STT to VT

[ScubaDrew]

I was born in St. Thomas USVI and now live in VT. This will be a chronicle of brining a small piece of my home to Vermont!

[ScubaDrew]

I installed the Air, Water and Ice, Inc. (airwaterice.com) TYPHOON III RO/DI Unit in my laundry room in the basement. Easy to do, after grabbing some adaptors from the hardware store.

The unit seems well built, shipped quickly, tracking # provided. I have about 85 gallons of water in the tank now and will do some pre-salt testing and post the results.

So far I would recommend this product based on the service, instructions, and shipping.

Drew

[ScubaDrew]

Not one of my brighter moments - filling the tank w/ 5 gallon jugs. Thanks to a friend of mine in the water business I now have a pump for these jugs which makes this a lot safer!

I plan to use the pump and jug as an auto top-off system once things get rolling.

[boozeman]

looking good
there is a small restaurant on Charlotte Amalie street that serves delicious conch fritters..whenever I go to St. Thomas I love to stop there and wash 'em down with a cold ginger beer

[kinghokus420]

looks like a fun project. i have an AWI ro/di filter myself and i love it. though i am a bit jealous i dont have the clear covers. keep us posted with lots of pics.

[lcstorc]

Looking good. Sounds like it is almost time to add rock and sand then let the cycle begin.

[ScubaDrew]

Here is a CAD drawing of my hood, and the lighting I am considering.



The Hood in the drawing is a PFO - 2 Foot Custom Hood with 1 x Metal Halide + 2 x 75 Watt VHO (Marine Depot Link)

I'm going to put 1x URI 24 Inch VHO Actinic White Bulb (75 Watts), 1x URI 24 Inch VHO Super Actinic Bulb (75 Watts), and 1x 400 Watt 10000K Metal Halide Bulb - XM, Mogul Base

I dont have any specific plans for what I will keep in my tank. I love all the corals so just want to make sure I've got a good base to build up from!

If you think there is a better option for me, I'd really appreciate your thoughts!

Thanks everyone,

Drew

[Dentoid]

Drew, what a change in scenery for you! Anyway, 400W MH should be ample for that tank. You may have some shaded areas towards the corners, but will be a place for less light demanding cnidarians.

[ScubaDrew]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

Drew, what a change in scenery for you! Anyway, 400W MH should be ample for that tank. You may have some shaded areas towards the corners, but will be a place for less light demanding cnidarians.

Thanks for the feedback Dentoid! I did go with this configuration, most of it shipped same day from Marine Depot! I guess the fixtures are built when ordered so it will be another few days before that ships.

In hind site I wish I had waited to fill the tank as I'm not sure how good it is that the water has been sitting with a power head in it. Hopefully its OK.

I started to add salt slowly to it, a refractometer is part of the order I just placed....

[ScubaDrew]

I just placed an order for a durso standpipe. After lookin at the used tanks included pipe it appeared that the water flowing thru the overflow would have a 10-12 inch drop before draining through just a 1" pvc pipe. Hopefully this will nip the noise problem in the bud!

Richard J. Durso runs Dursostandpipes.com and is really helpful and has responded to a couple email questions quickly for me. Shipping seems a bit steep, but its supposed to be a beautiful weekend here and I wont have time to run to the home depot and grab all the parts needed to build this my self!

Drew

[ScubaDrew]

Originally Posted by kinghokus420

looks like a fun project. i have an AWI ro/di filter myself and i love it. though i am a bit jealous i dont have the clear covers. keep us posted with lots of pics.

I'm pleased so far, the output rate seem much HIGHER than I expected. I plan on doing some water tests and output measurements and posting them for everyone next week (supposed to rain). Clear covers were nice for the first 30 seconds to watch the water work its way through, also for monitoring the coloration of the filters. Other than that, it just sits in my laundry room... your not missing out on much!

[kathywithbirds]

Hi! Quite a relocation! Love the corner tank!

Ever use Coastal Air planes in the islands? My godfather owns the business, he's been on St. Croix forever.

[ScubaDrew]

Tank is full now and I've mixed salt in to 1.023 SG (32.8 ppt) measured with the new refractometer from marine depot. My rough estimate is sand and rock will displace water into the overflow and sump when added and hopefully not much more water or salt will be needed.

in the bottom of the picture you can see the 5gal jug and the pump i've been using to fill things. I'll use this system with a float valve to do automatic top off once things are running.

[ScubaDrew]

I started testing my power control system - its got EIA-232 (serial) and ethernet connections. I plan on controlling some systems via a laptop which will control lights, pumps, reactors, etc. Perhaps handle power outage situations by turning off lights and leaving just circulation pumps on... someday.

after a couple of hours wasted trying to get the serial connection up I found my problem - it uses some strange pinout on the serial to rj45 (specs Here)

I'll grab a crimper tomorrow and fabricate this adaptor instead of paying $9 + SH.

[ScubaDrew]

Balast, 2 VHOs and the 400W MH showed up this week. still waiting on the hood...

I've heard some warnings that the 400w might bleach out some things and that 2x250 might have been a better way to go. Anyone have any feeling on this?

Thanks!