Custom 230 Peninsula Build

[TimSc2013]

Ever since I was a child, I wanted to have a saltwater aquarium but could never convince my parents to set-one up. In 1990, I bought my first 20-gallon aquarium in college and kept African cichlids, which had some of the vibrant colors seen in saltwater fish. Upon renting my first apartment after graduation in 1994, I decided to give saltwater a try and converted my 20-gallon freshwater tank into saltwater, keeping only several blue damsels. The system was basic with the tank itself sitting on the living room floor and only having a HOB filter with fluorescent lighting. This lasted only for several months, primarily because I was never home (work and nightlife) and did not give a lot of attention to the tank.
Note: I’ll continue to add to the background as I get time over the next several weeks leading up to the new build as I want share how I came about with my current system and my decision to upgrade. Primarily want to go through old printed photos to see what, if any, I have prior to going digital in the early 2000’s.

 

[TimSc2013]

I was able to find of picture of my first tank along with the condition of my kitchen! Looks like I needed to improve my own maintenance schedule so it was probably a good thing I didn’t start out with a saltwater tank…
You can see a glimpse of one cichlid showing some bright blue colors within the rock structure. I did end up being successful in getting a pair to mouth brood and raise two of the new fry to adulthood so I know at least most of the beer was drank and not spilled into the tank!

 

[revhtree]

Cool! Can't wait!

 

[TimSc2013]

After about five years of going tank less since my initial saltwater attempt, I started to “settle down†by getting married and moving into a house. On a random weekend, we decided to get out of the neighborhood to kill some time by going shopping, as all married couples do?? I scouted out a LFS near the shopping mall and ended up making an impulse buy of a 65-gallon tank (tall), stand, regular fluorescent lighting and HOB filter that was on display as a “package†deal. The owner made the sell easy as he indicated he would personally deliver the set-up to my house that afternoon upon store closing. SOLD! I was back in the game…

With the more normal, stable life and bigger tank, I had a renewed interest in trying my luck at the saltwater side of the hobby again. I kept a fish only tank for about two years with normal success considering I was performing minimal water changes and replacing water lost through evaporation with regular tap water, not really expanding my knowledge in the hobby. I never knew any friends who had any experience, let alone interest, in keeping fish and the LFSs that I found in the phone book were primarily freshwater orientated with a small section of saltwater displays. Unfortunately, I had not embraced the computer “network†or was much of an internet surfer, primarily due to the slow dial-up connections we had in years past (the good old days of AOL and the sounds made during the log-on process, if you could even get logged on, or waiting for someone using the landline phone to end their call).

As you could have guessed, I always struggled with high nitrates/excessive nutrients.

After purchasing a book, yes I said book, titled Marine Aquarium Reference – Systems & Invertebrates†by Martin A. Moe Jr., I began to learn the basics of nutrient control. Over another two-year period, I added a HOB protein skimmer and began purchasing rock that was considered “liveâ€. This live rock was a whole new concept to me and the more “visible†things on the rocks, the more live I considered it. I even remember intentionally buying a rock, at a premium price I am sure, at a LFS that had living coral, or what I thought was coral, on it. Of course little did I know that the perceived coral were the dreaded aiptasia anemones! I even discovered, at my excitement, how they would eat brine shrimp so I intentionally started target feeding them with a small syringe hoping they would grow…

At this 4 year mark, my tank had grown from a FO to a FOWLR tank with the now infamous “rock wall†as seen in this picture near the end of 2001:

Notice the blue tang had lost color in the head area. Was this likely due to the lack of feeding a variety of foods?

I was starting to progress in that inevitable leap into reef keeping when I was uprooted by work and relocated to Colorado permanently in early 2002. Unfortunately, I was naïve and thought I could move my tank and inhabitants across country (18-hour, two day trip) in a car with two dogs, a cat and our new baby daughter who was born in the latter part of 2001. The tangs in the picture above didn’t even make it through the night before we left town as I didn’t think to put an air stone in their temporary transportation bucket. I never like having any fatalities of livestock, but it was inevitable that they would not have made the journey as I was likely close to a nervous breakdown myself with all the chaos of our little clan. It reminded me of the movie “National Lampoon’s Vacationâ€.

