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Cultivated Reef

Mark's 150 (NanoBox Retro)


markalot

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Probably forgot to hit submit. This has happened to me a couple of times ordering pizzas leaving me hungry and confused only to go back to my screen and see there was an additional confirmation I did not know existed.

 

Lol, I wouldn't be surprised if I did that but when I log into their site it asks me if I want to repeat my last order of the skimmer.

 

Odds are they will not reply, I will order a different skimmer, and then end up with 2. :)

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Great progress Mark.

 

Who is she and what has she done with your wife?

Right? lol. She wants a larger tank for cool stuff, she says, once we have space. For now the little picos will have to do.

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I had one very slow leak, well 2 actually, on the left side where the overflow output connected to the flex hose. I took it apart, put the correct amount of teflon tape on the threads this time, then hand tightened only and the thread leak stopped but it still leaked at the crimp connection. Fine, be that way. I glued it together like a slip joint and screwed the crimp bracket tight just for good measure. No more leaks.

 

I like the flexible hose for both noise reduction and the ability to curve it back up and out of the way, but I can see myself redoing the return with all PVC someday, made easy due to the unions I installed just below the bulkhead. I'd like to think anyway.

 

I need to buy this for the future -> http://www.amazon.com/Neiko-407-Piece-Rubber-O-Ring-Assortment/dp/B000OMKIDI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381986079&sr=8-1&keywords=o-ring+kits

 

The rest of the evening was spent watching RO/DI slowly trickle into the tank. At 9PM, when I stopped, the tank was about 1/4 full. I had my RO/DI output hose shoved into the python hose, and the hose wedged into the utility room door frame at the top hinge. This is about a foot above the top of the tank. It was comical watching the water rise in the hose as it filled up and pushed up and over the top of the tank. I panicked and lifted the hose all the way to the ceiling because the water continued to back up the pipe, but finally it reached a balance a mere 2 inches below that hinge.

 

Fortunately I should only have to do this one more day and never again.

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Purchased an 8 feet by 4 feet roll of shower pan liner to put in the cabinet. I saw this on a youtube video someone posted and thought it was a great cheap way to protect the floor from minor leaks.

 

Actually MikeTR here has done this on his 180 build as well, and apparently it saved his floor from damage.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/300592-wholotta-wawa-i-mollusk-you-a-question-clam-jam-180g-reef/?p=3892492

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Liner installed and LED pucks installed for fuge lighting. Tank and sump finally full of RO/DI around 7 PM, and last of the salt added around 10. The left side started leaking yet again so after letting things circulate for an hour I turned off the sump and tried yet another fix using silicone.

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Tank is running and has been salty for 24 hours. Progress pics.

 

Installing shower liner.

 

bhod.jpg

 

Filling with RO/DI is soooo slooooooww

 

hrjpv.jpg

 

 

Finally, tonight, the first completed FTS. I placed a couple of rocks, an old carbon bag, and some old filter floss from the 40 into the sump, then put a few coral covered rocks, some broken SPS pieces, and a few frags into the display. I also dosed with Bio Spira (2 bottles) and some Prime because somehow two blue eye Cardinalfish got in there.

 

I went ahead and mounted my other Razor as originally planned and it works pretty well. There is a darker spot on the center right which loses about 50 to 75 PAR due to the light spacing bit it's something that can be worked around. The 40 is now all BuildMyLED strip lights until I take it down, which will probably be next weekend. The KH in this tank is 11 and I need to get it down to 7.5 or 8 before I can transfer my acros. I'm not sure I can pull this off in a week.

 

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So the blue light of the Razors is really not an ideal blue for looks. It is more turquoise than blue, which means it has some green in it, and you know how I hates the green. Since I put all LED strip lights over the 40 I also placed one of my blue strips for morning/evening and wow, the colors with that blue, knock your eyes out brilliant. I have two 36" blue LED strips that I will probably run on this tank once the smaller tanks are shut down.

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I was up until 1am, though this was taken right after I moved all the rocks and corals and was taking a break. I'll take pictures of the progress tonight. How the hell did I fit so much into the 40?

