Down at Frag-gle Rock!

[automatik_33]

Basic Info about the tank:

 

20 Gallon Long (glass)

10 Gallon Sump

2 Koralia Nano's (425gph)

1 100W Eheim Jager Heater (In sump)

Glass-Holes 700 GPH Overflow and Return Kit

Mag 3 return

Tek Fixture

30 lbs LR

30 lbs LS

 

Livestock:

Black Onyx Clown (Gobo)

Picasso Clown (Wembley)

Yellow Watchman Goby (Red)

Turbo Snail (Boober)

Pistol Shrimp (Mokey)

Peppermint Shrimp

Red Hermits

Astreas, Margaritas, Nassarius

 

 

Coral:

Green Star Polyps

Paly

Toadstool Leather

Frogspawn

Acans

Mushroom

Ricordia

 

Well as you can probably tell by the names I want to give the inhabitants it will be the remake of the show Fraggle Rock underwater! Hope to put up as many pics as possible.

 

Well here is what I have for now:

 

FTS kinda(I know the pics are horrible but guarantee to borrow a camera soon.)

 

 

Right Set-Up - Koralia Nano 425gph, Return and Hydor 50W Heater

 

 

Left Set-Up - Other Koralia Nano 425gph and Overflow Box

 

 

Middle Set-Up

 

 

Sump - 100W Jager Heater, and Mag 3 return

 

 

 

Will keep updating as much as possible and any feedback or comments are welcome and appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Marc

[Meengineer0128]

Can't wait to see it up and running.

[tundrashaul]

Great to see some pics of your project. Love your plumbing, great planing and build. lookin to see it come along!!!!!

[tundrashaul]

May suggest lowering the top of the baffles in sump, looks like you will have to have the sump nearly full. to prevent flooding you should have level low enough so in the event of pump failure or power outage, there is room for the water in the display tank to drain below the overflow, into the sump not flooding it!!!!, but loc line can pull a siphon through return pump(if loss of power) and drain display tank to the level of the return head. just play with it a little and when you get your operating level worked out put yourself a max fill mark in sump.

[automatik_33]

Thanks. Yeah taking a look at it now I could shave some off the top to prevent it from overflowing. Good looking out.

[tundrashaul]

Thanks. Yeah taking a look at it now I could shave some off the top to prevent it from overflowing. Good looking out.

 

 

I learned from a bad freshwater test run experience while setting up mine

[tundrashaul]

Any updates? What kind of scape are you planing for this theme? Ive had that dang song in my head since i read this thread! I remember from a child the show.

 

"Let the music play........down at fraggle rock"

[captainbastard]

I think he was waiting on some equipment if I remember right

[automatik_33]

Ok, just ordered my lights today after a long night at work. Did not get my tek's yet but actually bought a current sundial from a member on another forum at a good price shipped. So that should be in early next week.

 

Figured that I could go with these because of the price I got them at during my cycle at least. Will definitely get my Tek's though or maybe ATI if I can raise the funds. Also still looking into a way to hang the lights but think I may have found a good method. Will post pics on that process.

 

As far as my scape I would really like to go with two islands and possibly have one much larger on the left protruding out of the water about an inch or so and the other much smaller. I want to have a lot of open sand for clams and possibly a goby.

 

Would it be ok if I started up my cycle by getting the LR and LS in the water soon as I wait for my lighting or should I just wait for the lights to come in?

 

Any updates? What kind of scape are you planing for this theme? Ive had that dang song in my head since i read this thread! I remember from a child the show.

 

"Let the music play........down at fraggle rock"

Yeah I used to watch that show all the time when I was younger. Still watch some episodes on my computer every now and then.

[tundrashaul]

Would it be ok if I started up my cycle by getting the LR and LS in the water soon as I wait for my lighting or should I just wait for the lights to come in?

 

from what i have heard, the beneficial bacteria on LR and LS needs light, dont think it needs a whole loe but it does need some,.....do you have an old fixture handy for the meantime. Or you could let your water age a few days, thats what I did but i bought my water pre mixed at LFS. I scaped on the ottom then added sad so sifters or any fish playing in sand cant dig under my base.

 

Whats your plan for light hanger? I may start my ATO today, i want to do it like vegas did his, but i dont know if HD sells that valve so i may have to order one.

[Degener8]

You can cycle your rock in a trash can with no light if you want. The light is to keep macro and what ever HH organisms alive, it has nothing to do with the bacteria. If you cycle without a light and just test the water for your spikes you will skip a little of the algae blooms that appear. The ambient light from the room is enough to fuel some agae though.

[automatik_33]

Whats your plan for light hanger? I may start my ATO today, i want to do it like vegas did his, but i dont know if HD sells that valve so i may have to order one.

I plan on doing the same with my scape just to make sure I don't end up having an avalanche of falling rocks due to sand sifter.

 

As far as hanging my lighting I may go with some shelf brackets and mount them in the wall studs behind the tank. I am in an apt. so I don't know if I trust the ceiling studs very much. Yeah I really liked that ATO too and am installing a shelf under my stand to put one in. Going to Lowe's tomorrow so will look to see if I can find that valve or similar.

