Tona's 200g - Office Reefer

TonapahNorth · Feb 28, 2017

Ok, so I will point out that I am not a plumber and I probably should have RTM more carefully. I can hear my dad shaking his head now ....

On the off chance I can help someone else, I will point out this particularly helpful diagram (from the Synergy website) for the Overflow. Yep, its in the online literature. See where it shows the rubber gaskets on each side of the tank? Yeah, that's key. That's all I have to say about that. *sheepishly walks off*

TonapahNorth · Mar 1, 2017

Ok, so a few things are going on here today.

After struggling with a slow drip from behind the tank and tracking down the source of the problem (yeah it's me ... see prior post), I got the tank running fresh water now. I checked out the flow into the Rollermat using a timer and a bucket and adjusted it until I felt happy. I'm not ready to pull the trigger on a Flow monitoring yet.

I plugged in the Apex and got the EB and the Apex unit connected. I calibrated probes and have it linked to Fusion. It was much easier than I anticipated.

I plugged in both Tunze Stream3 power heads. Man do these things move some water. I'll post a video review sometime soon - I'm not sure how to do such a thing but I'll try.

I also completely removed the steel bar and light canopy I intended to build. I didn't like the look after building the canopy and attaching it to the frame. I also didn't like the way it limited my accessibility to the tank. So, I installed a hanger and am hanging the ATI Powermodule from the ceiling. I'll post pics soon.

ksfulk · Mar 16, 2017

When I first hooked up a Synergy overflow on my last tank, I think I did the exact same thing you did (maybe not), but I put the first rubber gasket between the bulkhead and the interior of the in tank overflow box. Keeps water from leaking out of the box, but not so much from exiting the tank!

Really nice looking sump - I wanted to use a roller mat, but the stand space under my own tank really makes it tight, and the plumbing to work with the original setup is just too much of a nightmare to take on without stabbing myself in the eyes. And I agree with the decision to re do the light hanger - its look does not match the rest of the tank/stand/sump. A floating canopy would have looked nice, but would not have solved the issue about manipulation of the fixture. I'm struggling with that at the moment - but Im willing to overlook it since I rather have eyes for the light fixture

Keep the pictures coming!

TonapahNorth · Mar 17, 2017

I realize it's been a little bit. I got bogged down in a few things at the office so things have stalled a little. I finished the light bracket cover Tuesday night. Here is a picture of it. I just put a second coat of stain on tonight. Two or three coats of poly and I'll be able to hang it on Sunday. It will cover the metal bracket on the ceiling. The hanging wires will hang down the center of the cover and the center will be blacked out.

I am still concerned a little about light spillage into the room. If it proves to be a problem, I will make a skirt for the light.

TonapahNorth · Mar 17, 2017

ksfulk said:
When I first hooked up a Synergy overflow on my last tank, I think I did the exact same thing you did (maybe not), but I put the first rubber gasket between the bulkhead and the interior of the in tank overflow box. Keeps water from leaking out of the box, but not so much from exiting the tank!

Really nice looking sump - I wanted to use a roller mat, but the stand space under my own tank really makes it tight, and the plumbing to work with the original setup is just too much of a nightmare to take on without stabbing myself in the eyes. And I agree with the decision to re do the light hanger - its look does not match the rest of the tank/stand/sump. A floating canopy would have looked nice, but would not have solved the issue about manipulation of the fixture. I'm struggling with that at the moment - but Im willing to overlook it since I rather have eyes for the light fixture

Keep the pictures coming!

Thanks for the encouragement. It made me get a new post up for sure.

I knew I had to do something to change the hanger. I think this matches the style. When I get it going on Sunday/Monday with water, I'll get more pics of the woodwork.

TonapahNorth · Mar 17, 2017

So I got the Stream 3 back in December and shot this little video. With the realization that I'm not a good person to make a review of anything, I decided to upload this as 'the best it's gonna get' because I just simply don't have time to do much more for the moment.