All at once, my fish keeping days were again over…

 

[TimSc2013]

The moving process kept us busy for a while, unpacking, organizing, buying new furniture and whatever else goes along with trying to make new home feel like home. Colorado also brought new country for us to explore and we took advantage of that as much as we could while using up the rest of our spare time.

Eventually the newness of our surroundings wore off and my desire to re-set up my tank grew so in the summer of 2002 the 65-gallon was wet again. My progression towards a reef tank continued to take shape with the introduction of various species of invertebrates (shrimp and crabs) as I found them highly intriguing to watch, and was eager to visit all the new LFS in a 60-mile radius to see what new ones I could find.

I continued to learn more about how systems are typically set-up and became a new fan of on-line shopping with the “speedy†internet service we were provided. On-line vendors such as That Pet Place and Pet Solutions starting seeing regular orders from me for food, maintenance equipment and my first sump! I also wanted to try different lighting systems and decided to pull out my old 20-gallon and bought a new JBJ compact florescent lighting system for it. I was not ready yet to spend “big money†on upgrading my regular florescent light on my 65-gallon. Even those “regular†bulbs were expensive to replace based on my recollection, although I was getting them at the LFSs for concern over breakage during shipping from on-line orders.

Aquarium expansion that worked its way into my head with the purchase of the new lighting for the 20-gallon put the motion into finishing my basement, particular a workshop which was to be conveniently located immediately below my office which housed the 65-gallon. I even envisioned how I would drill a hole through the floor to run piping down to the sump that currently resided next to my tank. I was in the process of building a “fish room†and didn’t even know it other than what I thought would be just a workshop!

Things were slowing progressing and my previous battles with high nutrients were getting better as I now had an RO system that was installed in the kitchen for drinking water. I even bought a couple mangrove seeds with root nodes to put in my sump from another on-line vender, Fin-Tastic Fish & Pets for $32 bucks, including shipping! Highly unlikely that I got a good deal as most of this cost was for shipping alone as I had yet realized the benefit of combined shipping. I would say that my new found love of on-line shopping led to my already bad habit of impulse buying. This was also the period where I began tracking what I spent on my hobby, which was a big mistake (ignorance is bliss)…

In the fall of 2003, less than 18-months in Colorado, I was once again uprooted by work and was relocated back to my old stomping grounds in Minnesota. Yes it was the same company, same office, and what I had thought was a permanent move to Colorado was no longer. I would need to start a whole other thread to explain the history behind this situation. I will say that I am still with the same company so it seems to have worked out.

We immediately put our house up for sale as I was to report back at work in Minnesota in early 2004. Winter of 2003 came and went without any interest in the house. Plans were then made as to how the transition would be handled if the house would not sell prior to my start date of the first of February, 2004. The house of course did not sell so my wife stayed back to show the house and my daughter and I, along with the two dogs and cat traveled back to Minnesota and moved in with…my parents! Boy was I looking forward to this and hoped beyond belief that our house would sell fast.

My system was left running with explicit instructions left with my wife as to how to maintain it. Unlike me, she had NO interest in aquariums and had never paid attention to it other than a glance or two at the fish. Thankfully my plans for expanding were still in the early stages of construction such that we were dealing with only the one tank and sump. I remember putting sticky notes on the sump showing her where the water level should be maintained (high/low levels) and wished for the best…

Winter, spring and summer of 2004 came and went and we were well on our way into fall without selling! Our listing price continued to lower until we finally sold almost a year after the initial listing in late 2004, at a major loss I might add. In that time, I had only flown back once to then ride my motorcycle back to Minnesota. Four months is a long time to expect your tank to run without being involved, but it did survive…

Even though we went digital with our camera, I was amazed to only find one picture of my tank during this time and it was taken when I went back to tear the tank down just days before we moved out. I suspect I have lost photos over the years when several of my computers crapped-out with viruses, one of the problems I find with the “Digital-Ageâ€...

It is interesting to see that the coralline algae indicated a low water level had existed for some period of time as it extends only half way up the overflow box. I’m not sure what or how this could have happened with the sump in place but have no memories of why this may have occurred other than a short power outage while I was gone??

