Bob's Aquarium Build - Page 2

bellis31 · 11/03/2011, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThaBeast

Well Done, especially for a new reefer!

Thank you! As I said in the beginning I owe all I know to these forums and everyone here. This place is a wealth of information!

rogermccray · 11/03/2011, 05:28 AM

Looks very nice.

I would check out reefcleaners, like stated before but only order like 1/4 - 1/2 of the quick crew they suggest.

I have a 215 gallon tank and I ordered half the 180 gallon crew and still had a decent amount of snails that died. I'm assuming that they died because of lack of food.

aarond419 · 11/03/2011, 06:57 AM

looks good so far man very nice and clean looking tank

bellis31 · 11/03/2011, 11:00 AM

Thank you all for the nice responses!!

I have to say managing an un-cycled QT is a bit of a pain, word of advice make sure to suck out any un-eaten food and really watch ammonia. Once these guys are in the DT I am going to keep a sponge handy in the sump for the QT so I have a little ammonia control.

My new fish are well but only because I am right on top of the water changes.

bellis31 · 11/03/2011, 11:43 AM

I just read some about the product Amquel for controlling ammonia, I will pick some of this up today.

For those that use this product in the QT do you dose it everyday? Or just when you see ammonia?? I am not medicating any products into the QT at this time all fish are healthy so far!

bellis31 · 11/03/2011, 03:30 PM

Dosed in some Amquel, this stuff works really well showing 0 Ammonia a couple hrs after dosing.

bellis31 · 11/03/2011, 06:57 PM

FTS as of tonight... All 4 T5 bulbs on..

bellis31 · 11/04/2011, 10:26 AM

Todays water parameters are interesting, seems like the cycle is moving pretty fast...

Ammonia 0.25-
Nitrites 1.0-
Nitrates 5.0+

Tahoe69 · 11/04/2011, 01:49 PM

wow very clean built man props on how organized everything is! if u told me you were new to reefing id laugh at u! got me tagging along

bellis31 · 11/06/2011, 11:10 AM

So I tested Ammonia and Nitrites this morning and both read 0... Testing Nitrates now... Nitrates are 10 to 20 (those two oranges look alike to me)

Once I do a water change I would like to add some snails to the DT and a hermit to the fuge, but I have a question.

I cycled with live rock, sand and a raw shrimp from the store, when can I remove the raw shrimp?

14 day cycle nice... I have had others take 2 months.. :-( This was a nice surprise...

borderreef · 11/06/2011, 01:23 PM

I'd leave the shrimp for the hermit. It won't last long.

bellis31 · 11/07/2011, 10:03 AM

Now that my cycle is over, I am cleaning out sand and debris from the sump, cleaning everything, glass, pumps and doing my 25% water change. Once that's all done I am off to the LFS for some CUC....

I'm going to dump the raw shrimp I used for cycling into the fuge and let the hermit eat it all up!! It should also provide food for anything living on the live rock in there.

My main tank is at the brown algae stage so I cant wait to see it cleaned up a bit, it's kinda ugly.. Having the lights on seems to make it a whole lot worse...

I'll post pics of critters later today!

I almost forgot to add that I picked up a skimmer today, I bought the SC 150 Skimmer on Ebay, wow what deal... This is definitely a budget skimmer but it's design is similar to the SWC 150 BMK that I was going to purchase anyways and it uses the exact same pump. For the price it's worth a try..

bellis31 · 11/07/2011, 12:40 PM

More pictures...!! We have had some good... now for some bad... Algae is so ugly!!

bellis31 · 11/07/2011, 03:42 PM

Went and picked up a small CUC.. very small. 10 Asterina Snails and 5 Nassarius snails and 2 blue leg hermits for the fuge!

I'm gonna give these guys a week or so and see how they do!

bellis31 · 11/08/2011, 10:50 AM

So my CUC is doing a bang up job on cleaning up the rocks, in a week I imagine it should be pretty clean. Makes me glad I did not go with more than 15 snails, one died so I am now at 14.

