meschaefer's 225g inwall

[meschaefer]

Thanks to Cali-Reef and Wombat, as well as my friends Mike, Andres and Maurice who helped me pick up my new tank on Sunday.

I purchased it from Jaybird, who is moving, and moving onto bigger and better.

It was made by Miracles and is 72 long x 30 wide x 24 tall, with another 6 inches on the width for external overflows. Starphire on 3 sides. Sorry about the pics, I only had my phone with me and we where to busy to take to many pics anyway.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/img051.jpg



Cali-Reef was a great help, letting me bounce ideas off of him for the last week, then basicly telling me how we were going to move it. Jaybird was nice enough to send me pics of the route the tank needed to come out of the house by, and we where able to come prepared. Cali-reef put together this ramp, so we where able to slide it down the previous owners stoop.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/img046.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/img047.jpg

After that it was placed into a u-haul van and moved to a secret location :) , to be held by a friend until I am done with the renovations on my basement.

[meschaefer]

Speaking of construction, the impetus behind this tank is the finishing of my basement. My wife wanted it done, I wanted to wait as one part of the house or another has been under construction for the last three years. Then she said i could put a new tank down there, and bingo.. I had a contractor ready to go three weeks later.

The tank is going inwall, with a "fish room behind it. This is a picture of the wall where the tank is going to go before construction, and after.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/tankwallbefore.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/tankwallduring.jpg

The wall is 10 foot long, and the tank is 6 foot long and will be centered left to right, and about 36 inches off of the ground. behind that wall is a room that measures roughly 8 foot by 10 foot.

The first picture is before construction, then during and an inside shot of how it looks now. The room was only 5 foot wide before renovations.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/tankroombefore.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/tankroomduring.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/tankroominside.jpg

You can see from the second picture, how much the room was widened. The room was orginally to narrow, now it might be wider than I need, but I had to get past that window. The window will also allow me to vent the room. There was also a toilet in thst room, which now becomes a floor drain. The cold water hook up will be used for the RO/DI and a slop sink.

[meschaefer]

As part of the construction I had them add 2 x 20 amp dedicated circuits for the tank.

I was originally going to have the contractor due the cut out for the tank and build the stand for it, but I wanted to have the tank in my posession before I went that far. Furthermore, I am fairly particulars and wanted it done my way, so that often means doing it yourself.

I am glad I waited, as the orignial plans called for a standard AGA 180 gallon tank. That was until I found what is now the pride and joy of my life, the 225g starphire with eurobracing and external overflows. Since this tank, is 30 inches wide and the 180 is only 24 inches wide I would have had problems if I had them build the stand when building the wall. It is more of a pain, but I think I will be happy when I am done...or so I hope.

I am going to hopefully start the cut out for the wall, and perhaps the stand this weekend if I can find time. I am modeling the stand off of Weatherson's(pic here) (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=236668&perpage=25&pagenumber=1) .

[meschaefer]

The original plan was to slowly pick up the peices I needed for the new tank, and then set the whole thing up at once. After a disaster in my old tank, I deceided to put the whole project on the front burner as I hate not having a tank.

A little over a month ago, I had gone to look at a friend's 150g inwall to get some ideas as I planned things out. The contractor had just started work and if I wanted him to do anything special I needed to let him know now. At about 10pm, I get a call from my wife and all she can say to me is that she's "sorry" and she sounds frantic.

Apparantly what had happened was that the cord to a Maxijet, that was being used for ATO somehow caught fire. She was home alone, and needed to do something quick, so she grabbed the fire extinguisher. As the cord, was behind the tank, and acessible through the sump she sprayed the extinguisher into the sump. Here is a picture of what the sump looked like when I got home.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/sump.jpg

This was the most recent picture I had of the display tank (65g). Followed by what the display looked like shortly after the fire.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Display.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Tank.jpg

Luckily everybody was safe, and my wife acted quickly or it could have been alot worse. Unforutnatly, it wiped out my tank. All I have left are three montipora's and a single perc clown. I hate not having a tank set up, so I am pushing ahead with this one faster than I was going to.

[boozeman]

OMG !!
my condolences..and may the new tank arise like the phoenix and be even better than before.

[meschaefer]

Thanks Boozeman.

It hurt, and my wife was more upset than I was as she felt personally responsible for their demise. But I told her that if she was ever faced with the same event, that she should take the same action. Fire spreads quickly and should be taken seriously.



That being said. I am off to Home Depot this morning to pick up supplies to build the stand. I am also going to stop at a local reefer's to pick up a lightly used Sequence Dart. Hopefully this single pump, will take care of all my pumping needs.

[meschaefer]

Although Ididn't get started on building my stand this weekend, I did manage to pick up some equipment from a guy getting out of the hobby.

I picked up a 3 month old Sequence Reeflo Dart for $175. When I was there he made me a deal on his hood, wich he gave to me for $100. Although the hood was only 4 foot long, I will canabalize it for parts.

Inside the hood where two full size lumenarcs and two Helios (II ?) T5 fixtures. The lumearcs where a little beat up, but not to bad. I figured for the price I couldn't pass them up.


The T5 fixtures where thrown in as an added bonous.
I do not know to much about these fixtures and could find very little about them online. I did read that at least one version of the Helios fixtures are "disposable" in that the bulbs are not replaceable. I don't know if this is the case, but any information would be appreciated.

I also picked up from him 2 x DJ power strips for $5 each. Also a good deal.

[meschaefer]

here is a stock picture of what my fixtures look like.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/helios-t5-ii-deluxe-fixture.jpg

[meschaefer]

OK it's been about a week since my last update, but that is only because I hadn't gotten anything done. I found some time today, and I started the cut out in the wall for the tank. After alot of thought and looking at alot of pictures of inwall tanks I decided against front access. I must have looked at 30 or so pictures of different inwall set ups and didn't see a single one with front access that I liked and that would be acceptable to my wife.

Using a 4 foot level as a straight edge, I drew out the rough dimensions of the opening for the tank.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/IMG_1520.jpg

Next I took a 7 inch circular saw and cut freehand along the lines. I had to stop after making each cut as the amount of dust was amazing. Even with a window open, a fan blowing out of the room and a dust mask, I had to wait about 10 to 15 minutes between cuts. I am glad I did this before the basment is finished.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Dust.jpg


When I had made the four cuts I pulled the sheetrock from the studs. It should be noted that I new exactly where the power lines ran to the outlets. When they where installed, I had the guy redo them as they where originally in the way. I would not have used a powersaw like this if I didn't already know where the power lines where.


http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Firstcut.jpg

Because the saw could not cut all the way through the wall, I performed the same procedure on the other side of the wall.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/CutOutFront.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Panelremoved.jpg

Next I removed the lower piece of sheetrock, so that I had access to the studs. I framed out the window, making sure everything was nice and level, which is not as easy as it sounds because my floor is anything but even.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/level.jpg

That took me about three hours to do. I had to stop there as I need to pick up some brackets so I can build the rest of the stand.

