Sam's Oceanic 120

[projectsWithSam]

Perhaps this is foolish trying to summarize 3 years of build page posts here but I am going to try.
If my tense is confusing I apologize; I'll try to include dates at the top of posts as I go.
Index:
My start in fishkeeping
My start in saltwater
Tank setup and painting
First fill
Fish and first upgrade
Next upgrade: UV & manifold
Fish half-way house
First 3D printed item I designed for the tank
Canopy upgrade
Management board
DIY T5 fixture
Used Apex!
DIY Filter Floss roller
Revamped the Floss roller
New lights!
Feeding and filtering
Jetboat!
Feeding switch, blackout & power supplies
Exile tank overflow box
Baby cardinals!
Exile tank setup
Timmy time
Stand re-org
Lights & cardinals
CO2 Scrubber!
Fish closet
An amazing jump
Devastated
Blue Eyed Kole Tang
Kalkwasser stirrer design
Clam!
Kalkwasser stirrer
ATO reservoir
Fluconazole treatment

 

[projectsWithSam]

10/2021:
New to fishkeeping 8 years ago. My daughter got me to bring home a bluegill we caught fishing. I figured I had a 20gallon long from my house's former owner so what the heck.

Was looking on OfferUp for a light for the tank (because as a stay at home dad I try not to spend money on my many hobbies) and I found a 75gallon Marineland tank, stand, canister filter, light, rocks, sand and 12 African Cichlid at a price that was too good to pass up. Needless to say, I got the tank home and into my basement (my wife may or may not recount that memorable story).
Over the years, I built out the system to be somewhat automated. Of the systems I put in-place, my favorites were the custom 30 gallon sump, the automation systems for water changes and feeding, and the overflow protection.


That was a start and throughout my journey I was always interested in Saltwater. The right tank came up on CraigsList (I had been passively looking for about a year) and I quickly sold my freshwater tanks and got the 120 Oceanic I wanted.

Now I am provisioning the systems and planning the tank. I'll be putting water in it soon, if not early 2022.

photos from the tank add:

 

[projectsWithSam]

11/2021
I started provisioning the system once I got it down into my basement. I did some basic plumbing and got my head around it all. I repainted the inside of the stand and got my salt mixing bucket.
The stand was in cosmetically poor shape on the outside too so I tried to refinish the bad parts. I did not want to sand and refinish the whole thing.

 

[projectsWithSam]

11/2021
I was not happy with the finish I I was able to get so I embarked on a complete re-paint. I also started my dryrock structures after having bleached the old and new rocks for a few weeks, rinsed, and let dry.

 

[griss]

Looks like a great start. I'll definitely be following.

 

[projectsWithSam]

11/2021
waiting for the rocks to be ready. I ran fresh for awhile to work out any kinks till the rocks were done. I think I ran fresh with all the rocks for a little till I got my RODI setup. Then I drained it and refilled with salt!

 

[projectsWithSam]

12/2021
First fish, first tank upgrade, and first lesson learnt!

I didnt like the ESHOPPS square filtersock so I drilled the sump and put thew inputs in the side. This moved the sump forward in the stand so it was easier to maintain and I could put a planned ATO reservoir in the back.


1/1/22
Got back in time to beat the snowstorm and for the New Year! Happy New Year!
A few things stopped running in the 9 days I was out of town... they started affecting the tank resulting in some pretty bad conditions for my poor livestock. Below is a breakdown of the problems and what happened:

The ATO pump I used was poorly setup and inadequate for the intended use.
I should have used a submersible pump in the ATO.
My auto-feeder was dispensing way too much food. It was set for 5-times a day feeding (cichlid) and the pellets were so small a ton came out of the huge door at its smallest setting. Most of the excess ended up at the bottom of the emergency drain weir rotting in a fuzzy stinky mess.

The worst was the ATO only replacing about 5 gallons of RODI water in the tank before failing. The evaporation eventually led to the water level getting so low in my return pump chamber that only a trickle of water was being sent back to the tank which then led to the heaters in both overflows only keeping the overflows warm and the tank getting into the low-mid 70s with a high salinity.
Needless to say, the poor clowns and the damsel were hanging out by the return jets.
I added 9 gallons of ATO RODI water and checked the chemicals again.

ammonia:0, nitrite:0, nitrate:0.05 ppm(after 15minutes)

Setup my QT tank with a bag of base rock gravel in a bag from my sump and made my second temperature controller.