 

 

You can cycle your rock in a trash can with no light if you want. The light is to keep macro and what ever HH organisms alive, it has nothing to do with the bacteria. If you cycle without a light and just test the water for your spikes you will skip a little of the algae blooms that appear. The ambient light from the room is enough to fuel some agae though.

 

Awesome! I should have my lights by wednesday and plan on getting my LR and LS in on monday so I should be good, right? Thanks for the info.

 

Really excited to finally get it up and running and simply can't wait for my cycle. I know that sounds funny but its all coming together.

[Degener8]

Yup sounds like your good to go.. keep us posted and just remember to take it slow.. all cycles are different and when in doubt wait and do more research..

[automatik_33]

Ok a little bit of an update.

 

In no way do I know anything about plumbing but just ran a freshwater test an hour ago and everything worked pretty well. Only things I am a little concerned about are flow to the sump and display water level.

 

I have a mag 3 return with a 2' head height. The flow was nice but the overflow box seemed to drain more water as it is a 700gph box with 1.5" pvc running into the sump. I am going to install a ball valve to reduce the flow and see if I can keep the display water level higher. As for the return it is 1/2" pvc plumbing so should I go a little bigger or will the pump still push out the same?

 

Also I simulated a power outage to see if the sump would be able to hold and it did but I'm still concerned because it seems as though the display was about an inch and a half below the top of the tank. The baffles are about 9 1/2" in the sump with the middle one being at 10 1/2" in a 10 gallon. What should I do? Should I adjust the baffles in any way?

 

I'm so close to getting it up and running but don't want to run into any problems once its full and has life in it. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Marc

[l3lumarlin]

Everything is looking good!

 

Increasing the return pump pvc will only slow your flow down. I'm no plumber either but my speculation on why your water level is so low is because your drain hole looks like it's drilled really low. Again, I'm not an expert on this...

 

Can't wait to see where this goes!

[tundrashaul]

Looks good, ball valve may do it, just dont want to restrict it so much your overflow box fills up before water is drained. what is the return pump rated at. there is a headloss calc on reef central with elbows figured so you have a general idea of turnover.

 

here it is

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

[titos]

Awsome. I'm sure your tank will be cool. Now that we have things up, we can't wait for your aqua scape. Good luck with everything and hope everything turns out great.

[automatik_33]

Thanks everyone!

 

Ok so a little bit of an update. I have good and bad news. Bad news was that the hole was drilled to low (noob mistake) so good news got a new tank that same day as I was pretty mad I did something so stupid. Picked up and Aqueon from petco and it is drilled and ready to go. Had to redeem myself and finish what I started. I'll post a new pic in a bit.

 

Anyways, on to some better news. Ordered some dry rock that should be here either tomorrow and wednesday and same goes for my lights. Just been sitting at the window recently waiting for that UPS truck. But I have the day off tomorrow so going to get my salt mixing in the morning and go buy a couple lbs of LR to seed the dry rock when it gets here. Really excited to get this tank wet!

[tony.pham]

The drill wasn't low, it was the overflow box itself that was low.

 

+1 on gate valve. You may still find yourself with low water level unless you really luck out on getting the right return pump for your pvc diameter. Regardless, I would get a gate valve on that to give yourself huge flexibility.

[tundrashaul]

cool, tough waiting on things. Where did you order your rock from? I ordered from reef cleaners on a thursday night and got my rock on monday with free shipping!!!!!!! they ship out of florida. great rock and john will give you what you need. Im glad you address issues as they arise instead of thinking "AHH itll be ok" and rushing in, I know this tank is going to be cool!! Cant wait.

[automatik_33]

The drill wasn't low, it was the overflow box itself that was low.

 

+1 on gate valve. You may still find yourself with low water level unless you really luck out on getting the right return pump for your pvc diameter. Regardless, I would get a gate valve on that to give yourself huge flexibility.

 

Yeah the box was too low but the glass-holes box fits perfectly with the drilled hole so that is why it was giving me such a low water level. Figured that as soon as I can build a big enough stand though that I could eventually use the old tank as a fuge and use the drilled holes.

 

Is the Mag 3 not powerful enough? I was thinking of going to the mag 5. Would restriction from the overflow with a gate valve help for the mean time or should I just leave it on permanently?

 

cool, tough waiting on things. Where did you order your rock from? I ordered from reef cleaners on a thursday night and got my rock on monday with free shipping!!!!!!! they ship out of florida. great rock and john will give you what you need. Im glad you address issues as they arise instead of thinking "AHH itll be ok" and rushing in, I know this tank is going to be cool!! Cant wait.

 

Yeah waiting for that ups guy. Ordered the rock from reefcleaners so it should be here tomorrow but I work all day. Thanks! I really hope it comes out like I am envisioning.

[l3lumarlin]

I have the Mag 5 running on my 20L and I've considered upping it to a Mag 7. I don't know if my drain could handle a mag 7 so I'll stick with the 5. You should be safe with the 5 though.

[tundrashaul]

Did you get your rock??

[automatik_33]

Actually still waiting. Hopefully today, although I may not have time to put it together.

[automatik_33]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been running around with work and just got everything together today.