jervismun

Hi guys I will get my TECO RA240 chiller later today. Wondering if the stock pump that comes with my 24g Nano Cube sufficient for the chiller? It has a flow of 290g/h. Appreciate your help

I have the same heat problem too (with my 150W MH). Been looking for a good chiller the past week and found the Teco Micro too small for your tank. I don't think it can function comfortably on my 24g tank too. And yes, it may get activated all the time (which will consume lots of electricity) and will take very long to cool the water. There's a reefer reporting (using a small chiller) that his chiller runs for 20 minutes with 10 minutes break in between. That's a lot of electricity we are talking about here. In the end, I opt for a more reliable brand, although a bit overpower. At least it doesn't have to run for too long (or continuously) and allow me to upgrade in the future

I bought the Tunze ReefPack 500 two days ago and the protein skimmer is working very well, very quiet too. My fan is louder than it. Yes, they are very dependent on consistent water lvl. Do check out my review by clicking on the link below

You seem interested, are u getting one?

The weather is very hot indeed. Getting my chiller tomorrow. Let's hope the chiller will not heat up my room instead, lol.

Full view of my tank!

Boxfish, specially shot just for you

My plan (as in Day #11) is to learn along the way... steadily. So I will start with a few hardy fishes + inverts like shrimps. Then slowly introduce a few hardy corals like zoos and feathers (no anemone as they can wipe tanks out). I do travel a bit, so I must ensure the tank can withstand a couple of days without me taking care of it.

Yahoo! Look what I found!?! Can someone ID it? It's kinda small and doesn't look like a hermit crab.

Ok la! Can't wait

Err... not exactly a hitchicker... but yeah it comes with the rocks. Yeah!

I transfered some Chaeto to the main tank coz I am sick of seeing just rocks all the time

There are plenty of close-up pictures of my gadgets on this thread already. If you wanna learn/see more on Tunze ReefPack 500, you can click the link at my signature. The only gadget not featured is actually the Teco chiller, I will only receive it tomorrow, but it's not a new product anyway. Hope you enjoy my postings

Cheato inside my main tank Yes! Ain't they look beautiful? I know how fast they can grow... well, I guess I have nothing to loose at this stage. The ReefPack 500 blocks some light from reaching the back compartments, so I can have all 3 compartments filled with Chaeto. Well, I kinda like the look of it. Green is good for the eyes anyway, lol.

I've added something to the tank today... guess what? Nope not another piece of high-tech equipment... nope nope nope. You want clue? Refer to next submission.

Ok now I really sound like a Tunze salesperson Just to assure you guys, I am not a salesperson but a designer. I run my own design studio. So, no connection with Tunze whatsoever, except I am a very happy Tunze owner. Just want to share with you my discovery. Hope you guys find it useful. And do post me any questions regarding the product. I will continue to monitor the product, so if there's any problem, I will let you guys know. Well, ok... there's one disadvantage, nothing is perfect. It's a bit big for a 24g Nano Cube. It takes up almost 30% of the tank space. As this product is intended for a much larger tank. Well, it's not the product's fault I guess, it's mine. So yes, the product is PERFECT!!! p.s.: I bought all my Tunze equipments from Reefdepot.com.sg... good attentive service and very punctual delivery. And some freebies too

This shows the inside of the white container. There's a really tiny pump inside (kinda noisy so you know when your water is topping up itself) connected to a thin rubber tube that will deliver water to the tank. Notice they even cut 2 small holes to allow the electrical cabel and tube to run through without any loss of water due to evaporation. Yes, the lid is 100% water-tight! The controller above it also contains different colour LEDs to indicate its status and activities.

The controller is then connected to the: 1. Optical sensor (pix: diagonal right of the filter medium) – which will detect the level of the water. If the water isn't touching the sensor, it will activate the mini pump inside the white container. The pump will be deactivated once the water touches the tip of the sensor. 2. Emergency sensor (pix: diagonal left of the filter medium) – this sensor is just an added safety feature in case the optical sensor fails. Once the water reaches its tip, it will cut-off the pump regardless of reading gathered from the optical sensor. Both sensors were nicely attached inside the ReefPack filter compartment. Neat and sweet! In case both sensors fail, the pump will deactivate itself if it runs longer than 8 minutes continuously. And stay deactivated. There will be high-pitch sound demanding attention. So this system really provides peace of mind when it comes to auto-topping. Probably there are too many problems encountered with other similar systems in the past. Really appreciate the 2 "in case" features... so no more flooding the floor

Because the skimmer can only work its optimum at a set water level, the ReefPack 500 comes with the Osmolator. It consists of a 10g watertight container with the controller (shown on top of the white container)...

As you might have notice, the skimmer collection cup is very wide indeed. The core is also a lot wider than the usual skimmer, allowing a very large amount of bubbles rising from beneath. After observing this skimmer for 2 days, I am convinced that this is a superior product that will work very hard for many years to come. Again, it's not as noisy as my old Dymax LS-20 hang-on skimmer. One danger of having a hang-on protein skimmer is... flood! I once experienced a disaster where the pump (with uneven flow due to water level changes) pumped too much salt water into the collection cup, forcing it to burst open... and 25% of my tank water ended up on the floor. So with the DOC skimmer inside the tank, the worst that can happen is water flowing back into the tank! But again, this will not happen as the Tunze ReefPack will always maintain a constant water level 24/7 without fail... unless the refill bucket went dry and you missed the really high-pitch warning signal. Will talk more about water refilling next. Oh! The tank just refill itself, lol.

The most obvious advantage of introducing the Tunze Reefpack 500 into a Nano Cube is its ability to draw 50% water from the bottom and 50% water from the top surface skimmer. The water flows in steadily through the surface skimmer, removing floating particles and oil from the surface. It also encourages air exchange on the surface, that is to exchange unwanted (and usually harmful) CO2 with oxygen. The operation is very silent, not like a sump tank intake creating a waterfall effect. Almost unnoticeable.

I'm home... ok the skimmer in working fine. Here's a pix showing the protein skimmer in action!

You guys are so fast... Didn't have to wait until tonight I guess. Thanks guys for providing all the technical details. So I just have to share with you guys the actual user experience and results of the product. And some pix for sure.

Nakazoru I will set my Sg to 1.022 then. I will not have evaporation problem with the Tunze Osmolator. Unless I forget to top-up the 10g refill container

Neokn: The ReefPack comes with a DOC Skimmer too. After running for 2 days, I must say that I am very happy with the result. It produces a lot lesser noise as compared to the Dymax LS-20 I was running previously ~ possible noise reduction in the high-quality pumphead. And the extra wide cup improves skimming power, IMO. Will post some pics tonight