125g Glass Community Reef

kalahari · #1 11/27/2007, 10:37 PM

I finally got my RO/DI system installed, so it's time to stop lurking and start working. I've had a glass 18x24x72 125g sitting on it's stand empty against the wall awaiting the day I could mix my own water.

That day has arrived :-)

I bought a 5 stage filter from AquaFX last month, and got it all set up yesterday. It's filling the 125 as I type. I decided to start a thread here to track my progress, for myself if nothing else.

This is my first RC post, so I figure some background is in order. I've been keeping freshwater fish for about a decade now, I currently have two 50g fresh (one glass, one acrylic) planted tanks going. I've been interested in jumping to salt for a couple years, and I've been lurking here for a year or so. In April I set up a 35g hex acrylic reef to get my feet wet for the big boy. My long term plan is to have this as the quarantine and or breeding tank. The 35g is running well with soft corals, some small fish and some inverts.

My only personal transportation is a motorcycle, so even a single 5g jug can be a challenge from the store. So I decided that I wouldn't start in on the 125g 'till water was in-house.

I'll post some pictures shortly...

m2434 · #2 11/27/2007, 10:44 PM

To Reef Central

Rustylugnuts · #3 11/27/2007, 11:32 PM

Good buy on the RO. It will save you a lot of money trouble in the long run.

kalahari · #4 11/28/2007, 01:32 AM

OK, I have some pictures for everyone's perusal. The 125g first, then the 35g, and a shot of the water filter as well.

That should be enough water for now, I've put some salt in, but I need to buy another bucket. The guy I bought it from had an open water large fish setup once upon a time, so he handed off a few things, like 1/3 a bucket of salt, and the power head you see there stirring it up. My LFS is closed on Wednesdays, so I guess I'll get a new bucket Thursday.

This is my current reef. I've been lax on the Coraline cleanup of late as you can see. You can also see my Clowns and the reddish blur of the Hawk above them. On the back is a skimmer and plant refugium. (That stylish bit of cardboard keeps the tank dark at night even though the plant light is on.)

Here is my new RO/DI setup. It's down in the basement, I have a 1/4" tube running up through an old hole in the closet floor. I got the chloramine option, as we switched to that here in SF a few years back. I also got the UV sterilizer. It's the at the very top, above the 3 parallel RO membranes. I have more elaborate storage and plumbing plans for this, but that will likely not happen 'till January.

Fore more, you can see my picture gallery at: http://e3rpt.com/gallery/v/Blake/Fish/

kalahari · #5 11/28/2007, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by m2434

To Reef Central

Thanks for the welcome m2434. I see you're into astronomy, did you get a chance to catch P17 a few weeks ago, what a show!

Ehaze · #6 11/28/2007, 02:16 AM

Welcome, and HOLY CRAP, that is one huge RO/DI, whats the GPH on that thing?? and where can i get one?

kalahari · #7 11/28/2007, 03:09 AM

It's rated at 300gpd, but I haven't had a chance to test that yet. I have big plans for this filter, aquarium and beyond.

I bought 4 ABS 50 gallon drums from a salvage place up in Santa Rosa. I think they were $10 each. In any case, they began life importing olives from Greece to the US. A little water and bleach, they are clean and ready for use. Nice air tight seal on the lids too. I've got a bunch of PVC, plan on plumbing them in as water storage. I was thinking 3 fresh and 1 salt, but we'll see where that goes. Living in an active earthquake zone, on site fresh water storage is always a good idea.

I have some pumps I got from McMaster-Carr to deliver water to the ground floor. In the end I want to have a feed and return line for fresh and salt water, 1/2" ID. Plus a wast water return line as well. The Idea being that water could circulate through a feed/return loop until diverted at the end into the aquarium.

I do a fair amount of home brewing, and cleaner water is always a good thing there too. So right now my only debate is to use fully treated water, or the RO "waste" water for the beer. The latter is certainly cleaner than the tap water I use now.

But I'm still a little way off on all this. For now my 1/4" feed will work :-)

Here is a pic of the aforementioned barrels, with one of the pumps on top of the near one.

kalahari · #8 11/28/2007, 03:14 AM

Oh, I almost forgot to answer your question.

I bought the filter from http://www.aquariumwaterfilters.com/, it is their "Mako" unit. Normally it's 100gpd with a single membrane, but I added 2 more. I also went for the chloramine treatment option as I mentioned in my other post, because I know they are using it in our water supply. The UV was extra as well.

I plan to add a drinking water pressure bladder tank to hook up to the ice maker, and at the sink.

kalahari · #9 11/30/2007, 01:40 AM

I got some more salt, and I'm closing in on 1.023. That's what the seawater from my LFS usually is, so I think that's what I'll use. I plan to supplement with some ocean water on occasion.

