Quote:
Originally Posted by mike31154
Nice job so far. My 77 is a Hagen as well, purchased used a number of years ago. No idea how old it is, but it's pretty robust that's for sure, no center brace needed apparently. Interesting that you mention your stand is solid plywood. I've peeled a little of the black vinyl off the bottom piece of mine & it looks like very high density presswood. Not sure about any of the other parts, doors etc, haven't peeled any vinyl off those to check. Perhaps mine is a bit newer than 1992 & they went from plywood to presswood to increase the profit margin in later years.
Mine is not drilled, running sumpless but also have plans for a new tank with basement sump. Aquascaping is a bit of a challenge as you mention with the narrow 16 inch side dimension. I have two groups of rock more or less running down the center so I'm able to clean most of the glass, although there are a couple of spots I can't get with the magfloat where one rock & a coral are too close to the glass. C'est la vie. My livestock seems relatively content with the way things are arranged, but I guess they don't have a choice, they're stuck with where they are for the moment.
Your RODI system looks bomber. Might even be overkill for your area. Not sure about Victoria, but I know from reading various threads here that the Vancouver folks have very low TDS water to start with. Some of them could probably run DI only to get pure water & the DI media would still last a long time. You've got a TDS meter built on to yours, might be an idea to see what your tap water TDS is and tune your RODI rig for better efficiency. If TDS is really low, you may be able to run one or more of your housings empty & save money on filter media plus increase production with less waste water. Looks like it also includes a booster pump, which may or may not be required depending on incoming water pressure. If you're on a well, the booster pump will definitely help production.
Looking forward to seeing more. I started SW with no experience either (not even a freshwater tank) and aside from the odd newb mistake, haven't had any major set backs.
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Thanks Mike!
Yeah, no center brace in mine although if you put your eye to the front panel it's got a clear deflection to it, maybe 3/8" or so. But It's always had that so not too worried. I did re-seal it when I got it back from my sister and other than some cracking on the top rim that oozes salt creep (that drives me nuts!) it's still a great tank.
My rock work ended up being just a wall with a couple top pieces leaning on the back glass with a bit of epoxy in-between. I too have a couple pieces too close to the sides and can't clean as well as I probably should. Not real happy with it and I'm going to try re-aquascaping once I get my nano up and running. I'm going to try and move 30% of the rock to the nano and the sump.
As far as the RO/DI system, you're totally right, way over kill. I tested the incoming water once I had it set up and if memory serves me correctly it was around 70 TDS or so. after the RO it's 0. I actually never thought of skipping a chamber, thanks for the idea.
My house pressure is barely 60psi and with the 2nd reef miser membrane they recommended at least 80 psi to get the 1:1 discharge rate. I'm on a water meter so water conservation is pretty key for me.