Kirblit's 125 (Pic Intense)

[Kirblit]

Here is the list of equipment that I have for my tank and one's I made:

(3) 250w PFO MH pendants
(3) 250w 14k Hamilton MH bulbs
(3) 250w Icecap ballasts
(2) 36" T5 Actinic with Icecap Reflectors
(2) moonlights
(2) 4" Icecap variable speed fans
Lifereef VS24 skimmer
Mag 18 return pump
(2) Koralia #4's
(2) Koralia #2's
ATO from Autotopoff.com
Clip on light from HD for the Fuge
Aquamedic dosing pump for topoff/kalk
(2) 300w Finnex titanium heaters
The Filterguys Ocean Reef +1 75g/day RODI
ReefKeeper II


DIY
Stand and canopy
47g acrylic sump/fuge (about 30 when operating)(saved $300-$400 by making)
2g total volume kalkreactor (saved about $200 by making)
RODI storage/salt mixing barrels (freebies)

Here are some pictures of my tank on my DIY stand any canopy







This is my DIY sump/fuge and Kalkreactor

[Kirblit]

Here are some pics of the progress that the tank went through











Here is the most recent picture of my tank that is about 6 months old

[Kirblit]

Here are the residents of my tank

[Murfman]

VEry nice!!!! I love your rock work. What kind of skimmer are you using? Did you make the Kalk reactor yourself?

[Kirblit]

And finally some random coral shots








Duncan

[Kirblit]

Thanks, yes the Kalkreactor was a DIY. The skimmer is a Lifereef SVS24 and I love it produces very good skimmate.



Here is some of the DIY for the kalkreactor

[Murfman]

I had the same LifeReef and loved it. Too bad the water outlet busted out of the cylinder. Very nice work. You should post a full thread, in the equipment section, on how to to make the reactor.

[Kirblit]

Good idea, I have quite a few of in progress pictures of DIY acrylic work for my sump and reactor.

[Murfman]

There are a few members who want to build sumps, that would be another good DIY project.

[Kirblit]

They aren't that hard to build but they do take some patience and time. I love mine I got to make it exactly the size that I wanted it rather than a manufactured size, and it's a lot cheaper.

[Reefkoi]

Very nice looking setup, you do good work there and will be an asset to the club
Chris

[Huhhhhh]

Very nice work and nice setup on the tank. Looks like you're doing everything right the first time around, I sure wished I had.

What kind of work do you do kirblit?

[Deuce67]

Very nice and clean setup! Excellent work for sure.

[Kirblit]

Thanks, I def. tried to do it right the first time. I spent about 6 months straight researching other peoples tank builds to get ideas. I tried to think of anything that could go wrong with a set up and build in things to work around them. I ran a dedicated 30 amp circuit for power on a 4 gang outlet panel which I made two of them GFI and put my Reefkeeper II on it that has lights, heaters, fans, and return pump. Then I put all my powerheads and other equipment on this (American DJ PC 100):




so that if the GFI ever trips that The pumps and circulation would still continue to run for life support. This little baby makes it really easy to turn off all my equipment when I need to as well. I'm sure at some point down the road I will find something that I wish I would have done diff. but so far it's been great.

[Deuce67]

Originally Posted by Kirblit

I ran a dedicated 30 amp circuit for power on a 4 gang outlet panel which I made two of them GFI and put my Reefkeeper II on it that has lights, heaters, fans, and return pump.

What size wire did you use for this 30A circuit?

[Kirblit]

8 gauge, I have a friend who is an electrician so I got everything for free .

[Kirblit]

So I came back from Maui on Thursday and I was pretty excited to see my tank after being away for two weeks. I walked in the door to see my tank about 1.5 inches low in the display ! Needless to say the person I had take care of my tank which only included filling my topoff reservoir didn't do a very good job. The tank was about 20 gallons low, 70 degrees, and my SG was 1.029!!! My tank evaps about 2 gallons a day so it had been 10 days since any topoff was done and the main pump had been running dry since Friday of last week but it was still running, good ol' Mag Drives. I slowly started topping it up with RO and getting the temp up slowly to keep any more stress at a minimum. Needless to say a lot of my Acro's are pissed, and have lost a good amount of color but their polyps are still out thank god. Everything is back to normal with water params and I hope that everything will pull through but I won't really know for a week or two what the real damage could be. Wish me luck!!

[Murfman]

Wow, lucky you everything is ok. I would look into getting an autotop off system in place for future trips. It also makes maintaining the tank easier.

[Kirblit]

Here is the real difficult list of tasks that they had to follow each day, if you can't do these tasks I don't know how someone can manage having their heart beat and lungs function at the same time!!!!!! (sorry had to vent)








And anyone that is wondering if I ever received a phone call, the answer is NO. I even called them to see how things were going and they said it was fine. I wasn't even worried about leaving because I really trusted this person and was quite comfortable with them doing what I asked, they even stayed at the house and somehow didn't notice any huge amount of bubbles in the tank when the pump started to run dry, all I have to say is DEE, DE, DEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kirblit]

Originally Posted by Murfman

Wow, lucky you everything is ok. I would look into getting an autotop off system in place for future trips. It also makes maintaining the tank easier.

I have one and that even makes it worse because it was full when I left and full when I came back. The pump is an Aquamedic dosing pump for topoff and they let the reservoir run dry and so it sucked up some air and for what ever reason it didn't re-prime itself when they refilled it. This is obviously not their fault but when the note that I left clearly states "you will need to add about 2 gallons a day to the top off reservoir" wouldn't you think it was weird that you never had to add any water to it? I even told them to "check the water level in the sump" and if it wasn't at the line to CALL ME. I was pretty mad when I talked to them and I said "you did a horrible job and you almost cost me over $1000 worth of livestock and pumps!" then they started to say something and I just hung up. I later called them back and said I was sorry and that I was in the heat of the moment, but I told them they were only getting a quarter of what I said I would give them for taking care of NOTHING. Needless to say they got $50, all my Rum and beer they drank, and a good cussing out!