Blue Z Reef

The 2 cones 1 skimmer look is kinda weird but the spire idea seems interesting...makes me want to print one lol!

My blue hippo nips at LPS occasionally. Kinda sucks since it only takes a time or two for the wellso to not puff all day. Yellow tangs usually don't bother anything from what I've seen in my tank. Should also note my blue hippo is like 5" and the smaller ones I never notice picking on stuff.

It's a 5 stage: 5 micron sediment, 5 micron carbon, 1 micron carbon, 150gpd membrane, 2 DI chambers. I guess this is more of a convenience issue as it outputs 0 TDS but I feel like I have to replace the DI resin every other time I make water. The cost is low as 5lb of eBay resin is only $35 which fills the chambers several times....just seeing what others use.

I personally went with reefkeeper only because way back when I got a deal on one with some extras for cheap. Over time I’ve slowly added on to it until I now have the Archon, 3 power bars, SL2 and a second system with 2 power bars and SL1. Had I started with an Apex it could have happened similarly. My thoughts overall are that RK is a bit more user friendly when programming for the first time but Apex has more expandability and better graphs/user interface. So you can go the cheaper route and find an ReefKeeper Lite with SL1 or 2 for your float switches used (I would estimate you to be in the $150ish range for that setup) or find a used Apex (hard to come by, likely to be in the $300ish range and up). If I had unlimited funds from the get go and everything is how it is today, I would buy an Apex gold package. May be a lot to think about and is a sizeable investment. Overall I think they are great and well worth the investment and have saved my bacon more than their value many times.

This is where controllers like apex and reefkeeper are nice. You can have multiple switches and control what they do to turn off return pumps, skimmers, whole system if necessary...endless possibilities. I usually tell people to think about it before buying an ATO, you could be that much closer to one! Used reefkeepers can be had for pretty reasonable.

Wondering what DI resin you are all using? What lifespan are you getting out of it? Mine seems to get used up rather quickly despite newer filters. Wondering if some is "better" than others. Mine is some color changing I got off eBay, of course they say nuclear grade but who knows lol. This is the loose stuff you reload yourself. Kinda weird since my membrane is less than 6 months old and filters are like 3-4 months old. My triple TDS meter says 110-120ish from the tap - > 4 after filters and membrane -> 0 out. I manually flush until membrane out TDS drops to 5-6. Seems like I get somewhere around 50-70 gals per 2x DI refills (plastic tubes, not filter style holders). Any thoughts or experiences?

Awesome, always glad to see someone breeding sustainable species for our tanks! I know that pacific east aquaculture (sponsor on here) breeds them. Which color are you breeding? When you get some raised, let me know, wife has been nagging me for years to set up a horse tank for here lol

Beauties! Would be interesting to see how they morph under different lighting like the Clarkatoas do!

Don't worry Jeremy, we can rebuild him! Maybe dual recirc, upgraded air intake, lots of possibilities!

I'm still rocking my Avast Swabbie, going over a year now. I've said it before but again, I really only clean it when the inside of the collector gets so spattered with goop that I can't see the foam head. Every time I've done it the inside of the neck has been pretty much spotless. As for over efficient, I think I'm doing fine. I don't skim very wet so it keeps thing where they should be.

Want this out of my shed, it's in ok shape. With very minor tweaks it could hold a 36x24 tank (feels pretty solid, I've had stands like this in the past do just fine). Give it a coat of paint and it should be looking nice. Is a kitchen cabinet if you haven't gathered that. Ignore electrical bits I have sitting in the bottom. Exact dimensions are as follows: 35 5/8W x 23 3/4D x 35.25T Located in Orchards area of Vancouver

You have your own jugs? My display could use a 25 gal change sometime soon. I'm in Vantucky as well, orchards area.

I can relate to 5 gal changes, it's how I've always done the mixing since day one so its easy to default to known mixing amounts. With a tank that small though, I think a gallon is the most I'd be changing. Maybe get ahold of some gallon milk jugs and force yourself to only use one at a time haha

A quick read on SPS coloration issues. Easy on those water changes and things should start turning around. Fuel should help as well. http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-my-sps-are-paling-and-i-dont-know-what-to-do.210035/

Great looking tank, should make for a cool build! Did you do Starfire on the front? As for the lights, the higher you go the better the spread and less shaded areas. I believe Kenny from Reefstar has a rail system, not sure if it will work with the Radions or not though. Are you doing a hood? If so you can supplement with t5s to fill in any space the Radions don't cover. I have an 84" tank and had both 3 and 4 fixtures (d120s) and can say having 4 really covers much better. If you plan your rock work around the lights it's not a big deal though.

OIAB carries it as well. I bought some bottles of it off amazon for pretty cheap.

Most shops offer the service, usually about $25ish per hole assuming you bring the tank to them. OIAB does it for sure.

Avoid Centry Link...it was the biggest nightmare. I switched and cancelled in the 30 day window. They then preceded to try and bill me for 4 months and I spent hours on the phone with customer service. My wife had a similar situation with them in the past as well. Comcast is the only thing around here that offers speeds over 20mb that actually go as fast as they should. I'd hold out, I think we are on the brink of a 1gb speed bump that is going to screw the monopolies over (fingers crossed).

Good luck winning! I hope Mindstream makes a big splash! Their kickstarter has been stuck at $98k for a week. Wife approved me buying but I'm worried they won't hit the 300k mark :( would be sad

Crazy tank! 700gal water change monthly....that's insane! Got a laugh out of him smoking the stogie and the accents

Great looking tank, you have an equipment list? Good to see more Couve reefers!

That's a real nice one, don't you need a booster pump to get both membranes up to pressure?

I use an eBay 5 stage, works pretty good but it would have been nicer to start off with all the gadgets first that I have added over time. Pretty much necessary to get a flush kit and inline tds meter (I love my 3 meter one, easy to know when filter/DI swap time ). Long story short, the units themselves are all about the same, it's the add ons and filters/membranes that matter most. Get a membrane with a high rejection rate (98%+).

Is the rkl with just pc4, head unit, and temp probe?

I feed Rods to my fish and they scarf it down. For corals if I'm feeding separate I use Reef Frenzy powder. It's much cheaper than coral chili and reef roids and gets the job done. OIAB carries it. Usually mix it with AV Fuel. Acropower is dosed daily on my doser.