Building out a new reef room is a project in and of itself.  Without a single tank in the room, there is lots to do.  Unfortunately, I have two tanks, a sump, 2 Brute trash cans and a couple of shelving units in my way.  So, its not a pretty room right now.  And, its barely functional.

As I mentioned, the room was built with the following features:

• Dedicated sink
• 2 20amp dedicated circuits in a breaker panel supported by a 10,000w generator
• sloping floor to a center drain, just in case
• half wall for where the tank will be located (more on that later)

Otherwise, the room is empty.  First things first.  Since I was bringing livestock  into the room in a hurry, I needed RO/DI.  So, the first task was to set-up a permanent connection.  Check.  I really like the PEX plumbing and it was super eay to work with.  I now have a dedicated full time line to my RO/DI system.  And, I added a shut off valve as well, just in case.

Now, on to the construction.

I realized first that I needed more power.  So, I ran two more dedicated 20 amp circuits into the room.  You will notice that all of the outlets in the room are at head height.  I did that on purpose.  Electricity and water don’t mix, yet we are forced to run them together in a fish tank.  By putting all of the electricity UP, I plan to have the power above the water line at all times.  So, if something ever goes wrong, its just water, not electrical that gets impacted.  I plan to add shelves around the entire room and they will act as the conduits for the power and hold any ballasts or power bricks that are necessary.

The ceiling isn’t done yet, but I knew I needed more than just one light so I added a second switch and a second light, this one over the sink area where I will also have a workbench.  I also ran power for a bathroom exhaust fan that I plan to have running 24/7.

The walls were just framed.  That made it nice to run my extra power, but the outside walls are Superior walls and have metal studs and I don’t want to run the risk of anything rusting or corroding.  So, I have started drywalling the entire room using green board.  Green board is mold resistant and what they use in bathrooms.  I was happy with that and figured a few coats of spackle and paint and it would be perfect, right?

No of course not.  Drywall is not water proof.  Wait.  Ful Stop.  Before I go further, you should hop on over to ReefCentral and take a look at this fish room.  http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1482007

This is bookmarked (for me) as the BEST FISH ROOM.  His attention to detail is phenomenal.  So, that is my goal.  If my room can be as half as neat and clean and well thought out, then I am in good shape.

So, back to our topic at hand.  You will notice that Tom used something called FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) on the walls.  That is a great idea.  It is completely waterproof and it eliminates the need for lots of spackling and painting.  So, back to Lowes and Home Depot I went and got me some (expensive) FRP board.

The room is not complete yet.  But, I got started.  So, here are some pictures!!

see how bad my spackle job was?

And I will post more pictures when the walls are all finished.

As you saw in my post yesterday, I have set the stage for RODSTAR’s REEF ROOM and my dream tank.  So, without further delay, let’s talk about the contents of said Reef Room.

First, the display tank.  This beast is being made by Miracles Aquariums up in Toronto.  I didn’t choose them because the owner and I share a rather uncommon first name.  I chose them because I think they make one of the best tanks in North America.  I looked at a bunch of custom manufacturers and they stood out for me, because of their customer service, their quality builds, their online reputation, and their cost.  All of those were excellent.

The tank itself will be 120″ x 36″ x 30″ or 561 gallons.  I wanted to go 130″ x 48″ x 30″, but just couldn’t justify the jump in price.  Anyway, the tank will have Starphire glass on the front and two Bean Animal overflows on the back.  It will sit on a steel frame also built by Derek and Miracles.

Under the tank will be the sump.  The sump will be 72″ x 30″ x 24″. I expect it to be a little over half full and hold about 130g of water when running.  The sump will be the center of the hub and spoke type system where everything goes in and out of that tank.  Not much will actually be IN the sump itself besides the heaters and a few pumps, along with some live rock.

I plan a 48″ x 30″ x 24″ refugium holding macro algae and adding an additional 140 gallons of water.

I also have a 72″ x 24″ x 12″ acrylic frag tank and a 48″ x 18″ x 24″ 90 gallon tank that will hold a deep sand bed and garden eels or sea horses, depending on what the kids decide they want.

Finally, there will be a smaller tank for QT.

My skimmer is an external skimmer made by Marine Technical Concepts (MTC).  It is the HSA-3000 that I bought used from Manhattan Aquariums up in Manhattan.

My carbon and phosphate filters will go through a combination of the Next Reef MR1 – Monster and Bulk Reef Supply Reactors.

Calcium will be delivered via the GEO 618 calcium reactor for now.  If it can’t keep up, I will move to the GEO 818 reactor.

