"The Rustic Reef" 250G Build

[n8zirkle]

Awesome looking setup n8, will be following the progress as you go.

Just a quick question, what program did you use to do the sump and tank drawings in your first post?
Cheers

I used google SketchUp

 

[n8zirkle]

Ok this day just turned horrible. I thought i would come in from work and get my new apex set up and put the salt mix in the tank. Wrong, it's leaking. It is leaking from the bottom seam in the right overflow. No idea what to do or how i'll even get in there to fix it. This is gonna put a major hault to this. An ideas on what to do? anything that can be added into the water that will seep into the leaking area?

 

[Global]

I have seen a silicon that could be used under water, might have to google It

 

[Global]

Hope you find a solution mate, ill ask on a couple of my forums. Is it leaking from behind the weir? If so shut down the return pump until your sump takes the overflow of the tank, leave your wavemakers on for flow in the mean time.
Drain whats left in the weir and a little more out the tank so it doesn't spill over. Dry it with the wifes hairdryer then apply silicon to inside seam and the out side seam to be sure.
Leave for a few hours then re start.

 

[Global]

How did you go n8? Any luck on solving the problem?

 

[n8zirkle]

It is in behind the overflow. The tank builder is sending me a tube of the same silicone he used to make the tank and see if I can get it sealed myself, and if I can’t he’s going to come and fix it for me. The only reason I asked about the product that may flow through the hole and seal it was because it was inside the overflow, about 8”X9” and 30” deep, which makes it hard to reach clear to the bottom and see what you’re doing when you’re leaning over the tank. I’m pretty confident I can do it, plus I don’t have to be super tidy as it won’t be seen. I just got done filling the tank with RO/DI water when I found the leak, the overflows were the last to fill, so at least I found it before I stocked the tank with anything. Just cost me a little time.

You can clearly see some surface holes in the silicon, and that's where it was leaking from some one/all must be the culprit. I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

This time did allow me to get the rest of the equipment started and prepared for. Started mounting things on the wall behind the tank and messing with the APEX.

Anyone have a good recommendation for a webcam to use with the apex to check in on the tank?

 

[Global]

Hope you can get in there to sort it out. The other idea would be to get the silicon in a squeeze tube which ould be much easier to get in there than a calking gum and tube.

At least the leak is between the weir and main tank and not an outer seam.

Let us know how you get on with it mate

 

[n8zirkle]

Well good news all, i had a pretty successful weekend. Received silicon from the tank builder on Thursday and patched the seam. Let it set for 48hrs and then crossed my fingers and began to fill up the overflow. Finally some good luck going my way, nothing leaked. So now I've got the tank up and running and everything is beginning to clear up. I added in some Dr. Tim's One and Only to get the cycle started. Going the fish-less method and added in some ammonia that i got with the Dr. Tim's.

Once the tank was full and powered up i dumped the salt mix in my refugium tank to get it mixed up. I went with the HW Marine Salt mix, and it mixed up really quickly in the tank with no clumps or agitating needed to get it to dissolve.
I was really excited to see the protein skimmer get fired up and WOW am i impressed. I can only wait to see what it will produce once i get a bio-load in the tank.

I still need to get some rock and another bag of sand to add to the refugium tank.

Also had a little extra time so i got a shelf set up in the room for storage and an area i'll use as a water mixing station. I got a 29g tank for RO/DI water now and going to get another to mix salt in.

So on the whole things are starting to look up. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[homegrowncoral88]

Very nice and organized. This is a awsome build and great job with the pics and updates. Following along.

 

[Global]

Glad you fixed that silicon In the weir mate.
Tanks and set-up is coming together nicely, well done.

