Asonitez's 180ish I think Dream Build

[asonitez]

Some Back Story.

This was my First Successful tank.
IMG_0611 by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr

DSC_0686 by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr

Within 2 years I moved and setup this tank

Frag Farmers Market by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr

Frag Farmers Market by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr

This is my Collection
IMG_0214 (Medium) by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr

IMG_0307 by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr

IMG_0285 (Medium) by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr

This guy was born

IMG_0348 by Tristian Allicock, on Flickr


Then My life took a HUGE turn and I moved 800 Miles South
Since I had lived in an Apartment my entire life. I bought one of these

In the move I Sold my Tank, Light , Skimmer, Sump, The majority of my corals. At one point I took a week off work as friends and Local Fish Shops visited my apartment to basically piece out my entire collection. Its been 3 years and now that we are settled in. Its TIME.



New Tank Specs

Built by SCAquariums

60 X 30 X 26
3 Sided Starphire Eurobraced with 1 Internal overflow centered.
36" High Stand w/ Matching Canopy made out of Brazilian Maple Wood - Painted White.

Sump

90 Gallon Glass custom with internal Frag Tank (24X24) where the " Refugium would be"

Skimmer

I'm trying to decide which size NYOS, ReefOctopus, Skimz would be best.

Water Movement

4x Tunze 6095 Wide Flow - Might sell and switch to WAV

Lighting

Custom Painted ATI 8x 60" T5 with 2 bulbs removed and replaced with 8 NanoBox LED Clusters (5 Channel Controllable w/ all the features you can think of)

MISC

I'm trying to decide between MarcoRocks and BRS Pukani (100 Lbs)
Marine Pure Ceramic Blocks
80lbs of Tropic Eden Reeflakes
Controlled by Neptune Apex

 

[asonitez]

First things First! - Floors where the tank is going to go!

that carpet is so sexy and absorbent!

Hello Brazil!

Now I must paint the wall where the tank's going on. Builders white FLAT paint is quite the shiet! Not sure what color to go with buy I have until the first of April lol.

 

[asonitez]

Update Time!

So. Live rock. I have been stressing for the last few days. With my tank and custom stand ordered, and my light also ordered I am right on track. The tank should be delivered around the middle of April (April 15th to be exact) this is right after I come back from vacation in Florida.

Still quite a few things to do!

Paint the wall the tank is going on.
Purchase Live Rock and start the curing process.
I need a skimmer and return pump.
+more!

Today I knocked 2 items off that list
I took a trip to Aquatica in Charlotte, NC and met Ihab one of the owners. At first I was pretty turned off by the lack help. I mean its Saturday prime time and no ones walking the floor. Its my first time here and I don't know where anything else. Eventually I track him down and we start talking reef.

It seemed like they carried all of the nice things that make you go OOoOOooO and at mat Pricing. No huge upcharge here.

They even had a SHARK Tank!

I decided to check out their Live rock section and that's where I had to make a life decision.

 

[asonitez]

The rock.

Up until this very moment I had always intended on using the Marco Rock or BRS Pukani. From the recent videos they had and the explanation and testing of the different types of live rock
I knew that I wanted Pukani of some type. The problem was cycling.

Marco rocks is not exactly 100% Phosphate Free and neither is Pukani. In fact the pukani would require over 3 months to fully cure naturally with water changes and the like to remove nutrients.
The Marco rock in my experience would take approximately 2 years to color up 50%. I dunno about anyone else but Marco Rock can be hit or miss and I was once In a situation where I had corals
growing like CRAZY and my rock was still bone white! It looked like this for like 2 years. It got some algae on it but pretty much THIS

Don't believe me? This was my tank for like 2 years.

I have seen and heard of Real Reef Rock since it has been introduced. I wasn't impressed by the first batch but after going into research and checking it out I came to the
conclusion that this was probably the next best thing. One barrier... THE COST. WTFF 12.00 A POUND? and I needed 180/200 lbs. After mentioning the other items I needed
I was able to grab 3 boxes blind off the truck at a better than internet price. It made up for the first impression. I was also able to grab a few other items. Vectra L1 (sold out most places online), and my Reef Octopus 200SSS (Had to be Ordered).

At home I was able to unbox the rock. It was packed very well and had very little rubble. It was also wet and covered with sponges and other signs of life including feather dusters and stuff.
I was completely un-equipped to deal with 200lbs of live rock. I ended up with little over 200lbs because although each box was quoted to have 60lbs they were all 68/70 lbs not including the packing material.
I ended up buying one of his spare 100g rubbermaid things for 25bux. I only had to find a way to patch the 2" hole in the side where the bulkhead fit. No problem he threw in the old bulkhead that needed some TLC and a bottle of silicone.
I imagine this rock was meant to be added to his vats to be sold at 12 bucks a pound because they were not in what I would expect to be retail packaging. I dunno.

