Drama's 125 build progress (build progress)

[Dramad1]

Oh yeah . I went ahead and picked up the replacement parts for the skimmer, still have not plugged it in yet. Sometime this week.

Plans this week are to try to figure out this apex update issue, finish I stalling chiller, pull the aquamaxx skimmer and try to see what's really going on with the stand pipe, still over flowing. Maybe swap it out all together for the new one. Also looking for another chunk of lr.

C.u C

And a list of frags ready to go in the tank.

Watermelon zoas

Eagle eyes

Red digi

Pavona

Porities

Assorted acans

Slimmer

Nest

Setosa

Grn cap (huge, broke off my on my bc29)

Grn milli

Purp stylo

I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

All will be introduced slowly and after tester frags.

Fish list is being made as well. Need votes.

Predator fish/reef tank

Nano fish/ reef tank

Gotta go, boss is yelling hahaha

[pprwngs]

Nice tank. Just read through it all. Enjoyed the journey and the sorry about the drama, but I guess your name fits. Looking forward to following along.

[Spiderguardnano]

Predatory with a group of anthias

[markalot]

Holy crap, it's wet, and I missed it. Congrats on the slow but steady progress!

 

I also use the TDS 3 and so far I've never gotten a reading above 0 in either a cup test or in my 32 gallon RODI can, but it doesn't take much to raise the TDS. I've had instances where I read 2 or 3 in a cup thought was clean and then had to re-clean, wipe dry, and test again.

[porkchop-rob]

Looking good man..... I'm Jealous!

[Dramad1]

Another update;

 

Did a few things this afternoon, wish I could have worked on it all day but I had a training class early and lasted till a lil past noon.

So; finished plumbing chiller.

I'm letting the water circulate for 24 hours before turning it on to check for leaks and let the unit settle after moving around several times this after noon.

I already noticed a small leak on the inlet connection. Seemed weird, it was leaking from the threads. I adjusted the gromet/washer gasket plug thingy and retightened, seems to have fixed the issue. Also after long thoughts about it, I decided to run the chiller on its own pump.

 

After that was complete, I decided to pull the coneS2 skimmer out of the sump and inspect and adjust the standpipe. It's been a whole week and the skimmer remained crazy and constantly overflowing. I'm starting to hate skimmers, seems like everyone I get, I'm constantly messing with them and having issues.

Well when I went to pull the skimmer out I noticed the 50 zip ties I used to consolidate the cord with the other 20 cords for the pump. I figured I would just disconnect the pump from the skimmer body and try to fix the standpipe issue then reconnect when done. Well , I picked up the skimmer body, wiggled the vinyl hose to remove the pump and it flew off and popped off the end of the pump. Okay...no problem, I went to reconnect it and nope it wouldn't. Wtf is going on. I stared at it for an hour and said f it. CUT all the zip ties and pulled the pump out. Maybe I'm stupid, but I could not figure out how to reattach said piece

Blk side goes to pump and does not clip in, there is a lil lip it goes on but it will not stay in place, almost like it was glued on. Hmmm, said piece has the air line that connects to it. I was so over it at this point, so I said to myself, time to pull out the beast and see how long it takes the wife to notice. She is at work, perfect. Lil walk out to my tool shed and babamm... the Unboxing begins

Inside a box, wrapped in bubble wrap, covered in spray foam and wrapped in a silver bag it awaits. Weirdest pack job ever but it worked.

Wait for it, past the foam

Ta-da, all shrink wrapped up as well

So I got it out and had to take it apart to get to a few goodies inside, hat off

So it's a lil taller than the coneS2 but still fit with plenty of room in the sump.

Lil gate valve mod to help fine tune the bubs.

SO it's in and doesn't work, hahaha. I'm telling you skimmers hate me. No bubs, low water level wtf. I pull it out take the pump off, take the pump apart, then test pump in the sink, okay everything seems to be working.

I reassembled and filled the sink to the top, 10", put the skimmer in and same thing, but this time I have tiny bulbs of bubbles. I completely close the gate valve and get the water to rise in skimmer body but still the bubbles are barely there. I took the skimmer and pump apart like 15 times and retested in the sink. Same result everytime.

It was getting late so I just pulled it out of the sink, dried it off and then reinstalled in the sump and am currently letting it run to see if it's some kinda breaking time with the pump. I'm in 9.5" of water and using an aqua bee 3000 which is what the skimmer came with. It's a new skimmer so, I'm hoping it will break in and start performing.

Plan to break down the cad tank next week and put some of that tanks stuff in this one. I will kinda miss the cad tank but have plans to rip out the crap design back wall aio, lol we will see how it goes and if well I may set it back up.

Got some chromises on hold for me for nxt week

[Spiderguardnano]

Damm so you bought a new skimmer???

