obrien.david.j

Looking great! Sounds like it's time for a APEX DOS setup and an optical sensor, for daily ATO. Set it up with a simple "add 4 gallons of water from midnight to 7am", with "stop if level sensor is hit." By not trying to replace evap water real time, you can work in the tank all day and not trigger this ATO cycle. And by morning, it's topped back up - with no work. For filling the tank, I'm at the same point you are. Moving things from temp storage of the old tank, into the new tank. When to move, when to move. In my case, none of the old rock is moving into the new system. It's in the frag tanks, connected to the same water system. When it's time, they'll come out and get bleached. Dont like whats on them now - but need the biology to get the new/dry rocks established.

Thanks. This is the lemonade I've made out of covid.

Just start with the acid. Much easier.

And the hood & skin. Ready for painting, the supplies, and 1st coat of primer.

Holiday's Update; Used one of the nice days to clean the salt water mixing container, and the rest of the time is all on the stand. Mounting power supplies, and painting the hood/skin. 1st coat of primer is on. Pro Tip, scrub brush on a stick didn't really clean the mixing container. But Muriatic Acid does a fine job! Cleaning Mixing Container:

Whoops, the size I want is still Out of Stock. Thanks for the PSA.

It looks like the left plumbing is supported by a single zip tie to a brass hook on the ceiling. If so, I'd swap it out for stainless. I've had these non-stainless hooks rust out in time. If/when it goes, it looks like the plumbing could put really bad stress on the bulk head. Nice clean build, and I like the fans in the back. good planning up front.

Glad you were able to jump on it Fast.

Noooo This is the stage to not grow algae. (Normally the lights are low, and very blue.) My son wants me to change the outlet name... If Output Red-Light-District = ON Then LED-Algae-Grow

Looking Great! Is that a blue spot leopard wrasse? any regrets, its on my future fish list

Oh yes! I found the copy button. One slight flaw in my setup. display tank: six radion Gen4 Pros Frag tanks: three radion Gen3 Pros, one radion Gen4 Pro. Copy button cant copy G3<->G4. Oh well Maybe I'll look for a Gen3Pro in good shape, and make the frag tanks all consistent. (or, some day in the future, find a killer deal on Three more Gen4 Pros, and Upgrade the frag tank to be all G4.) I'm really bummed ecotech made G5's incompatible with Apex. I love having one integrated control system. ** BTW - anyone have two diffusers for Gen4's they'd sell reasonable? I have four diffusers, and six lights over the display thank. must find two more to equal it out.

I'm curious, how long between the excessive Kalk addition, and adding the 9 cups of vinegar? I've killed a tank with Kalk overdose, and didn't recover. About 2006-2007. In that setup, the Kalk reactor was not monitored by Apex. Just fixed timer, add ~2gallons of kalk water every night. The reactor itself required unhooking the infeed/outflow hoses to refill it. One night, around 11pm, at the end of a long Aquarium Move weekend, I refilled with fresh Kalk. (yes, this part is Double sad) About one full cup of Kalk powder goes into the reactor. Hook it all up. Go To Bed. Wake up in the morning to Dead Acro smell. Find whole tank Coral and Fish soup. 99% dead. Root caused to, put the inflow hose on the outflow connector. Put the outflow hose on the inflow connector. Pumped 1 cup of freshly mixed Kalk Slurry (the bottom of the reactor) straight into the tank in a single night. 99% dead, one thing survived. An Ugly Pajama Cardinal. Yup, Still have him - he was the first fish I moved into the new 250 gallon setup. >15 years old now. The double sad part. I'd bought a new tank and was ready to upgrade. Spent the whole weekend tearing down old tank, and re-setting up in the garage as livestock holding tank - so I could install the new tank. Whole weekend == Sat & Sunday. Friends helping. Long days. "One night, around 11pm..." == Sunday night. Monday, tore the tank back down. It took a few weeks to install, plumb and reconnect the new display tank. It's the tank I removed early October, to upgrade to the new 250gal. Glad you caught your overdose, and thank you for sharing the experience and the R2R link. Keep us posted how the tanks react.

Conclusion, changing settings on six lights is a repetitive/pain-in-the-<> process. Spent time this morning setting up profiles for overriding the lights. Like "a guest is here, just turn on the lights", "it's night time, lets watch the tank in the dark.", "I want to try out a new single setting, let's just use One profile to practice with." Ho Ho Ho, this is Christmas Mode. (Thanks @SuncrestReef for the programming guide and thoughtful examples.) If Output Force-LED-ON = ON Then LED-AllRed

Yes, it's the Apex PMK, PAR monitor. I don't keep it underwater full time, just when interested in readings. I'll try to measure the tank. Right now, the LEDs are set to 100% on Blues, <5% on red/green/whites. How badly will that skew the PAR readings?

Hit two milestones today. 1. All Lights are In! Needed a few more pieces from 8020 to finish fabricating remaining light bars. Swapped out Gen4's previously on frag tanks, for Gen3's which were on original display tank Thus all six LED's on display tank are now uniform Gen4 Pros Turned lights up to 100%, the white sand and rocks made the tank Blinding. Turned back to 10% to let the tank finish settling in. Feels great to have lights. AND 2. Dan the cabinet man brought over hood and stand skins for dry fits. Left the end panel in place, and the box for drawers on the far end. Should be back with finished product early next week. Check out the picts

Happy birthday Jeff! All the praise is deserved.

Is this what you're looking for? I've got one, wasn't planning to sell it. But if you've got the need, I might be persuaded if you're in a bind. He's active, fun, and fast.

Fair.

Any chance you have two males, and both are holding clutches of eggs? Watch their mouths carefully, when they open even slightly, see if you can see an egg ball. Just an option.

You got bit by my mail order fears. Is my understanding of Size, the same way they're quoting it. When first ordering, I usually order a range of sizes to figure out what I really need. (Yes I have a box of, Not-the-right-size stuff.)

@EMeyer, Thanks for pointing your R2R article. I missed the original posting. Very Interesting. @SuncrestReef, My new tank is setup and needs a jumpstart of fresh biology. I'd like to add some live sand (but where the heck would I add Live Mud?) If you want to place and order together and split it - I'm in. One catch... At least the link Eli has in his R2R article, they're out of both sand types, and the only mud they have is the dark "muddy" mineral mud. PM me if you you find a source, and want to split an order.

I can hook you up if you're interested. I've got dry/clean original Florida natural rock. It's not Display quality rock, but great for biology. PM me if interested.

Looking Good. I like the symmetry of the visible plumbing. well done

Awesome, Congratulations! what a cute small fry

John, I feel you. Has happened to me a number of time, with the same feeling each time. I have solved it, so I'm not going to offer direct advice. Except, next time it starts for me - I'm going to medicate. I'm currently sitting on a supply of Prevent RTN and Stop RTN. I had a good conversation with the creator and feel I'm not nieve, but experience has shown if I do Nothing - I know where it's going. But before that, I'll likely get a consult from from @EMeyer. I like his research results. Thank you for openness and sharing during this humbling time. We're there for you.