Brad's 290 DAS Upgrade

[Badbrad8500]

Hey Eckolancer, I'll have to do more research then. There's got to be an email service that works, right?

Yep, the tank on right is for the ATO. There is a small bulkhead fitted with a float switch on the left (you can barely see the float in the pic). The bulkhead has a pex fitting which has a hose that I store on the other side of the tank. To fill the tank, I just take the hose and run it to my RO/DI filter in the laundry room. When tank is full, I disconnect hose and put back in stand.

 

[Grant]

@Badbrad8500 wrote:

Are you using the email alerts through Fusion or through the built in pages in the Apex itself? If you're using Fusion you should just be able to put in your email address and it works. If you're using the Apex pages, you'll need to put in smtp server settings and it gets a little more complicated. I had both going for a while but have since turned off the alerts from the built in web server on the Apex.

Edit: I almost forgot... the tank looks great so far. [smilie=smile.gif]

 

[Badbrad8500]

Hey Grant,

You know, I tried to get Fusion to work. I couldn't find the "Link to Fusion" to get my token code. Where is it located? Fusion does look a ton easier to use.

Thanks for the compliment!

 

[Grant]

@Badbrad8500 wrote:

There should be a tile available on the main apex dashboard screen that will give you the token code once all the other settings are right. I think you have to have the DNS settings correctly working before it'll show up, though. I first tried using my home router's address for that and it didn't work for some reason. If that's what you have now, try to use 8.8.8.8 and 4.2.2.1 for the two DNS entries. These are Google's public DNS servers. [smilie=smile.gif]

You can also get the code from the Apex display module, instead of using the web site, but you need the DNS servers set first either way. It needs that to reach the Fusion servers.

@Badbrad8500 wrote:

It is easier, but it's biggest benefit (along with not requiring you to setup all the smtp email stuff) is giving you an easy way to access the Apex from outside of your home network without all the port forwarding and dynamic DNS requirements that are involved to reach the Apex's built in web server.

 

[Badbrad8500]

Thanks Grant, I'll try that out and report back.

 

[b22]

Nice setup! I still miss my mystery wrasse but glad he went to a good home. He will love that beast of a tank.

 

[Badbrad8500]

Thanks! He's still king of the tank in the 65g. I'm pretty sure he'll keep his title once he moves over to the 290g [smilie=lol.gif]

 

[Badbrad8500]

@Grant wrote:

Got it! I just hit "Initialize All" to reset the box and for some reason the token showed up. You are right, Fusion is much easier to set up email and text alerts. Tested them out and now I have 25 emails and texts informing me that my temp is 74.3, 74.4, etc etc.

 

[Badbrad8500]

Annnd right when everything was coming together...I open the stand door to a little drop of water in the catch pan. After troubleshooting all other areas of the tank system, I settled on a sump leak : (

I took the sump out of the stand and for now it lives in the garage.

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[Badbrad8500]

Sump is fixed and back under the tank. It was simply a leaking bulkhead on the sump. A quick replacement bulkhead and good to go. I also reinforced the corners and seams of the sump and dropped it in the stand on a foam cushion just to ease my mind about flexing. A lowering of the water level was necessary too, as the Reef Octopus did not like to skim lightly in 12" of water

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[Badbrad8500]

Just finished up the light rack today, so I decided to throw on the 3 LED fixtures. So far the tank has 4 x 36w T5 bulbs and 3 x 165w (running at 100w) LED fixtures. The two other cheap Chinese LED fixtures will come from my old 65g and should give enough light. If not, I'll probably replace the 36w T5 fixtures with 54w fixtures. I still have some room in the back of the tank, so I may just order the 54w fixtures anyway and throw them back there.

Also had to take the canopy off today and paint it. It was growing mold from the constant condensation hanging to its underside. I used a coat of appliance epoxy, then Killz, then more appliance epoxy. Should be good to go!

Almost ready for fish as well, ammonia is gone, waiting on the nitrite to switch over to nitrate and should be ready to go. Threw in some Prime to help it out.

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[Badbrad8500]

Lost my Hawkins Echinata colony too today. Not sure what stressed it to death. I was doing some pretty serious algae cleanup in the 65g, so maybe it was that.

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On a positive note, the little Birdsnest frag I threw in the big tank seems to be surviving, even with measured amounts of nitrite.

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[Badbrad8500]

Wow, it's been awhile. A bunch has happened in the last two months:

I moved all the coral from the 65g into the 290g.

I ordered a bunch of fish from two different places and picked up a handful of livestock from a local fish store.

I quarantined the fish in the 65g and treated with PraziPro, apparently one dose was not enough...lost 90% of all the fish I bought (somewhere around 40 fish, including 5 tangs) to flukes and ich.

I had an outbreak of flukes in the 290g from my "old" fish which I had transferred in earlier. Lost most of my coral (I think) due to pH fluctuation associated with PraziPro dosing.

 

[Badbrad8500]

On the plus side: I did get all my lights installed and configured. I do plan on switching out the end LED fixtures as they are more violet than the others.

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I also figured out the video feed part of the Apex and plan on making a little acrylic dome and placing an IP camera "in" the tank. This view is just an old iPhone mounted to the side of the tank.

 

[Badbrad8500]

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[Mike R]

Sorry for your loss... It truly sucks. But glad to see you have a positive outlook and continue to move on. Kudos to you! Keep the pics coming, love seeing the progress.

 

[Badbrad8500]

Thanks, Mike!