My QT of the clowns is coming along well. When I received them from PETCO the salinity was 1.015 and my QT was at 1.017, (kept it low until I knew LFS salinity) very slowly by allowing the salinity to raise through evaporation and topping off with saltwater I have been able to raise the salinity in 7 days to 1.021. I should be able to hit 1.025 in another 7-10 days. I think this is slow enough not to cause harm to my clowns.

Tomorrow I will be doing a water change and a prevent treatment of PraziPro for worms, I just want to be sure there are no internal worms causing me problems. I know this is really the minimum when it comes to QT parasite prevention but the fish seem very well after 8 days, and taking it slow and cautious is just how I am.

bellis31 · 11/08/2011, 09:37 PM

These snails are kinda cool...

joejoe1055 · 11/08/2011, 10:05 PM

looking good
i've subscribed looking forward to the journey

crankbait · 11/08/2011, 10:07 PM

Dude awesome build. Taging along. Brings up a questiom though. I just bought a used cab and canopy the guy had a closed back like yours and developed a little bit of a mold problem in the cabinet. He even put in a PC fan but told me that if he would have to do it over he would have built it without a back. Anyone eles have this problem? Im thinking about removing the back before i move it in and set it up

bellis31 · 11/08/2011, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crankbait

Dude awesome build. Taging along. Brings up a questiom though. I just bought a used cab and canopy the guy had a closed back like yours and developed a little bit of a mold problem in the cabinet. He even put in a PC fan but told me that if he would have to do it over he would have built it without a back. Anyone eles have this problem? Im thinking about removing the back before i move it in and set it up

Hmm.. I had not hear that one before.... It is vented with 3 holes one for the overflow, one for the return, and one for electrical cords, I have been thinking about adding one or two exhaust fans on the left side above the sump. It's not really gonna matter until I make the doors though.

Thanks for tagging along!!

rogermccray · 11/09/2011, 07:45 AM

nice Clean Up Crew.

You should check out Fighting Conch, I really like mine, he is a little creepy but that's what I like about him

bellis31 · 11/09/2011, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogermccray

nice Clean Up Crew.

You should check out Fighting Conch, I really like mine, he is a little creepy but that's what I like about him

I was going to get one but I simply don't have enough algae for it yet. The 15 snails I bought have already cleaned up almost all the brown algae growing on the rocks.

I do plan on getting one later..

bellis31 · 11/09/2011, 11:05 AM

Just finished my big water change on the QT(10g's) and fed the little tikes really well, then dosed the QT with PraziPro. If they have any worm like parasites they will be toast now..

I also dropped the dead snail I had from my CUC into the fuge and one of the hermits already took his shell!

Almost forgot one more little tidbit here... My Protein Skimmer comes today! Woop Woop!!

Chubby · 11/09/2011, 11:48 AM

Great so far, love the Aquascape.
Chubbs

jacob.morgan78 · 11/09/2011, 02:52 PM

cool to follow along... thanks for the updates!

bellis31 · 11/10/2011, 05:14 PM

Ok I recieved my SC-150 Skimmer last night from Fedex around 9:30pm (why fedex why) anyways it arrived in great condition only one little piece had broken off and it was only a gusset for the bottom of the stand. I super glued that back on and then went to put the piece on the front of the pump and oops... it's does not fit, it's at least a 1/16 off just enough to keep me from getting it on there.

So this morning I headed to HD to find something to remedy the situation and I was able to find a sink drain pipe that fit exactly into the Atman pump inlet and allowed the blue piece with the airline to fit over it, problem solved. I cut the thing down to size (it was 12 inches long) and fit it onto the Skimmer Pump and popped it all into the SUMP.. sounds easy right... WRONG.. my plumbing is a bit too close so I had to angle my over flow pipe just a bit and now it fits fine.

It's created a ton of micro bubbles but I am told that happens with new tanks and it will settle down once it breaks in.

Here's a couple pics...

