robe

My SPS tank temp is set at 28 C to 29 C. No adverse effect but this should be the max range.

You can buy a computer UPS system for less money. APC Smart UPS 1000 VA will probably just around $1K.

I used to stick frags in my overflow and side glass by leaning an acro against it. Before you fill your tank with water. Sticjk some glass or pieces of plastic across the back wall or overflow so that you have ledges to epoxy your frags later. Right now I'm leaning my acro branches across the return water pipe so that it grows over it in time.

Why you need to use a bigger transformer for pumps ? It is due to motor's low power factor which can be a slow as 0.6. This causes the transformer to overheat as the transformer is actually being overloaded. If an electric motor pump is rated at 50 watts but its power factor may be 0.7. In this case you divide the rated power 50w by 0.7 which will give you the rating in VA (apparrent power). The 50w rating translates to 71.4 VA. That means the pump is drawing an apparent power of 71.4 VA. Your transformer minimum power rating should then be 71.4 VA but transformers are recommended to be loaded continuously up to 70% to 80% of its rating. The transformer capacity in order to run your pump is now 71.4 VA divided by 80%. The minimum transformer capacity required to run your pump is now 89.2 VA. This is the capacity required to run the pump continuously For start-up inrush current. It's about 2 to 3 times the rated fill load current. 50 watts /110V x 3 = 1.36 A. The inrush current will last a few hundred milliseconds but can be longer if your pump is stuck. Your transformer winding should be able to withstand the inrush current for a second or two without giving way. If you want to play safe the transformer rating have to be increase further to 3 times the minimum rating required or 89 x 3 = 267 VA. You can use a 250 VA rating. Sadly most cheap transformers are overrated and some uses the same or slightly higher size wires for their windings. By right the primary and secondary for 220/110V should have the lower voltage output winding sized to carry at least twice the current of the primary winding.

THe standby UPS like APC Smart UPS are offline type of UPS and consume little power when not on battery mode. That means power consumed is mainly used by battery charger. Only the online type of UPS have losses of 2% to 8% due to double conversion circuitry. The smaller online UPS are APC Symmetra, MGE Comet or Liebert GXT, Powerware, etc. You can parallel the small UPS but you need relays to cut in one after the other as the UPS might get damaged by the reversed voltage applied to its output. Only bigger 3 phase UPS can be paralled using a synchronising kit to ensure that the all outputs are in phases. I will be replacing the batteries of my APC SU1000 prior to using it in my tank (I have 4 of them)....

This is one reason I still keep my old chiller at home and never sold it. You'll never know when you will need it..... I did not hook it up as there's no space for it in my cabinet. So far my 2 year old Hailea 1 HP is doing okay. Just need to hook up a temperature controller and a few relays to cut-off the lights when temperature goes up.

front view - so bare and empty.....

right angle view of tank

Reef Maniac's Robe's custom Beckett skimmer - thanks to JoeP!!!

I thnik I saved the pics in too low a resolution...

lighting pulley system - lights can be pulled up level to ballast suspended cradle when doing maintenance or major rescaping

cabinet with all doors open

right bottom showing skimmer return and main return pipes - all pipes are 40 mm (1.5 inch)

front bottom of cabinet showing the chiller pump

left bottom of cabinet for main pump Iwaki MX70, gas tank, chiller pump Iwaki MD30, DIY phosphate reactor and sump

external overflow

more pics of the back room.

Thanks everybody for the compliment. For once I need to do a proper tank as since I started in the late nineties I never had a decent looking cabinet to house my tank as well as a decent tank...... I'll ppost more of the tank detail once I get the pis downloaded. Likewise some details on the tank design. I used autocad to design the tank and overflow system as well as the cabinet itself. For the cabinet the primary aim was accessibility to the tank at all sides if not at least 3 sides. Cabinet hood is built with big side swing doors not upward swing which most tank hood have. I hate to knock my head on the panels as well as crouching while doing tank maintenance.......

Hi William, Yup your right, need that space to house the reactor skimmer and chiller and also all the electrical wires. longtime no see.. must catch up one of these days with the others ..and you Robe

will start to break up my big blue stag colonies after my trip early next month to repopulate my tank with smaller pieces and create from scratch an acro jungle of intertwined branches ...... can only see that after a yea's time probably. This hobby is like raising bonsai, it takes time.

I have a clearer pic but i used this blurred one deliberately don't want get mistaken on the streets as an escapee froma fishtank....

cleaning the tank during the pre-setup stage

view from the side

tank cabinet under construction, all equipment are hidden in a small closet behind the tank.

The rocks are supported on pvc pipes so as to lessen the LR required. A narrow gorge is set at the middle with some mushies and star polyps. The three side will be sands to simulate a rock outcrop