0oyi.jpg

 

Water was cloudy and smelled off when I started. By the time I finished the water had noticeably cleared and the smell was gone. Along with all the rocks I moved the entire media basket from the AC110 that was covered in feather dusters and pods running around.

 

Oh, you might notice the new rockwork as well, unfortunately all the pictures are on my tablet. I visited that LFS that closed, new owner, and she was dumping things she did not think would sell. This included a $190 giant old coral rock, basically a big shelf, for $40. A fool and his money ... so it was mine. The wife and I carefully broke it in half and I placed it as you can see above, both pieces making bridges. I feel like this helps lift up the scape and give me a place to put the SPS, while creating more shade and hiding places for the fish. Not art, but functional. :)

 

And let me add, capturing the tang and the sixline was a real treat, even with no rocks left in the 40. A real treat. I knew when I removed the last rock it was going to get ugly and sure enough the tang went on the attack, but I was able to get the rock and monti cap out without breaking it and only a little blood.

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Looks good Mark, would love to see some pics once it all settles in.

 

Thanks.

 

So one other note. I'm done with Reef Crystals, I despise this salt. The water has a jello like texture to it (exaggeration) and the KH is too damn high. Kent normally turns my Brute can brown after a couple of weeks but RC is brown in 4 days. Going back to Kent Reef salt after my last bag of RC is used up OR I might switch back to Red Sea regular with natural levels of all the params.

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I use Red Sea Coral Pro and have never had any issues despite my recent Alk swings (which I believe are now sorted BTW).

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I use Red Sea Coral Pro and have never had any issues despite my recent Alk swings (which I believe are now sorted BTW).

 

Glad to hear the alk issues are fixed. I prefer using a salt with the same Alk as what I run, or close. The 40 always ran between 7.5 and 8 and I assume this tank will as well. Kent usually ran around 9 or 9.5 Alk.

 

Looking good. And so much room for those corals to grow even bigger. :naughtydance:

 

Thanks! :)

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Holy smokes Mark! Somehow I missed that this tank was already in the works and I thought you must be on vacation or something. Anyhow I found it this morning and it looks great. Nice job. Can't wait to see it when the dust settles from the transfer!

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Holy smokes Mark! Somehow I missed that this tank was already in the works and I thought you must be on vacation or something. Anyhow I found it this morning and it looks great. Nice job. Can't wait to see it when the dust settles from the transfer!

 

Thanks. I did the first transfer a lot quicker than I planned, I just wanted to get it over with. The basement was actually getting warm from all the equipment, the 40 was getting up to 82 which never happens. Then I scored the rock, then I told the wife screw it, I'm moving everything and hoping for the best. :D Now I'm back down to 3 tanks to worry about with the goal of just 2 tanks soon, but not sure how soon.

 

Whoa all running and swapped over? Nice! Looking good. Like the shelf rock you scored.

 

Thanks. Hoping everything survives the move.

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Wife reports that tank has cleared up significantly from last night, so the rocks are doing their magic. I'm going to miss my live sand from the 40. At 2.5 years I'm sure it's full of muck but also so much life. Just a couple more scoops. :)

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Came home to the tank looking remarkably clear. Go go bacteria. Not sure how that Kole Tang got in there. :o

 

l6q2o.jpg

 

From the side you can see it's still a bit hazy, but that's 6 feet of water. :)

 

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Installed the other MP40 and then moved corals together so I have some free space.

 

The purple stylo got really mad while I was working in here. Maybe the glue / epoxy, not sure, but it usually doesn't get this pissed.

 

1sao4.jpg

 

It's never receded on me in 2 years of constant screw ups, so I think it will be ok. :)

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Looks amazing already mark!

 

 

Mark that looks gorgeous, the colonies look amazing.

 

 

Thanks! I was quite pleased, I did not think ti would look so good so fast. I had a lot of corals in the 40 but I could not see some of them, now they are all on display and it looks so much better. This is why some of the corals in the 46 won't be coming over ... I need to learn how to make more with less. Scaping has never been something I was good at. :)

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