20gallon long tranformed into a 48gallon cube! Soon two cubes = 120g

[thatmanMIKEson]

FTS just put on the xho blues in place of the 50/50 and I like the color better it doesn't look so pink but it's a little too much blue, im going to deal with it but when I get the tandem tank up and running next to it this light array will probably get changed out, with a full panel style light, or maybe a t5 hybrid on both, Still a work in progress but so far running good everything is ramping up on growth now that the nutrients are back in check.

 

[OldRed1]

This is a really beautiful tank. Enjoyed seeing the process from 20 gallons to 48 and beyond!

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

This is a really beautiful tank. Enjoyed seeing the process from 20 gallons to 48 and beyond!

Thank you, its been a fun tank and it's just begun!

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Pictures don't do this tank justice, the last 20 minutes is like a blacklight show, its my favorite thing about the ap9x, the colors are amazing with the shimmer. Corals are looking good

I have the new bashsea 48" ss sump ordered, it will give me plenty of space for water volume and over flow frags. I've started bracing my floors in preparation for the new tank and viewers weight around the tank. Also I've started a few drawings and going through the thought process of plumbing this sump.... I should leave the words thought process out of this thread

I am doing some planning, im going to run the new tank while robbing rock and water from this tank and let it run for a few months, then hopefully have all the plumbing lined up with pump and all, and just cut the old sump out and glue the existing tank in to the new sump, a few unions a little glue boom boom. Something like that. It would be great to do two light schedules but the tanks are 10' apart on center, along the same wall.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I've got the sump in place today, after an hour of peeling paper it looks great. It's definitely a nice sump with a quality finish. I have to cut up the return section to fit two pumps.

I have a sdc7.0 in the return section, I need to make enough room for two.

I will be running the new circuit for this system this weekend.

I still need to finish up the floor bracing, it's been taking a while because I needed to dig out a path and lay down plastic to access that area, and it's not fun working under there!

More to come soon........

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Icp results today, nothing out of the ordinary a few "inconsistencies", From last test and comparing it to my other system but nothing I'm worrying about.

Project note: I have plumbing parts coming in, I will start mockup soon, I have a few plumbing orders to make.

ATI Aquaristik Lab

Default Description

lab.atiaquaristik.com

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

A couple TD's

 

[dstockwell]

Lookin good

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Doing a little more work on the sump this weekend, its a little cooler out, so I'm going to finish the floor bracing. Electrical is 95% complete.

Allot of plumbing parts came in but I have a few more orders coming in, and an updated list of parts I need now, with a few changes to my plumbing design.

My fish room is very small, hard to even take pictures, its a small converted office. I have that entire wall behind the sump (48" sump/small wall) the pipes can go through, and the tanks are on the other side, but the more difficult design is how and where to mount that giant u.v sterilizer, and plumbing a bypass for it, while being able to access it easily.

More soon.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

TD blue shots

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I started messing around with the plumbing, getting a mockup for correct measurements.

The tank on the left is the new tank getting plumbed in and the sump is just on the other side of the wall.

I usually have a wood entertainment center that goes between the tanks under the tv, that will fill the space.

Still waiting on parts to finish plumbing, and last change to plumbing, taking the uv off the main return and it will be on its own pump cycling through the sump, not back to the tank, and will barely be used.

Hopefully letting the tank run and catch up it will not cause any problems when I tie in the existing tank, and make it one system.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

pictures, still work in progress

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Plumbing prep,These are all scrap pipes and fittings for now. There will be a small 10/20g frag tank hanging on the wall on the left side vertical strut, and the uv will be over top of the plumbing on the right, there will be another controller board for this system on the left green wall, over the receptacle. this is going to be a busy wall, its going to be awesome

I changed the plumbing a few times, but it was important for me to have some kind of bypass so all the tanks could run on one pump if needed. I used pvc and strut because it's solid, and provides the spacing I need, along with the strength.

I canceled having the uv on the main return because I don't want it to be so efficient , it also could only get pumped to one tank. I want to be able to maintain it easier and easily remove it if needed.

This is a large project, and I have allot to do on it, I'll keep that up to date along with the existing tanks progression.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Icp came in, its looking good. I need to adjust my dosing a little bit but I have a good idea of what's going on now, the more tests and dosing I do I'm starting to see a trend, so I will say I'm happy to continue doing this reef moonshiners program, it definitely has some cost to maintaining, but if I take into account the time saved and hobby grade test I don't need to and can't preform I believe the cost is better spent on this for me, at this time.

Analysis result

ATI Aquaristik - Lab

lab.atiaquaristik.com

 

[Miami Reef]

Icp came in, its looking good. I need to adjust my dosing a little bit but I have a good idea of what's going on now, the more tests and dosing I do I'm starting to see a trend, so I will say I'm happy to continue doing this reef moonshiners program, it definitely has some cost to maintaining, but if I take into account the time saved and hobby grade test I don't need to and can't preform I believe the cost is better spent on this for me, at this time.

Analysis result

ATI Aquaristik - Lab

lab.atiaquaristik.com

Beautiful ICP results.

Do moonshiners recommend manganese dosing?

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Beautiful ICP results.

Does moonshiners recommend manganese dosing?

I dose manganese every day they recommend having it undetectable, unless "experienced" and you want to dial it in, but just adding it everyday and it being undetectable Is fine on the program.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Still playing around with the plumbing, this may take me the longest, I want to do this once so I'm going to plan and measure the best I can.

I will have plumbing completed for the new tank and most of the other tanks plumbing ready, I have a table for a frag tank on the left but that will probably be well after the new tank is up and running. I'm hoping to get something like the fijicube 22g ext, if not the 11gallon ext.

I plan to run this tank for a WHILE before I tie in the existing 48gallon.

I'm doing a little bit of work on this project when I can, i wont take to long im excited to get it going so i can hurry up and wait.

 

[Projects with Sam]

yes! I know how you feel about doing a little work but being super excited about it. I have a project tank but I've put a lot of my adulting tasks ahead of it so I cant finish it too fast...

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

So I have about 80% of the plumbing done I guess, its enough to wet test the new tank.

I'm going to run a few days with r.o and replace it at leat once and run it again for a few days to hopefully suck out any nasties or films from the manufacturing processes.

I have some parts I need to order to complete a manifold for the frag tank above the sump, but that can wait a while, and I need some parts to complete the existing 48g's plumbing, also that can wait a while. I don't plan on connecting them for a while.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Well it seems to be going good, wet test was 100% successful, im glad I didn't skimp on plumbing parts and got spears everything.

I had to save some money on the lighting but I got that mounted today, its set to 100% @ 6200k. I can dial it back if I need to.