Slick's Tank Journal(s)

[Slick Fork]

Hi there,

The wife and I were sitting around yacking, we've been in the house just over a year now and that means that the 1 year anniversary for the tank is coming up in a few weeks. So I got looking at some shots as the tank progressed and decided to share. Mostly out of a desire for suggestions and constructive criticsm... but if you see something you like feel free to comment on that as well!

This tank has been a bit of a struggle for me, mostly because I tend to learn best the hard way, partly because of changing priorities! Progress has been fairly slow since the funds haven't been available to add everything at once, it's spend a little and wait, spend a little and wait... Some ups and downs but overall I'm fairly happy with the tank today.

My Sw experience began in June of 06 as a reward to myself for quitting smoking (of course, now the expenses are just barely keeping under a pack a day habit!) I started out with a little 10 gallon tank a DIY light fixture and a seio 620. Throw in a couple of clowns and a toadstool and away I went



During that summer we happened to come across a used 100gallon and the 55 gallon. The original plan was to mothball the 100 (The place we were in didn't inspire enough confidence to put 100gallons of water on the floor!) and use the 55 as a new home for the SW guys.

With that plan in mind, I started accumulating parts for the new set-up. I grabbed a 4x39watt teklight, another Seio pump and started building a nice stand. Seems like no sooner had I got the stand built when our luck changed and we bought an acreage. Once we settled in a little, we decided the best place for the 100 gallon was in the basement, of course than we had to decide what to put in it. The original plan was to use the 100gallon as a fw tank but it turns out we have iron bacteria in the water here which made us decide to limit those guys to the existing 33 (It's not dangerous or harmful, just coats everything in a black slime, thrives in light or darkness... only massive amounts of chlorine seem to kill it). That being said, we'd already purchased a 36" t5 and neither of us were real keen on having 3 tanks up and running and we didn't have the cash for another light fixture, so we made do and put the 36"light on a 60" tank.

Here are some of the construction shots... taken about mid-november 06



How about that lovely green shade the previous owners had...



Tank in place



The tank is running on its own 15amp breaker, all nearby outlets have been converted to GFCI for safety. RO water is plumbed into the Kitchen above and slightly to the side so it was a simple matter to just bring a line through the furnace room beside the tank.

[Slick Fork]

Here's a back view of the tank (sumpless at this time) and the tek light!



You'll notice that the tank came drilled, but with no overflows. Being quite Naive to plumbing issues (and as I mentioned earlier, I have a particularly hard head) I thought that installing a sump was going to be as simple as running a hose from the hole to a rubbermaid and pumping it back in. So, I ran out bought a pump and threw it all together... unfortunately I don't have a picture of that mickey mouse setup or my wifes face at the noises that that ungainly contraption made! The water would rise until it covered the bulkhead completely and then siphon right out with an awesome toilet flushing sound, then start all over again. It was a complete disaster and only now, almost a year later do I feel comfortable writing anonymously about it!

Here's a half decent shot of the finished front side of the tank and accompanying living room



At this point, my livestock waiting in the 10 gallon consisted of 2 false perc's, a toadstool, a frag of zoa's and a green star polyp frag. All sitting there with about 20lbs of LR. I had an additional 15 or so pounds curing in a rubbermaid. So, with the tank in the wall, a light hanging above it, it was time to start thinking about moving everything over.

The picture quality is terrible in this next one, it's not really the water or glass... it's the camera and photographer. But it gives an idea of how barren and empty the tank was when I started out. 35lbs of rock and I was down to 1 clown (had a jumper). When I put them in, they didn't quite know what to do with all the space!



The brown stuff all over the rocks was some wierd filimantous algae, never did find out what it was but it went away.

A few weeks went by and I got a little more rock and a better picture!



Had one heck of a bryopsis problem starting here, I should've nipped it in the butt right then and there but... didn't. Still no sump or skimmer at this point, but the idea was starting to gnaw on me... Christmas vacation, we left for a couple of weeks leaving the tank in hands even less capable than my own. Came back to green water and the clown I had bought to replace suicide pete was floating around on the top. Not a good way to end the holidays.

Next purchase for the tank was a tunze 9010 skimmer, looked at all sorts of skimmers at all sorts of prices and decided the tunze was the way to go. I'm still happy with that particular decision. The tank never looked as bad in person as it does in all these picks, or maybe I was less picky...

[Slick Fork]

So fast forward a few months into feb of 07. I picked up a foxface and started work on a horizontal overflow and sump...