[extinguishfire]

These are pics of Ryan Reeves'(Servo) tank. I am going to do my front wall like this and it gives front access. I am going to try and make the front access a little taller.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23940Front_view.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23940the_closing_lid.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23940open_up_and_say_AHHHHH.jpg

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

very nice so far, keep us posted with lotsa piks!

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488706#post10488706 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by extinguishfire
These are pics of Ryan Reeves'(Servo) tank. I am going to do my front wall like this and it gives front access. I am going to try and make the front access a little taller.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23940Front_view.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23940the_closing_lid.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23940open_up_and_say_AHHHHH.jpg

Thats a really nice design, and I have either seen those pictures around or something very similar. That was the only way I liked the front access, with "pop up" molding. It avoids the look of having doors, wich kind of kills the whole inwall concept in my mind. My wife didn't like the idea, at least not for the area where the tank is going. She felt such heavy molding would look out of place.

[meschaefer]

My plan going forward is to frame the stand by connecting cross bracing to each of the studs with a "U" bracket. Each of the corners will have doubled up 2x4 running to the floor as a leg, that is connected to the framing with a makeshift lap joint. The lap joint will be made by cutting one of the 2x4s , 3 1/2 inches shorter than the other. There will be two other legs across the back of the stand wich will also be doubled up and lap jointed 2x4.

The stand design is based upon the one made by Weatherson, (link a few posts back) he used "T" brackets on the middle back legs so that he could remove them for access under the tank. (I.e. to switch out the sump if needed). Are "T" brackets necessary, could I use two bolts instead? When the framing is done, I am going to use 3/4 inch ply on top, and will use the scraps to make some corner bracing.

All of the framing that you see in the picture above, is "dry fitted", i.e. nothing has been fastned togther. I thought I had some decking screws in my tool box, but they where not there. I have either used them all, or they are in storage (Almost all my tools are, while construction is ongoing). Are decking screws the best thing to use, or should I look for something else?

I am going to paint the whole thing in order to give it some protection from salt water. Since all of the other stands I have made where meant to be seen, they where stained with many coats of polyurethane on them (Helmsman from Minwax) Since I want to paint this as opposed to staining it I am not sure what type of paint to use. Suggestions?

A peice of "styrofoam type pink insulation", will go over the 3/4 ply, and under the tank.

COMMENTS PLEASE....I want both the "You have no idea what your doing and the whole thing will collapse", the occasional "Your doing a great job" would be nice too

[meschaefer]

With my busy schedule building the stand is going to take awhile, and i probably wont be ready until the end of next week, maybe sooner if I can find the time. With that I thought I would share some of the planning that has been going into the tank generally.

The tank is 72" long x 24" tall x 30" wide, with external overflows.

Eurobracing and starphire on 3 sides. Due to the disaster with my former tank my goal is to get this tank up and running as fast as possible. That means, that I will not have all the equipment I would like when I start. Since I lost almost all of my SPS, I am going to focus on they fish first, letting the tank mature as I upgrade the system for SPS.

Lighting

About a month or so I got a really good deal on three Blue Wave III HQI ballasts from Sunlight Supply. I had been debating whether to use HQI or a standard ballast, but then I found these for a price that could not be beat. I know a few people who run these ballasts and they swear by them.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Ballasts.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/BallastCloseup.jpg

As you can see from the close up, each ballast has a utility outlet on it. In theory this would allow you to have a fan turn on with the ballast, I don't think you could daisy chain the ballasts.

The Three ballasts are going to power single ended bulbs in lumenarc III reflectors. I picked up two lumenarcs used, and need to pick up a third. I havn't decided on which lamps I am going to use, but am leaning towards 10K ushios, but I am open to pretty much anything.

These will be supplemented with T5, I have been looking at a 4 x39w Tek2 fixture from ReefGeek, but I am undecided yet. I am unsure about how many T5 I want, as I would like to eventually run the MH for only few hours a day, a miday burn. The t5 would then be my primary lighting.

I am also considering picking up the Tek retrofit earlier, and putting off the third lumenarc and the bulbs, as it seems a waste to have to run the MH for the primarily fish only system my tank will be during it first few months.

Supplementation

I will be using a Aquamedic Reefdoser twin, which I had on my last system to dose Randy's Two Part. Since my tank disaster, a buddy of mine has been using my doser so the only picture I could take was off the box.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/ReefdoserBox.jpg

Filtration

On my old system, I was using a DAS Ex-2 wich was extremely oversized for my 65 gallon tank. For those not familiar witht he skimmer, it is recirculating type needle wheel skimmer, powered by two relabled Aquabee 2001s.

Skimmer dimensions: 16.1"x11"x27.5"
Mixing tube diameter: 6"
Collection neck diameter: 3.5"

Here is a pic next to a five gallon bucket for reference.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Skimmer.jpg

This skimmer may not be adequate for my system once it is fully
stocked, but it should do the job until I have made some of the other upgrades I want to do.

Flow

I have yet to purchase any powerheads etc. for the tank. I briefly considered a closed loop system, but nixed that idea as it is extremely inefficient. My plan now is to start with one Vortech, and add another once I have things up and running. I feel that ultimately I will need three of them, to really get things moving. I hear rumor that they have a wireless controller coming out that will handle up to ten of them, so it seems that this type of system will be expandable as needed.

In the short term, I have a couple of nanostreams laying around which will help get rid of dead spots. Although my ultimate goal is to keep all cords out of the tank.

Live Rock & Sand.

It is hard to say how much live rock I have, But it has to be close to 150lbs. I currently have some of it "cooking" in a brute trash can. I have to admit that I havn't done as many water changes as they say you are supposed to. Also the temp in the garbage can really spiked a couple of time, with a lot of die off, when the outside temp surpassed 90 degrees. I had some trouble with hydroids, and I dried out any rock with them on it. Perhaps the increased temp in the garbage can, killed off any that I missed.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/rocks.jpg

In terms of sand, my old system was a DSB. My plan in this tank, is to use a shallow sandbed only for asthetics. About 200lbs of ESV, or something similar. I want something with slightly larger particle size so it doesn''t get blown around when I get all the Vortechs running. A multitude of stand stirrirs should keep it clean, and keep it from becoming detrius trap.

More to come....