All Loaded up! + I didn't have salt either so he discounted a bucket of RC.

I couldn't help playing around with the aquascape and see how the rocks stack.

These guys were wrapped individually in wet news paper and very wet. No smell though

 

[asonitez]

I was able to patch my rock holding container and after some heavy silicon I left it to cure over night. Tomorrow I will finish cleaning it out fill it up and start my rock cooking.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Not sure why it took so long for your Pukani to cure, but I've used a lot of Pukani, and cured a lot of pukani, It's never taken more than three weeks for me to get even nasty rock, clean.
I personally love pukani rock for it's light weight, crevices, beautiful shapes, and easy to work and break to build incredible structures. Add some Apoxie sculpt to the mess and you can build anything with the stuff.


Looking forward to seeing more of your new build. Beautiful new house, btw! Where in NC did you wind up living?

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Looked up where Aquatica was to get an idea where you are. Make sure you check out Nero's reef. They have the best prices I have ever seen and will meet/beat anyone, including online stores.

 

[dave.m]

I think THIS is the video link you meant to put up.

You should have put in a few cheapo kiddies' wading pools from Walmart to hold the new live rock in salt water. If you had been better prepared you could have had all that reef life in your display tank when it was ready. You would have ended up with a real triving reef instead of the typical pseudo-reefs we see so often here on RC; full of all manner of living things from so many phyla. Now that would have been something to see!

Dave.M

 

[saf1]

Nice set up. Also nice car. What year is it? I thought maybe you are a lucky owner of a 350 due to the vent near the front of wheel but I don't recall them displaying a 5.0 badge.

Really like the tank also.

 

[asonitez]

Update:

Another day and some more work. (For those that asked I'm in Charlotte NC) - and to address the questions about why my marco and pukani took long to cure.

Marco Rock - did not take long to cure. On the contrary it was the cleanest and fastest curing that I did RIGHT in the tank. What took ages was for it to gain ANY color at all. I literally dumped it in with some established rock scraped a ton of coraline into the tank. It got a little brown and while I had 1" nuggets grow into 6 X 6" colonies the rock was still freaking white!

Pukani I feel is hit or miss. According to the study by BRS (Marine Pure, Pukani, Fiji, Florida Rock) all absorb different amount of water making each one differently equipped for filtering tanks. After emails with real/reef rock and marine pure i was assured that the process to create real reef rock is strikingly similar to marine pure with more focus on look and presentation that pure filtering power. However the network of passages in the rock are very similar. Seen under a microscope a slice of real reef rock bears striking resemblance to fiji and pukani. A slice of marine pure looks like something formed with perfect parameters to create.

That said from what I heard pukani is mostly clean but as the rock ages water penetrates deeper and more and more dissolved organics are processed. There may be a period when the tests read zero but they may creep back up as the rock "cures and ages". I didn't want to start a reef fighting nutrients.

I was fortunate to get that giant vat because for the next 6 to 8 weeks as I wait for my tank and light I will be ordering copepods and placing a few GROW lights over the rock with some balls of chaeto. I hope to artifically introduce the critters from bristle worms down to feather dusters and mysis shrimp to the vat. I'll probably place an order from reefcleaners for some chaeto and stuff later this week.

Salt Water!

It snowed in Charlotte last night... like 3 Sprinkles. By noon I took a walk lol

I love this place.. Plants don't seem to care about the snow sprinkle. My Peach blossoms are in full swing lol

 

[asonitez]

Oh and the car is a 2016 Mustang GT Premium - Those pieces are some sponsor pieces that I test fitted with a paint match primer. The car is going to be wrapped Red Aluminum this summer. I'm reno my garage into a nice little hang out space so that's why I've been packing everything and getting ready to move it into a shed. First I gotta build or buy a shed. Dang man I gotta lot of shiet to do!

 

[asonitez]

Update Time!: First off the tank update.

Initially I was planning to do a tank that was drilled for a synergy overflow. Not knocking the Synergy overflow but due to my room dimensions choice of lighting and flow going with a external center overflow did not seem like such a good idea. Once against the wall troubleshooting that thing would be a issue in itself. Not to mention trying to deal with leaks.

My first renderings from Steve looked like this

My Sump looked like this

I changed my mind and decided to go with an internal drain and 2 1" returns. I will be using a Maggie Muffler on the single drain to eliminate the drain noise and will be splitting my returns. I hope to use 1" Pipe all the way to the top and then reduce to 3/4" Locline. Doing this means I can remove my returns and my drain pipe for regular cleanings. This also means that its possible to grab fish that find their way into my overflow.

