The New Tank...Part 2

[MCDAVIES]

Just thought I'd give a quick update on my tank...or as we are fondly referring to it...the never-ending story...

Did a few more things this weekend. Installed the 3 - 5' VHO's and 2 metal halides in the canopy. Also put in two IceCap fans. Installed the RO/DI. Set the sand bed...2" fine and 2" crushed aragonite. Got the pump (4600 gal/hour beast) but have not plumbed it yet. Oh, and the best part...started putting the water in... :dance:

Have a few pics below to show the "progress". Will be working on it as the week goes on. Hope to be ready for live rock by the weekend...

Comments always appreciated!

Mark

Here is a pic of the sand bed...

[MCDAVIES]

Here is the start of filling the tank...wow...this is going to take a long time... :eek1: ...

[MCDAVIES]

And here we are 5 hours in...I'm thinking at least 3 days to fill the tank...not to mention the sump...

[MCDAVIES]

Here is the lighting in the canopy...have not put the bulds in yet as the epoxy on the tile heat-guards is still drying...

[MCDAVIES]

Here is the sump set-up in the basement...not a lot of change, but have set up the RO/DI unit on the wall above the sump...

[MCDAVIES]

Last pic for now...my big honkin' pump!

Don't know how we would have gooten even this far without the help of the guys at ORG! Tom and Flavio are the best!!!

Let's see...answering questions for firefighter...

The tank is 150g...the stand was built by Aquaview Industries...I ordered it through ORG...

The bed is 2" fine and 2" crushed aragonite...approx 150lbs of each...

Mark

[Daniel Schubert]

That's one hell of a pump for a 150 gallon tank. Very nice setup by the way

[MCDAVIES]

Thank you... :thanks:

I need the pump to gain the vertical from my sump in the basement up to the tank in my living room...

[Sohal Tang]

very nice set up...you are gonna have fun!
Betchorrr already havin fun! Very exciting to start to put
water in eh?!!

Looks great so far!

Keep going and keep us all posted...we love to see this
kind of new set up in action...In particular I LOVE the picture
of the first water going in...that is AWESOME hahaha

Super!

Tim
:D

[MCDAVIES]

And now for the stupid play of the day...

I left the tank filling overnight...the water was up to about 3" by bedtime. When I woke up, it was still at 3 inches!?!

Oh oh...the fill tubing somehow flipped out of the tank and proceeded to spend the night filling the floor... :eek2: ...luckily, the water released down through the hardwood floorboards and thru the (unfinished) ceiling of the basement. Some water in my storeage room, but not enough to worry about...

There is now enough duct tape holding the tube in place to make even Red Green proud...

Mark

[MCDAVIES]

Dimensions on the tank are 60" X 24" X 24". Dimensions on the sump/refug are 60" X 18" X 24".

Mark

[afss]

Looks good.. Nice photo documentary :cheers:

I like the pic of the water just starting to trickle in :D

Scott

[MCDAVIES]

Time for some updates...

The tank and sump are filled (3 days and a couple of spills later!) and "salted". Have plumbed the main pump and the skimmer pump (the skimmer is on backorder, but should have it in a couple of weeks. Lighting is up and running...and looks AWESOME!

Will be putting the live rock in later today...

Pics below...

Mark

First pic is the filled tank (not really that exciting for anyone other than me!)

[MCDAVIES]

Here is a close-up of the lighting system...

[MCDAVIES]

Let's see...this is the operational sump...inflow is on the right, outflow on the left. Have added another table on the right to accomodate the sump.

[MCDAVIES]

Here is the pump fully plumbed. It is a Sequence 6000SE, 1/4 HP rated at 4800g/hr at 11.5' head. It is SO quiet you almost don't know it is on! What a beast...

[MCDAVIES]

The skimmer pump...

[MCDAVIES]

And last of all...Avalanche! He want's to know when the fish fry is...

If I find nose prints on the tank glass, will have to consider the glue factory... :angry:

Yeah, right...I'm so tough...

Hey Firefighter...

