Cully's Double D's

[Capt_Cully]

Well, here it is, the day before Valentine's Day, so I'll start this "Labor of Love" build thread in a timely fashion. I hope it turns into a good one.

To know where you're going you have to know where you've been and the people you've stolen from along the way. Special tip o' the cap to Gary M., Mark Klier, TMZ-Tom, and my technical advisor Walter. There are a ton of you guys old and new that have also helped with a tip here, or a question there that I've learned from or blatantly plagerized and idea from. Tim and Dave get a special reach around for helping with basically everything. Jeremym420 my ace in the hole PhD in Coralology ID guy, and Ponytail Dave (iamwrasseman) is on the list of invaluable helpers to be sure.

Went to visit my Grad school roomate in Providence RI. He had a 29 gallon tank set up. I had ALWAYS dreamed of doing a saltwater aquarium. When I got home on Sunday, I purchased my first tank. A 72G AGA Bowfront. It was almost a year of buying equipment and reading RC at work when I was supposed to be checking on someone with chest pain, or difficulty breathing or whatever the whinners were on about.

Mike Paletta's book: http://www.amazon.com/New-Marine-Aquarium-Step-Step/dp/1890087521#_ The New Marine Aquarium, was cheap and easy to read. Invaluable! Gave it to my nephew, the little puke, wish I kept it.

First ever fish purchased at TRS

Just before it came down in 12/06

 

[Capt_Cully]

Then, we bought a house and the dream actually happened. A 180! with basement sump. A town with its own electric company with costs 1/10th of National Grid. It was like a license to steal.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Had some side projects along the way. An Aquapod 24 that never took off. The 70 gallon Seahorse tank which quickly became another mixed reef tank. The 40 gallon Breeder Frag tank. Plenty of trial and error with flow, lighting, filtration etc.

So, Time to move to a new house. Loss of the perks of cheap electric. I wanted to decrease my electrical foot print. The Marineland 200 DD (deep dimension) would be just the trick. The 4 foot length allows me to drop one MH. I'll only be running 2. BUT being 3 feet wide, I'll still have room for the 4 x 54 Watt T5's.

There is concern there about actual penetration and PAR ratings at the bottom of the tank as it's listed as 27 inches deep, but is actually closer to 28 or so.

I'm ditching a bunch of pumps and stuff that were running all the time before. I had an elaborite sump, refugium in the basement at our old house. Not to mention the Small Block Chevy sized Reeflo Sequence Hammerhead pump. I'll be using a Mag 7 or 9.5 with penductors purchased from Aquacave just recently. Also, only other internal pumps will be 2 Vortech MP40's.

I was running 2 Tunze Streams, and 2 Seio M820's in the 180. I'm also ditching my Ca Reactor, at least in the short term. That's another MJ 1200, 2 seio's, and Blueline 30 out of the equation. I'll be using 2 Drew's dosers for 2 Part and another top off Parastaltic Pump for ATO. Again, a couple of bigger pumps into the boneyard.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I ditched my ASM G4X+ for a new in sump Octopus

It's design is definitely a space saver, thus the name. I'll obviously be going into much more detail and better pictures as the actual "build" takes flight.

You may notice that the tank is Undrilled and Non-Reef Ready. Due to the location of the tank in the house, primary viewing will be through the front, and left side panel. I did not want to lose one inch of that lovely 3 foot side panel. I also opted not to get Starphire as, for the money, TO ME (no slam on anyone who has it) it isn't worth it. Sooooo After der willie zur macht suggested a Herbie style drain, I became VERY intrigued.

I decided to go with a Beananimal type overflow:

http://beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

Very helpful thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1929728&page=2

My overflow box was constructed, and I just received it yesterday

acdraindrps aka Chris built it. He also put up with a CRAP LOAD of PM's from me. But, he did the job and did it well. I cannot recommend him enough if you need some acrylic work done.

