The inwall 380 starfire reborn

[makoJ]

I'm still reading all the pages but man everything looks great!

[Sparkss]

well, update time . Going to dive right into the pictures then will follow up with an update on equipment and migration plans.

Here is the first "draft" of our aquascaping. The water is still pretty cloudy, but it will have to do for this round of pictures







And here is a shot sort of top down, to try to put it all into perspective. Bear in mind that the tank is 4' from front to back (left to right in this picture)

[jnarowe]

nice to have 4' isn't it!

[Sparkss]

Some of the valleys and outcroppings will be more evident as the water clears (hopefully ).

Now onto the equipment update

The replacement Vortec arrived today and is purring along nicely in the tank. We also purchased 2 battery backup units last week and got 2 more cables so that all 4 of our pumps are now on the BBs. We put them back onto the wavemaker now that they are on the BBs we should be able to avoid any further code corruption issues.

I put the 2 heaters back into the tank yesterday. I had taken them out when we were playing around with the aquawcaping, to avoind possibly breaking the glass heaters with a falling rock or two (we also had taken out the Vortecs during this time as well, for basically the same reason).

Once I get the temperature up on the tank (and the water sufficiently clear) we will start moving the corals and fish over from our prop tank. This needs to happen so that we can tear own the prop tank to build the racks for the new sumps. So it will all need to happen in stages and the moved over corals and (2) fish will be without an appropriate skimmer or calcium reactor for 1 - 2 weeks. The HOB skimmer that we have been using will stay, until everything else comes online with the new sumps.

And the tank is currently lit with two 250W XM 10K SE bulbs on PFO HQI ballasts in LAIII reflectors. All in all I think that they give plenty of light, even for this sized tank.

[nasotang]

Looking nice Tom. Are you going to use a pump for the r-DSB or feed it off your drain pipes?

[Sparkss]

we have two 150g sumps. They will be stacked one on top of the other (with room to still access the bottom one). The top sump will be fed directly from the skimmer (which will be gravity fed with 100% of the water from the tank.. yes, it will be a very large skimmer). This top sump will gravity feed the bottom sump which will have the return pump on the opposite end for pushing the water back up to the tank. The top sump will house the rDSB, macro algae and a section for holding frags. It will have an 8 light T5 tek light over top of it, with mainly 6.5k bulbs over the macro algae and 10ks over the prop section. We may add a small powerhead to supplement the flow through the frag section. The bottom sump will house the heaters and a large rubble/benthic section, but will primarily be a sump.

The sumps are old fuges that are set up to accomodate up to a 6" sand bed, so that will likely be what we go with for the rDSB depth.

[zemuron114]

woa! 4 feet is sweet! and i thought 2 feet was good. lol

i like the open space in the middle. looks good tom!

[jgsensor]

Nice aquascaping! Should look great once all the livestock is in there. I would have to agree with jnarowe that 4' must be nice. I also have a 375, but only have a 30" depth, i'm a bit jealoous now.

What will you be using for a return pump? I'm just curious since I'm also going to be changing out my sumps and return pumps. i'm trying to fight a phosphate battle. I am thinking about going with 1 or 2 darts. If I go with the 2 darts they would be split between 4 return lines, 2 fludized reators, cal reator and an eco-cooler.

[Sparkss]

right now we have 1 Sequence SW 4300 that runs our return manifold (current display tank, prop tank, chiller, calcium reactor and fluidized bed reactor, currently running GAC and PhosAR). When we switch over the prop tank will be incorporated into the sump and the chiller will be run off of it's own pump (for reasons specific to the design of the Eco Cooler cooler/shiller line). So the current display GPH + the chiller and prop tank GPH will reclaim more than enough GPH off of the manifold to run the new tank. Since we are looking at roughly 5x turnover through the sump/tank, that is less than 2000 gph. Even when throwing the calcium reactor and a fluidized bed reactor or two, @ 4' head height we might could get away with just using a Dart (and saving a bit more on the electric bill) Dart @4' is 2820 GPH, our current 4300 is 3900 GPH @4'. To that end we pucked up a used Dart to try out after we get the new setup plumbed and running (since we use true union valves and 2" spa-flex and the wet ends are likely pretty close, we should be able to swap them out in short order to try out the Dart for a day or so). We are going to be relying on the 4 Vortecs to provide the overall flow/turnover within the tank. The 2k GPH or so worth of flow that the return will be providing should be a drop in the bucket compared to the Vortecs. In our current display tank the return pump plays a large role in the overall flow, which is why we needed so much more GPH for it's return and why I don't believe that we will need as much for the new tank, even though it is bigger.

[makoJ]

wow your aquascaping is great and once the tank clears I bet it will be even better.

I wish I had 4' to work with thats a lot of space for coral!

[joshuasamuels]

Just thinking of all that space makes my wallet hurt...but it looks great.