Although you can only see one shrimp, there were several fish remaining but out of view in the rock work, which interesting to note is still a “Wall-of-Rock†but had a cave like structure incorporated into it. Based on my previous failure/experience with trying to successfully move the tank inhabitants across country, they were generously donated back to a LFS.

Like a broken record, my fish (partly reef) keeping days were once again over…

 

[TimSc2013]

The New tank was suppose to be shipped this week and installed on Monday, but upon last inspection the tank vendor noticed bubbles in the silicone. They are now going to rebuild the tank adding a month delay. I guess that gives me more time to finish writing up the background leading to current events...:frusty:

 

[revhtree]

Ouch man sorry!

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Interesting read.

 

[kidtango]

Very interesting... LOL I laughed several times reading through your story. Woah.

What builder are you using? So they are rebuilding the tank because of bubbles in the silicone? I have some bubbles in my new tank. The builder assured me that it's OK... We'll see how that goes. It's a good sign that they are willing to rebuild it. It's worth the wait for the extra peace of mind. I am constantly having to worry about mine. I am a bit paranoid I guess.

 

[TimSc2013]

Ouch man sorry!

- Par for the course considering some of the desciptive words/phrases of advice in this hobby such as "patience" and "when you think you are going slow enough, slow down further", right? It still does sting a bit though...

 

[TimSc2013]

Interesting read.

Thanks! I hope to continue to keep things interesting as I find my path in this hobby was certianly not straight and took a "two steps forward, one step back" approach!

 

[TimSc2013]

Very interesting... LOL I laughed several times reading through your story. Woah.

What builder are you using? So they are rebuilding the tank because of bubbles in the silicone? I have some bubbles in my new tank. The builder assured me that it's OK... We'll see how that goes. It's a good sign that they are willing to rebuild it. It's worth the wait for the extra peace of mind. I am constantly having to worry about mine. I am a bit paranoid I guess.

Glad I could make you laugh! I have to laugh myself at some of the things I have done in this hobby! :bigsmile:


I will eventually identify the build specifics as part of my "story" in this thread so you will have to patiently wait.:crossedlips: They did give me the option to take the tank with the "small" bubbles and said it did not affect the structural integristy of the tank, but it happened to occur on the viewable edge of the peninsula. With the amount of money I am spending on this tank, I did not want to start out from the get-go with these kinds of "imperfections". I applaud the tank vendor by bringing this to my attention before shipping and giving me the option and cofirms why I chose them with their reputation in the industry.

I would be curious what others would have done in my postion?

 

[kidtango]

I would wait n have them rebuild it. Perfection is what you had paid paid for n you should expect it. Any bubble that is visible is an eye sore for me. I have discovered quite a few of them with my AGE tank. It's annoying n it makes me paranoid. Make sure that they give you close up pics of the silicone work also. Sloppy silicon work is an eye sore too.

 

[TimSc2013]

The winter of 2004 & 2005 in Minnesota was all about finding a new home as now my wife joined my daughter, me and our pets in my parent’s home. I’ll be honest and will say that had I been a “real†reefer, house hunting would have been centered around the layout of the house to support a larger reef system, or at least for the system I had. Instead, my only prerequisites were:

1.) Pick a house that my wife liked enough that she would NEVER want to move out of in the future (highly unlikely);
2.) a large garage was desirable; and
3.) ANY available house to get out from underneath my parent’s roof for good ASAP!

The house we ended up with and still reside in is a basic rambler style house with a full basement and a 2 1/2-car detached garage, which satisfied at least two out of the three requirements –“a large garage†and … (you can probably guess the second one). Of course we bought right before the housing market crashed and so we currently are and probably will be underwater on our home loan for a while making the third prerequisite satisfied by default – “never wanting to move again†as our luck with building home equity has been the opposite, losing equity.

We moved into our home in February of 2005, a full year to the day I had been living with my parents. Don’t get me wrong, I was very thankful to them as it save me money but I was in my mid-thirties and the room I was staying in had yellow-flowered wallpaper, getting up for work and seeing your father in his underwear doing the same, and having to essentially spend all my free time with them as they wanted to be with my daughter who was 2 ½ years old were all too much to handle.

