Waterhobit Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Tank is officially wet. I will start adding new FTS's to this original post, and the original post has been moved to my first comment. February 19 2015 January 28 2015 Equipment: Pump: Eheim Compact+ 3000 Heater: Marineland 150W Visi-Therm Light: Current USA Orbit Marine 36-48" Skimmer: Macro Aqua M-30 ATO: JBJ ATO Controller TOM Aqua Lifter Pump I am unashamed to admit that this tank is very heavily based off of Scorched's build. My hope is that someday mine might look half as incredible as his. Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 That is a very interesting design and can offer you a variety of animals that might not be compatible in the same tank. I am assuming the 40b and the new tank with sump are all in the same marine system? Oops, now that I am reading your post more thoroughly I see the 40b is freshwater. My bad! Its still cool. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 Original Post: I have been in the planning stages of this tank for a few weeks now, but since most of it is planned out, and the first couple pieces have arrived, I thought I would start a thread now. I'll be updating this regularly with my progress. I'll be ordering the tank and plumbing on Friday, and will be constructing the stand two weeks from now. I have designed a stand that will allow me to put this tank and my freshwater 40L on the same stand. (I have limited space in my apartment and this was the only way to sell the idea of a fourth tank to my wife) What I have so far: I know I'm probably the only one excited by this picture, but whatever. My planned equipment at this point is: Eheim1260 Universal pump JBJ ATO Water Level Controller 100 Watt Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater Aquatic Life 115 Mini Skimmer Current USA Orbit Marine 36-48 inch I'll be using mostly dry rock seeded with some select live rock. And I will be using a 20 gallon sump. I had originally planned on getting a RODI unit, and I probably still will but I may cut the startup cost a little by going without it for a month or two, and just get my water from the LFS. My thought is that in a couple years when my wife and I move into a house, I might plumb it all together and use the 40 for my main DT, and let the 12 be a display fuge to try some more delicate species, but for now I love my freshwater tank too much to break it down. Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Hey, I see your avatar is a motorcycle! That's also one of my passions as well. What kind of bike do you have? Mine is a 2003 Volusia, VL800, hence my username. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 Well, the tank and plumbing fixtures have been ordered! I can't wait to set this thing up! Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Tank and plumbing arrived yesterday. No pics yet, I'll try later today when I get home from work. My goal is to get the stand built tomorrow and painted sometime next week! I'll definitely need to take pics of the stand progress to share the process. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 Ok, I got some pics! Here is a pile of fittings I ordered. I also got some flexible tubing that's not in the picture. And here is a barnacle cluster that came in from Amazon. I'm gonna break it up and use a small cluster or two in my hardscape. And now some shots of the stand under construction! Ready for a skin! And just for fun, a shot with the tank! Btw, I just noticed you can see my 40g in the background with the lights off. Please ignore the mess, my wife would kill me if she knew I was posting this online. And a bonus Picture from my 10g! And, now my wife is ready to go back out again, so I'm off to get the plywood! More pictures to come. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Ok, I got a few pieces screwed on. This pic includes the canopy which I still need to do some work on. I need doors on the front of it, and I'm not quite sure how I'm gonna make it work yet. I didn't think it through well enough in the design stage, I just drew doors on the front and called it good without thinking about how I would attach them. So half way through the process I had to figure things out. Here's the point I got stuck. And after thinking things through for the last 24 hours I decided on this solution: I'm going to hang two plywood doors that open upwards and can be propped up. When fully opened I should fit under them without hitting my head. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Ok, minor update with pics. Stand is finally done, although it still has to be painted so I guess it still isn't done yet, but anyway. Here are some pics. Aside from paint, I will not be putting any more money into this setup until January due to competition with Christmas. Plus I wouldn't want it wet until then anyway because I will be out of town for a few days. Here is a vertical view showing the trim I installed to cover the actual tank trim on my 40G. I think the aesthetics of a rimless and rimmed tank might clash. but now you will only see glass. And here is the most complete picture I can provide right now. It is a combination of two pictures but provides a comprehensive view of the tank and canopy. All told it will stand almost six foot tall. Overall, I am very happy with the results, but there are a more than a few details that I am less than satisfied with. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 Painted the stand this weekend, and the dark paint hides most of my imperfections, I'm even more happy with my stand now. I hope to move my freshwater tank to the new stand on Saturday, and begin plumbing my Mr. Aqua. It's a good thing that the next couple months will be fast ones. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 Stand is complete and in place. I need to touch up a few screw heads on the trim that was removed during the transfer process, but I am super happy with the result. Next up will be drilling and painting the tank, as well as building the sump. Before even painting the stand I mounted a switch panel into the stand which should make managing the electrical components in this complex system much easier. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GASJF2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 When transfering from one stand to the other, I drained all but 3 inches of water from the tank, and then refilled after moving the new stand into position. The hardest part of the move was lifting the partially filled aquarium nearly 4 feet into the air. I was very upset to find that after refilling the tank several of my fish were swimming on their sides or floating upside down. After checking back in a couple hours, they were back to swimming fine, and showed their typical voracious appetite. I did find one of my least favorite fish dead this morning, but I'm ok with it, especially after that scare. Link to comment