I am at a loss for stocking... some ideas:

2 clownfish (in the tank)
1 damselfish (in the tank - should go into fuge?)

~6 Green Chromis (Chromis viridis)
1 Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto)
1 Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica)
1 Six Line Wrasse or yellow coris Wrasse or pinstripe wrasse or Melanurus/Hoevens/Wardley wrasse
1 Neon Blue Cleaner Goby (Elacatinus oceanops)
1 One Spot Foxface (Siganus unimaculatus)
1 Male Red Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias cheirospilos/squamipinnis)
6 Female Orange Lyretail Anthias
1 Mimic Lemon Tang (Acanthurus pyroferus) or a sailfin tang if not too big
1 Green Banded Goby (Elacatinus multifasciatus)

I am in no rush so am considering waiting and finding local deals from individuals.
I just bought all the meds to treat fish in QT so am also open to getting deals on sick fish from stores.

 

[projectsWithSam]

1/2022
Next upgrade: UV & manifold for in-line UV use: (I think I got the original design from a post here on Reef Central)
I found cheap 3/4" ($3) gate valves at Menards so I did some plumbing...

I wanted to be able to change the bulb without too much trouble...


I have been pretty happy with this setup but wish it were 1" wide instead of 3/4"

 

[projectsWithSam]

1/18/2022
Excerpt from the time:
I have the UV running full open and after a few days it seems all the diatoms have disappeared. Now I'm getting very light green patches of algae on the rocks.
I got Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a bottle from ARCReef yesterday and am waiting on my Salifert test kits to come tomorrow before I dose it. I want to be sure I have the right params. I keep shaking the bottle and will just do a few extra bottle-swabs when I dose it.

The Neon Dottyback is doing great in QT; he is definitely a cool fish; seems pretty quirky. For instance, he always brings his food back to one spot before he eats it and, he will hoard food there. If he sees I drop multiple Extreme Veggie pellets, he will go collect them all one by one before settling down to eat them.
The Coral Beauty is still alive, haven't seen it eat yet.

I have upped my CUC again! Provided no deaths, my totals are now:
4 Red leg reef hermit crabs
6 Blue leg hermit crabs
3 Mexican turbo snail
4 Margarita turbo snail
1 Emerald crab

I got 3 new corals! All Zoanthids. I got a Radioactive Dragon Eyes, a Red People Eater and 1 big zoa mix. A pretty chill guy near me posted these corals on OfferUp and I scooped them up.

In continuation of what my wife is referring to as my "Fish Half-Way-House", I picked up some pretty-bad-off hippo tangs from my LFS for a song. I think the employees felt awful for the fish but were constrained by the level of care corporate was willing to allow in the past. Nonetheless; I was able to get the fish home, acclimated, ParaGuard dipped and into my extended QT bucket. I did not expect to have so many fish in QT at once so my resources are thin. I didn't know but the heater got stuck on and the temperature in the bucket kept climbing; of course I was trying to do this right before dinner and my kids were running around screaming like banshees.
I went upstairs and started to braise the Fillet (were trying to put meat on my boy and he devours the good steak). Its probably 5 minutes on the side after 2-3 minutes getting the cast iron up to temp before I flip the meat and put the pan in the oven and go back downstairs. Thankfully I have a really nice gun-style thermometer handy and I zap the bucket and see its in the mid 80s. The little tang is laying on his side on the bottom of the bucket... I am so happy I put the extra valve on the UV manifold because it allows me to fill buckets easily. I gradually add water to the bucket to bring the temp down while the steak cooks and sits. At this point I've filled the 7 gallon bucket and have added new water to the tank from my trusty Rubbermaid. I figure I'll let it ride without a heater while I eat with my kids and unsuspecting (that I got more fish) wife. After dinner the little tang is back up so I pour off some water and fill the bucket again. I add some VitaChem/Metroplex/Kanaplex/Focus treated mysis&brine shrimp and both tangs devour it. I add some small pieces of similarly treated nori and get the same response. I keep feeding the fish till they stop eating.
I am rushed for bedtime and stressed out about the fish and decide to DT them. I've seen these fish every time I go to my LFS, they've been in the same tank for as long as I can remember; if ich were present they would've succumbed to it a long time ago. Either Hippo Tang alone, if colored-up, is worth more then all the fish currently in my tank, the decision seemed logical at the time.
So, for better or worse, they're in the DT. I put up a mirror to occupy the sailfin tang; who I'm also treating for HLLE with the same medicated food cocktail. His facial lesions and temporal holes seem to be filling-in and coloring-up. Its fun watching him swim around with his big paunch.
All three tangs seem to have gotten to that OK spot. I see the sailfin and the big hippo fight over bed-time spots when I go all blue light. They are amazingly fast and graceful but I think the Hippo tang has the size advantage. In white light they are peaceful and just go about their business.