Here's the beginings of my overflow and Beananimal set up:

I'll be augmenting the openings with Gutter Guard as well as the top. I may make an opaque cover for the overflow to prevent problem algae, and to keep critters from crawling into the box and potetially jamming up one of the drains.

 

[Capt_Cully]

The stand is under construction as we speak by Dave and iamwrasseman at ABC Reefs. That will be the catalyst to when this all begins.

joeswoodworks did the canopy, very well, and very reasonably priced. He could not do the stand as it's 4x3 foot print cannot go through standard doors, and therefore would still be in his basement workshop. If you need ANYTHING like this I would highly recommend him. In fact, he's the only guy I would call.

Being a reef keeper, he knew how to make the canopy open and why my ideas weren't optimal. He also put on a little feeder door, so the whole thing doesn't have to be opened every night. It also deters the owner from sticking his hands in the tank every 10 seconds until a rockslide or incidental fragging occurs.

 

[jfl14609]

nice little trip down memory lane

 

[Capt_Cully]

Other helpful links:

RO/DI issues http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1917122

Flow Turnover http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1960889

Sound dampening http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1959731

Rock Reincarnation http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1914426

Reeeally nice 200DD build http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1853188&highlight=marineland+200+deep+dimension

This is just the teaser, but I wanted to get a lot of my ideas in one place as the build is taking some time to get going. I want to do it right. I've had enough tries at setting tanks up and I still say, "if I had it to do over again I'd.....". So I'm taking my time.

 

[IronMan72]

Thanks for the tour. Always fun to remember how we got to where we are.

 

[450reef]

get it rolling man i got lots of zoas waiting to be pruned for ya

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I hope it's ok to interrupt you!

I hope it's ok to interrupt you!

:bounce3:

 

[Capt_Cully]

Heck yeah! Just trying to get it kicked off, organized in one place, and update everyone. Questions and comments welcome as the process unfolds. Ill be looking for help along the way I'm sure.

 

[chrisqueenz]

Tagging along! Can't imagine how sweet this one is going to look. Plan on adding at least 1 new centerpiece fish? Oh and what wattage are the MH? 250W or 400W?

 

[Haffs09]

Looks great, Cully! I can't wait to see this build unfold!

 

[Capt_Cully]

Tagging along! Can't imagine how sweet this one is going to look. Plan on adding at least 1 new centerpiece fish? Oh and what wattage are the MH? 250W or 400W?

On the fence about a black tang. I've got the Tomini, Sailfin, and purple already. I refuse to split them up. I think the purple would pose the biggest threat. I'll revisit that later. If I have to get a big one, so that it'll fly, I'm prepared for that. If it's just a bad idea I'll stick with these three. They've been a family for 4 years+ now.

Gonna hit up the reef fishes forum and see what the websites say about compatability and aggression.

MH's are 2-fitties.

 

[450reef]

cully i think you should get 12-15 fuzzy dwarf lionfish - them in a field of gsp and kenya trees it a dream come true to me - and if anyone can pull it off u can haha

 

[450reef]

on a serious note tho id love to see ya with a pair of wantinabie angels or something diff like that not that i dont like the black tang but ...

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Can't wait to see things wet!

 

[titoav15]

wow, this looks like one heck of a project, great job Mark! Keep the updates coming

 

[SkiFletch]

Love to know how you like the Octopus skimmer coming from the G4 Cully. Also, any chance you have a Kill-a-Watt meter you can put on that pump, or at least have a power rating for it? I too am all about reducing my electrical footprint and would consider ditching my old euroreef skimmer

 

[tmz]

Mark, I have a feeling this is going to be a beautiful and fun reef. Look forward to hearing more. Makes me want to redo a tank or two, if I wasn't so busy with what I have . Well to put it more honestly, I use alot of energy these days finding reasons not to do things or procrastinating in a quest to support the lazy side of my nature.So I'll sit back and enjoy watching you work.