My Dream Tank 2.0

[Jpellica]

After much harassment I mean convincing by mean green eyes, I have decided to start documenting my new dream tank 2.0
Right off I want to Thank a few great reefers for giving up time to help me anytime I ask and without them would not have ever gotten to this point.
In no particular order
Richie Karagozler
BBash
JonnyJ
PicoD
Alex
Nottick
Nuch
MarkLUgo

So here goes I had my Dream Tank a Oceanic 120 Tech tank and Stand and had started it up got it running after I got tired of the standard 125 Fowler tank I had been running for about a year. I was looking for some live rock because I wanted some more hiding spots for my aggressive fish. I ran across a website call Manhattan Reef and decided to you one of my very first listings was on the WTB site for live rock. A guy by the name of Richie responded putting me in touch with 2 people selling live rock on SI. One of those 2 people was Dennis Nuch who I bought all the rock he had on a tank he was breaking down. After seeing his tank I started to get the bug for reef tanks again, when I got home I started searching for a tank I had wanted before I got out of the hobby An oceanic tech tank 120. After finally going to Riches house and seeing his tank I was off and running again with this fixation that I needed a full blown reef again within 2 weeks I found one and it was off I went.

http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/OST120.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/OST1202.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/OST1202.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/OSTbottom120.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/120Pic3.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/120Pic4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/ai2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=31

Had this tank setup for 14 months and then Alex listed he was getting out of the hobby no wait he wasn’t then again he was or maybe not.LOL went to his house to pickup a Hippo Tang and he took me down to see what he had left from his break down.
There it was a 200 gallon DD in all its glory, I was pretty impressed with the depth but thought who wants to tackle a upgrade project? Not me when I got home I could get my mind off that tank. I fought my impulses for a few weeks hoping Alex would sell that tank and it would no longer be on my mind. But when I saw Alex give it a bump a couple of weeks latter and heard maybe he actually was going to stay in the hobby I had to reach out again see if we can work a deal of some sort.
It must have been meant to be, a week or so later a big part of the SI reef crew and I assembled at Alex’s house for the trade and after a lot of sweat, man power and joke cracking the tank was sitting in my garage (Thanks again guys and gals). :}
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121104_132534.jpg.html?sort=3&o=26
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121104_132540.jpg.html?sort=3&o=25
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http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/tankcleanup.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
So after many Costco sized bottles of Vinegar, 1 bottle of bleach a box of Magic KJleen which is that power head cleaning solution that I used on the plumbing and the panels for the overflows, Heavy elbow grease and a roll of limo window tint. Here is the finished product. Yhea!!!
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121119_164820.jpg.html?sort=3&o=12


Next Step Building the Stand.

So we wanted to make the stand as strong as possible so we started out with 2X4’s and 2X6’s. This would have been a brick ish house but we realized that this would not leave a lot of internal head height inside the tank. Went to Bob’s (Bbash) house to steal some ideas since he had the bigger brother a DD 250 which is 5X3X27 and saw he had a crazy amount of head space in his stand. The difference was that it was built all out of 2X3’s and the way it was built was the way the build homes in PA (modular wall by wall construction and then screwed together.
After seeing his tank and stand I had to have this exact setup and to top it all off Bob (Bbash) offered his services. Fellow reefers this in the world of the Corleone’s is called an offer you can’t refuse. LOL
Here is some pictures of the Stand Build version 1.1
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121116_220941.jpg.html?sort=3&o=14
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121116_220952.jpg.html?sort=3&o=13


So decided on the sump layout after building the stand, yes I know cart before the horse. Decided to go with 2 40 gallon breeders each measuring 36X18X16 so it turns out stand is snug for what I want to get done.
Wanted a 40 gallon fuge all on its own and a 40 gallon sump.
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121116_212557.jpg.html?sort=3&o=18

http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121116_212544.jpg.html?sort=3&o=19
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121116_212618.jpg.html?sort=3&o=16

http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121116_212618.jpg.html?sort=3&o=16

