Aqua Digitals Tank build

[aqua_digital]

Here you can follow our tank build project

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=60988

All "NEW" updates will be posted here also so you do not have to leave the forum ;)

[aqua_digital]

So is the main equipment layout: here

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/tankequipment.jpg

[Gilles]

Cool, the first pool-table-aquarium-equipped-with-profilux :p

[aqua_digital]

LOL Thats funny :D

[Blahenazo]

*positive-envy*

I must be nice to be @ the source of the goodies :)

[aqua_digital]

Oh trust me none of this comes for free! :(

In fact even as the distributors of bubble magus for us to get it over quickly I paid more than 20% extra than the retail price ! :(

[aqua_digital]

Completed stand minus door handle but with the brackets for the Ai. These are 18" above the tank height (which is 24") to give good working clearance.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/DSC_3340.jpg

And the sump plus ProfiLux controller shelf

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/DSC_3347.jpg

[aqua_digital]

So its build time wahoo

The tank arrived in one piece from Miracle aquariums in Toroto Canada, fantastic job, well made and all edges as they should be, the drill holes are really smooth too, not a single nick :)

All drains and returns are bonded in, and the stand pipe put together :)

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4620.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4621.jpg

Like the stand? ;)

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4623.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4624.jpg

Peak-a-boo :p

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4625.jpg

[aqua_digital]

Somone has been busy :D

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4633.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4631.jpg

If you want a sump built - Talk to Christian (Boboxx) take a look at this workmanship! Probe holders built in!

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4632.jpg

Yep its a squeeze alright!

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4634.jpg

Just add water! I have now run the RO line up through the central air ductwork and to the tank. The slow fill begins.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4636.jpg

[chippypah]

Looking Great.
Cheers
Pete

[aqua_digital]

So i spent the day in and out of hardware stores, and came up with this, it is a work in progress as you can see the lamps need to come forward by about 1 1/4" but that is eaily resolved.

Chris at Ai said the lamps need to be 6-8" above the surface for a 24" tank so will adjust these up once I have water in the tank

here are the prototype pics

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4638.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4637-1.jpg

Maybe that will give some other users some ideas :)

[aqua_digital]

Busy weekend,

Water in - Check
sand in - Check
GHL fully set up - Check
creation of worlds largest wiring tangle - Check (hey gimme time i will clean it up :) )
Premium Fiji in Place - Check - Thanks Ottawa Inverts for the cleanest LR I have ever seen

I am awaiting a new prob bracket from Chris, then the sump will not look like a bowl of string :)

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4645.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4643.jpg

pH - 8.08
Salinity - 51.8mS and rising
Redox - 177mV (target = 300mV)
Temp - 28 degrees C

Rest not worth measuring yet, let the tank settle a bit ;)

[Jim E.]

You're just as passionate about this as the rest of us! Very impressive build, Michael. Looks like you're having fun between answering innumerable emails from your avid fan base :-)

[aqua_digital]

The main build is pretty much finished ;)

As you can see below the lights are in place and fully programmed to the GHL, in fact the Profilux has pretty much full control of every aspect of the tank. This weekend I will do a review of what is controlled, how it is controlled and screen shots of programmed software pages.

The hanging kit was custom made by Chris (Boboxx) I have to thank him for the amazing job he did of this and also of course the quality stand.

The pump debate actually produced a huge oversight on my part, I guess running a business and also trying to do a tank build made me lose my head. I forgot the most important element and that was to at least have a flow rate to match the skimmers requirements and I was WAY short of that, this has lead to not enough draw from the surface of the water to stop bio film, so i now have a suitable balanced tunze coming that will draw 500L and hour at 1.5 meters, perfect for the skimmer and tank, thanks to Phil at Xenia for shipping it so fast :)

The photos below show the lights aon about 60% at this time as they are slowly dimming for the evening. As you can see they are mega bright and need to be throttled right back. If you are looking for ultimate light control then seriously get these units :) The ProfiLux cloud simulation is amazing also, I have it set to 25% and 50% dimming at random.

Here are some pics

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4649.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4651.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4655.jpg

[aqua_digital]

Just planning the auto water change now and then in April the balling chambers ;) The AWC programmed and controlled by the profilux will be as follows

1/4 Ro line gravity drained from sump to basement about 12' below direct to drain, this will be controlled by a solenoid. The ATO sensor will be switched to dual mode ATO/AWC and a second low sensor for the AWC lower limit draw off.

In the coat closet behind the tank will be a large (ish) vat, this will at present plans feed the tank with new water via a tiny power head. The tank will drain and replace 1L twice a day so approx 10% a week.

