80G cube - 32x24x24 - Build Thread

[tsharpe291]

ater doctoring the sump drain plug area, i filled it up and we have zero leaks at the drain. I am waiting for a couple things to come in, but once they do, the stress test, I mean the leak test, will be in progress. the only concern i have are all the unions at the back of the tank. im not really concerned about the fittings (45's, 90's, etc), its those unions, once the return pump is powered up. I'm guessing in the next couple days.

today, i got the skimmer stand created and installed in place. my last tank, i had a skimmer stand, and the base of the skimmer would sit on top of the egg crate. I had the egg crate glued to pvc "legs" to keep it all in place. This time around, I was gonna do the same. This time, my skimmer needs to be 10-13/16 high to accomodate the height needed for my skimmer. I had some 2" pvc on hand, from a brainy idea i had with my last set up, but never used. SO I cut 4 posts out of that, and attached them to the egg crate. BUT this time, I was getting ready to glue it..........i was thinking, hold up, why on earth am i doing this?? that glue is a pain in the rear, and it wasn't all that secure since it only had egg crate to adhere to. So i decided to drill 4 small holes in the pvc, and i passed a zip tie through each set. looped it through the egg crate and cinched it in pace. DONE. I didn't have white zip ties, so I used the black I had on hand. Nobody is gonna see it, it's below water in a black sump

Here are some pictures of the stand in progress and complete and in place.

that works, when I had my rubbermaid sump I used one of those plastic milk crates

 

[reef tank 2.0]

welp, I was going to wait until this Saturday to do my leak test, but I guess there is no reason to wait, so I did tonight. and wouldn't you know...not one drop of water anywhere that I can see. Only thing I have running is the return pump. i've had it running for about 3-4 hours now. I think if anything would have leaked, it would have happened by now.

I think I'll let this run until tomorrow, then I will drain all the tap water out, and prepare to make the RODI/salt water. It'll be some time before I get the water back in the tank, as I need to clean the sand, and put the rock work together. that'll take some time.

I am more than happy, that I have zero leaks. I was dreading that. Was not in the mood to have to redo anything due to leaks.

Here are some pictures of my final set up.





LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!

 

[Txoutlaw]

Nice!one thing i would do is turn the rubbermaid around and have that plumbing snake down the back wall.having to step over that pipe all the time would get old.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

ohhhh trust me, I went back and forth a lot about that.

so far, with me getting things set up, and having to access anything beyond the "black line" has been pretty minimal. I have had to step over that line a number of times, but honestly, it hasn't even crossed my mind about it being inconvenient.....so far.

i thought about taking it behind the sump. I shot that down due to the fact, if i ever needed to disconnect / redo that drain valve on the sump, to remove the drain valve, or anything else, I would need to drain that sump in order to move it out of the way. That's a big heck no! I'd rather step over that line, rather than having to drain, and disturb the system once it's up and running.

I have been adjusting, filling the sump with rock, power wire routing, etc etc, and surprisingly, I haven't bumped into that drain line valve or any part of it. I thought I'd bump it with my knee or leg while working. but that hasn't happened.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

the tank is roughly two weeks into the fishless / raw shrimp cycle. The shrimp is certainly deteriorating, but am not seeing any ammonia spike.

I decided to add fish fuel ammonia, as well as MB7 to speed the process up and hopefully get the cycle started to where I can see traces of ammonia / nitrites. I will test daily and report back as I go.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Outside of the cycle process, I added my final piece of the puzzle.....Lighting.

I went back and forth on what LED fixture to get. I wanted ONE fixture that would cover my size of tank. Had a number of options I could have gone with, all had positive reviews.

Ended up going with the Reefbreeder Photon 24-V2 Pro. I bought the kit that would allow me to mount it on the back of the aquarium. Considered using the track it comes with, but liked the look of the arms. oh ya!! the two year warranty helped in deciding as well.

Have the light mounted 13" above the surface of the water. Right now, I'm trying to find a happy spot when it comes to the color I want to see. Coming from the Hydra 26HD's on my last tank, these will definitely take some getting used to. They do have a shimmer to them, that's definitely a new feature for me that will take some getting used to.

As for the Reef Nexus app...........holy crap, I like that so much better than the app that the AI Hydras used. I'm continuing to find the light layout I want, it'll take some tweaking. I'm only on day 20 of my cycle, so I got plenty of time to play. Fish will be in QT once I get them, so that will be a lot more time to play . Although, I COULD get a couple pieces of coral in the tank to see how they do. hmmmmmmmmm

Here is a picture of the tank with lights off. I will provide more pictures once I do my water change after the cycle is done. The inside of the tank is really dirty, gotta wipe it out while I drain the water. when I get photos with the lights on, i'll get close ups of the caves that are in the rock work.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

well, I am 23 days into the cycle, and not much has changed. seems like salifert is still showing my ammonia to be around 1.5. been reading that ever since I added the fishless fuel, 7 days ago. Haven't tested anything else, since the ammonia is still present.

patiently waiting.

 

[Jim Gomoll]

Coming along nicely. Eager to see it come to life.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

I just got a tad bit excited. I believe my ammonia level is starting to drop. I tested tonight and the orange-ish color that I had yesterday, seems to be quite less today....oh boy oh boy

 

[reef tank 2.0]

decided to change up my reactor plumbing. I had the stiff 1/2" tubing that left no wiggle room to bend it in a way that I wanted. I swapped it out for flexible tubing. Although I have to be careful with it kinking, I was able to route it in a way that took up less space

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Still waiting on the cycle but now I'm getting impatient

 

[reef tank 2.0]

still testing and adding fishless fuel trying to get a reading of some sort that says my cycle is complete.

amount of fishless fuel recommended for my tank is 6tsp in order to get it to 2ppm. I decided to go with 8tsp for good measure......... I dosed that last night. 24 hours later (tonight), the salifert reading is still cloudy / white (0ppm?) I will test again tomorrow and then on Friday hoping for an orange color of some sort. I'll report back each time

 

[reef tank 2.0]

day two after adding ammonia - 0ppm

 

[reef tank 2.0]

And my water mixing station...

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Drip acclimating now, then into the QT they go

 

[reef tank 2.0]

well, we're down to one clownfish.
due to some, what I believe to be, tank mate aggression, one of the clownfish have died.
Still have the remaining clown, and the blenny.
Will attempt to return the remaining clown for a store credit, but not sure how that will go. Never had to do that before.

 

[reef tank 2.0]

Well, I think my mind has been changed.
After feeding time, I decided to do a good 20-25 gallon water change in the QT. I was able to inspect the remaining clown to see what condition he was in. A little bit of his pectoral fin is missing, and both pectorals are frayed. Maybe he is sick. He certainly doesn't act any different.

He goes after the food when I feed but he does not eat what I'm offering. He's definitely hungry. He takes in the pellets, but spits it out. He doesn't seem to care for the frozen mysis.

If he ends up dying, I'm gonna guess it's due to starvation. I'll see how it goes tomorrow

I did add 32 ounces of copepods to the DT earlier this afternoon.