11/03/2011, 11:00 AM	#29
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	Thank you all for the nice responses!! I have to say managing an un-cycled QT is a bit of a pain, word of advice make sure to suck out any un-eaten food and really watch ammonia. Once these guys are in the DT I am going to keep a sponge handy in the sump for the QT so I have a little ammonia control. My new fish are well but only because I am right on top of the water changes. __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/03/2011, 11:43 AM	#30
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	I just read some about the product Amquel for controlling ammonia, I will pick some of this up today. For those that use this product in the QT do you dose it everyday? Or just when you see ammonia?? I am not medicating any products into the QT at this time all fish are healthy so far! __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/03/2011, 03:30 PM	#31
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	Dosed in some Amquel, this stuff works really well showing 0 Ammonia a couple hrs after dosing. __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/03/2011, 06:57 PM	#32
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	FTS as of tonight... All 4 T5 bulbs on.. __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/04/2011, 10:26 AM	#33
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	Todays water parameters are interesting, seems like the cycle is moving pretty fast... Ammonia 0.25- Nitrites 1.0- Nitrates 5.0+ __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/03/2011, 05:28 AM	#27
rogermccray Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,050	Looks very nice. I would check out reefcleaners, like stated before but only order like 1/4 - 1/2 of the quick crew they suggest. I have a 215 gallon tank and I ordered half the 180 gallon crew and still had a decent amount of snails that died. I'm assuming that they died because of lack of food.

11/03/2011, 06:57 AM	#28
aarond419 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 75	looks good so far man very nice and clean looking tank

11/04/2011, 01:49 PM	#34
Tahoe69 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Lake Tahoe Posts: 309	wow very clean built man props on how organized everything is! if u told me you were new to reefing id laugh at u! got me tagging along

11/06/2011, 11:10 AM	#35
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	So I tested Ammonia and Nitrites this morning and both read 0... Testing Nitrates now... Nitrates are 10 to 20 (those two oranges look alike to me) Once I do a water change I would like to add some snails to the DT and a hermit to the fuge, but I have a question. I cycled with live rock, sand and a raw shrimp from the store, when can I remove the raw shrimp? 14 day cycle nice... I have had others take 2 months.. :-( This was a nice surprise... __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM Last edited by bellis31; 11/06/2011 at 11:56 AM. Reason: Added Nitrate numbers

11/06/2011, 01:23 PM	#36
borderreef Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: east brookfield, ma Posts: 572	I'd leave the shrimp for the hermit. It won't last long.

11/07/2011, 10:03 AM	#37
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	Now that my cycle is over, I am cleaning out sand and debris from the sump, cleaning everything, glass, pumps and doing my 25% water change. Once that's all done I am off to the LFS for some CUC.... I'm going to dump the raw shrimp I used for cycling into the fuge and let the hermit eat it all up!! It should also provide food for anything living on the live rock in there. My main tank is at the brown algae stage so I cant wait to see it cleaned up a bit, it's kinda ugly.. Having the lights on seems to make it a whole lot worse... I'll post pics of critters later today! I almost forgot to add that I picked up a skimmer today, I bought the SC 150 Skimmer on Ebay, wow what deal... This is definitely a budget skimmer but it's design is similar to the SWC 150 BMK that I was going to purchase anyways and it uses the exact same pump. For the price it's worth a try.. __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM Last edited by bellis31; 11/07/2011 at 10:35 AM.

