Wamp, no problem. I like bluntness
1. Rate of evaporation: 6-8 gallons per day. Condensation/evaporation managed by a series of exhaust fans, and a dehumidifier when needed. I say when needed because weather permitting, I simply open a large window in the tank room and let nature give me a hand.
2. Cost of set up. This ones a bit tricky because I built so much of the system myself. I also price shopped the heck out of most things, spent time on ----, and even stumbled upon a few killer deals. Example: 6' broken protein skimmer for $50. I repaired it myself, and added a better venturi. Total cost, about $140.
Anyway, here's a rough estimate.
Tank construction: $2,600
Plumbing: $650 (4" bulkheads are $100 each)
Lighting: Not a reef, so I use 4- 4' double bulb shop light fixtures, with upgraded ballast. $275
Sump: $150. Built using plastic horse trough, 5 gallon buckets, and acrylic sheet for baffles.
Other filters & Pumps: Roughly $1000
Sand & Salt: Roughly $1500
LR & LS: Roughly $600
Livestock: I wont even go there. lol
Misc supplies: $500
Total approx: $7,275
This is a very rough estimate off the top of my head. I have a detailed cost breakdown somewhere of everything involved.
3. Maintenance Time: I feel my hard work paid off on this one. This tank is honestly the easiest to maintain of all my tanks. Evap water is replenished every 3 days with the flick of a switch. I've only cleaned the glass once (you all saw pics
I clean my skimmer cup, and change out the mechanical filtration pads once a week. I check my parameters once a week just to be safe, and they remain better than my other tanks. 0 ammonia, 0 trites, ph 8.3, 5-10 ppm trate, sg always 1.026. Of course those trates will continue to climb over time, but they are doing so very slowly.
Not including feeding, I spend around 1 hour per week maintaining the tank.
4. Problems: I really had very few major problems when building the tank. The only major issue I ran into was when I applied silicone sealant to the gaskets on the bulkheads. This caused major problems (leaking) and I had to drain the tank to repair them. Since then the tank has not leaked one drop.
The only operation problems I have encountered when the power goes out.
#1 I don't yet have a generator. So I'm a nervous wreck the whole time.
#2 When the power comes back on, I need to be there to adjust the skimmer and the fluidized bed filters.
In the future, I would like to add a monitoring system to the tank that sets off an alarm and calls me in the event of a power outage, leak, high/low temp.
#5 Equipment: I need a little clarification as to what your asking. Do you mean problems with the filters/pumps etc? Or just general list of what I use?
I wrote an article for another site (fresh water site, this is my home
which detailed the entire construction process. If you'd like I could send it to you.
