oldbones 56g custom reef attempt!

[oldbones]

Wow, yesterday was a busy day!

After my cabinet maker pal dropped off the stand, I started right in on the plumbing. That took a better part of the day, but luckily, only one more trip to Lowes for parts! By late afternoon, the plumbing was finished minus my return pump, which is still in the mail. So, I dropped my salt mixing pump in the sump and started pouring in water. Lots of water. By hand.

The good news, no leaks! Bad news? Sore back.

I'm not sure yet on the herbie drain, but so far, I can't seem to manage a "silent trickle" in the emergency line. It's either dry, or loud. I'm not going to worry about it that much until I get my (much bigger) return pump installed, then I can fiddle with it some more.

Enough of that, here's more pics!

 

[Jason S]

Nice looking build! I will be watching this one for sure, and I love the aquascape you did on the cardboard. Are you able to get the skimmer cup off with that shelf there?

 

[oldbones]

Yes, and after taking off the cup, I can get the whole skimmer out as well. I actually spent a good half hour in the shop one day figuring out how much clearance I would need to do that, and had the shelf installed at that height.

I'm at the point now where I need some help. I need to move my 29g across the living room to a different spot, then move the new tank/stand into place. Then I can start 'moving in'! Off to buy some beer!!!

 

[oldbones]

Well, it would seem we've run into a little snag... Worst part, it was my own doing (of course)!

If you look at the pics of the stand, and the plumbing underneath, you can just see a rectangular hole cut in the top of the stand for the piping to go through. I provided my carpenter with the bulkheads so he would know how big to cut the hole. No problem, fit just fine.

Then, some blockhead set the tank on the stand and glued some PVC unions to said bulkheads so the piping can be removed for service or moving.

Yeah, the two 1" unions? Too big to fit back through that hole in the stand top, so now I can't take the tank off the stand to move it.

I've come up with a few methods of fixing it, but I think the winner is lifting the tank just a touch, putting it up on blocks (on the edges) to create a gap between the tank bottom and stand top, then cutting the hole a bit bigger. My other buddy Lance has just the tool for the job, and it supposed to help me with that sometime this morning. Then we should be ready to move both tanks and I can begin making a mess in the house while I start cleaning the mess in the shop.

Oops!

 

[oldbones]

Friday 6/5/15...

Jebao DC 3000 Return pump arrived. Decided it would be great to break it in by using it to mix some salt water in my largest brute can. Probably could have done without the part where I dropped the control box into the water... Got it out right away, opened the box up and there was a little water inside. Immediately used compressed air (and lots of it) to blow all the water out of the thing. Good news? It still works. Bad news? Who knows for how long.

The pump isn't dead quiet, but it does seem to be getting quieter the longer it runs.

 

[oldbones]

Saturday, 6/6/15 The BIG day!!!

Got a huge amount of stuff done on Saturday, it was exhausting! Started with a trip to the hardware store for some 1" Aluminum angle iron, and some satin black paint, I already had a 1x2 painted to match the cabinet. Built a quick, but nice looking, mounting rail for my lights that comes up off the back of the cabinet and hides nicely behind the top of the tank.

Next I installed a 120mm "Coolerguys" exhaust fan in the back of the cabinet. I already wish it were quieter. It might be the most audible piece in the system.

Around 10am, my Viking brother Lance showed up to help with the heavy lifting. He also brought the Fein saw to fix my goof, but since he's smarter than me, he decided to measure before he cut. Guess what? The unions actually DID fit through the hole in the top of the cabinet, so we didn't have to cut anything! Nice. So, we lifted the tank off the stand and I cut an undertank pad out of some marine vinyl I had laying around (think boat upholstery).

Next order of business was to move the existing 29g biocube across the living room to it's new, temporary (maybe?) spot. Managed to do this without causing an avalanche, so I was happy.

Then, we carried the stand from the shop up to the house. You can see from the later pic of us carrying the tank what that walk looks like. Bear in mind, the tank, the rock and all the water are out there, and need to come in here...

Next, it was time to move the tank. Here it comes! (Note, no crane required.)

Once tank was in place, the stand only needed minimal leveling, it was just a tad low in the front.

Big thanks to Lance for the muscle, and he's off to the next project. That leave me and my lovely wife to finish it out.

 

[oldbones]

Ok, so after the tank was in place and leveled, I carried in the sump and all the plumbing. Hooked all that up and then it was time for rock.

