The Angled tank was in the foyer when you first walked in. I wanted a pretty anemone and some clownfish to greet anyone that visited as soon as they came inside.
My tank came with an Aqua Controller II, but it was ruined with saltwater. After sending it in to Neptune Systems in California for repairs, I began to learn what all it could do. For now, my main goal is control of tank parameters, and this can be done by plugging in each piece of equipment into X-10 control modules. The controller measures pH and tank temperature around the clock, keeps track of the time and date, and switches equipment off or on depending on how it has been programmed.
After almost three years, I decided it was time for a different type of wiring setup. If you want to see how it was done previously, here's the page that explains it in detail.
One question I'm asked quite often is how does an "auto top-top" work. This is a method that can add more freshwater to your aquarium automatically. The benefit of this is that your tank will remain more stable as salinity remains at the same level because new water is replacing what has evaporated.
Others set up a system so that if they go on a short vacation, the tank will be taken care of.
Installed on 5/16/2005, this acrylic sump was built be me to take care of the needs of my 280g reef tank. My goal was to install something that would hold all water that drains when the power is off, house a brand new skimmer, have a decent size refugium, space for coral propagation and it had to look good too.
My build thread on reefcentral.com documented this project. Warning: It is long and informative. lol The information below is compiled in real-time, which is why it reads in the present tense. The 14 day project lasted from July 20, 2004 - August 2, 2004. This is a dairy of those days.
Things pertaining to the room's design
Had I known it would take me nearly seven months to build and set up the new tank, I probably would have hired some professionals, but I'd worked in construction years ago, and knew how to do much of the work myself. Plus, I do like to DIY my projects . A lot of blood, sweat and money went into the construction of the fishroom, and I have the scars to prove it.
Topping off around the clock is the best way to keep salinity stable, and doing so from a reservoir avoids any risk of excessive additions of RO water.
The ATO reservoir measures 22" x 15.5" x 32" and is made with 3/8" cast acrylic. The only opening is a sliding access door at the top corner, just above a float valve. The container holds RO/Di water and I am very careful not to let anything pollute the water since cleaning it out would be extremely challenging. The 150gpd Boosted RO/DI system feeds water directly into the reservoir so I never have to lift a jug of water ever.
I love having full access to the reef, and a rolling light rack is my favorite way to create that kind of space.
