Very nice! This reveal was definitely not disappointing. Although, this is just the beginning. You still have that empty canvas to paint :-D

Thanks guys.

Bit of a setback tonight but not too bad. I got Greg's old ro/di unit up and running but realized the di gasket was cracked and no good and the di cartridge that he also gave me was not re-fillable. I'd hav ordered one if i'd known.

My tds meter says the ro membrane is putting out 0-1 tds so i am going ahead and filling the tank without the di working for now. I quickly tested the incoming calgary water with the same inline probe and it was 280 so I think it's working...

Yes I plan to have all the less light hungry stuff under the shelves.

As I was leaning over into the tank and lowering some of these I had flashbacks to when I dropped a rock in my much smaller cichlid tank back in the day and blew the bottom out on it. 3rd floor of an appt too!

Definitely will be needing a few seed pieces. I'll see you soon! Should I let the tank run with saltwater for a while before tossing the seed rock in or can I do that asap? After my tank is nice and pod-infested etc I will sell the rock since I have no plans to add to my current layout.

You can always keep the extra rock in the sump.

Also, I think you can add the extra rock pretty much anytime.

Thanks Tony.

I have one large and one small piece in my 10 gallon fuge and the rest of the space is for chaeto. I really have no room in the sump for any rock unless I pile it above my heaters which are laying in my small return compartment.

Actually they might solve my microbubble problem without me adding a sponge guard like I was going to try. Only issue is that is a small space and my topoff area is small as it is. Tossing rock in it will mean a day's evaporation will really knock it down (if my ATO ever failed).

Good news about the live rock! I'll grab a few pieces as soon as my salt has circulated a day.

Oh - yeah - nix the sponge idea (IMO...)

I'll feel better too about ordering all that rock. I kicked myself when I had the aquascape done and had *really* only used the shelf pieces and maybe 3 or 4 more small boulders lol.

Had some time to kill at work today and found your build thread...very impressive. I am currently planning a teardown and rebuild on an in-wall with a fish room behind it. I have a question for you, knowing what you have done to date, is there anything you would change in your build procedure? I am just in the drawing stages for my fish room and always looking for what people that have gone through builds would do different if anything.

Can't let my wife see this:

- starphire on three sides
- black tinted glass for back pane (avoid overfow area being different color)
- wider external overflow
- 8 feet long rather than 6
- lower stand 6 inches and make tank 30" tall
- Tile up the bottom 6" of glass though so the floor of the tank dissapears
- have sumps etc built for me to increase safety
- find way to eliminate center post in stand

I wonder what my wife will say when I start cutting the hole in the wall for the tank, probably not much, but I will be ducking a lot and sleeping with my eyes open....:lol:

Ok hopefully everyone's browser will support the network cam I installed. You should see my webcam right in the thread below this text.

If you watch long enough you can see the ro/di level go up it's the AWESOME! You guys watch and tell me what you think.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/cam.jpg

Oh the excitement!

Going with a sandbed eh? I gotta say I don't blame you. I understand the betterness of no sandbed but man I can't get wrap my head around the look, it just looks better with sand. At least when it's all nice and clean anyhow.. :p

Nope, your Ro's busted LOL

Yeah my first tank was BB and I hate the look. I'll do whatever it takes to keep sand. Going to get an eheim sludge extractor for vacuuming.

Dude be patient. You gotta stare at the phot...at the live cam shot for long enough to see any change =)

Any idea were to get one of those sludge extractors?

Cheers,
Vic

No idea actually. I was going to look more seriously when I have things running. Trying not to abuse my wife's kindness too much...prioritizing my purchases lol.

Ok...quick search show big als sells them. If any vendors reading this can get them in please drop a note here.

Ok #2...I read the description there and it says not designed for use with sand. what gives?

Ahhhh hahahahahahaha!! Stellar.

Actually those things remind me a little of a gravel vaccuum I used to clean my brother's 10g fish tank ... in 1977. (I was a lucky kid brother, getting to clean the poop out of that poor goldfish's home. I think he lived around 10 years and ate one of our cats until we finally gave him away to a vet's office where he promptly ate the receptionist. They haven't spoken to us since. The goldfish not my brother. I might be embellishing a little. About my brother that is, not the goldfish. That thing was a monster!) So anyhow, the idea isn't new but you don't see these things a lot so it kinda makes me wonder if they're not really the shizzle OR or the nizzle.

The nicest tank I ever saw with sand was something out of Holland and the guy was all Mr. Moneybags (well, in Dutch though, so it was probably more like Der Hoogen Guilderbaggen {with a heavy phlegmy accentuation on the Hoog, the Guild {pronounced HEELD}} .. ah crap, my tangential meter if off the chart - apparently I'm off topic. What I was trying to say was, the guy budgeted to replace his sand every 6 or 12 months or something like that.

