Daplatapus's upgrade

[daplatapus]

Originally Posted by kien

wow, that's a wicked structure you got there Dap.

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by asylumdown

yah that's really awesome, I love it. Also, how on earth do you have the patience to sit looking at an aquascaped tank for months without putting water in it? I couldn't stand it!

Well to be honest, it's actually not patience. It's either having absolutely no time to work on it other than a half hour here, an hour there, or I haven't got a dime to proceed any further, lol. Lately, work has been killer busy, so I've been able to gather some stuff up, but no time to install or build it. Thankfully I have 2 other tanks running that keeps my interest. Although now (pics coming) now that I've completed another huge step, I think patience is going to be a necessity.

Originally Posted by Slyguy00

That rock scape is killer! Cant wait to see it running!

Thanks bud. I can't wait to see it running either. My original plan was to hook this tank up in tandem with my other 2 tanks, slowly move everything from my 77gal into it then shut the 77 down. But seeing how I apparently have AEFW in it, I picked up a 125 gal from Neoh so I'm going to build a new sump and get the 210 running all on it's own. Once it's up and running, I'll dip and QT all my SPS, making sure I don't transfer anything over. Then shut the 77 down and sell the old sump.

[daplatapus]

Well, I had the afternoon to work on the tank! I finalized my rock work and got the face frames on the cabinet and the trim!!!!!! WOOHOOO! and DAMN, it looks good if I do say so myself. Now, I'm getting eager to see water in it.
So, without further ado..... here's how it sits as of tonight.

[DAVE]

That looks awesome. You did a hell of a job

[FishingGoalie]

Thats soooo sweet

[daplatapus]

Tiny update, built a shelving unit downstairs under the tank to give at least a wee bit of assistance to the floor joists. An engineer buddy of mine ran the numbers and said I was good, but over built rarely hurts anybody

Got a pleasant surprise yesterday. I ordered one of these last week:
http://www.lockewell.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=161

My self discipline is severely lacking and water changes have not exactly been regular, so after reading a bunch on RC about daily water changes I decided to buy one of these pumps and control it with the Apex.
Anyway, I get a call from UPS asking if I have a customs broker or if I want them to do it. I've never been asked that before by UPS! Thankfully I've ordered a bunch of tools and equipment out of the states before and have an account set up with Summit custom's brokers in Van so that should save me a bit of money. Anyway, just surprised they called first rather than give me the bill at my door. They must be getting a lot of Canadians complain.

[daplatapus]

Pump got delivered on Friday. I can't wait to get it set up.

[asylumdown]

That thing is amazing! How is it going to work? If it's going to do automated changes for you every day, won't you still need to be super on top of making sure you've got a reservoir of mixed salt water on hand? How do you control it?

[daplatapus]

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to hooking it up and knowing I'm actually getting water changes done

I always have 30 gal of SW mixed and 30 gal of FW for top up in Brute cans. Because the pump has 2 heads and 1 motor, it takes out exactly the same as it puts back in. So my plan is to set the intake of the one head in the first chamber of my sump, where my drains are and the discharge in the drain. The other head will take water from my 30 gal SW can and will pump it into my final return chamber of the sump.
My initial plan is to change 1% a day for a total of 30% a month. There's a thread on RC that shows that accounting for pumping out new water with the old, you still end up changing about 28% volume. This particular pump is rated for 100 gpd change so I'll just do the math and control it via my Apex on one of the plugs on the EB8.
For starters, I'll just do it in a tub of normal water to make sure I have the water volumes right.
I will have to watch my SW reservoir vary carefully to make sure it doesn't empty, but the pump is actually rated to run dry so it won't hurt anything if it does, I just won't be doing any more water changes. My goal is to find a couple 60 gal containers so I have a bit more forgiveness.

[asylumdown]

Do the lengths of pipe/head pressure in your inlet outlet lines need to be the same for it to always pump the exact same amount of water in and out, or are peristaltic pumps not as affected by that?

[daplatapus]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Do the lengths of pipe/head pressure in your inlet outlet lines need to be the same for it to always pump the exact same amount of water in and out, or are peristaltic pumps not as affected by that?

My understanding is that it doesn't matter. Because of the roller running over the tube, it actually meters out a set volume each rotation regardless of the length of the intake or discharge. There is a bit of debate on RC about which model/manufacturer does this to the greatest accuracy, but I figure if I check my tank salinity every month when I re-fill my water change can, I can adjust anything if I need to.

They do sell a huge variety of these pumps, from I think 4 gal per day upwards. I bought the 100 gpd so I can do large water changes if I need to.