Due to only draining off 1L at a time the tank will not have to have any equipment down time making the water change process and programming very simple.

[aqua_digital]

Well now the "Aqua Digital Tank Build" is nearing set up completion its now time to move onto the profiLux and show everyone what really can be done.

I thought I would do this step by step guide including software screen shots.

So lets start with
Temperature.

As you can see here all probes including the Temp probe are situated in the sump at a level that the probes will never be completely submersed.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2363.jpg

So here is a screen shot of the temperature software screen. Here you can see my nominal value is 28 degrees and the hys is set to .02 meaning the tank will only fluctuate by .02, my graphing clearly shows this as an even saw tooth over a 24 hours period. Any more switching than this in a small tank that does not hold heat well could cause thermostat bounce, something to be aware of more so with chillers.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/tempinput.jpg

So thats the input but what about turning the heater on and off at the set value?

Next step is to program the power bar to control the heater, but first set the thermostat of your heater to 1-2 degrees above your nominal value, this is so the GHL had control over the heater but still allowing for failure redundancy, no matter how good your controller is, it could be made by Nasa for all I care, make sure you have redundancy or 3rd party cut out for such devices.

Ok onto the power bar. here you can see the power bar input screen and I have chosen socket 1 to be the temperature "heating" control socket. The socket is edited to be Temperature 1 - Heater. If you want to also control a chiller just select another socket i.e socket 2 and program that to Temperature 1 - Chiller. The ProfiLux will then turn either device on or off depending on your nominal value and Hys' set.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/socket1.jpg

More about the other sockets later.

So thats the temperature set up. - Next pH

[patrick vachon]

really a beautiful set up!! bravo!:)

a small question, how you made to put an screnshot of profilux on the forum??:confused:

[Jim E.]

Michael, I think your step-by-step tutorial including screenshots & explanations is a stroke of genius! Especially your caution never to allow the probes to become completely submerged. My inelegant, albeit interim solution, is to float the probes in a piece of styrofoam with probe holes. It is, after all, just a sump. Also, I received in the mail today a fancy pH probe from Ottawa! I have it soaking in pH 7 solution for 2 hours. My calibration ceremony will begin promptly at 1935. Thank you. ~Jim

[aqua_digital]

Time consuming but long time coming ;)

OK so pH -

Well once you have set up the Temp everything starts to fall into place like a jigsaw really, setting pH up is no different you are just dealing with different values.

So here we have the pH screen

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/pHscreen-1.jpg

Just as the temperature control page, you have nominal value current value and hys'. As with the temp input there are plenty of other funky add ons to play with if you wished here, for example nocturnal mode etc, this is important only if you really do not like natures ability to lower pH at night, I personally let the tank follow a rythm.

So what can pH be used for? In my case its just monitoring, of course I can set an alarm to wake me at 2am if it drops too low, or goes to high if my Alk dosing got stuck on, or if running a kalk stirrer etc. But the main purpose in reef tanks for pH control other than just monitoring the tank is calcium reactor control.

So to set up a ca reactor Co2 solenoid (I do not have this on my tank as I cast that old pony out long ago :) )

First set up your nominal value in a ca reactor it should be around 6.2 to 6.5 depending on your media. The Hys' can be set to 0.1 in this case, we are controlling a solenoid so does not have so many issues with being switched on and off often.

Now go back to the socket function screen and decide what socket you wish the solenoid to be plugged into, lets say socket 2 for now.

Just as you did with the temp socket set up, select the socket to be edited and set as follows

pH - downward

thats it you are set, of course you can name the socket Co2 control or Freds Diner what ever you choose ;)

If you want to control a Kalk stirrer you can do the same but opposite, if the pH drops you want the kalk to be turned on so set to pH up.

Next Salinity control - Oh thats a scary one :)

[aqua_digital]

So salinity - This will take a while :(

First thing I need to address here is YES when you plug in your highly expensive lab grade platinum plated conductivity probe and follow the instructions to calibrate it to the letter, you will then test your refractometer and drop the whisky glass in disbelief!! WOW can the GHL be that innacurate?? Whaooo stop there :reading:

Lets look at what the old trusted refractometer is really designed for? Reading NSW? Nope, reading wee? Yep, Reading NACL? YES, but NOT natural salt water! To do this you must calibrate the refractometer using an NSW solution, the most trusted until recently was Pinpoint 53mS but then along came Fauna Marin with its highly technical "multi reference test solution" I strongly recommend anyone getting a GHL salinity probe and wish to match its reading to a refractometer to get this stuff.

