Current 28G NanoCube / Distant 180G Tank Build
 

Hello fellow Canreefers,

Some of you may remember me from a couple of years ago, I started a 90G build only to see it come to a crashing halt shortly after I was ready to start adding livestock. I had to relocate for school and didn't have the space or time for a tank. Or so I though, hindsight is always 20/20. I could have easily moved and continued on my 90G tank. But it was not to be. Well two years later here I am posting on the Tank Journal forum... but why? Well I'm sure the udder boredom from being out in the sticks at work might have something to do with it. Or maybe its just my undashed enthusiasm for the hobby. Could it be the 180G tank I am picking up here in the coming weeks. I'm sure its a mixture of all the aforementioned.

There is a catch to this, there always is... I have yet 8 more months of school after this semester. 8 long more life sucking months and than I can call myself and Engineer. Was it worth the 40 some thousands of dollars, time I guess will tell. If nothing else it has given me a lot of ideas for a tank build, so I guess it paid off. The other final catch is that there is no way I can set this tank up in my current apartment. So we are a ways off from seeing this thing with water. But that doesn't mean we all cant have fun designing it. Ok Ok... i really just want to pick your brains for the next bit as I piece this tank together.

Vision: I am looking to put this tank in the main floor portion of my new yet to be purchased house next year. The choice of house will be seriously effected by how I vision the setup. I am looking to have an in wall setup dividing the Living area with my office. viewable on both sides. The fish room will be housed in the basement, and will be a decent size. It will need to be as I plan on running 1 or 2 more tanks, a larger FOWLR in the basement... approx 400G. And a smaller Sea horse tank to appease the whiffle (as if I don't want it too). All three of these tanks must be run from one fish room as I seriously doubt I will be allowed to turn our house into Sea World. But for the time being this thread will stick to the one tank.

I really wasn't planning on purchasing a tank this far ahead of the move, but when a deal pops up one must snatch it up. I have been glancing at the buy/sell section on canreef for a while now, just to see what I see. Well I found what I was looking for: 180G, 84" L x 24" D x 19" H... thats 7 beautiful feet of critters and corals.

Look at how I've rambled on already... as I said I'm up in the sticks working with an apparent abundance of free time. Not really... So I will get to the first question, the do's and dont's of storing a tank. This is your guys turn... lol


On a side note I am fairly proficient in the Autodesk software so over the next few sets of days off I will be putting together a virtual rendering of what I'm thinking of, and then you can all pick it apart. Seriously... DO pick it apart.

I know you guys like pictures so here is one of the tank I am purchasing. The gentleman before me had a very nice tank. I hope to continue down that path.


http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...24-0.jpg?rev=0

nice tank. but where is any of the filtration system?

When you've got a pic of The Last Supper on the canopy maybe you don't need all the equipment =)

This sounds almost exactly like my set up right now. You can browse through the TOTM article for ideas.

http://www.canreef.com/ftotm/dec10/

Not pictured here, he had it run from a seperate room. The sump is 6ft x 12" D x 24" H I believe.

Sounds good I will take a look.

That build in the wall tank is sick! :crazyeye: dang! Never seen a tank this nice!

Dez that tank is nothing short of spectacular, and I'm pretty jealous of your fish room as well. That is pretty much the direction I want to go in. I will have to stay in touch for tips if you don't mind.

I pick up the tank, sump, lights, and some other goodies tomorrow. To be honest Im not positive in all the things included in the purchase yet. Once I get everything home and cleaned up ill take some pictures. Again this was not well thought out because I am going to have to stare at all my new goodies without being able to set them up. There is just really no way I can have that kind of weight on the second floor of a wood built apt building. Not to mention I don't have the room. But this gives me plenty of time to acquire needed parts and equipment over time which = not a large shock to the bank account.

I am hoping someone on here has experience with my next question. I would like to automate a lot of tasks on this tank. The all in one reef controllers are nice, but I would like the ability to program my own code so I am not limited in options. I plan on building my own PLC system and was wondering if anyone has gone this route and could offer up some suggestions on controllers and input devices. Mainly input devices....

Ive already got my eye on an Allen-Bradley control unit and HMI as I can snag these from work as nearly no cost. I'm looking at efector probes for both temp and level and peristaltic pumps form omega for dosing. Although I haven't looked into it much I am concerned about finding probes for ph, ORP and salinity. Any Ideas?

PLC controller sounds a little overkill - even at cost its still going to be loads more expensive than a fully kitted Neptune system. There is nothing you cant do with a Neptune kit AND it has a PC and NET based interface so you dont have to program or build your own.

If you are still going to go with the PLC I believe BeanAnimal uses one to control his reef -should be more info on ReefCentral.