I received some progress photos of my tank today. The SCA drains and overflow's are very tight. They are primarily designed for what seems like bean animal or herbie type setups. I'm happy about this because as you can see the actual overflow is NOT as imposing as it would normally be for a mass produced tank.

My new sump Is also made from Starphire with polished edges. I opted to have a skimmer section
12" X 24

Frag Section

15" X 24"

And a built in ATO part. This will basically ensure that the tank can be run solo-dolo for a week or 2 without having to do anything. Its also HUGE!. I might end up placing my chaeto in that first section. More than likely I'll put left over live rock and more than likely my Marine ceramic blocks/PreFilter crap.

To assist with my Dosing and Stuff I was able to snag these awesome looking containers for my doser which happens to be the Jebao DP4. (4 Containers Total Cal,Alk,Mag,Acro Power PreMix)

I also picked up a heater for my Live Rock curing bin. Not sure how much heat live rock needs to start cooking but its been like 2 days or so and no smell. I have not started testing water or anything.

 

[saf1]

Looks nice. Source of containers?

Side note - sending a PM on the car

 

[asonitez]

Looks nice. Source of containers?

Side note - sending a PM on the car

I got them on Amazon! just search Marine Color like 55 bux shipped and holds 1500ml Each.. seems to be constructed real well.

 

[McCune]

I actually just pick up a used tank with the same dimensions. Can't wait to plan my build but it will be a while till then I will live vicariously through yours.

 

[asonitez]

Asonitez's 180ish I think Dream Build

I hope I'm keeping it interesting enough haven't really had much feedback


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[McCune]

im liking it, sounds like it is going to be a nice build

 

[asonitez]

Update Time:

Well I have been at it again. This time around I finally got the measurements of my sump. It will help with creating and planning the plumbing. Right now imagining the plumbing has got me frazzled. I might just need to wait until the tank and stand are here before I start building parts of the plumbing. I'm struggling to decide between hard plumbed or soft. I'm thinking of doing a hybrid plumbing setup.

In the mean time some new equipment showed up. First up is the Jebao doser. This thing looks pretty amazing for the cost.

Then of course the sump drawings.

The Render

Right now I'm looking for a custom acrylic manufacturer to build me a tower for my filter sock and a custom frag rack for my frag section. Synergy Reef turned me down. I even offered to accept what they did the first time and leave the creative design up to them. I only needed it to be clear and red laminated.

 

[Malign Reefer]

I like the sump and tank, off to an awesome start.

 

[asonitez]

Update:

My Light construction is well underway. I can't wait to see more progress pictures!
Here is what I have so far of the build process. Dave @ nanoboxreef.com has kept me in the loop the entire time. Talk about customer service. (Its probably because I bug him so much.)

Ballasts exposed and getting ready to be wired

Shell off the unit and getting ready to get painted

My extra parts will come back to me.

On the flip side of things. Instead of building a shed like I was going to do I found a great deal on a shed from Leonards.
The shed is 8 X 10 which should give me more than enough space to store my reefing equipment and garage stuff. The goal
is to make my garage into a livable space (in the summer at least) until I install a gas heating system in there.

After my garage is fixed up Tank Build 2.0 Will start. I plan on putting a Fish Only tank in the garage to complete my cave. I also have plans to perhaps get a custom 48 X 12 rimless to setup a frag system.

A call to aquatica today yeilded no results. They still have not got my ReefOctopus 200SSS in the store. I ordered a week ago. They told me that it would take about a week to get in but I guess im impatient. I also done like spending like 500 dollars on a skimmer and it not being in my possession. The rock is still not smelling - Wonder how long before it starts smelling like farts in the garage.

In the mean time I think I have decided on 2 more pieces of equipment....

I'm going with a custom ClearTides.com ozone reactor. I have always ran ozone in my tanks and I want to continue doing so. I was using the AVAST marine DIY ozone reactor but tbh it did not survive 6 months. Within that time the Dwyer airmeter got screwed up from moisture and the stupid "spray" screw kept getting clogged every other day.

I'll be using a ozotech ozone reactor and my apex will control the ozone in the tank.

Shed life

Not a Badsize

I have also decided that I am going to need to run a new circuit to the room where I have my fish tank. I don't want to dray on the houses power and in the future If I end up going solar I want to make sure that my tank can be run off its own circuit. I don't know WHAT kind of circuits I need to run though. I know its GFCI but how many amps? I'm thinking 2 15 AMP Circuits.

I'm probably going to end up running a ethernet cable to the tank area as well. I have 2 Net Cams and my Apex that I will want to add to my network.



So 2 Questions

How do I calculate how many Amps I need?

Any one have a link to a calculator?