Austin goes Rimless - Dudester's 203g mixed reef

[cbui2]

always to be safe than sorry, what if the one meter you have goes bad?

[mcrist]

Beautiful setup. I can’t wait to see your tank running.

[Dudester]

Originally posted by purebullet417
i love when my neighbor fires up his cuda you can here it from down the block lol.

Whoa, if you wouldn't have added that "lol" I'd consider this the first slam of the thread. But seriously, have you had experience with the barracuda pump being loud? I've been very pleased with how quiet the Sequence pumps run. This is my 1st Barracuda, but my office tank runs off of a Hammerhead and a Dart. Anyway, glad you're following along.

cbui2 - I'll get another TDS meter.

mcrist - Thanks a lot - I can't wait either!

Jonathan - I think it's great how you switch up salts, as long as you're diligent about it and continue to test often. I don't think I'd have the desire to test every bucket of salt I open, and I instead prefer to buy a salt that I can trust. You make a great point about taking advantage of different trace elements from different salt brands. Kudos to you ... I'll just stick with what works for me.

[melev]

I think purebullet is referring to a vehicle perhaps. Isn't there a car called Barracuda, or a motorcycle?

Testing a bucket of salt once first opened is a good idea. That way you know for sure that it is good to use until the bucket is empty. Since I get 3 water changes out of a bucket, I know that for the next few sessions (weeks or months) that one is good.

Don't forget about the Kent debacle that happened in Jan 06. It was a national problem and no-one was testing their salt at first because they assumed it was fine, all the while watching their tanks decline. That was a real mess. And I've been a Kent user for years and years.

[gkarshens]

Yes a Cuda is a car. A very fast loud great car!

[jnarowe]

Originally posted by melev
I think purebullet is referring to a vehicle perhaps. Isn't there a car called Barracuda, or a motorcycle?

OK....Marc, that was over the top. You might get banned for that.

I test every bucket/box I use after it has been mixed tio 1.026. There's no reason not to IMO. The "Kent debacle" is a regular course of business, and they just got caught.

[diveilm]

I am so amazed when I read these post and see the effort and craftsmanship everyone puts into there tanks. I'm a rookie to the sw scene and only have a 20L with some local pinfish I caught in a castnet (you gotta start somewhere). Just want to stop by and say how impressed I am at your set up and construction.

[erics3000]

Dudester do you have any pics of your office tank and equipment?

[thedude15810]

I agree that I'm guilty that I don't test every batch of salt I use. It really should be so as I have never tested a salt to be perfect.

[gkarshens]

Originally posted by erics3000
Dudester do you have any pics of your office tank and equipment?

Here is a link to the thread about it: office

[GSMguy]

Originally posted by gkarshens
Yes a Cuda is a car. A very fast loud great car!

great car indeed



diveilm: Good luck once you see a setup like dudesters you will never be able to be happy with your own... i think i need to start a dedicated AGE savings account.

[erics3000]

Thanks for the link. I remember looking at this one in the past ..sweet setup as well..
GSMguy - Great especially when it has the Hemi...

[erics3000]

Thanks for the link. I remember looking at this one in the past ..sweet setup as well..
GSMguy - Great especially when it has the Hemi...

[Dudester]

You all have me convinced --- I'll start testing every new bucket of salt that I open, seems easy enough to do and clearly falls within the lines of responsible husbandry. And I'll also have to do more research on cars.

diveilm - Thanks for your thoughtful comment. You seem to be off to a good start with your system. Reef Central is a great place to go for help and information, and hopefully you'll continue to use it to your advantage.

GSMguy - You crack me up. We can all be happy with our tanks, it doesn't take a lot of money. There's satisfaction in simply keeping these animals alive. I look back on my 1st tank, which is still running, and it's quite meager compared to this current project, but when I wasn't battling pests, I absolutely loved it and had a lot of pride in it. It ain't all about AGE, it's about putting your heart into a project and watching it thrive before your eyes. That's when you love your tank!

[Dudester]

I got a few more things done last night. Brian at Kingfish finished baffling the sump, and it turned out just great! Thanks a ton, Brian! Here it is, with the bottom covered by the adhesive material to protect the acrylic. Man this thing is solid, and heavy! For anyone who was worried before, I have no concerns for this thing ever bowing.



You'll notice that there are 2 bulkheads. They've been placed for possible future expansion in the event that I plumb in a frag tank or something. Anyway, the rear right chamber receives water from dual 1.5" overflow drains. It then passes to the front which is the skimmer chamber. Moving to the left it crosses some teeth to an equipment chamber which will house the calcium reactor (PF601S), carbon reactor, and kalk stirrer. It then passes across the over-under-over baffles to reach the return chamber. This is where I'll keep the Zeovit reactor, the sump return pump, and the chiller feed pump. Here's another view.



