Downsizing??? Really???

[Ron Reefman]

i see water

Ha! Yes. I got enough water in the sump to submerge the DCT15000 and turned it on. It didn't take very long and I saw a leak, shut the pump off and stopped adding water. While cleaning up the leak (between a 1" and 1/2" adaptor) I noticed a second leak! Damn! And it was between a second 1" to 1/2" adaptor as well! I'm claiming defective parts rather than poor workmanship!:hammer:

Taking that apart would have been a lot of new parts as it's all glued together and I didn't want to go there. So I seriously dried and cleaned the fittings, took some 3M 5200 marine adhesive and laid a good coat over the leaky joint, let it cure for a few hours (still soft and tacky) then wrapped over it with white electrical tape stretched out to apply some pressure to the adhesive. I let that cure for 24 hours (it takes 48 to get a good cure and 5 days for full cure) and then wrapped a rubber gasket over the tape and put a hose clamp over the rubber gasket.

My hope (fingers crossed) is that this stops the leak. Otherwise it's tear half my plumbing out and do it over again! I'm 99.5% sure it will work, but that 0.5% sure does nag at you while you are waiting 2 days before you can test your work!

If it works I'm up and running on Tuesday. If it fails, I go buy a bunch of new pvc parts and do it over again on Tuesday and test it again on Wednesday. Either way I'm getting close.

And my cabinet supplier who did our kitchen 6 months ago called last night to let me know our new bathroom cabinets are in. The leaky 180g tank destroyed the 27 year old pressed board cabinet in the hall bath (it was on the other side of the wall the tank was on). So we are putting new ones that match the kitchen in both bathrooms and I get a 36" 2 door cabinet that goes with the aquarium stand. That's where the 50g display refugium I'm making will sit.

By the end of the week I expect to have water and rockscape in the 125g... maybe even some hearty corals and a small fish? It depends on the mix of dead rock and live rock I get into the rockscape. I think the LR in my other sump is better looking than the rock in the Brutes (in freshwater & mild muriatic acid) that came out of the old 180g tank.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Success! I added some water to the sump and started the pump. No leaks. So I filled the entire system with fresh water and have it running on the main pump. Still no leaks! I'll let it run awhile and if all is still good I'll drain it and refill with sand and salt water! Oh boy, I get to start doing rockscaping! Hopefully by late today.

Oh, and when I turned off the pump to check siphon from the tank to the sump, the tank when down less than 1/2" and the sump rose less than 1". Woohoo!

 

[Oldcabin]

Congrats! What a relief that you didn't have to re-do the plumbing!
Always feels good to get wet!

 

[SCARYBO]

Congrats!!! Time to get wet

 

[clownaround2]

It looks great! Really nice job Ron! So the third box made it - good to know. Love all your comments "it's only a rectangle, how hard could it be". I had to look up helicoils, so it might give you an idea. They should put you on the payroll and make your pvc splash pan an option. How do you like the pump that came with it? Is it sufficient enough or are you still thinking about switching it out? Might be to early to tell.. I do love the clean modern look of the whole setup. Same goes for the ReefBreeders Photon light fixture. I'm still running VHO's on my system and definitely want to switch to led's. Is it tricky to install, since it's not a rimless tank?

 

[Ron Reefman]

The main tank now has 2" of sand and is 2/3rds full with salt water, but the sump is still empty.

clownaround2, thanks. The missing plumbing hardware made it, but I hardly used any of it as I wanted to do more than basic and they provide metric... so...

The 'box' went together easily. And I ended up not using the helicoils because they were so small and very short. So I drilled out the holes in the cabinet and ran in zip-it drywall anchors that use the same size screw. Worked like a charm and now I have metal threads in the stand in case I ever need to pull the 2 uprights.

The pump that came with the system looks almost exactly the same as a Jebao DCT10000. I just put it on a shelf, unused. I put my Jebao DCT15000 in the system because I will be running more hardware than CadLight assumed. A 50g remote display refugium and a chiller that is 30 feet away out behind the house. I may even add a second fuge inside the new cabinet just to grow algae and pods.

I'm happy with the clean look as well. Now I just hope I can do a rockscape that will do the 'look' justice.

The new Photons are really nice. The only weak point I've seen so far is the battery life of the rechargeable in the remote. But it charges quickly when plugged into the USB on my laptop.

As to fitting it on the tank... I had to cut away the inside edge of the foot because my tank isn't rimless, it's eurobraced. The foot is adjustable so it can go on rimless or with a normal plastic frame, but the eurobrace is way too wide. So I just need to be cautious and make sure the legs are 'stretched' a bit to go over the ends of the tank. I may try to diy a fix later, but I have too many irons in the fire right now!

 

[Ron Reefman]

While I still had freshwater in the system and there was some bits of foam and pvc in the water, I decided to turn on the 2 RW8 wavemakers and the Crossflow to see what the flow looked like. Below is a short video.