I covered the entire working area in plastic drop cloth. Transferred all the rock into 3 full size coolers, and carried them into the house. Hauled up a bunch of the water the rocks had been in and poured it into the coolers to keep everything wet. Hauled up a couple buckets of new salt water to pour over the scape as it got built as well.

Now, I was hoping this next part would go much easier than it did, but I was disappointed. When the rocks first arrived, I mocked up a scape on cardboard in no time flat, and it was quite easy. So, I decided against building a hard scape with epoxy and cement, and just planned to build it in tank with the now "live" rock on move in day. Looking back, I feel that was a mistake.

Building the aquascape was a big pain in the back. I must have lugged each rock into and out of the tank about 20 times. I had to remove them all and completely start over about 3 times. In the end, I am not 100% happy with what came out, but it's as good as it's going to get for now. The good news is that the rock is all sitting on the hard bottom, so it shouldn't shift around on me.

Just after adding the sand:

Definitely time for a cold one. This is a panorama of my little living room. The 29g looks very good in it's new spot, and it just may end up staying there.

It will be a week or two before the first fish goes in, but no time like the present to get a jump start on the pod population. I spent a few bucks at Algae Barn and they sent 3,000 live pods and some phyto to keep them fed. I put the pods in right before bed on day 1.

 

[oldbones]

And, here's what the tank looks like this morning, currently lit by one AI Prime running about 35%.

Sump:

Tested params this morning, it's looking good at 0 ammonia, 0.05 nitrite, 2 nitrate, 1.026 salinity and 0 phosphates.

Now, I'm eyeing my 29g tank, trying to decide what I want to steal out of there to give the new tank a touch of color! Our Blue Spot Jawfish is two weeks into QT, so not quite ready to move in. I do have a Sapphire Damsel (Chrysiptera Springeri) that I'd like to move over from the 29, but I'm afraid I won't be able to catch her without tearing the rocks apart.

 

[oldbones]

oldbones 56g, it's ALIVE!!!

oldbones 56g, it's ALIVE!!!

Oh boy, now what??? The tank is beautiful, it really looks great in our living room. I don't expect to see a cycle since the rock had been cycling for three weeks already, and bioload (especially fish) should increase very slowly because I'm QT'ing in a 10 gal which limits me to one or two small fish max at a time.

So far, I've added a bag of mixed pods from Algae Barn, a bottle of Tisbe pods from the LFS, two Turbos and 6 Nassarius Snails. From my 29g, I moved over a small hammer, a Gobstopper Zoa frag that was barely hanging on after getting light shocked, and about an inch frag of Green Hydnophora. I've been feeding a bit of Phyto blend (also from Algae Barn), and have dropped a couple pellets and Mysis on the bottom to keep the snails happy.

I have tried to catch my Sapphire Damsel from the 29, but I guess that's not going to happen until I get the gumption to pull out at least half the rock work. Been nervous to do that, but I'm getting closer.

It's taking quite a bit of restraint to keep me out of the Seattle area stores with the best coral selections, I'll tell you that!

Been thinking still on the fish list. First in will be:

Chrysiptera Springerii (Sapphire Damsel)
Blue Spot Jawfish

Not sure if my clown pair will make it into the new tank. They are established and aggressive, may not fit well with the rest of my wish list.

Speaking of, here are some other fish I am interested in, in no particular order:

Royal Gramma
Fairy Wrasse, not sure which one yet
Green Mandarin
Purple or Helfrichi Firefish
Maybe another bottom dweller, or perching type (goby or hawk)


Any suggestions on that list? Any interesting suggestions not on that list? Needs to be less aggressive and reef safe.

 

[oldbones]

Added a Tunze 3152 ATO, and found this perfectly sized reservoir at Petco (pet food container, listed BPA free) which holds about 8 gallons.

 

[Devaji108]

Nice build there oldbones. tank is really 1st class!
so are you gonna use 2 AI primes or was that just a temp. thing? ( maybe I missed it)

 

[oldbones]

Yes, I have two AI Primes. The other one is still over my 29g until I clear it out, or cave in and buy a third so I can keep the 29 up and running!

 

[Apartmenttank]

out of curiosity how much was that tank? its the kinda set up im looking for but the price i have seen has been outrageous, good looking tank it was really cool watching you built it from the start on here!

 

[oldbones]

The tank and stand together came to just over $1,000. Not bad at all, in my opinion, when you consider that both were built to my spec, to include placement of all holes, shelves, etc. The tank is all 1/2 glass, and the front panel is starphire. Two one inch drains and one 3/4 return. We redesigned the tank three times before cutting the first piece of glass.

