World's slowest custom 85g system. ...and there was coral. (p.18)

[LiquidTension82]

I'm loving this build!! Definitely tagging along.

 

Thanks! It has been a loooong, sloooow process. Tomorrow is 8 months from when I ordered the tank.

 

One of the good things about going so slow is that I can really think out what I want to do.

 

The bad part of course being the interminable wait to execute the next step.

 

Slow and steady my friend I just started my build process and would like to get it done sooner, but the way things are looking it'll be wet for my birthday next year patience is a virtue though!

[Rollermonkey]

I think the 'slow and steady' advice is usually in reference to the cycle and stocking processes.

[LiquidTension82]

Touché

[Rollermonkey]

Seriously. I cannot catch a break as far as timeline goes.

 

The place I ordered my MP10 from is out of stock. I spoke to them on the phone and sent payment yesterday, and he sold it in store to someone else. I'd cancel payment and reorder somewhere else, but he's running an unadvertised sale. I'll still get that price and the rebate, but I have to wait at least an extra week for him to get another one in.

[Rollermonkey]

While building the stand for the mixing station, I went through that box of screws super fast. I don't think there were 50 screws as labelled, especially since I broke one and finished with an even number...

[Rollermonkey]

Holy crap. I used 94 screws on that stand.

 

It looks like Tiki's recent stand before he sheathed it, but taller and not as pretty.

 

[Rollermonkey]

The vendor who sold me my MP10 gave me the one he was holding for someone else and shipped it today. With it coming from Boise, it should be here Wednesday.

 

 

Almost ready to fill the tank now...

[FlowerMama]

Whoo Hoo! water it is!!

[Rollermonkey]

Almost...

 

Pretty sure I don't have enough salt to make 100 gallons.

 

...and it's going to take a while to make 60 more gallons of RODI than I have now.

[Rollermonkey]

...and my Marine Depot order has shipped, so that will be here Friday instead of Thursday.

 

I'm not sure if I'm going to fill the tank this weekend or not, I really ought to study for my finals...

[Rollermonkey]

One MP10 (at unadvertised sale price) arrived today. This will go on the left side of the tank and once I get stuff plugged into my old day/night - timer/power strip I could slide the tank into position and start filling it up.

 

I could, but I'm going to wait until I get my Marine Depot shipment tomorrow so I can just pump the water up to the tank instead of carry it, and maybe put the new Apex modules under there, too.

[Rollermonkey]

Mounted that MP10 that came in today on the left-side, mounted the pipes for my cable runs and started running the cables through them.

 

So far, I've done that MP10 and controller, the skimmer and controller, both reactor pumps, the return pump and controller, and the heater, plus ran the cord for the timer/power strip and an extension so it's not on the same outlet as the BioCube.

 

While rooting under the stand and doing all that, I noticed that the gaskets on both bulkheads for the overflows are on the wrong side of the glass. Because of that, I'm going to have to take the whole hood off again to fix them, which is why I didn't run the cables for the Kessils.

 

Those wires for the Kessils are the last ones to be run until I move the Apex, ATO and second MP10 over from the Cube.

 

Getting close now.

[Rollermonkey]

Marine Depot package hit the local distribution hub about an hour ago.

[Rollermonkey]

Better yet, one of my LFS is having a 20% off sale on the salt I want. (Aquavitro Salinity)

 

One of my other LFS sells the same salt in bulk, BYOB, at a 15% discount on the bucket price.

[Rollermonkey]

Picked up the salt on the way home, and the UPS guy got here a few minutes later.

 

VDM and Kessil cable, WXM, three 1/2" bulkheads and the pump for my mixing station are here.

 

I'm ready to make salt water!

 

I also decided that I'm going to put "sight glasses" on the mixing station buckets. A sight glass is simply a clear pipe, usually glass, but I'll just use clear PVC from Grainger, that comes out of the tank at the top and goes back in at the bottom. The water level inside the pipe remains at the same level as in the tank so you can see how full it is. I'm not going to do this right away, but more as a project upgrade for the future.

[Rollermonkey]

Oops! I just remembered: I also need to move the ATO pump for the Cube into the ATO reservoir in the sump, as there won't be any room for my bucket while this is cycling.

[ReeVo]

Great looking build. That sump and reactors are so sexy!

[Rollermonkey]

Thanks, I'm just excited to be mixing salt water at this point!

[FlowerMama]

gonna be wet by Saturday???

[Rollermonkey]

It will be moist tonight, maybe even damp!

 

 

 

(The first 20 gallons will go in the DT tonight, plus the twenty pounds of live sand and @8 gallons of RODI into the ATO reservoir. Then I need to fill the buckets back up and mix again. That will bring me to 60 gallons, and the DT will be close to reaching the overflow teeth. 20 more gallons will be about 1/2 the sump if my math is right. Then finally, I'll test the SG of the tank and adjust the salinity of what should be the last 20 gallons to make the DT hopefully hit 1.026 on the nose.)

 

Honestly, I have absolutely no clue when it will be full. Could be Saturday. Could be Tuesday.

[Rollermonkey]

Ha ha, funny story:

 

I had no idea how much force the Mag5 was going to provide at the tank end of my filling hose, so I wedged the end in the LR, closed the feeding flap on the tube and had my wife hold it for good measure.

 

Plugged it in and watched the water shoot up the hose!

 

I ran upstairs to see how it was going...

 

It is filling so slowly that it took 5 minutes for the water to get above the sand, the top grains of which are floating on top of the surface tension.

 

I'm sure it will have more force when I'm pumping to the sump from the elevated platform of the mixing station, but this was pretty anticlimactic.

[FlowerMama]

I have the Mag 7 and have to get my fuge/sump and Lifereef overflow up but It's one of things I can't do myself so hopefully soon I'll have some help. We'll see how that goes.

[Rollermonkey]

The Mag-5 will give me @325GPH at 5 feet, but I was pumping to almost ten feet. Shutoff is at 10.5 feet, and with the coils in the tube I'm using, I was probably getting close. Once that 20G was done, I moved the end of the tube down to the ATO reservoir portion of the sump and moved the pump to the other 20G container that I hadn't added salt to yet. I pumped the 8-ish gallons to that lower height (@6 feet) it moved at a much quicker rate.

 

So, after moving the tank into it's final position, I plugged everything in, moved the ATO pump into the ATO reservoir in the sump and pumped 20G of salt water into the DT. Followed that up with @8G of RODI into the ATO reservoir and started refilling that partially full container.

 

 

Finally in position!

 

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...and water! The sand is damp under that rock!

 

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And finally, where the level is now:

 

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[ReeVo]

Thanks, I'm just excited to be mixing salt water at this point!

Lucky! So exciting filling up the tank for the first time.

I'm in the midst of finishing my build and seeing this just makes me want to fill up my tank with RO water and stare at an empty tank lol

[Rollermonkey]

40G...

 

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