So as you can see we had some issues with the stand and fuge\sump config. At this point we had to rethink the setup, we tried many different preparations. Preparation A-G were a total failure but Preparation H felt pretty good on the whole. What What? No worries though Bob is always ready to help rip stuff apart and redo things so off we went. In the meantime dropped 40 breeders of to Richie’s house to get tank drilled for fuge and baffled for sump. After some proper planning and replanning we came up with a new stand configuration that worked perfectly. See for yourself
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121202_152552.jpg.html?sort=3&o=11


http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121202_152702.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8
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http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121116_212544.jpg.html?sort=3&o=19
So now I was at a standstill I needed the 120 tech tank out of the way but since I was keeping all the live rock in the tank and the livestock. I was in a bind; Bob (bash) had a 110 extra high sitting in his garage with a sump, pump, and lights which he offered to lend me to make a temp setup to keep my stuff alive. So this sounded like my best option. Went to Bob’s house to pick up the setup and with the help of Jonny J. (strictly supervising) we were able to get everything moved to the temp tank. All new live stock in temp tank and looking good, this gave me all the time in the world to move forward to do things the right way.
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121128_214341.jpg.html?sort=3&o=72
http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121128_214318.jpg.html?sort=3&o=73
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http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121128_214256.jpg.html?sort=3&o=76
Once we had the space cleared we were able to move tank in place. So in the picture below weset the tank and filled the tank and let it sit for 5 days to assure there was no shifting, rocking or racking. Assuming the tanks would not collapse and assure the demise of my marriage. :}

http://s1341.beta.photobucket.com/user/jpellica/media/20121202_152732.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

 

[Jpellica]

Dream Tank 2.0 Part 2
This would probably be a good time to talk about the very important and controversial topic of lighting. I know many people have many different opinions on what is the best lighting. LED’s vs T5 or old school guys love their MH’s. For me I have had most of the different options available, some cheap some super expensive and always found myself saying something is missing. So I decided to go with 20 incandescent 3 Watt bulbs and a commercial HVAC system to keep them cool. See pics below.

JUST KIDDING
I took cost, spectrum and coverage and resell value(in case I hate the look or don’t get the growth I want) all into consideration, and I’m sure I will hear everyone’s opinion on why I should or should not have went with my decision, but without further a dew. I decided to go with 2 AI Vegas with wireless controller and 1 ATI 36” 4bulb unit behind it. Now check out the pictures for real.

So above are the AI Vega’s and controller I need the firmware upgrade right out of the box and so far I gotta say I pretty impressed. The only thing I don’t like so far is that to use the new hanging bar it will cost $50 bucks the down side is that even though I had a AI hanging kit I they suggested I get the new hanging kit for another 40 bucks because the old one doesn’t fit correctly any longer. Quick conversation with Richie and a visual look and we were able to mod the old hanging kit to work with a couple of screws from HD. Just in case anyone is interested is a 10MM X 32 X ¾ inch.
Also got the 36” ATI delivered and un packed Check it out

OK so now I see what this fixture costs so much the aluminum housing is definitely German stainless steel and not the cheap Chinese crap, Fixture is very well built. What I don’t like about the unit is that the fan is on a different adapter which takes yet another outlet, but that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that you need a timer on the fan as well because the fan is not smart enough to shutdown when the lights go off. Bulbs I will use will be what IT shipped with 2 actinic blue and 2 Purple plus. I may eventually swap one or 2 out for coral plus and a 6500K we will see.
Anyway got the lights configured and set up above the tank, as usual with a little help from my friends, OK maybe a lot of help from my friends.LOL

OK next step I think I will document the whole rock process and scape. Stay tuned coming soon.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Whoooo hooooooo nice going Joe!! Looks GREAT! LOL..... I had to look at all the pics in photobucket though!! 68??? Any resto to it.. she's sitting pretty!! I'm sure you were nervous as heck hoping not to hear the crackling of wood in the middle of the night!!! Every sound I betyou ran to check on it... TTY soon bruh, CONGRATS!

