120g build
 

So we are finally starting to get a move-on with this build. Ballasts and bulbs finally ordered and should be on the way here soon, (thank you to Kelly at the Reef Shoppe!!).

Everything from this tank http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=37529 will be going into the 120g.

To start off here is what we started with:
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7...ture044au1.jpg

We had a lot of work ahead of us to get everything out of the tank, but still it went from that (relatively beautiful..I think ;)) to this (ugh). We had to throw in the cichlids from another tank to make room for a breeding group of S. Fryeri Iceburgs. Took a while but soon we were able to sell & give away everyone in here.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/6...0512035nl3.jpg


After the cichlids got kicked out I was finally able to start cleaning the tank. It was really encrusted with hard green algae at the back. This tank was treated at one point with copper, so I wanted to make sure everything was cleaned really well. I researched how I should go about this and the consensus overall was that as long as I got the Ca out of the tank, the copper should go with it, as Cu binds with Ca. I dumped in an entire jug of vinegar and left the filter to run. I dropped in a couple coralline encrusted seios as well to get them all clean. The water then turned white with the precipitate. After much scrubbing and dumping of buckets I arrived at this point. :mrgreen:

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/3...resw025qe0.jpg

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4...resw019mk0.jpg
This is what the top looks like. (Well..half of the top anyway, I'm not tall enough to get a full top shot.) It was done with the brace down the middle and corner braces at each corner.

After getting it nice and clean, and noting a few scratches here and there I looked down into the bottom of the tank and to my horror saw this! :eek: I asked on the forum about what to do should it be a crack.
http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/3082/moresw022vb0.jpg
It looks an aweful lot like a nice long crack to me. Then....I moved the tank to see for sure and lo and behold it was the mdf board underneath. It had a crack or scratch or something that had been coated in some sort of clear stuff. :drinking: phew!


Looking at the silicone it looks to me like someone non-professional did it. It is quite messy, the edges are rough and there is a small gap in the silicone at the bottom/front pane, but it is only about 4mm in depth and an inch or so long. I am considering re-siliconing it, but I am terrified to do it. Last time we re-siliconed a tank we ended up with 20gallons on the floor. We tried that again and still same result. :redface:

Think we should just leave it? At least we know right now it does hold water.....

Next up we need to plumb it. Not too sure what I should do, but ideas and especially pics/diagrams would really help alot. (pretty please)

Is the tank drilled? I have quite a few pics of my sump and plumbing for my tank at the beginning of my thread in the tank journal section. Pm me if you want some more specific pics and I will be happy to send you them, or take some if I dont have pics of what your looking for.

It is only drilled at the two bulkheads at the back of the tank, you can see them in the picture. Any help you can give me would be very appreciated fishytime, I don't know what I'm doing :lol:

We got our new bulbs and ballasts. Going to be running 250W Aquaconnects on a galaxy ballast. The reflectors are lumenbrights.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/7...0625053uq6.jpg
Look at the facets on this puppy! Me like *drool*

We temporarily threw one up over the 48g to see how it runs. It is not burnt in yet of course, but it's lit up like noon. I like that the reflectors direct the light moreso down and into the tank than all over the place. Makes me wonder when the cops will come knocking at the door wondering if we have a grow-op :lol:

Finally got the glass ordered for the calfo, hope it is here soon. Decided not to try re-siliconing because "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

More to come...

Oooh, nifty reflectors. :) Where did you pick those up?

Got them from a guy in the states who had extras. If I needed to buy more I'd just go to the Reef Shoppe though. Pretty sure Kelly can get these in.

Edit: blaahhhhhh still waiting for the fer-shnugared glass.....

*sigh* So the glass came in and we found out that we measured wrong and we are off by an inch. :redface::sad: I don't even know what to do now.... I seriously doubt any glass place could get off only one inch.

After fretting and almost throwing in the towel on the 120 we decided to wing it and cut the glass with a tile saw. It worked and we didn't destroy the glass! :lol:

Now in the process of siliconing the overflow in. It won't be pretty, it might be crooked but I have my fingers crossed, sure hope this works.

Yah!!!