IMO - save your pennies for other gear that you will need with the tank. You can pick up Bulk Reef Supply two part dosing pumps for $90 a pop and they are VERY well built and easy to maintain.

Oh I agree it is overkill for the initial setup. But I plan on running more than one tank in the long term. This will allow me to upgrade without additional controllers, yes I will need additional input devices such as probes and extra cabling. I have not looked into the all in ones since I had a aqua control jr, but I know there is more versatility in a custom PLC, I plan on having my water changes done automatically through the use of a series of holding tanks, salinity and temp probes and actuated valving. Based on a set time or trigger a water change will happen before your eyes. I'm even considering finding some sort of bulk material holder for the salt and a scale and actuated trap door setup. This is again all in my head at this point, but only a matter of time till it ends up on paper.

uh oh......an engineer and a year to plan a tank........there will be trouble:razz::lol:......I'll accept partial responsibility for the addiction, but not for the rest of it:wink:

all of this can be done with the neptune system. their break out box module will help satisfy your inner geek :). Just plug the actuator valve into the EB8 and set it on a timer or event (ie. mix when salinity is low or whatever) and it'll do its business. You can hook up 255 modules (citing from memory but its about that high) so its going to do everything you want. There really isnt anything to optimize by using a PLC. Reef tanks are complex but there is only so many things you need to monitor/control. I believe you can control multiple tanks from a single Neptune controller as long as you are within your 255 module limit.

be very careful in relying on a salinty probe to make decisions. They require constant recalibration and drift regularly.

I would instead have it so it fills a container to a set volume, gets the temp up and just dumps a pre-measured scoop of salt (maybe use a koi feeder) on trigger.


what ever you decide - keep us posted. Looking forward to the geeky nuts and bones of the system when its up and running.:biggrin:

Doug you can easily pass some of the blame on to Kevin as well. As for the trouble... I really cant see anything not going smoothly. Haha did I really just say that. Oh well.

Phi, you almost had me convinced there. I started looking at the apex controllers and you are right, very expandable. Up to 240 modules, hundreds of probes, and thousands of controlled outlets according to the manufactures website. I just did a quick calc of what I think I am going to need and the price quickly jumped over the thousand dollar mark. For that cost I believe I would rather do it all myself. Its the journey not the destination :mrgreen:. But again I will have to look at the issues and costs with doing the PLC over the coming months. I will keep everyone in the loop.

Picked up the tank and sump... really misjudged the weight of that big sucker. I will post pics tomorrow after it all gets cleaned up.

Here are some pics, still in the process of cleaning. But I figured I would get them up before I head back to work.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...10-0.jpg?rev=0

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Well phi delt, it appears you were right. Had a few issues with the PLC concept as I had some time to look into it over the last week or so. And it seems that I will be unable to find a cheap controller and HMI through work, which shoots the cost way up there.

I did however stumble upon the Profilux website and spent a few hours going over the P3 controller. Im thinking this could be a great route to go, it meets the vast majority of what I had planned. The intereface seems pretty good, and Im not going to be to upset that I dont have to sit around and write code up for weeks on end. It also sent me down another road for lighting as well. Im looking at the aqua illumination Sol moduals, although im not sold yet. This one seems like it is a very debated topic, LED that is. Ive read that the Vertex lights are also very good, and the person I was in contact with about the sol fixtures tried to push the pacific sun route. Oh the options. Any reefers out there care to chime in on this one?

Doug I heard that RC can order the profilux controllers in, is this true?

Well picked up a new toy, a Reef Octopus 250. I just cant say no to a deal. I have already ordered a bubble blaster 5000 which I plan on using to replace the two Sicce pumps that come with the 250. I think I am going to get a gate valve as well to replace the twist angle cut pipe to control the flow. Just seems like it would offer better control over the flow.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...08-0.jpg?rev=0

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Off to Calgary tomorrow with a planned stop into Red Coral on Tuesday...

Well its been a couple of crazy busy weeks, so not a lot got figured out towards the tank. Did a couple of Inventor drawings and will keep plugging away at them more and more in the next few months. My goal is to draw up everything that I could potentially want in the fish room, and set them up as blocks. That way when the big house purchase comes up here in the next year or so I can figure out what kind of room I'm going to need to make it, not to mention lay it out before I even get the equipment over to the new place. Also had time when I was in Calgary to stop into the new Red Coral, Nice shop!! Makes me all the more eager to move back home. Picked up a Profilux II Controller while I was there. The girlfriend is starting to give me weird looks which I can only assume mean "why the hell are you bringing more stuff into our place". Still stumped on the light though, the more and more I read on LED's paired with the more and more I look at the cost of the retail manufactures leads me to believe that I should build one myself. But I know nothing of it, doesn't seem too bad but I am awful at soldering. I may try my hand at a smaller one for say the spice garden in the winter.

