Hi OneDayMatt and All!
The only real rush is that I hope to have most things going by Thanksgiving (family and guests to be in). Also in 2 weeks, I'll be teaching school, but right now, I have ALL DAY to learn and build things. I love to build things! From the 1st thread, my timeline has moved back about 2 weeks, but I think it's reasonable. Here's the details of things I need to do. I'm using this thread as a diary myself. I respect your advice, so please tell me EXACTLY where I am or might be going wrong. Also, I'm going mainly off the advice 4 LFS employee's, 2-3 mentors, and about 5 others who have really taken the time to advise me. Seriously, please don't just say that I'm going too fast... please tell me WHERE and HOW I am going too fast. I'm NOT new to reefkeeping, but I'm VERY new to doing it in this capacity. I really do NEED and I will listen to your advice... (please know that I am trying to be humble and I only am writing the follwing so that you can advise me better... not to combat you)
DONE
1) Live rock being cycled in bins
- Status: I got more than expected and very well cured liverock for an unbeatable price. It is in tubs right now with old skilters and plenty of flow under 260W of light. The 45 DeadR that I have is insignificant right now, because I'm comfortable with the 83lbs of LR to start, and will from now be considered base rock. Daily water tests are pretty much 0. Alk / Ph / Nitrites / Nitrates at this time.
TO BE DONE
1) Build a stand/hood (Goal: 7/28- but okay without until 8/4 deadline)
- Status: After looking at about 8 stores, online, and such, we've developed a design that is A) FUNCTIONAL to the specifications of the tank and sump and B) FORM that my wife wants. This should be done by next weekend.
2) Drill & Plumbing (Goal: 7/26)
- Status: Not sure where overflows will be... corners or middle... but stand is built to either choice. Need to attach overflow. (2 days?) Also would like to pondfoam back (opaque black) wall and overflow (another 2 days?). Plumbing... just acquring pieces like bulkheads, piping, ball valves, and others needed for unglued visual check... officially (permanently glued) put together when sump is assembled.
3) Build sump/fuge/QT (Goal: 8/3)
- Status: Aquiring 29g tank sump. Acquiring skimmer. Have worked with glass before. Studying heights/measurements now. Separate QT space avail but would like an all-in-one if possible. Learning a lot of needs/necessities.
4) Test of all equiptment and fill tank (Goal: 8/4)
5) Livesand bed installed, aquascaping LR, QT 2 damsels (Goal: 8/5)
Note: Teachers report 8/6 (Summer is over!) but no kids... so nights are free + 1 more weekend. Will be REALLY busy for next month or so. 20% water changes every 2 weeks.
6) Water stabilized by 8/25 and add cleaner crew & 2 QT'd damsels and 1st 20% water change
7) Frequent water checks for 2 weeks (9/8) if okay then add a few softies/mushrooms and possibly a fish or two to QT
8) Every 3 weeks (synchronized with 3 weeks recommended in QT) schedule possible:
- Provided water is stable some additions: (9/29- add and damsels donated back to store) / (10/20) / (10/10- 2 weeks prior to thanksgiving)
Projected goals by Thanksgiving: Cleaner crew working awesome, cycled rock with good coraline algae growing, Pondfoam with coraline algae, 6-8 soft corals, 6-8 fish, and a healthy fuge thriving.
Thank you for posting your mistakes. I hope to learn from them, but please help me understand more about these corresponding to your learning:
1) Yes I have to build my overflow. I plan to drill acrylic tank myself. Not a lot of anxiety because I've worked with plastics and glass before. Are there worries for overflows that you experienced? or things I need to keep a heads up on?
2) Nothing should be on the back hopefully. Wife wanted the sump primarily to hide all the equiptment. (No argument from me, for all of the other benefits). We are planning the stand build to seat a 90gal just in case we decide to upgrade so there's plenty of back space. As it is right now, there is enough room to place a (Seclone pro is it?) hang on skimmer if absolutely necessary. Would you recommend hang on the back fuges over sump fuges?
3) The stand actually slants in (inspired by Asian furniture- I'm Japanese) and there is more room at the base than there is at tank level. A lot can fit in htere.
4) Why is painting the back of the tank a good idea? My back wall should be foam. Will that be okay?
