Before I get started I thought it would be fun to see a before and after. Here's a shot of the tank in its infancy, pretty much day one (August 2009), and the second shot is what it looks like today (April 2010).

August 2009:
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1270812953

April 2010:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...b97b639d_b.jpg

In a 24hour period I dose 234ml of Alk and 264 ml of calcium. I just did the math and it looks like I'm exhausting them quicker than I thought. Doesn't seem that quick but I guess I get just a little over 8 days out of the alk and a little less than 8 out of the calcium (from 2L bottles). I guess I could go with 4L bottles but topping up every 7-8 days isn't much of a chore.

ha i totally didn't see you were TOTM. congrats bud

Ya Kien I also didn't see that till yesterday. Wow when I was at your place and saw your tank in person I was blown away. Next time I come I will spend some time and add some nose prints to the outside of the glass.
Kevin

Love the pics of before and now. Kien, your tank is a real beauty.

Great before and after shots ! What difference. Been awhile since I read through the build but is that RBTA on the right side ? Be interesting to see what you have for change coming up.

Holy crap Kien! How come yours is using so little? It looks liek you have a pretty big sps load, I would think it would use more? I use the same recipe as you and I go through my 1 gallon bottles in less than 3 weeks... what are you doing right that I am not? :P

Thanks :-)

Yup,

Hmm I don't know. I did redo the math and it seems that I am depleting quicker than first guessed but doesn't sound like your rates still. You have way more SPS than I do though. I don't think I have that many sps given my 150 volume.

Profilux 3 !
 

So if you've been following along you'll know that I run a Profilux II to control my various aquarium equipment. Well, the Profilux 3 came out not too long ago and I jumped on the upgrade bandwagon pretty much right away. Got a smoking deal on it from my favourite LFS (Red Coral Aquariums - thanks Kevin!!). Haven't had a chance to install the it until now though..

Ever wonder what the guts of a Profilux looks like?

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271231544

The hardware upgrade itself was pretty easy once I found the instructions (online). One complaint I do have though is the fact that every set of instructions I found said in step 1 to remove the top of the controller, but none of them said how to do that! It took me a little while to figure it out. Those blue tabs just click in and out of place, then the top and bottom halves slide apart. No screws involved.

Anyway, here is the reassembled controller with the Profilux 3 upgrade installed.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271231722

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271231773

The hardest part about the whole thing was actually reapplying all the settings as the upgrade pretty much wipes them all out. Good thing I wrote down everything.

And here we are back online!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271231848

Sump Upgrade
 

Earlier this year I started thinking about setting up a FOWLR tank. At first I wanted that tank to be separate from the main 150g mixed reef, but after playing around with my 104.72g lagoon for a while I decided that a separate tank of that size just isn't going to work for me. If I'm going to add another tank it HAS to be plumped into the 150 some how so that I can leverage one sump, which means one water change, one dosing location, one heating location, etc..

So speaking of sumps, that's where we begin. I took this opportunity to modify the existing sump while adding two additional sump tanks, one to be used as a connector sump to the main sump and one as a water change tank (more on this later). The 3 sump system looks some thing like this.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271233998

Both tanks will have their own return pumps. I found that this is easier to control the herbies in each tank, rather than having one massive return pump with a splitter or manifold. Plus now I can electronically cut supply to each tank individually which is handy.

The sump tanks are fairly small in comparison to the 104.72g lagoon tank that I built so again I decided to build the sump tanks myself.

First up is the primary sump. Here it is held together with just the corner brace to dry fit it.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271234380

Once I'm happy with the fit I drop down one of the side panels and apply a bead of silicone to the bottom of the pane.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271234478

Lift that pane of glass back up, hold it in place with the corner braces, and lightly push the bottom in but NOT too hard as to squish ALL the silicone out. You never want glass on glass because that's just a weak point that will likely fail!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271234548

Repeat for the other side panel. Now we drop down the back panel and apply silicone on 3 sides and push that panel into place.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271234708

Once that panel is in place secure with a piece of nylon tape on the top and bottom.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271234740

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271234820

Repeat for the front panel. Now we apply a bead of silicon in all the corners and crevasses and squish in with a finger.

The other two tanks pretty much went the same way. I decided that since these were sumps and I was in a bit of a time crunch I skipped the taping and masking on these tanks. It makes for very ugly siliconing but the sumps are going to get ugly anyway. Here's the trio.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271234861

Here's the new Primary Sump back in place.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271235084

Here's my new ghetto sensor array.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271235170

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271235212

Return section with the two pumps.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271235252

Full Sump Shot.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1271235128