Be a geek! And they definitely made one of me. The people at Reef Geek were awesome to work with and I'm excited my first review gets to be on their awesome service.
We ordered an AI Sol Super Blue with a hanging kit and controller and two Marineland Maxi-jet Pro circulation pumps on Labor day weekend. We did not receive our items however until this past Tuesday. That is not the fault of Reef Geek though. AI did not ship their new orders of controllers on time and we were told that before hand.
During Labor day weekend we were internet window shopping on different lights and found an awesome deal on the AI Sol at aquacave. However, after spending an hour or so doing vendor research some of the Aquacave reviews were quite terrifying and made us feel uneasy investing such a large amount of money.
So, I went on Nano-Reef and did a quick search to find out where other reefers were getting their AIs from. That's where I came across Reef Geek and many people singing the praises of a man named George.
Hubby and I decided to look into ReefGeek but, unfortunately, the price was too high. Then we decided that it couldn't hurt to ask for a price match. After all, the worse they could say was no.
We sent an e-mail to George, who is the sales manager, and he came back with the response of, "We can beat AquaCave's $610 at $600." And we bought the lights! Then we threw in the two Maxi-jets not only because we were so pleased with their service, but also because they had the cheapest price for the Maxi-Jets.
They also did not charge the card until our items were ready to be shipped and when they arrived, they also included this sweet bumper sticker:
I don't like bumper stickers on my car. So it's in the window on suction cups instead.
In summary, I would definitely order from Reef Geek again and I too am singing the praises of George. They were so easy and lovely to work with. I look forward to my future purchases with them!
This weekend hubby and I were productive and busy little bees on the tank. The lights are hung, cords are managed, and the refugium is glued. Here are the photos of our progress!
AQUA ILLUMINATION SOL SUPER BLUE LEDS
The hanging brackets. We found out that a stud is above one of the brackets and so we used a sheet metal screw instead of the toggle bolt that came with the kit. The other one did not have a stud behind it so we used the original toggle bolt.
There was a ton of excess wire from the hanging kit and we didn't want to cut it because we plan to move in the near future. Hubby thought of this creative way of weaving the wire through the mounting rails. We later secured them with zip ties which you can see in the lower photos.
Once we took care of the hanging, the next dilemma was cord management. This was solved by using white electrical tape to make the cords much less conspicuous and running them down the walls.
The make the turns crisp and clean, we nailed in small wire nails. You can barely see the head in the photo.
Another example of the nails.
This is how it looked before the white tape.
After the white tape.
So, there is an extra cord in our set up that looks really ugly because we didn't try to hide it. The cord is the data cord connecting to the AI controller. The reason we didn't photograph it or hide it is because we have a wireless adapter coming in three months so we just temporarily made it a little on the ugly side and kept these photos since this is more to the idea of what we'll have with the wireless adapter.
REFUGIUM MOD
I did my refugium mod based off of these directions by El Fab at Nano-Reef. I skipped the directions for modding the intake tube since my tank is not a pico tank.
The materials I used were:
DAP Household Sealant
an Xacto knife
Scissors
Toothpicks
AquaClear 50 powerfilter (or higher, I used 70)
DAP Household Sealant bought at Ace Hardware
photo from the top of modded refugium
The divider. Make sure the tips are facing away from the algae. It'll make clean up easier. I ended up cutting those tips off.
Photo of the front and overflow screen.
So, that is what we did this weekend. We also put in an order for 15 pounds of Florida base reef rock from ReefCleaners.org and will be getting live rock next weekend from our LFS (local fish store). In short, we're planning to begin cycling next weekend! So look forward to that and probably a demo of the lights since we'll most likely be taking video. Oh, and we decided to hold off on the algae until putting in the clean up crew which we will probably also order from ReefCleaners.
I made up this spread sheet to show the value of Craigs listing and being aware that people might want to get rid of stuff for free, oh and I forgot to add on the liverock, sand and tank, but I'm sure you get the idea without that stuff:
The lights of the century have arrived! DH (Dear Husband) will be hanging them this weekend. Then we will be ordering our base rock.
