Time for another update! I've been buying SPS like crazy lately. I think I'm at the point I'm happy to just let things grow now. I'm sure if I see some small frags I'll grab them, but I'm not as eager to fill the tank as its pretty well stocked right now.
I made some hardware changes and additions since my last update.
I switched out my return for a EcoTech Vectra L1 (the smaller of the two) and have been nothing but happy with it. It's quiet and powerful. The only downside is not being able to have apex talk directly with it, but I don't ever see the need to automate the flow rate as I have a few things manifold off of it and changing the flow rate would require adjusting at several other points.
I'm using a standard avast media reactor for my carbon that I'm actually running backwards to prevent the carbon from tumbling and breaking down that then runs over to the avast spyglass reactor for my gfo.
I got a skimz calcium reactor that was originally designed for in-sump use. I ended up wanting a refugee so I made some modifications to the CalRx and moved it out of the sump and have been pretty happy.
Yesterday I also got a second energy bar for the apex and a BRS 50ml/min dosing pump that I set up in the back where my water making station and Automatic water change is. the idea was to have my ato run back there to lessen the equipment noise in my living room. Ill also be adding some more equipment back there. current plans for back there are as follows
-Heater controlled via apex for saltwater mixing container. The room isn't heated although the furnace is back there it hovers around 40 degrees in the winter. I want to heat the water up to aid salt dissolving easier in the warmer water.
-Solenoid to control the automatic refill of the saltwater container. When the auto water change has depleted the new saltwater, apex will open the valve to start the filling of it. In theory the only water change maintenance I'll have will be to add salt to the container monthly. this leads me to my next piece of the puzzle
-PM2 Salinity probe set up with Temp probe. Apex will watch the water making station, if the Salinity drops below an Ideal value, like when it automatically refills with new RODI water when empty it will shut down the AWC until its corrected by adding salt to the container. This will also control the heater
- Red and Green LEDs. I'm gonna have some RGB LED strips either around the rim of the saltwater container or nearby. The idea is if the salt level is below a set value the strips will be Red, when at the right value they'll turn green so you'll know you've added the right amount of salt.
-ALD from apex. I'll have some leak probes on the ground to tell apex to shut down everything in this backroom and text me if it detects water
-another Solenoid! This will be the emergency shut off to the RODI unit from the main supply line if a leak is detected.
Under the stand I also want to T off my ATO line, one side will continue to go through my Kalk stirrer the other to a misting nozzle I found on Aliexpress to mist the leaves on my mangroves. This is going to be a bit of experimentation as I'm not 100% the dosing pump will provide enough pressure for the misting valve and I'm also concerned about the t and water favoring one side more than the other. I'm gonna play around with some ball valves to overcome the favoring and it that doesn't work I'll look at a solenoid setup and program a specific time to spray the mangroves as this will really be a small amount of water compared to evaporation. If the dosing pump pressure becomes the issue i'll just go back to the drawing board. I'd like to use my existing RODI supply line to the tank and not add reservoir near the tank just to spray the mangroves.
Lastly I had Tank it easy come over about a month ago to quiet down my overflow. I was pulling my hair out trying to get it sorted to where my girlfriend wasn't complaining about it all the time. They worked magic! I was very happy with their service and how quickly they got the project done.
I'll try to get some pictures up next week. I'm on my way to vegas for work this weekend.