Photos:


1/22/2022
The two hippo tang with bad HLLE that I put in the tank are doing great. I did not expect to see improvement in their situations so quickly so I am happy to comment that at least 3mm of the large fish's fins and tail have grown in. you can tell the difference in the new fin vs. the old fin. And, his blues and blacks are getting deeper, filling in the translucent bits.
The little guy, whose head was completely clear is starting to take on a bluish tinge and for some reason, two blue patches on each side of his mouth have blued-up making it look like he has a moustache. he is pretty funny looking.

All his fins are still gone but I think there has been some growth of his pectoral fins making it easier for him to swim. He picked a spot on the glass cleaner as his nightly hammock where he can lay-down and sleep. I put a personal seaweed clip up there that he tucks behind to sleep and nibbles on from time to time.

 

[projectsWithSam]

2/6/2022
First printed item I designed for the tank: a carbon skimmer cap to reduce the odor... shortly after I posted this on thingiverse and in a forum stinksink came out.

Tank photos:

 

[projectsWithSam]

2/12/2022
Things are quieting down in the tank... sort of. Sailfin is still being a jerk. the damsel has one mission - kill the dottyback; the hippo tangs don't care - try to stay out of it. Once in awhile the big hippo tang will step-up to the sailfin it seems in defense of the little hippo tang he came with but otherwise a quiet tank...

My wife and I renovated our upstairs this fall and I had a big piece of MDF that the vanity was shipped-in so I made it into a floating canopy... I'm pretty stoked with the result. I plan to migrate the light timers up there and change them so the blues are on a separate schedule.

 

[griss]

Nice work on the canopy

 

[projectsWithSam]

Nice work on the canopy

Thanks! I really liked it at the time. But, I wish I made it like an inch taller so I could still get a bucket over the tank...
FYI:
All the paneling I'm using for the timer consoles and similar is extruded PVC ceiling tiles and pvc lumber available at many hardware stores.

 

[projectsWithSam]

3/13/2022
Finished-up the lighting install.
moved the light timers into the hood and simplified the wiring down to the stand so it is super clean. Eventually I'll rip this all out and put in... probably T5s on dimmable ballasts...
Cost to get 4 t5 bulbs and ballasts would be comparable to 2 new black-box LED lights so I am still up in the air.
The nice thing about the T5s is that I could mount them high in the box so you wouldn't see them unless you right right at the glass.
I'd use the currently installed lights for coral QT once freed-up.

 

[projectsWithSam]

3/10/2023
DIY slide-out Management board!

 

[Reefing102]

Looking really good and nice to see you over here!

 

[projectsWithSam]

Looking really good and nice to see you over here!

Thanks! I always intended to have an RC buildpage since it was the first marine forum I was aware of. Just never made the account till now!

 

[projectsWithSam]

3/2022
DIY T5s in the hood. This was done in two upgrades. one to get them up there; then another to redo them and do the control box.
I 3D printed the reflector holders on the ends then hand-bent aluminum flashing on a DIY jig for the reflectors. The metal frame is old scrap shelf hardware and random old door extrusions.

 

[projectsWithSam]

3/25/2022
Beyond stoked! I got a second-hand Apex Neptune Classic with a bunch of extras. Got it installed and now am trying to figure out the configurations.

Kind of feel like a sellout for not going reef-pi but I figure I need a basis for comparison.

 

[projectsWithSam]

3/30/2022
Awhile back I posted an advertisement in the marketplace section as an entry for a contest here on R2R stating I'd trade 3D printing for corals. I didn't win the contest. I did however attract Adam's attention @Battlecorals and he contacted me to make a skimmer part to help him with maintenance. It was luck that I just seemed to know what he was looking for and was able to model it. nonetheless, I'm proud to comment that he wrote up this wonderful post about our interaction. Thanks Adam! It was a treat working with you!