230 gallon in-wall, room divider, reef build

MarsRover · Jul 2, 2017

So, now that the lower 3/4 of the tower is done. We figured since it will take several days for me to make enough water to fill the tank, we might as well start filling the tank with water as we finish rocking the overflow box top of the overflow tower.

Had some fun with the vectra! Ran a few temp pvc pipes through the living room/dining room to pump water from the water station into the tank. Hopefully by the time all this is said and done, I'll have dedicated lines going through the attic for water change purposes....

Heading to the mountains for a couple days. Will make water when we get home. Happy 4th everyone!

KingJason · Jul 3, 2017

That's great looking rock work! Very cool arches.

MarsRover · Jul 6, 2017

Almost there!!!

This morning it was just at the top
Of the glass. Expecting when I get home from work this afternoon it will be overflowing into the sump. Hoping to add salt, plumb, and turn on the return tonight!

prsnlty · Jul 6, 2017

The rock looks great! Doesn't seem like you cured it to leach out the alkalinity from it? If not how are you going to handle the excess alkalinity because it can seriously skyrocket.

Hopefully your sump won't be overflowing when you get home [emoji12]

MarsRover · Jul 6, 2017

Nope not overflowing!

I decided with the alkalinity that I can do water changes while i cycle. I didn't use very much cement relative to everything else in this tank. Maybe 5 cups of cement total. So I will measure the alkalinity, as well as other parameter. I will likely be doing water changes during cycle and so excess alk should come out with that.

Sump is about 1hr away from being full. I have plumbed the emergency, full siphon, and open channel drain pipes with flex-piping. I also did a quick connect of the vectra to the return standpipe so that i can start getting the tank circulating, and leak test my plumbing tonight (don't expect any) and start messing with the flow rates through the SCWD's.

Tank is almost totally clear now...

AmericanAquariums · Jul 6, 2017

It's always exciting to be setting up a new system. Good luck! Looks good!

prsnlty · Jul 6, 2017

Ok. I really hope it works out for you. The ph has to come down to (and stay there) 8.4 and that is how you will know the alk is gone. Outside it takes 3-4 weeks on average. Also the cement mix may leave some pretty nasty residue on your glass. It did on mine. You are also not supposed to do water changes during a cycle as it restarts the process somewhat. I'm just concerned...

MarsRover · Jul 7, 2017

prsnlty said:
Ok. I really hope it works out for you. The ph has to come down to (and stay there) 8.4 and that is how you will know the alk is gone. Outside it takes 3-4 weeks on average. Also the cement mix may leave some pretty nasty residue on your glass. It did on mine. You are also not supposed to do water changes during a cycle as it restarts the process somewhat. I'm just concerned...

I appreciate your concern!!!! It's a bit too late to do anything else! So we will see!

Before anyone goes into the tank i plan to do a triton to make absolutely sure everything is well and good in there.

Tank is up and running. I tried to use flex piping....but i'm not a fan. might just be the kind that i have but either way, i think once i buy my skimmer and install it, i'm going to go hard plumbing throughout.

The remainder of the salt needed should be arriving here Wednesday. I'm waiting for the salt i've already put in there to dissolve; almost a full 5gal bucket (makes 175gal) of RedSea Pro Coral Salt.

Kinda exciting!

MarsRover · Jul 12, 2017

Progress!

KingJason · Jul 13, 2017

Nice! And...are those two flashlights dangling from the ceiling?? LOL

805reef · Jul 13, 2017

nice job so far.

that's a lot of sand!

MarsRover · Jul 14, 2017

KingJason said:
Nice! And...are those two flashlights dangling from the ceiling?? LOL

Haha that's Affirmative. They've been "ID'd" in another thread as my "super custom, kessil, 20k scuba flashlights- full 20k at depth".

Not actually 20k.
Not actually kessil,
Actually a scuba light

Got a good portion of the electrical wiring done yesterday. Hoping to finish wiring up the outlets for the tank and get the lights hung. This weekend I need to spearhead making the controller handle the heater on closed loop feedback. Tank is fully salted!

