If I Only Had a Tank... Weeble's 4 foot 120

Defective_Weeble

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After running my 40 breeder setup for quite some time, I finally started to scratch the upgrade itch. I started this little voyage looking for a 120 at 48x24x24 but had zero luck in finding one that met my standards and my budget.

First there was Tankenstein, a broken 150 that I picked up for free, with big intentions. Then came the question of lighting, clams on the sandbed and not running 400w MHL. So Tankenstein died before it lived.
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Then came...something. I didn't come up with a name for it but I kinda loved it. It was a 110 gallon, 5 foot tank. Though I wasn't shot in the tail about the 18 inches front to back, it actually worked quite well for where I needed it to sit.

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I cleaned it up, bought some rock, got all of the pieces ready to go, took the drill to it and BAM!

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On the last of 5 holes, the bit caught and cracked the tank. Yep, I screwed up. I used a corded drill without a clutch and I was drilling closer to the rim than I should have. I'd drilled quite a few holes before without issue, but sometimes stuff happens. Well crap. Fortunately I was only into this one for $100 so I was heartbroken but not out a ton of cash.

So the search continued. Luckily, one day after I broke the 110 I stumbled upon a 120, in the dimensions that I had been looking for from the start. The owner wanted $350 for the tank, stand an old acrylic sump. I offered $200 and got the deal. Fortunately she had been trying to sell it for quite a while, which I think played to my favor.

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The tank is an Oceanic, dual reef ready. It's largely in good condition, but there's a film that I can't quite get to budge. I spent a couple of days trying to get it scraped out but didn't really get anywhere. The tank had been sitting empty for about year, and wasn't cleaned well before storage. You can see a perfect circle with an MP40 used to sit on the left side, so that leads me to think that it's just a mineral residue. Hopefully it will soften in time and I can finish getting it the way that I want it. Fortunately it's largely only on the sides, so the main glass is in pretty great shape.

The stand is a locally-built rolled steel piece. A fellow r2r member had it built for his 105 gallon build, sold the tank and stand to another r2r member as a package and then I picked it up since the 2nd owner wasn't using it.

With the help of some local reefers we got the tank moved into the house on Saturday. That left me the rest of Sunday to get things up and running. I just flipped everything over from the 40 today so it's still pretty cloudy but it's otherwise looking decent. Sadly, since I've still not made a lighting decision, everything's kinda piled to the middle under my 36 inch 4 bulb T5s. That'll be fixed soon...I hope.

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The sump is a VERY old 55 gallon. I'm running a center return with about 15 gallons of refugium, filled with 40 lbs of rock that came from the previous tank.

And now, the To Do list:

- Pump upgrade. Likely Jebao DC12000.
- Light upgrade. Totally undecided. Maybe LED but more likely 6 or 8 bulb T5...if I can find one.
- Manifold. I'm running a reactor on an MJ1200 right now and would love to get rid of it.
- Sump skin. I think I'm going to use magnets to attach panels, with trim affixed to the panels for a finished look. Not totally sure yet.
- MOAR POWAR(heads). Probably picking up a Jebao RW15. I'm biding my time for a Maxspect Riptide.
- Replace the tank? Maybe. We'll see. I'm going to give it a few months and see if I can clean it up. If I can't, I'll order a duplicate replacement. Only being a couple hundred bucks in, it won't hurt that bad and it serves its purpose quite well.

I'm sure there will be more, but this is the beginning.
 

gcrawford

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4x2x2 is a great size.... Looking great! I've had mine for about two years now and it's pretty easy to work on. Keep up the good work!
 
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Thanks! I'm really liking it so far. It's actually easier to work on than my 40 just because I can move stuff and get in to places without having to squeeze between rock and glass.
 

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congratulations on getting the tank up and running! looks really nice and I really like the scape. What are your plans for it?
 
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My favorite traditional tank size! Congrats!

-Matt

Me too. Thanks!

congratulations on getting the tank up and running! looks really nice and I really like the scape. What are your plans for it?

Keeping my plans largely the same. SPS dominant, with a few LPS pieces for good measure (and for coloring up the bottom part of the tank). The scape isn't exactly what I was going for, but it's really close. There's one picture that I've wanted to somewhat recreate for years, but it would require rock up against the side glass and I don't like that idea. Essentially it's a trench down the middle, with the rock forming a slope up to the sides. A bit of a different take on the sloping rock wall that we see far too often.

From here on out I'm only buying fish that I REALLY want. Though I like everything that I have, I'm not certain that I'd have bought the standard firefish or the ocellaris clown. I also added blue-green reef chromis just to up the bio load to help balance out my pellets. So in the end I have 5 fish that, while I've grown attached to them, are not exactly what I was shooting for.

Current list:

- Mandarin dragonet
- Ocellaris clownfish
- Tomato clownfish
- Firefish
- 2x blue/green chromis
- One-spot Foxface

My shopping list is pretty small so far:

- Male mandarin dragonet to hopefully breed with my female.
- 3x Bartlett's Anthias
- Female Bellus Angelfish
- Kole Yellow Eye Tang

And of course, my dream fish, which I will probably never own. A moorish idol.

I also want a couple more anemones. I have two rose bubble tips, but I want a purple acid rain and a blue carpet. I'll be adding a skunk cleaner shrimp, a fire shrimp and eventually a blue sea star.
 
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Well crap. My first (and hopefully only) loss. My hawkins echinata RTN'd tonight. It got a hug from my wandering anemone earlier in the evening, which might have been part of the cause. Or it might have had nothing to do with it. Regardless, everything else looks fine. Just a heart breaker as it was my favorite coral.
 