At this point, setting up my tank for the third time was probably the last thing on my mind as it was not until the fall of 2006 that the desire emerged and I began to contemplate where it should go. The only area that had any real potential was in the basement as the upstairs was not conveniently laid out for it, the wife did not want it upstairs, and the basement appeared to be my only get away besides the garage as my daughter took over the main floor with all her colored plastic toys. It was going to be the ultimate man-cave, or so I thought!

The basement was finished, with a living room, laundry room and a third bedroom with a master bathroom. The living room had an area near/under the stairway where the previous owner built a countertop for what looked to be either a weak attempt at a bar or was a work area. Using that area and incorporating or modifying it to support my existing tank appeared to be the answer. The laundry room was immediately to the left of this area behind the wall at the staircase. I again built on my previous idea to build a workshop where I would locate the sump using the laundry room. The stair landing where the stairs make the 90-degree turn had a small nook underneath it where the sump could sit, with the laundry sink and drain immediately adjacent to it.

I did some electrical work to add new outlets in the area and drilling holes for drain piping/removed drywall to access the small area under the stair landing. Progress from that point faltered as I did not know or had a well thought out plan on how I should incorporate the existing tank with the countertop besides just setting it on top which would have required additional braicing/framing. The idea, along with time and expense of remodeling was not a huge motivator in changing the bar theme, if you could even call it that.

I have to admit that I was struggling with whether I should give up on the hobby. The idea of spending money at this point in my life weighed heavy with the loss we took on the house in Colorado and the need to support the family, particularly my daughter who was now 5 years old and was quite frankly spoiled by my wife and me being that she was an only child.

 

[TimSc2013]

In November of 2006, I finally decided to set-up my 20-gallon tank I had carried around with me since college to see if my hobby interests were still worth pursuing. The tank was placed on the very left side of the countertop against the back wall, not even in plain viewing sight from the furniture.

My notes, which I never took before, showed that I initially stocked it with two blue devil and three stripped white tail humbug damsels along with 20-pounds of “seeded†gravel, 4-pounds of “live†rock and macro-algae (chaeto) to cycle the tank. About a month later I added a green spotted pufferfish and a sebae clownfish. In December I added a 30-gallon Algae Pack which included 15 red leg hermit crabs, 5 mexican turbo snails, 20 margarita snails and 6 scarlet reef hermit crabs.

The detailed notes lasted a whole 2-month period with the last entry being made on December 24, 2006 (LOL). At least I tried to become a dedicated hobbyist from the reset up but I guess old habits are hard to break!

Notice I even added scientific names for the fish and reference tank cycling events to published books. You are probably thinking as I am now “What a dorkâ€!:nerd:

The FO 20-gallon tank really never progress much over the next year (2007), along with the 65-gallon continuing to collecting dust. Again, no pictures were taken during this period or were lost with computer issues. One good thing, at least for reconstructing the past events in this thread, was that I still kept track of my hobby expenses and spent about $328 on livestock, $90 on water and $50 on food that year. The higher livestock dollars leads me to believe I was not keeping fish alive for very long? The money spent on water, however; was from buying one gallon jugs of RO at the grocery store as our house did not have a water purification system. I again learned from my past mistakes that with every ounce of tap water added to the tank in turn added additional nitrates! Even small improvements must be recognized and applauded, right?

Another major note to add was that in the fall of 2007, I took a construction field assignment at a site about an hour away from home for about 1 ½ years in which I was staying at a hotel at least 3 to 4 nights a week. Although this assignment kept me away from my aquarium for several days at a time, it was the key event that led me down the path of eventually becoming addicted to keeping corals and my new tank, which has yet to be received.