We are getting a bit deep here and away from reviewing the ProfiLux but what i am trying to say is do not panic if you see the GHL reading different then the old trusted dog the refract' calibrate the refract correctly and you will not see much of a difference.

My refract - digital pen and GHL probe is calibrated to fauna solution at 53mS. This does not mean the GHL stuff is innacurate at 50Ms it is just no good for calibrating a refractometer. So if you want to match both you need an NSW solution for the refract.

OK so we have follwed the calibration instructions to the letter (mega important) so now what can we do with salinity control?

I do not personally do this but I know many GHL users do and that is control their ATO based on the salinity level of the tank.

Here is the salinity screen

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/Salinity.jpg

I am not going to touch on setting this up here to control ATO, if you wish to do this then let me know and once the review is finished I will discuss more detailed subjects.

And next is level control ATO and AWC and alarms.

[aqua_digital]

So good ole level control etc etc

Lets start with the basics.

ATO.

There are different ways of doing this

Direct from the RO unit (my choice)
From storage container (most popular)
From one of the above controlled by a salinity probe instead of level sensor (advance topic - later)

So which ever you choose of the first two the only thing that changes in the set up is what you plug into the assigned power bar socket, whether it be a water solenoid of water pump. In my case water solenoid.

So first thing we must do is set a float or optical level sensor up in the sump to the desired (controlled) level point.

Here is mine.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2365.jpg

Set up the assembly and loose fit to the sump so it can be adjusted, now go to the profilux front screen and go to level - diagnostic - level 1, adjust the sensor until it just turns off, you now have your level set at where you wish the water to always be maintained at.

So back to the software.

Go to the level control screen

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/level1.jpg

By now you should have plugged in your sensor to the back of the profilux and not by mistake plugged it into the temperature port instead :celeb1:

Double click on Level 1 in the settings tab at the top and up pops -

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/level2.jpg

In this box you can set all sorts of treats, the first important thing to set is the function, in this case ATO, the next most important is Max on time, this is your safety net, lets say heavens forbid you forgot to clean your ATO sensor and it stuck on, you are in Cuba and downing a lovely cool local brew while your ATO goes AWOL and floods the Granny apartment below! To avoid such minor issues here you set the maximum time you wish the sensor to be in an active state. So in my case 5 minutes is, well probably to long and needs to adjust that down to 30 seconds, thats a good target. So now you have fail safe ATO :)

next in the same screen you need to set up the reaction time, no this is not the time you have to get back from Cuba to sort out the mess in the apartment below, but the amount of time the sensor is active before the controlled socket is switched, this is ideal for tanks with turbulance or other things that can make the sensor switch on and off periodically. I have mine set to 5 secs, which is just right.

So thats the ATO sensor set up, what about the socket?

You have now chosen a socket to control your pump or solenoid. Just as before go to socket function and click edit the chosen socket. Set this to water 1.

Waheyy, you now have fail safe fully set up ATO

[aqua_digital]

really a beautiful set up!! bravo!:)

a small question, how you made to put an screnshot of profilux on the forum??:confused:

Click on image then hold down ALt and press print screen nthen copy this into something like Power point and save as picture

[aqua_digital]

So for the topic tonight - water alarms.

You can have all manner of alarms -

Maximum on time alarm (this is described in ATO set up)
Low water level alarm
High water level alarm
Leakage alarm

Depending on the amount of sensors you have depends on how many alarm states you can create. I have main tank ovefill alarm and max on time ATO alarm and here i will show you how to create an alarm and shut off for the main pump if the drain got blocked.

As you can see from the photo I have attached a float level sensor to the Euro brace inside the weir box, the sensor will then be triggered if the water level rises too high, in doing so setting off an alarm and turning off the main pump. You can set the same thing up for low water in your sump by putting the sensor there instead, mounted differently of course.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2364.jpg?t=1269473755

So how to program?

First connect the sensor to a level sensor port.

Now go to level control in the software and select the sensor for editing. Set the sensor to leakage detection and set your max on times etc as you choose.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/Leakage.jpg

Now go to socket function outlet and choose what socket you want the return pump plugged into then edit this socket as follows

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/Leakage2.jpg

Here you will see I am using sensor 3 so have programmed as water 3.

If using an optical sensor, when setting up the socket function remember to "invert" the socket function.

