Lee's 65g Mixed Reef

[lnevo]

Took some pictures last night since the tank has been looking really great and I thought it would be a good chance to finally start my tank thread.

Equipment list:
Deep Blue 65g RR Aquarium
Deep Blue Triton-3 Return Pump
Eshopps R-100 Refugium Sump
Eshopps PSK-100 skimmer
Avast Marine Swabbie + Skimmate locker
Ecotech MP-40WES x 2
Ecotech Battery Backup
Reef Octopus MF-300B reactor x2 (GFO+Carbon)
Finnex 200W Titanium Heater
BRS 1.1ml/sec Dosing Pumps x2
DIY 1.5liter Dosing Containers
DIY Gravity Fed ATO w/Eshopps Float valve
Aquarium Village branded LED 18" fixture
ReefAngel Plus Controller with:
2 Relay Bars
WiFi Attachment
RF Module
Water Level Sensor
PH probe + 3 Temp probes + 2 Float switches
Marineland Stand + Canopy

 

[lnevo]

Without further ado...

 

[lnevo]

Current Parameters

 

[lnevo]

So, here's how it all started.... After watching too many episodes of Tanked, I decided to try my hands at this whole reef thing. I started doing my research. Crawled the web and read about cycling and compatibility and salt mixing stations and equipment, etc. I tried researching setups but didn't have much luck for some reason. Started visiting pet shops to see tanks and sizes, etc. Petco sent me home to do more research

After more searching, I started to find all the deals on Craigslist, even visited a few tanks before I finally walked into Aquarium Village.

Jesse spent a great deal of time talking to me about equipment and tank sizes and pretty much everything and I walked out of there with a receipt for my new tank and my RO/DI filter. Oh, and this is when I learned about MR

2 weeks later Rich and Steve delivered everything to my house.

 

[egriesner]

More pics!

 

[lnevo]

Before the equipment came, I started prepping my RO/DI and mixing station and preparing water for the big day.

I also had a couple of 30g totes that I was storing water in. Was waiting very impatiently for the delivery

 

[lnevo]

Sump and equipment in the stand

Crappy background on and tank on the stand.

Level time

 

[lnevo]

Rocks are in and starting to get wet.

Thanks to my amazing wife for helping me lug buckets of water up the stairs from the basement

I never documented the hanging of my light fixture inside the canopy, but it was a huge challenge as I did not have near enough clearance. But the next day I got that taken care of

July 14, 2012 - My tank was born

 

[SteveZ15]

very nice

 

[lnevo]

My first project once I got the tank up and running was an ATO. I knew I needed this to make my life easier and to ensure stability. I decided that a gravity fed ATO was the right solution for me. I ordered the Eshopps float valve and a few plumbing parts and went on a mission for the right reservoir.

This is what I ended up with. I bought two of them since they stacked and since I was using gravity it needed to be elevated.

Bulkhead installation. I read after that it wasn't made for in water...and nothing seems to be for 1/4" tubing... Oh well trusty silicone to the rescue.

Here it is in the stand with the shutoff valve installed and attached to the float valve.

Later i added a port so I could open and fill it up. It was a film canister sliced in half and glued in. Hot glue this time. Silicone wasn't strong enough.

Later on I added the Reef Angel WaterLevel sensor so I can keep track of how much water I have left. You can see the measurement in my signature.

 

[lnevo]

So while my tank is cycling...i figured lets start getting the QT ready to go.

First fish...very shy Royal Gramma

 

[lnevo]

Wow...the RG was soo tiny then..

I know...hard to tell the difference. Take my word then

 

[lnevo]

I don't remember how long it took, but it wasn't long. Live Sand, Real Reef Rocks, dead shrimp, ghost feeding...but I saw a nitrite spike and everything was 0's...i would later learn that my Nitrate kit was bad.

Clean up crew was added

 

[lnevo]

After another week or two I moved the RG into the DT along with some tank raised Occelaris clowns.

Oh yea and somewhere in between there I got my first corals

FTS

 

[lnevo]

So now that things were running smooth, I decided to turn my attention to control, monitoring, and automation. I was tired of plugging and unplugging things during water changes and I knew that I needed this thing online

I'm a UNIX System Admin so the open source Reef Angel platform was a perfect fit.

I used the lower container from my ATO setup to put in all the power strips and keep everything dry.

This was one of the best investments I ever made in my tank. I love what I've been able to do with this thing and the monitoring, alerts, safeties that I've put together have saved my a$$ a few times.

If anyone is considering this controller, please feel free to ask me anything. I'm very active on the RA forums and have helped many people at this point with custom coding. And for those that want to keep it simple the RA Wizard does everything you need.

 

[egriesner]

Tank looks amazing. How come you kept the blue background?

 

[lnevo]

I liked the color of the background but after the winter the heat from the baseboard caused it to bubble up. Thats when it really started to become ugly. When I pulled it off the tank looked great without it.

 

[egriesner]

What lighting are you using for your refugium?

 

[lnevo]

Its a clip on Fluval 13w Compact Fluorescent. Nothing special. It lights up the stand when I need it and it does grow macro although my macros do grow very slowly.

 

[lnevo]

So things were running well...

Ao I decided to add some SPS

Everything was doing great! I went to the swap that November and came home with some goodies

I even brought some frags to trade

Heres an updated FTS from around this time