Next is substrate. I have one bucket of old coral sand, but then I'll want to get some live sand as well. I'm going back and forth between sand and crushed pieces. I have the former in my reef, and the latter in my fish only. Both look nice, perhaps I'll mix.

Then it's time for live rock. Going to need a lot, 200lbs or more. I think it's going to be a matter of adding sand an rock over a couple months to allow it to all cycle in, and so as to spread out the financial impact a little :-)

So then do I need heat or a skimmer before I start in with the live sand/rock, time to go read some more....

cgarr017 · #10 11/30/2007, 02:46 AM

both

jcpatella · #11 11/30/2007, 09:17 AM

Save yourself a little bit of money by buying just one bag of live sand (or get a cup of live sand from an established tank) and the rest normal sand (such as aragonite). This should also help cut down on the cycle. Same thing with your live rock - you don't need too buy 150 lbs of live rock - get half live and half base rock. Unless someone else disagrees, I wish I'd have gone this route when I first set up my tank.

kalahari · #12 12/08/2007, 11:27 PM

I bought a pair of Jäger 250w heaters that appear to be in sync. So far I've never seen one on and the other off. Maintaining a steady 81F at this point.

I also grabbed the Remora skimmer from another project that is already cycling but has no animal life yet. I'm going to build one out of PVC for the medium term that will sit above the tank, but that will be next weekend at the earliest.

Standing at the LFS, peering into the bags of live sand, I decided to go with black sand and a black backdrop. I picked up 2 bags of live sand (the stuff on this page: http://www.naturesocean.com/live_sand.htm). I already have the black mylar sheet for the back, so I'm good there.

The only down side to this plan is that I haven't found any dry black sand locally, so I may end up having to order that, or buy all live sand.

Here's a couple pics from today, I expect it'll be a couple days before the water clears up.

You can see a little of the white sand in the corner left over from the last time this tank was used. I like the way it looks with the layered effect.

jcpatella · #13 12/08/2007, 11:37 PM

I gotta say - I haven't seen many tanks with black sand. I really like the idea, so I can't wait to see how the tank looks when the water clears and you have live rock in it. UNIQUE!

kalahari · #14 12/09/2007, 12:07 AM

The store owner said it was something he had just started stocking. He had a 10g with about 3" of the black sand, it is sea grass and and some small corals with sea horses. Very nice looking. The dark substrate really sets off the colors in the plant and animal life.

I have read that darker colored environments will cause some animals that naturally change color to become very dark as well. I guess I'll have to experiment with it and see what happens.

kalahari · #15 12/12/2007, 12:13 AM

I believe I have discovered at least one down side to black sand. There is some sort of fine silt in it that has been clouding the water. Today I can finally see the bottom, but it's still murky. Some of the silt has come out in the skimmer, and it's formed a layer on top of the sand as well, a rather dull brown layer. I'm thinking I may want to stir up the sand again, and use a canister filter to get rid of it. I have an old one with a large paper filter, that would work well. Could this stuff possibly be beneficial?

Some of it has come out in the skimmer, but most seems to be on the bottom.

kalahari · #16 12/14/2007, 12:44 AM

I've been fishing about on the web, and I think this is the skimmer for me: http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/diy6inskimmer.htm I'll post some pictures once I get some parts going.

Featherdusters · #17 12/14/2007, 12:54 AM

I believe I have the same black sand in my 125G. I also experienced the black film on top. It went away after a two or three. Its important to have nice surface water movement to get rid of it.

Overall, I have had the sand in for a couple of months and have been happy with it. You can't see diatoms on it. I didn't see any when I had my traditional new tank diatom bloom.

Featherdusters · #18 12/14/2007, 12:58 AM

I also meant to add that I love your canopy. Are you going to do retrofit lighting in it?

kalahari · #19 12/14/2007, 01:32 AM

Yeah, I like the canopy too, makes it a little more classy I guess :-) No mess of wires and hoses exposed.

I've been thinking about the lighting and fastening it to the underside of the lid of the canopy was my first idea. It would be convenient on the one hand, to have the lighting out of the way with the lid open. But then it would be difficult to see in the tank with the lid open. Also, to really reach down in there, I have to take the canopy off like it is now. Attached lighting would make that a more complicated operation.

More likely I'll make a frame, or pair of frames to hold the lights that rest on top of the tank, under the canopy. I'm thinking 4x 36" T-5 tubes, and 2x 250w HQI on each side would be great, but I'm not sure my wiring will be able to handle that. Some of those new LED lights look nice, low power draw is certainly a big plus. But the big setups are bigtime $$ from what I've seen.