Anyone who has worked out of town for an extended period of time while living out of a hotel room knows how awfully boring and mundane just going back to your hotel room after work gets. I thus played a lot of golf and quite frequently visited LFSs. There was one store in particular, that had a good selection of saltwater fish and corals - “Did he just say corals� Yes I did, only 15 short years after buying my first aquarium, and I assure you these were real coral and not the presumed aiptasia “corals†I kept years before…

During the winter of 2007/2008 and spring of 2008, I bought various coral from LFSs and housed them in my 20-gal. My first sampling of coral consisted of the following, at what I probably consider “reasonableâ€, costing a total of only $327:

Two Trachyphyllia Brains ($80.43 & $64.34)
One Pulsing Xenia ($26.80)
One Green Hammer LPS ($53.61)
One Mushroom Ricordia ($42.89)
One Red Gorgonian ($58.98)

Umm, maybe more research would have informed me I was being pretty liberal with my monetary hand-outs to a few LFSs… I will at least add that those prices included sales tax!

Oh no I had caught the coral “BUGâ€, which meant aquarium expansion plans entered into my head for supporting more, many more coral purchases. I was now doomed to forever be drowning in this hobby…

 

[revhtree]

Following!

 

[prsnlty]

Following. ..

 

[Scubafrog]

Waiting to see the end result!

 

[TimSc2013]

In the summer of 2008, my hobby expenses became more pronounced with the set-up of my 65-gallon tank. Without a plan for incorporating it into the living area, I hastily decided to just put it in the entry way to the laundry room :washing: which had an angled wall where it could be viewed, somewhat, through the side panel from the primary seating area, or basically the “man-couchâ€.

As this was an “expansion†project, I needed new equipment so as not to remove any existing from the 20-gallon set-up and so the internet became my best late night friend and my impulsive purchasing habit was free to express itself. I began to hear the familiar “cha-ching, cha-ching†of the vendors’ registers with my following major purchases were made:

AE Tech ETSS Ultra High Flow UHF-72 Sump - $427.95
Coralife Turbo-Sea External Water Pump 790-P - $179.99
Coralife Aqualight Pro HQI 36" (two 21†compacts and one double-end 150W MH) - $546.01
Coralife Power Center Day-Night Timer or Wave Maker - $74.71
Protein Skimmer - $160.86

Just like that, I had two fully functioning separate systems up and running to help feed my newly found addiction. It is amazing what money, uh-err-umm, I mean credit can do in short time!

Notice that my aquascaping tried to avoid the “rock-wall†look and was kept to at least one side of the tank. Even I must have been sick that aquascaping even before I knew it was no longer going to be a fad in the larger hobby community.
I knew better than to immediately stock the tank with corals (sorry fish :squigglemouth: ), so my impulse purchasing guided me to a Picasso Triggerfish. My previous experiences with fish longevity probably gave me the thought process that he (always assumed it was of masculine gender as heis a brute!) would be in “fish heaven†:rip: by the time the tank, or should I say “Iâ€, was ready to begin stocking reef type inhabitants.

I am happy to report (Am I really from a reefing perspective?) that he is still kicking to this day even after a “tile†surfing event where his adventurous trail had dried up and he looked to be dead! I can only guess it was at least 15-minutes or more until I happened to go in the room and “yelled†(Screamed per my daughter!) when I almost stepped on him. It was meant to be I guess but he kind of put a fork-in-the-road with my coral expansion plans, at least with my existing tanks! One can always buy more tanks, right?

He has become my favorite fish and my buddy in a female dominated house! He will eat from my hand and typically “rests†in the same rock crevice every night where I can see him and wish him “good night†along with the rest of the family and pets… LOL:sleep:

I thought that sharing some of my earlier hobby expenses would be interesting to some, or at least they are to me, but I will spare all the boring details of each and every item purchased. I will admit that I do have such detail (Darn Quicken personal finance management program!). Although I am quite willing to share my hobby expenses at this point, I will not likely be as forthcoming with such information I as get closer to present time as you never know when my wife might try and “investigateâ€, or should I say “spy†:spyn me in this site (I wonder what her thread name would be, hmmm…)!

My 2008 expenses, which include the equipment and corals discussed above, are (drum roll… :drum:):

Livestock (coral & fish) - $526.42
Livestock (CUC, inverts & macro algae) - $283.65
Water (still from grocery store) - $167.92
Equipment/maintenance – $1,458.80
Food - $231.14
Supplements/salt - $196.70

That is a whopping total of $2,864.63, or an increase of over 600% from 2007 :shocked:. For a non-DIY type person, this shows how quickly this hobby can get expensive and once you are hooked, it is hard to keep your “head above the water†and stay afloat to support this passion, or as my wife considers it a – BAD HABIT!