Would anyone have any info on growing mangroves, I was thinking it would be pretty neat to grow one on either side of the tank also recessed into the wall. I will try and draw something up here on my next set of days off.

Well only a few more weeks of work till I head back to school for my final year, Im excited to get it over with. I am also excited to get a tank up and running, so much in fact that I couldn't wait till I moved and had a suitable place for the 180G. I was in Big Als in Edmonton the other day, as I love the shark tank when I came across a sale sign that stated the JBJ 28 HQI with stand was $550. Well thats a done deal!

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...02-0.jpg?rev=0

You can see the other new toy, the Profilux II.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...03-0.jpg?rev=0

I am currently waiting for a couple of orders to come in from Red Coral before I can get this up and running. They are:
-Profilux III Upgrade (was cheaper to go with the II and upgrade it)
-6 slot PAB
-2x optical level sensors with sensor bar
-Vertex 100gpd RO/DI unit
-30lbs Caribsea Aragamax select
-Profilux Touch
http://redcoralaquarium.net/online/i...b27cc28a80.gif

Hopefully the majority of the order is in for my next set of days off, which would enable me to get the system up and cycling by mid August. Exciting as I have missed staring into a little box of ocean for a while now.

Already having issues with a stocking list as the size of the tank is small. Would love to get some feedback from the more knowledgeable on the forum. What I am currently thinking:

Fish/inverts:

2x Wyoming White clownfish (ocellaris)

1x green mandarinfish (Striped Mandarin) Question about this species, I have heard many call them a psychedelic but a book I have calls the psychedelic a "spotted mandarin" or Synchiropus picturatus where as I am interested in the Synchiropus splendidus. Any help on the topic would be great.

2x Scarlet Cleaner shrimp

Various snails, say 5 - 8 of them

2x Blue legged hermit

As I am typing this out it already seems like alot packed into the 28G, which I have to remember isnt really 28G as I believe 3 - 4 gallons is allocated for the rear filtration section.

As for corals I am pretty open on the topic to peoples views, im looking for hearty and simple for the most part. I was thinking zoas and some... there are lots that I really enjoy the looks of but based on the information I have in these books I am really limited by size. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! I will spend the next several hours on Canreef and RC looking into what other keep on similar sized tanks. Thanks in advance for any help.

Well work is done for the summer so I can put some time into getting this going. One of my orders is in at Red Coral so I will have some new toys this afternoon. Also Ordered the AI Sol Super Blue LED from reefgeek early in the week, should be here Monday or tues. Pretty expensive for a small LED module, but I have heard nothing but good things, and it links up with the profilux really nice.

Couple of pics on the progress... which isn't much. Waiting on the AI Sol which should be in on Tuesday. Still debating on how im going to hang it, thinking about 1/2" tubing bent and attached to the back of the stand using conduit mounts. I would then hang the light off this, kind of like the Solana light mount. We will see.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...02-1.jpg?rev=0

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Making RO water :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

Well tank is full... rock and sand in. Found out that one of the stock return power heads is faulty, must been either a cut in the coating of the wire, or a crossed wire. Every time it sees current it trips the breaker. Guess I should have changed them out to mj 1200's while i had the chance. Ill grab some pics when the cloudiness calms down.

Well the cube is off and running. RO water to the top, Salt added to a 1.026 Salinity lvl, lights hung, shoes tied (I even tied them myself this time). I really like the AI Sol fixture so far, and I dont even have my Profilux back to play with it so its just a simple on and off type joy :mrgreen:. The color is nice, even with all 3 colors on full (I am assuming its 100%), its nice and light and doesnt give off a ton of heat which scared me with the HQI. Speaking of heat Im going to have to figure out why my tank temp swings from 78 - 82 with every hour that passes. If that were my range throughout the day I dont think it would be all that bad, but to bounce around that range ever hour seems kind of odd.

Just waiting on the Profilux and a vortech mp10 and the hardware should be good to go. Just need to figure out the ATO system after that and I should be golden. Trying to figure out a way to mount the profilux optical lvl sensor in the return section in the back, just not alot of room back there. Well enough of my yak yak here are some pics.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...22-0.jpg?rev=0

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...20-0.jpg?rev=0

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http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...27-0.jpg?rev=0

Sorry about the pictures... Im going to have to spend some time figuring out how to best shoot the tank due to lighting and the curved front. Oh look... a photography forum... Thanks Canreef.

