Olival
New member
Hi Guys,
I've been off topic for a while in my other thread about live rocks, where I started to post a lot of updates on my build, so...new year's resolution was to make an official post of my build.
A quick intro about myself... I'm originally from Brazil but due to work I lived not only in Brazil but also Germany, Switzerland and now,since July 2011, Saint Louis (Valley Park), which I plan to stay for a while as I can't stand even the idea of moving again not to mention that people here a really friendly
.
It turns out that the same Job that made move so much, is now allowing me to do lots of home office, therefore I had to have a proper work space to stand the long hours of conference calls...and together with my passion for Aquariums (freshwater ones) when I was teenager... I thought that now was a good time to fulfill the dream of having a Saltwater Aquarium. After some discussion with the wife, we agreed on a spot that would be perfect for my office, Desk and Aquarium...unfortunately was the ugliest room in the house, which forced my to a battle against old wallpaper that I never thought I would face.
Back in Oct 2012, I decided to do the plunge and started to search for a Tank in Craigslist, I knew, since I build myself a few tanks on my youth, that this is kind of hard to miss if you get a second hand one. At that point I was not sure about what size but I wanted something to fill the 4 feet area designated for the aquarium. I also thought, and I don't think I was wrong, that the Tank would dictate the rest of my equipment requirements (sump, lights, pump, plumbing etc...) so I made the tank purchase the first move.
I finally found this 120g (4x2x2) in a decent price being sold by Gateway Aquatics, that gave me an extra peace of mind being a store. Chad was very friendly and helpful and when I went there, I got the last step on being addicted to the hobby. I don't know exactly why, but from all stores that I visited, that's my favorite so far. Below a pic with my little fish on it!
We wanted a clear looking room so the furniture was supposed to be white...which made me paint the stand. Which I would very much prefer to have custom made a new one not only due to the effort but everything in that standard size stand is cramped lesson learned. But looking into the bright side, that painting period gave time to familiarize on what I would require to equip the new tank...and allowed me to think,now obvious, things like...sump goes prior to the tank otherwise I can't really put a nice sized sump in there. Or what's the Skimmer optimal water level in order to build you sump etc... I finally made my mind and started to chase a 40g breeder back on Craigslist. I nice guy,that turns out to be Sistom, was selling one at a good price. Got it and as I bonus he told me about this forum. (great link hu?!)
Got baffles, a Mag 9.5 and some tubes for plumbing and worked on the sump. Final result of repainted Stand is this:
and the sump in WIP stage:
All that set...time to put all together right ? wrong...this is when I started to work on the Aquarium room, battled against wallpaper and did some minor tweaks like running a tube for RO/DI water from the garage, below the house to the room and a network cable for the controller.
Next steps, get the rocks...I decided go dry to get the full experience, including curing rocks. and this is where my thread about Dry Rocks started. After some precious feedback of the illustrious members on this forum, I placed my order for Rocks and RO/DI Filter, profiting from the Black Friday week. And boy they arrived fast..BRS is really good. I ended up installing the filter in the laundry room (Easiest place), drilled a hole to the garage and placed a 44Gal brute to, initially, cure rocks and later on serve as mix station. The Filter output goes to the Container and to the Aquarium Room. Both have float switches as the Filter comes with a gadget to use this way...although I have it for now directly in my sump as ATO, I still want a flood proof solution as final, that needs to be developed.
Here is a pic of my early Christmas:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zfcprsUrjwY/ULPEBxL-0TI/AAAAAAAADIg/3EUewF8KWbU/s667/20121126+001.JPG
and this is where I hung my filter...used a piece of 2x4 to get the right grip on the studs.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2xgQNzQfefc/ULPEGO6K8-I/AAAAAAAADJM/D8WrZctvHsw/s667/20121126+007.JPG
Unfortunately this was just prior to Thanksgiving that we went to Chicago to meet with wife's family..obviously I was dying to look at the stuff I got...but well we are grown ups right ???:crazy1:
In there as an official Reef addict I went with my daughter to the Public Aquarium...Pure awesomeness...here is pic of the tank on the frag area...great reference as I still don't know what is what is the corals there.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bw-G5H-ESxk/ULPEH677kQI/AAAAAAAADJY/GQbZgQoVKdA/s667/20121126+018.JPG
We got back and I got the minivan full of IKEA stuff for the room...spend the whole Sunday assembling them to finally be able to focus on the Aquarium.
