Under tank redo...

I've always had way too much equipment crammed under my 60 gallon cube stand and it has always been a huge mess. I spent the entire day building a panel that has all my electronics mounted to it and organizing wires.


The biggest challenge was mounting/hiding all the ac/dc converters. I ended up building a panel with a compartment behind it which hid all 5 of them. I then mounted all my apex equipment as well as ato solenoid. The equipment I knew could be permanently wired got the wires tucked behind the panel.


Here is a shot of the panel as it was being built. It's not the prettiest, but it was built from all scrap I already had laying around the garage.




I got a little lazy toward the end so the wiring got sloppy after everything was plugged in but it's definitely a lot better than it was before.


Right side.





Left side.




My favorite part of this system is the ato and continuous water change system. The ato resivour is 2.5 gallons. I have a solenoid that opens 3 times a week for an hour which is fed by the ro/di unit. The resivour contains a float valve so when it's full it stops filling shortly after the solenoid from the ro/di closes. By only letting it fill a few times a week it eliminates tds creep.


The ato water directly feeds a small kalk stirrer I made using a skimmer neck cleaner and an old phosban reactor. It's completely ghetto but works very well. It should hopefully eliminate any need for dosing Ca and Alk for quite a long time.


The continuous water change is a project I've always wanted to do but never really new how easy it was to implement. I ordered a Litermeter III last week and will be here Monday. All the lines and wiring are ready to go. Once the the system arrives I just need to mount one pump in my basement near my fresh saltwater resivour and the other near my washing machine drain, calibrate, and never have to do a water change again. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/cool.gif


The external skimmer is connected to a waste collector which contains a float switch. When the waste collector is full the Apex shuts of the skimmer feed pump and sends a text.


The ATO and continuous water change are also connected to a float switch. In case of equipment failure and the sump water level gets too high a float switch is closed shutting down the Litermeter pumps as well as the ATO



Once I get the tank stable again I plan to add a bunch of SPS frags. I haven't had much luck keeping SPS in the last few years hopefully now everything is automated I can focus more on stability and health of the animals.

 

Thanks for the reply. TBH, it was either automate the system or tear it down and get out of the hobby. I've really been struggling with water quality and stability issues for the past couple years. It's been very frustrating to watch corals STN over time. Hopefully, seeing things grow and thrive will rejuvinate my passion for the hobby.


For what it's worth, just because the basement is finished doesn't mean you couldn't setup a water change system. 1/4" tubing can easilly be hid behind baseboards or strung through walls and through attic spaces. Thats the great thing about the Litermeter pumps. They can pump water 60' straight up.


Something to think about.


Well, time to get my butt in gear. I have to work today so I can pay for the Litermeter. LOL

 

Thanks, it's still pretty sloppy but trying to cram all that stuff in a 24" cabinet with a 12" wide door isn't an easy task. I really miss having a fish room! At least now everything is off the floor.


Now I just have to wait patiently until the UPS guy brings my LMIII.

 

Got the litermeter III installed today. It took a little work but everything is working like it should. Not only did I have to run 20+ feet of 1/4" tubing I also had to run long power cables.
It was worth it though. Instead if trying to cram even more gear under my tank I mounted the main pump in my closet where the washing machine drain is and the other pump in my basement near the fresh salt water barrel.
It took a couple hours but everything is calibrated and running.
One thing I learned was, don't buy the cheap stapler made to tack up wiring. That thing would barely go into soft pine, forget about anything harder.
Anyway, I set the litermeter to do 5 gallon changes for the next couple days to help get nitrates back in check. I'll probably turn it down to 1 or 2 gallon changes after that.
I'm considering getting a larger saltwater resivour. I have 35 gallon now. It would be simpler to have a 50 gallon. That way I could just add a bag of reef crystals and not even have to measure.
Before that though I need to add another heater. I noticed after getting everything set back up my heater is not keeping up. My tank had been swinging from 79 to 75 everyday. Getting that stabilized is priority #1.

 

Got the new heater installed. Decided to do some water testing as its been months since I've tested for anything. My no3 was off the charts and the po4 level was 2 ppm.
Those levels required some massive water changes to get back down to reasonable levels. Luckily for me it was just a push of a few buttons. Using the litermeter I did a 50 percent water change throughout the week.
Nitrate levels are getting closer to where I would like them. Po4 was still quite high so I was forced to implement the phosban reactor. Of course there wasn't enough outlets so the kalk stirrer is out of commission for the time being.
I checked po4 today after 3 days of running gfo and they are now at .74. Still somewhat higher than I would like so I replaced the gfo with fresh and an hoping to get it under .10 in a few days.
Hoping to add a bunch of new frags soon.

 

I'll have to take some. Haven't taken pictures in ages.