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Rygh's 250 gallon - rev.2

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New toy!
Bubble King Double Cone 200 with RD3.
Super quiet!!! Family is happy to get rid of that resonance humming in the wall.
skim1.JPG
skim2.JPG
 
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This is the whole "fish room" in the garage.
Skimmer on left in the sump section.
Some bags of carbon in there also.
Frag tank / Fuge / Soon to be predator section on the right.
Triple GFO reactor above tank in middle. I replace 1 per week.
(Which has better lights than the display tank)
Up top is the Quarantine tank.
Down below are dosing tanks and other supplies.
fishrm.JPG
 
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This is the whole "fish room" in the garage.
Skimmer on left in the sump section.
Some bags of carbon in there also.
Frag tank / Fuge / Soon to be predator section on the right.
Triple GFO reactor above tank in middle. I replace 1 per week.
(Which has better lights than the display tank)
Up top is the Quarantine tank.
Down below are dosing tanks and other supplies.
View attachment 6765
Man this looks awesome. I'm kicking myself that I didn't have enough time to check all this out when I stopped by. Wish I had this space.


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Why did you decide to utilize a triple gfo reactor vs the single one? It looks like only the right one is running?


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Sweet skimmer, a bit out of my price range, but ... it's not horribly over priced compared to some products out there.
 
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Why did you decide to utilize a triple gfo reactor vs the single one? It looks like only the right one is running?


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A single reactor is barely enough for my tank.

Three gives you 3 times the water through the reactor.

But key: I switch just one of them each week, cycling through.
So instead of changing all the GFO every 3-4 weeks, I change 1/3 every week.
That really helps stability. Especially Alk, since a big GFO change can drop Alk.
Plus, I get in the habit of doing it weekly, so don't forget.

They are all running. A bit too much pressure pushed the whole glob of GFO up the cannister.
 
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When are you going to switch out the lights in the dt?
Soon. Someday. Maybe. Sortof.
:-)

I almost ordered the parts last week, but other projects around the house keep getting in the way.
 
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Great setup, I'm jealous.

For the record: My Sump/Fuge is now pretty much done and I am happy.
My display tank ... err ... not so proud of the state of that.
 
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For the record: My Sump/Fuge is now pretty much done and I am happy.
My display tank ... err ... not so proud of the state of that.
Now that you're happy with the fish room, you can focus on dialing in your display and you get to enjoy working on the tank with that great garage filter setup!


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That fish room is nuts! I can't wait to set up my own fish room in a few months! Nice job!


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So i tried out the new Rossmont MX3500 Mover powerhead.
Thumbs-down. :(

Great pump in all ways except noise.
Moves a ton of water. Adjustable flow wide or tight. Great magnet mount. Small and compact.
But way too noisy for a display tank.
Relegated to the fuge, and is now the noisiest thing in my whole system.
Not as noisy as my old skimmer, but way worse than my nice new one.

Back to the old Tunze...
 
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Wow is it that noisy? Take a video


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Noisy eh? Maybe a bad one? I didn't notice much noise at MACNA... but then again there was an ambient chatter throughout the entire hall that was a tad higher than than the ambient noise in most houses ... well unless it's a dinner with my extended family, then MACNA was whisper quiet!
 
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Maybe try calling or email the distributor/manufacturer and mention your concerns. Like mike said, maybe it's a bad unit?
 
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New skimmer doing great. A bit more skimmate than before, but a lot darker.
Still super quiet. Sweet spot seems to be about 34W, skimmer deep.
One thing I especially like is that the inner tube comes out of the skimmer cup for easy cleaning.
Extra cost seems to have been worth it. :)

IMG_1610.JPG
IMG_1611.JPG
 
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New lighting plan:
I just don't have the time or inclination to do a full DIY LED array.
I keep thinking about it, but never really starting, and it needs to get done.
It is just an upgrade, so not as exciting. And I have way to many other projects.
And it really does not save all that much money.

So the tentative plan:
1) Create a new acrylic/wood hood to mount the lights.
2) Buy 11 (yes eleven) of the Aqua Illumination Prime HD Modules.

Why:
I like all 3 of the main vendors about the same (AI / Kessil / EcoTech)
But the nice thing about AI is they have a smaller 55W version for "only" $225.
That was really the only way to get the nice even distribution I want. Less shimmer, no shadows.
So 55W each, 600W max total, which is a bit overkill.
They claim coverage up to 24x24, but realistically it is far less. I am overlapping to about 15" x 15" regions.
Setup will be slightly asymmetric, since SPS is more on left, and I have to avoid a center brace.

Setup:
rev2_lights.jpg
 
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New lighting plan:
I just don't have the time or inclination to do a full DIY LED array.
I keep thinking about it, but never really starting, and it needs to get done.
It is just an upgrade, so not as exciting. And I have way to many other projects.
And it really does not save all that much money.

So the tentative plan:
1) Create a new acrylic/wood hood to mount the lights.
2) Buy 11 (yes eleven) of the Aqua Illumination Prime HD Modules.

Why:
I like all 3 of the main vendors about the same (AI / Kessil / EcoTech)
But the nice thing about AI is they have a smaller 55W version for "only" $225.
That was really the only way to get the nice even distribution I want. Less shimmer, no shadows.
So 55W each, 600W max total, which is a bit overkill.
They claim coverage up to 24x24, but realistically it is far less. I am overlapping to about 15" x 15" regions.
Setup will be slightly asymmetric, since SPS is more on left, and I have to avoid a center brace.

Setup:
View attachment 6918

That sounds Awesome!!


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