[erics3000]

I love Ryan's molding shelf and want to do the same thing on my build. Sweet..

[meschaefer]

It has been awhile since I had an update. Not much has happened, as my summers are to busy to get anything done fast. Well summer's over, and it is time to get busy again.

I did make some progress . Marco Rocks was having a sale, with $5 shipping per box so I picked up a 50lb box of Fiji and a 25lb box of Tonga Shelf.

The Fiji rock is really nice. I got 3-4 really nice size pieces, another 10 or so decent size pieces and a whole lot of smaller pieces. It was shipped via UPS and the rock came loosely wrapped in bubble wrap. Since the rock is weighed dry, you get more of it than if it had been weighed wet.


This is an over view of all the non-rubble size pieces, and then a close up of two of the larger pieces with a beer bottle thrown in for size reference.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Rock.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/RockSizecomparison.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/RockBottle.jpg




This is a pic of the "rubble", which I guess is from shipping "damage",



http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Rubble.jpg

The Tonga Shelf rock was slightly more meticulously wrapped, but it does seem to be more fragile. A couple of pieces broke, leaving me with a smaller piece than I had started with. Also the Tonga is much more dense than the Fiji, so you get allot less "volume".

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Tonga-wrap.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Tongawrap2.jpg



To get an idea of the size of the rock, the following pic is of the piece in the pic above on top of a five gallon bucket and a pic of some of the other rock with my trusty beer bottle.


http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/TongaBucket.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/TongaBottle.jpg


As I said, I really like the Fiji rock that I got. If I had to do it over, I would think twice about the Tonga. Because of the shipping damage, the pieces where smaller than I was hoping for and it costs significantly more than the Fiji. I guess I will really have to wait until I can start aquascaping before I can pass judgment.

[erics3000]

Cool Rocks... I started my build finally and think I am going to do the shelf like servo's.

I used some primer for my stand then went with a bunch of coats with semi gloss. It will hold up a littler better against water compared to flat.

I tripled up each leg for my stand with screws only. I was also thinking about doing some reinforcments on the side like weathersons.

[meschaefer]

I have a few pics of the stand coming, I doubled up the legs along the back, and used the studs from the wall from the front. I figure at 16" apart, they should be fine by themselves. I do need to add some reinforcement to the sides like Weathrson's. I also have some pics of my "sump" coming as well (in quotes because it is not quite a sump yet).

[jasert39]

really love the dimensions of your tank, ill certainly be following along. Nice work thus far...good luck with everything.

[erics3000]

I tripled my legs by the wall. I started on the front side but decided to wait until I get my plumbing going and make sure the sump will fit? If you scroll down on my thread you can see the legs by the wall are tripled. A little extra support can go a long way. I had my 150 stand flex when I tried to drag it full of water.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1164144&perpage=25&pagenumber=5

How big of a sump are you using? I wish we had basements in Florida..You basement guys are lucky..

[meschaefer]

I contacted Marc at Marco Rocks, regarding the tonga shelf that had been damaged in shipping. He got back to me within a few hours and is going to send me out some replacement pieces ASAP at no cost to me. That's what I call service.

He also told me that I can drill a hole on each side of the broken pieces and insert a piece of acrylic rod. A little bit of epoxy and some rubble over the crack, and it will look as good as new.

[erics3000]

Thats great service. The big cherry picked shelf pieces are not cheap.

[meschaefer]

I just got a tracking number for the replacement Tonga shelf pieces. The package weighs 13lbs (the original 25lb box shipped to me weighed 27 lbs.)

Very exciting, and I am going to try and "repair" the rock that broke during shipping. Once it is delivered I will post some pics of the replacement pieces.

[meschaefer]

A couple of weeks back, I picked up a 120 gallon tank from on of they guys on Manhattan Reefsfor a really good price. (FREE - Thanks Rich!!) It is a standard size 120 gallon made by Glass Cages with Starphire on the front. I am going to use it as a sump.

He was going to throw it out, as it has a small crack in the lower right front corner (you can see it to the right of the beer bottle). It was there for 6 months before he took the tank down, before I saw it I was gong to patch it, but after looking at I am going to leave it alone. The eurobracing is also cracked on one side as well, witch I will patch up (I did this when moving the tank, I had an incident with a deflated tire on the dolly I moved it with).

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/SumpOverflow.jpg

The tank was reef ready, so I had to remove the center overflow. It took me over an hour to get the overflow out. There was a learning curve involved and think I could get it out allot faster if I had to do it again. This leaves me with two holes in the bottom of the tank, witch will get a patch over it as well.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Sump-1.jpg


The big question is... how do I want to partition it up? I will be running an external skimmer, and need to drill one side to go to my return pump (reeflo dart). I will have two overflow coming into the sump and I need space for my heaters, probes, phosban reactor. etc etc/. I also want to have enough space in the area just before the return pump that I can easily drain out 50 gallons for a water change without having to turn off the return pump. Any ideas?

[erics3000]

I have seen guys just get cut glass and silicone them in. I wanted to try and see if I can seal some acrylic on to glass. Glass cages sells cut glass to make sumps out of tanks.

[meschaefer]

My understanding is that you can not seal acrylic onto glass, at lest not with silicone. The Silicone doesn't stick to the acrylic, so a little bit of pressure and it will pop right out. There is a a glass place down the street from me, and once I figure out exactly what i need I will just have them cut the pieces for me.

As i said the big question is.... how do I want to lay out the design. I know there are allot of options, and in the past i have gone with a simple set of baffles, and a spot for a refugium. I am not sure I am going to use a refugium on this tank, and if I do it will be in a seperate 55 gallon tank.

[meschaefer]

One of the ideas that has been suggested to me on my local site, is that I may want to incorporate Filter Sock racks in my sump, so that filter socks can be easily removed and cleaned from the overflow drains. I am looking for some pics of how that would work, any help would be appreciated.

Anyway, I was supposed to move the tank tonight but I couldn't get firm commitments on help and I was feeling a little rushed. Accordingly, it will not be until the first weekend in October till it is in place. Although I would love to have the tank in place, it was just not meant to be...yet anyway.

This will give me some time to finish everything else off, so that I can get the whole thing up an running. Even if I had picked it up tonight, I still need to finish the stand and sump, the lights, and figure out all my plumbing. Hopefully I can get all this done in the next two weeks.

[erics3000]

I heard the same thing about acrylic and glass, that why I was shocked whne I say that thread. If I can t find any glass I still mat try it.

I am sure you have already been to marcs site about sumps, wright?I was going to use socks adn then change my mind and am going to build a rack to put some filter floss on it. Cleaning socks is a pain in the butt

I have a 55 that I ma going to use as a fuge also.