I have two 135g tanks to be used for saltwater mixing and ATO.  They came from Plastic Mart.

What am I missing?

As yes, lights!!!!  Well, I made a commitment last year to the Aqua Illumination SOL Blues and I LOVE them.  I started with 6 last year on my old tank (a little overkill, but I knew this build was in my future).  I have since added 8 more.  That gives me 14 total.  12 for the display tank and 2 for the frag tank.  I figure I need 2 more for the frag tank and 2 for the eel/sea horse tank.  I will use a compact fluorescent over the fuge.

As far as water movement, I am going with Ecotech Marine Vortechs.  I love them.  I currently have 2 MP40s.  Plan to pick up at least 2 MP60s, plus a few more MP40s over time.

Not sure what pumps I will use yet.  But, there is time.  Patience, my friend.

I have some schematics drawn up that I will scan and post in the next couple of days, along with some progress I have made on the room itself.

Wow, its been a long time since I posted.  But, fear not, my friends, I am back.  And, you definitely need to strap yourself in, because it’s about to get a little crazy in here!!!

When I last left you, I was tankless.  My last post was almost a year ago!  If you recall, I had a 125g tank that was plumbed through the floor into the basement where I used 40g stock tanks as a refugium, a sump and a frag tank.

Well, all of that went away in March of last year as my wife and I put our house on the market.

The house miraculously sold in just 2 weeks and we started on our journey to build our dream home.  Well, not our dream home, but as close as we could get without winning the Powerball.  This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we spent years planning it.  For my part, I wanted my dream reef room.  My wife wanted the tank in the basement as she felt there was too much risk moving that much water between floors.  And, she’s right.

So, as part of the new house construction, I designed in a few things.  First, a dedicated reef room in the basement.  Next, make sure it has its own sink and plumbing.  After that, slope the whole floor to a center drain.  I call that “The Divorce Preventer”.  Lastly, networking and power.  Networking is hard-wired for the Reefkeeper of course.  As for power, the room started with 2 dedicated 20-amp circuits.  And, both of those circuits are on a separate panel that can be powered by a 10,000 w generator.

Cut to:  December 16, 20111.  Settlement!  That’s right!  We are in already.  My wife and I (and her family) helped clear over 100 trees in July.  The builder broke ground on September 1 (and again on Septmber 9 after all the rain flooded the property.)

Below are some pictures of the room.  But, don’t go just yet.  A week after Christmas I loaded in a 75g tank, a 40g stock tank (sump) and a 90g frag tank.  These were at my friend’s house storing all of my fish and coral while the construction happened.  So, that is running well today.  Go ahead, look at the pictures now.  And, stay tuned, because I have started working on the room some more!!!

temporarily anyway.

The wife and I are getting ready to move to a new home and so our home just went on the market.  For the last 3 months, we have been cleaning and organizing and throwing things out and more and more and more in preparation for putting our house on the market.  Well, as part of that, no one wants to see a fish room in the basement with 250g of open water running through pipes to the first floor tank.  Its just not pretty.  Sure, those who have a reef tank get it and love it.  Others think:  Meth Lab?, Mold?, Flood Damage?

So, the tank is gone.  No more fish, no more coral. 

But, I have a very good friend who lives just up the block who was kind enough to plumb a 75g into his main system and we have moved everybody (with a few fishy exceptions) up to his place while our house sells and our new place is built.

So, for now, this blog will be a bit dormant.  But, soon, it will be reborn.  Very soon.

I am in the planning stages for the new tank in the new house.  It will be in the basement and it will be an in-wall.  right now, my latest plan is a 12-foot tank, but I may drop it to a 10-footer.  We’ll see.

So, stay tuned.  The goal is to be in the new house by Christmas, which means the tank will be in too!

In the meantime, I have volunteered and committed to Ken Nedimyer from Coral Restoration that the DVRC will sponsor a patch of reef for him.  So, I am trying to raise $5,000 in the next 90 days.  And, the Delaware Valley Reef Club will match every dollar you donate with $0.50.  So head on over and donate for me please.  Well, not for me, but for the reef and for our children!

We are already 20% of the way there!

I know, I know.  I took way too long to get these posted.  But, here are some pictures and video of the Aqua Illumination SOL Blue on the tank.

This thing rocks!  My settings right now have the light running at about 50% intensity (W:45 B:54 RB:54) during its peak hours.  And my colors on my SPS are really starting to POP!