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I don't recommend anemone for coral tanks, in general. There are some exceptions, but IMO the risk of what happened here - anemone drifting with the current - is too great. And it almost always seems to happen for no reason at all. Actually, you are lucky he didn't drift into a powerhead rather than a coral.

-Matt
 
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Acceptable risk for me. I keep my PH's as anemone-proof as I can. It's been my experience that bubble tips don't tend to wander very much once they find their place. And since I work from home I can usually keep an eye on them a few times through the day.

But yes, in general and for the vast majority of hobbyists who don't have the luxury of sitting in front of their tank literally all day every day, I would 100% agree with you.
 
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1 more loss. My strawberry lemonade acro RTN'd tonight.

Parameters are all where they should be, which leads me to 1 of 2 conclusions:

Whatever causes the funk from curing rock is something that doesn't show up in testing and contributed to the RTN.

or

The rapid change from a semi-clean system to a truly ULNS system (because of completely new water) was too much of a shock.

Regardless, fingers crossed that this and the hawkins will be my only losses. The fish and anemones are all doing great. Fortunately, starting with 40 lbs of well-cycled rock in the refugium should seed this new rock quickly and get me out of a danger zone before too much longer.
 
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Oops. Meant to do an update post for the week and forgot.

Things are moving slowly still. Which is good, but frustrating. Week 3 without a water change and I was still reading 0/0. My monti cap is slightly bleached but otherwise OK. Birdsnest is the same story. I moved my unnamed purple acro back to the tank a few days ago and it appears to be recovering well. Started feeding 3 times daily to dirty up the tank a bit. Added a mimic eibli tang last night and he appears to be doing very well. Eating like a pig and terrorizing my once-dominant clown.

Finally made a lighting decision as well. I picked up a 6-bulb T5 fixture from a guy on Craigslist. It's not a reef fixture but it has electronic ballasts and killer reflectors so I have high hopes for the fixture. Worst case circumstance, I'm only in it for pocket change so it won't hurt too bad if I have to replace it. I'm going to add two 120mm fans to the top of the fixture to give it some active cooling, but even without the fans it doesn't run very hot at all (tested with existing bulbs).

IMG_1662.jpg


New bulbs are on the way from Marine Depot. From front to back I'll be running this:

Blue+
Blue+
Coral+
Purple+
Coral+
Blue+

I'm also adding a 48 inch Current TrueLumen Pro 50/50 LED strip to the front of the fixture for sunrise/sunset. I might end up running a second strip, with full actinic, for moonlights. But right now I just want to get the first strip in place before making any more decisions on it.

Bulbs should be in Friday. I'm noodling some idea on how to hang the fixture in the mean time. It has hanging wires built in, but I don't want to go to the ceiling. I'm thinking a couple of 1x1 poles with plant hangers but I still have to measure them out.
 

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Nice, I have a 120 that I am going to upgrade to when I move into my new place next May, stuck with a skinny 65 until then, can't wait to get that 2' front to back
 
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It's pretty great. I ended up with the two primary islands and a smaller structure to do a softies/mushroom garden in the front. I think I'm going to do some sort of structure in the back between the overflows but I'm just not sure yet. However, i'm a fan of less rock so I'll probably only end up adding that if I need it later for corals.
 
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Sump thoughts.

The current sump is a VERY old 55 gallon tank that someone had stuck some baffles into. While I actually quite like the look and functionality of it, it's preventing me from having space on the side of the stand to do electric work. That being said, it's time to make plans for a new sump.

I'm thinking a 40 breeder is in order. 4 chambers, center return. Now for the amazing MS Paint skills!

Screenshot on 8.20.2014 at 12.07.25 AM.jpg


I like center return because it allows me to branch off my return pump to feed the refugium. However, my concern here is that the refugium area is WAY too small. It's plotting out somewhere around 6 inches side to side and 8 inches tall. My system right now has 40 lbs of live rock in it, plus chaeto and some other algae. With this plan I'd have to cut that down pretty far and I don't like that idea.

So to those of you who've done DIY sumps in 36 inches, I need some advice. How can I set this thing up most effectively, while still allowing room for a lot of rock and algae?
 
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Or what about cloning something like this? There isn't a dedicated refugium section, but is there really any harm in having the rock sitting in the same chamber as the skimmer?

NRS36_1000w.jpg
 

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a fuge that small is pointless unless you need it to grow pods. Forego the fuge all together and use reactors.
 
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Changed out the pump tonight, with interesting consequences.

A local guy had a Mag 12 and wanted a Mag 7 since he was only using it to mix saltwater. We did an even trade. I hooked up the 12, which I plan to branch off with a manifold, and the water level suddenly shot up to my center brace.

Oops.

So lesson learned - Apparently the teeth in this system won't allow for much more than about 600 GPH before they start backing up. I found that really surprising, but I guess it doesn't matter much. I don't especially want high flow in my sump, though I have the return branched off with 2 outputs from each side so I'd like to get a little more than what I'm currently seeing in order to avoid dead spots without adding more powerheads.

Also made another decision. I'm picking up a 40 breeder to build my new sump. I'll greatly welcome the return of 12 inches of space on the side, even if I do quite like the look of the 55.
 
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Day 18. Nitrate and phosphate still at zero.

And so we wait.

Hopefully adding a few smaller fish this next week. Fingers crossed that I'll end up seeing something in the test vials so I can remove my corals from this nanocube and put them back where they belong.

In other news, added the manifold today. Water level is back to where it should be, and I'm running my reactor off the return instead of an MJ1200.
 
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Bulbs in, lights hung.

Now if only I'd realized that, when sitting on the couch, this thing is like staring into the sun. I probably wouldn't have drilled holes in my ceiling.

I really don't want a canopy, but I might not have a choice.

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