Red Sea Monster 2000L+ in-Wall System

[Mischko]

Doubt you will find it in a forum, but I am sure he will document the built of it and I will help out there at times so I can take a few pictures myself. I am sure he won't mind me posting some stuff then. I have registered some domains for us and a new root server, so maybe it will be going there.

 

[tnwillia]

Hey Juan, I'm leaning towards that pump because of the shaft material (actually I'll probably order it this weekend) and after looking thru many sites I found a lot of Reeflo pump shafts that looked like yours or worse. Internal or External will still depends on the Sump I get and room to work with. But now I see an internal option if I need it. Thanks!

Mischko, WOW that rock is something else, good luck with your build!

 

[jpsika08]

Mischko, hope we can see more from that project, would love to get some ideas and the how's from German people

Tom, I think I didn't answer this but the pump is not transferring any heat to the tank as of now, if it, is it must be very little as I have to use the heaters at night.

 

[jpsika08]

Well guys, here it goes, the quick review of the Calcium Kit:

The kit comes similar to the other Hanna Checker test kits,
1. 2 Vials test tubes with a 10Ml mark.
2. Unit for testing (Of course)
3. 2 Syringes, 1 one white used for pulling reagent A and 1 Green used to pull Sample water from the tank.
4. 25 Reagent B power bags
5. 25 Kits Reagent A liquid (Similar to the Alk test)
6. A pretty cheap Dropper
7. Instructions
8. AAA Battery for Test Kit

Well here is basically the steps you have to follow to get the results (If you own the Hanna Alk Kit you can compare number of steps between these):
1. Pull with white syringe 1ML of Reagent A and drop in Test Vial
2. Using Deionized water (From RODI Unit) fill the vial to the 10ML mark
3. Then you have to invert the vial 3 - 5 times and clean the surface from any debris or fingerprints.
4. Turn on test kit and when C1 Appears with the PRess word blinking, insert Vial close kit and push button
5. After C2 Appears, remove the vial from the test kit, open cap
6. With the Green Syringe (And here comes the tricky part), Pull 0.1ML of Sample Water (Tank).
7. Pour water in the vial
8. Pour Reagent B powder in the vial
9. Shake Vigorously for 15 seconds and then place the vial on a flat surface and wait another 15 seconds for all bubbles within the vial dissipate.
10. Insert the test tube and press button
11. Read the Results.

It takes around three minutes to do this, I still don't fully trust the results, I have done it three times with different numbers at the end, the part of dosing tank water is a hassle as you need to be very precise to pour just 0.1 ML of tank water.

Though, the kit is well made as the rest of Hanna products, I know I have probably made an error during testing and this is the cause of different results.

Wished Hanna would include better quality Syringes, a 10ML syringe instead of the cheap dropper and maybe a little funnel as dropping powder in the vial is kinda difficult.
With the rest I think it's easier and cleaner than my API kit, and faster I may add.

 

[lethal]

Nice kit Juan. Is this a timed test like the PO4 checker. I have the phos checker and I find that you have to time everything just right to get the readings.

 

[jpsika08]

Good question Leigh, with this kit you don't have a time limit in between stages, even when you place back the Vial at the C2 stage, just push the button once (Instead of holding it as the Phosphate test) and the results come up within 5 seconds.

What is important with this one is to rinse the test vial after the test pretty quickly as it can stain the glass.

 

[tnwillia]

Thanks Juan, the Heat transfer is a big part of going internal or not for me. I have to rework my plumbing plans, while I could probably run everything I plan to do off this single pump I'll likely run a smaller version of the same pump for my Skimmer, UV, Reactors and anything else that comes up off a multi port manifold or distrabutor. But the 1600 will be my return pump. Knowing how it's running for you lets me consider adding more return plumbing paths other than just down the center line of the tank.

Have fun with the new tester!

 

[lethal]

Cheers Juan, it sounds like it is easier than the po4 checker.

 

[jpsika08]

Glad to help Tom

Thank Leigh, agree, it's easier than the PO4 test,

 

[GregT]

Good review Juan. The Hanna checkers sound great.

Must be a better way to reliably get the small 0.1ml quantities

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

+1 ^ thanks for the review Juan

& +1 the 0.1ml quantities does seem like it would be so easy to make like a 10% + mistake...

 

[Rhodes19]

Thanks for the review Juan. I have the Hanna Checker phos and alk test kits and I like them a lot. The only complaint I have is its difficult to open the case and its a tight fit to close the top of the case.

 

[Mischko]

Do us a favor, Juan and if you can, test against a reference solution. That will be interesting.

 

[jpsika08]

Good review Juan. The Hanna checkers sound great.

Must be a better way to reliably get the small 0.1ml quantities

Thanks Greg, agree, with such small dose it can be very easy to get bad results.

+1 ^ thanks for the review Juan

& +1 the 0.1ml quantities does seem like it would be so easy to make like a 10% + mistake...

Thanks Glenn, yes, I will think on how to get more exact measure, it can be 10% or even a little more on such small quantity.

Thanks for the review Juan. I have the Hanna Checker phos and alk test kits and I like them a lot. The only complaint I have is its difficult to open the case and its a tight fit to close the top of the case.

You're welcome Chris, also have those others and yes it's a hassle on the PO4 to open it, now with the Alk as I have been using it much more it now opens easier, time will loosen it a bit.

Do us a favor, Juan and if you can, test against a reference solution. That will be interesting.

Done deal, I have a new batch mixing since yesterday, I will just measure the salinity of it and see how much Ca I should be getting at 1.026 based on the Salt reference and compare the Hanna test with that.

 

[jpsika08]

Ok, another update on the Hanna Ca kit:

Apparently RO/DI water can bring Calcium also (Water from the faucet), so it's recommended to use distilled water.

I made another test on the new salt batch

API 380
Hanna 429

I think we have some good results here, on the other hand, re tested the tank's Calcium

API 400
Hanna 427

Hmmm, which should I trust?!

 

[steved13]

Juan, You could get some callibration fluid, that would tell you for sure.

 

[jpsika08]

Thanks Steve, which one would you recommend?

 

[gimmito]

Juan,

Thanks for the review. You might want to checkout this place for lab grade instruments.

Aquatic Eco-Systems: Aquarium supplies: filters, lighting, food, heaters, chillers

 

[crespeto]

thanks for the review Juan, looks pretty good, results seem to be semi repeatable, not sure how the api one is, but if it is the add a drop check the color thing, that seem pretty open to error as far as uniform drops, number of drops and then checking color. the difference is like 6 drops or something between the api results and the hanna one, so could just be that.

 

[Reefmack]

The thing I like least about the Hanna checkers is those powder reagent packets, and trying to get all the powder out of them. I think those are one source of error. I really liked it when they came out with a liquid reagent for the alk checker - that was when I started getting repeatable alk test results that compared well with Salifert.