Nick's 345G Build

I'm getting lazier and lazier by the day. :D
With this tank, my daily task is really just feed the fish. The tank is on CWC(continuous water change) of 4G a day. All I have to do is to run the RO unit every 2-3 weeks to fill up the two 60G gallon drums, dump some IO salt and let it mix. I use a two bucket method where the first bucket mixes the salt then it get transferred to the second bucket to be drawn into the tank. This two bucket system allows me to use the nastiest salt and not have to worry about the crud getting into the tank.
With the CWC running, I don't really have to do manual water unless I wanted to. Sometimes, I need to do it because I've overfed the tank because of a new fish. My skimmer is drained into a 5G bucket and that's good for at least a month. But the skimmer neck usually be very filthy by then. I think all this set up has been posted somewhere in this thread.
I don't dose anything, ever. I feel like if the tank relies on me to remember to pour something in every day or a set schedule to survive, I've failed. Yes, really. I don't understand how anyone can keep their sanity while having to remember to dose something into their tank every single day. My parameters are kept stable with the CWC and the CARX. The fuge does a good job at exporting the nutrients since I do feed the fish heavily. I trim down the macros and feed to the fish.
I don't believe in any of those bacteria snake oil bullshit :D. Stuff I can't see, stuff I can't test, I don't mess with. Period.
I test for PO4, NO3, ALK almost every week. CA and MG once in awhile since they track pretty well with the alk with the CARX running. Remember, I'm on a 4G a day CWC so there's constanlty some replenishment.
Do I sound a little cocky? Arrogant? Whatever you want to think. But I actually like to enjoy my time elsewhere than to mess with the tank when there's nothing to mess with. I rather sit in the field alone on a nice weather day waiting for a bird to show up to take photographs than to tinker what I'm going to do next with the tank.
Do your water changes. Keep your hands out of the tank. Keep it simple. You'll last longer in this hobby.
Nick I understand the CWC system and I hope to implement it but what about top off water. Does the CWC mess with any aspect of this.
 
Nick I understand the CWC system and I hope to implement it but what about top off water. Does the CWC mess with any aspect of this.
CWC should not mess with your ATO. Remember, CWC is constant and equally withdrawal and filling of your water in the tank. You just need to keep the freshly mixed water at the same salinity as your tank. CWC should not change your water level.
Your ATO is a separate system that replaces evaporated water using a water level system and replaces with RODI water.
My CWC is managed by a Masterflex with dual channel head(the white pump on the left). With the same size tubing, the dual channel head ensures the exact equal amount of water is drawn from the tank and filled into the tank. This has made reefing great again for me and I don’t care how much that pump and head cost.
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100% agree with Nick that it's a huge relief to have a continuous water change system. Doing a water change used to be this really annoying task that always felt like it was hanging over my head and thus I wouldn't get to it as often as I would have liked. Now mixing up a new batch of saltwater is an easy task once every three weeks or so.

For my system (total about 200 gallons) the Neptune DOS pump works just fine. It has a calibration mode that - theoretically at least - allows them to match the input and output even though it's two distinct peristaltic pumps. Using the Apex interface you just tell it how much water you want to change per day and it decides how to run the pumps. In my case I change 2 gallons per day which Apex decides to do in 5 minute runs every 10 minutes each of which changes 56 ml.

The DOS is noisy. I have it in the basement. If it were upstairs, even at my slow rate, it would be way too loud. At higher rates it's much louder.

My reservoir is a 50 gallon Brute trash can which works out great for dumping in a bag of Instant Ocean salt which makes about 43 gallons of new saltwater.

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do you have any moisture down there since you are running the sump out of your basement?
I believe saltwater exposure can leave your home and commercial plumbing in a corrosive environment.
 
Humidity is certainly a concern with big tank system set up especially one under the basement. There are things you must monitor and take steps to avoid problems to your house due to the tank.
1) My house was built on the cheap. The only copper pipe I got is the one water line coming from the street. The rest of the house plumbing is PEX. I also got one steel pipe coming and that is the gas line.
2) Monitor the humidity level and have a big enough dehumidifier to keep it under 50-60%. I admit, I spend a lot of money running the dehumidifier in the summer months.
3) Put a cover as much as you can. I got cover on my anemone tank. Cover on my sump(this also helps with heating in the winter months). Cover on my ATO. And cover on my saltwater mix buckets. Basically, cover everything.
4) Avoid splashing. Make sure any drain is well below the water line.

Every hobby has its own issues you have to deal with. Don’t let it stop you from what you want to do.
 
I haven’t really been doing anything to the tank since the second kid. The tank is just runs on its own. With my CWC set, all I’m doing is make RODI every month or so and salt water and feed the fish. Sometimes, I let the tank glass go and usually regret it when I have to scrape off the coralines.
But I’m starting to get back to it, bought some new fish and finally painted and finished the cabinet skin to the tank. My excitement gauge is bouncing toward the right again. However, I’m still disgusted by the price of things in this hobby and especially the Halloween lighting photos with orange filter.
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Beautiful! Great selection of fish, is that diamond tail flasher wrasse?
 
No. Just a Filene’s basement pintail fairy wrasse.
I bought a trio of juvenile diamond tail flashers a while ago and paid the diamond tail price and they turned out to be ruby fin fairy wrasse, which is about $20each, due to the seller incompetence of ID’ing fish.
The bad taste still lingers in my mouth.
 
No. Just a Filene’s basement pintail fairy wrasse.
I bought a trio of juvenile diamond tail flashers a while ago and paid the diamond tail price and they turned out to be ruby fin fairy wrasse, which is about $20each, due to the seller incompetence of ID’ing fish.
The bad taste still lingers in my mouth.
Filenes basement does well for you then great looking fish! And I don’t blame you they are not cheap sorry to hear that.
 
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