About a year ago i broke down my 210 because i was moving. It is now time for round 2 of the 210 and i'm making some improvements/upgrades/changes. I will be modeling my new setup on Phyl and John's setup, with some things left out as i don't have as much stuff....yet.
Things i'm changing:
1. i had bahama oolite which was really fine grain. it looked cool but was always flying around the tank from water movement. i'm thinking of switching to Carib Sea Special Grade Sand 40 lb which is twice the size of the oolite 1-2 mm vs .5-1 mm. Not sure if the new sand is going to do the same thing or not, does anyone have experience with this sand?
2. I have a brand new set of VHO bulbs but i'll be switching to T5 once they run out. the last i remember they were cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, and they were better bulbs. Is there anything you can't keep under T5?
3. tying into the basement. thinking of using a sequence hammerhead 5800 to run everything but my skimmer off of which includes the following right now: main tank return pump, UV sterilizer, fuge feed, and carbon/phosban reactors. in the future i'll be hooking up a calcium reactor, frag tank, and anything else i can break the bank on. not sure if the hammerhead is overkill or not...
4. i have a sequence dart that i used for a close loop but i'd like to eliminate the pump if i can but maintain the flow through the tank. i don't think this is possible though. the overflows can't handle that kind of through put. any ideas?
5. i'm trying to figure out the best place to put my aquacontroller jr. i'd like to be able to put it upstairs under the tank so i could utilize the feed button/timer but then everything in the basement now needs a control module. the cable that connects the DC8 to the aquacontroller is just a phone line right? maybe i could get a longer one and run it from the upstairs down into the basement put the controller upstairs with a DC4 then daisy chain my DC8 downstairs? open to suggestions here....
I'm also looking for any cool ideas that i may not have thought about or that people that have tied into their basements wish they thought about during setup.
Things i'm changing:
1. i had bahama oolite which was really fine grain. it looked cool but was always flying around the tank from water movement. i'm thinking of switching to Carib Sea Special Grade Sand 40 lb which is twice the size of the oolite 1-2 mm vs .5-1 mm. Not sure if the new sand is going to do the same thing or not, does anyone have experience with this sand?
2. I have a brand new set of VHO bulbs but i'll be switching to T5 once they run out. the last i remember they were cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, and they were better bulbs. Is there anything you can't keep under T5?
3. tying into the basement. thinking of using a sequence hammerhead 5800 to run everything but my skimmer off of which includes the following right now: main tank return pump, UV sterilizer, fuge feed, and carbon/phosban reactors. in the future i'll be hooking up a calcium reactor, frag tank, and anything else i can break the bank on. not sure if the hammerhead is overkill or not...
4. i have a sequence dart that i used for a close loop but i'd like to eliminate the pump if i can but maintain the flow through the tank. i don't think this is possible though. the overflows can't handle that kind of through put. any ideas?
5. i'm trying to figure out the best place to put my aquacontroller jr. i'd like to be able to put it upstairs under the tank so i could utilize the feed button/timer but then everything in the basement now needs a control module. the cable that connects the DC8 to the aquacontroller is just a phone line right? maybe i could get a longer one and run it from the upstairs down into the basement put the controller upstairs with a DC4 then daisy chain my DC8 downstairs? open to suggestions here....
I'm also looking for any cool ideas that i may not have thought about or that people that have tied into their basements wish they thought about during setup.