[Sparkss]

Thanks joshuasamuels. We can't wait to get it all setup and put some fish into to, to help give it perspective (you know.. watch a fish swim along the front then head towards the back adn disappear into the rock work on the back wall). That should really help to give it a feeling of depth . (hopefully, since that is more or less what we are after). Even putting the corals in won't really accomplish that.. but some fish, of a known size, should


Well, a little bit of an update. Struggling through some equipment issues, so we are unsure if we will make this weekend like we had planned, but are going to stay optimistic. We actually had been hoping to start transferring livestock today, to have the prop tank cleared out by the weekend (so we could tear that down and start bringing up the wall there). But that looks like it will have to wait. As soon as we get something other than rocks in the tank you can count on some more pictures

And we have been running the lights each each evening to help get them burned in and color stabilized. That plus it sort of makes us feel better to actually see the tank lit up

[ckuhndog77]

Rock looks good - nice shape. Only question on placement is where will your lights be placed over tank - depending on where and # of bulbs, might have rock a bit to close to back wall - but pictures probably don't do justice to your build.

Nothing like decorating by brill

[jnarowe]

I wouldn't put any rock even close to the back wall unless you don't plan to clean it.

[Sparkss]

Craig
The lights are relatively evenly spaced from left to right, and with the light mover they cover plenty from front to back, but I know what you mean about the rock placement and blocking light (and water flow). I am still playing around a little with both of those variables

Johnathan
I actually don't plan to clean the back glass, although I may change that later, but for now it is just not our intent to try to keep it, or the side glass, cleaned. There is also more space that you would think on the back and sides, I will try to take a picutre from the back ofhte tank this evening to give a better idea of how it all is situated, but even though the rock may actually touch the glass at one point or another, because it has such "skeletal" shapes, there are large areas between the majority of the rock and the glass.

I am really trying to decide on starting the livestock migration this weekend.. I need to get the prop tank cleared out and torn down so that I can start putting up the walls for the fish room segregation project to isolate it more from the rest of the garage (for various reasons). That has to happen before I can start replumbing adn setting up the new sumps. I got the temp in the tank back up to there it should be (I had the heaters out while I played around with the aquascaping) and the slinity is prety much a match for our existing tank (as checked by our refractometer). I just need to set up some remediary timers for the lights as I had procrastinated on ordering the DC4HD for our ACJR - still tyring to find out a few bits about the sunrise/sunset scheduling and also about the code capacity.. I had read some time ago that the JR could only hold XX number of "timers", if putting the lighting that I want on there puts us over that limit then it is useless to buy the DC4HD. I am still researching that.. *sigh*. For now a simple time would suffice, since we are not concered with the fuge and prop section lighting times until after the new sumps are up and running, and that is 2 weeks away (that is if we are able to meet our original timeline.. longer if we are pushed back).

[jnarowe]

Ask Curt if the PX-1000 add-on module will help with the Jr's capacity issue.

[Sparkss]

that only expands the digital input/outputs and I believe only works on the 3/3 Pro.

And Curt provided the capacity information that we were looking for

12 names and 40 statements

[jnarowe]

ouch. that's not enough.

Here's mine and I am not done:

LT1$-A01
LT2$-A07
LT3$-A09
ML1$-A08
RLT$-B01
LM1&-A02
LM2&-A11
PM1#-A03
PM2#-A04
PM3#-A05
PM4#-B08
PM5#-B05
PM6#-B02
PM7#-B03
HT1%-B07
FAN%-B06
CO2&-B04
AIR&-B10
DOS#-B09
STR&-B11
ALM&-B12

If Power 000 Then LT1 OFF
Max Change 010 M Then LT1 ON
If Power 000 Then LT2 OFF
Max Change 015 M Then LT2 ON
If Power 000 Then LT3 OFF
Max Change 020 M Then LT3 ON
If Time > 13:00 Then LT1 ON
If Time > 20:00 Then LT1 OFF
If Time > 12:00 Then LT2 ON
If Time > 21:00 Then LT2 OFF
If Time > 12:30 Then LT3 ON
If Time > 20:30 Then LT3 OFF
If Time > 13:00 Then LM1 ON
If Time > 20:00 Then LM1 OFF
If Time > 12:30 Then LM2 ON
If Time > 20:30 Then LM2 OFF
If Time > 21:00 Then ML1 ON
If Time > 11:00 Then ML1 OFF
If Time > 12:00 Then RLT ON
If Time > 21:00 Then RLT OFF
If Time > 00:00 Then PM6 ON
If Temp > 78.1 Then FAN ON
If Temp < 78.0 Then FAN OFF
If Temp < 76.5 Then HT1 ON
If Temp > 76.7 Then HT1 OFF
If Time > 11:00 Then PM1 ON
If Time > 21:00 Then PM1 OFF
If Time > 00:00 Then PM2 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM3 ON
If Time > 11:15 Then PM4 ON
If Time > 21:30 Then PM4 OFF
If FeedA 000 Then PM1 OFF
If FeedA 000 Then PM2 OFF
If FeedA 000 Then PM3 OFF
If FeedA 000 Then PM4 OFF
If FeedA 000 Then PM5 OFF
If pHA1 < 06.20 Then CO2 OFF
If pHA1 > 06.25 Then CO2 ON
If pH < 08.07 Then CO2 OFF
If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF
If pH > 08.40 Then ALM ON
If pH < 08.00 Then ALM ON
If ORP < 300 Then ALM ON
If Temp < 75.0 Then ALM ON
If Temp > 83.0 Then ALM ON
If SwitchA2 CLOSED Then AIR ON
If SwitchA2 OPEN Then ALM ON
If SwitchA2 OPEN Then AIR OFF
If SwitchA1 CLOSED Then ALM ON
If SwitchA3 CLOSED Then DOS ON
If SwitchA3 OPEN Then DOS OFF
If pH > 08.20 Then DOS OFF
OSC 005/200 ON/OFF Then STR ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM5 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then PM7 ON
If Time > 00:00 Then AIR ON

