Sawdonkey’s 210 Build #2

Illinijoe said:
Apex to me is a must in that when setup right can save you from a crash. My apex has saved me two or three times now by sending me alerts when tank conditions have changed beyond parameters and giving me the opportunity to fix them before total disaster.
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This is pretty much why I bought it....safety. I think a lot of the automation actually complicates things more.
 
Apex, in addition to the items mentioned, i use the Apex to delay the turning on of the ato pump after filling my ato while kalk settles.
 
Sawdonkey said:
This is pretty much why I bought it....safety. I think a lot of the automation actually complicates things more.
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All the automation i was talking about is about safety all the float switches are used as alarms any ways to make sure the tank stays stabile . Plus im able to set a alarm for each switch so im able to check it . Leak detection is next as my cal reactor decided to blow a gasket luckily my wife caught it and tank only lost myane gal or two of water. I run everything on the apex even if its just a constant on. Just so if a alarm goes off i can literally control every piece of equipment from my phone. And i mean everything im running 4 eb8 and 1 eb4 plus a break out box and a total of 5 float switches. Plus cal reactor is a breeze with the apex and ph probes
 
Not to mention u can program a delay in skimmer turning on when power goes on and off. Van also program it to turn off when main pump is off. Honestly haven’t found much I can’t do with the apex. Also ph is a great number to watch. Don’t need to chase it but tells u other stuff once i had low ph reading but i put the probe in a cup with same tank water and it read fine come to find out stray voltage will make ph read low on the probe. Either way it was a good purchase buddy.
 
Building a legit electrical cabinet to house the apex and all of my mess.
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Well, that took up my whole night. Paint tomorrow night. Put in LED strip lights in the upper are to light up controls. Kindle Fire goes in the bottom for dedicated apex display.

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Mjl714 said:
How do you like the 40b, with those dividers you installed.
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Well, the first one popped out immediately, because it was stupidly tall and holding back a ton of water. Otherwise it’s fine. My old 75 sump just took up too much room.
 
Got my walnut skin back on my stand. I bought and countersunk some super strong magnets to hold the doors on. So my basement now looks similar how it looked before the fire....but better.

Now, wait for my new lights, start testing my water and getting it in good shape, and it’s acro time. Looking at piles of live rock with no coral is depressing.

Loving the new blue background in the tank. The fish really stand out against it.

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PO4 is at 0.5.....the highest I’ve ever seen in my tank. Got some Rowa going in a reactor to bring it down. I have some strange algae growing and obviously this is a contributor.

Salt was at 1.031, whoops. I guess I shouldn’t have been “eyeballing it” when filling the tank up. I took out some water and added fresh.

Alk is at 158 ppm which is about 30 ppm higher than I like it. This is simply from the large amount of water I made to fill the tank and because I have nothing consuming it.

Running carbon in another reactor to absorb whatever else accumulated in the water over the last 8 months. I don’t typically run carbon because my corals didn’t respond well to it.

Got a new RO membrane today because my old one was 150 god and I just couldn’t dial it in to get 0 TDS water.

My wife’s bout to have this baby any day, so my progress is likely to slow down a bit, but once I get my water in check, I’ll start adding acros.
 
Congrats on the little one as well, keep us posted on the baby as well.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
Sawdonkey said:
PO4 is at 0.5.....the highest I’ve ever seen in my tank. Got some Rowa going in a reactor to bring it down. I have some strange algae growing and obviously this is a contributor.

Salt was at 1.031, whoops. I guess I shouldn’t have been “eyeballing it” when filling the tank up. I took out some water and added fresh.

Alk is at 158 ppm which is about 30 ppm higher than I like it. This is simply from the large amount of water I made to fill the tank and because I have nothing consuming it.

Running carbon in another reactor to absorb whatever else accumulated in the water over the last 8 months. I don’t typically run carbon because my corals didn’t respond well to it.

Got a new RO membrane today because my old one was 150 god and I just couldn’t dial it in to get 0 TDS water.

My wife’s bout to have this baby any day, so my progress is likely to slow down a bit, but once I get my water in check, I’ll start adding acros.
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Congratulations on the baby Gunner :) make sure to have your blue led lights controllable on a phone or something ..

when babies are about 2-3 months old and when crying ....that blue light calms them like nothing else :) ohh have as much fun as you can before the baby arrives ;) cause after that its all work (sadly though its all that work we would love more than having fun )
 
Congrats on the baby! (I picked up a few small frags from you years ago - brought my little boy and at least a bottle or two of wine). My kid is now 9!
 
sawdonkey said:
Two days past the due date and no baby! But....this gave me some time to get my new lights up.

Two Orphek V4s. I already love them! The color when all channels are equal is very pleasant and you can easily tweak from there. The app to control them is super slick. There’s a little disco ball effect, but no different than when your in the actual ocean. The colors seem much more natural than my old lights. The blues don’t give the windex look and the whites/other colors don’t wash things out.

I mounted the lights using aluminum angle iron to the bottom of my canopy and it looks really clean. I thought I might buy some of the Orphek strips to supplement, but I can tell now that they won’t be needed.

I had a little issue getting the lights up and connected to the internet, but the Orphek customer service guys were insanely helpful. I mean immediate response to email. One guy in Germany ( I think) and one guy in Michigan trouble shooting for me at the same time. This really blew my socks off and would make me not hesitate at all to buy more if there product if ever needed.

A buddy hooked me up with PC Rainbow, WD, BC Glowstick, Pinky the Bear, and a couple other frags to get things going....so we’re off to the races!

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Vented my canopy tonight to keep the new lights cool. Two fans pushing air out the top and one pulling air in from the side.

Oh, and due to all of the stuff going on in the tank, I think I have briopsis, Dinos, and hair algae.

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