It took me a couple time to get everyone together to get my tank up in the wall. Whne everyone was available I jumped at it. I just wish I had a little more time to finish everything above the tank. I put some flush canon lights above the tank and a bunch of crap fell in. I iwll clean it whne all my electrical is done. SO hopefully you have everyhting worked out above the tank.

[meschaefer]

When I received my Tonga Shelf rock from Marco Rocks a couple of pieces had broke during shipping, I contacted Marc and he sent me the following piece as a replacement. The package weighed 13 lbs, so I figure the piece has to weigh 11 - 12 lbs (my original order was for 25lbs of Tonga shelf). It is the nicest piece of rock i got in my two orders. As you can see it is sort of shaped like a mushroom, with short stem and a wide cap.

Once again a beer bottle for size reference.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/newrockside.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/NewRockTop.jpg

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10823879#post10823879 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by erics3000


It took me a couple time to get everyone together to get my tank up in the wall. Whne everyone was available I jumped at it. I just wish I had a little more time to finish everything above the tank. I put some flush canon lights above the tank and a bunch of crap fell in. I iwll clean it whne all my electrical is done. SO hopefully you have everyhting worked out above the tank.

The hard part here, is I have to get everybody together agains for a secons move. They all had fun moving it the first time, and I figure moving is a second time is not high up on their list. It does look like I am good to go the Saturday after next. You are right, I will get a chance to finish some stuff before it goes int. I am just getting impatient.

[meschaefer]

In terms of lighting, I am planning on using 3 250W MH supplemented by 4 39w T5s.

The MH will be run by Bluewave HQI ballasts that will overdrive single ended bulbs which will be mounted in lumeanarc reflectors. I have not completely settled on a bulb, but I am looking for something that will give me good par, which means for the most part 10K bulbs. Each MH will run for about 6 hours each. I would actually prefer a "bluer" bulb than a 10k, but there is such a drop off in par readings when you move beyond a 10K bulb.

The T5 will supplement the MH and will run for 12 hours. I am looking at the T5 retrofits from sunlight supply, with icecap ballasts and TEK reflectors.

When it comes to T5 bulbs, as with the MH I have not settled on bulbs. Although they will have the responsibility of supplementing the MH bulbs, there will be a couple of hours a day where they are the main source of viewing light. If my prior tank is any indicator, I will probably look at the tank more with just the T5 than with the MH on. This means that I need them to be somewhat "blue" to compensate for the 10K MH, but I don't want them to be so blue that they are not pleasing to the eye when I look at the tank with just the t5s on.

[jayybird]

Hey Matt, I'm glad to see my old tank again and that it's going to good use good luck with the build. Jay

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10834462#post10834462 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jayybird
Hey Matt, I'm glad to see my old tank again and that it's going to good use good luck with the build. Jay

Reno Nevada? I thought you where going to California.

The tank hasn't gotten much use yet, it is still sitting in my buddies garage. But soon.....it will rise again!

[meschaefer]

I am still throwing around ideas for my sump. As said one of my local guys, is a big fan of filter socks, and he doesnt use any baffles. I used filter socks on my 65 and they where great at getting rid of the microbubbles. But in my mind it sort of kills the whole idea of keeping things suspended in the water colum so that they can be removed by the skimmer. I think I would rather use baffles than filter socks, if the baffles don't work i could very easily add teh socks, but adding baffles is a pain in the ***.

The one thing that "no baffles" does have in its favor, is that the sump would be a single compartment. I would like to be able to drain my water changes out of the last compartment of the sump, without having to turn off the return pump. If I put in baffles, I can only get about 35 gallons out of the sump for a water change, without baffles i could easily pull 80 gallons out.

[meschaefer]

VHO vs T5

Someone suggested that I look into VHO to supplment my MH instead of T5. Not being very familiar with VHO, I have been taking a further look into them.

The first thing I notice is that they have a much higher output then an equivalent length of T5. Is there an efficiency issue with going with VHO as opposed to T5.

I also notice that the ice cap retrofit kits don't come with reflectors, as the bulbs have internal reflectors...do all VHO bulbs have internal reflectors?

I can get a 2 x 160w VHO with URI bulbs and a icecap ballast for $225, or 4 x 39w T5 with bulbs, Tek Reflectors, and an icecap ballast for $284. It seems that the VHO is cheaper up front, and the bulbs are less expensive to replace. What about other onging costs. I.e. do I need 320W of VHO?

[jknecht]

I had the same issue with my sump. The last compartment has a drain but I was only able to get out about 20 gallons of water so I added a direct around the baffles. It works great. I never turn off the pump when I'm doing a water change. I attached a pic.

http://www.myreefaddictions.com/tankbuild/baffleredirect.jpg

[meschaefer]

That's funny, I was just looking at your sump plumbing either last night or this morning.

Are you are draining the water from the center of the "redirect", or do you have another drain.? If you are draining water from the "redirect", how does that stop your return pump from running dry?

[jknecht]

I drain the water from the right end. There is a ball valve on the other side of the pump; it's hard to see in the pic. It's connected start to a drain. I put the drain in the center of the redirect just in case I ever thought a use (I had PVC laying around) :)

[meschaefer]

While looking into the various ways I could set up my sump, I started thinking a little more about plumbing my system together.

The water will drain from two external overflows into my sump, with a "T" in in one of the drains so that I can gravity feed my skimmer. From the sump the water will be returned to the tank via a Sequence Refflo Dart. The water coming from the dart has to go to a manifold so that I can spread the flow out. Water not only needs to return to the display tank, but I would also like to feed my Phosban Reactor from it and eventually a chiller and a fuge/frag tank . These will be added within the next year, so i want to figure them into the whole design from the get go. Here is a plumbing diagram, that I created to help me think about the whole thing.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Plumbing.jpg

Obviously, the most critical link in the whole chain will be the manifold. It needs to be able to spread the flow from the Dart out to five different lines, and I will probably add a sixth just for good measure. Each one will have a ball valve on its output

I honestly, don't even know where to start. I think that the Dart has a 1.5 inch output leading into the manifold. The outputs will need to be varying sizes. 3/4 inch for the phosban, and I think one inch for everything else. Is is as simple as connecting a five or six PVC "t"s to each other.

Any ideas, pics or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[meschaefer]

One of the things I have been thinking about in terms of my lighting is using it more efficiently. In the past I ran my MH (2 x 175 over a 65g and a 75g) almost 10 hours a day. I think that this may have been overkill, especially over the 65g, and wasteful as I have noticed that many people are running them only 6 hours a day. I would like to start by only running the MH six hours a day. This leave me with the need for another light source to illuminate the tank for the other six hours.