NanoFever Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Wow thats a really neat build! What are your plans for lighting for the 12G and how are you going to mount? Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 I'm planning on using the Current USA: Orbit Marine. I like the features, and most importantly, it is super-slim and rests on top of tank rim. And with it being a very shallow tank, it will supply much more light than I will need. Several members here have used the same tank/light combination including got2envy who's build thread shows it looking like this: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/338405-got2envys-mr-aqua-12g-me-love-u-long-time/ Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Ok, It's been a while, but I finally have an update. This weekend I was able to build my sump, drill my tank, and get most of the plumbing done. The return pump didn't work right and I have a replacement arriving today. I've had it wet since Saturday afternoon, and will hopefully have it salty on Friday, and maybe add my first fish Saturday or Sunday. My checking account is tapped out till Friday, hence the delay on salt and other purchases. Anyway here is some pics of what I have so far: Sump construction Sump in Place DT Sideview Full Tank Shots I'll be getting a heater, sand, and some smaller pieces of live rock on Friday as well. I think one of the rocks will be coming out, and I will be using the small live rock to prop up and combine with the larger rocks, but we shall see. You may notice little plastic clips around the rim of the tank. These are to support a glass lid that I will have cut professionally at some point. Here is the link for them on amazon for those that are interested: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KZJYWIC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Updates should be more frequent now. Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Fw tank looks amazing, nice stand as well. I like how you have a sand drift on the sides of the tank, looks more natural imo. One question, are those all real plants or are they fake? Great work. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 It's all real. Nothing un-natural goes in my tanks. Although I guess my substrate and the rocks in the nano-reef are probably synthetic. Link to comment
dmasterx1x Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 What I have so far: Hey could you share where you found that type of bulkhead/strainer? I know i saw one of these here earlier but lost track. Would love to drill my tank for one of these. Also, what size is that? Thanks, and good work on the stand. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 They are 1" bulkheads and strainers from marineandreef.com Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Ok, the light came in on Friday and I picked up salt, extra rock (dry and live), chaeto, and 20 lbs of Caribsea Special grade live sand. I also got some polyfill and built out my mechanical filtration. Here are pics of the tank after adding the sand and again shortly after adding the filtration. The live rock went in the fuge, there was a blue leg hermit tag along that I put in the DT. I'm excited to be getting my first fish this afternoon. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 New update, I only intended on getting a single fish but walked out with two. I will have to keep a close eye on the tank to make sure that I do not have a amonia or nitrite spike as a result but I do have 30g of volume plus I used live sand and at least some live rock. I picked up a medium sized ocellaris and a firefish. During the acclimation period (about 4 hours) the firefish jumped from his bag into the main tank. He seems to be more stressed than the clown, and I feel terrible for not making the bags more secure. Here are some pics: Also here are some pictures of my sump including a small starfish I discovered! I'm guessing that little guy is probably harmless... Also the ugly lamp is only temporarily until I pick up a more appropriate light. One last thing, I noticed a little crab in one of the live rock tanks at my LFS and wondered if anyone might know what it is. Its a fuzzy looking looking fellow about the size of a quarter, and it blends in really well with the rock around it. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Well, I learned a valuable lesson this week that I would like to pass along to everyone. Even when you use the right type of Silicone, it is imperative that you allow the silicone to properly cure before adding water! It took 24 hours for the firefish to kick the bucket which I attributed to poor acclimation after he escaped from the bag. But within 24 hours the tank raised ocellaris, who had been happily exploring the tank hours earlier, was dead as well. All of my parameters looked fine to me, but I took some water in to my LFS to check and they agreed as well. After wracking my brain and researching possible causes I stumbled across a thread where I learned that as silicone cures it releases a toxic acid into the water if it is already wet. So last night I drained both my sump and my DT and began re-mixing water. I filled the DT back last night so that my live rock and hermit can remain wet, but I am leaving my sump to dry thoroughly before filling it back up. Fortunately for me, my LFS has offered to replace the fish. Link to comment
acrab78 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Slow it down speed racer.... Tank is sweet but needs a few weeks to mature... I would let it roll for 3-4 weeks at least before really doing anything.... Maybe throw in a couple damsels if you have to.... That is the old school way and would work. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Ok, haven't updated in a while. I have been trying not to focus too much on the tank and just let it get established. Amonia rose for a while but has dropped back to 0-.25ppm and nitrites are now on the way down. I have been cycling with a 2 inch molly that my LFS loaned me. I may switch it for something I actually want this weekend. He has been in my tank for a week and a half now. I currently have a diatom bloom underway. I'll see if I can get a few pictures this afternoon to upload. Link to comment
Waterhobit Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 Ok, several shipments arrived this week. Reef-cleaners pack came in earlier this week, and my ATO system and test kit arrived today. Now I don't have to take so many trips to the LFS to have my water checked. ATO system is setup, except for a small circulation pump that I have on order. Actually I ordered two of them, one is for my mixing bucket. So I painted the outside of the ATO tank and set the system up! And I have pictures to prove it. Warning the cords are a real mess right now. Once I have everything plugged in, I'm going to make an effort to tidy everything up. Also, I swapped the desk lamp next to the sump for the LED light that came with the ATO tank (less light, more contained, not my final light). And here is the DT as promised. Complete with diatom outbreak. Link to comment
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