My 125 Re-Build

[MVlk]

Thx for the kind words.

That is the 40+# piece of live rock to the right.

My camera is on the fritz as usual. I'll try to take a better shot tomorrow night with the full lights. I need a new camera, but a decent camera costs just a little less than an RKE.

Tank is doing a little cycle so far and the PH and Alk are pretty low. All the coralline algae is bleaching out. Stopped by Bill's today to pick up the temp controller (Thx Bill) and picked his brain a bit. I added some Reef builder this morning and will start dripping some Pickling Lime tonight per his advice. My overflows are surging a bit, but other than those things, the tank and setup is doing well. Most importantly, no leaks and the critters all seem to be doing well.

It really looks awesome down there. It is nice to surf the net like now and look over at it.

Here are some more of the pics from the marathon night.

The transfer tank and supplies. Having the spare was great for holding the old tank water, rock and fish in the Homer bucket. Kudos to Bill for rigging the tank siphons together for a easy water transfer down the stairs.


The fish room before adding everything back and final hookup.


I have a few more shots in my Photobucket album, but they are not too exciting. I will take some better ones soon with everything in place.

 

[NeveSSL]

Nice, man.

In the words of Joe Dirt, "Keep on, keepin' on!"

Brandon

 

[MVlk]

Joe Dirt Rocks :smokin:

Placed an order on the 2Docs last night for a Quiet One 9000. Will see how that does and maybe get a second one in a bit. They are having a sale on the pumps now so it was good timing.

My limewater drip was too slow and not much dripped in. I am letting it continue to drip during the day. However, my Alk tested back in the normal range on the Red Sea kit so it with the reef builder seems to be helping. Can not tell on the Ph as my kit must be bad for that. Shows the same color no matter what is going on. Gonna order a new test kit today.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Test your Alk (KH) daily and keep adjusting until It's at the Proper level, Then test less often say weekly! The drip will help keep all your parameters in line.

 

[MVlk]

Yep, am testing daily for now. I will go weekly once everything is stable for a week.

 

[MVlk]

Some updated Photos. Will get a nicer full tank once I add the privacy film on the back of the tank.

 

[MVlk]

I installed the privacy film on the back of the tank.

 

[sandalscout]

Awesome, looks really good! Amazing how a bit of cover can make it look so much cleaner, huh?

 

[MVlk]

True enough. Once I get the trim around the opening, it will be easy to ignore the remaining items I need to do.

Moonlights are on now and I can barely see any light from the sump through the film. That stuff works great. It does it while still allowing me too see plenty from back to front. I can be sneaky on my fish and kiddies while messing around back there.

 

[josh_tn]

Awesome looking tank man. Congrats!

 

[poolkeeper1]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1623809
This Is a steal on that pump, looks to be a dart gold pump that sells for way over 300.00 FYI

 

[MVlk]

Thx Bill. I sent a PM on it. Will find out some specifics and call you to verify this makes sense.

 

[luckyfish]

Man, Barrett's a friend of mine and I was just in Memphis at his house! I had that pump in my hands. Wish I had known I could have picked it up for you. It is in good shape. I think one of the seals will need replacing soon.

 

[NeveSSL]

That is a GREAT deal on that pump! Those pumps push some serious water and are fairly energy efficient.

Hope you get it!

Brandon

 

[mixer911]

Michael, don't let the seals scare you, they are easy to replace and it happens on pretty much all of them....... I have replaced a few inthe past... Great price on it. I see he just listed it in the main FS forum

 

[MVlk]

I am passing on it for now. I have enough to do on the tank for now. I am sure I will kick myself for it in a year.

Currently I just need to get my parameters settled in and then get some actual corals in the tank. My Alk is hovering in the just OK range and I can not figure out what my pH is. Darn test kits keep showing the same blue color that does not match anything on the scale . I tried another Red Sea kit which was the only think I can find locally. Will need to order a better kit online I guess.

 

[MVlk]

Well, what a day Wednesday was…

Woke up and checked the tank at 6AM. The skimmer had gone nuts over night and was overflowing. :mad2: I had made the dumb decision the previous night to hookup the drain into a 5 gallon bucket. That apparently got filled during the night and was overflowing onto the floor. Does not seem like any damage and maybe only a gallon was spilled, but not a good start to the day. Tank-wise, I also still cannot get the drip rate right for the limewater and barely any made it in overnight. Just frustrating.

At lunch, I had an appointment to go to the car dealer for my car and just checkout their current offers. No plans to do anything but figured what the heck since they called me. 10 1/2 hours later, I finally made it home in my new car and my wife will pick up her brand new car Friday. Overall a good thing, but that much time involved in negotiations and stressing over two big purchases in these economic times was not really fun. Financially I think I made a good decision, but who knows for sure. At least I have the Assurance program if I get let go from my job.

Lastly, the new Quiet One 9000 arrived as well. Given how late I got home, I was only able to open the box so far. Well, the thing is a beast. 2-3 times the size of the 3000’s I currently have. Only problem thought, the box contained a pump and nothing else. No adapters to hookup to it or even a set of instructions. Not that I need instructions, but I’d have thought it would come with something? Going to put off thinking about it for a while. Maybe this weekend I’ll think about how I would want to hook it up to my tank. Run both returns off of it? Put one on the new pump with some sort of manifold for other uses as need? Eventually get a second one? Any foreseeable issues having one return with a higher flow? I’d think it would not really be an issue?

 

[andywe]

Best use a gate or ball valve, and no reason not to have it run both returns.

 

[NeveSSL]

Congrats on the new cars! All I know is that our cars aren't new, but they're paid for! :lol:

Anyway, sounds like quite a day. I feel ya on the skimmer thing, man. I had my CSS65 overflow like that on me when I had it meshmodded... it drove me NUTS because I would lose a ton of water out of my tank and my ATO would kick on and it would just be a mess. I will be putting some safety features on my new skimmer once I get the SW5 for my RKE. Maybe soon you'll be able to do the same.

That's really weird that they didn't include anything with your new QO. Does it have anything on it by default? Maybe 1" NPT or something?

As far as a manifold goes, if I were you, I would just tee something off of the main output before it splits that you can use for various sundry items, that way you would have access to somewhat more pressure and you would effect both returns evenly, which may or may not be a big deal, truth-be-told, but hey... why not try?

Brandon

 

[MVlk]

Anyone have any pictures of good manifold designs for my return?

What do you all think, run it internal or external? Heat is not a problem for me since the room stays pretty cool, even in the summer my heaters will still kick on.