Cali Kid Corals

kinetic Reefer 170

Full system setup. Main display tank with sump, and in the adjacent closet is the carbon reactor (brs mini), Algae Reactor (AquaMaxx XL with custom aluminum heat control), and chiller. Also in the closet is a 5 gallon HPDE ATO reservoir with the ATK PMUP, OS-1 level sensor for low water. The ATO reservoir is fed by my RO/DI.

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Algae Reactor

All the parts used for this algae reactor:
AquaMaxx Reactor XL:
https://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMax...cal_Reactors-AquaMaxx-UJ5313-FIFRISCR-vi.html

LED Grow Lights:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MRHQMYH/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Clip on Fan:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012BKZC86/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Aluminum tube:
http://www.speedymetals.com/pc-4689-8379-6-sq-wall-sq-tube-6063-t52-aluminum.aspx

Heatsinks:
http://www.heatsinkusa.com/4-850-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink/

Just added some chaeto from ReefCleaners.org. I decided to go with them because the chaeto is grown in a fishless system. I'm crossing my fingers it's also GHA, Bubble Algae, etc. free. When I put the chaeto in, there was a bit of sand in the chaeto, as well as a few big amphipods. Didn't see any nuisance animals.

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Here's a look at the sleeve I put together for the LED lights. I'm probably overly scared of heat problems with these Amazon grow lights, so I bought a 5.75"x19" square aluminum tube and stuck the lights on the inside of it. I probably should've gotten a 6" tube because it's a tight squeeze getting the reactor in and out with the LED lights.

Attached to two sides are 4.8" x 8" heatsinks. Lots of thermal paste + some JB weld to hold them on. Cured for 24 hours.

Lastly, very quiet low powered clip on fan above. So this is probably the coolest algae reactor in the world LOL.

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Here it is all assembled:

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And a fun glorious photo down the tube with the lights on:

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scuzy said:
I see 0 use for that heatsink in my led strip cause mine doesnt het hot.
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Mine does! Not sure why, but it got really hot. I could touch it, but not comfortably. I can pickup super hot plates (I was a bus boy / waiter for a few years in high school) so i don't think I'm overly sensitive to heat. It was concerning how hot it got. I was also not sure how it would do in the hot summer months, the chiller might work overtime. Anyway, fan + heatsinks work wonders so far.
 
JVU . said:
NOPOX can’t get rid of nitrates if you don’t have phosphate and other nutrients (as with ammonia dosing and no livestock like your situation). That’s why it has both NO and PO in the name. The organic carbon will just build up in your tank waiting for the rest of what the bacteria need to grow. Just like macroalgae. So I though I think NOPOX is great when used in a setup with livestock, I recommend against using it right now.

Also I wouldn’t worry too much about low levels of nitrate left over, it’s not particularly toxic.
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Thanks! That all makes sense. Yeah, I am hovering around 10ppm of nitrates. I think I'll just leave it at that for now.

Vhuang168 said:
That’s similar to the DPV strain and practically impossible to find.

The last one that sold was $200 for a small one.

Good luck finding one.
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Hmm, I might not know what the DPV strain looks like. I was just thinking of something like this:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-d...ip-anemone-neon-green-with-ultra-colored-tips

A few weeks ago, Aquatic Collection had a basket full of neon green. Not sure if they had really colorful tips, but maybe I would get one of those.

EDIT: Just searched and saw this:
http://www.bareefers.org/forum/thre...phin-pet-village-bubble-tipped-anemone.18019/

Wow that is incredible. I guess I was thinking more like the one I linked to in LiveAquaria. But yeah, the DPV one looks incredible.
 
Ah I see what you mean by square tube now, I thought you were using smaller tubes and laying the lights directly on it like some linear heatsink. But resting the whole thing on a base with an appropriate sized computer fan should keep it more than cool.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Ah I see what you mean by square tube now, I thought you were using smaller tubes and laying the lights directly on it like some linear heatsink. But resting the whole thing on a base with an appropriate sized computer fan should keep it more than cool.
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Yeah, I'm not the greatest at explaining with words. Photos I can do. But I'm pretty sure this is overkill, but I like overkill. At least it was fun to make.
 