Right now this is the plan:
For the initial set up of a now 20 gallon long tank, we will be spreading the costs over some weeks. Right now this is $40 a week so you can see if you want to take longer setting up your tank it can conceivably be done. We have determined that $40 seems to be the sweet price for all of the equipment.
We also ordered an Aquaclear 70 powerfilter.
That will be converted into a mini sump and refugium.
The above image is approximately what my refugium will look like. In addition to the Chaeto algea (apparently pronounced "kay-toe" but I still call it a "cheeto"), my powerfilter will also house my tank heater and thermometer, a carbon filter, and a Mini Rio Sun led light from my Craigslist purchase . I want to put my ammonia detector in there as well, but I don't think I would be able to see it clearly. So that has yet to be determined. I want to keep out as much equipment as possible in the display tank.
For all of you who are new to the hobby, you may be wondering, "What is a sump, a refugium, and Chaeto algea?"
"Won't it turn it orange?" on the topic of adding Chaeto before or after cycling at NanoReef.com
What is a sump?
A sump is a secondary source of water for your tank. Traditionally it sits in, lets say, a 10 gallon or larger tank beneath the main system. This secondary tank connected via pumps and pipe to your display tank increases the volume of water, filtration, and aeration. Therefore logic also dictates it can allow you to have a larger bioload. But please don't overcrowd your fishies.
A sump also allows you to have an out of the way space for your filtration media. Things like carbon filters, a refugium with Chaeto algea and more liverock, all of that can be put into the sump. It can also house your heater, thermometer, protein skimmer, calcium reactor, all of the things you don't want in the tank people will see. So it's pretty beneficial.
My Aquaclear power filter will only provide an extra 2.5 gallons. I do not want a larger sump because of the extra expense and space. But it will serve its purpose.
What is a refugium?
Webster describes a refugium as an area where an organism can survive through undesirable conditions. Like a house when a hurricane is coming through can be deemed a "refugium".
This definition holds true to a reef tank as well.
A refugium is a body of water separated from the display tank. It is used to house organisms that would not survive in the tank. For example, I also plan on breeding copepods to one day get a Mandarin Dragonet. If the copepods were in the main tank, their numbers would be decimate by, not only the Dragonet, but by the other fish and crustaceans as well. So, I need to have a breeding colony set aside to feed my fish.
A Mandarin Dragonet. Hard to keep in smaller tanks due to feeding requirements.
A refugium also houses algae that are beneficial in natural filtration. Chaeto algae is on of those. Additionally the Chaeto acts a food source for copepods. So, it's doubly beneficial to the tank.
What is Chaeto algae?
Cheato algea (Chaetomorpha linum) is a free floating fibrous algae that sucks nitrates and phosphates from a tank. Nitrates and phosphates are killers in a system and need to be kept in check.The algae is an active growing algae and can be kept on a reverse lighting schedule. This means when my tank lights are off, my fuge light will be on. This will stimulate growth in the algae and reduce the nightly pH fluctuations associated with reef tanks.
Chaeto algae
Can Chaeto algae be added while the tank is cycling?
This is a hot topic question. The only conclusive answer is there is no conclusive answer. Some people have had the algae live through the cycling and make it milder, others have had it just up and die off. I will be putting mine in at the start of the cycle. We'll see what happens. It's about $5, so not too bad of a price if it dies. If it does not make it, I'd probably just buy another ball of it. But we haven't ordered the Chaeto yet, so we may change our minds.
Here are some links regarding sumps, refugiums, and Chaeto algae:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bcorsettingup/a/aa020298sumps.htm
http://rettalbot.suite101.com/what-is-a-refugium-a40610
http://www.reefchaeto.com/
Look forward to the start of the tank set up! Plus a vendor review of ReefGeek!
Well, this will be a long post. So, I have some great news! I got an awesome deal on Craigslist. I got a ten gallon tank, two Rio Nano Skimmers/Filters, four Rio MiniSun LED lights, six pounds of live rock, live sand, a Reef testing kit, water conditioner, and various supplements for a grand total of $25!
And last weekend we also met up with hubby’s friend from college who gave us additional supplements, 50 pounds of sand, tank heater, another testing kit, a phos reactor and 50 pounds of Instant Ocean. Plus more stuff if we want it. I cannot emphasis enough of the importance of craigslist and keeping an eye out for people leaving the hobby.