 

[Awibrandy]

Loving your progression build thread!! Congrats!!!!! Can't wait to see what you do with the rock scape!

 

[Jpellica]

Whoooo hooooooo nice going Joe!! Looks GREAT! LOL..... I had to look at all the pics in photobucket though!! 68??? Any resto to it.. she's sitting pretty!! I'm sure you were nervous as heck hoping not to hear the crackling of wood in the middle of the night!!! Every sound I betyou ran to check on it... TTY soon bruh, CONGRATS!

Thanks Noel. Ya building out of 2x3 was scary but it strong as he'll so not so worried any more. Never build with anything ever again.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jpellica]

Loving your progression build thread!! Congrats!!!!! Can't wait to see what you do with the rock scape!

Thanks actually am a lot further just need to update my thread will be done really soon

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jpellica]

So when we were at the reef swap I saw they were raffling off 50lbs of Marco rock that I had to have. Bought some tickets and put it all in that bucket. Didn’t win missed by a few numbers, but wait turns out that my good buddy won and turned around and said here you go take the ticket and go get your rock. You know who you are, thanks and thanks again it was huge as you will see soon.

Also while at the swap they had a seminar or aqua scaping and coral arrangements. It was an excellent seminar which gave me the great idea to build columns using PVC, so off I went.

Got the rock home and put it all in a bucket with RO water brought the PH up to 8.0. I did this because from what I read the materials they use have a lot of calcium based material which will start to dissolve if soaked in Fresh RO water which would be 6.8 – 7.2 or so. I added a couple of power heads and a heater. Let it run for a couple of days at which point I checked the phosphate levels. Lokkie Lookie .

As suspected from reading millions of threads on people buying man made rocks and having huge issues with hair algae and other undesirable stuff. I hit the boards and found what I thought was the quickest, easiest and best for solution for ME. Maybe not for you but for ME. Also bought a bunch of extra and thinking about dosing it as well. I used Lanthanum Chloride.

Within a few days Phosphates were undetectable and I went back to flush with fresh RO with PH adjusted to 8.0 for 3 more days.
Now it was time to build the column structure and get to drilling. If I had to do 1 thing over I don’t think I would have let the Marco Rock dry out or if I did I should have re-soaked them for a few hours. I just ran the house over the rock while drilling. I think the Marco Rock is too brittle to do this way. I cracked a few key pieces while doing it this way. But nothing I couldn’t fix.

 

[Jpellica]

 

[Jpellica]

Mission accomplished. Time to get the rock in the tank, so the last tank I had I did my landscape every month or so I would rip it back apart and redo it, so this time it was time to enlist the help of someone who has a keen eye and actually willing to lend a hand. JonnyJ to the rescue he was more than willing to jump right in and get his hands dirty and wet. I also got Richie K. and Mark Lugo involved to give different prospective.

 

[Jpellica]

This scape has changed at least another 5 times since taking these pictures just a couple of days ago. My phone went dead so I missed a few pictures hoping JohnnyJ or Richie K. have some.

 

[Jpellica]

This scape has changed at least another 5 times since taking these pictures just a couple of days ago. My phone went dead so I missed a few pictures hoping JohnnyJ or Richie K. have some.

 

[SGD]

Never tried drilling the rock. Seems pretty soft or should I say fragile. I'm guessing that a hammer drill is not needed or at least counter productive.

 

[Jonny Roks]

Here's two updated photos from today after we finished the scape. Tanks stunning in person.

 

[Jpellica]

quick update tank is skinned and besides for some minor touch ups completed. will take some pics with the doors open once I get a chance as well

 

[Jpellica]

http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o752/jpellica/20121230_202457_zpsd9a5417e.jpg

http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o752/jpellica/20121230_202707_LLS_zpsf7759c94.jpg

 

[Jpellica]

 

[reefsandrotts]

following love the 200dd

 

[Awibrandy]

Looking real good J! Love the rock scape!!!

 

[Cuddlefish69]

Looks good. Keep it up.

 

[Jpellica]

Thanks guys I need to take some updated photos