MadTownMax's 120-gallon

[MadTownMax]

Just wanted to post a few pics of my tank, now that the rockwork is pretty much settled, and I just put in a new sump -

There aren't many fish right now as I removed most to quarantine after a battle with ich - there is a pair of clowns, a pair of engineer gobies, and a pair of PJ cardinals in QT - they'll be coming out in a week - they're all looking great.

I had to knock out the center brace to get the new sump in - I included a few pictures that you can show your friends for the scare factor :eek1:

The tank:

The stand with the brace removed:

Old sump - new sump:

The mess that ensued :

sump in:

brace replaced:

 

[MadTownMax]

just an added note - the center brace doesn't seem to add much support - but I drained the tank anyway to reduce any "bowing" from the front of the stand - when I replaced the brace, I included a few drops of elmers Ultimate glue - similar to Gorilla glue - a water-activated foaming polyurethane glue that will keep the brace in place now that I pulled out the staples :thumbsup:

 

[nanoreef16g]

Very nice bro. I hope all is well otherwise also.

 

[smketyr]

Nick, Looks great!!

 

[aquajamieb]

looks great nick......im sure it will be an everlasting project.......all the way up until its time to move back to Delaware!!

 

[MadTownMax]

thanks guys!

Jamie - you're right - the sump has all sorts of possibilities that I'm considering, and I have to get some flow in the tank - I have to weigh my options on that

 

[kaptken]

Nice twin island rock work Nick. lots of room for fish to swim and corals to grow.

Hey, keep us posted on the sump construction. we have some new members looking for tips on how to do it..

its gonna be nice!

 

[Tbor]

Hey Nick, Glad to see you're up and running again. Good looking upgrades - keep us posted. Looking at moving myself in the next six months or so, hopefully I'll be able to bump up a size then too!

 

[MadTownMax]

Thanks Tbor - it is hard enough to move yourself, but moving your tank is something that can take all day if it's done right

That is a great motivator to have a tank running when you get there to just put the livestock back in - that way you also ensure everything is in transit for the least amount of time possible-

 

[MadTownMax]

Here's an update of the sump - I'm going to add in a egg-crate rack similar to the sump design on Reefvideos ( http://www.reefvideos.com/ ), It has been working very well like this for a few weeks - but I want to get a sand bed in there too

 

[Tbor]

Oooohhhh! Sexy!! Hey Max - you're not trusting that rubbermaid trash can with water are you? I made that mistake once before. After about 3 months of use a little pinhole leak sprung and drained 30 gals alllll over the place. Fun fun fun! Those food grade buckets are much more sturdy if you can get your hands on em.

 

[kaptken]

Thats what i need to do. make a new sump for my frag system. my set up is just producing slime. im shutting it down soon as i can move the surviving frags to other tanks. no room.

but it looks like you got a Lights of america 65 watt daylight flourescent outdoor light over? whats that? some chaeto? and are you still using the tank overflow to feed the air stone skimmer? thats a niceway to save elecricity on running a skimmer pump. and what else is going on in there?

looking good.
kaptken

 

[MadTownMax]

LOL - thanks Tbor I'm hoping to make this sump Superfly with the egg-crate additions

As for the trash can - I've had one leak on me 3 years ago in my first apartment - all over the floor and next to a in the past, but what I've gained from RC and from that experience is that the rubbermaid "rhino" brad are safe - they're made from a thicker, tougher plastic than other trashcans ....... and I only fill it about 3/4 of the way full (float valve ) just in case . I'd like to get something else that doesn't stand out like a sore thumb, but I pretty much need to have at least 20 gallons of RO/DI on hand with a larger tank like this for water changes and top-off :shrug:

Ken - you got it, that's a LOA over some cheato (which has already been covered by a bunch of pods ), but an 18W, not 65 - I wanted to keep heat down, I noticed I get a 1-degree temperature swing when it's on :eek1: :lol: - not much, but I aim for zero, so I've adjusted the lighting schedule so it will balance out - hopefully it will be bright enough - if not I can lower it down onto a piece of the egg-crate structure I'm planning and/or remove the cover as it doesn't get any salt spray at the current location.

The air-stone skimmer was just too small to keep-up with this set-up, so I upgraded to an octopus-1000 needlewheel skimmer - the colum of foam is much thicker compared to the old skimmer - and I'm getting about 4X more skimmate a day, so I'm happy with that - it is still pretty small (according to general opinion) for a 120, but I wanted to stay a little "dirty" for the LPS, softies and Xenia :beer:

Here's a picture of the old skimmer next to the new one:

 

[kaptken]

Hey Nick, I see you are running a bare bottom tank, as we can see your halides right up your reef rock from the sump. No light barrier on the bottom glass? I have black plastic taped to mine because i have a plenum sandbed and i heard its best to keep it in the dark, to keep algea from growing in it. berlin? i guess it doesnt matter. just more light for the chaeto in the fuge.

yup, some trash cans can leak. the rubbermaid BRUTE wont. thick and tough. i have one 32 gallon for RO . and a 32 tan HOLLIDAY brand for salt water mix, and a 20 gallon black CORNERSTONE from kmart for makeup water. they have all been good for 3-5 years. the trick is to find one that is seamless molded, thicker soft plastic, and hold it up to the light and look for damage or thin spots first. but BRUTES are the best. they come in gray, green and blue now. and make sure its round. spreads the load evenly around.

 

[MadTownMax]

It was bare-bottom, but I added 20 lbs of sand just for the reason you stated above - plus the engineer gobies can carve-out their living quarters a bit more properly

I'm going to siphon out some sand and put it on egg-crate suspended 1" above the bottom of the sump, similar to a plenum, but just a shallow sandbed for critters, and a plenum area underneath with little/no flow (cryptic) but not totally sealed-off. I'll be using multiple layers of fiberglass screening for a baffle and under the sand.

 

[kaptken]

Ah! Still a work in progress. It takes a long time to fill out a 120 system. interesting concept on the crytic zone.

On one of my sumps, nearly dark, i get varieties of pea sized yellow and purple sponge on the walls, and those tiny red tube worms on everything. they seem to grow when there's enough crud in the water to feed them. I guess thats cryptic filtration.

 

[wds21921]

Sweet dude she's looking good so far . A larger tank is like a bigger harddrive, it' s just matter of time before it's filled. Now where is my cheese?

 

[MadTownMax]

Kaptn' - One of the things that I didn't lose in my "whole-tank fresh-water dip" was my sponges, I have a variety of large yellow ball, small green and blue (almost flourescent) and more or less "encrusting" pink sponge that is thriving on my live rock - I have no idea on how the cryptic zone in my sump is progressing as the trim on the tank blocks viewing under the egg crate - DOH! - but it can't hurt, so I'm happy with it anyway.

wds - Mucho Thanks man! You couldn't be more right - last week I picked up another piece of live rock with a huge piece of finger leather on it (I couldn't resist the deal - $100, and the piece of rock has to be at least 15#, but judging from how heavy it is compared to my largest rock, I'd guess a little over 20# ) - well that finger leather is already dominating the center of the tank - so I'm carefully evaluating my next rock movement to make sure it gets plenty of space before it starts touching my frogspawn :eek1:

Here is a little teaser picture until I can get some close-ups

 

[MadTownMax]

OK, here's a pic of how it looks tonight - I couldn't get the color balance quite right, but it's as good as this amateur can do

 

[Tbor]

Damn, that leather is huge! I like the channel effect down the center. Your fish swimming figure-8s around it? Thanks for the trash can tips, too. Will come in handy for sure. Looks like my next move will probably be a downgrade. (Downgrade living space = upgrade tank!!)