Robert's 210 no expenses spared build (1 Viewer)

[Ranglin5o]

Rank these in importance to you:

Spread
Spectrum
Intensity
Visual aesthetics to you
Controllability

Intensity
Spectrum
Control
Visual
Spread

 

[Erin]

I have a photon v2 48 I might be persuaded to part with, if you're looking for used.

 

[R-BallJunkie]

i run skys. they work. no complaints. cheaper than CC ymmv

Yeah...what threw me off was this....hopefully, no long term issues for you.

 

[Cody]

Yeah...what threw me off was this....hopefully, no long term issues for you.

And that’s on a single LED unit that costs about $1,000 with tax. Insane.

 

[soymilk]

Yea I was peeved

But honestly its an apex product. All apex stuff is built like a cheap toy. I was dumb to expect more.

With that being said I don’t have it in a canopy. But it’s been hanging in there. Literally and figuratively

 

[Ranglin5o]

UPDATE*

So I used Brightwell's XLM and Quikstart to do my fishless cycle. It has been going right along with the instructions until today. I have a slight bit of confusion now that my NITRATE spiked up to 80ppm semi early.

Ammonia dropped to 0 today
NITRITE stayed at its 2.0 mark.
Yesterday NITRATE was almost to 5.0ppm now 80ppm today

Temp has been set at 84 degrees since the start.

I know I know I know the salinity is high but I mixed the Brightwell salt per the instruction and it ended up being a lot higher then the 1.024 I was aiming for.

Thoughts???

 

[Ranglin5o]

Wondering if I should do another full shot of ammonia in the tank to help...

Wrong path or just wait?

 

[soymilk]

Your nitrate being 80ppm worries me

 

[Ranglin5o]

Current today before a 40g water change bacause the high nitrate did worry me.

pH - 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate - 40/50ppm
Salinity - 1.025

 

[soymilk]

What water did you use to mix the saltwater with?

Tap water?

 

[Ranglin5o]

What water did you use to mix the saltwater with?

Tap water?

Mixxed in the sump little at a time and added calculated amount

 

[soymilk]

It’s a bit weird to have that much nitrate off the bat. Was wondering if you used rodi water or tap water to mix your saltwater

 

[Ranglin5o]

Rodi 7 stage system. It ran in the tank for over a week being filtered without anything in it besides the dry rock and sand.

 

[Cody]

Your nitrate being 80ppm worries me

My knee jerk reaction is to blame the test kit. No way the nitrates spike that much on a fish-less cycle, assuming everything else is working as it should. I don't think the water source was the issue either because he reported a significant drop in nitrates after a water change.

 

[soymilk]

that makes alot of sense. maybe get a 2nd test kit for nitrates. If you wanna drive to the missouri city area, I'm more than happy to do test on it with my kit.

 

[BigRick]

I may have missed it but didn't read it... where did the rock come from? Done a phosphate test? Rocks could be the source.

 

[jrounding]

For every 1 ppm of ammonia you will get 3.6 ppm of nitrate. If you’re dosing ammonia then you can get an idea if 80 ppm makes sense. Also apparently some test kits will mistakenly read nitrite as nitrate. That’s according to Randy Holmes-Farley who’s one of the go to guys for Reef chemistry. Just trying to throw a different theory out there to muddy the waters a bit. What lights did you end up going with? I’ve seen good results with all the lights. I personally run Hydra 32s, but a lot of coral shops seem to run Radeon from what I’ve experienced. Kessil makes lights for all kinds of stuff so I would expect their lights to be good as well. I personally would go look at some in a shop and see what you like personally. Both AI and EcoTech will be controllable in Apex with the Mobius Control Module that’s supposed to be coming soon.

 

[Ranglin5o]

Well its long overdue but here is the current update on my build!


Apex is setup and it has helped me keep everything in check!
*FMM is hooked up to monitor my return line and skimmer GPH
*Keeping the tank at 1100GPH cycling
*Skimmer is turning 800GPH and has helped pull more junk out

Have new Orphek light bars in, waiting for the new wifi systems to come available and 4 more 60" bars will be ordered


Manifold is in now and tired to my skimmer, bio-pellet reactor, and carbon reactor. Have plenty of room to expand for my UV and Bashsea 8-30 Bioreactor


Skimmer is working great! Externally plumbed and still around 800GPH running through it

 

[Ranglin5o]

My original 3150GPH pumps just wouldn't cut it and wasn't letting the tank cycle more then 600GPH at 100% and 400GPH on the manifold
I got a new return and manifold pump installed last week.
*Return - 5283GPH / Set at 70% and turning 1100GPH now
*Manifold - 4755GPH / Set at 70% and flowing 800GPH in my skimmer

Finished up the new canopy!
Ignore the wires! They were temp for the lights before everything got finished for cable management

 

[Ranglin5o]

Will be building the lower cabinet and finish that up this weekend!

I have new parts I'm ordering this week..

Adaptive Reed Control Board to hang on the wall with Apex equipment
Bashsea Bio-Reactor 8x30
Bashsea Media Reactor 6-18 x 2 (for carbon and gfo)
Apex auto feeder
Apex FMM for more sensors
Apex leak detection
Apex 1" flow meter
Apex 1/2" flow meter x2