you perform regular water changes Sometimes it's enough to replenish. I suspect your tank being fairly new so you don't have enough coraline Algae, SPS, or LPS corals to make a dent yet. If your wanting to save on test kits I personally only check Alkalinity, if it's in my desired range I don't think too much of it, otherwise if not I go through all tests. It's just a cheaper way of keeping an eye on things without having to blow through reagents. It gets even simpler with the Hanna checker.

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Put together a Nice Switch Box for control with my Break Out Box, so far I have a switch for Water changes, and another that shuts off the ATO when I messing with the tank

Lucgz4M.jpg

 

 

That is always a good idea. I know when I had a old set up I did not run a controller but did run a electrical box with a few plugs and a light switch so my pumps could just be turned off without pulling plugs.

 

So many things that can be done now....hard to believe in just the short time I was out of it how much technology has changed.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So after I lost my Clown of 3 years, I decided it was time to get a lid. I decided to go with a DIY screen. I Ordered the Clear screen from BRS and a 36" Full frame kit from Home Depot for like $10 and here is the Result.

zPptFqO.jpg

 

And Now on top of the Tank, I think it looks pretty nice and not intrusive being so slim, The BRS Frame kits were expensive and looked like they would be allot more of an eye sore.

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And just a quick pick of my new Toy :D

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I will try and get a good pic of the tank, I'm playing around with photo filters but every pic I take on the phone that looks good when I get it on the PC It is extremely fuzzy and distorted

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  • 6 months later...

So it's been awhile decided to tear the tank down and do a rebuild, 1 reason being the substrate I was using was simply to fine of sand and was difficult to keep clean yielding other problems, another reason I wanted to change lighting and go back to T5, installing the hanger would have required water to be drained as well, and after my long fight with Dino's and losing allot of my favorite corals I figured why not change it up as I just have a bunch of miscellaneous things in there so I opted for a change!

 

As you can see my new T5 fixture hanging from the awesome hanger Spectra built for me, and this time I spent more time and consideration in organizing all the cords and tubes, looks like an episode of Pimp my ATO! Ridiculous I know, but why not!?!

 

3NPq0j9.jpg?1nJjgsYt.jpg?1

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That is a pretty nice hanging kit! Scott I may have to have you build me one. What sand did you end up using? I need to order some for my new tank and I too in the past got too fine of sand and had issues as well. For my 20gallon I just used the live sand as that was what Cuttlefish had in stock.

 

I actually love the planning with the cords. I think that's one thing most of us hate is all the cords you have to deal with!

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. What sand did you end up using? I need to order some for my new tank and I too in the past got too fine of sand and had issues as well. For my 20gallon I just used the live sand as that was what Cuttlefish had in stock.

 

I decided to go with Special grade ->http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/special-grade-arag-alive-live-reef-sand-1-e06db73b5702b904f41ccd406ac8f4ba.html

 

Having a small tank is tricky when it comes to the substrate, you really can't do a dsp without it looking funny, yet you don't have enough of a sandbed to support sand sifting stars or Watchmen Gobys, and snails only do so much for you which is what I attribute to fighting Dinos as such a nightmare! Had I had a larger tank with an efficient skimmer I think things would be easier but instead I'm looking for other methods. So I picked the Special grade as it's not too fine of grade and I figure on my every other week tank change It will allow me to stir the entire thing without causing too much of a mess and I was thinking I will then setup a canister filter loaded with Filter floss and let it pull everything out for an hour then remove the filter and clean it out. It is definitely extra work but as long as I keep up with It I figure I can keep the substrate relatively clean preventing all the issues that come with the eventual buildup of excess detritus.

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Looks good! now get some water in it :D

The new substrate from BRS is being delivered tomorrow, The Dry Rock I'm using has been sitting in a bucket curing for 2 months, and I also ordered some ceramic biomedia plate to throw behind the false wall, so water should be in the tank by Friday! I'm also trying to speed it up cause I think my fish are sick of the 10g

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  • 3 weeks later...

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