I found since adding a tigertail, and a bunch of conchs though I've always had a more or less clean sandbed without replacement. But I've had to cleverly direct flow away from the bottom because it stirs up too much. One of the reasons I might stick with BB with my next tank is because of this, but, we'll see. Once I have rock in there I might have a change of heart.

Tony I'm Dutch so watch your step sir.

Poking around on RC it seems they can suck quite a bit of crap out of sand as well but the finer particles will get sucked in and the finer detritus will not be removed. I think one of those gobies will do the work for me along with some regular poking of the sand with a baster or something.

I'm Dutch too, so there. You haven't lived until you've heard HOT FOR DOMMUH, ROT KEEND, NOO DING ALL KAPOT.

That's what happend to me. I was all, "clean BB tank, here i come!", until I actually saw all that bare bottom. The rocks looked weird without the sand. Someone on canreef said it best.. the ocean isn't BB.. hehe. But this is all just personal preference, like boxers or briefs. There's not right or wrong answer ( I don't think ).

They do the work alright.. just don't get the type of goby that takes in gobs of sand, then hauls it into the water column and spits a trail of it out from one end of the tank to the other :twised:

Anyway, with careful powerhead direction you can avoid hitting the sandbed and blasting it. This is another reason why I like the tunze 6105 vs an MP40. The MP40 has such a wide wave that it would surely hit my sand bottom, especially since my tank is only 20" tall. I think the mp40 has an 18" diameter flow or something like that. With being able to direct the flow I can blast a narrowish stream down each side of my 6' tank, have it hit the other end of the tank and flow back through the centre of the tank without touching the sandbed. It actually works out quite well for me. 6800+gph and no sandstorms.

That's the first time I have heard that arguement regarding tunze vs mp40... I've got a mp20 running 100% on Reef crest, 6" above my sand bed (in a 24x24x12 tank), and it doesn't stir up a single grain of sand...

I was just speculating as I have never owned an MP40. Just saw pics one of that was put too close to the sandbed once. The Mp40 is more powerful than the 20 isn't it? I wonder how close you could put that puppy to the sandbed. It would be really nice to have both and try them both out. I don't know too many people who have/had both though.. They are so expensive, you typically either have one or the other and you love them because they are so damn expensive! :-)

Obviously a mp40 would be too much in a tank the size of my cube, but at only 6" off the sand with the mp20 (2000gph), I think its a good indication of what an mp40 would be like even 10-12 inches high... If it was an issue, you'd probably see alot more people complaining, rather than praising! :lol:

Well, luckily both Tunzes and Vortechs are cheap like borscht so it's easy to just buy both and try each, and just keep the one you like better, and just toss the other one in the recycling can! :lol:

(... Well, that's the way it would be if *I* were king of the universe..)

Yeah I don't see the 6100s up in the rear corners as being a problem with the sand at all since everyone has those right there. It's the 6101 I have near the bottom rear that I might need to re-position.

Tank's half full. My flow test won't be for a bit yet! This wait is WORSE than the previous 1.5 yrs

Water is maybe a few mm from spilling into my overflow box. Damn this is brutal haha. Have all 3 Tunze on and yeah the sand certainly gets blasted bad in a few spots. Have to wait and see if that bacterial coating on the grains thing helps me any.

I have both Vortech MP40w's & Tunze's in my reef.
I place rubble in the high flow areas where the sand gets blown away, works well and in my opinion looks quite natural.

Full pics?? :mrgreen: Seeing as your "webcam" hasn't changed for days... :wink:

Im also running both (mp40 and two tunze 6055s)...the combo has turned the tank into a 50/50 split of bare bottom up front and sand at the back....I like both powerheads for what each has to offer....vortech for wide flow pattern and shear power....tunzes for their point-ability

Very interesting and entertaining read. Congratulations on your tank Brett, it looks really great.

The dust settles. Lastlight for the win! Be a while till the salt settles though!

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/salt1.jpg

I bought this over a year ago. It's a relief to say that so far this thing appears to foam like a BEAST.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/salt2.jpg

mmmmmm BK:lol:

Haha, that's a long time to wait to try out a skimmer. That must have been a nice itch to scratch.

[quote=lastlight;461464]

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/salt1.jpg




And on the 2nd Day (or was it the 1st or 3rd day?) God said: "Let there be water."

Whoo Hooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :Banane10:

Nice skimmer.
You have nothing to skim though so you better pee in the tank and get that bad boy working.

Actually I was skimming wet last night and it has already pulled out a full cup with lots of solids and a light tea color! The rock definitely has a boatload of crap in it and it's now my mission to clean it up! I still am AMAZED at how much foam this skimmer pulls. It's so luxurious I wanna lather myself up for a shave haha.

I'm treating the wife to dinner up north today. Red coral happens to be close by as well. Might have to pickup my live rock lol.

that'll be a great way to end a date night. the smell of liverock :lol:

Ask Lance to borrow his compressor..

bwahahahaha

Lmao. Man that made me snort!

:redface: