Mike's 300 Double-D

[apayan]

Happy B-day Mike!

 

[Scej12]

From one Crab to the next... Happy Birthday Mike! Mine was last Monday so that separates us by exactly 7 days. Though I live in Canada, I have an American birthday - go figure

 

[drummereef]

Happy B-Day Mike! Sump room is looking great with that new reactor to top it off. Enjoy your day and eat a piece of cake for me.

 

[Reef_Noob]

First Up...daaa da daaa da daaaaa daaa HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Thanks a lot for visiting my thread...and am honoured.

I read through your whole thread....felt so bad and sorry for the bad times you and family went through...but man...you have risen back like a phoenix!!!!

Great going buddy...your resilience is commendable...and now your rebuilding a great masterpiece with excellent planning and thought going into it and it will be one sweeeeet reef im so sure...

Wishing you all the very best bro...

 

[Luckedout]

I just read through this whole thread. What an amazing saga! Keep up the good work and Happy Birthday!

 

[prop-frags]

It has been a crazy, busy work-week and I am way overdue with my replies...

Happy B-Day Mike! Sump room is looking great with that new reactor to top it off. Enjoy your day and eat a piece of cake for me.

nice cake!
happy B-Day!

Awesome cake Terry. Happy birthday Mike, hope its a great one.

Happy B-day Mike!

From one Crab to the next... Happy Birthday Mike! Mine was last Monday so that separates us by exactly 7 days. Though I live in Canada, I have an American birthday - go figure

Thanks everyone for all of the Birthday Wishes! They were very much appreciated! I had a fantastic Birthday with a lot of friends and family, and the cake was AWESOME. Terry outdid herself on that one! :bdaysmile:

Very nice build new to rc
getting ready to do a 300 dd build lots of great ideas
love the aquascaping stands look great that was the same idea we have but doing concreat tops to match our kitchen
again thnk you for sharing you build with us and lots of great ideas

Thanks CRAZYFIZH and welcome to RC! Looking forward to seeing a build thread from you.

That is one massive reactor. It even makes those 5 gallon buckets look small.

:lol: Yes, it is a beast! We have needed the upgrade for a while. We got a deal over the 4th of July weekend from BRS that we just couldn't pass up. Now if that shelf bracket doesn't bend from the weight...

looks great!!

Thank you Justin! And thanks for checking out our thread!

First Up...daaa da daaa da daaaaa daaa HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Thanks a lot for visiting my thread...and am honoured.

I read through your whole thread....felt so bad and sorry for the bad times you and family went through...but man...you have risen back like a phoenix!!!!

Great going buddy...your resilience is commendable...and now your rebuilding a great masterpiece with excellent planning and thought going into it and it will be one sweeeeet reef im so sure...

Wishing you all the very best bro...

Thanks man! Now we're blushing, LOL! It is good that Terry and I share the same passion for this hobby as it has taken a lot of teamwork, persistence and patience to get to where we are today. Much inspiration comes from so many of the great tanks and reef keepers here and in our local club.

I just read through this whole thread. What an amazing saga! Keep up the good work and Happy Birthday!

Thank you Luckedout! We appreciate you taking the time to read and post on our thread!

:fish1:

 

[rick s]

Happy Birthday Mike!

 

[launchnukes]

happy belated birthday

 

[prop-frags]

Nice thread !

Glad you enjoy it - and thanks for stopping in!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Thank you, Rick!

happy belated birthday

Thanks, Nukes!

We re-arranged some corals, and finished up with a big water change so thought it would be good to post a couple of tank pics:

Our lil' coral nipper:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5941415700/" title="nt 1240 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6140/5941415700_b23033bc6f_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1240"></a>

The flamers:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5941415666/" title="nt 1239 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6017/5941415666_408306bde5_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1239"></a>

Left side:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5941415418/" title="nt 1236 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6007/5941415418_ae8317e648_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1236"></a>

Middle:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5940856713/" title="nt 1238 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6133/5940856713_18b7015e53_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1238"></a>

Right side:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5940856663/" title="nt 1237 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6123/5940856663_bd607979cc_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1237"></a>
FTS:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5941415348/" title="nt 1235 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6008/5941415348_f4bf05f0a0_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1235"></a>

 

[yoccm]

Tank is looking great and you are definitely rockin the sump room! Anxious to see how you like the reactor. And happy belated birthday!

 

[aquaph8]

Beautiful tank Mike and Terry. How has your experience been with the Regal?

 

[kinlayan]

We have similar taste in fish - outstanding aquarium well done!

 

[roni]

Happy belated birthday Mike! Tank looks great. Your wrasses always make me want to get some.

 

[crvz]

everything looks really good, Mike. keep at it!

 

[prop-frags]

Tank is looking great and you are definitely rockin the sump room! Anxious to see how you like the reactor. And happy belated birthday!

Thanks Chris. So far, we're very happy with the GEO CR818. We've been spending some time learning how to dial it in. It does exhibit this strange behavior of getting "gas locked" with too much CO2 buildup and then the pump starts cavitating. We backed off of the bubble count and keeping an eye on it.

Beautiful tank Mike and Terry. How has your experience been with the Regal?

Appreciate that, Brett. The Regal is an angel (heheh read into that what you like)... We very much love the fish, so incredibly beautiful, but we have to take some nipping. Some softies she will simply devour and cannot be kept in the DT, but as long as we act quickly on what she nips vs. eats with gusto, it's very manageable.

We have similar taste in fish - outstanding aquarium well done!

Thanks Kinlayan. We draw inspiration from your setup and your husbandry. I was thinking of getting some bracelets that have WWKD written on them to remind us of doing the right thing by our fish!!

