135g Oceanic Build

[BigCountry74]

Hello! My name is Todd. I am new to Reef Central. I ran a 75g fresh water tank (large cichlids and catfish) for years, so my home was Monster Fish Keepers forums. Far as salt goes, they do not get a lot of action over there, so I am posting my build thread here also in the hopes of meeting you guys and gathering some info and feedback.

My hobbies are this, EvE Online, volleyball and music - I play bass guitar for local churches.

A few weeks ago I finished 1st place in a neighborhood poker tourney with a 1k payout! I gave my wife a few hundred to spend on a headboard for our bed, then stood staring at my 75gallon in the kitchen debating on whether or not I should upgrade the tank. I had just switched to salt water in the 75 a few weeks prior, and was getting sucked back into the hobby again...:beer:

The following day I found a 135g Oceanic w/oak cherry stand on Craigslist for 500 dollars. Wife approved and that was all she wrote!

Tank is FOWLR atm, and someday would like to go reef, FOR SURE.

It's funny, in fresh water, we were ALL about the fish, for this it seems, its about everything other than the fish, hehe

135 Oceanic build incoming!!

 

[BigCountry74]

Logistics - moving the 75 stock into the 135, bare with me!!!! Lights are ordered and on the way, new sump will be constructed this weekend hopefully! PH 8, Ammonia/NO2 0, NO3 10ppm - fish and my 2 crappy pieces of LR are in! Tank is currently filtered using the sump from the 75g (bioballs). The Reef Octo BH100 was ordered for my 75g, so I will have to bite the bullet and use it on the 135 for now!

 

[BigCountry74]

Stumbled upon another Craigslist score!

Guy was taking down his 90 gallon reef......sold me 125lbs of premium live rock for 300 dollars. That's $2.4/lb. I was going to buy/build it piece by piece over time via the LFS (Fintastic down the street). This stuff sells for $13-16 a lb there!!! Saving 1300+- dollars over time - although my wife failed to grasp this concept atm..she, like other intelligent females, is hoping this does not become a money pit! :deadhorse:

What he failed to tell me was the rock was covered, literally, in green hair algae. Which I can live with at that price.

My light and RO/DI unit arrived via UPS today also!

Now that I have enough rock for bio - say goodby to the bioballs!! That changes my sump plans.....will have to turn the 10g bio sump into a skimmer...time now to build the 20g long refuge.

 

[BigCountry74]

 

[BigCountry74]

 

[BigCountry74]

 

[BigCountry74]

First issues...

The green hair algae that was inherited with the rock proved to be a mess. Can anyone loan me 20 more fox faces? haha

10g water changes a day to keep the water fresh from it - the RO unit is proving to be a GREAT investment so far with this!

Lights are off until I can figure out what to do. Might create a holding tank out of the kitchen sink and scrub each rock individually, trying to remove as much of the algae as possible without removing any bio from it....there is no way I can treat it in tank, like I thought I could, it's simply too much.

Also, the korean lights I ordered off ebay are complete trash. Lesson learned on those - if its too good to be true - it normally is. lol they generate so much heat it's not even funny.....gotta figure out how to mod those as well...thank goodness I did not spend a lot of money on them....

Completed my 20g long refuge:

 

[BigCountry74]

Got 3 days out of the light....

Avoid this light,

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=390384703786

Super cheapo.

 

[BigCountry74]

Cheap light is fried....2 ballast gone....not sure what to do with it other than turn it into a nice shop light for the garage....lol

Running 2 cheap 36" T8 blues for now...tank looks like a bottle of Windex but the rock looks 10x better...the purple really looks good.

Took the rock out and scrubbed it this weekend.....just way too much GHA (green hair algae)...going to starve it a few more weeks to remove all of it I could not get....and let the tank cycle completely....

10g skimmer sump is completed....but my Reef Octo BH100 is a HOB and I cannot get it to skim down there....water is just not deep enough.....so I stuck it back up top and will shop around for a true sump skimmer replacement when I can.....

Tested the sump and it holds all the drop off water when return pump is off (with 2" to spare!) So finally something went right this week!

