rioreef

After 18 years I am turning off my Icecap 1 watt moonlight. I never turned it off during that time (except for power outages). Got my monies worth out of that light!

Just got the brand new Avast Parrot ATO with the Neptune Apex control option. Going to pair it with a Tunze Turbelle High Jet pump placed in the ato reservoir. It will be set up first on a temporary tank for now as I have to wait for new flooring installed before the a new tank is set up. Coming from using mechanical float switches backed up by solenoids and a timer with direct RODI to tank. It’s been solid for 18 years, but switching to a separate ato reservoir and off endless water main supply. I like the pressure switch the Parrot uses and is backed up by a second pressure switch and a float valve. Once up and running I will then be able to give an update to how the Parrot is working.

Reef eScape

Regarding the plumbing, you have check valves on the pumps but wouldn’t any back flow just go through the manifold section instead?

I concur. WAMAS needs some Avast swagger.

My chaeto refugium is 6x12x17 deep with part of my return feeding it and a small powerhead in the fuge to circulate the water even more bottom to top. I have a Kessil H80 Tuna Flora over it and I am pulling about half the volume of the fuge out every 2-3 weeks. It is connected to my Apex controller and the light channel is adjusted running between 50 and 55% for most of the time it is on with a one hour period at 75% (more red light). For reference the light spectrum values equate to roughly blue (0%), Grow (40%), Bloom (70%), and Red (100%). The light is on for 14 hours a day. The chaeto at the bottom with minimal direct light stays a very dark green while the upper portions that get harvested are a bit lighter in color. Very happy with the light. I used to get unwanted algae on the surface and throught the chaeto, but since switching to this light and the programming, only chaeto grows. Light spill into the return portion of the sump is controlled by a black acrylic inside the fuge.

http://autotopoff.com/ Nano w/ bracket in your overflow would work. $40 solution.

No first had experience but, a search found this Palight Black Foam PVC Sheet at Lowes. Comes in various sheet sizes and thickness. Largest sheet is 24x48.

Congrats on the Tank 365 highlight!

I have my sump (29g tall) set up very similar except I have no chamber 1 as you call it. Fuge is last section sourced by a T off the return with the black acrylic too. Been running that way since 2005. Until last year I always battled a slime type algae growing on top of chaeto. I attributed it to not enough flow through the fuge. If I increase flow, the overflow of that chamber into the return pump area caused too many bubbles. I tried putting in a powerhead, but the chaeto always clogged it within a day or so. Then I came across plastic mesh screen #7 size. I made a cylinder of it securing it using zip ties, then cut a disk of this material for the bottom and secured with the ties also. Now I had a cylinder just short of 17 in tall x 3 in dia and slid it down into the corner of the fuge, which is about 17 in deep. Put my powerhead (185gph) in the bottom of it and have it pushing the water straight up. The mesh is tight enough to keep the chaeto out, but the water is drawn from the bottom and inward up along the side of the cylinder. I now have great circulation (bottom to top) with gentle up-welling at the surface. Since installing, the slime is gone and chaeto is super clean now and growing fantastic. Fuge has a Kessil H80 over it with the spectrum set to the 51% at 100% intensity set by my Apex. Just something to consider if you have issues with undesirable algae in your fuge.

I would take into consideration the depth (front2back) of your stand. If you push any sump option to the back of the stand that is going to make servicing it a long reach from the front. That is unless the sides of the stand come off making it a bit easier. On the IceCap 36xl for the fuge a separate pump is not needed, Just run a port off the return and feed it to the refugium. Another source of sumps https://www.fijicube.com/. Prefab and diy/custom build options too. Don't have one, but maybe someone here does and can comment. Check out https://premiumaquatics.com too. They sell Bashsea sumps.

I live in Ashburn too. Just head south on Belmont Ridge Road and follow your GPS to Blue Ribbon Koi. Worth the trip for fish and corals. Cant go wrong with Reef Escape also

Here is another, but you have to supply your own SIM card, such as a pre-paid one. iSocket About the same price as the pumpalarm mentions above. But in the long run may be cheaper as it looks like there is no annual cost. Pumpalarm does provide more options though.

I too have seen the setup in person. It is awesome.

I got his Float Switch Bracket kit. You can order additional float switch holders. I have three on mine.

Tom, Search for posts from Cusereefer on the Neptune Forum regarding a circuit board he created that dual inputs for the optical floats or standard switches. Does not expand the number of inputs on the BoB, just the input types. This was back in 16/17, try contacting him for info. Looks like he does not create them anymore, but he may share info with someone of your technical knowledge. It worth a try. He is where I got ideas for making a harness to plug two optical sensors into the DOS to activate the APEX tile.

If you do what Tom said, video this process for all of us to see this thing!

Thanks. I have also put a horizontal float near the bottom of the Brute. When this opens, the DOS turns off and shuts down the AWC. I then manually turn off the DOS until new salt water is created. Here is a pic of where the volume indicators are when this happened. At about 6 gal left in the Brute. If you do the math on the values shown: 26314 (remaining) + 125153 (removed) = 151467 ml Subtract the original volume of 151400, that shows only a difference of 67 ml over the course of 30 days. I have gone through the logs and like many DOS owners, you can probably find instances when equal amounts between the pumps does not always happens. Why, I do not know and it only happens in small doses occasionally. I have been running this for several months and have "exchanged" out about 100 gallons. I take out each night 1.1 gallons. I know it is not a true 100 exchange, but it is working well for me. No buckets and much more than if were to do it manually. I will still do a manual water change soon and clean out some of the sand bed.

The APEX Fusion software has a tile to track the volume remaining in their DDR dual reservoirs. Problem is I am using the DOS for daily AWC's and would like to utilize this same tracking ability. However, this Fusion tile was only available if you connected the optical sensors of a DDR to the DOS unit. What I have done is to expand on the idea of another reefer and create my own cable harness to connect my own optical sensors without having to buy the DDR. Now, others have also discovered you can jump pins 4 & 6 with a 180 Ohm resistor and get the tile to turn on in the software, but I wanted to still have my own optical sensors to use for whatever (they are not tied to the volume indicated in the tile). I got these items and a couple of optical sensors too. Spliced the cables together and plug the optical sensors into the the 3S JST cables. Once I plugged the 6-pin microfit cable into the DOS, the tile was available in Fusion. Once I got the tile going, I went into the Apex dashboard software via a browser (not the Fusion software) and changed the volume amounts for the 'DDR' to the amount of new tank water the DOS will pull from. In my case it is a 44g Brute, so I entered my max it holds which happens to the the highest volume you can input 151400 ml (40 gallons). Save and refresh your Fusion app. Since I am dong an AWC I run one of the DOS motors in reverse. This gives me a [+] and [-] values in the APEX log. To reflect this also in a way in the DDR tile I have set volume of this pump at 0 and the one adding new water at 151400. I can now see the reducing volume of the Brute shown while the side for the old water increases. You can see that difference in the second pic here.