I can say a few things about the Stream 3 so far. First, it's very well built. It's a very heavy solid machine. Second, I like the fact that it is darn near silent. Honestly, I cannot hear it. The turbine is set inside the housing with a solid "click" and will not come out easily. So the drive has virtually no contact with the turbine so it helps reduce noise. The rubber mounts further reduce vibration to near nothing. I put two of these in the tank on the back wall facing each other and I can't hear them or feel them. Yet, and third, I see a ton of water moving on 100% mode. Further, with them on the back wall, they are nearly invisible. My back wall is black and the pumps blend seamlessly with the exception of the blue blade covers.

I had to buy the heavy duty magnets x4 (which were not cheap). I tried to get away with just one heavy duty on each and the stock magnet on the other. But with the weight and the power of the Stream 3, it just wouldn't stay in place on my 3/4" glass. So if you have anything over 1/2" (maybe 5/8") glass, you need to factor in two magnets for each pump into your cost. In fact, the pump,is so heavy that even the heavy duty magnets feel loose to me.

So, I just installed the Tunze connecting cable to sync them. I did manage to get a solid wave going in the tank today with fresh water and an empty tank. That was cool. I will get some more video going on that soon. I originally had them angled upward toward the overflow but they were blasting the overflow so hard that it was making an eruption where the overflow meets the back wall. When I put the directional cap on and made them face into the tank, it helped a lot and flow is tremendous. There were small eddys directly under the Stream 3 but nothing that seemed too difficult to manage. I settled on them being more horizontal to start and using the non-directional cap for now. I feel that I need to get rock and sand in there before I can decide too much more on where to place them and how much power I want. I also have two Neptune WAV pumps in case I want to get crazy or if I have any dead spots I need to address.

I am rinsing sand now to remove any silt and sediment that may have shipped. Hopefully this will preempt any issues I have with clouds of sand due to the Streams being so powerful.

TonapahNorth · Mar 17, 2017

I mentioned that I am rinsing sand. I bought 60 pounds of Tropic Eden Tonga Special Pink and 60 pounds of MesoFlakes from my friends at Premiun Aquatics. @Premiumaq ... it's nice to have such a great vendor practically in my back yard.

We mixed it in a brute trash can by alternating bags and have been rinsing it for a few days with RO. I gotta tell you ... it's taken some patience but if you see the pictures, you can see how much muddy foamy silt comes off the top. I tried to test for phosphates and silicates but the water was too dirty to test. So I let it sit overnight. The water cleared up fine by the next morning. Again, I tested Phosphates and the low range Hannah checker kept saying I had Inverted the samples. Then after I let it settle more, it read over the tester's limit of 250. This was completely dry sand to start. I have zero sense of reliability in the tests because the water was so silty and I didn't check again until I got the water running through it nearly clear. I ended up have daily rinsing about 35 - 40 gallons of RO water through the trash can for the last four days. The water is nearly clear now and phosphates and silicates read zero on Salifert and Hannah. Whether this process reduces phosphates or silicates, I cannot be certain. I feel that it does. At the very least, I have removed an ungodly amount of silt. This should help with sand bed cleanup and powerhead placement.

TonapahNorth · Mar 20, 2017

I'm happy with how the bracket cover turned out. It took me too long but it looks so much better than the setup I started with.

The clear view lid from @ArtFully Acrylic looks awesome.

I'm not married to the rockscape yet. But it's growing on me. The left side looks nice. The right is a little shaded due to the "cave" being too big / deep. We'll see. I'll get some better pics of the scape tomorrow as I get it filled.

Tomorrow is setup and beginning break in for the Vertex Alpha 200 and the Vertex Zeo Reactor. Time to get the Finnex 500s and the Cobalts hooked up. And time to get the Tunze circ pumps dialed in as well as the Tunze ATO.

It'll be a busy day.

TonapahNorth · Mar 24, 2017

Almost ready to move back in. This is a full view vid my office space. I'm so ready to move back in.

Also. This is Day 4 of ZeoVit start up. Adding sponge power, Bak and Start in proper dose.

Vertex Alpha 200 is starting to break in. But the red dragon just doesn't want to slow down any. The vertex zeolite reactor works great. I have 2 bags in the 3L reactor. Both are solid well built pieces. You can see the fuge light hanging in the left side of this pic.