Virtually all of the setup (with the exception of the easy stuff like building the tables, hooking up the RO, etc.) was done by Tom over at ORG. He did a fantastic job! I could not recommend he and Flavio more... :cheers:

Mark

[MCDAVIES]

No sooner said than done...here is a pic with the live rock in...still a bit murky...

[Kenzy]

Looking good! I'm envious of how much open space you have around your sump area. That will really come in handy.

In your last pic are the MH's they same type of lamp?

[Dman]

Just one quick question, did you fill the tank with water then add the salt?
Dman
:spin:

[Sohal Tang]

Mark, congratulations again! ;)
Absolutely gorgeous equipment..gorgeous set up! :)

Good luck with balance,

Tim
:cheers:

[MCDAVIES]

Thanks for all the comments... :thanks:

Dman...yes, I filled the tank and sump with RO and then put the salt in the tank. Turned the pump up high and let the circulation bring the salt into solution. Tested it earlier today and the salinity was right where I wanted it...

Kenzy...not sure what you are asking me... :confused:

Thanks Tim...can hardly wait to get things stablized and ready for livestock.. :dance:

Fishcrazy...you and me both!!!!

Just got home from a wedding (after midnight)...amazing how much things have cleared up! Should be a lot better tomorrow...will try to post a few pics to better show the aquascape...again, comments appreciated!

Mark

[Kenzy]

One side looks nice and white while the other side has bit of a green tint to it. It could be the camera/angle though.

[MCDAVIES]

Ohhh...I get it...

Yes...both the same lamp...it is just the angle of the camera...

[ian cooper]

Mark, very nice system. Looks great. Your sump appears to be in the basement in an unfinished area. If so you should ensure there are no copper pipes. I have found that the increased condensation on the cold water pipes will drip and if they are above your sump you'll get some copper and other crap from the pipes. I covered mine with the neoprene insulation followed by duck tape.
Ian

[Dman]

MACDAVIES,
How deep is your sandbed?
Filling the tank with RO then adding salt if you have a sandbed isn't really a good idea.
The saltwater will not migrate through the sandbed properly if at all, 'cause the critters that inhabit the sandbed are saltwater dwellers and the sandbed is now freshwater.
Here perhaps THIS (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19219) will explain it better.
I worry 'cause it's a great looking tank and I would hate for you to get off on the wrong foot.
Dman
:spin:

[kentracey]

I'm jealous! Beautiful setup. Everything is first class. Keep the pics coming as the tank progresses. Awesome!

[visor]

GET RID OF THAT GARDEN HOSE IT WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF TRUBBLE.

[MCDAVIES]

Time for an update...

I am a little more than a month into the process and things are going GREAT! The tank cycled in less than two weeks. Due to the quality and amount of live rock (200lbs), I had a small amonia spike in the first week that equalized within 24hrs. Water has been 100% stable for the past 3 weeks. Lot's of live starting to emerge. Thusfar, no algae blooms other than diatroms (spelling?) in the refugium. Just waiting for that to run its course...

Still waiting on the skimmer and calcium reactor...hopefully in the next week or so. Using a small backup skimmer in the meantime. However, so little contamination in the water that it is doing virtually nothing...

Parameters are very stable:

Ammonia, nitrites, natrates: 0
PH: 8.2
Calcium: 380ppm (would like to get this up around 450, but no matter how much B Ionic I dose, it won't budge. Hoping the reactor will help things out...)
Kh: 10 degrees
Salinity: 1.024
Temperature: 78F

Put a half clean-up crew in last week:

3 serpent stars
2 blood shrimp
25 blue-leg hermits
25 narcissus snails (I'm sure I spelled that wrong)
6 turbo snails (now 5 and an empty shell - learning point: if they fall off a rock and land upside down, the crabs consider that dining ala half shell...)

Have added a few things at this point...not going crazy, but putting in a few things I like and can handle:

Neon Green Torch
Green Bubble (put it in yesterday and it is still a bit grumpy...waiting for it to open)
Colt
Red/green open brain (my fav!)
Yellow Tang
Green Chromis
A couple of small acro frags

I have posted a few pics below...

Man! I haven't had so much fun in a long time! I can see how the hobby grows on you (so to speak)...