Lights are priority.....selling a bunch of stuff on CL to make some cash....looking at 17" LED panels....$150 each....will need 3 of them but might start with 2.

 

[BigCountry74]

 

[BigCountry74]

Ok, all caught up posting.


Looking at these LED panels, will need 3 of them to support corals I believe:

http://www.aquariumleds.com/products...Watt-LEDs.html

same light (I believe):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-Co...&otn=2&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=6352989468594592032

PAR 2" depth-1537, Par 12" depth-423, Par 24" depth-182, Par w/ a Coverage of 7 Square Feet.

Trying to save money in the long run. I am no fool and realize lighting a 6' tank full of someday corals would not be a cheap electric bill running MH and T5HO.

 

[SimonSKL]

Took the rock out and scrubbed it this weekend.....just way too much GHA (green hair algae)...going to starve it a few more weeks to remove all of it I could not get....and let the tank cycle completely....

Have you considered spot washing or dipping the rocks in diluted H2O2? it kills almost all of the known GHA within 2-3 days while safe for most LPS and SPS.

 

[robertcedgar]

Have you considered a black background. It would hide all of your equipment and make your livestock and corals stand out. Plus, it's cheap....

 

[BigCountry74]

Have you considered a black background. It would hide all of your equipment and make your livestock and corals stand out. Plus, it's cheap....

Wife will not allow black. She wants a white background....not sure how that will work we will see. Maybe I can get something textured to match the white beadboard in the background.

She already is not too thrilled of the tank being the center piece of the kitchen now and she is struggling to decorate around it....LOL

I told her she could do the background. She will not let me hang lights either from the ceiling which I so wanted to do for easy access into the tank. I have another idea for that though....:beer:

 

[BigCountry74]

Have you considered spot washing or dipping the rocks in diluted H2O2? it kills almost all of the known GHA within 2-3 days while safe for most LPS and SPS.

What do I dilute the water in? I got most of it off via the scrub tub (sink) except some of it that was deep rooted in the holes of the rock. Trying to kill that with no lights since I do not have anything in the tank requiring light to live atm.

 

[Metal Man 1221]

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>


Set up looks good so far

Bummer about the lights, things like that are always learned the hard way.

That being said, Im sure if you look hard enough you should be able to find a good deal.

Sounds like your in a tough boat as far as the setup goes, if you catch my drift, how about a blue background? It would look more natural than white.

 

[BigCountry74]

Was thinking blue as well. She might go for it. What I will do is buy blue with white on the opposite side if I can find it. Pull the whole Jedi mind trick on her..hehehe

 

[BigCountry74]

Looking at 3 of these for the lights...

http://www.aquariumleds.com/products/120-Watt-Aquarium-LED-14K-3-Watt-LEDs.html

Looking to mount via adjustable shelving cut into 3 12" sections from Home Depot:

Then 3 of these for the inserts, Home Depot as well:

Using the twin track I can hide the power cables in them somewhat(drill a hole on one of the mount end sides perhaps in the pic above). Then run them down the back wall. Since the twin tracks are adjustable I can move each light up/down pretty easily if i can hide enough cable in the mounts.

So in the end it would look something like this. Pardon the crappy Photoshop, but it is to scale lol

Good/bad idea? Trying to make this as clean as possible.....I could also go into the wall and run the cables down through the wall. But crap then I would have to back that tank up a good foot or so I could get back there and snake it down....lol.....in the end snaking the cables down the thru the wall will be the cleanest way though who am I kidding...would have to drill thru the beadboard also......my wife is going to kill me..haha

 

[BigCountry74]

Wife did not like the mock up. She does not want any science fair action in her kitchen....hehe BUT she was ok if I were to enclose the lights in a box wrapped with beadboard to match what we have in the kitchen .....sorta like this mock up. Which would work great actually. I can hide a power strip and all of the cables/timers in the box. Still keeping the lights on the adjustable rails so I can move up and down easily. The bottom will be hollow etc. I can snake one power cable thru the wall on the left side. So it would look very clean.

So now it's time to build the box.

 

[Greg31]

I am really enjoying your build. How exactly are you pumping water from sump? Can you post more pictures of it? I am very interested.