Choff
Well-Known Member
Ordered my 650 on 3/19 and while I am waiting for delivery (3-4 week quote) I have been deep into the plans for my system. I posted a quick hello about a week ago and not rehash that thread this is my first first SW tank in over 20 years and my first ever reef tank. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Anyway, here is where I am at thus far:
- I sistered the floor joists. Tank is going in the first floor living room against a load bearing wall perpendicular to the joists. Ideal spot and probably didn't need as much support as I gave it, but for84 bucks I have peace of mind. The room below happens to be the only unfinished portion of the basement, so I had easy access as well.
- Made the outlet in the living room a GFCI and have it on its own circuit that has been connected to my back-up generator (self starts if power is out > 5 min).
- Ordered 2 35 Gallon Norwesco containers and a Panworld 40PX (480GPH - 14.5' max headroom ) pump to automate my water changes (planning on 10%/wk). These will go in the room directly below, 1 will be pure RODI water and the other my mixed Salt. I plan on cutting a hole in the corner of the floor that will have a pipe leading from the containers through the floor to a flexible hose that will either siphon off the old water or pump in the new depending on how I have the valves set. Eventually I would like to add a large refugium in this room to at least double my overall water volume. This would also act as a natural chiller as the basement is always nice and cool in the summer.
- Ordered Heater & powerhead for salt mixing container
- Ordered 5 stage BRS PLUS RODI
- Ordered Milwaukee refractometer + calibration fluid
- Ordered Hanna Checker Calcium, Phosphate & Alklinity + lab grade distilled water for the calcium test.
- Ordered API SW test kit set (Amonia/nitrite/nitrate/PH) for cycle
- Ordered API reef test kit set (Nitrate/calcium/phosphate/Alkalinity) - cheap redundancy.
- Ordered Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
- Ordered Mag float 350
- Craigslisted a 30 Gallon setup as a QT tank
TBD:
- What kind, where and how much live rock to get online vs LFS?
- How deep of a sand bed to use?
- Decide if I want to get a monitor/control system now or wait and regret I didn't do it at the start
- If I do I seem to be leaning toward Apex. I know there seems to be a strong bias towards Profilux on these boards, but I just seem to like the Apex better.
- If I don't do a monitor/controller, I am looking at a Pinpoint PH monitor and some other individual Temp controller.
- Spill/overflow/leak alarm?
- Trying to figure out what if any reactor(s) I should be considering.
- Coming up to speed on water chemistry so along with the reactors, what other water additives will I need? Magnesium, Calcium, PH control, etc
- What else should I be using a lab quality test kit on? Nitrate I assume? None, API is really good enough?
- What other element test kits do I actually need? Magnesium, Iron, silicate etc. Plan on taking a wait and see approach with these.
- Any additional chemical filtration I should be considering? Nitrate removal apart from WC?
- Am I going to need a chiller or not? I live in Mass. We get in the mid 90's for a couple months out of the year, but we have AC and keep the house around 75 in the summer and 70 in the winter. There can be some days in the spring and fall that I can be in the mid 80s in the house when we don't have the AC going. I also don't know how much heat the system itself is going to add to the water. Since it will be around early May when I have it set up I can just wait and see how things work out and add it later before any life is in the tank.
- Should I also prep a sick/hospital tank in addition to a QT tank?
- What if anything should I put around the tank to protect the hardwood floor from the inevitable spills?
- What color to paint the living room walls?? Actually my wife's dilemma, but she wants to paint the room before the tank goes in.
- What else am I missing that I am not considering that I should?
I'll post some picts when I actually have something interesting to show.
Thanks for reading and I welcome any comments or suggestions.
~Choff
- I sistered the floor joists. Tank is going in the first floor living room against a load bearing wall perpendicular to the joists. Ideal spot and probably didn't need as much support as I gave it, but for84 bucks I have peace of mind. The room below happens to be the only unfinished portion of the basement, so I had easy access as well.
- Made the outlet in the living room a GFCI and have it on its own circuit that has been connected to my back-up generator (self starts if power is out > 5 min).
- Ordered 2 35 Gallon Norwesco containers and a Panworld 40PX (480GPH - 14.5' max headroom ) pump to automate my water changes (planning on 10%/wk). These will go in the room directly below, 1 will be pure RODI water and the other my mixed Salt. I plan on cutting a hole in the corner of the floor that will have a pipe leading from the containers through the floor to a flexible hose that will either siphon off the old water or pump in the new depending on how I have the valves set. Eventually I would like to add a large refugium in this room to at least double my overall water volume. This would also act as a natural chiller as the basement is always nice and cool in the summer.
- Ordered Heater & powerhead for salt mixing container
- Ordered 5 stage BRS PLUS RODI
- Ordered Milwaukee refractometer + calibration fluid
- Ordered Hanna Checker Calcium, Phosphate & Alklinity + lab grade distilled water for the calcium test.
- Ordered API SW test kit set (Amonia/nitrite/nitrate/PH) for cycle
- Ordered API reef test kit set (Nitrate/calcium/phosphate/Alkalinity) - cheap redundancy.
- Ordered Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
- Ordered Mag float 350
- Craigslisted a 30 Gallon setup as a QT tank
TBD:
- What kind, where and how much live rock to get online vs LFS?
- How deep of a sand bed to use?
- Decide if I want to get a monitor/control system now or wait and regret I didn't do it at the start
- If I do I seem to be leaning toward Apex. I know there seems to be a strong bias towards Profilux on these boards, but I just seem to like the Apex better.
- If I don't do a monitor/controller, I am looking at a Pinpoint PH monitor and some other individual Temp controller.
- Spill/overflow/leak alarm?
- Trying to figure out what if any reactor(s) I should be considering.
- Coming up to speed on water chemistry so along with the reactors, what other water additives will I need? Magnesium, Calcium, PH control, etc
- What else should I be using a lab quality test kit on? Nitrate I assume? None, API is really good enough?
- What other element test kits do I actually need? Magnesium, Iron, silicate etc. Plan on taking a wait and see approach with these.
- Any additional chemical filtration I should be considering? Nitrate removal apart from WC?
- Am I going to need a chiller or not? I live in Mass. We get in the mid 90's for a couple months out of the year, but we have AC and keep the house around 75 in the summer and 70 in the winter. There can be some days in the spring and fall that I can be in the mid 80s in the house when we don't have the AC going. I also don't know how much heat the system itself is going to add to the water. Since it will be around early May when I have it set up I can just wait and see how things work out and add it later before any life is in the tank.
- Should I also prep a sick/hospital tank in addition to a QT tank?
- What if anything should I put around the tank to protect the hardwood floor from the inevitable spills?
- What color to paint the living room walls?? Actually my wife's dilemma, but she wants to paint the room before the tank goes in.
- What else am I missing that I am not considering that I should?
I'll post some picts when I actually have something interesting to show.
Thanks for reading and I welcome any comments or suggestions.
~Choff