Reef Pilot's Undersea Oasis

[Reef Pilot]

When we bought the house and inherited the SW tank system, it came with an RO (no DI) system under the kitchen sink. It also had a pressure storage tank, which meant you always had a a few gallons of ready made RO water, and a faucet upstairs for household use. And a line ran downstairs to the sump room for the SW tank use.

However, the RO system was not owned, and we had to pay $30+ a month to Canadian Springs to maintain it (change filters, etc). Well, after being on Canreef and searching around on the internet, I soon discovered there was a better way, ie. install and maintain your own.

I bought this used RO/DI from a local Canreefer, and turns out, it is a pretty good system.
http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1...r-100-GPD.html



It is 75 gpd, has an Auto Shut Off valve and I have an inline dual TDS meter giving after RO and after DI readings. It also has a pressure gauge. I retained the pressure storage tank and separate RO only feed for upstairs use and drinking water. Here is a pic of the RO faucet on the kitchen sink.



So I am pretty happy with my RO/DI system.

[lastlight]

Curious to see how the tank is incorporated into the kitchen. Can you post a shot of the whole tank? Nice work on rejuvenating a 10 year old nutrient sink.

[Reef Pilot]

Sure, here is a pic of that part of the kitchen.

[lastlight]

there's the money shot! why the heck were you holding out? looks awesome.

[Reef Pilot]

Haha, it was coming.... Was trying to catch up on history first.... More to come, and eventually more FTS and in-tank coral shots.

[Reef Pilot]

I replaced a bunch of T5 bulbs shortly after we moved in, and a year later was facing another $3 -350 to do it again. At that time, LEDs were really being hyped, especially the Radions. I didn't like the cost, but they sounded good with all the control, and success people were having with growing corals. So when J&L put them on sale on Boxing Day (2011), I jumped on the bandwagon and bought 3 of them for my tank.

But how do I fit them into my enclosed tank canopy, with only 9 inches of room between the ceiling and the top of the tank? I didn't like any of the hanging options that were for sale and wasn't getting a lot of good ideas with my internet searches. What I really wanted was some kind of sliding rail attachment. Then I found this at Home Depot. It was almost too perfect, and cheap, too. And in the electrical dept, of all places.
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/wire...l-ivory/911637



I cut them to size, drilled holes and mounted the rail sliders to the Radion fixtures (using the supplied eye bolts), and the channels to my canopy ceiling.






With the channel and railings, the fixtures can be adjusted fore and aft for lighting preference, and can be easily removed for cleaning.



So, that took care of that. I later added another tank downstairs and used the same lights and mounting system.

[Reef Pilot]

A couple of years ago, I bought a Coralife DC5800 Wavemaker pump set with controller. They are 2 pumps at 2900 gph each and all the pulse and wave making options with the controller.

And yes, it is the much hated Coralife brand. But they were less than 1/2 the price of one Ecotech MP40, and came with a lifetime warranty. They did come with suction cups instead of magnets, but interestingly the Koralia magnets fit them perfectly. And I just happened to have a couple from some older defunct Koralias, so that is what I used. Also you can buy the Koralia magnets cheap on the internet.

The Coralife pumps actually worked very well, much quieter than the MP40's, and no external pump and wires hanging outside your tank to get bumped or for kids to fiddle with.

I bought a second set of these Coralife pumps last year when I set up my downstairs tank..., again, because they were the best buy at the time and was happy with the performance of my first ones.

I do have to mention, though, that I had a problem with one of my first pumps, with some bushing wear. So this was going to be a test of their warranty and customer service. I emailed them, and after verifying my purchase info, they promptly sent out a brand new set of pumps right to my home, with no delivery or other cost. I didn't even have to send back the old ones. So I certainly have no problem with their customer service.

Then just this summer, I bought some Jebao WP40 pumps, and added 2 more of these to my upstairs tank. So with the Coralife and Jebao pumps, I now have about 12,000 gph flow using the turbulent modes in my 6 foot 100 gallon tank. I think my SPS really like it, though. The pump controllers all have light sensors, and at night, the flow is dialed down, so the fish and corals can get a rest.

I do like the Jebao pumps better, though, and not just because of the price. Because they are similar to the Tunze design, the flow direction can be more easily adjusted to better suit your rock design and coral placement.

[Reef Pilot]

Thanks, guys. But yeah, never would have planned to put a tank in a kitchen. And most wives would probably never allow it. However, this one fits in nicely there in front of the island counter. And gets a lot of attention where it is.

[Reef Pilot]

Once I got the upstairs tank nutrient problem under control, it was time to start thinking about SPS corals. I'd been drooling over many of the TOTM and FTS pics here on Canreef and RC for some time, and knew what I wanted. But first I had to rearrange some rocks and make room for new corals.

So I figured the easiest way to do that is set up another tank downstairs and move some of my old corals down there, as well as some of the fish. I also bought another 100 lbs of marco rock, which I let cycle for a couple months first. I spread these around in both tanks, mixing with the old live rock.



Home Depot had a clearance sale on a bunch of modular cabinets, and used those to build a stand as well as a little kitchenette with a sink right across from my sump room. Even used their laminate counters, so everything matched. And I have lots of storage space now for all my stuff.

The tank is an old 130 g Hagen that I picked up cheap. I got a couple holes drilled in the back, and built 2 overflows around them. The sump room is right behind the back, so it was easy to plumb it in.

Initially, the tank ran with its own sump and skimmer (my old beckett). I even used the old water from the upstairs tank with water changes, to save on salt costs. But I only had 1 chiller, so in the summer, I plumbed both tanks together using 1 sump, to cool them both. It also simplified maintenance. I did have to deal with higher phosphates for a while with the combined tanks, because previously only the upstairs tank was running with GFO. I still don't have my phosphates down to zero, and did have a bit of an algae outbreak in the upstairs tank. But things are getting under control again now, and corals are all good.