Glad it worked for you:mrgreen:

Took a bunch of pictures of our "build"

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/408...0625010xt0.jpg
cutting the glass....with a tile saw.....with a pretty dull blade :lol:

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/964...0625011uz5.jpg
working in the mess, man that stand looks rusty <gets out the spray paint>

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/350...0625012au9.jpg
putting in the overflow
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/7...0625013ck8.jpg
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/864...0625019zs6.jpg
tank is lying on its "back" as the overflow sets, view from the side

We ran into a difficulty; the Euroreef was too tall to fit under the stand in the sump. We ended up putting the sump behind the tank so we would not have to modify the skimmer to work out of sump (don't really know how at this point:redface:).
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/7...0625034ac7.jpg

And some plumbing pics:
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9...0625028ut7.jpg
I used crafters mesh to make a little circle deal to ensure fish and snails don't get into the sump. This is more a temporary measure until I find an option I like better.

I could use light diffuser, but I think that the overflow is going to look very ugly once it gets coated in the inevitable algae and I'd like the snails to have free rein to munch it. Most of my fish could fit through light diffuser anyway. Also covered the seio's in it for now as I expect the anemone when placed will move and I'd like to avoid accidents.

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9...0625028ut7.jpg
I probably put in too many ball valves, but hey if I ever want anything turned off, it'll be off by golly!
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/4...0625032ne3.jpg

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2...0625029gi4.jpg
view from the top at the back looking down on the sump
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2...0625033fv1.jpg
T-d off a little valve that I can attach a length of vinyl pipe to if I desire to pump water out of the tank sans bucket

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/566...0625031oi2.jpg
the contraption we made to reduce "possible" noise

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/330...0625030yg3.jpg
beginnings of a power centre

Looks like your almost ready for water. Great job yous two.Whats the eta on the birth of your new "baby"?

Not sure on exact date really. Adley is being very impatient, so I would imagine quite soon.

Update: There is RO in the tank and just threw in some salt. Leaving it to mix and heat until tomorrow. My impeller shaft on my seio 1100 broke, which really sucks as that is pretty much my main flow generator right there. Haven't even gotten to use it yet. :sad: If anyone knows where I can get "the shaft" (*breaks out giggling* :lol:) please pm me. No seriously though, I really need one. No...not that one...:lol:...the impeller one :razz:

We tried to attempt to design some kind of pvc frame. Will post how that turns out later.

No idea how we are going to hang the lights. We were going to go with plant hangers and attach to the wall, but because the tank is now rather far from the wall due to the sump, not sure what to do.

small rant: And lastly, our landlord increased our rent to a ridiculous $1200 today. Considering the place we live in is a *insert expletive here* and not worth that much $ we are going to have to move. I have been trying to tell Adley that setting the tank up before we move is a dumb idea, but he won't listen. *sigh* Ah well, more to come. Hopefully when we move we don't lose too much.... (Haven't even started looking for a place yet.)

Date is...today! :biggrin: Have not got a background yet, still deciding how I want to do that. So without further adieu here's the pics. So far only loss was my fire shrimp. When I moved everything I could not find him anywhere. Guess something ate him (couple hitcher crabs suspected but cannot find.)

The "basket" on the left is housing my second gbta, due to be sold soon. That's my cherry shrimp tank over on the right.

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/6...0625002qc9.jpg
This pic ^ best shows the lighting. it's quite white with a hint of blue.

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/5...0625005wm4.jpg

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1...0625010gk0.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/9...0625006ks4.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9...0625008vy1.jpg

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/7...0625001dw2.jpg
Will be adding this little fellow today, probably last time I'll ever see him :lol:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8186/ftsea6.jpg

Tech specs:
phosban reactor
euroreef skimmer rs135
multiple powerheads (not done here yet, some need fixing)
x2 lumenbright reflectors
-->running aquaconnect bulbs, 250W SE on galaxy ballasts
coralife superskimmer 65 (not sure if I'll keep it there, just threw it on as the tank was a mess from all the rocks being moved around)
refugium in one chamber of sump with screw in cf light
tiny metal fan over sump from wal-mart
ocean runner 3500

To come:
-fixing my second seio1100
-adding tunze osmolator (need ac power cord for it-lost somewhere)
-possible addition of second fan from wal-mart
-adding my first ever clam (excited about buying one)

livestock: listed in my sig

pics
 

I like taking pictures :)
Online Album


Just a few samples from the album above...
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2...0625026wt0.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5...0625032dq3.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6...0625051tu4.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4...0625041ze0.jpg
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/8...0625038gd6.jpg

looks great. i love the way the rockwork turned out

Well it's been quite some time since I posted an update. I've been living and breathing clinical practicum (I'm a nursing student) for the last while and have just had no spare time to speak of. We had quite a bit of a change the last couple of months. The landlord raised our rent somewhere in the vicinity of "utterly ridiculous" considering we were living in a dump so we said, "hey if we're going to pay that much, may as well live in a nicer place", and so the decision to move was made. I really did not want to move that tank.