Mark


Face-on view of the tank:

[MCDAVIES]

My Torch:

[MCDAVIES]

My Colt:

[MCDAVIES]

My Rainbow Rock (forgot to mention that in the last message):

[MCDAVIES]

The Brain...

[MCDAVIES]

Last pic: Corner shot of the tank (Sunshine the Yellow Tang in the far corner - my kids named him...her?)

[ajx22]

Looking VERY nice!!

Keep up the great work (and it's nice to see that you're fighting the GO NUTZ bug too ~ slow and steady wins the race in reefing)! :D

Keep us updated!!

[Sohal Tang]

Excellent set up! Looks great!
Congratulations!
Tim
:)

[Asmodeus]

man thats a nice setup what, hows the humidity mine was bad witht hte 280 in the basement, so now im tearing down the 280 and putting a 72 bow front up stairs with the sump in the basement, hoping the dampness is gone. from the back room i had a problem witht e humidity in the back room i added a dehumidifier ad didnt help the hum was at 80 now it at 64 i dont know what is going on n the house.
anyway i;m going to empty the 280 and keep it there the wife wants to put in some castus and sand with MH heating like the desert :confused: anyway she gets that i get a bow front upstairs 72

[MCDAVIES]

So far no problems with humidity...likely won't know until the summer now. If anything comes up, I'll let you know...

Mark

[MCDAVIES]

New addition! I picked him up today...a gorgeous yellow leather! The picture does not do it justice...it is just fantastic! Can't wait until it fills out...

Damn...I love this hobby!

Mark

[Mckitrick]

Wow, that IS nice. Good shot too! The contrast is awesome. Did you Photoshop it or is that how it came out?

[MCDAVIES]

The actual pic is below. I find that I have to use the flash on my camera to get a good shot. Unfortunately, it washes out the color and I have to adjust using ArcSoft PhotoImpression...

Feels a bit like cheating... ;)

Mark

[Mckitrick]

Ahhhhh! I thought that contrast looked a wee bit too sharp! Good picture nonetheless!

[MCDAVIES]

A couple of new pics...here is one of "the boys"...

[MCDAVIES]

And here is Sunshine getting ready to scarf some veggies...

Mmmmmmm...I love my tank!!!

[Michael_Lambert]

Its Looking Very very good! :)

Keep up the great stuff!

[Sohal Tang]

Hey Mark..lookin great! I have always thought of
getting some BOYS in my tank too hehehehe They school
nice eh! How many do you have in total..is that all of them
in the pic?

Nice work! looks super.
Tim
:whipit:

[MCDAVIES]

That's all five of them...limited enrollment school! Am also thinking about 5 Yellow Anthias (beautiful schooling fish as well). Hoping that the schools might intermix. If not, will just have 2 schools (one public, one private?)...

Mark

[Sohal Tang]

2 schools? private...public...OKAYYYYY
just DONT get into to religions!! hehehehehahaohaoha
ROFLMAO!

Tim
:roflmao:

[MCDAVIES]

Well, I have a few minutes so I thought I'd update the tank (its been a few weeks).

Unfortunately, a couple of casualties... :( ...Lost the yellow leather and my torch. Newbie learning point...stick to the hardy stuff to start (I think that's only the 1000th time someone has said that in here...hard to believe I made that mistake...*sigh*...).

Had a diatom bloom too...it is starting to die off now. The tangs have had a great time with it...FREE FOOD! A bit of green algae as of late. Hoping that bringing my calcium up to 450 will allow the "good" algae to move in on it...

Some good news too...got a squamosa clam and some hairy mushrooms this weekend! Adding some character to the tank... :cool: ...have been told that these clams are VERY hardy, so sticking to my rule of "nothing goes in the tank that requires more than beginner husbandry skills"!

It's getting there slowly...am finding out that sometimes you have to take a step backwards when you are learning... :help:

Well, off to bed...a couple of pics before I turn in...

Mark

[MCDAVIES]

Here's the clam...

[MCDAVIES]

Oh, BTW...the clam is about 8" in length...

And here's Harry(s)...