Tank is up & running! 150g Reef

[wiszmaster]

OK - tank is running .... but still need to build the sump, enclose the 'fish room' in the garage, and order the new lights today.

The Tank:
http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7167-4/PICT0554.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7170-1/PICT0553.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7144-2/PICT0560.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7141-4/PICT0552.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7132-2/PICT0549.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7117-4/PICT0544.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7111-2/PICT0542.JPG




This is where the 'fish room' is goimng to be:
http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7060-2/PICT0528.JPG



comments...suggestions ... hints/tips ... donations are welcome too!
Paypal: marco@swfl-hosting.com :)



Thanks again Mike - Great rock, and TONS of life on them! (pmike25)
Good Luck with your next tank.

[lisaFL]

Wow! Awesome tank! Can't wait to come over maybe tomorrow or monday to come look at it!

[wiszmaster]

more pictures @ http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/v/random_pics/aquarium/

[coralfarmer84]

get some fish in that thing, looks good thou, I'd stop by saltwatersolutions and check out what they have, i heard they are getting a bunch of new livestock in this week

[wiszmaster]

i've been there a few times now ... everytime they were low & almost out of stuff ..... maybe in a few weeks, i just ordered lights today - 6 x 80w + 2 x 54w T5's ... next big item is the sump .. .

[coralfarmer84]

thrusday they will have everything you can possibly think of from full corals selection, fish, inverts... the works

[wiszmaster]

That's cool - lindsey & I will have to go down and check it out sometime late this week or next.
But buying anything just yet is not an option ... Want to get the sump done first, and need to hook up the protein skimmer.

[coralfarmer84]

yea i hear that, make sure you do it right. You got some good looking rock there I'm guessing you got it from an existing system. Everything seems to be in coming along nicely, you fooled us all saying with the move you wouldn't have it up

[wiszmaster]

yes, the rock came from an existing system - pmike25 (sp?) from new port richey tore down his 180g .... i picked up all of his rock, and most of his sand & water ...
otherwise i'd would have beena while until i'd have gotten the tank started - this was a deal i couldn't pass up.

I might pick up the sump later this week - found one local i like ... 53x24x24 - no baffles, bubble traps, or other guts .. just a tank. i'll fab my own guts for it.

lights should be here on friday this week - and it looks like i'll be needinga chiller - my water temps have come up to 85.6*F as of today ... they climb about 1.5*F every day... :-(

[coralfarmer84]

I pm'd ya back marco

[wiszmaster]

alright ... i now have a sump ... this weekend i'll hook it up, as well as the lights, and hopefully the skimmer.
if filled to the top, it would hold approximately 132 gallons - 53"*24"*24" ... tomorrow i will draw up plans for the guts, and hopefully stop by acme & have the parts cut out.

this large of a sump will give me a nice buffer zone in case water comes down ...

Thanks again Ryan - coralfarmer84

BTW ... post up some pictures of your tank!

[keinreis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8454086#post8454086 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wiszmaster
alright ... i now have a sump ... this weekend i'll hook it up, as well as the lights, and hopefully the skimmer.
if filled to the top, it would hold approximately 132 gallons - 53"*24"*24" ... tomorrow i will draw up plans for the guts, and hopefully stop by acme & have the parts cut out.

this large of a sump will give me a nice buffer zone in case water comes down ...

Thanks again Ryan - coralfarmer84

BTW ... post up some pictures of your tank!

Yea post some picts!

[wiszmaster]

you hsould post some too - now that you have your cam back.

[wiszmaster]

btw .. you comeing over tonight? .. slacker!

[wiszmaster]

Since the tank had be gradually heating up by ~1.5*F /day yesterday it reached ~87*F .... so it was time to fab something ... went to compusa & picked up a 3 speed adjustable 230mm PC fan w/ blue LEDs .. they work nicely as moon lights - had some extra acrylic left over from previous stuff & made bracket.

this morning the tank was down @ 77.1*F ... tomorrow i should be getting the new sump up, stopped by acme this AM & picked up acrylic for the guts.
Need to pick up sme more fans, put 3 or so into the canopy to move air in/out, and put an array of maybe 4 large fans over the sump ...



2 out fo 3 boxes with the new lights are out for delivery ... the 3rd box, the heavy one (ballasts) missed the truck in jacksonville last night ... so no lights this weekend ...

[wiszmaster]

the sump is built ... waiting 24 hours for the acrylic to cure ... tomorrow i will plumb it up.

does anybody know if i can get union gate vales locally?
regular gate vales HD/Lowes/Ace has them .. with either slip, or threaded .. .but gate vales with double unions .... i'd be interested in.

[wiszmaster]

and for the lights ... i received all the ballasts, but only 2 bulbs(tubes) & reflectors .... :-(

[wiszmaster]

found 3 'large' (3/4" - 1 1/4"" mushrooms today ... they must have relocatred themself from the back where i hadn't seen them before ... or jsut now came out of hiding ?!

[coralfarmer84]

man I've been busy with things... no time to post. sounds like you got things fairly under control there, now you just need some fish ;) lol.

BTW.. I got my the unions you are talking about from Lowes, they are like 2" and 1" and a half, you just have to look around. they aren't cheap thou like 30 plus bucks each.

