My 44G Tall Build. - 30G Has been broken down.

[Curry02]

So my wife and I recently bought our first home and I originally wanted to keep the 30 but really wanted a little more display volume. Problem was it would have cost me a ton to upgrade lights and pumps for the size of tank I want. Plus it was either buy a couch and bed or sleep on the floor. Lol.

 

Anyway I did some research and found a 44 gallon tank with the same footprint as my 30. While it's not a massive upgrade and it's taller it looked better than I thought. The 44 is up so the transfer should start this week hopefully.

 

Tanks

 

- 44G Deep Blue

- Eshopps rs-75 sump

 

Heaters

 

Jagger 100 watt

Jagger 50 watt backup

 

Flow

 

-Mp10es

-Mp10es

-Hydro seltz 460 return pump

-DIY pvc overflow

 

Filtration

 

- Filter sock

- TLF Phosban reactor 150

- Eshopps psk-75 skimmer

 

Lighting

 

- Custom 36 LED blue/white fixture

 

Control

 

- Apex Neptune

[Curry02]

So the tanks unwrapped and wet. Threw in the sand and started making rodi. Salt is next. My plan is to get new live rock that has been cured already so I don't get neomeris in the new tank. I'm considering using the old rock after an acid bath.

 

Pics To come. Haven't hooked up my computer yet.

[GHill762]

yeah that neomeris looks kinda cool, but I can imagine that being a PITA.. excited to see your new build..

[fishybusiness11]

this looks like a solid build! Get cracking and get some pics up!

[Curry02]

Thanks guys!

 

Couple shots of the tank. Waiting on the new sump... Hurry up USPS.

 

and yes those are my wifes lovely curtains that are part of the tank. lol

 

 

 

 

Water

 

[GHill762]

looking good.. tall skinny tanks are hard to aquascape, but I like a tall tank.. interested to see what you do with it

[Curry02]

So the sump actually arrived yesterday. I was expecting it friday since thats what the tracking said. Oh well. Sorry in advanced one pic came out blurry. Its all setup and I let it sit overnight with water.

 

I haven't moved the RODI to my new house yet so I'm just making water and moving it until I can move the unit later this week.

 

 

 

 

[Curry02]

The second mp10 has arrived and I picked up pvc and a hole saw to start working on my pvc supported rockscape. Pics to come later tonight.

 

Still in the process of prepping the 30 for the transfer. Double checking salinity and all that good stuff.

 

The 44 is almost filled. Another two trips should do it.

[Rehype]

Those dimensions are awesome...cant wait to see your scape

[Curry02]

Sorry a little late updating. Still moving.

 

I finally got around to drilling some of the rock. Some broke some came out great. The tanks almost filled as of last night and the hard pvc plumbing is almost done.

 

I tested the return last night and it works great. I still have a few pieces of rock to drill.

 

 

 

 

Those dimensions are awesome...cant wait to see your scape

Thanks!

[Curry02]

Got up early this morning to make more rodi as I don't have any fancy auto shut off valves. Lol.

 

I got more rock from the old tank and acid dipped while I added some more sand to hide the pvc legs.

 

Finished hard plumbing the overflow.

 

All that's left is to finish the scape and cycle the tank.

 

Not sure how much scape I will finish since I may need more rock but we will see by tonight.

 

Tonight I might try to move the lights and finally the apex.

[Curry02]

I decided to build a small tunnel hideout for my snowflake eel out of 1 inch pvc since my rock work wont be just piled up rock anymore.

 

It will have an entrance on the left middle and right side of the tank. I will also place small rocks near the entrances to hide the PVC.

 

Couple of progress shots. Tank is almost full. Heading to the LFS after I finish doing some land gardening around the house. no reef gardening for a while. lol.

 

Got a goodie in the mail. PS. my plumbing sucks. I think its crooked. lol

 

Does anyone know where I can find a freaking vinyl tube that wont curve so I can properly connect my return pump to the PVC??

 

I didn't use PVC too close to the return pump for maintenance reasons and the tight space in the sump and cabinet. So the vinyl tubing is around 2 feet long I think, it curves making the pump sit funny.

 

 

 

 

Oh and I have more rock to put in there. I just ran out. lol

 

Do you guys like my PVC fish? I think its too big for the tank.

[Curry02]

Got more done last night. Overflow works great. Tank has cleared up significantly.

 

I want to add more rock but I may just stop here for now because I love how it looks.

 

Have more rocks to add to hide Mr eels hideout as well.

 

 

I'll probably be adding a black background as well instead of painting it.

[Curry02]

Picked up a test kit today since my other one was expired and ghost fed the tank. Patiently waiting so I can move my fish and eel over.

[Curry02]

Ammonia is at .25 and pH is at 8.2

 

Probably going to move the leds some time this weekend as well as the apex.

[Curry02]

Ammonia has dropped to 0 and Nitrites are around 0.50

 

I got a chance to finish my plumbing and install my phosban reactor. Installed the black background. covered up the pvc entrance to frosty the eel's hidey holes.

 

Sorry for the reflection on the FTS ill take another later. lol

 

 

 

[Curry02]

Finished sump plumbing. Just need to glue it together.

 

Nitrites are at 1.0

Ammonia at 0

 

[Curry02]

We have light!

 

 

 

Pics sucks but I'll take some better ones when I get my camera later today.

[Curry02]

No time to test water this morning so I'll check this evening. No diatoms either. I'll be finishing the apex install hopefully today.

[Curry02]

Nitrites still around 1. Got my apex online and love being able to monitor while I'm at work. I have the lighting on the season schedule which is pretty cool. Today I'll probably finish cleaning up the wires back there and install the moonlights.

[owenj]

Looking great! Nice eel caves, and that scape is open and clean. Are you going to have tall corals or top dwelling fish (can you have them with eels?) since the rocks stop about mid-level?

[Curry02]

Looking great! Nice eel caves, and that scape is open and clean. Are you going to have tall corals or top dwelling fish (can you have them with eels?) since the rocks stop about mid-level?

 

Thanks! Im debating adding a few more pieces of rock to the column or just leaving it as-is and trying to grow out some SPS.

 

The fish I have are a Coral Beauty, Clown, Pajama Cardinal and Royal Gramma. Everything seems to get along. The eel will sometimes snap at them during feeding time but as long as he's full I have no issues.

[vlangel]

I love the eel cave, I'm sure Frosty will love it too. Nice job on the scape, tall tank are a challenge and you designed that well.

[Curry02]

I love the eel cave, I'm sure Frosty will love it too. Nice job on the scape, tall tank are a challenge and you designed that well.

Thanks! It was a bit of a challenge to get it all together but very happy with the end result. Hope he likes the cave too he loves hiding but keeping his head out to see what's going on.

[vlangel]

I used to have a snowflake eel too. He grew pretty large, about 2 feet when I had to donate him back to the LFS. I had to downsize my tanks to care for my bedridden mom in law. Now instead of a 125g and 90g, I have a 36g and a 30g. Doing WCs with a 5g bucket instead of a 35g garbage can is nice though.