Well, moving day came and so with it the problems. It was pretty much the day from hell. Some heaters I had lent out were found to be broken due to getting sw in them, so I thought I would have enough and was wrong. The 250W Jager heater decided today would be a good day to stay on and never turn off....and a whole 20g garbage bin of LR got fried. The sump cracked on the bottom. Bins got cold, corals died or browned out to look almost dead...it was NOT a good day.

We put everything into rubbermaids and took it to the new place, two of them were set up with heaters, air stones and a very small powerhead each, while the rock went into the tank after we'd taken the time to refill it. The ammonia in the tank went so high the test for it was off the scale. Needless to say I was bummed and I almost gave up.
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/8...ober051rp8.jpgmy sw "tank" for 1.5 mo.
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/7...ober052dg0.jpgthe chaeto bin
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/6...ober060ke5.jpghttp://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3...ober061ax6.jpgsump (and "repair")
Later on in the week I came home to find my freshwater tanks cold as ice. The 72g looked cloudy and gross. Everything but three "trooper" paracyp. nigrippnis in my 33g freshwater died, including my gorgeous breeding iceburgs, rotkeil severums, ottos & the loaches. :cry:The only other fish to live were my iceburg fry, of which I had 9, who were in a different tank and my cherry shrimp, who I later sold all of except 5. I ordered two new heaters from a great guy on albertaaquatica.
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/8...r139mf1.th.jpgRIP my cichlid buddies :sad:
After about a couple weeks, with alot of encouragement and oh...nagging:lol:...from my fiance Adley, I finally mended the sump with a piece of glass to the bottom and silicone. With luck that will hold it. In all for the sw tank, we lost our two signal gobies, the cleaner wrasse, a cleaner shrimp, several sps from Snappy a beautiful yellow acro, several corals and the lawnmower blenny over the last month and a half of waiting and waiting for the water in the tank to finish cycling and the heater fiasco. I tried everything to speed up the cycle, including using the product "cycle".

The longer we had to wait the more I felt like giving up as I saw thing after thing die or look terrible. With every water test I wanted to pull my hair out. We also couldn't figure out how we were going to hang the lights as we didn't have the option this time of drilling into the ceiling. First, Adley made a..."contraption" that is...well...probably one of the ugliest ways to hang a light I have ever seen in my life. I really did not want it to stay looking that way, so I searched out a "prettier" method to hang the lights over the next couple weeks. Eventually I "borrowed it" and precariously put it over the bins to hang one mH for the sps in the blue bin.
http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/3...ober050fz7.jpg"the contraption"

Finally after a month and a half of waiting, the water was safe enough for life. Adley and I put everything thing in with much swearing and sweating and breaking of sps. As I was examining the water in the bin for any more life, I saw a darting small "thing". At first I was like, "oh crap, and that must be a frigging flatworm, perfect!" (We didn't have fw but I figured after all that's gone wrong so far that would just be the icing on the cake). I reached in to pluck it out and to my surprise, it was the bee shrimp! Later that day I also saw the pom-pom crab come out of a rock to wave his poms. Finally, the tank looks like a tank again. :biggrin:

Well, going to go upload some pics, cus I like pics!

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/7...mber001mb1.jpg
This is how my idea worked out for hanging the lights. It's a couple of those clothes hanger rods and two curved ones from "no-one-knows anything Depot" with a chain and holes drilled in them etc. Could have cut them a bit shorter, but left them long just in case we want to add more lights or something in the future.
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/484/novemberyh5.jpg
The lights are hanging at different heights in this pic as the lamp on the left is newer than the one on the right. the left is an aquaconnect 14k, the right is a 15K XM. The zoos really blanch out with the the AC lamp as it is quite bright. I do like the blue of the XM but the sps prefers the AC. We'll see how this works out as time goes on. The GBTA hid under a rock this morning (I changed the bulb last night as he kept moving up the rock getting too close to the sps)
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/106...mber005sr9.jpg
http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/749...mber004zl0.jpg