If you need anything just let me know

[lisaFL]

yeah..... now you just need fish! :]

[wiszmaster]

well... i just finished setting up the sump/fuge ... been working on it since ~ 4pm ... flooded my garage once ... damn near lost the return pump ... ran out of parts 10 minutes till 8pm - made it to lowes 5 minutes after closing time ... :-/ ... tomorrow i will have to re plumb the line going to the skimmer


but NO leaks! ::knocking on wood/acrylic::



tomorrow the rest of my lights will be here .... not sure if i'll get a chance to install them yet ... maybe one ballast till its done ( 3/3/2) - would be easier on the livestock?


we picked up a purple serpent star, 11 more pyramid snails, 5 red hermit crabs, 10 scarlett crabs & a blood shrimp ... sometime in the next week or so we will probably start with a fish.

i just noticed i have some aiptasia growing ...

[Concrete]

Hey Wizmaster, Nice Tank!! I have a Queen Angel lookin for a nice home if your interested...


I noticed your WWW. goes to StormReadyBuilders. You Need a Concrete Contractor??? :smokin:
It's been kind of slow over here in the Cape...


Where did you get your LR?? Looks nice.


Here is my Angel:

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/8783/dsc00534kr7.jpg

[Concrete]

yes, the rock came from an existing system - pmike25 (sp?) from new port richey tore down his 180g .... i picked up all of his rock, and most of his sand & water ...


Should have read all of the Post's before opening my mouth...

[wiszmaster]

What's the deal with the queen angel?
Why do you want him gone?
Trade him for a blue damsel?! Lol

Tonight we added a blue tang, a copperband butterfly, and 3 peppermint shrimp.

Protein skimmer is plumbed as well ... Need to 'tune' it though

[coralfarmer84]

sounds like its coming along nicely...

[wiszmaster]

since late last night the tank has been cloudy .. :-( ... maybe the protein skimmer ... not sure. i don't think they are micro bubbles ... even put a sock over the drain going into the sump.

did some water tests this AM ...

Salinity = 1.025
PH = 8.46 (on AquaController w/ lab grade probe)
PH = ~7.7 - 8.0 (on Tetratest PH)
Amonia (NH3/NH4+) = 0/IDEAL (Jungle Lab Corp - Quick Dip test)
Amonia
Nitrite = <0.3mg/l (Tetratest NO2)


does anybody have the Tetra Test kit w/ NH3 ? i borrowed this one from 'lisaFL' - & the color chart for NH3 is missing .. my test read the color just a tad bit lighter than the N)2 yellow (,0.3 mg/l) ... what does that read on the color chart?


Thank,

marco

[lisaFL]

Hahaha Marco! I'm not getting rid of my blue damsel.
Unless............. i get a bigger tank. Mom would never approve.

[lisaFL]

Oops.... sorry i had that one laying next to my tank.
I just used it last week. I'll give it to mom to give to you.

[wiszmaster]

i have all 6 of the 80w t5's installed ... and extended the wireing harness ... PITA.
the tank is cloudy ... realllllly cloudy. has a greenish cloudy look ... not sure whats going on ... yesterday morning most of the parameters i tested for were good .... so i think.

one of the 54w 4ft bulbs came with a defect, the other 54w i busted by dropping the canopy on it :-/ ... already re-ordered ... doubt they will make it here this week.


defective ATI bulb.
http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7240-1/bad_bulb-ATI.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7245-2/bad_bulb-ATI2.JPG

[wiszmaster]

i got the 6 x 80w done, hacked up the wireing harness, and popped the canopy back up on the tank tonight ... here is what it looks like now ..... did i mention it was cloudy? :-(

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7257-1/PICT0571.JPG

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7263-4/PICT0573.JPG


i'm guessing that the extra ... 70-90gallons i added on sunday didn't do the tank so good?!
when the lights are off, the water looks green/yellowish ..... any ideas?

[lisaFL]

aw man, hope it gets fixed.
Hope the coral and fish are fine.
<3,
Lisa

[wiszmaster]

and this AM the tank is NOT cloudy anymore ... lol.
i ran my reverse plumbed protein skimmer, and the red sea berlin as well ... both pulled out a decent amount of nasties ... even though none was really brown ... more like funny milky looking water ...

[wiszmaster]

reverse plumbed protein skimmer:

http://marcoprechel.com/gallery2/d/7251-4/PICT0569.JPG

[coralfarmer84]

looks like you got it all figured out. thats the first skimmer I've seen that runs from top to bottom thou.

[wiszmaster]

ist all replumbed now ... it seems to run a little more stable ... none of the yo-yo effect with the water level going up & down ... and its making some clear/milky looking skimate - none of this brown stuff everybody else has ... weird ... i hooked a light to the fuge ... i saw a fe things moving around ... just couldn't catch what that was ... must have come in the bags of livesand.

yesterday i added 60lbs of livesand to the fuge, and a small bit of chaeto macro algae ... if this stuff grows like crazy i'll be trimming it .. if someone needs some for their fuge?

[Concrete]

Hey Wiz, I'll take some of that Cheato. I'll be in south Ft. Myers (The Forest) pouring a slab. Give me a call and I'll pick some up (Sent phone# in PM)

[wiszmaster]

jeff,

so far it hasn't grown any yet .... but if it will, i will post it up for 'frag' ... until then ... talk to rich @ boardroom - he said he has a bunch of it @ home.

where in the forest? we are building 3 houses in the forest right now (timberlakes, panther paw & forest oaks)