 

I'm having problems with my skimmer also man it's such a pain to find the sweet spot makes me want to ditch the skimmer and get something else

It overflows then drops super low etc

Ps pm If you get rid of the ati

[Dramad1]

Weird tried to post like 3 times already and it keeps vanishing.

 

I've had the skimmer in hiding from the wife for a few weeks,hahaha. AW gave me a really good deal on it, couldn't pass it up.

I got issues buying shit when it comes to the tanks, I get sucked in,

[Gooburz]

Weird tried to post like 3 times already and it keeps vanishing.

 

I've had the skimmer in hiding from the wife for a few weeks,hahaha. AW gave me a really good deal on it, couldn't pass it up.

I got issues buying shit when it comes to the tanks, I get sucked in,

 

haha you are not the only one! I think there are many of those types here including myself. I try to sneak stuff all the time with the tank but I can never get anything past the wife. I have a 40 breeder and now I already want to upgrade to a 80 breeder for my final upgrade.

[TheKingInYellow]

 

haha you are not the only one! I think there are many of those types here including myself. I try to sneak stuff all the time with the tank but I can never get anything past the wife. I have a 40 breeder and now I already want to upgrade to a 80 breeder for my final upgrade.

 

There is an 80 breeder? What is that, 48L x 24W x 18T?

 

Those would be amazing tank dimensions.

[billdeluz]

coming out real nice great work

I went ahead today and made that mixing station, should help making water and doing water changes I hope.


pure awesomeness

[Gooburz]

 

There is an 80 breeder? What is that, 48L x 24W x 18T?

 

Those would be amazing tank dimensions.

 

Yes they do make one! Deep Blue makes a 80 breeder/frag tank. It is amazing! Dimensions are 48x24x16

[Dramad1]

Ah yeah, big thanks to the funkateer for helping me figure out my skimmer issues. Seems to be dialed in at the moment and producing a really thick foam head.

 

Also in case you missed it, XL variety

Tomorrow or Sunday, the cad tank comes down and the contents go in this tank. I'm still not sure if I will be throwing the rock in or not due to some algae issues as well as nuisance hydroids. All corals and clown will be transferring though, then time to slow down a bit see how things go and adjust accordingly.

Tank parameters looking good so far. I did a 35g wc on Tuesday and plan another this weekend. Hoping to bring my nitrates down a bit by doing so. We have had a nasty heat wave blast us the last few days, hitting Temps above 93°f, so far the tank has faired well and temp never rose above 80.7°f.

I have the chiller hooked up but not turned on atm, I do have a pump circulating water through it though. The chiller is currently blocking my cabinet for the cad tank, so it's been a pain filling my ato o the cad tank as well as accessing items in the stand. Once I break the cad tank down, i will relocate the chiller and plan to turn the chiller on.

Coral news, I have a pretty decent offer on a trade for some other equip I have laying around. Mostly LPS but some sps, not that the tanks ready for sps yet,

I'm still up in the air if I am going to pull the trigger and make the trade. My mind says wait and sell it for cash but my reefer devel on my shoulder is telling me to just make the trade and help a fella reefer out and enjoy the new colors .

[Dramad1]

New fts

 

Traded some old equip for some monti and pavona frags

 

Water change tonight, another 30g. Other things going on with the tank, reef link wants a soft reset once a week. Apex still running old software. I have been busy and haven't gotten around to hardwiring it for retry on the update.

 

Got a new ride as well,

[TheKingInYellow]

Nice tank, nice pony too.

 

I want one, but the weather here is not kind on RWD.

[Dramad1]

Nice tank, nice pony too.

 

I want one, but the weather here is not kind on RWD.

I hear you on the rwd, fwd or awd always fair better in the snow. But if it makes you want to go buy one, it has a wet/snow condition mode

Thanks for checking out the build

[WhiteWulfe]

Nice tank, nice pony too.

 

I want one, but the weather here is not kind on RWD.

 

That's what studded winter tires are for ^_^ .....Says the guy who drives five days a week in a vehicle with no-season tires because regional won't give us a budget for winter tires for our work trucks...

[Sancho]

Got a new ride as well,

cHRoNzZe on the local forum would be jealous of the new ride. Very swet. I have never run a chiller does your inside temp get over 79?

[Dramad1]

Current house temp is 73°f

Current tank temp 79.3°f

Heater set at 77.

During the summer last year my house temp rose to 84°f not running the a/c. I just got kick out of the care program w/ sdge so my bill went up about $80. Ac will be used spairingly this summer. Hoping for a below average summer this year but I suspect it will be a very hot one seeing as we already were hitting the 90's a few weeks back.

Posting a pic now on lf for chronZze

[Cencalfishguy56]

Current house temp is 73°f

Current tank temp 79.3°f

Heater set at 77.

During the summer last year my house temp rose to 84°f not running the a/c. I just got kick out of the care program w/ sdge so my bill went up about $80. Ac will be used spairingly this summer. Hoping for a below average summer this year but I suspect it will be a very hot one seeing as we already were hitting the 90's a few weeks back.