Happy belated birthday Mike! Tank looks great. Your wrasses always make me want to get some.

Hah! The wrasses are one of the benefits of reaching this level of reef keeping in our view. Its a heck of a lot of work, but these beautiful animals are awesome to have in our home.

everything looks really good, Mike. keep at it!

Thanks Chris and right back at ya. Your setup is looking great. How are those new babies doing over there!! Jealous of your new wrasses and that lavender!!

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

How about a bit of an update?

Back in the day, I used to study Joe Weatherson's thread with great admiration. There just didn't seem to be anything that Joe couldn't DIY and he was so meticulous and gracious in his documentation, showing us all how to be innovative and do it right. One of the things I always have wanted to do was put together that water storage and salt mixing setup he built. As much time as we spend on top off, mixing, and water changes, it seems like a good investment to do it right like my hero Joe did. So this weekend, that was our project.

Of course, the first thing to do is draw up a plan:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5947689603/" title="nt 1245 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6121/5947689603_8d375a80a0_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1245"></a>

We have been using the 100g vertical storage tank for quite a while for salt mix storage, but we needed to get another one to hold R/O water. Each vat is about 28" diameter, and since our sump room is 5 feet across, two vats with a little room between them fits nicely on the outside of the left wall. First thing was to expand the concrete pad we have to elevate the tanks off the garage floor:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5947689007/" title="nt 1241 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6018/5947689007_cc5c108ece_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1241"></a>

And the two vats fit like a glove:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5947689137/" title="nt 1242 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6144/5947689137_71dfb92882_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1242"></a>

These vats come with a 1.25" threaded bulkhead. Kind of an odd size, and so it took some time at the box stores to figure out which parts would get the job done without some Frankenstein plumbing thing hanging off of them.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5948244860/" title="nt 1243 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6004/5948244860_d750201986_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1243"></a>

The idea is to be able to move water between the vats, recirculate in the salt mix vat, and pump water out to some other location with the turn of a few handles. We love Spa Flex and this seemed like a natural application for that - we wouldn't want minor movements or adjustments harming the plumbing, and being able to move things around a little to fine tune the fit always helps. Here's how the intake valves look:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5948245018/" title="nt 1244 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6143/5948245018_4510e491e9_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1244"></a>

And this is the outlet valves, positioned up on top of the vats, with a creative plywood platform to mount them on:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5947689765/" title="nt 1246 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6005/5947689765_f50566079a_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1246"></a>

Another critical design element was a waterproof switch for the pump. Terry hates messing with electricity, so I promised I would make this as safe and foolproof as possible. Here's the handy wet-hand-friendly pump switch:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5947689887/" title="nt 1247 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6017/5947689887_84d4314cd1_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1247"></a>

Now I won't confess to how long all this took to design, shop, and construct, but let's say that we're pretty happy with how it turned out!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5948245488/" title="nt 1248 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6011/5948245488_e3ce712bd2_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1248"></a>

 

[aquaph8]

I thought I was almost done but now you keep coming up with these projects that all sound like a great idea. Nicely executed as usual.

 

[drummereef]

Excellent job with the mixing station. How do you get the newly mixed saltwater to your sump for water changes? Is it plumbed directly into the system?

 

[dahenley]

Mike,
the pump you put on your mixing station, looks new, and looks like a Blueline/iwaki 70....
thats a lot of mixing for a saltwater station....

 

[prop-frags]

I thought I was almost done but now you keep coming up with these projects that all sound like a great idea. Nicely executed as usual.

Thanks Brett! And when are we ever done? There's always a new project, heheh. :lol:

Excellent job with the mixing station. How do you get the newly mixed saltwater to your sump for water changes? Is it plumbed directly into the system?

Good eye as always Brett! Yes, it is plumbed through the wall to the current sump. I neglected to post the last pic:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5948683527/" title="nt 1249 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6018/5948683527_aa47d29c0b_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1249"></a>

Of course it will be re-directed to the new 150g stock vat that will sit on the other side of the wall once the sump room re-design is completed.

Mike,
the pump you put on your mixing station, looks new, and looks like a Blueline/iwaki 70....
thats a lot of mixing for a saltwater station....

Good guess dahenley! Actually, it is a Panworld 150PS which is a bit smaller than the Blueline 70:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5948684959/" title="nt 1250 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6147/5948684959_731d22f279_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1250"></a>

 

[prop-frags]

Hi everyone, we wanted to post a quick update.

First regarding the calcium reactor install.
Remember that we chose to use an inline fuel filter to filter the water going into the reactor:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5920379370/" title="nt 1208 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6128/5920379370_eaaef0c6c3_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1208"></a>

It turns out the el-cheapo auto parts store paper filter clogged up within about 48 hours. This is what was causing the gas backing up in the reactor as the water inflow was essentially being blocked. After some extensive searching, we found a place that had these import filters that are non-paper, and much more suited. This new variety is working like a champ, and believe it or not, it was actually less expensive than the ones at the local auto parts store!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5959080511/" title="nt 1253 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6141/5959080511_32c1fdd97e_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1253"></a>

On another -more serious- note, you may remember the second lineatus wrasse we added to the tank back in the spring:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5796301488/" title="nt 1104 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3492/5796301488_4f05a42892_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1104"></a>

Well, he fell ill last weekend. It started swimming very erratically and we became very worried as we couldn't really definitively tell what the problem was. So on Saturday, we pulled him out of the tank, and put him into the hospital tank and began an antibiotic treatment on him. Here's some video of him yesterday:

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NOVrn6Kb1vg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The good news is he is starting to look better today (day 5 of treatment). Has anyone seen anything like this before?