I would consider adding a 4th MH to the system. I would then need to run MH for the entire day, as they would be the only source of light. I am worried about getting an even spread over a six foot tank, without having to run 3 -4 MH all the time. If I ran only two MH, I don't think that the spread would be even and the tank may look strange. Add in the fact that running two MH during the "supplmental" period, is running 500w an hour as opposed to 320w for 2x VHO or 156 for 2 x T5 (I am worried less about the money, as opposed to being efficient in terms of my electricity use so I am willing to lay out more money for more efficient use of light even if I never recoup the upfront cost..think carbon footprint it makes my wife happy).

If I go T5 or VHO, they will be mounted in front of, and behind the Lumnearc Reflectors. Because of the size of the reflector the lamps will be pretty close to the front and the back. As Pierce mentioned, T5 have a much more efficient reflector, which I believe translates into a tighter spread. So with T5 I am somewhat concerned with their ability to create an even spread across the width of the tank. Especially if I mixed bulbs to achieve a "better" color.

This also poses the question, do I need to run the supplmental lighting during the six hour burn of the MH. This comes down to two issues, one do the corals need that extra light and two does the color of my MH bulb just look plain ugly. I have looked at the 14k bulbs, but am concerned that they don't put out as much PAR as the 10K bulbs. Although I wouldn't need the supplemental lighting for the look, I may need to run it during the MH burn for the extra PAR, which would negate the reason for using a higher K bulb in the first place - to get the look I want without having to supplement.

[erics3000]

I think the color of the mh looks good. It really depends on your bulbs 10k 14k 20k. I think most people add supplement lighting just for extra color. I am using a 14k bulb and it has the perfect blue. It really depends what you like. Start with the mh and then you can add as go is the option I am going with.

[meschaefer]

Its been awhile since I uploaded some pics, but there wasn't much to show. BUT OH HAPPY DAY...THE TANK IS IN PLACE!

I had the tank stored in my friend's garage, so I needed to rent a van again to move it. I wasn't able to borrow suction cups again, but moving into the van was a piece of cake. I kept the frame we built last time, it to keep from sliding around the van, and everything fit into the van without a problem. Piece of cake.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/van.jpg

The hard part was when we got it to my place, as it needed to be brought around the side of my house and through a gate which is a very tight space. The suction cups would have been great from this point forward, but we muscled and made out ok. We kind of passed it through the gate and onto a furniture dolly and then rolled it through the gate while my wife placed another dolly underneath it.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/tightspace.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/tightspace2.jpg

We rolled it down the side of my house to a side door leading into the basement. In order to get it though the door, we had to tip it up on its side, rotate it around and then tip it through the door as there was no room to turn the tank. (did that make sense) These pictures where taken from a balcony over where we were working.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Tip.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Tipup.jpg

Shortly after this point my designated photographer (my wife's friend) had to leave so we don't have too may pictures from this point. After it was through the door, it went back onto the furniture dollies, and over to the the stand. The tank was picked up and passed through the hole in the wall and swiveled into place.

I then went upstairs and made dinner for everybody. When my wife went downstairs later, it hadn't taken long for the cat to hop in for a nap.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/cat.jpg

Anyway here is a pic of the tank in-wall, and a slightly blurry pic of the tank from behind.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/inwall2.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/rear.jpg

[pmjfuture]

nice tank. good luck.

[meschaefer]

Thanks,

The stand is not quite ready for water yet. I need to add some diagonal supports, and the center leg needs to be painted and installed with a T bracket. It will be removable so that I can pull the sump out if necessary.

[meschaefer]

Getting the tank in place has put some wind in my sails. I spent the better part of my evening organizing and gowing though my equipment. The RO/DI is in place, but I need a visit to HD before it can start filling my tank. Tomorrow I will stop ny the glass place near me to pick up glass for baffles. I orderd silcone, which came the other day and I am still awaiting dimond hole saws to cut the holes for the bulkheads. They should come tomorrow, I woud hope. (I ordered them the beggining of last week)

I just put in an order with Savko. After an hour of drawing out my plumbing (in mind numbing detail), it took me another half hour before I finished entering in my order. The final order had 57 individual items and came to $180.49 and that is before shipping. I won't get a shipping quote until the pack it. That's alot of PVC fittings and stuff.

[meschaefer]

Here is the plumbing diagram I drew out so I could figure out what I needed to oder. The second pic is a diagram I previously posted in order to show the general lay out of the plumbing, it may help decipher the first pic. Remember nothing in either one of these diagrams is to scale, or even consistent from one peice to the next. In the upper left hand corner are the durso stand pipes, and the piping running from the overflow is in the upper right hand corner. The plumbing running from the sump, to the sequence dart, and then the plumbing manifold is in the lower left hand corner.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/plumbing2.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Plumbing.jpg

[meschaefer]

ooh...the small annoyances of life.

I picked up the three glass panes to make baffles for my sump this morning. I brought them home and fit test them, and it turns out that two of the baffles are a tad bit long, the third is just a bit shorter than the other two and fits into place. I measure them and the two that are two long are 1/8 bigger than I asked for. So I bring them back to my glass guy who remeasures them, and they are dead on. Either my ruler or his, has a 1/8 margin of error (probably mine). Either way, the glass is to big so he cuts them down and regrinds the edges for me. He doesn't want to take any extra money, but I insist that I give him a few dollars more for his work.

I then check my e-mail and my Savko order will be here tomorrow. Unfortunately, they where out of stock on the 1" and 1.5" unions. They will be shipped separately, and I am not sure when they will arrive. The good news is that those pieces are not over important when it comes to getting everything set up. They can be the last thing done, and if need be the whole system could be up and running without them. They can be easily inserted into the system afterwards.

[meschaefer]

It was a big day for deliveries. Although I was out of my office all day, the wireless Vortech I ordered as allegedly delivered and signed for by the receptionist. It kind of makes me wish I had went in, but it will be waiting for me tomorrow and there is nothing I can do with it anyway. The other delivery was my order from Savko. As I mentioned earlier, the unions I need where out of stock and they will be delivered seperately. The first pic is the box right after I opened it.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/plumbingbox.jpg

I took everything out and laid it out on the floor in the general order that they need to be put together. By doing this I figured out that I screwed up my order a bit. Nothing major, and nothing that can't be easily picked up at home depot. That's what I get for placing my order late at night when I was a bit weary. The other problem I have is that when Savko shows you what you ordered to confirm, the site shows you a list of their product numbers and how many you ordered. Although I tried to go through it, I obviously couldn't handle the situation and as a result missed a few pieces and ordered a few pieces I didn't need.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Plumbingpieces.jpg

[meschaefer]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had a three pieces of glass cut to size to make baffles. Each piece was 23 x 17, made from 1/4 inch glass with the edges ground down. My sump is a standard size 120 gallon tank, it was reef ready and I cut the overflow out of it. I used pieces from the overflow to patch over the holes for the overflow, and to "even" out the bottom of the tank caused by bracing.

