DBrinson's 280G Odyssey
- Thread starter DBrinson
- Start date
DBrinson
Member
DT delayed until the week of the 20th.
Forgive the undersea rage, just having a moment of weakness today.
On the plus side, the seagrass is "taking" very well, much faster than it did in my last tank. I haven't had my system ORP drop low enough to trigger the ozone generator for almost a week, those vascular plants are certainly photosynthesizing away!
Here is a chart showing my system ORP over the course of planting my seagrass bed. (I had to cut and paste the Apex charts in photoshop to get them to "fit", could only make a chart of one week at a time)
See the "sawtooth" pattern? That shows times when my system was overwhelmed with organic matter, the ORP drops like a rock, then the ozone kicks in (at 180, later adjusted to 190) raising the system ORP back to 200-210.
The organic wastes build up again, dropping the system ORP .... the ozone kicks in, raising the system ORP again ........ back and forth until the organic wastes in the water finally stabilize and the ORP stabilizes as well.
What I hadn't counted on was the seagrass to begin photosynthesizing so effectively this early, raising the ORP far out of range of my controller.
Forgive the undersea rage, just having a moment of weakness today.
On the plus side, the seagrass is "taking" very well, much faster than it did in my last tank. I haven't had my system ORP drop low enough to trigger the ozone generator for almost a week, those vascular plants are certainly photosynthesizing away!
Here is a chart showing my system ORP over the course of planting my seagrass bed. (I had to cut and paste the Apex charts in photoshop to get them to "fit", could only make a chart of one week at a time)
See the "sawtooth" pattern? That shows times when my system was overwhelmed with organic matter, the ORP drops like a rock, then the ozone kicks in (at 180, later adjusted to 190) raising the system ORP back to 200-210.
The organic wastes build up again, dropping the system ORP .... the ozone kicks in, raising the system ORP again ........ back and forth until the organic wastes in the water finally stabilize and the ORP stabilizes as well.
What I hadn't counted on was the seagrass to begin photosynthesizing so effectively this early, raising the ORP far out of range of my controller.
DBrinson
Member
Go for it! It's the future of reefkeeping, mark my words.
The Sea Swirls are all in now, the new 1.5" models were released yesterday, I had a couple lined up for three months now, I am told that one of mine was the "guinea pig" test model :whstlr:
You can see how the "footprint" on the new 1.5" models is smaller than it was on the 3/4" model, pictured in the center.
Powerheads are for mixing salt
DBrinson
Member
Thanks Shaun, I hope I don't disappoint!
Here is the planned Sea Swirl layout:
Couple of notes:
1) The two most visible sides of the tank are the "left" side, which faces the entrance to the house, and the "front" which faces the living room. I will aquascape to present the tank from these two sides.
2) The 1.5" outlets will be swinging 90°, but the middle (chiller) line will cut a 180° swath using a wye attachment provided by Sea Swirl.
Please critique and comment!
Here is the planned Sea Swirl layout:
Couple of notes:
1) The two most visible sides of the tank are the "left" side, which faces the entrance to the house, and the "front" which faces the living room. I will aquascape to present the tank from these two sides.
2) The 1.5" outlets will be swinging 90°, but the middle (chiller) line will cut a 180° swath using a wye attachment provided by Sea Swirl.
Please critique and comment!
DBrinson
Member
Installed Soft Sound Class A (i.e. fireproof) Anechoic Studio foam on the back wall of the "sump closet" last night ... the "waterfall" sound from the back overflow of the seagrass bed is gone, even when I crank the Dolphin pump up to full speed.
Yes, that was the closest I will ever get to landing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Geam. Had to hold myself up by the sides while operating the staple gun with one hand. :tongue:
Yes, that was the closest I will ever get to landing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Geam. Had to hold myself up by the sides while operating the staple gun with one hand. :tongue:
DBrinson
Member
Juan,
DT is finished (save for the varnish on the stand) and will ship out either Monday or Tuesday by freight, from Canton, GA (only a 5½ hour drive from me)
If I think it won't arrive by Christmas, I will go there and pick it up myself. Probe is the "Lab Grade" ORP probe offered by Neptune. There really are a lot of great ORP probes out there, I would say there are more than 20 probes that work better than the best one available for hobbyists 10 years ago.
SiNNeR,
I am riding a personal ego trip and will tell myself you mean my nailgun acrobatics, haha. Seriously though, I was glad for the soundproof foam about me as I spun a web of what could have passed for either praying or cursing as I balanced myself over the tank, and under that roof. Would take a true "SiNNeR" to appreciate it. I'd post pics but the situation called for Speedos :lookaroun
DT is finished (save for the varnish on the stand) and will ship out either Monday or Tuesday by freight, from Canton, GA (only a 5½ hour drive from me)
If I think it won't arrive by Christmas, I will go there and pick it up myself. Probe is the "Lab Grade" ORP probe offered by Neptune. There really are a lot of great ORP probes out there, I would say there are more than 20 probes that work better than the best one available for hobbyists 10 years ago.
SiNNeR,
I am riding a personal ego trip and will tell myself you mean my nailgun acrobatics, haha. Seriously though, I was glad for the soundproof foam about me as I spun a web of what could have passed for either praying or cursing as I balanced myself over the tank, and under that roof. Would take a true "SiNNeR" to appreciate it. I'd post pics but the situation called for Speedos :lookaroun
BEAUTIFUL!!!! the beast is on it's way, talk a about a great Christmas gift, from you to you LOL 
Sweet !
hockeyhead019
Member
Wow man awesome plans... clearly you know what you're doing haha can't wait to see the DT get filled up and come to life!
DBrinson
Member
Fit together and plumbed finally. Just need to finish filling up!
So far, that wait has been even more "killer" :bouncebox I'm going to a LFS to top it off the rest of the way today.
Ha, you can see the Christmas tree in the reflection, the tree has a feature the tank will never have: It relies on LED lighting.
Thanks Glenn, me either! Watching a RO unit trickle is getting to my head, another day and I'll be dressing up like St. Nick and stealing presents from everyone in town.
Calc reactor always. (Reef Dynamics Model 250) Can see it on the left under the stairs in an earlier post, CO2 tank on the lower right. The flowthrough is gravity fed from the seagrass tank to the sump at barely more than a drip.David, for ca and alk are you going with dosing pumps or Calc Reactor? I'm at the verge of buying the GEO 818 for these two elements but still need a little push to take the decision.
Reactor choice isn't as important as the media used, unlike with protein skimmers there is very little performance gap between various large calcium reactors. I use 6-10 mm Knop Korallith. That's the "coarsest" Korallith available, in my previous reactor I used the "finest" stuff, but this reactor is too large to use fine media without restricting flow.
The Reef Dynamics (Euro-Reef) reactor has a few cool features but I like it mostly because it's durable and easy to clean, makes it easier on my boys.