This is the thunderstorm simulation. Very cool, but not sure about its practicality.

These are some pictures of the tank at the one week point.

If you’ve been following along you know that I ordered the Aqua Illumination SOL Blue lights from Premium Aquatics on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  And, you also know that I have been pestering Luke over there every week since because the lights have been on back order.

Well, I’ve got good news for anyone who was also waiting on these lights from them!  Luke alerted me today that their back-ordered shipment arrived!  I should be getting mine Thursday or Friday and I will of course take many pictures.  In the meantime, here is a picture hot off the presses from the receiving dock at Premium Aquatics!

I am starting to wonder if there is something different in our RO/DI water over here.  How many people have accidentally raised baby clowns?  (By accidentally, I mean, it wasn’t in the plan, but nature did its thing and I raised the babies)  I can’t imagine its a lot.  How many people have accidentally raised baby bangaii cardinals?  Now, how many have done both?

ME!  ME!  ME!

Yep, that’s right!  First it was clowns having babies.  And now its bangaii cardinals.  Well, to be fair, they aren’t my babies.  They came from my neighbor’s tank.  But, they are growing up in my basement.  (I had the room and the experience)

I have been reading a lot on the babies.  They are in a 20g long, but only 1/2 to 2/3 filled with salt water.  They have some dead coral in there to act as a safe haven but have not taken advantage of it.  There is a sponge filter and heater int here and some airstones to provide slight circulation.

I am rearing them on both Cyclopeeze and live baby brine shrimp.  The goal is to have them eating frozen too so they don’t starve when they are older.

So, without further adieu, here are some pics and video of 24 baby cardinals!

This video was taken at day 7!

I spent a little over 3 months investigating, documenting, designing, and finally scrapping multiple designs for an LED lighting system for my tank.  But, I ultimately decided to purchase a pre-built system.

Why? For starters, my design goal was something modular and upgradable.  I plan to have a larger tank in the future and don’t want to have to re-buy.  I just want to add a module.  I was going to build my LED system that way.  AquaIllumination did it for me.

Next was the cost.  Now, there is no way around the cost difference if you simply compare dollars to dollars of the finished product.  But, think about how many times I would screw up building the unit.  And think about the cost of my time to build it.  And, think about the cost to rebuild my house if I burn it down which leads me to my final and deciding factor:  I am not an engineer or electrician and there are many factors to consider when you are building a light that has 144 LEDS and has 6 separate power supplies, etc.

So, with all of the Black Friday deals out there and the pressing need to replace the lights I do have, I broke down and bought the 72″ AquaIllumination SOL Blue from Premium Aquatics.  And, I am happy to say that I got a good deal.

But, guess what?  Its been almost three weeks and I have no light yet.  I am not complaining.  Premium Aquatics told me they were backordered.  But…. wait a minute….   I am complaining.  I am not happy that I have no lights.  I am 38 years old.  My generation is one of instant gratification.  When I buy a new car, I walk into the dealer and tell them “I want that one.  And, I will only pay X and I want Y for my car.  I will be back in two hours to sign the paperwork and take the car.  Go figure it out.”  Honestly, that is almost exactly how I buy a car.  And I typically do that on my way home from work on a whim.  So, needless to say, I am jonesing for these lights.

But, I am not blaming anyone.  AquaIllumination has built, as far as I can tell (and after months of research), the best LED system on the market, hands down.  And, Premium Aquatics has always treated me well.  And, so, its only natural that there is a backorder.

And, now I wait.  I thought it would be 2 weeks, maybe even less.  Premium Aquatics placed their order on 11/16 and my order will be fulfilled by that delivery.

So, all I can do is continue to Google “AquaIllumination” twice a day and annoy Jason and Luke at Premium Aquatics with “are they in yet?” emails.

I was one of the first to receive the ReefKeeper Elite when it debuted back in 2008.  I was excited!  It had so much promise!  In fact I blogged about it here:  http://www.reefdisorder.com/reef-blog/reefkeeper-elite-arrived-53 and I was ahead of the pack.  So much so, that Ryan over at Reefbuilders highlighted my unboxing! (Thanks Ryan):  http://reefbuilders.com/2008/07/11/reefkeeper-elite-unboxing-pictures/

Being an early adopter, I was willing to put up with some issues here and there.  But, this device had so much promise.  And, I had done a ton of research.  I mean a ton!  Thus, the obsessive compulsive title in my blog.  The ReefKeeper Elite from Digital Aquatics was to be the premier controller in the price range.  Things were not smooth out of the box, however:  http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/23/reef-keeper-elite-users-are-want-money-back/ For though, I was able to muddle through and get my controller working (at least the basics) and I was content and chomping at the bit for the modules, software etc to come.  (The things I bought the thing for)

Jump forward from July 18, 2008 to today.  Let’s talk reality.

