Shallow Office Reef - "Great things are not done by impulse..."

[--chris--]

I appreciate it John.  You are correct, its "raw" for lack of a better term.  I need to clean it up prior to hitting the tank.  Any tips beyond a good scrubbing?  

[johnmaloney]

I give you some tips......but only some! 🙂 

 

The rock has holes in it, you will want to get out the sediment that is caked in there. You will know when you are close to getting it all when it weighs about half as much as when you started. Soaking rock is a good way to see what is loose and/or able to dissolve in it still.

[--chris--]

🤘

 

Thanks John!

 

Ordered a pair of 3/4" bulkheads from @BulkReefSupply to plug the two holes I uncovered today.  Tonight is hockey night, but tomorrow after I drop my kid off I will be able to run out and get some 1.5" elbows, 2 - 1.5" unions and a few feet of 1.5" PVC to complete the drain plumbing and start adding water back to the top.  

[JBM]

Nice rock, id definitely cure it, possibly even give it a muriatic acid bath to kill off uglies. 

Youd be surprised what a hammer and chisel can do to rock.

[--chris--]

Rock is soaking now, I picked up a few wire brushes and have a busted set of cement chisels I can use to scour and scrape the pits to remove debris.  I swear to god I had a dream about this rock and the cleaning process last night (lol).  

 

Ill start with a wire brush and some basic chisel work, see what comes off from the rock and proceed from there.  

 

I picked up all the plumbing I should need to complete the draings today, just waiting on BRS to deliver the 3/4" bulkheads so I can cap them off and water/leak test again (with twice as much drain as before and proper dursos).  

[--chris--]

Leak test #2. 

 

Much better than before, no major leaks....just a drain joint that needs some cement I missed and I need to reseat the return pump flex tube on the nipple.  Both are minor.  

 

Also what a difference two 1” drains with proper dursos can make!   The only noise is the bubbles hitting the sump and even those will go away in time.   

 

The only thing I’m not happy with is the complicated fitting setup I have on the exposed drain.  But I don’t think there is much I can do about it other than get a proper overflow/weird to hide it.

 

[--chris--]

Water - CHECK

SALT - CHECK

ROCK - CHECK

 

Tossed in some frozen food to kick off the cycle.  Day 1 is today 🙂  

[--chris--]

[--chris--]

Now that its up and running (cycling) I can focus on figuring out the wiring mess and routing.  Not sure which way to go here, functional and neat or full on OCD organized.  

[--chris--]

6 Days into a running system.  The PVC has quieted down 80%, almost no noise now just a quiet fizzle from the water hitting the sump.  I think getting salt in the water actually helped quiet it down....?

 

No leaks, no failures, no funny business.  Off to a good start.  

[--chris--]

A friend of mine is tearing down his 180 that’s been up about 15 years.  He sold me some of his live rock, which is now sitting happily in my new office tank!

 

[Christopher Marks]

That's some great looking liverock @--chris--, how fortunate! Are you going to continue to let it cycle for a few weeks or do you have new additions planned already now that there's live rock in place?

[--chris--]

On 5/14/2019 at 5:41 PM, Christopher Marks said:

That's some great looking liverock @--chris--, how fortunate! Are you going to continue to let it cycle for a few weeks or do you have new additions planned already now that there's live rock in place?

I am going slow, still need to get my ATO setup before I put anything sensitive in.  I also want to keep an eye on params and see how things go.  I added some food to kick off the nitrogen cycle before I knew I was getting this LR.  I checked for amm and nitirite twice, but have nothing detected.  I am pretty sure this LR is going to keep those levels at zero and will be all I really need to get the tank 'running' but no need to rush it!  

 

I had the strangest occurrence the other day.  I was working, it was mid-day...the tank had been humming along nicely for days.  All of sudden the overflow got really loud.  I checked it out and one of the overflows was running at full siphon but not doing the flush and refill thing like they do when they run full siphon.  The pump and the drain were perfectly in tune, it was very odd!  I ended up raising the overflow in the tank up about 1/8" which puts more water through the weir overflow and resolved that issue.  

[--chris--]

Lights hung and rock ‘scaped.

 

 

 

I still need to setup the ato, and continue routing wires to make my ocd happy.  Then a power head or two for the display and a five light for chaeto in the sump otherwise I think it’s coming along well.

[--chris--]

ATO hooked up and running 🤘

[mitten_reef]

On 5/20/2019 at 11:10 AM, --chris-- said:

Lights hung and rock ‘scaped.

 

 

 

I still need to setup the ato, and continue routing wires to make my ocd happy.  Then a power head or two for the display and a five light for chaeto in the sump otherwise I think it’s coming along well.

That looks really nice. Love the open scape

[--chris--]

Long overdue update.  I picked up a side hustle that keeps me busy but the tank is flourishing.   My first big patch of coralline just appeared this week!

 

I also got a tomini tang a few weeks back, initially quite shy it is now coming out and waiting for food when I walk by.  My first tang ❤️

[--chris--]

Best I can do on the iPhone through dirty glass with a shy animal lol

 

 

 

[--chris--]

[--chris--]

Overdue update, I know...thanks @mitten_reef for reminding me 👍
 

 

At this point I would say the tank is ready for more inhabitants.   I’m on the hunt for more fish and inverts.  

 

 

[mitten_reef]

18 minutes ago, --chris-- said:

Overdue update, I know...thanks @mitten_reef for reminding me 👍
 

 

At this point I would say the tank is ready for more inhabitants.   I’m on the hunt for more fish and inverts.  

 

 

I think for how long this tank takes to come along, let’s jump right into SPS. 

[--chris--]

Says the guy who is GOAT with SPS!  
 

Your probably right.  I really want more fish, the tang is beautiful but only comes out for food and when I stand by the tank. 

[mitten_reef]

3 minutes ago, --chris-- said:

Says the guy who is GOAT at killing SPS!  

Fix that for ya. I just don’t like to quit on them. 😅. 

[JBM]

Looking good!

[Matteo]

Uhhhh so many of my reef purchases are impulses... 

 

No regrats... 😁