During the week, installed plumbing and gave a shot on the aquascaping...
Pic of the plumbing below:
really early stage...
Well rocks are curing, tanks is in place with plumbing..time for a leak test...I left the Filter running for over 48 hrs...really scared of flooding but all went well, and since the aquarium was cleaned with Vinegar solution and I used RO/DI water, I left the water in there running.
Interesting enough that was another chapter of my Tank story so far...about 2 weeks before my planned date to start cycling, my water went all cloudy due to , as I discovered later, a bacteria bloom...I had a thread for that too here
By putting the tank to run, I discovered that due to a unleveled floor, only one overflow was working, the other was to high. I got that covered by getting a level, measuring the difference and getting 3 different size wood rods at HD (about 1/4 and smallers). But for that the Tank had to be empty.
Knowing I would cycle the tank end of Dec, I got myself two Clownfishes and putted in the QT (that was again bought from Sistom) with an Aqueon50 HOB.
Sometime in Dec I also got the Heaters, APEX JR controller, 2 Korralia powerheads with the smartwave controller and a full test kit for all sort of things. I forgot to mention that I got a Refractometer from BRS back on the Black Friday time.
well, Rocks where close to final curing stage...PO4 level where dropping day by day...and holidays where coming and I would have my brothers in law to give me a hand on the heavy duty! Now it's time to figure which light solution I would use...T5s, MHs or LEDs...I really wanted to have LEDs but the Mainstream brands are really expensive...MH are expensive and bulky...so my take was to go with T5s...until I stumbled on one of the threads about Chinese LEDs and people saying that they were happy with it etc...I droped a message to one of the guys in the forum that had a success case and decided to give a try with Twilight group and the classic 55x 3xLEDs 120W fixture...was a great experience. They had great service through the lady that was working with me. I had several interactions with her to make sure my request was exactly what I want. The prices where great, even cheaper than T5s so I pulled the trigger 1 week before christmas and got them on the 27th. They looked great, with 3 different channels for the timmers (whites, Blues that are dimmable and Moonlight that are on/off only) I got them in white case to match the rest of the room and they really look great as you will see on my build pic below. Here is the LEDs lay out, which was another benefit of the way I ordered...I could do whatever way I liked, but I asked the common one....
Once they arrived I got them installed, which made me realize that I would have to push slightly to the right to be aligned with the shelf and lights. (other task for when the tank is empty).
For Sump light I got an old desk lamp with big refractor cone that I used for painting miniatures (yeah my other and older addiction).
Last ordering step was to get dry sand from Marcorocks...I think as someone said, I should have gone with live as rinsing sand in the mild Dec. St. Louis weather was not fun...did most of it indoors at the end which really got my wife in a horrible mood (I'm sure that having 8 guests in our home for holidays was the main reason)
All set, stars are right...time to get to the last sprint...went to HD to get a couple of Brutes for the water (that was returned in the following day) and started to empty the tank, adjusted position, leveled, egg crate, sand, and water back to the tank.
here is a pic of the on going process..
on Dec 29th 2012 my tank officially started cycling but water was really cloud in the next day so I did a quick errand to Gateway Aquatics and bought their suggestion for magic liquid (nitrifying bacterias). Dumped the bottle in the tank + added the sock filters in the drain and I in after a day the water was Chrystal clear.
On Jan 5th (last saturday) Ammonia was down to zero so I moved the fishes to the DT and they have been there, apparently very happy so far. They are eating well and apparently they took one of my power heads as their general area and the stay there the whole day...a bit frustrating but I'm sure once I start to populate with Corals they will adopt one as their house...or I hope...
Well...after this long post, here is the most current pic and I have the following results to date:
Temp - 79,8
Salinity - 1,020
PH - 8,1
Alk - 8,6
Ammonia - 0 (yeah!)
Nitrite - 0,25
Nitrate - 50 (sky high)
PO4 - 0,46
Now that I have this official thread, I plan to keep updates in here...I hope you guys enjoy and I'm really looking forward to go meet you guys in one of the pizza nights!!!