Digital Aquatics promises stuff for months.  They give you a release date and then miss it.  Not by a couple of weeks, but by up to a year or more!  It took forever (I thought at the time) to get the NET module.  But, that was nothing compared to the fact that the salinity probe that I bought (along with the SL2) which cost me almost $200 combined is completely useless.  Completely!  They expect to start issuing RMAs shortly according to an update TODAY.  Are you kidding me?

Oh, but the topper is the web software, MyReef!  It was supposed to be available within months of release.  It was the reason why I bought the damn thing to begin with.

It was previewed over a year after I bought it (October 2009) and DA actually posted about it on their forums:  http://www.forum.digitalaquatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6881

Pictures started to really flow (November 2009).  I was getting excited!  Finally, after 18 months, I was getting my software:  http://reefbuilders.com/2009/11/12/digital-aquatics-myreef-elite-lite-coming-slowly/

Then, it was delayed again (December 2009) until April 2010:  http://reefbuilders.com/2009/12/10/digital-aquatics-myreef-software-delayed-april-2010/

April, 2010 arrives!  http://reefbuilders.com/2010/04/10/digital-aquatics-showcasing-firmware-20-myreef-20-alphas/

Then, nothing.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving!  http://reefbuilders.com/2010/11/22/digital-aquautics-myreef-20/ But, wait, did they say BETA?  WTF?

And that is just the software.  Their communication is horrible.  In order for me to know what is going on, I have to go to their site and pour through their forums to try to figure out what is happening.  Do I need a firmware upgrade?  How do I do it?  Wait, I have to send back this component to get it upgraded?  Again, WTF?

At this point, I have no idea what to do with my unit.  I know that things need to be upgraded, but I don’t know what and why.  I wanted to get the Remote Display too, but I have given up on Digital Aquatics.

Actually, I take it back.  I know exactly what to do with my unit.

My plan is to continue to use it exactly how I am today and NOT to add anything.

Then, when the new tank is ready in the new location ” Wait, what did he just say?” I am going to sell this POS controller and go to something better.

I bought the ReefKeeper Elite because they promised the best controller ever.  And they promised, and they promised, and they promised….

And, in the meantime, the other companies, who had less grandiose plans to begin with, have delivered all of the features and more.

Quick Summary:  DON’T BUY THE REEFKEEPER ELITE.

That title about sums it up.  I am on the fence but leaning towards going LED on my tank for a number of logical and illogical reasons. 

First off, my current light has seen better days.  I have the Current Outer Orbit Pro which is an all-in-one system.  It has 3x250w metal halide bulbs (Phoenix 14k) and 8x39w T5 bulbs (UVL Actinic and Super Actinic).  The unit has treated me well for 3 years now, but its time to buy lights again and I am not looking forward to a $320 bill just for some light bulbs!

Next, the unit sits on legs on the tank.  The legs are broken.  The light is so close to the top of the tank that its hard to get my hands in there and taking top down pictures is out of the question.  (So, is hanging any light for that matter).  And because it is 72″ long, its not easy to lift off by myself.  And, due to salt creep, I can’t get the lens cover off the back set of T5′s.  I don’t even know how I am going to do that.

So, I don’t like my light.  And I am going to spend $320 for new bulbs.  Seems like the right time to get a new light, eh?

My 2 choices as I see them right now:  DIY or the AquaIlluminations SOL.  Oooh, the SOL is beautiful.  But, its over $3000.  Yes, over $3000.  Seriously, yes.  Over $3000.  A DIY is about $1200, give or take.  Still very expensive.  But, the savings from bulb replacement and energy efficiency is huge!

The benefit of these systems (my DIY and the SOL) is that when I upgrade to a larger tank, I can still use these lights.  Not the case with my current set-up.  This is another factor to consider.  My plan is to be in a bigger tank in 18 months.  Should I just wait until I get to that tank and thus suck it up and buy the bulbs I need?  Or, should I go for it now and capitalize on the electricity savings!

By the way, here is some information I have gathered (PDF).  Honestly, most of it is way outdated at this point, but it will give you some insight into what I am thinking.

I am really open to others thoughts and opinions here.  What should I do?

NOTE:  t has now been 74 days since my last cigarette!!