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7...mber002tb5.jpg
Sump shot, the green bin is for top off water

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/8...mber003kt3.jpg
water change "bucket" :wink:

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1...mber014lu4.jpg

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/4...mber008mp2.jpg
half-dead coral island

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/9...mber015fw5.jpg
This gorg looks pretty darn happy
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/5...mber006cl1.jpg
FTS

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5...mber012ud3.jpg My favorite birdsnest, I am so happy this pulled through! (bought from Snappy)

Pics from today, Nov. 22/08
 

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6...mber061zw3.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/6...mber062ev5.jpg
What on earth IS this thing? It moves, it's covered in a mucous shroud and inside it looks like a curled up armadillo, spiney. never seen anything like it.

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2...mber066br8.jpg

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/5...mber067zu8.jpg

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/1...mber069yq4.jpg

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/3...mber070us1.jpg

http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/2...mber072tt4.jpg
The tips are coming back, they had died in the bin due to the water level dropping at times.So cool they are coming back purple on the yellow one!

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/8...mber073qm2.jpg

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/4...mber074gq7.jpg
The zoo tower

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7...mber076tw2.jpg
I left the dead coral skeletons in the tank. After the story I read on how someone had polyps come back after 6 months of it being dead, I thought why not. There are several dead coral skeletons in the tank. I left the yellow acro in there just in case. I swear I could see a 3mm area of fluorescence on it, maybe it will come to life again.....

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3...ber0674xr8.jpg

Eventually I may get around to covering up the pvc structure a bit, but just don't have the time right now.

Aw crap Kelly. Sorry to hear about your move from hell. You have to take something positive from going through something like that. Like if you ever thought maybe I shouldnt have added that coral or that fish this is your opportunity to change things. Next time yous two head down this way let me know and I will snap a couple frags off for ya.

Been a long time since I posted on here, I guess. Just returned back from a very short trip to Calgary. Unexpected for us that we`d get to go, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Was very nice to see some familiar faces and meet some new people as well! We visited Red Coral and Golds and came back with goodies. :mrgreen: I'm not great at taking pictures and my camera isn't very good, but hey I took some anyway just for canreef, lol.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5764/1003966q.jpg
Purple yuma
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4453/1003971.jpg
Blue clove (thanks MMAX!)
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4102/1003990.jpg
New "baby" cleaner shrimp
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9374/1003965.jpg
Pink mille mini colony
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7695/1004003m.jpg
Only pic I could get with the new fish in it, a gorgeous powder brown tang! Look close and you can spot it on the left. He/she? is still hiding in the back for the most part or just too darn fast. Great color on it too.

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1702/1003953.jpg
Frag I made from the ribbon gorg
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9826/1003865.jpg
Couple of new sps frags on here from Slickfork (TY!)
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4936/1003940.jpg
Just a pic for fun
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5653/1003949.jpg
Anemone with the eggs in its bubbles....eggs are gone now, but it looks like it is regaining color (It had suffered a food poisoning incident due to some bad food from petsmart. We really thought it was going to be toast, but it may yet recover.)

Note to myself so I don't forget names of a few things in my tank (previosuly in sig):gbta, rics, frogspawn, gsp, zoos, caulastrea, digi, monti cap, birdsnest, acros, stylophora, pom-pom xenia, Pseudoterogorgia bipinnata, Pterogorgia citrina, yellow-polyp toadstool, pipe organ, gr. mushrooms, blue cloves, favia

Couple more pics :razz:
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6158/1004035.jpg
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4163/1004036.jpg

Looking great! I'm hoping to be successful with SPS when my tank is ready but I still have a soft spot for...well...softies! Love the blue cloves. They'll look pretty sweet when they takeover a rock. Nice meeting you today and you deserve serious credit for coming this far after your disaster of a move =)

Great to meet you too :D

It could have been a lot worse and was certainly nothing like some of the losses I've seen posted on the board from other members. Considering the stress everything went through living in those rubbermaids for so long, I think we came out lucky. We lost mostly SPS, inverts and fish, but the rest lived. As with anyone who is passionate about this hobby though, even that hit us hard. No one likes to see an animal they've looked after die, especially from stupid things like equipment malfunctions. I'm beginning to wonder if that ugly brown digi is unkillable though, lol.

I was super excited to get the cloves as I have wanted those for 3 years :mrgreen: Silly maybe, but I have a soft spot for blue.