Sure, there are off the shelf systems that would have saved me a few bucks, but each of them would have been some type of compromise.

The Cadlights Versa 68g was probably the closest "factory" tank to the dimensions I wanted, but was actually just a tad too big for the spot I had picked out.

 

[Apartmenttank]

Out of my price range :/ it's so hard finding a good tank without breaking the bank...

 

[oldbones]

40b may be a good choice for you!

 

[oldbones]

Well, the tank has been alive for two weeks now. Some things are doing well, but have been chasing a mystery "issue" that's still not completely resolved.

First frags I moved in were zoas, and they started out looking happy and have been great ever since. Next, I moved over a small hammer and a Sympodium frag, they looked good at the start. I then added a 1" Hydnophora, 1.5" Monti Setosa and left for the weekend. Also during that time added 2 Turbos and 6 Tonga Nassarius snails. After the weekend, everything looked ok, but poor PE on the two LPS pieces and the snails were acting lazy. I chalked up the poor PE to adjusting to slightly different parameters (much cleaner actually) and the snails behavior to not enough to eat. Fed the snails some algae (sheet) and added my Blue Spot Jawfish and a good size open brain coral.

Parameters have been spot on since day one, no ammonia or nitrites, nitrates 1-2, phosphate just barely registering.

After about two days, the LPS looked worse, and the Hydnophora died. The snails were worse as well. The open brain started sliming badly. So, I pulled the LPS back to the smaller tank, started running carbon and took some water to the LFS. We couldn't find anything wrong, but suspect some sort of contaminant was introduced by mistake. I'm still running the carbon and doing water changes. The Jawfish is doing excellent, some hermits I added are cruising all over, and the Zoas still look great. I also dropped in a mushroom and birdsnest frags as canaries, and they both look good. Gonna continue with this routine for a bit before reintroducing any LPS.

Anyway, in the meantime I picked up a macro lens, and was playing with it this morning. I've got a lot to learn before I can start posting images half as good as some here seem to capture, but it's fun none the less. So, this morning, while trying to capture something like this, only better...

I ended up with the following. It's too bad I wasn't ready, or it would have been much better, but I was actually in between shots thinking about some settings changes when this happened and just stabbed the remote release. There was some glare on the glass that I had been blocking with a pillow that threw off this exposure, the colors are actually SPOT on in the first image above.

I give you, the best photobomb EVER!!!
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[oldbones]

Well, today is day 21 with the tank up and running. Jawfish and Zoas/Palys are doing great. One small birdsnest frag and a nice stick of green Montipora Digitata seem to be doing ok as well. One interesting thing is no real hint of aglae yet, unless you count the rocks slowly turning from white to tan. Sandbed (Mini Reef Flakes from Tropic Marine) is still pristine white with a touch of pink. I'm actually really liking this sand, I would highly recommend it or the standard reef flakes to anyone.

The QT is housing an ORA Yellow Assessor and a Starry Blenny for a couple more weeks, I think they'll be fun additions to the tank. Next fish on the list may be a Royal Gramma and/or McCoskers Flasher Wrasse.

I did have a weird bacteria buildup on the flexible hoses in my sump. I wiped it off by hand, and it clouded the tank something fierce with slimy white flakes for a few hours. Pretty nasty, but it didn't seem to bother any livestock and hasn't come back yet.

Today I'll be adding a second AI Prime for better spread and a second RW-4. I can get plenty of flow with just one, but using two along with the JBWave controller, I'll be able to get much more chaotic flow. I can't wait to see some long milli polyps blowing this way and that!

I will add that I am so far SUPER happy with the Jebao DC3000 return pump. After just a couple days of runtime, it is now almost completely silent, and I certainly can't hear it from across the room. I love the soft start feature, the easily adjustable flow rate, and the feed button is certainly very nice for those of us not running an Apex. I would definitely buy this pump again.

 

[ZeeSparrow]

Hey, hope you don't mind a bit of side conversation, but how are you feeding your blenny in QT? I have a Sailfin/Algae (lawnmower) in mine and am not sure if he's eaten yet. I bought the red algae when I got him and tried that on a clip, rubber-banded organic spinach to a fake decoration and dropped in an algae tablet. I have not seen him eat, or even near the food, though I've only had him a few days. I'm not sure I want to start TTM until I'm sure he's eating...

 

[oldbones]

Not at all.

I am feeding the QT Omega frozen Emerald Entrée, an omnivore blend. He's eating like a champ, and not just the green stuff! Tried some algae wafers, and haven't seen him actually swallow any of that yet.