5) I'm a school teacher in the 48th worst teacher pay state. I have a 3 year old... So pretty much, I never have money. But seriously, I will research to get the best VALUE with the best HEALTH of my reef being the 1st priority. I realze that if I can't find deals that I may have to pony up some $ for some of the things that I NEED. There's actually a good threshold of where used is not worth the risk of new. Ex: I'm looking for a good skimmer- I want it at 60% below the lowest new price I can find new. If its 50% I might if I trust it, but anything less of a value, I'll probably buy new. The rush right now is to learn about recommendations so I know what to look for. This is WAY TOO DEBATED though for me to make any sense out of it. I just figure (if I HAD to at the worst) that I at least need one rated for 150gal which will be over 250% of the tank (and I don't plan on a lot of fish anyway.
6) Okay... Here's where I have a lot to learn. In my old 20 reef, there were frequent water top offs, and water changes. What have you learned, that you would share about water PH and Alk? This 63 is 3x the tank that I was used to. There will be a learning curve here for me. A sump is new for me. I've heard that more water is actually easier, but it is the unknown at this point. PLEASE share!!!
7) Everyone says that I will want more lights (halides) for larger corals, but I know I want to master soft corals & mushrooms before I move up and better lighting. I really am perfectly happy with softies, despite what people say. I might dabble, but I think 260 CF lighing will be suffice if I put them up high. A chiller is out of the question right now budget wise. T5's are what I wanted, but a deal came up, and I actually came out with more wattage than what I was planning with T5's. I wanted to utilize more spectrum with a T5, but oh well... I can always add one.
I'm far from Einstein, I'll assure you that. But I have 3 years experience. Right now, I'm not Paul Bunyan, but I'm a stay-at-home dad with at least an average of 6 hours of time to dedicate to learning (3 of which, Logan is down for a nap). I have been a little obsessed for the past week, I'll admit. I know starting tomorrow, I begin teacher preparation mode... and my time will dwindle slowly until school starts and then time will be precious as I teach, coach, be a dad, a husband, and a reefer!
But seriously, what are some things that I need to worry about? I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I liken it to the kid who has driven a hand-me-down car for all of his life, and now putting together a dream sports car. I don't plan on driving too fast, and I don't want to be out of control, but I still know how to drive. Am I just not getting it (slowing down)?
Expendatures (Projected)
$100 63gal acrylic undrilled aquarium
$140 Corallife CF 260W
$180 83lbs of Cured Fiji LiveRock
($150) Stand / Canopy Build
($50) Sump/Fuge/QT Build
($75) Tank readiness including plumbing
($150) Skimmer
($200) Pumps/Powerheads (Goal 20x/h+)
($75) Substrate (Live Sand? DSB)
($50) Cleaning Crew
Additionals that I have already:
40lbs of 60lb tub of Instant Ocean
2 skilters (skimmer/filter)
1 hang on the back powerhead filter
1 300gph powerhead
2 120gph powerheads
Test kit Alk / Ph / Nitrites / Nitrates
Bottle of buffer
Bag of carbon
Specific Gravity Test
2 Thermomometers
What's the rush. I just moved my livestock from my hastily set up 72G to a 30G while I prepare the system.
My Mistakes:
1. I didn't buy a reef-ready 72G Bow, so I have no built in overflow - bad
2. I didn't have enough room behind the aquarium to add an overflow or a hang on fuge if I wanted.
3. The 72 Bow is tough to fit equipment underneath, and, again, I didn't have room behind the tank
4. I didn't know that painting the back of the tank was a great idea
5. I didn't have the money together to do 72 G correctly (new baby and all)
6. I hadn't even considered what happens to PH / Alk with top off water
7. I wanted better lighting, probably MH/T5 but I didn't have room for a chiller and 150s just don't seem to be the right choicein MH for me.
Anyway, I didn't kill anything. In fact, the stuff I had was doing great and still is in the smaller tank with a bigger skimmer. It's just that if I wanted to move on, I didn't want to be stuck with what's I had.
1. I've rearranged my office in order to allow for a walking space behind the aquariums.
2. I've placed both aquariums next to each other so that I can transfer from the QT easily (which the 30 will be when the 72 is running)
Since I started doing this a few months ago, I haven't gone more than 2 weeks without a 30% or more water change with ro/di water. That requires effort and time. I test my parameters constantly. That requires effort and time. I study this forum and others, speak with knowledgeable people and keep up to date on options for my reef system.
The most important piece of advice I can give you is to slow the heck down. What, it's been 5 days and you think you've got the "perfect" cost-effective system worked out? I hate to burst your bubble, but that's just not how it works. This hobby is full of successful intelligent people. If you are as far ahead of the curve as your posts make me believe you think you are, you must be verging on the intelligence of Einstein with the work ethic of Paul Bunyan or using some substance that makes you believe that's exactly who you are.
Hobby Experience: Long enough to take things slowly