Finally got a pic of the new powder brown! A. japonicus
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6574/1000002k.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/47/1000003l.jpg
He is still zipping around at the back of the tank, but comes out if he thinks I'm not around. Saw him eat some NLS today too, yay!

Ooooh hes purdy. I noticed the bottle trap?....whatcha fishin fer?:fish2:

That's just my magnetic feeding station. I use it for nori with an elastic or put food inside for small fish that need a bit extra. I just wish the magnet was stronger.

Glad you like the cloves, how are they doing by the way? Good looking fish, I'll have to swing by and check him out in person some time.

They're doing great. I can't wait for them to take over that rock.

road trip
 

What a super fun day I had yesterday! I got some gorgeous zoas from fragnplug and Red Coral, a very nice clam from Ocean City and a few sps frags from calgaryreefer that I couldn't get a good picture of. Thanks so much everyone, you've made my tank so much prettier now!

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/4725/1004106o.jpghttp://img17.imageshack.us/img17/521/1004100.jpghttp://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3430/1004103.jpg http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1746/1004110r.jpghttp://img22.imageshack.us/img22/5417/1004113.jpg http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/184/1004116y.jpghttp://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1665/1004117a.jpg http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6779/1004118l.jpghttp://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5273/1004119.jpghttp://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6853/1004132.jpg

:shocked!:Holy smokes Kelly...you raked. Very nice scores.

nice colors!

Nice haul Kelly! Those frags do look great!

Thanks for the comps everyone :)

Unfortunately, looks like the tang is biting the dust as we speak :sad: The D^%$ clownfish beat the crap out of the poor thing last night. he's in qt now, but he's at death's door. :(

On a more positive note, the frags and the mandy are doing great

The tang looks like he's recovering (yay!). He couldn't even keep himself upright for quite a while as his pectoral fins were so badly damaged. I've been dosing him daily with antibiotics. We had a big scare when he got the inevitable ick: he was just covered in it, he wouldn't eat, he was swimming in vertical circles because he couldn't stay upright. I fw dipped him and he started swimming bonking into things and looked dreadful. After that, I did copper dips a few times. The ick looks gone now and he is eating again. I am unsure if he'll be able to grow back his tail. Time will tell I guess. For now I will continue with dosing Triple Sulpha (antibiotic) daily & 50% water changes every 2 days until tissue covers the bones that are still sticking out.

So here's the tang post-beaten prior to the bout with ich. He looks better now than he did in this pic. Bones are no longer sticking out and he's grown back his dorsal fin. Looks like his tail isn't going to grow back.
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9964/1004157f.jpg

And some frags I picked up in calgary.
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/4267/1024412.jpg

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/3079/1024416.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/4996/1024417.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/6571/1024418.jpg
I think I may have a zoa addiction, lol, 31 varieties and counting :redface:
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6629/1024419.jpg

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3035/1024420.jpg
x-mas milli

And this awesome little blue spotted sea hare
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9679/1024427.jpg

Wow...who knew that breeding cleaner shrimp could be so territorial! I caught them picking at the sea hare (alot). I shooed them away. The next day when I looked I found the sea hare beneath the shrimp hangout 75% eaten. :confused: AND as if that wasn't enough they murdered my new peppermints! GRRR!! Little buggers! I wish I didn't like them so much. :razz::redface:

In other 120g related news I decided to experiment with adding another mandarin. I picked up a baby female spotted the kids have dubbed "Mrs. Mandarin". So far no aggression noted from Mr. Mandarin. He put his dorsal up when he met her, but for the most part simply ignores her and pecks at the rocks or fights with his reflection.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/976/1024435.jpg

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7083/1024489e.jpg
Evil lil' pregger :lol: ^

I used to have a cleaner shrimp trio...until two of paired off....now I have a pair of cleaners....who I also suspect have killed eight of so peppermint shrimp.

I got two gorgeous new gorgonians :biggrin:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/389/photolmq.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6861/photo2nql.jpg
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5518/photo4p.jpg
http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/3782/photo7i.jpg
polyps aren't all out in this pic, but it sure is a beauty

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4267/photo5o.jpg
And my ribbon gorg, I need to frag it again because it's grown so much it can't even hold itself up anymore.

wow lots of growth

My clowns are tending eggs! How exciting :D

Obligatory crappy pics. I can see their tiny little eyes. <3

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/407/1004525u.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2329/1004526c.jpg