I'm pretty happy with what I saw, but I still plan to add a 2nd Crossflow on the other end of the tank. But just for fun I calculated how much flow and how many turns I would have if I ran all 4 pumps at full speed. And this is not taking into account the DCT15000 sump pump. There is 2110gph for each RW8 and 4625gph for each Crossflow which equals 13,470 gph. Yikes! Divided by an actual 115 gallons in the tank equals 117 turns per hour"¦ can you say sand storm in a glass box!

But my intention is to run some kind of a tidal schedule, water flowing one way for 6 hours and then back the other way for 6 hours, just like the tides. And at the change over point I'll have a mix of pumps for an hour or two that create a chaotic flow. Maybe a small mix like the 2 RW8 or a bigger mix like the 2 Crossflows. I could even have a slack tide where there is hardly any flow at all, like one RW 8 for and hour and then the other RW8 for an hour.

But that's for later. Today's project is making 2 platforms with egg crate and pvc pipe. The idea is to make pvc pipe legs long enough to hold egg crate platforms about 1" to 2" above the sand. Then place most of the rockscape on the platforms with just enough rock on the sand at the edges of the egg crate to hide it from view. I'll take pics as I go through the process and post them here so you can see how I end up with whatever I end up with!

 

[Ron Reefman]

My old but thoroughly washed out sand is in the tank, it’s full of new saltwater and its been running for 24 hours. Yeah! On Thursday here is what I got done.

So now I get to start on my rockscape. Here are most of my goals:
1. A sloping island shaped like a football half buried in the sand
2. Cut in half through the middle by a channel or chasm
3. One side tall enough to reach very near the surface
4. 80% or more of the rock will be off the sand on platforms
5. Lots of hollows inside the rockwork
6. A cave made from pvc pipe
7. As many ‘special rocks as I can fit (you’ll see… I hope)

Here is what the platforms are and how they are made. PVC pipe cut at 3 1/2" with 2 holes drilled and tied to the egg crate with cable ties.






And here they are in the tank. With the legs pressed down into the sand they are quite stable. They are off set from each other and the channel will run through between them.




Now to get started sorting out my live rock and dead rock to pick out the pieces I want. I hate to rush this part, but I have 4 small tanks that are very over crowded and 2 have no filtration. I've been doing water changes, but I have lost several nice coral colonies and frags along with a flame scallop and a couple of oysters. So I want the new tank up and running as quickly as possible.

 

[Electrobes]

If only I wasn't in Orlando for vacation! I wish I was there helping you!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Ron Reefman]

If only I wasn't in Orlando for vacation! I wish I was there helping you!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Rockscape and coral placement is kind of a one person operation. But I appreciate the thought.

When do you get back? I'm about ready to start shopping for things I need for the Apex. Like the screen you have hanging on the wall. I saw David has the same setup and said he got the idea from you!

I'm close to done with the rockscape already and will start moving corals as soon as the water clears. I'm using a lot of LR from the sump of the reef room 200g system and I'll probably just do 2 very small fish with the corals. I think I can keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in line and force a long slow cycle. The corals don't produce much waste.

I'd rather take my chances with that than continue to see things die off in the holding tanks! I'm kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. :headwalls:

 

[Ron Reefman]

These were taken earlier (late morning). But I wanted people to see how I've tried to keep empty space inside the island. Lots more rock has been added and even coral is going in now. I'll take more when I'm done for the day... I am getting tired. Sorting through LR in my sump and 2 Brutes full of dead rock takes it toll, even on a young guy like me!




The left side of the island is virtually hollow inside and there is a pvc pipe creating an entrance cave into the hollow. The pipe entrance is in the channel between the two halves.




The right side will be similar but not as big and no big access hole so only smaller critters can get in through the cracks and gaps.

 

[Ron Reefman]

OK, so a lot of corals are in the tank, but this is really just a preliminary set up. I'll be making a lot of changes to both rockscape and coral placement over the next week or more. I had 2 small tanks full of coral from my old broken 180g tank and there was no filtration. So I figured I'd rather watch them in the new tank than let them die in the small tanks. Doing water changes to make up for no filtration was getting really old really fast, almost 4 weeks was too long.

There is still a bit of egg crate platform showing, but that will be easy to hide. The PVC cave entrance in the channel is very obvious, but I will eventually get some rock tucked in around the edges to hide it better. The far right end of the tank is littered with 'orphan' corals right now. I intend to clean that up and just have some macro algae and some rock flower and mini-maxi anemones... maybe a RBT too.

I like the spikes at the top of the island. There are 2 'house' rocks (man made hollow rock with an opening). I've found several critters like to use them especially at night. There are 2 mag rocks on the back wall and I'm very undecided about whether they stay or go. The birdsnest coral that is hanging at the far left end was grown from a tiny accidental frag that was less than an inch long about 4 months ago. Hanging them is how some of the coral restoration groups grow them in the Keys and other reefs. I just did it for fun. Lucky for me because the big parent colony died along with 4 or 5 other nice coral colonies.