I've been off topic for a while in my other thread about live rocks, where I started to post a lot of updates on my build, so...new year's resolution was to make an official post of my build.
A quick intro about myself... I'm originally from Brazil but due to work I lived not only in Brazil but also Germany, Switzerland and now,since July 2011, Saint Louis (Valley Park), which I plan to stay for a while as I can't stand even the idea of moving again not to mention that people here a really friendly
. It turns out that the same Job that made move so much, is now allowing me to do lots of home office, therefore I had to have a proper work space to stand the long hours of conference calls...and together with my passion for Aquariums (freshwater ones) when I was teenager... I thought that now was a good time to fulfill the dream of having a Saltwater Aquarium. After some discussion with the wife, we agreed on a spot that would be perfect for my office, Desk and Aquarium...unfortunately was the ugliest room in the house, which forced my to a battle against old wallpaper that I never thought I would face.
Back in Oct 2012, I decided to do the plunge and started to search for a Tank in Craigslist, I knew, since I build myself a few tanks on my youth, that this is kind of hard to miss if you get a second hand one. At that point I was not sure about what size but I wanted something to fill the 4 feet area designated for the aquarium. I also thought, and I don't think I was wrong, that the Tank would dictate the rest of my equipment requirements (sump, lights, pump, plumbing etc...) so I made the tank purchase the first move.
I finally found this 120g (4x2x2) in a decent price being sold by Gateway Aquatics, that gave me an extra peace of mind being a store. Chad was very friendly and helpful and when I went there, I got the last step on being addicted to the hobby. I don't know exactly why, but from all stores that I visited, that's my favorite so far. Below a pic with my little fish on it!
We wanted a clear looking room so the furniture was supposed to be white...which made me paint the stand. Which I would very much prefer to have custom made a new one not only due to the effort but everything in that standard size stand is cramped
lesson learned. But looking into the bright side, that painting period gave time to familiarize on what I would require to equip the new tank...and allowed me to think,now obvious, things like...sump goes prior to the tank otherwise I can't really put a nice sized sump in there. Or what's the Skimmer optimal water level in order to build you sump etc... I finally made my mind and started to chase a 40g breeder back on Craigslist. I nice guy,that turns out to be Sistom, was selling one at a good price. Got it and as I bonus he told me about this forum. (great link hu?!)Got baffles, a Mag 9.5 and some tubes for plumbing and worked on the sump. Final result of repainted Stand is this:
and the sump in WIP stage:
All that set...time to put all together right ? wrong...this is when I started to work on the Aquarium room, battled against wallpaper and did some minor tweaks like running a tube for RO/DI water from the garage, below the house to the room and a network cable for the controller.
Next steps, get the rocks...I decided go dry to get the full experience, including curing rocks. and this is where my thread about Dry Rocks started. After some precious feedback of the illustrious members on this forum, I placed my order for Rocks and RO/DI Filter, profiting from the Black Friday week. And boy they arrived fast..BRS is really good. I ended up installing the filter in the laundry room (Easiest place), drilled a hole to the garage and placed a 44Gal brute to, initially, cure rocks and later on serve as mix station. The Filter output goes to the Container and to the Aquarium Room. Both have float switches as the Filter comes with a gadget to use this way...although I have it for now directly in my sump as ATO, I still want a flood proof solution as final, that needs to be developed.
Here is a pic of my early Christmas:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zfcprsUrjwY/ULPEBxL-0TI/AAAAAAAADIg/3EUewF8KWbU/s667/20121126+001.JPG
and this is where I hung my filter...used a piece of 2x4 to get the right grip on the studs.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2xgQNzQfefc/ULPEGO6K8-I/AAAAAAAADJM/D8WrZctvHsw/s667/20121126+007.JPG
Unfortunately this was just prior to Thanksgiving that we went to Chicago to meet with wife's family..obviously I was dying to look at the stuff I got...but well we are grown ups right ???:crazy1:
In there as an official Reef addict I went with my daughter to the Public Aquarium...Pure awesomeness...here is pic of the tank on the frag area...great reference as I still don't know what is what is the corals there.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bw-G5H-ESxk/ULPEH677kQI/AAAAAAAADJY/GQbZgQoVKdA/s667/20121126+018.JPG
We got back and I got the minivan full of IKEA stuff for the room...spend the whole Sunday assembling them to finally be able to focus on the Aquarium.