I was insanely proud of myself for getting that deal. It’s hard to beat. We went and picked it up and everything was fantastic! Husband and I agreed on allowing $60 this month for my initial set up. So we dropped off the new stuff at home, set it up running in my bath tub to keep the live rock live, and went to Wally World.
The filthy tank. Still, it's a great deal just needs some TLC and it'll be a great QT tank.
Here was the beginning of the end. At Walmart we were looking at the kits and saw that they changed the hood model. So, we started plotting to buy things separately. Petco had a Labor day sale of $1 per gallon on tanks so I could get a ten gallon tank for $10 ($2 cheaper than Walmart). Then we’d look at the hoods and see if there was anything cheaper than the $20 hood at Walmart.
We left Walmart empty handed and cruised across the street to Petco. At Petco we were looking at tanks and Hubby said, “Hey, look at this 20 gallon long. It’d look really good in the alcove.”
Alcove of Financial Doom. Ground zero for my budget... right here. Doesn't look evil, but it is!
“Yeah, it would,” I said. “But that would really shoot up the price of my tank and hoods that length are expensive and hard to find.”
“It’s okay,” he said, “I’ll help with the costs.”
“But my blog is an infant and I was trying to make it about cost-effectiveness.”
“I’m sure they will understand. It will still be about a beginner and a nano reef.”
“True.”
And that was that. So we set off with our 20 gallon long for $20 and went home to research lighting and circulation costs...
Later that day:
“Hey, honey,” I said, “Check out these lights. They are way out of our price range but they’re really cool. Maybe we can get them in the future.”
The lights in question are the AI Sol leds. The crème de la crème of LED aquarium lighting technology, the big cheese, the colossus, the mother load of all lights on the markets, these bad boys are worth every cent of their $629 price. They have it all. Aside from keeping a lunar light cycle that comes on automatically, they have eight different light settings throughout the day, simulate sunrise and sunset, and have a range that would allow me to keep any coral. Additionally, each of the units are modular, meaning we can expand the lights as we get bigger tanks in the future instead of having to upgrade. So when you take into consideration the savings we’ll have on bulb changes for different corals, a separate set up for lunar lights, buying a new fixture if we want larger tanks, and tack on the 10 year bulb life expectancy plus savings on energy bills, not needing a chiller due to low temperature output and not needing ballasts, it’s not too bad. It just hurts a helluva lot right now.
Oh, and it can be used in tank automation systems like Apex’s Neptune controller and potentially be interfaced with our computer for home automation… This was a big selling point for my husband who’s all about the techy stuff.
Automation systems that can be used with AI Sol. AI controller in foreground. image from Aqua Illumination
So the lights are pretty awesome and justify the price. Then husband went even further out of my budget (like it could get any further away) and added on two Maxi-jet Pro powerhead/circulation pumps. I can’t really argue with that since they are necessary as my previous ideas for GPH are null and void in a 20 gallon set up.
Luckily, it was Labor day so a lot of sales were going on. Aquacave.com was selling the AI Sol set up for $610 (including a $34.99 hanging kit) but they had really bad vendor reviews and I was hesitant on spending that much money with poor reviews. So, I went to nano-reef.com to see where people were buying their lights and repeatedly ReefGeek.com was showing up. Another google search revealed they had no bad reviews. I went on over to the site but they were more expensive. Hubby e-mailed the sales manager about Aquacave and explained that we’d really like to buy from them but they weren’t as cheap. We got an e-mail in response saying not only would they match, but they’d beat it. So we got the lights for $600 (yay!). I’m pretty excited for the lights.
Here's a thunderstorm simulation with the lights. Definitely check it out:
After our huge purchases, hubby says he’ll leave my budget alone. Only problem is everything that was necessary to be on a budget, he already bought.
So, after we get the lights and some more rocks, this tank is ready to roll. Hopefully I can start cycling in about two weeks. I’ll make a post later with my price sheet on how the budget was suppose to work out. I think it was perfectly feasible. If it wasn’t for Labor day and that alcove, I’m confident it would’ve worked.