I used a square to line up each of the baffles before sealing them into place with GE 1200 Construction Silicone which was recommended to me as being "reef safe" and which is allegedly used by a major custom tank manufacture. A little bit of painters tape held the baffle in place while I used a caulking gun to apply the silicone.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/square.jpg

The center baffle was the toughest, as it needed to be raised up into place. Each baffle is spaced 2 inches apart, and the center baffle is raised two inches off the bottom of the tank. I used a piece of pink insulation as a spacer and a place for the baffle to rest while the silicone dried overnight. In order to silicone the side between the center and outside baffle, I put silicone on the baffle and then used a spoon attached to a stick to smear it into place.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/spacing.jpg

I then put the third baffle into place. Tomorrow I will cut the holes for the bulkheads.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/top.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/baffles.jpg

[meschaefer]

I was able to cut the holes for the bulkheads in my sump. I needed to cut two holes, one for a 2 inch bulkhead and the other for a 1.5 inch bulkhead. After allot of research on how to make the cuts, I decided to make a dam so that the hole could be cut in some water which will help keep the saw and glass cool.

I had wanted to make a dam out of clay but I forgot to pick it up when I was out of the house, so I took some flour and water and made some dough. The dough worked pretty good, but for the second cut I just made a dam out of some flour which believe it or not worked allot better.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/dough.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/flour.jpg

This is the bit I used to cut the hole for the 1.5 inch bulkhead, it was fairly inexpensive running me about $5. It was shipped straight from Hong Kong.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/bit.jpg

The problem with getting the hole started is that the bit wants to "walk". I used two clamps to act as guides while I got the hole started.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/flourguids.jpg

I went real slow, and didn't let my drill pick up too much speed. Each hole took me at least 10 minutes to cut.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/hole.jpg

After that was done I screwed on the bulkheads and put the sump into place. This is the finished product. Look at a that starphire...it really makes a difference.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/SumpinPlace.jpg

I was able to make allot of progress this weekend. I sheetrocked the area behind the sump, finished of the wall and got two coats of paint on it. I got the sump into place, reinforced the stand a bit and I am starting to fill the display tank with water. I figure it will take almost 4 days to get the sump and display tank filled with RO/DI water. Once it is full, I will add salt and get all the pumps moving to mix it up. Now I just need to finish off the plumbing.

[mrpet]

hey matt where did you get those blue tubs for water storage?
and how much h20 to they hold...looking good well thought out.
scott

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10972960#post10972960 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mrpet
hey matt where did you get those blue tubs for water storage?
and how much h20 to they hold...looking good well thought out.
scott

You would need to ask jknecht, that is a picture of his setup.

[meschaefer]

Hooray... I am done with plumbing.

The first pic is a full tank shot from behind. You can see that I used a combination of SpaFlex and PVC.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/back.jpg

The next pic shows the return pump. That is a Reeflo Dart that has a true union coming from a 2" bulkhead on the sump. On the out side of the pump, is a 1.5" true union that exits to 1.5" Spaflex on its way to a plumbing manifold.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Dart.jpg

The next two pics show the manifold. It is made from 5 x 1.5" "T"s. The first one has a 3/4" ball valve that is reserved for future use. The next two ball valves return water back to the tank. They are 1" ball valves and I used Spaflex for the run to the returns ,with unions on either end. The last two are 3/4" ball valves connected to 1/2" hose barbs. These are to run a Phosban reactor and a Carbon reactor.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/ManifoldSide.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Manifold.jpg


You can see I have an external overflow which takes two 1.5" bulkheads. Each of these then goes to a union. The right side bulkhead goes directly to the sump, while the left side is "t"d off with one side reduced to 1/2" with another ball valve and then a 3/4" hose barb. This allows me to gravity feed the skimmer.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Return.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Skimmer-1.jpg

I must say that I put alot of thought about this and was worried that I was making it more complicated then it had to be. I planned it out, and was nervous to turn the pump on. When I did everything worked as planned. Now I just need to make final adjustments to my salinity and I should get my rock in tomorrow.

[jknecht]

The blue barrels are from usplastics.com. They hold 55 gallons. One of them holds fresh RO/DI water and the other holds saltwater.

I checked their site and it doesn't look like they still carry the same version I have (I bought mine in '05). I looked up my order and here is the info. However they have others to choose from.

SKU # 74216 55 Gallon Open Head Drum for Liquids 22.5" x 35.375" UN# 1H2/Y1.2/100

[meschaefer]

I did all of my rock work yesterday, and I will try and get pics up tonight. My wife was on my computer last night and I couldn't upload them.

When I put the new Marco Rock in the tank, I only rinsed them somewhat cursorily. This morning I could smell the tank from the first floor of my house (tank is in the basement). When I went down to take a look, the bubbles in the first chamber of the sump had turned the sump into a protein skimmer. The amount of skimate floating on top of my sump would put the best beckett skimmer to shame. I didn't have time to take a picture, assuming it looks the same if not worse, when I get home I will take a pic and post it.

Good thing I wasn't planning on adding any livestock for a couple of weeks. I need to pick up ammonia and nitrite test kits, so I can follow the cycle. I haven't owned an ammonia test kit in about six years.

[meschaefer]

You beckett guys need to get a "real" skimmer, introducing my Glass Cages 120. What you see is a little bit more than 24 hours worth of skimming. Look at that foam, your beckett or needle wheel can't compete.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/sumpskimmer2.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/sumpskimmer.jpg

[meschaefer]

I did all of my aquascaping yesterday. I was working with about 88lbs of Marco Rock and probably around a 100lbs Fiji that I had from my prior tank. I started by spreading all of my rock out on the floor so that I could see what I had to work with. ( Actually this wasn't all of the rock, I had a number of smaller pieces laid out in another part of the basement, but I didn't use them)

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/laidout.jpg

The last thing I wanted to do was start putting in rock, only to have to pull it out again or move it around inside of the tank because I didn't like the way it looked. So I decided to build my rock structures outside of the tank. I started by taping out the footprint of my tank on the floor, and built the structure within the foot print.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/outline.jpg

I wanted allot of swimming room, because I plan on allot of fish in this tank, my previous tanks had very little fish as I was always afraid that I didn't have any room. I decided to use PVC rods to help support the structure. This allowed me to build taller column like structures, without the need of a very big base. I choose some of my bigger rocks to acts as bases and strategically drilled holes in them to hold the PVC rods. I then drill a hole straight through the next rock and stacked them over the PVC rods. This took a little playing around, but I eventually ended up with a structure that I found aesthetically pleasing.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/rods.jpg

Once I was done with the structures, I carefully took them apart making note of how they went back together and rebuilt them in the tank. This is what I ended up with.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/rockwork.jpg

[SVTour]

Nice, I like the shelves you have created with the rock work and I'm a big fan of the canyon look too :thumbsup:

Have you decided anything for the front of the tank yet (molding, etc?)