MarsRover · Jul 16, 2017

Welp, the cycle has officially been started. Temps in tank have been in the 78-80 range all week by luck without a heater. Still need to get that heater hooked up and controller programmed. Been scuba diving all weekend.....

I think this evening I'm going home I get on that. Plus I'm going to take some of the rubble in my current tank's sump and stick it into the sump of the big tank as bacterial seeding. I have matrix rubble seeding in my smaller tank that has been in there for a week now. Wonder how long i should let the stuff to colonize before I move it to the big tank?

MarsRover · Jul 23, 2017

Because everyone was hating on my super awesome flashlights so much

I had to hang one of my MH fixtures up. It was lying around the pile of parts anyway so might as well!

Here are pictures of the tank with one 400W 20k light on it. Lots of Mylar to protect the retinas....

MarsRover · Jul 28, 2017

Got my reef octopus elite 220 INT yesterday!!! Waiting to receive my order of marine pure blocks to raise it to the proper water level! They come Monday!

Also just ordered a gyre. The water level in the tank is so high that the cross beam inhibits surface skimming of the side of the tank that doesn't have the overflow box. No matter!

MaccaPopEye · Jul 29, 2017

MarsRover said:
Got my reef octopus elite 220 INT yesterday!!! Waiting to receive my order of marine pure blocks to raise it to the proper water level! They come Monday!

Also just ordered a gyre. The water level in the tank is so high that the cross beam inhibits surface skimming of the side of the tank that doesn't have the overflow box. No matter!

I'd suggest making a stand for the skimmer. Marine pure blocks are great but crumble very easily, especially after they have been soaking in water. The vibration from a skimmer can really destroy them quite fast.

MarsRover · Jul 29, 2017

MaccaPopEye said:
I'd suggest making a stand for the skimmer. Marine pure blocks are great but crumble very easily, especially after they have been soaking in water. The vibration from a skimmer can really destroy them quite fast.

thats a good thought. i was curious about how soft they get. Never the matter. I'll make a stand from egg crate and store the marine pure under the egg crate

MarsRover · Aug 1, 2017

Got the skimmer, marine pure, and Red Sea startup kits. Skimmer is installed with marine pure hiding underneath. Going out of town for 5 days so going to start Red Sea stuff when I return.

Having some issues getting the skimmer to draw air.....might need to call coralvue

MarsRover · Aug 3, 2017

Alrighty, so before leaving town, i failed to take a picature of the sump with the marine pure and the reef octo applied....whoops....

That said, i have a few questions that i'd like folks' opinion on...

1. I gotta look up the reef octopus more. The red vertical pipe, which has the white tube plugged into it that is supposed to venturi air into the pump, has water level inside of it equal to the skimmer cone body.....so i'm getting zero bubble action going...... now i know they say to give a while to break in, but to me this doesn't seem to be something that time will change. My water level for the skimmer is located exactly dead center between their recommended water level for the skimmer so.....

2. When i get home, i plan to start the red sea reef mature regimen... after all that is said and done, i plan to make sure we are up to par by dosing the tank with ammonia to 2ppm and making sure it disappears in 24 hours. I plan to have a swarm of a few types of anthias in the tank. maybe like 10-15 of them total. I know they need to be feed as frequently as feasible. I'm planning to setup a peristaltic pump to continuously feed something like frozen (thawed cube) rotifers or similar 24/7 as i have read dripping little food in all day is best for these guys. My girlfriend had the great idea to drip it into the sump right at the return pump because, with the pipeing setup and the SCWD's i have, it should evenly distribute a little food all the time throughout the tank so as to minimize bullying between Anthias and ensure they all get plenty of food. My thought is to start feeding the tank, slowly ramping up to my end goal of feeding for the anthias, prior to putting anyone in the tank. In this way, i can ensure the bacterial population in the tank is more than strong enough to handle the inevitable bioload of the enormous amount of food the tank will need with the anthias. Thoughts?!?!????

thanks folks