Here's a view from the side of the tank... look at all that bryopsis, it was something to see... waving in the current, choking out everything!



Some more shots of various things in the tank

[Slick Fork]

So... Now it was time to install the horizontal overflow. Of course, in my infinite wisdom I decided to just remove half the water in the tank and install it "without stressing the fish by removing them"... I think at this point they would all gather in a cave at night and plot my death. Here's some pic's of the instal job



I supported the overflow from the bottom by putting lengths of pvc pipe underneath, then clamped it to the sides. Way more awkward to do then it is to talk about. My dog learned a few new words that day!



Now, with a proper overflow, I set the 55 gallon up as a sump behind the tank. I've struggled finding an affordable return pump that is quiet and doesn't use too much energy and have finally settled on a hydor selz.



The eggcrate structure in the sump raises the Chaeto up closer so I can get away with a cf light. It is also supposed to be part of a benthic zone, but so far that idea hasn't taken flight. Looking at this picture, I can't believe how clean it is!

[Slick Fork]

The next few months have me scanning the for sale section relentlessly looking for live rock to buy. It seemed like someone would post it and it would disappear in an hour so it took some doing but I finally found all the liverock I needed.



I resisted putting my heater in the sump for the longest time, no idea why. Just the way it worked out.

Next big addition to the tank was FINALLY a proper light. Bought a used Geisemann, 2x250watt MH with 2x54watt t5's.



The colour change took some getting used too. I still think it's a little yellow some days (bulbs are 13000k mh's and actinic + t5's) Maybe I'll try a 14k next time.



About this time, I finally started to get some frags in slowly as time and money allowed.

Devils hand



So now we're into June and I start reading about this miracle cure for bryopsis with magnesium. Here is a small corner of the tank before the magnesuim...



This stuff was everywhere, after the magnesium I had almost none left. Fortunately I had 2 kinds of bryopsis and 1 wasn't affected by the magnesium. Lots of days with boiling water seems to have been the end of that.

[Slick Fork]

In June, my coralife powerbars gave up the ghost so I got my birthday present a little early...



Absolutely love the controller... need more things to control now!

The next big event for the tank was this summers frag swap in Calgary. Met some great people and got some awesome frags... even won a door prize!

Here are some of the corals I got at the swap







Also got a green digitata, but didn't have a picture of it from back then

Door Prize courtesy of Gold's:


At this point, flow in the tank was the Koralia 3, a 6045 and the sump return.

[Slick Fork]

Grabbed this beautiful purple tang from Golds in June, he left Quarantine and went into the display just after the frag swap



Since then, haven't done too much new with the tank until this week, picked up this deal from Gold's...



That was just an hour after acclimatization, I figured he'd be shy and stay "clammed" up for a few days but was pleasantly surprised!

Here's some growth shots... I don't think it's too bad for about 3 months on these guys but I'm not sure.

Frogspawn hasn't really branched out but is definately "bushier" very colourful and happy



Birdsnest is growing like a weed, much thicker and a whole lot branchier



CandyCane has a few more heads



Here are a few shots of the digitata, I mounted it on it's side because I remember reading that you'll get growth at both ends and so you do! This one has probably grown by 50% in mass since July




And just for fun a full tank shot from tonight...

[Delphinus]

Wow, nice work.

[mark]

Nice honest narrative, and shows patience pays off.

About your horizontal overflow, what's the size of bulkhead and how much flow? I'm trying one here with not a lot of flow.

[Slick Fork]

Thanks for the kind words. It's fun to look back, even on some of the mistakes, and see how far the tank and my knowledge have come! Hopefully by showcasing my mistakes as well as my successes someone else can avoid them!

Mark:

The overflow I've got in there right now stretches the whole length of the tank, with a single 1.5" bulkhead in the back corner. I had tried using a cannister filter as a return because I originally had a spare one lying around and it seemed like a good spot to run carbon and rowaphos, but after burning out the second one last week I decided to put a Hydor Seltz on. I went with the L45 model which is rated for 900gph at 0 head. The climb up to the tank is through 1/2" flexible vinyl tubing so I'm imagining the final output is about 650-700gph. I don't think I'd want to go any more than that.

I looked at your thread, and that's exactly what my original rubbermaid sump attempt sounded like. If you take a look at the picture where I'm talking about the new MH light you'll see my plumbing solution, I simply ran spa flex all the way into the sump. Maybe that's the difference, not necessarily in the bulkhead but in the pipe?