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11029264#post11029264 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SVTour
Nice, I like the shelves you have created with the rock work and I'm a big fan of the canyon look too :thumbsup:

Have you decided anything for the front of the tank yet (molding, etc?)

What you don't like what i have done with the front?

I need to do a little work to patch up the Sheetrock and then some big thick, heavy molding. I have to admit that it is not a priority at the moment, as the basement is somewhat empty, but my wife has been shopping for couches to put in front of the tank. Once those are on the way, molding will climb up the priority ladder.

[meschaefer]

OK... a little over 24 hours after the rock went in I did my first set of water tests. They where limited, I only tested ammonia, nitrate and phosphate.

Ammonia - 1.0 (that should get the cycle going)
Nitrite - 0.0
Phosphate .71 -

I also got my skimmer up and running, and tomorrow I am going to try and get my phosban reactor running.

[SVTour]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11029306#post11029306 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by meschaefer
What you don't like what i have done with the front?


Well, I think the drywall, wood, and pink styrofoam look has been played a little much...not that you didn't pull it off well though ;)

BTW, I see you stated you have a Glass Cages 120 skimmer...where did you get that? I looked on there website and saw nothing (could be my blindness though).

EDIT: oh, dumba$$ me...I get it now. :o :lol:

[yoboyjdizz]

Rock islands look good. Can't wait to see what they look like in a few months with coral and color growth on them!

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11029419#post11029419 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SVTour
Well, I think the drywall, wood, and pink styrofoam look has been played a little much...not that you didn't pull it off well though ;)

BTW, I see you stated you have a Glass Cages 120 skimmer...where did you get that? I looked on there website and saw nothing (could be my blindness though).

EDIT: oh, dumba$$ me...I get it now. :o :lol:

At least you got it.

I think your right on the drywall, wood and pink styrofoam look, I pulled it off good, but need to move on.

[meschaefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11030147#post11030147 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yoboyjdizz
Rock islands look good. Can't wait to see what they look like in a few months with coral and color growth on them!

Neither can I. At least now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, as opposed to looking at an empty glass box.

[Felix1021]

nice rock work

[meschaefer]

After 48+ hours - the newest round of tests:

Ammonia: 2.0 (1.0 yesterday)
Nitrate: 0.0 (no change)

The water is pretty cloudy and has a yellow tint to it, although I didn't get my phosban reactor up and running, I did get my carbon reactor going. That should help with the yellow tint. My skimmer is going nuts too.

[SVTour]

The rock from your old tank...did it had a ton of dead stuff in it?

[meschaefer]

The rock from my old tank was "cooked, i.e. kept submerged in saltwater without light and a pump to provide circulation. That rock should be fully cured. Whatever ammonia I am seeing has to be from the Marco rock.

While the Marco rock, is absolutely fantastic, it does need to be cured and cycled. Others I know who have used Marco rock have had to go through the same process. If I had, had the time and the wherewithal I would have "cooked" the marco rock as well.

[meschaefer]

Another 24 hours, for a total of 72 hours and ...

Ammonia is at 2.0 (same as yesterday)
Nitrate is at .25 (.00 yesterday)


The carbon has really helped to pull out some of the yellow in the water and my skimmer has calmed down a bit. I had to open the air valves a little bit, but not allot and it is still pulling allot skimmate out of the tank. I still need to get that phosban reactor online.

[Bax]

Very nice work so far. Your planning is paying off.

It's too bad about the fire that started this project off, but in the end great that nothing more serious happened. And kudos to your wife for allowing another fire hazard in that house after the first incident!

[meschaefer]

I don't know to what extent anybody cares about my daily water tests during the cycle, but this is a good place for me to keep track of it.

After 96+ hours,

Ammonia about 1.5 (2.0 yesterday)
Nitrite .5 (.25 yesterday)
Phosphate .96 (.71 3 days ago)

The ammonia is coming down, while the nitrite is on its way up which tells my that the cycle is well on its way, which makes sense because half the rock was fully cured to begin with. It does appear that phosphates are increasing, and I don't know if that is leeching from the rock or due to the breakdown of organic matter. Either way I need to get my phosban reactor up and running. Maybe tomorrow.

[meschaefer]

I was kind of busy the last few days and didn't get much done until today, and even then what I got done was minor.

The first thing I did was to build durso standpipes. I would have had them done last week, but I was short one 1.5 inch T. I picked that up today and then it was just a matter of fine tuning them a bit.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/Durso.jpg

I also needed to get my Phosban reactor up and running. I had two problems; I didn't have the right size hose to go from the plumbing manifold to the reactor, and I had no way to support the reactor in the sump. The hose was easy enough, took care of that at HD. I also picked up some misc. PVC fittings and made a rack to hod my phosban and carbon reactors. I am using PhoSar from Warner marine, and I am starting out with a 125g. I am not worried about starting out at full strength as I don't have any corals to bother. If the tank was established I would start out with a quarter that amount and slowly work up the dosage. I changed out my carbon as it seems to have exhausted itself (water is still yellow and has not cleared up anymore in the last few days).

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/ReactorRack.jpg

Finally, I also removed a small amount of live rock from my display tank and put into the sump with the rest of my rock. The columns where two tall so I removed the top layer of rock. This gives me broad flat areas with plenty of room to mount corals to. The way it was before cut down on allot of usable space. Here is a before and after shot.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/rockwork.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/NewRock.jpg

Water tests after one week since the introduction of the rock are as follows:

Ammonia 1.0
Nitrite 5.0 (top limit of test)
Nitrate 100 (top limit of test)
Phosphate 1.07
Salinity 1.021

[jrcastro]

Nice looking setup so far.
I have some questions:
What is the pink layer of material under the tank?
& what is it used for? Leveling possibly?

[meschaefer]

The pink material is Styrofoam type insulation. It is not really used for leveling, but rather is there to prevent any pressure points on the bottom of the glass.