Posting a pic now on lf for chronZze

Sweet car man I'm more of a chevy guy but the new mustangs are beautiful! What model is this?

[Dramad1]

Sweet car man I'm more of a chevy guy but the new mustangs are beautiful! What model is this?

2015 gt with performance package. 435hp. Soon to be Bama or Lund tuned if I can make up my mind. Track day this weekend

[Cencalfishguy56]

2015 gt with performance package. 435hp. Soon to be Bama or Lund tuned if I can make up my mind. Track day this weekend

Got the baddest of the bunch man, real hard decision but bama seems promising either way can't go wrong with more hp and torque! Jealous man keep it up nice ride

[Dramad1]

Some new frags I picked up from asd live sale.

Chalice

Lava lamp Shroom

Blood moon Shroom

Boiling point Shroom

Superman Shroom

Doomsday acro

Purple blueberry milli

 

All Shrooms are going to be placed at the base of my large shelf, don't know why but I want an cool lil collection of Shrooms to cover the base.

Today asd is offering 3-5$ bleached out acro frags, too many bio pellets, sucked the color out. They are clearing them out, all encrusting and alive just need to be babied to get there color back. As many as 50 pieces there choice for 100$. I plan on going, what a deal.

Tank is doing okay, some of the frags I put in last week have browned a bit. I think this is because of nitrates, I have been working on lowering them with water changes. So far I have done 3x 35g wc since tank has been running, I plan to do another 35g wc today. I'm running rowa and carbon in reactors to lower phos and eliminate tank smell. Both seem to be working well.

I added a melanurus wrasse into the mix. I was browsing the fish area and found him for $20. He has aclimated well and doing great, eating well and stirring up the sand bed nicely.

I'm looking at other fish to add and making a list of likes. So far mainly tangs on the list and am unsure what I want. Tangs I have my eye on, tommi tang,naso tang, powder blue tang, kole tang, purple tang, hippo tang and yellow tang. I also kinda want a royal gramma, just not sure when the best time would be to add her in. I would like an angel as well but need advice as well as do more reading up on what's reef safe and care requirements as well as who they would get along with, maybe a dwarf. Butterfly fish is on the list as well, I'm liking the copper banded but worried it will nip at sps and lps. I would like only one butterfly and one dwarf or angel. Another fish I am looking at is a yellow assessors because of its awesome colors,hardness and peacefulness. Not sure how well it would do with the other fish on my list esp the gramma.

Can anyone chime in with thoughts about my fish choices, offer any advice, criticism?

[Cencalfishguy56]

Tomini tang and purple tang with a blue tang would be a nice color array in my opinion, tominis have recently became one of my favorites and a yellow tang would also add color

Some new frags I picked up from asd live sale.

Chalice

Lava lamp Shroom

Blood moon Shroom

Boiling point Shroom

Superman Shroom

Doomsday acro

Purple blueberry milli

 

All Shrooms are going to be placed at the base of my large shelf, don't know why but I want an cool lil collection of Shrooms to cover the base.

Today asd is offering 3-5$ bleached out acro frags, too many bio pellets, sucked the color out. They are clearing them out, all encrusting and alive just need to be babied to get there color back. As many as 50 pieces there choice for 100$. I plan on going, what a deal.

Tank is doing okay, some of the frags I put in last week have browned a bit. I think this is because of nitrates, I have been working on lowering them with water changes. So far I have done 3x 35g wc since tank has been running, I plan to do another 35g wc today. I'm running rowa and carbon in reactors to lower phos and eliminate tank smell. Both seem to be working well.

I added a melanurus wrasse into the mix. I was browsing the fish area and found him for $20. He has aclimated well and doing great, eating well and stirring up the sand bed nicely.

I'm looking at other fish to add and making a list of likes. So far mainly tangs on the list and am unsure what I want. Tangs I have my eye on, tommi tang,naso tang, powder blue tang, kole tang, purple tang, hippo tang and yellow tang. I also kinda want a royal gramma, just not sure when the best time would be to add her in. I would like an angel as well but need advice as well as do more reading up on what's reef safe and care requirements as well as who they would get along with, maybe a dwarf. Butterfly fish is on the list as well, I'm liking the copper banded but worried it will nip at sps and lps. I would like only one butterfly and one dwarf or angel. Another fish I am looking at is a yellow assessors because of its awesome colors,hardness and peacefulness. Not sure how well it would do with the other fish on my list esp the gramma.

Can anyone chime in with thoughts about my fish choices, offer any advice, criticism?

[TheKingInYellow]

2015 gt with performance package. 435hp. Soon to be Bama or Lund tuned if I can make up my mind. Track day this weekend

 

I've put a deposit in on a 2015 Focus ST this week. Not in the same neighbourhood but a Cobb tune makes it a hell of a sleeper.