During the week, installed plumbing and gave a shot on the aquascaping...
Pic of the plumbing below:
really early stage...
Well rocks are curing, tanks is in place with plumbing..time for a leak test...I left the Filter running for over 48 hrs...really scared of flooding but all went well, and since the aquarium was cleaned with Vinegar solution and I used RO/DI water, I left the water in there running.
Interesting enough that was another chapter of my Tank story so far...about 2 weeks before my planned date to start cycling, my water went all cloudy due to , as I discovered later, a bacteria bloom...I had a thread for that too here
By putting the tank to run, I discovered that due to a unleveled floor, only one overflow was working, the other was to high. I got that covered by getting a level, measuring the difference and getting 3 different size wood rods at HD (about 1/4 and smallers). But for that the Tank had to be empty.
Knowing I would cycle the tank end of Dec, I got myself two Clownfishes and putted in the QT (that was again bought from Sistom) with an Aqueon50 HOB.
Sometime in Dec I also got the Heaters, APEX JR controller, 2 Korralia powerheads with the smartwave controller and a full test kit for all sort of things. I forgot to mention that I got a Refractometer from BRS back on the Black Friday time.
well, Rocks where close to final curing stage...PO4 level where dropping day by day...and holidays where coming and I would have my brothers in law to give me a hand on the heavy duty! Now it's time to figure which light solution I would use...T5s, MHs or LEDs...I really wanted to have LEDs but the Mainstream brands are really expensive...MH are expensive and bulky...so my take was to go with T5s...until I stumbled on one of the threads about Chinese LEDs and people saying that they were happy with it etc...I droped a message to one of the guys in the forum that had a success case and decided to give a try with Twilight group and the classic 55x 3xLEDs 120W fixture...was a great experience. They had great service through the lady that was working with me. I had several interactions with her to make sure my request was exactly what I want. The prices where great, even cheaper than T5s so I pulled the trigger 1 week before christmas and got them on the 27th. They looked great, with 3 different channels for the timmers (whites, Blues that are dimmable and Moonlight that are on/off only) I got them in white case to match the rest of the room and they really look great as you will see on my build pic below. Here is the LEDs lay out, which was another benefit of the way I ordered...I could do whatever way I liked, but I asked the common one....
Once they arrived I got them installed, which made me realize that I would have to push slightly to the right to be aligned with the shelf and lights. (other task for when the tank is empty).
For Sump light I got an old desk lamp with big refractor cone that I used for painting miniatures (yeah my other and older addiction).
Last ordering step was to get dry sand from Marcorocks...I think as someone said, I should have gone with live as rinsing sand in the mild Dec. St. Louis weather was not fun...did most of it indoors at the end which really got my wife in a horrible mood (I'm sure that having 8 guests in our home for holidays was the main reason)
All set, stars are right...time to get to the last sprint...went to HD to get a couple of Brutes for the water (that was returned in the following day) and started to empty the tank, adjusted position, leveled, egg crate, sand, and water back to the tank.
here is a pic of the on going process..
on Dec 29th 2012 my tank officially started cycling but water was really cloud in the next day so I did a quick errand to Gateway Aquatics and bought their suggestion for magic liquid (nitrifying bacterias). Dumped the bottle in the tank + added the sock filters in the drain and I in after a day the water was Chrystal clear.
On Jan 5th (last saturday) Ammonia was down to zero so I moved the fishes to the DT and they have been there, apparently very happy so far. They are eating well and apparently they took one of my power heads as their general area and the stay there the whole day...a bit frustrating but I'm sure once I start to populate with Corals they will adopt one as their house...or I hope...
Well...after this long post, here is the most current pic and I have the following results to date:
Temp - 79,8
Salinity - 1,020
PH - 8,1
Alk - 8,6
Ammonia - 0 (yeah!)
Nitrite - 0,25
Nitrate - 50 (sky high)
PO4 - 0,46
Now that I have this official thread, I plan to keep updates in here...I hope you guys enjoy and I'm really looking forward to go meet you guys in one of the pizza nights!!!