[Sparkss]

right now I am only using 5 outlets (+1 for the alarm) and 19 statements, but all of our lights are on separate intermatic timers, mainly due to their needing to be on a separate electrical circuit. I placed the order for the DC4HD today and it should be here Monday (until then I will just continue to use the intermatics). Once the fuge and prop are all set up in the sumps I will want to use the other timer funcitons within the ACJr. And since we only use 2 250Wers over the tank, that should be all we need.

One thing I was curious about was the seasonal temperature functions with the AquaControllers. The lowest would be 75 and the highest 80.5. While I am not so much worried about the hysteresis between the various temperatures, mainly because the changes all happen gradually over weeks to months, I am a little concerned about the low end of 75 degress (in February).

I pretty much decided not to use the season lighting tables, since it puts the lighting to 13 hours in the summer (to match the seasons), but that is the time our electric bill is already the highest and I don't want to be adding insult to injury.. now if we could reverse that for longer in the winter, to offset the heating costs with lighting heat, then that would be worth considering.. but that is not an option that I see with the ACJr. I thought we had a line on a nice AC 3 Pro, but it was only an AC 3 standard, and the deal was not that great.. the cost retail was only $30 or so more overall, and it was already a year old. Would have been a decent deal for a Pro though. I am still interested in something bigger/better than the ACJr, but right now I am not dropping that kind of money on anything unnecessary (unless it is a great deal ).

[jnarowe]

I believe you can adjust the seasonal tables to match any config you want just by changing the unit date and time. I actually allow my tank to swing between 76.5F and 81F during the avergae 24 hour period. It's lower on average during the Winter because I have an open venting system. I believe the seasonal temp. change is valuable, but the light periods I am a bit skeptical of.

[Sparkss]

you are right that I could change the unit date to accomodate those changes, but that would only be beneficial for the lighting.. and you stated that the temperature fluctuations are the only ones you see value in (and those we would want to match the seasons). So if we set the date to adjust the lighting, then we lose the temperature, and vice versa. Although the lowest temp that the controller will set is still a full degeree and a half lower than the lowest your tank goes. The 80.5 high end does not bother me so much as the 75 degree lower end. I still need to do alot more research on that before I buy into it . We currently keep our tanks right around 79.

We put a couple of "test" corals into the tank this evening, so we will see how they fare through the evening. Hopefully they will be fine tomorrow morning.

[jnarowe]

My tank has been at 75F quite a bit and I don't see any problem with that. I used to use the seasonal lighting but that was just too much light with my lighting scheme and unneccessary IMO. And I let temps. do what they want. My heaters never come on and in fact, even though it is "Winter" I only have 1 800W heater in my system right now. Part of that is the volume of water of course.

[mrcrab]

Can't remember where, it was one of the big boys, calfo, borneman but I read corals grow better at 76> degrees. I use a ranco controller and the heaters come on at 75 and the fans come on at 77.

[jnarowe]

That's about what I have too. My fans come on at 78F and go off at 76.5F. The tank will drift up to about 79.5 and down to 76F on average. It's not pegged as close as yours but it is very energy efficient!

[Sparkss]

Originally posted by mrcrab
Can't remember where, it was one of the big boys, calfo, borneman but I read corals grow better at 76> degrees. I use a ranco controller and the heaters come on at 75 and the fans come on at 77.

well, 75 is a degree below that, but only for 1 month, according to the seasonal variance, so it should be OK. I just want to be sure that how they set it up would be OK for a reef tank, versus what might be OK for a FOWLR.

It would be more efficient to run it that way (by the season). I will give that a try when I switch everything over to the new tank.