Hello all, it's been awhile since updating my thread so I thought I would provide an overview of my build and it's progress for those interested. Questions and comments welcomed.
It's been over 5 months now since I started doing automatic continuous water changes (3 gallons per day) and the tank appears to love it. I was planning to do a more traditional manual water change every few months or so along with the daily changes but so far I see no need for it.
Still going hoodless and using Radion Pros with good results. It took a few weeks to find the sweet spot with all of the control you have with the different intensities and color spectrums but I found a pretty good schedule/setup using my APEX to control them and all is going great.
I upgraded my MP40's to the new QD's a while back and they are literally silent and do a good job. As some of you may remember who have followed my progress I stopped using the rear stock pumps a long time ago. They were generating too much heat and flow for my setup. Two MP40's along with the flow from the return works perfectly for me.
Between the LED's and not using the rear pumps my temp stays consistently between 78.9 to 79.1 so I still have not needed to add a chiller to my setup.
My APEX controller continues to work great. There is a bit of a learning curb with APEX in the beginning but there are plenty of resources to get help while you are learning how to use it so I highly recommend it.
As far as stock goes not much has changed. Still have the large sail-fin tang, multi colored angel, pair of orange anthias and a onyx clown. Fairly low fish load for this size tank but they are happy and healthy so I hesitate to add anything new to upset their world. I have a lot of rock in my tank that takes up a fair amount of swimming room for the fish so it's best to limit the number anyway IMO.
The APEX automatic feeder still works perfectly and sits perfectly on the lid in the back right corner of my tank. I programed it to feed twice a day. I was having it feed 3 times a day but decided I was overfeeding so I cut it back to twice a day. It's nice being able to feed the fish on a consistent schedule and not having to worry about missing a feeding with my schedule. I still supplement frozen foods a few times a week but their main diet is a mixture of different dry food I fill my feeder with.
All and all the tank is doing very well and with all the automation I've cut the time it used to take to do maintenance way down. I mostly just have to clean the glass and manage my water station adding salt from time to time and turning valves moving water around.
What is the mix of dry food you are using in your Apex Feeder ?
No issues with humidity in the food after a long time (days) in use ?
Thanks....Daniel