Might as well be new at it.

[sevendorches]

I set up a 150 reef with pretty good success about 7 years ago but had to take it down while building a house ourselves. What can I say, I miss it.

All that said, I'm interested in starting again, but I want to do everything as right as I can with as much automation as I can. I have five kids and really want to enjoy the reef more this time as opposed to having my hands in it multiple times per week.

My plan is as follows:

1. 220-240g (glass) with two corner overflows (2 drains per return) (Brand recommendations?)

2. Oversized Sump wet/dry + berlin capability (Please help with suggestions)

3. I have an adequately sized E.T.S. Skimmer that I was hoping to reuse.

4. I have a knop calc reactor that I could use, but I always had problems getting it to work properly, so I was thinking about going with a dosing system, possibly the aquamedic quad, to dispense ESV two part system among other things.

5. I thought about adding ozone to increase skimming efficiency. (Brand?)

6. I was also considering using a computer like the neptune or the octopus to help me watch levels and automate lighting. (Opinions?)

7. I WILL, I WILL, have automated top off. (Brand suggestions?)

I've been away just long enough to make me scared of screwing up and wasting money or worse, irresponsibly killing beautiful specimens. Any advice would be much appreciated. Does my plan stink?

 

[returnofsid]

Wait for DonW to chime in. He's definitely the person to talk to about automation and a lot of your other equipment questions. Skimmerwhisper is the skimmer guru. Heck, if they don't chime in soon enough...PM them..lol.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!! I agree, Don would be the person to talk to where automation is concerned. He's RF's McGuyver Good luck!

 

[lizardarm]

I'll give a third nod toward DonW and his company Reefwerks.
here's a link:
http://www.reefwerks.com/
I purchased an auto top off/power strip unit off of him and have been real happy with it.
He also sells timers that will apparently work for just about anything (including lighting) that would be quite a bit cheaper than one of the computerized automation units
(i.e. reefkeeper2).
Man, I sound like such a tool.
-chris

 

[mattleycrue76]

I've been researching AT systems lately and DonW's system and the tunze osmolater seem like the best units on the market because they use both mechanichal and optical switches for redundancy.

 

[sevendorches]

Thanks so much for all of your collective feedback. I'm extremely excited about getting started. I'll try to get Don's input.

 

[DonW]

Sorry I just got your pm, havent been around much lately. Automation is a pretty simple and there are many ways to get it done. Just keep in mind with any automation you will have a failure. It may not be in the first year but it will happen so no matter what you choose make sure there is some sort of redundancy. Advice is great but take it with a grain of salt. Ive heard time and time again "my ________ has been working great for over a year" in the next week that same person has a failure. Work the bugs out early on and take that time to set up redundancy before the tank is stocked with hundred if not thousands of dollars worth of livestock.

The aquamedic dosing pumps you mentioned are IMO just plain garbage so I'd stay away from those. Ozone can be accomplished pretty reasonalbly with an adjustable Enaly ozonizer. The ones made for the hobby are quite abit more expensive but are really no better. Controller are ok as long as you set up some sort of redundancy for the basic life support portions like heating and cooling. If you plan on using an ATO and a controller there is no need to double up, every controller made will give you the ability to top off.

Don

 

[burning2nd]

Wet/dry's are kinda old school. The way these days is more about the sump and skimmer. You could plumb what ever you want diffrent tubs and contanors. And Ato's are a must.

Ro/Di is a must to... thats just gonna get plumbed in.