A little better shot of the scape. No Blue/Royal Blue LED on for this shot.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...15-0.jpg?rev=0

Well the tank has been running for almost 2 weeks now. I started a massive cycle with a couple of shrimp a week or so ago. Just starting to see the ammonia creep towards zero now, still waiting on the Nitrites\ates. Not that there is any rush, I am still waiting on a few things before I feel the tank is ready to function on its own. This is the smallest tank I have ever had, in both fresh and salt water. I now see why people push others for a larger volume, it doesn't take much of a change to see wild swings in parameters. I need to get my ATO set up, did a salinity test this morning and saw 1.030! Crazy how high that climbed in 2 days of evap. Just waiting on the profilux PAB cable to hook up my 6 plug Powerbar, the 4 plug is already full as full can be. Ive heard that it could be in by the end of the week... along with the profilux touch I ordered in July:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

The brown algae has given way to more of the green, so I assume the silicates are starting to burn out. I had to raise the height of the AI Sol fixture to 8 inch above the water line and turn the intensity down a bit. Those LED's put out way more than I figured they would. Oh well this is the time to tinker with nothing in the tank... well essentially nothing. I managed to get either a spaghetti worm or Hair worm with the scoop of sand from Steve at RC. Thanks again Steve. Hope the little guy makes it through these swings for now. Maybe another week or so and I may.... just maybe be ready for a snail/hermit or two.

Picked up a HOB Refuge a few days ago thinking to myself "what a great way to add some extra volume and manage pods". Great in theory, until I got home and realized that I did not have enough room off the back of the tank and the wall. Sooooo Im moving my tank today. Fun stuff. On a brighter note the tank is almost completely cycled.

Figured I would post some pics about the light setup I have going. The profilux with the AI sol is a pretty neat setup, although Im sure the profilux with any LED would be a neat setup.

Current Light Curves:

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...ve-0.jpg?rev=0

And a shot of the graph display of Temp and pH. Ive played with temp setting since the tank was set up to see how much of a swing I could expect on hotter days, and not to bad.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...ph-0.jpg?rev=0

I like your rock work. How did you end up hanging the AI fixture?

I just ended up hanging it using the hanging kit from AI. The price on these fixtures was dropped a short while ago, pretty darn good light for the price now.

HOB refuge on

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...51-0.jpg?rev=0

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...53-0.jpg?rev=0

Had a few free minutes over the last day or two to work on the tank. Got the ATO all set up, just waiting on the PAB cable to hook up my 6 plug power bar to control the pump. I still find it amazing that when you purchase a product it doesn't come with everything you would need to hook it up. I should know better by now, we've all been dealing with this forever with printers. Just include the stuff needed and tack the additional costs on to the price. Oh well... Rant over. Picked up some LR rubble for the refuge as well as a couple of small pieces with nice coraline algae growth to seed the tank. Seeded both the refuge and tank with tigger pods. A small clean up crew went in, the better half had them all named within 5 minutes :lol:

Should have the touch screen by next week and hopefully the MP10ES by the week after. I'm sad to say I am pretty much done with the build part (still kind of my favorite part). I figure Ill let the tank roll for another month before I introduce the first fish, I was thinking of "feeding" the tank once a week for that month just to keep the bio load up.

Still trying to figure out how to take good pictures of the setup. The main problem is I cant black out the room from outside light sources. I will have to wait for night to take pics. The curved front adds a lot of distortion and I cant seen to find a way to deal with that. I also really need to get another lens for the camera, ive been looking into macro lenses online, ill have to hit a store here. Maybe this weekend :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

Guess I was wrong... I got the touch screen today!!!:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

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I also found out that the Profilux PAB cables are just Cat5 Ethernet Cables. So I ended up getting the 6 Slot Digi Power Bar hooked up and everything else programmed.

Best picture Ive taken with my camera and an aquarium. Nothing like you guys post... buts its a start.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...15-1.jpg?rev=0

Nice GHL order. The AI light run off of the GHL i found much smoother than off of their controller. Really digging the touch too. I've been eyeing the one up at progressive but since i have stopped tinkering with the tank i don't want to get one and constantly be changing things.

Thanks, the AI sol and the profilux is a pretty slick set up I must say. The touch doesn't give you much in the way of tinkering. Pretty much just a display with an option to start maintenance of feed modes, a separate trend of ph and temp (I really need to get the salinity probe) and starting a thunderstorm. More of a toy then anything, but it sure will look good recessed in the wall at my next house.

Been playing around with photoshop here for a bit, neat program. Still trying to figure things out, been watching some tutorials online. This is where I got that last picture too, I think it looks quite a bit better.

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...5a-0.jpg?rev=0

Noticed last night while feeding a few baby narcissus snails beetling around the tank. The one Turbo snail has been spawning like mad as well, maybe Ill see some wee ones soon.... or maybe not. Still battling with the big bristle worm, just cant seem to get him out of the tank, hes just to quick for me and tweezers. I guess I will make a trap here one of these days. Still waiting on the MP10, and ordered my first fish last week too. A pair of Black Clowns, I would imagine they will arrive in a couple weeks.