Thats all for tonight folks ;)

[aqua_digital]

So long time coming an update :)

Tank now been running a month, live for 3 weeks.

parameters

NO2 =0
NO3 = .01 to.02 depending on how tired my eyes are
PO4 = 0
Ca = 440
DKH = 8
Mg = 1390
Salinity 34PPT
temp = 28
Redox mV = 423mV
pH = 8.01

The tank is doing really well i have not had to scrape the glass once for algea, bio bloom white film yes, but not algea. i am now running ProdiBio for 5 days and the corals are loving it. I would say there is no difference as yet I can report from FM to prodi both are equally good at nutrient reduction, I am sort of caught in the middle which way to go, but as i do not have room for a reactor I am sticking with prodi for 3 months at least and then will decide. there is also room to think about mixing and matching products but my tank is way to young to start any fancy reviews like that.

Ok back to the tank.

I got some awesome corals from ottawa inverts, I am lucky to share the same town as pat so have easy access to his huge coral racks. Pat you need more space !!!

Pictures - As you will see below much to many peoples delight the Ai lamp hangers are finished.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4804.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4805.jpg

I hope this now meets with everyones approval ;)

Here are some tank shots, I apologise now for the quality I am no good at photography at all, but i think you get a good idea how things are coming along.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4796.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4798.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4799.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4801.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4800.jpg

I will continue with the profiLux tutorial/review later this week.

[aqua_digital]

Little update for you

All params are at ultra low nutrient, in hindsight this is not always a wonderful thing as you will see I have a suspected Bio Bloom, the upside is the corals are thriving, and my center piece powder blue acro colony is settling in well.

I say bio bloom, it has not been proved, but other than calcium precipitation there is little else the slight cloudy look could be, so its time to sit back enjoy and give it 14 days and then see.

Interestingly my redox is a whopping 474mV !! A sign of the low nutrients.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_4862.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2371.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2370.jpg

The profiLux of course is rock solid, it actually has become a huge value having the full set up so I can do much better live support and test things out myself before providing support.

More later this week.

[aqua_digital]

So the next part of the "how to guide" is to cover initial connectivity via USB and or USB to RS232 adapter.

So first off -

Always install first the matching and newest driver before you connect the USB with the PC! I will explain how to do this below

If you use the PLM-USB card you will find our newest driver at our download-page

http://www.aquariumcomputer.com/Syst.../download.html

Important: there are 2 different drivers available - one for Prolific chipset, the other for FTDI chipset.

If you are not sure which chipset (the name is printed on the chip of the USB-card) you can install both drivers, this is not a problem.

Third party adapters (RS232 to USB) - The only time you should use one of these is for firmware updates using the fujitsu tool. I do advise everyone with a Plus II to get PLM-USB as adapters are our biggest nightmare. The biggest issues faced is by the use of these adapters so i will cover as many hints as possible regarding this. Of course ProfiLux will always get the blame when it does not work even though they did not make it ;) So this is very important for everyone to read :)

If you do decide to use a third-party USB-RS232-converter then you have to use the shipped driver, always look for an updated driver on the manufacturers website. If the adapter does not come with a driver or a brand name, my advise is do not buy it, but if you do have one like this and can not find the driver, use the driver for PLM-USB, however we do not guarrantee this will work

So you have installed the driver(s), if you now connect the profilux to the PC with power applied windows should say "new hardware found" and after a few seconds display what COM port it is using. if not then the USB-port will be displayed in the windows device manager under "Ports (COM and LPT)". There you can also see the assigned port number (e.g. "COM 7").

In ProfiLuxControl this port number has to be adjusted under connection settings. Connection settings can be located by clicking on the 3 dots ... next to the connect button.

open the connection window for RS232/USB and this box will be displayed

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/Picture1.png

The baudrate (transmission speed) of ProfiLux and ProfiLuxControl must be matching. Standard is 9600 for both, usually you need not to change them.

In the COM window edit this to match the COM number that you noted earlier.

Make sure RS232/USB is ticked

Press save

in the list of connection tick the connection for RS232/USB

Exit

You should now be able to connect

Notes - Even if you are using a USB-RS232-converter you must use our cable ProfiLux-SER between converter and ProfiLux!

If the connection fails although then:

The used USB-RS232-converter is not working correctly (hardware and/or driver are not according to the standards). In this case try using the profiLic driver I personally have found this to work in my case, also use this driver if you adapter was not supplied with a driver CD.

I hope this gives a good insight

[aqua_digital]

Little update, not all corals i got this weekend can be seen they are tough cookies to take pics of :(

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2372.jpg

The clip is holding Fauna marin wakame, boy does this stuff expand in the water, so far the tang has ignored it as have all other fish :( I will remove it tonight and try a tiny piece tomorrow.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2386.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2383.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2382.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/monitors-direct/IMG_2377.jpg

[Blahenazo]

I had to wait 2 -3 weeks before my picasso wanted to eat nori, he just ate flakes in stead :confused: :D, now he's eating everything :)