Ben's "gettin back Into the hobby" build.

[jordon.l]

Another update, and probably the last for the next few weeks, because it's DONE! It just has to cycle now and my reefbreeders lights should be here tommorrow!

Here's the finished refugium, it's ready for some macro and my sump monster. Probably a warty angler

Here is the finished sump with the rest of the rock. Total in the display the fuge and the sump is around 100lbs. I'll probably get another 50lbs of live rock to seed.

Finished wiring up the Ranco, now I need one more heater as a redundant back up and I'll be golden.

Finished up aquascaping the display, I'll probably break one of the rocks up and add some medium sized pieces and some rubble to add some details.

Hopefully all goes well with the cycle! Updates as they happen and pics of the lights soon. thanks to everyone who answered my dumb questions and all who followed along to make this happen!

Is that the caribsea south seas base rock? Nice looking setup btw

 

[cham]

When I set up my 120 I had a remote fuge that was first in line (pre filter sock) and it ended up being the biggest detritus, uneaten food and garbage trap. I fought nutrient issues. Also, the black strainers would often clog up with macro and I ended up with more than one flood.

Lesson learned for me, I love a good fuge (don't actually have one now tho) but filter socks for me were more important.

 

[Bent]

When I set up my 120 I had a remote fuge that was first in line (pre filter sock) and it ended up being the biggest detritus, uneaten food and garbage trap. I fought nutrient issues. Also, the black strainers would often clog up with macro and I ended up with more than one flood.

Lesson learned for me, I love a good fuge (don't actually have one now tho) but filter socks for me were more important.

I gots some socks.

Sees? Over there behind the skimmer.

I got one more update.

The lights are in!!!

Two reefbreeders:

 

[cham]

Nice, so the water hits the sump first then pumps to the fuge?

I ended up clipping ever other "tooth" from the strainer in the fuge to keep the loose macro from clogging it up and that helped. After battling it for a number of months I gave up on it and removed it from my system. Hopefully yours doesn't give you as much trouble as mine did

 

[Bent]

Nice, so the water hits the sump first then pumps to the fuge?

I ended up clipping ever other "tooth" from the strainer in the fuge to keep the loose macro from clogging it up and that helped. After battling it for a number of months I gave up on it and removed it from my system. Hopefully yours doesn't give you as much trouble as mine did

I hope not either.

The way this is set up, the return pump tees off to the fuge, adjustable with a ball valve, and then the fuge drains back down to the sump.

So I guess in a way the return water is socked twice, from the display and from the fuge.

I want to plumb in a carbon reactor too.

 

[Bent]

Been quite a while since I updated this thread. So here's a long overdue bump.

Since last update when I got the lights, lots have happened.

First of all, one of the biggest things is that I set up most of the DT with TBS live rock:

One of the coolest hitch hikers with this rock was the rock flower anemone who has really flourished. Here he is when he first was unpacked:

Another really cool hitch hiker, who has been happily living in the refugium:

Later on I moved the nem over to the sandy side of the tank and away from the rock:

He was still pretty bleached at this point.

Also found this guy who was banished down to the sump:

.

He has since grown to monster proportions.


Then came the epic clam fiasco where for unknown reasons at the time I had no idea why my newly acquired Deresa clam seemed so unhappy and agitated. Moving from side to side and just never got happy and eventually died:

I was very confused until I got a video of this guy:
http://youtu.be/hZGH4Hpg0DM

So after dealing with that guy it was time to move on. So I started building up some corals:

I got a very nice Aussie elegance who unfortunately did not make it after I had to shut the lights out for 3 days due to an algae problem:

Algae problem here:

 

[Bent]

A fish room redesign was needed to combat the algae with a new fluval sp4 pump to feed the new reactors. I ended up just running everything except the DT off the fluval and then the DT off the blue line.

After dealing with the algae issue, I tried out a large bubble tip that I had hopes that the osci clown would make his home.

Unfortunately the clown didn't even look twice at the BTA and the BTA decided to keep splitting. By about clone number 4 walking all over the tank, I had enough. I turned them into the LFS for credit.
Here's a shot of three of them before the larger one split a fourth time about two weeks later:

After that, I had a small whelk infestation that had me picking whelks off the rock for about a week every night. I think I ended up pulling about 60 of them out:

Then I discovered my hermits murdering my snails, so they got banished to the refugium:

Then came the "is this cotton candy algae" incident:

Which prompted removal and the purchase of some Mexican turbos:

New toadstool:

Screen top:

Monticap:

 

[Bent]

Brain:

Recent shot of the pitiful bleached nem who is now flourishing:

Hammer, with my lyre tail anthia photobombing:

Frogspawn:

Birdsnest:

Sinularia (another lyre tail photobomb)

And finally the most recent FTS:

So now I currently have in QT a flame hawkish and a Hawaiian cleaner wrasse. Both seem to be adjusting nicely and hopefully the cleaner wrasse works out. They are both eating and patiently awaiting on their new home. The wrasse is currently in the middle of his prazi-pro treatment and the flame hawk is only 3 days in.

That gets us up to date!

Current residents:

Corals:
Frogspawn
Sinularia
Toadstool
Birdsnest
Monticap
Torch
Hammer
Zoas

Inverts:
Porcelain crabs
Flower nem
Tiger tail cukes
Donkey dung cuke
Serpent star
Hermits
Fighting concs
Mexican snails
Sea hare
Pincushion urchins

Fish:
Engineer goby
Osci clown
Lyre tail anthia
Lawn mower blenny
Red fire fish
Cleaner wrasse (QT)
Flame hawk fish (QT)
Mandarin (rescue attempt)

 

[fishresponse]

Great update! Not sure I noticed before but really nice plumbing manifilold.

 

[geekengineer]

hey I thought I stop by.. wonderful thread and setup.. I wouldn't have the guts to drill that many holes in a tank let alone one. lol.. :eek1:

 

[Bent]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

The manifold was born out of a couple of necessities. I can't recall who it was that helped me design it here, it may have been ericanrenee or csStrickland. It turned out very nice. I wanted to keep everything eye level because with my back I hate bending over (I'm about 6'6). It did kill some of the output from the pump though having to get it that high. The trade off was worth it IMO. I can just pass by the reactor and eye the flow without having to climb under something or bend over. My back is much happier.

The holes were super easy to drill. After I figured out what could be drilled, the guide made it fool proof. If you can screw two boards together with a screw gun, you can drill a tank.