Oasisreefling

Well the fuge worked okay after the diatom uglies subsided. But the tank developed a leak (it was a used handme down) so i rebuilt it out of acrylic scraps i had lying around and turned it into a sump for an 8 gallon bow front. It still serves the function of being reasonably portable. Here's some pix. The sump is smoked bronze acrylic so when the light is on its not too bright at night. (Alternate photoperiod). The iceprobe works great! I've got two heaters (50 and 150) set in stages for the cold nights.

Is the list moving at all?

I remember those days. Had to use an extension cord for the vacuum to vacuum the living room. Man if my girlfriend saw this thread she'd want me to get rid of the tank lol. Whoops, necropost. But whatever.

A lot of us are aware of GFI but I think we should also be considering installing arc fault interrupts. It is new electrical code for all living spaces. An internally arcing device can draw a large current without tripping a breaker and this is what caused the fire. A GFI will only trip if ground carry's 5mA more than neutral and so can't prevent these hot-neutral arc failures. It only takes one splash to deposit enough salt for a humid environment to create a new ground path months down the road... Arc fault breakers can be used in conjunction with gfi devices. Im very glad you and your property are okay. Thanks for sharing.

The weak point is definitely the float switch in this chain. My relays are 20amp 600v rated lol. It is about 2 cups a day, my lights are very close to the surface and I have high surface agitation. This was my initial thought. Without doing math I can mix up my 1.026 for the week and then just add the total I expect to evap. It has the benefit of never adding RODI to the tank directly so the salinity would fluctuate less daily, as obrien said.

I wonder how off I'll be with a single res setup, I would expect an amount of fluctuation where manual adjustments would be necessary every few days. With seasonal changes. So far my top ups have been very consistent daily. It is a small surface area in the most stable room of the house with no air vents near. I suppose my goal here would be less salinity control and more overall parameter stability. Less chance of shock on Saturdays for a little Tuesday Thursday SG check. Algebra should help figure out what I need to add fresh or SW wise. But there's no reason I couldn't use two reservoirs. Buckets stack. Im on a free.99 run what ya brung budget so lets see... How about this. A float switch feeding a DPST relay at 120v with Terminal A feeding an RODI pump and terminal B feeding a SW pump. The relay is switched by 120v from my aquacontroller jr which also powers the valve. The valve is on a recycle timer X seconds ON max off. So the ACJr kicks on for a minute, the valve opens and the sump section drains. The float switch engages the SW pump instead of the RODI pump. The valve closes after X seconds, the sump section fills until the float valve shuts off the pump and after one minute total the ACJr turns it all off before the recycle timer can complete its cycle and turn the valve on again. In the off state the float switch goes back to controlling RODI. Just a quick trip to my shed, a couple beers, a rainy weekend, annnndddd....

My tank is 5 gallons and it's drilled and I intend to add a P trap in the wall for it so if I use a standpipe I can pump SW on a timer instead of RO on a switch. Seems simple enough. I'm wanting to figure out my top up/change over water salinity based on my current salinity and required make up water. A calculator would be nice but I'm wondering if any of you do this, even on larger tanks. I am realizing with a 5 gallon even my make up water must be the exact temp when adding 1 pint. So less severe and more frequent changes seem like the answer considering I intended to do weekly 100% changes and keep SPS so might as well ditch the ATO.

I found this, Idk about the carbide for reef safety or whatever makes the bit that color but it would be super easy to lathe and thread a shortened bit to fit in place of the screw if there's enough meat in the bit. https://www.dremel.com/en_US/products/-/show-product/tools/543-cutting-shaping-wheel

I'm actually getting busier. People are at home and thinking about projects and I'm getting lots of calls for small things like adding exterior doors and skylights. But quartz countertops are all from china and that supply has halted and I can't get custom glass out of california right now. I mean after 20-30 bathrooms in a row I really just want to do siding anyways LOL

What were you thinking for the counter sink portion? All I can really come up with is using a forstner bit but I'd hate to chew it up. If the rock is soft enough to get 100 drills out of it, it would be worth machining to accept a 3/8 drill bit. Most the stone grinders I can think of are too big, hole saws would take several sizes or some chisel action. I have a ton of vertical real estate in my new pico and think this would be perfect, I hate seeing plugs.

I use older 10k and 6kbtu window AC units and they barely touch my electric bill compared to heat in the winter. We only need them about 4 hours a day cause we're in the hills. Use 1/2" PEX for the refrigerator DIY. I wanna say it'll transfer 33 BTU per linear foot at 50 degrees difference. You really don't need a whole lot of flow. Our floor runs at 90gph and drops from 128 to 124 in about 150lf to give you an idea. One thing I hate about chillers though is that they heat up the space they are in. They are really no fun in a small room with a lot of water, they just fight themselves constantly. I think if the room is dominated by water you need to use an AC or the surface area of the tanks overall will transfer too much heat in a 90*+ room. I think using external return pumps as well also helps a lot. Those buggers really can put a ton of heat into a system.

I think I need more head room. What do you guys think? I could run the rock through my tile saw and get another inch and a half off the bottom. Should I?

Would love to hear an update about how this tank worked out for you. Particularly interested how the corrugated plastic did and if you had found any sort of harvesting method other than shaking the chaeto.

Well gosh darn it I wish I had seen this a week ago!

I'd like a turn! No preference for which one. How longs the wait? Also, super cool of you guys to offer this service.