Perhaps you can cut vents at the bottom of the square tube, or put it on some feet so air can exit from the air blown down in from the fan?
 
yellojello said:
Perhaps you can cut vents at the bottom of the square tube, or put it on some feet so air can exit from the air blown down in from the fan?
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Yeah I was thinking about that too. It's cool throughout the tube, but at the very bottom it's a bit warm. It's not hot at all, not even close to how it was before, but the fact that the fan and heatsinks are towards the top is definitely not a great balance.

I'm thinking of putting some short "feet" of some sort so the air can flow through the bottom like you suggested!
 
scuzy said:
Drill some holes and it'll vent out
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Oh yeah, so true. Simple metal drill bit a few times will work wonders. Thanks for the suggestion

sfsuphysics said:
How big is that reactor? It couldn't have been cheap to get square tubing that large.
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It's the AquaMaxx XL, so the actual clear reactor part is about 18.5" long. The aluminum tube was $35 + shipping, came out to be like $40 total shipped. Not the cheapest thing in the world, but relative to fully built PAX BELLUM ARID reactor, kind of more affordable. The heatsinks were similar in price.

Overall I probably spent ~$200 including the AquaMaxx XL reactor. Probably cut down on the price if using a regular reactor. I just have a huge closet full of space, so decided why not go super large reactor.
 
scuzy said:
Pretty close to a pax bellum :)
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Kind of. Smaller one is $450, and the larger one which is a bit closer to the size is $750. At least in height. Not sure about width... But at less than half the price of the smaller one, and the DIY fun, I think it was worth it.
 
A few new additions:

AlgaeBarn 5280 pods
https://www.algaebarn.com/product/combo-5280-pods-oceanmagik-phyto/

And picked up a rainbow BTA
http://www.ebay.com/itm/292061300381?ul_noapp=true

I offered $70 for the BTA on ebay, not expecting him to take it, but he took it so I guess I had to pay. I put it in a QT for a day and he seemed fine. I had cipro tabs ready, but looked good after 24 hours. I acclimated for 1.5 hours (30 min temp + 1 hour drip) and put him in the tank. He bubbled up, walked around, floated around, walked around some more, and now he's half hiding in a crevice.

It came with a lot less color than the photo (obviously the photo is ridiculous), which was totally fine. But since I introduced it, I think it's lost even more color. Bummer. So it's on day 3 now, and even with pumps off and squirting mysis into it's face, it won't eat. I can touch the tentacles and feel it stick, but I guess it's not hungry yet. It's peaking out into the light, so hopefully it'll be happy soon.

Measuring all my parameters, still 0 on ammonia/nitrites and about 10ppm on nitrates. Just got my Hanna phosphate checker, but haven't busted it out yet. Good amount of brown algae film everywhere though.

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I'm guessing it'll figure itself out and hopefully color back up.

I'll keep trying to feed it, and maybe it'll absorb some of the phytoplankton I'm dosing everyday for the pods.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah those colors in the ebay photo look a tad "enhanced".
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Only a little ;) I wasn't expecting much, and to be honest, I didn't think he would take my offer. At that price, I'm pretty happy with how it looks. The tips are really peach colored, which is cool. Body was a teal (a bit more green then blue) which was nice. So I think it'll look nice if I can get it to color up a bit. Or whatever, it's pretty sweet as is.
 
Got a replacement Simplicity skimmer impeller to see if it helps the sound. After a few seconds of screaming baby noises, it actually dropped down considerably in noise.

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Before the new impeller, I was measuring 65 decibels.

After new impeller, it was 77 decibels... and about 10 minutes later it's now at a cool 58 decibels! Much better. I think I'll just keep this skimmer. The sound is definitely manageable.

If Reef Octopus ever puts together a smaller Elite skimmer, I'll get that, but I think I'll just settle for this at the moment.
 
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