Initial planning stages for tank and fish room

Thanks rale. Guess the easy part is now done. We know what the hard part is LOL

Went to a black background. I think this works better for now.

IMG_1437.jpg
 
IDK... It is going to be hard to tell on the background until you get water in it.

I think the blue would be better, but that is only because it will look like an expanse in the water. The black will not be bad either, though. (I like blue anyway)
 
worm5406 said:
IDK... It is going to be hard to tell on the background until you get water in it.

I think the blue would be better, but that is only because it will look like an expanse in the water. The black will not be bad either, though. (I like blue anyway)
Click to expand...

Well it's a good thing the background is reversible :spin3: It's still blue on the other side. I think I'd prefer a more muted blue, but this is what they had. Guess I could always find the blue paint I like and do it up. Ah right now I'm almost burnt out from the build and want to get water in it soon. LOL
 
Yes, just remember that speed will only kill off things.

Take your time and make it the way you want it.

My 180 went from a 120, upstairs, to a downstairs dedicated fish room upgrade.

I have not finished the walls yet, and I am already planing to pipe in the 120, to make over 300 gal with new sump. :)
 
Started filling the tank with RO water, early this morning. I want to get the SG and temp up to system specs prior to the arrival of sand and live rock. My RO unit is 300GPD. Can't imagine how long it would take with less GPD. Guess it will be filled sometime later tonight.

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The progress at 4:47 this afternoon.


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Gave me time to program the Apex and install a GHL dosing pump for 2 part.

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I still have some wires to tuck away - man there are lots of wires LOL - but that can wait for another day. Looking forward to getting the sand and rock in the tank!
 
Moving along well Bill! Hey what is the black tube/rod hanging on the rim attached to a white tube attached to a black box thing in the last pic? :)
 
DrHarryLopez said:
Moving along well Bill! Hey what is the black tube/rod hanging on the rim attached to a white tube attached to a black box thing in the last pic? :)
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LOL that is this :) Works with this :) It's the Innovative Marine ATO. Thought I'd give it a try. I like the idea of no moving parts.

Tank is just about filled and ready to rock :)
 
The tank is full. The Red Sea Coral Pro added and the temp is rising. I mixed the salt, according to the instructions at 68 degrees, in the tank with the Tunze, skimmer and return pump running. It's a few hours and the water is still cloudy. I think I will be going back to ESV. It's amazing how clear the stuff mixes in just a few minutes. Haven't used a salt out of a bucket in years and now I remember why.

Well the tank is off and running. Sand should be here today or tomorrow and I'm picking up LR from a local reefer. Finally the tank is live :bounce1:
 
Nice. tell me how that ATO is when you get a chance to play with it.

I would like to get away from my float valve too.
 
The deep abyss :uhoh2:

IMG_1461.jpg


The sand arrived late yesterday so I just went at it. No matter how much you rinse the stuff, the water clouds. Is pretty fine stuff on the bottom and not much coarser on top. That's more that 4" in some spots and slightly less in others - I guess - can't see into the tank well enough to determine that yet LOL

On another note, the Bahama Oolitic sand I received, was claimed to have been "washed and will not cloud the water". Well I'm not sure how much washing they did. It had leaves, sea grass and other debris in it. Needless to say, I wasn't happy having to wash sand I paid for that claimed it was already washed and free of foreign material. This stuff went on the bottom and the Tropic Eden Mini Reef Flakes went on top. The Tropic Eden was washed well and looks really nice too. I have enough left over to make a remote DSB with a plenum, in the second sump. Guess I can make that a fuge of sorts.

Heading out this afternoon to pick up what should be some nice rock from a local reefer. I'll use that plus some pieces I have, to seed the tank and then go from there. I want to get the cycle started. The holidays are approaching and I don;'t want to be messing with this then.
 
worm5406 said:
Nice. tell me how that ATO is when you get a chance to play with it.

I would like to get away from my float valve too.
Click to expand...

Will do. It's pretty straight forward in terms of setting it up. Lust place one at the high and one at the low - doesn't matter which - and let it run and do it's thing. I'm trying to figure out how to use two of these for make-up and water changes, with an Apex. The Genesis is probably easier and the way to go though. They were out of them for a while. Just got notification they're shipping again.

I haven't hooked it up yet, but will probably use the breakout box with a float switch as backup for the backup LOL Been using that with an Osmolator pump for top-off on the smaller tank. However the Osmolator pump doesn't seem to like low water levels in the make-up vessel. It doesn't pump if the water level gets low.
 
Paolo Piccinell said:
That's why I do not rinse anything anymore!!! LOL
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You're probably right Paolo. I could have stood there all night and it still would have been cloudy. Guess it's really just very fine sand that will eventually settle.

Glad to see you're keeping tabs on me :)
 
Crox99 said:
Bill,

It was nice meeting you today. When I am in Park Slope I want to see your setup ;)
Click to expand...

Nice meeting you too JP. Stop by any time. Your tank and setup look great. I like the selection of fish and they look bright and healthy. Same for the corals. They look like they're going to grow out really well.

See what a few good filter socks can do in short order. The "abyss" pic above is from this morning, after placing the sand the system 8 hours prior. The next two are after placing the filter socks 3 hours ago. The water is so clear you can see the mess I made on the counter last night LOL

After about an hour -

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This one a few minutes ago -

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JP the rock looks awesome. :D I think I'll have enough when I add the rock I had in the 50.
 
i don't look at the thread for a few days and WOW! look how far you've come, awesome! great to see the tank wet with sand AND rock!
 
Thats crazy to pay for sand that was suppose to be rinsed and wasnt. Someone would have gotten an email or text. But I never imagined to be clear in 3 hours. Nice updates.
 
Thanks owen. :) Rock is just placed temporarily. However I don't think I'm going to go crazy trying to make some super rockscape. Hopefully they'll soon be covered with corals and they won't even be seen :)

Thanks Wayne and I agree. They did get an email too LOL I haven't heard back from them though. Guess they don't have much to say and would rather not inflame the situation more. I didn't expect it to be sanitized, but I also didn't expect it to have junk in it either. Ah well some things in this hobby just make me shake my head.

The socks did the trick pretty quickly though. I've already rinsed them twice.

This one's for worm. Went in the tank with the rock :)

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