I think I'm going to change out the sump lighting. I don't like the strips. They don't stay put and they aren't bright enough for my taste when I'm working in there.

revhtree · Mar 24, 2017

Looks nice!

TonapahNorth · Mar 24, 2017

revhtree said:
Looks nice!

Thanks Rev

palmer · Mar 24, 2017

Now that's a nice build

TonapahNorth · Mar 24, 2017

palmer said:
Now that's a nice build

Thanks. I'm excited to get things rolling and stock it.

Going to INDMAS (Indiana Marine Aquarium Society) Frag swap tomorrow to see if I can get more frags. We need to get INDMAS members to start a group here I think.

Frop · Mar 27, 2017

TonapahNorth said:
Almost ready to move back in. This is a full view vid my office space. I'm so ready to move back in.

Also. This is Day 4 of ZeoVit start up. Adding sponge power, Bak and Start in proper dose.

Vertex Alpha 200 is starting to break in. But the red dragon just doesn't want to slow down any. The vertex zeolite reactor works great. I have 2 bags in the 3L reactor. Both are solid well built pieces. You can see the fuge light hanging in the left side of this pic.

I think I'm going to change out the sump lighting. I don't like the strips. They don't stay put and they aren't bright enough for my taste when I'm working in there.

Nice!

Tokash23 · Mar 28, 2017

TonapahNorth said:
Almost ready to move back in. This is a full view vid my office space. I'm so ready to move back in.

Also. This is Day 4 of ZeoVit start up. Adding sponge power, Bak and Start in proper dose.

Vertex Alpha 200 is starting to break in. But the red dragon just doesn't want to slow down any. The vertex zeolite reactor works great. I have 2 bags in the 3L reactor. Both are solid well built pieces. You can see the fuge light hanging in the left side of this pic.

I think I'm going to change out the sump lighting. I don't like the strips. They don't stay put and they aren't bright enough for my taste when I'm working in there.

Now thats a work space sheesh.

David Cher · Apr 30, 2017

any updates on the tunze stream 3 ?

TonapahNorth · May 1, 2017

David Cher said:
any updates on the tunze stream 3 ?

Honestly, I'm not too impressed compared to other options. Having a Stream 3 on each side, I can move some water but they aren't as programmable as the WAV's which move more water with less footprint. If you run on the APEX, I would recommend using the WAV powerheads. I run them on my home tank and I'm going to swap at least one of them out on the office tank. If you don't have an Apex, the Stream 3 is a fine powerhead and I don't think I have anything bad to say about it other than it doesn't have the variation that I want. I think you could use just one Stream3 in smaller applications and be ok with monodirectional flow.
In my tank, the flow isn't where I want it to be with them. I have tried the two strainers that come with it for flow direction and have moved placement of the powerhead itself quite a few times. I'm just not satisfied. I will end up with two WAV's on each side of the back wall and a Stream3 somewhere on the back wall. I'll use the WAVs for variation and the Stream3 for pulsing, albeit consistent flow.

The tank is clean and running well. I'll post pics soon to give an update.

TonapahNorth · May 3, 2017

Things are looking stable. I finally got the auto water changes going at the 7 week mark, which is the recommended start date for water changing in the Zeovit system. I change out 17000mL per day. It runs about 2/3 of a cup out every 15 minutes. I'm concerned about the life cycle of the DOS but we will see how it does for a while. I gotta tell ya. The auto water changing is the bees knees.

I also went ahead and changed one Stream3 out for two WAV's. I prefer the controllability and better directional flow.

I was going to take a tank pic today but I spilled Neptune CD pellet food in the tank and it's cloudy. I'll get one up soon. Anyone with a Neptune AFS, here is some friendly advice. NEVER try to remove the pellet cartridge without removing the whole unit from the tank. Twice now I have tried to remove it and have spilled pellets. The front cover comes off more readily than the cartridge from the housing. Sigh .... This time I spilled a lot. A Metric **** Ton actually. smh ...

Anyone with experience on programming the Tunze Osmolator, that would be cool to get it off the ON mode. Although it's a very reliable device as is, I'm not sure what I could gain from Neptuning it up.