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Pod Your Reef

My 68.8 gallon tank


Sinistard

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Oooh baby! How tall is it, and which needlewheel pumps are they?

 

I've heard nothing but good things about GEO. :P

 

 

It's 40" tall and uses GX 6000 needle wheel pumps.

 

Like you said, everyone has nothing but good things to say about GEO products.

 

I hope to have it up and running next week to test it out.

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It's 40" tall and uses GX 6000 needle wheel pumps.

 

Like you said, everyone has nothing but good things to say about GEO products.

 

I hope to have it up and running next week to test it out.

 

I was wrong about the pumps, they are GX-4100s not GX-6000s

 

 

:bowdown: ..... enough said

 

Keep us posted

 

Izzue

 

Thank you

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It never ends!!! When will it be done?

 

Soon I hope, I'm off to get parts to plumb the skimmer to finish the plumbing today.

 

 

 

 

I plan to do a shallow sand bed, and was wondering what size grain I should use.

 

Do you guys think I will have problems with this stuff getting blown around? I will probably have a 1" sand bed.

 

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/m...Code=Substrates

 

Thanks

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I finally got the plumbing done :lol:

 

I plumbed the skimmer into my overflow line. Basically I split the line to the sump and ran one line into the skimmer and one straight into the sump. Here are a few pictures of the final plumbing.

 

skimmerplum1.jpg

 

skimmerplum2.jpg

 

George from GEOs reef suggested that I have the line to the skimmer below the line to the sump to insure constant flow into the skimmer. That's why I stick in a Y fitting to angle the sump line up a bit.

 

The valve on the bottom is to drain off waste that might collect in the line. The PVC below the valve is just for support to keep strain of the bulkhead in the skimmer.

 

I hope this set up works. I have RO water flowing in right now, it should be full some time tomorrow. Then the final leak test and as long as everything is ok the salt can go in.

 

I'll get a few more pictures later, I'm off to the store to get some steaks to grill :)

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Love the GEO saw you at the RC thread.

 

 

The skimmer is very nice.

 

 

 

-------------

 

I got the fuge light installed.

 

I am still using the 2 6700k 65w PC bulbs. I stuck the fixture on a hing for easy access but it was probably not needed. After I got it up I had more room to work under the light then I expected. I just need to mount the ballasts and the lights are good to go.

 

fugelight7.jpg

 

fugelight8.jpg

 

fugelight6.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
Sinistard

I finally have salt water in the tank, 7 months after I started :D

 

I ran into my first problem. I was worried about this the whole time I was setting it up, my closed loop inlets are to low. I have a shallow sand bed and the inlets suck sand in.

 

Here is how I fixed it, basicaly its a slip x thread insert screwed into the bulkhead then a 90 slipped on with a strainer.

 

clinlet.jpg

 

And my first shot of the tank with water in it. Think that's enough LR :P

 

FTS050206.jpg

 

Here is my first go at the aquascaping. I moved it around a couple times and it ended up like this. I'm pretty happy with it, the pieces of rock I got were really nice for the price I payed for it.

 

There were 2 real big pieces that I stuck on each side then built up around them.

 

aquascape1.jpg

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Sinistard

Thanks danskim.

 

 

A couple pictures of the tank with the tweaked aquascaping. I need to get a couple more small pieces of LR to finish up.

 

68tank1.jpg

 

68tank3.jpg

 

68tank2.jpg

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Sinistard

I did a little rework on the aquascaping, I extended a outlet of the closed loop so it outputs into the cave on the right, from left to right, so it will not end up being a dead spot. I'll post a picture some time of it I just don't feel like sticking my had back in the tank to take the rock off that is covering it right now.

 

After taking down the rockwork to put in the loc line and then reworking it back up I hated the way it looked. I could not get it just right and it took me like 1.5 hours to get it back to where I liked it. 3 times longer then the first attempt LOL.

 

Here is the new look, very similar to the last look just tweaked a bit. It's still a bit cloudy from the sand I kicked up.

 

What do you think, this way or the old way.

newlook.jpg

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That aquascaping is ridiculous!!! NICe JOB!!

 

This would be one sweet predatory tank...

 

Keep it Up with the pics,

 

MJD

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Thanks MJD

 

 

 

I picked up some mangrove plants today and stuck them in the refugium. I built a support out of egg crate to hold up the mangroves

 

Here are some pictures of the fuge.

 

fuge1.jpg

 

fuge2.jpg

 

I have some miracle mud that came with the refugium do you think i should try using it?

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Tank looks sweeeeeet i wish i the cash to do stuff like that

 

well why not it could not hurt to use it i hear it is really benificial for the tank

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Thanks Womby

 

 

-----------------

 

I went ahead and added the miracle mud to the refugium. It made a big cloud in the water when I added it even though I turned off the pumps. I should have let it settle for a bit longer before I turned on the pumps but I figured the 100 micron filter sock would pick up most of the crap but I guess it was to small.

 

I hope that this stuff is ok for the tank. I read mostly neutral reviews on it. I guess it has a lot of iron, aluminum, and silicon in it. I also read it's good for mangroves. I did not put as much in the tank as was recommended on the container but I'm not going to worry about it, I am not going to count on it to keep my trace minerals up anyways and hey it was free so may as well try it out. Nothing I read was bad about it.

 

If anyone has experience with miracle mudd feal free to let me know how it worked out for you.

 

I also added a divider to the fuge. On one side I have some LR and the cheato on the other I just have LR.

 

Here are some pictures.

 

fuge4.jpg

 

fuge5.jpg

 

fuge6.jpg

 

 

I plan to use the side with just LR as kind of a display section and maybe a temporary frag tank if needed. I am going to put a few cool critters in down the road ones that will not due well in the display tank.

 

In fact I picked up on critter that will end up in the fuge down the road, for now he is in the main tank.

 

Staghorn Hermit (Manucomplanus varians)

staghornhermit2.jpg

 

After I add more corals and what not to the main tank he will get moved to the fuge due to the fact that stings from corals will kill its shell.

 

I also stuck a couple Urchins from my nano in the fuge since they had gotten to big and were knocking stuff over. One is very cool looking. They may end up in the display tank down the road.

 

ID's would be welcome

 

urchins.jpg

 

urchincloseup2.jpg

 

urchincloseup1.jpg

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What camera are you using?

 

 

It's a Sony DSC-F707 5mp Camera.

 

this tank is gonna be sick, awesome work.

 

Thanks

 

I am interested in the staghorn crab... where do you come about finding those critters? And price?

 

I found it a one of my LFSs here in Columbus.

 

I think online they will cost you around 20 bucks.

 

Live Aquaria has a good description of them

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1146

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Charlie97L

I would advise against that cover for the sump... won't that decreasel your oxygenation severely? I know the main oxyengation in my 58 is when the water drains into the sump and makes all those bubbles.. if you have a sealed top, taht might cause problems... maybe put some holes in it? enough to let air in, but not let a lot of evap out. just a suggestion... i'm not positive on this either way, it's something to look into.

 

looks amazing otherwise! :)

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