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Cultivated Reef

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

Rollermonkey

By Rollermonkey,
in Nano Reef Journals

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FlowerMama

FlowerMama

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Sump, refugium and ATO reservoir.

 

:)

 

Yes, I forgot about that part. At least yours was made for you. I may have bought glass for baffles now but based on the width of the tank it appears I have to take the glass back and have them remove like 1/16th on 2 opposite sides because I measured from the outside which said like 10 1/16th but I didn't account for the width of the glass. I put one in and it's on an angle. This is EXACTLY why I should only comment on the aesthetics because physics, math and spatial relations are clearly NOT my thing w/ DIY. I don't know if my husband had any tools that could grind down glass.

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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Yeah, we were doing OK, between my Navy retirement and VA disability, but now that I've turned on the GI Bill/Voc Rehab, things should be a little smoother.

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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I really, really wanted to go with one of the new DC powered skimmers, but the only one I could find to fit my sump chamber was the Reef Octopus POV DC1, and while it gets some great reviews, there's also some very unhappy folks out there.

 

So, I'm thinking about the skimmer. The Reef Octopus POV DC1 has some mixed reviews, and is $540.. So now I'm trying to choose between the RLSS R6-I ($350) and the Bubble Magus Curve 7 ($290). The Curve has been established to be a pretty reliable unit at a great price, but I want to get on the DC bandwagon...

 

Any opinions?

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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Allrightythen.

 

I just ordered an RLSS R-6i skimmer.

 

List of remaining components to purchase:

3 OBD reactors: carbon/GFO/biopellet ($370 total)

2 Kessil 360W ($898 total)

1 MP10EW ($290)

1 MP10 wetside ($62)

1 MP10 RF upgrade ($45)

 

Getting closer...

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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...and the business partners at my LFS/tank-builders have had a falling out of some sort. Looks like I'll be getting pretty much every thing else after the reactors online.

 

If my sump wasn't partially designed around the in-house reactors, I'd go elsewhere for those, too.

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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I seem to have forgotten to mention that my base rock arrived from John at Reef Cleaners several days ago.

 

Maybe I should open the boxes and see what I got?

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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OK: Opened the first box.

 

Immediate thought: Why did I spend so much money on LR from Drs. Foster & Smith? This stuff looks awesome!

 

After going through the box, I hope the second box has larger pieces. There was only one really giant piece in this box, so I see a lot of assembly and epoxy in my future unless the pieces in box two are bigger. Of course in a 70G tank, I want bigger pieces than I'd want in my BC or any other nano.

 

That said, John packed it in very tightly, and there was very little breakage despite the box being squished. I'd say in the 50-pound box, there's only 3 or four pieces I'd consider rubble-sized and a couple of those were probably broken off from other pieces in shipping.

 

Floor's a mess from tiny pebbles. Wife is going to be PISSED, and there's no way I'm vacuuming before morning.

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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Found the Dyson DustBuster, so I dodged that bullet...

 

Only to find out that the government shutdown will cut off 2/3 of my income if it doesn't get resolved by the end of the month. (I thought VA disability and vocational rehab funds were already accounted for. I guess not.

 

Raggle-fraggle.

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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Because my tank is situated between two rooms, my hope is to keep the front to back sightlines as open as possible, hopefully keeping open side-to-side lanes for longer swimming distances, too. I'm also going to get a bunch of large barnacle clusters to provide shelter for the fish that like spelunking.

 

My initial thoughts on how to do this, would be to create high arches or perhaps a large table.

 

Hopefully, as I rinse and sort through the pieces a clearer plan will present itself.

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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Ordered some barnacle clusters from John and went through the second box. Just the one extra-large piece from the first box. I see a LOT of epoxy in my future. No shelves larger than 5-6" in the whole lot.

 

Anyways, I have a couple pieces of heavy stock, one big enough to represent the floor of the tank and one big enough to represent the back of the tank.

 

I've seen people make their scape outside the tank with something to represent the tank before. I'll try multiple arrangements, then partially glue/epoxy/assemble major components, then complete the final assembly in the tank so there's less to do while standing on a stepladder working upside-down with my head in the tank.

 

Making RODO water to rinse them off...

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Rollermonkey

Rollermonkey

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Not 'til I'm done scrubbing.

 

I'm half way through, but I'm making more water. At first I wasn't sure how effective my rinsing and scrubbing was, then I dumped out the first bucket.

 

They may be big pieces with virtually no rubble, but there sure is plenty of fines to rinse out. 5 gallons of water looked like milk after rinsing the first 50 pounds, with about 1/4 inch of what looked like yogurt at the bottom of the bucket!

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