Here's how it looked when I put it inside the cabinet. It sits on top of 1 layer of the drawer liner material I used beneath the CL pump, just in case any of the pumps inside the sump would cause some vibration. Probably not necessary but oh well.



Here I got lucky! Notice how close the sump is to the Barracuda pump . When I planned the size I didn't account for the fact that I'd have a bulkhead on both ends of the sump, and it actually hangs off the starboard just a little and over the drip pan. The sump is literally 2 or 3 mm from the pump!

Lucky move #2: I almost couldn't get the equipment into the sump when it was inside the cabinet, and due to the CL plumbing I wouldn't have been able to slide the equipped sump into the stand. When planning out the sump, each chamber size was determined based on the equipment. The measurements were spot on, but in retrospect it may have been wiser to go with equipment that wasn't so large, as it will be tight when working in the sump. There's about 1/2" of clearance to get the skimmer collection cup off, and there's no way I'll be able to remove the entire skimmer unless I first take the calcium reactor out. While I'm discussing the skimmer, that brings up Lucky move #3: Look how close the 4-way plumbing comes to the skimmer's collection cup. The photo makes it look like they're right on top of one another, but there's actually a couple of inches to play with (which isn't a lot). On the bright side, I have very reliable equipment so those sorts of maintenance items shouldn't come up very often. Anyway, look how crowded it looks now! This just goes to show you, it's better to be lucky than good .



Here it is from the side, and you can see the FR509 that I'll use for carbon. The kalk reactor isn't in there yet (it's a Deltec KM500).



Here's how the entire system is as of last night.



The chiller, a 1/3hp Arctica, is sitting to the side, and I'll plumb it in tomorrow. This will serve as the temporary sole return from the sump, as my primary sump return pump hasn't arrived yet. Hope you enjoy!

[melev]

It looks great. The sump intake area may flow forward as planned, but I have a feeling some of the water will overflow into the intake section as well only because that baffle is so low. You'll have to let me know how that works out. The difference in height between the front and back is maybe 1" once water is involved.

Can't wait to see it in person.

[Dudester]

Originally posted by melev
The difference in height between the front and back is maybe 1" once water is involved.

Hi Marc, not sure what you mean about this statement, but do you think I'd be better off by having a 4th or 5th hole drilled between the 1st chamber and the skimmer chamber to prevent the overflow you were referring to? The holes are each 1" diameter, if I recall.

[melev]

They do look like 1" holes, and technically each one should let 600gph flow through it but that won't be pressure like in an overflow box. Adding another hole might be necessary, but you can always do that later.

The teeth look pretty shallow to me. Are they even 1" deep? My instincts tell me the back section will barely hold water while the front will be full almost to the top of the teeth. Are they 1/2" wide?

Honestly, the thing I would do is glue some more acrylic to the top of the baffle in the back section where the intake is, just so water has to go out the holes in the front and through the skimmer section. Adding 3" of acrylic should be easy to do, once you get all that Deltec gear out of the way. I'd just like to see that section taller.

No refugium for this system?

[Dudester]

Thanks for the input, Marc, I'll be sure to run your recommendations by Brian. You're right, all of the modifications should be pretty easy to make, even with the equipment in place. I think the teeth are 1/2" wide but I'm at work now and can't measure.

And nope, no refugium. I'm going to run Zeovit pretty much from the start, and it's not recommended to run a refugium with Zeovit. The Zeovit is supposed to reduce nitrates and phosphates to such a degree that even chaeto can't survive!

[Bax]

Nice looking sump Dude! It's a minimalist / Deltec-ish work of art!

[mcrist]

I love that Deltec equipment...

[GSMguy]

http://www.reef-mania.com/entry/ATI-??

http://www.reef-mania.com/entry/ATI-Powermodule??


found this thru invincables blog... looks worth the wait

[melev]

Neither of those links work for me, even if I remove the question marks. It goes to the site, but no specific product.

[GSMguy]

well if you click on the left side of the page on SPS tank then there are three links on that page that are labeled ATI powermodule. good pics of the unit.



if you look at your browser when looking at the page the question marks are japanese symbols
probobly why i couldent copy and paste them?

[melev]

That is very weird. I use FireFox and I see a billion question marks now that I'm on the right page. Pretty fixture, but the site isn't user-informative like we'd hope it would be.