11/07/2011, 12:40 PM	#38
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	More pictures...!! We have had some good... now for some bad... Algae is so ugly!! __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/07/2011, 03:42 PM	#39
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	Went and picked up a small CUC.. very small. 10 Asterina Snails and 5 Nassarius snails and 2 blue leg hermits for the fuge! I'm gonna give these guys a week or so and see how they do! __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/08/2011, 10:50 AM	#40
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	So my CUC is doing a bang up job on cleaning up the rocks, in a week I imagine it should be pretty clean. Makes me glad I did not go with more than 15 snails, one died so I am now at 14. My QT of the clowns is coming along well. When I received them from PETCO the salinity was 1.015 and my QT was at 1.017, (kept it low until I knew LFS salinity) very slowly by allowing the salinity to raise through evaporation and topping off with saltwater I have been able to raise the salinity in 7 days to 1.021. I should be able to hit 1.025 in another 7-10 days. I think this is slow enough not to cause harm to my clowns. Tomorrow I will be doing a water change and a prevent treatment of PraziPro for worms, I just want to be sure there are no internal worms causing me problems. I know this is really the minimum when it comes to QT parasite prevention but the fish seem very well after 8 days, and taking it slow and cautious is just how I am. __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/08/2011, 09:37 PM	#41
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	These snails are kinda cool... __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/08/2011, 10:05 PM	#42
joejoe1055 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: cullman,Alabama Posts: 739	looking good i've subscribed looking forward to the journey __________________ grrrrr Current Tank Info: 180 reef in progress

11/08/2011, 10:07 PM	#43
crankbait Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Tulsa ok Posts: 180	Dude awesome build. Taging along. Brings up a questiom though. I just bought a used cab and canopy the guy had a closed back like yours and developed a little bit of a mold problem in the cabinet. He even put in a PC fan but told me that if he would have to do it over he would have built it without a back. Anyone eles have this problem? Im thinking about removing the back before i move it in and set it up

11/09/2011, 07:45 AM	#45
rogermccray Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 1,050	nice Clean Up Crew. You should check out Fighting Conch, I really like mine, he is a little creepy but that's what I like about him

11/09/2011, 11:05 AM	#47
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	Just finished my big water change on the QT(10g's) and fed the little tikes really well, then dosed the QT with PraziPro. If they have any worm like parasites they will be toast now.. I also dropped the dead snail I had from my CUC into the fuge and one of the hermits already took his shell! Almost forgot one more little tidbit here... My Protein Skimmer comes today! Woop Woop!! __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

11/09/2011, 11:48 AM	#48
Chubby Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Miami Posts: 67	Great so far, love the Aquascape. Chubbs

11/09/2011, 02:52 PM	#49
jacob.morgan78 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Farmville, VA Posts: 1,184	cool to follow along... thanks for the updates!

11/10/2011, 05:14 PM	#50
bellis31 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sacramento, Ca Posts: 1,021	Ok I recieved my SC-150 Skimmer last night from Fedex around 9:30pm (why fedex why) anyways it arrived in great condition only one little piece had broken off and it was only a gusset for the bottom of the stand. I super glued that back on and then went to put the piece on the front of the pump and oops... it's does not fit, it's at least a 1/16 off just enough to keep me from getting it on there. So this morning I headed to HD to find something to remedy the situation and I was able to find a sink drain pipe that fit exactly into the Atman pump inlet and allowed the blue piece with the airline to fit over it, problem solved. I cut the thing down to size (it was 12 inches long) and fit it onto the Skimmer Pump and popped it all into the SUMP.. sounds easy right... WRONG.. my plumbing is a bit too close so I had to angle my over flow pipe just a bit and now it fits fine. It's created a ton of micro bubbles but I am told that happens with new tanks and it will settle down once it breaks in. Here's a couple pics... __________________ 80g Custom + 29g Sump BM Curve 5 Skimmer - Eheim 1262 Return Pump 2 Vortech MP10wes + 2 Vortech MP40wes 2 Radion G3's + Apex Jr Controller + WXM

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
New to forum!!! 150 gallon +40 Gallon sump Build!!!!!	curryb15	Large Reef Tanks	15	04/30/2012 09:01 AM
120 Starfire Ocean Slice Build	Meercat_Maric	Reef Discussion	27	01/02/2012 07:29 PM
New Here 150 Gallon build!	curryb15	Long Island Reef Association (LIRA)	32	08/21/2011 10:40 PM
New 55 Gallon Reef Aquarium Build	Coasterfrk	New to the Hobby	116	03/31/2011 01:36 PM
Building my first Reef Aquarium.	handbananna	Arizona - Fish & Reef Aquarium Group (FRAG)	12	01/21/2011 10:07 AM