Here are a couple of FTS.






And here are a couple of closer shots of the left and right sides.






And here are a couple shots of the cut through the island.

 

[neiltus]

Looks great!

 

[reefwars]

Looking great Ron a fresh start adds a new life to the hobby eh I'm excited to see where this tank goes do you plan to keep the legs on the light or switch later to something else? Maybe two wall mount brackets would look clean the overall look of the system is very clean and nice I like it also liked the idea of an external fuge display I'm going that route myself with some mangroves and macro

Incredible job man I'll be following for sure

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks guys.

I'm pretty open to improvements as time goes by. This was a serious rush job from tearing down the leaky 180 and then the rest of the old system. Then doing wall repairs, to shopping for a new system and waiting for delivery. Then doing custom plumbing because I'm doing a lot that CadLight didn't consider (darn metric fitting supplied with the tank).

I've done a marginal amount of looking for a way to mount the lights. But I'm going to be very picky. It has to be clean and very minimal (no chains or cables), but I would like the ability to adjust up and down as well as forward and back. It will be a tough one to source or diy.

I expect the next cabinet to be delivered on Tuesday. I could have had it on Thur or Fri but we had some very crappy weather behind hurricane Hermine. I hope to start the refugium build today or tomorrow.

I corals and critters have been in the tank 3 or 4 days. It took 2 days to move most of the corals and catch the other guys. I tested the parameters after everybody was in and again this morning which has been 3 days. Ammonia and nitrate are still 0, Ca is 400, alk is 9.5, Mg is 1420 and temp is 81F (the chiller isn't hooked in yet).

This will be an interesting cycle (or non-cycle) and maturing process. About 75% of the rock is live from the sump of my other system, so good bacteria and a few sponges, but not much else so I don't expect much if any die off. The other 25% is from my 180 and it was all acid washed and quite dead. The sand is from the 180 as well, and it was seriously washed in fresh water. The corals were all in unfiltered tanks so I suspect good bacteria levels on them as well. My feeling is that corals don't produce much waste, there aren't many members of the clean up crew and 2 small fish who will be fed sparingly over the next week or two. If things go well, I'll start to move a fish or 2 every week or two. The fish are all in the 65g shallow reef in the reef room. It's crowded, but it's well filtered with a 120g sump/refugium.

I'm a rather nervous guy at this point (normally I'm very relaxed and calm), but I'm both optimistic and have my fingers crossed! :fun4:

 

[GimpyFin]

Tank looks really good so far Ron! :thumbsup:

 

[Oldcabin]

Wow Ron, looks great.

You've got your hands full with all this tank juggling! I'm jealous, and I'm not....I can barely manage one tank.

Like your use of the PVC cave entrance. I tried to build something similar under my sand for some gobies, shrimp, etc. but it turned out being to obvious in my very minimal scape. Your version will look great once you fill in the small gaps.

Keep up the good work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[10secv6]

Great tank man. I just started with the same artisan 125. I went with a metal stand though. Really like the aquascaping

 

[Ron Reefman]

Well, the tank juggling is coming to an end. I emptied the Rubbermaid tub first and lost a handful of good corals (mostly branchy sps). Yesterday I emptied the 20g tank and had a bit better success only losing a few small colonies and frags. I have been surprised every day that the shrimp, sea stars and crabs survive so well. Even the little pink filter feeding sea cucumber survived and is now in the new 125g tank.

All the tanks currently running have filtration, sumps and skimmers. The 65g shallow reef/25g frag tank has a 15g refugium. So less water changes in the near future except to keep parameters in line on the new tank as it cycles.

And last yesterday I saw that some of the rock was getting a coating of tan/brown algae (diatoms?). Normally this is fine when cycling a tank, but my tank has corals and others in it already. I know I can keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate under control. But other cycling issues like algae blooms and bacteria blooms may be a bit more problematic. I intend to leave my leds off for today and then go blue and violet only for the next few days after that. I think the diatoms will struggle without white or red light. We'll see.

Any suggestions would be taken seriously and very appreciated. This is not how I wanted to set up a new tank!

Old Cabin, I had a big pvc pipe cave in my old 180 and it was easy to hide in a big rock wall style scape. This new one is basically just an entrance into the hollow inside of the island. The scopas tang has found a separate entrance, but it will eventually get blocked by a new coral.

We've already seen a ruby crab (a red mithrax) going in and out of the 'rock house' at the left end of the tank.

10secv6, thanks. If you run into any questions on your set up, feel free to ask me. I'll try to help. BTW, your screen name? Do you drag race? Share a little info... I'm a long term car guy. Drag raced in my teens and 20's, then raced sports cars at places like Mid-Ohio, Road America and Watkins Glen for 15+ years Now I auto-x a 300hp Miata. I'd love to see what it could do in a 1/4 mile.

 

[WiDataTech]

Road America is a great facility. I've been there many times. I think my favorite is when the sport bikes run.

But anyways, things look great, Ron, and good luck getting everyone else switched over