 

[TimSc2013]

My new found reefing euphoria came with some successes, but mainly struggles during the year of 2009, particularly related to my continued lack of a dedicated maintenance program. Although I was eager to purchase the basic equipment to run a tank, I continued to avoid the need for a RO/DI unit. This was primarily due to the fact that the water softener/drinking water system I purchase at our previous house cost a fortune and my research with systems provided by companies such as “Culligan†were equally expensive. I had seen the RO/DI units in the catalogs from “That Pet Place†and “Dr. Fosters & Smith†which were much cheaper but I had the mindset that “you get what you pay forâ€, thinking they were inferior and would not perform as well (Call me naive, I know but I can’t change the past!). I still had not embraced the local reef community or the on-line forum communities and was flying solo often wondering way off the beaten path…

Instead, I trudged along trying to make weekly trips to the local stores and purchasing up to about 15 one gallon jugs of “distilled†water (I thought that would be better than RO/DI but of course I didn’t know that the process used copper materials). I still remember the looks I got from the cashiers who must have thought I was one of those “Dooms-Day†believers stocking up my underground bunker. In fact one day a lady behind me in line said “you must be like my husband who needs to sleep with a CPAP machine?†I politely explained to her that the water was for my aquariums to which she looked at me with quizzical eyes and said nothing further, but I know she was thinking “doesn’t he have potable water at home, hmmm…)? I must have looked back at her with the same quizzical eyes as I didn’t think CPAP masks required “clean†water as it only pressurizes the air you breathe, umm… Awkward moment!

As you can guess, my water changes became less frequent as purchasing and hauling around enough one gallon jugs just to replace water lost due to evaporation in the two tanks became too tedious. Initially, the higher nutrient levels in the 20-gallon reef tank were not an issue at my corals were responding well and looked healthy. Furthermore, the 65-gallon FOWLR was generally fine and was still maturing.

At this point in my hobby endeavors I had the basic knowledge that macro-algae could be used to supplement water changes and protein skimming to help with the nutrient control. Thus, on one casual visit to a LFS I saw some for sale, purchased it and installed it in my sump 20-gallon sump. Little did I know that the type of macro algae sold to me would become one of my main struggles with this tank, albeit caused by my struggle of keeping low nutrients. I had purchased Grape Caulerpa Macro Algae which grew like wild fire, taking “root†in every rock crevice! This created another frequently required chore that I didn’t realize came with the aquarium hobby, but was only thought to be required for another hobby I was not interested in – Weeding the Garden!

Along with higher nutrient levels and my “Little Shop of Horrors†struggle, a long lost friend found its way back into my life by hitching a ride on something and began to take residence amongst the corals – the dreaded Aiptasia Anenome.

My friend was an enemy in disguise and began building its troops for battle. I didn’t like this showing of aggression and began to pick small battles using tweezers and toothbrushes to “manually†remove them from the rockwork. To my surprise, their troops continued to grow, and grow stronger they did (Who would have known that they could regenerate from tissue fragments, not me?) :doh:

After reassigning my battle plan by researching historical battles documented by others, I began to use more common weaponry such as “Aiptasia-Xâ€, “Joe’s Juice†and “Aiptasia Rx†with no success. I considered injecting them with lemon juice and Kalkwasser but my stockyard did not possess or had easy access to the type of delivery arsenal required – the syringe! I then called on a common ally to join the battle, “Peppermint Shrimpâ€, to which the rumor held true that they prefer to make peace, not war! Finally, I recruited the heavy hitters, “Burghia Nudibranchâ€, to which I “air-droppedâ€, umm.., “water-dropped†them into the battlefield, only to see one get immediately ingested by the enemy and the other one retreating into the live rock never to be seen again…

During the year-long battle, I sustained heavy losses and my nerves were shattered but I had a glimmer of hop that the year of 2010 would be a year of “rebuildingâ€â€¦