 

[n8zirkle]

Just a quick update, I've been going through the cycle the past few weeks with the Dr. Tim's one and only fish-less cycle. I've been through a whole bottle of his ammonia and the levels have been .25 or less for the past few day so i decided to go ahead and add a few fish. So i ran to my LFS, a petco, and was just going to get a few green chromis, but they were out. But what I did stumble across was a Wyoming White clown fish tag that said 149.99 but had a 29.99 tag attached to it. The tag didn't state anything, price off or actual price, just 29.99. My wife is actually the one who said "if that fish is only 30$ your getting it" , couldn't argue with that. I asked one of the workers and he said that was the actual price and smiled at me. So me and another gentleman who were standing there decided, rather than fight each other for both clowns, we would each take one.

So i came home with the Wyoming White and a black misbarred.

More stocking to come and also getting started on the cabinet front.

 

[AmyKat]

This looks amazing...I can't wait to see the next stage.

 

[n8zirkle]

So i've been pretty busy over the past few weeks with work and home life, and this post is a little past due. I began working on the cabinet front for the aquarium and was surprised on how well it came out.


The framing was built out of poplar and the back sides were coated with a white epoxy paint to help water damage. took me about a week to get it all together but really should have only taken half a day without distractions.

I was really happy with how it turned out. Made the tank look completely different.

I have also began stocking the tank over the past month or so also. As of right now the current stocking is

2 Maroon Clowns
1Wyoming White Clown
1 Black&White Clown
1 Coral Beauty Angel
1 Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse
1 Yellow Tang
1 Kole Tang
1 Yellow Belly Hippo Tang
1 Clown Tang
1 Blue Throat Trigger
1 Sleeper Gold Head Goby

I've been having problems with micro bubbles in the display, so it's tough getting good photos. I attribute it to how much water i'm flowing through my sump at the moment. I started the build without any powerheads really sized for the tank, and without the closed loop i had to rethink how i was going to approach flow in the tank. So after looking into Vortech, tunze and all the other options I liked the looks of the new Maxspect Gyre's and pre-ordered on last month. It should be arriving tomorrow, and not a minute to soon, as i'm ready to get the bubbles out of the display and help with some detritus/algae build up. Once I get everything up and tuned in, i'll get more livestock photos and give everyone my thoughts on the new Gyre.

 

[n8zirkle]

Ok i need some help. A couple days ago the tank began to get cloudy on me a bit. I didn't pay much attention to it, Kinda thought it may have had to do with a lack of flow in the tank and as i was awaiting the arrival of my Gyre i just ignored it for 2 days. Well i installed the Gyer yesterday and thought i would give it over night and the day to see if it helped clear it up. I tested nitrite, nitrate and ammonia yesterday and all was normal. So as of right now it's the same maybe a bit worse than yesterday. I would describe it as a fog in the tank, as you can kinda see it moving within the tank (if that makes sense). This is where it gets odd, possibly. I have a Red Sea test kit for Alk, CA, and Mg that i probably haven't been used in about a year as i have been in the build and move. Mag tested out to be 1440, Ca tested over 500 and the Alk cam out at like 1.5dKh. Is it possible that the test kit is bad or are these levels right and could be causing the cloudiness in the tank? The fish are doing ok, maybe just hiding a bit, and the one frogspawn is doing well also. I'm just kinda at a standstill on what to do.

I was running Carbon and GFO together and that didn't help, switched it to straight carbon and still not helping. Cut back to a light feeding. Skimmer acting normal.

This pic is from three days ago, just starting to get the foggy look.
Any thoughts? Need more info ask.

 

[Reef Junky150]

Are you running filter socks?

 

[n8zirkle]

Yes the felt kind. Also salinity is 1.025

 

[Reef Junky150]

Re test with different test if possible.

 

[Fin]

Nice set up! Check the dates on the test kits. The reagents don't last forever. Some expire in as little as 1 year. A few up to a few years. A quality test kit should have an expiration date or a manufacture date on the box.

 

[MounteeFrag]

Nice build. Did you ever figure out why it got cloudy?

 

[n8zirkle]

Never did figure out why.....But it cleared itself up within a few days.