By example, if a piece of sand got under the tank when it was being installed, between the glass and the wood of the stand, it would create a significant amount of "point" pressure on the bottom of the tank which could lead to cracking. With the Styrofoam between the tank and the stand, that same grain of sand would be pushed into the Styrofoam alleviating the point pressure.

[jrcastro]

Ok i get it.
Do you have a plastic trim on the bottom of your tank?

[meschaefer]

There is a thin plastic trim that runs along the bottom edge.

[meschaefer]

I got just a little bit more done last night. After running 125g of PhoSar from Warner Marine for twenty four hours, my phosphate level dropped from 1.07 to .76.

Aside from doing the phosphate test, I added 150lbs of ESV coarse grade sand to the tank. I would love to have a picture for you, but even with rinsing it off the tank clouded completely over.

It was no better this morning, and it seems to have completely killed off my skimmer as it is pulling nothing out. The only mechanical filtration is some filter floss in my carbon reactor. If it is not much better when I get home, I will fill my carbon and phosphate reactors with filter floss and let them run for a few days.

[meschaefer]

Tank was still cloudy, so I pulled out both the carbon and the phosphate reactor and filled them with filter floss and increased the flow through them.

I also noticed that the amount of water coming out of my skimmer had slowed to a trickle, so I closed the ball valve where it is t'd off from the overflow and disconnected the skimmer. I cleaned out the hose running to the skimmer, there was a big chunk of crap in it that was slowing the flow to the skimmer.

I was impressed with my own planning as all this took me no more than 10 minutes. It is so nice not to have to work bent over with my head in a small cabinet, and to have all of the plumbing easily accessible. To do the same thing on my old 65g would have taken at least 1/2 hour if not much longer and I would have made a mess doing it.

[meschaefer]

I was away for a week or so, so not much has been done on the tank. At this point the tank has been cycling for three weeks, and it was almost done when I left for Las Vegas. I didn't test it today, but expect the levels should be fine.

I was at Pets Warehouse this morning and couldn't resist picking up two female Genicanthus Lamarck (Lamarck's Angel). I want to stock a number of angels from this group and this seemed like a good place to start.

As with many fish, in the absence of a male one should turn into a female whether I can get them to pair is another story. I will give the sales guy credit, he thought I might have trouble with the two in one tank fighting and wanted to know about my tank. I had done aloft of research into Genicanthus Angels, and have come across many good stories of people pairing them up, and not allot of negative ones. Hopefully this will work out for me, as I feel that I have done my homework on them.

Right now they are in quarantine (20 L), with allot of supervision in case it I do have troubles, at which point the quarantine will be divided.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/lamarks.jpg

The one to the upper right is much larger than the other, has been much more active than the smaller fish. I don't think this is due to aggression as I have kept a close eye on them. They will stay in quarantine for 1 -2 weeks.

[meschaefer]

This is a close up of the tail of the larger one, I really like the poka dot markings on the tails. This is the same picture as above but cropped and at full resolution, its hard to get a pic of this guy as he is really active.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/lamarks2.jpg

[meschaefer]

Tragedy has struck, as I have lost the larger of the two Lammarcks Angels. This happened the night before last, but the smaller of the two is doing great. He is active and eagerly eats when fed.

I am a bit concerned about why I lost the larger one. Although I had less than 48 hours when he passed, he seemed to be doing much better than the smaller one and if one of them was not going to make it I thought it would have been the smaller.

Both fish where in quarantine, I have always had trouble QT fish so any help would be appreciated.

I used a a 20 gallon long glass tank, with a tunze nanostream for circulation and a small heater that I had lying around (I don't know the size). Also in the tank where three lengths of PVC (2 x 2" and 1 x 1.5") that where bundled together to give them a place to hide.

I filled the tank with water from my display tank. Before using the water I tested it for Ammonia and Nitrite both of which tested zero on two little fishes test kits. Salinity was 1.021. I acclimated both fish over an approximate three hour period, by placing each into a large container with the water from the LFS. Approximately every 15-20 minutes I added some water from my diplay tank. The fish then went into the QT along with the water that I acclimated them in. When all was done, the QT had about 15 gallons of water in it.

Fish seemed to be doing very well, so I tried feeding them a little mysis shrimp later that night and while they both chased down the food they promptly spit it back out. I then took a small net and scooped out most if not all of the food I had fed them.

When I went to bed that night the smaller of the two seemed a little sluggish, but the larger was actively swimming around the QT tank, same thing when I woke up the next morning. I checked on them early afternoon, the smaller fish still seemed sluggish but the larger one was "breathing" very heavily and appeared to be "panting". I once again tested the water. Ammonia was now at .25 and Nitrite was 0. I changed out 1/3 of the water in the QT. When I checked back 1/2 hour later, the larger of the two was laying on its side, there was no change in the smaller.

At this point I kind of freaked out and decided that the best thing to do was to place both fish into the display tank. As I said above I have always had problems with QT and in the past had abandoned them all together. I was trying to turn a new leaf with this tank, but when tragedy struck I fell back to a comfortable position.

About an hour later they both appeared to be doing better. The smaller was more active and the larger was no longer lying on its side, but it still appeared to be breathing heavy. I checked on them multiple time throughout the day, without any improvement. When I checked on them before going to bed the though, the large one had died but the smaller one seemed no worse for wear. The next morning (yeasterday) and last night he was out and about in the display tank and eagerly eating mysis and cyclopeze.

As stated above I completely forgot to check PH throughout this event. Otherwise I am not sure what it is that I did wrong. As I said, I have always had problems with QT. Since I am just starting to stock a fairly large tank I wanted to "do it right" and QT everything that went into the tank.

Any thought would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[meschaefer]

Been awhile since I updated the thread, but I have been busy and few strides have been made. This past weekend I put together a filter sock rack, made from 3/4 inch PVC. It is fairly simple in design and concept, as you can see the "top" of the rack is a bit smaller than the ring on the filter sock, which keeps it from falling through.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/FilterSocks.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/FilterSocks2.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/FilterSocks1.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa61/meschaefer2/FilterSocks3.jpg

What you see is really version #2. The first concept was to use a piece of eggcrate as a top, which had a hole cut out of it that was to hold the collar on the sock. The problem was that the filter sock was to easily caught on the eggcrate as you removed it.

[Kannin]

Hey Matt,

Thanks for the advice on the overdue Banggaii. We have the same tank. Miracles 220 with external overflow. I got mine used too... and built it around the same time as you. Even used Marco rocks.

Any updates???

[meschaefer]

Wow- hard to imagine it has been six months since I updated this thread. Time flies when your busy. I have been thinking of an update, as I just received my supplemental lighting and orderd a chiller.

Update to follow.