Progress!!!

So, I was on vacation last week and did not make much progress on the tank or the blog, except that I watched nearly all of the Bulk Reef Supply "BRS 160" videos on youtube, which I would highly recommend.  I think of it like getting a crash course in reefing, with one 15-40 minute video on each of 52 topics related to the setup and maintenance of a successful reef tank.  Check it out!

Of course, getting all this great information has also led me to shift my focus for reefing supplies from Marine Depot to Bulk Reef Supply.  I will probably end up ordering something from MD eventually, but it seems like BRS spends more time editing their selection to only products that they would recommend or use themselves.  This certainly helps when making decisions; for instance BRS offers like 6 different Auto Top Off systems, while I think Marine Depot stocks almost 20.

When I returned home on Sunday, however, I was ready to finally start ordering some items.  I've now made several upgrades to the Ikea cabinet that will serve as my stand, and convinced by the BRS160 series, I decided to purchase an aquarium controller and the tank itself.  I've documented the unboxing and some of the stand upgrades, below.

First, BRS' shipping could not have been more secure.  My Innovative Marine NUVO Fusion 20, packaged in its own original box with custom Styrofoam inserts, was then packaged again in a larger box with custom expanding foam inserts filling all of the air gaps.  Check out the mountain of packaging in relation to this tiny tank!  Needless to say, everything arrived unharmed.

Next up was running the network cable from my router across the room to the tank stand.  This will drive my Neptune Apex Jr, which was a bit of a splurge, but will help me sleep much better when we take our next vacation.

I found some slick thin-profile Cat 6 cable on Amazon, which I glued with clear silicone to my molding.  I think it blends in pretty nicely!  The only place you really see it is in the corners.

Next up was installing a GFCI outlet so I don't shock anyone accidentally.  It was easy enough to pick one up at Ace Hardware, but installing was a bit trickier than I had anticipated.  After about six trips down to the circuit breaker panel, it was installed, tested, and ready to go.  Added benefit: it turns out this is the first outlet on the circuit so now all of my other living room outlets are GFCI protected as well!

My power plan also has me down to just two primary outlets, one for the Netpune Apex Jr. 4 outlet controller, and the second for a 6 + 1 surge protector by Trip Lite that I found on Amazon.  This has 6 individually switched outlets and one "Always On" outlet, which I'll use for the TV.  All wires leave through the bottom of the stand and run up to the outlet, effectively creating drip loops.

All-in-all, the exposed wiring is pretty tidy, which will hopefully remain a theme as I add more components to the system.

Enhancements to the stand included some heavy-duty leveling feet, since this area of my floor is nearly 1/2" out of level across the 30" width of the stand.  After a false-start with some cheap junky feet from Home Depot, I found these ones on Amazon which are rated for 600 lbs, each.  I'm expecting the whole system to weigh between 300 and 350 pounds, when complete.

I added a barrel lock to the right door to make it fixed, and then a key lock to the left door so the whole cabinet can be locked closed.  This will be needed in a few months when George becomes mobile!

I also went a little crazy with my new 1.5" hole saw and made openings for future cables to run from the sump (back) of the tank into the stand where the power strips are.  You can see the wire from my temperature sensor, here.

Next I got to installing the guts of the stand.  I reinforced the top with a couple of 2x4s just to make sure the fiber-board doesn't sag in time.  To the rear 2x4 I attached a plywood panel with a couple hinges so that all my messy coils of wire can remain behind the panel and the wires can poke through and up to plug into the power strips.  This also insures a drip loop between every wire and the power strips.

Finally, I installed the Neptune Apex Jr. Controller and display panel, and ran the temperature sensor out the back of the stand and up to the sump.

For now, I'm planning on using the four Apex outlets like so:

1. Heater: controlled by temperature sensor to 78 +/- 0.5 degrees F with an alarm at 80 degrees
2. Light: with an alarm and shutoff at 80 degrees water temperature (the light itself will be controlled with Kessil's Spectral Controller)
3. Return Pump: (the only pump for now) to coordinate with feeding "Standby."  Eventually this may be clustered with other pumps like the protein skimmer to also shut down during feedings.
4. Auto Top Off: although for now I will not have any additional sensors available to shut down the ATO or trigger an alarm.

I am planning on using the Tunze Osmolator (full version, not the nano), which has an optical sensor and a float sensor for backup.  It also uses a timer that prevents it from running more than 10 minutes in a single fill.  For now, this will be my redundancy, however I'm still trying to think of a way for my Apex to send me an alert if the ATO goes into a fail-safe mode (secondary sensor or timeout failures).  Any clever thoughts would be appreciated!

And here's what it looks like all together.  Top shelf is for electronics; middle shelf will be for small tools, testing kits, and chemicals; and the bottom shelf will be for the ATO reservoir and larger tools/supplies.  It's getting there!

Next up, time to order the rest of the equipment needed to start cycling.  This means:

• Heater
• Basic water test kit: Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and pH
• Refractometer for salinity
• RO/DI Water
• Salt
• Buckets
• Spare filter socks
• Auto Top Off
• ATO Reservoir (glorified 3 gallon refrigerator water dispenser)
• Maybe the protein skimmer (waiting for a recommendation from ARC)?
• Maybe the lights (also awaiting recommendation from ARC)?

Once that's all in order, it's time for live rock and live sand!!!