Aggressive fake Reef 120 gallon

[Mikeneedsahobby]

...and we have a tank!
Ahh. Must feel good!

(Pics or it didn’t happen)

 

[JasonK84]

It happened I was just waiting for him to come out of hiding.

 

[JasonK84]

 

[JasonK84]

@Mikeneedsahobby
Well Mike,

I got home from work today and everything has been going so good with the puffer that I decided to move the rest of my QT'd fish over to the 120.

7 fish now in the new tank. a few more weeks and the last 2 will be out of QT and in the tank.

Current stocking:
1-blue spotted Toby puffer
1-powder blue tang
1-juv Koran angel
1-Picasso triggerfish
3-molly Miller blennies

Last night I ordered the SHU from Octo Aquatics. I had him add some removable dividers in it so I could separate fish in it or remove the dividers for larger fish. I will use it going forward with future stocking to be sure they won't get picked on before letting them loose.

My next fish to order will most likely be a harlequin tusk!

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

You tank is looking awesome!

You inspire me to keep going. I have been hating my temporary tank. So loud. So ugly.

I spent 4 hrs tonight replumbing and getting rid of ugly rocks so I won’t hate it as much. I’ll post about it tomorrow.

I saw an orange dotted tusk fish at the lfs a couple of weeks ago. Amazing colors in person, online photos don’t do it justice. If I was where you are I would have brought it home. The harlequin will fill out your tank nicely.

 

[Denisk]

Looks great so far!

 

[JasonK84]

You tank is looking awesome!

You inspire me to keep going. I have been hating my temporary tank. So loud. So ugly.

I spent 4 hrs tonight replumbing and getting rid of ugly rocks so I won’t hate it as much. I’ll post about it tomorrow.

I saw an orange dotted tusk fish at the lfs a couple of weeks ago. Amazing colors in person, online photos don’t do it justice. If I was where you are I would have brought it home. The harlequin will fill out your tank nicely.

I'm at a point now where I have to tear down a couple tanks (wife's orders) and get it down to only 2 running. If it weren't for that I've now got 2 empty that I could be QTing more!! Here is a pic I took yesterday morning from the side panel.

 

[JasonK84]

One more update:
I adjusted flow on the 24watt UV and plugged it in. It hadn't been plugged in until today to keep from killing the bacteria I was tying to populate. Now I'm hoping it will help me from having to clean my glass so much.

Skimmer has been adjusted some but it's obvious that it can handle so much more!! That's why I got it!! Going for a heavily stocked tank here with tons of movement and action.

I am still planning on adding a carbon reactor to the tank to keep it crystal clear but am waiting until after Christmas just in case some one gets one for me. Come on secret santa!

 

[JasonK84]

So I was looking on amazon to see about buying the pump I need for my mixing station build (current USA e-flux 6011). I ran across the Orbit IC led system and it was at a huge discount!! So instead of buying the return pump I bought the lights and 2 more e-flux circulation pumps to add to my LOOP system. Next I'll get the Bluetooth upgrade for it so I can make adjustments through the app. Now my fish will have actual sunrise/sunset with lightning storms and clouds passing over and will sync with the pumps to mimic storm surges. Maybe a little much for a fish only tank but why not? If the wife is allowing the purchase then take the opportunity!!

 

[JasonK84]

New lights and wave pumps showed up today along with the gift I bought for my R2R secret Santa. I'll be mailing that to the individual this coming week while I'm on vacation! Can't tell you what it is. It's a secret!

Now let's see if the wife lets me go ahead and install everything or if I have to wait for Christmas.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

. Now my fish will have actual sunrise/sunset with lightning storms and clouds passing over and will sync with the pumps to mimic storm surges. Maybe a little much for a fish only tank but why not? If the wife is allowing the purchase then take the opportunity!!

I have the same lights but I got 48”. They look good on the tank. I doubt it’s bright enough for coral but perfect for our fowlr. Did you get the optional brackets to lift it off the tank?

 

[JasonK84]

I have the same lights but I got 48”. They look good on the tank. I doubt it’s bright enough for coral but perfect for our fowlr. Did you get the optional brackets to lift it off the tank?

No, my hood has a lip that the adjustable brackets that it comes with will sit on. Same as the fixture I have now.

Fixture I have now is 36" T5 and offered good coverage at this height so I got the LED at 36". I guess if we want to add coral later on we can add the second fixture to the loop system doubling the light output. I honestly don't plan on keeping coral (been there and the fish are what excite me)

 

[JasonK84]

Now it's time to start building my mixing station. It may move eventually (wife and I are discussing enclosing our back patio and turning it into a fish room) but for now will have to be set up in the garage. Found the location I believe will work the best unless I rearrange and set them up side by side.

Once it's moved to the fish room it will be side by side so I may rethink finding a place for it to be that way now to keep from replumbing it later.
Made a trip to Amarillo this evening and picked up supplies to get this build started.

The generator I bought for long term power outages that outlast the batteries of the UPS I got for Christmas!

The UPS should give me over 9 hours with just the return pump plugged in. That will give me plenty of time to finish the work day and make it home to fire up the generator in case the power is out longer. Not many outages over and hour or two around here but for $100 it's a good insurance policy to have. I'll just keep it boxed up until needed and buy a gallon of premix to keep on hand (it's stable up to 5 years).

I've got several projects to get going on now. Gotta get the new lights and pumps installed, get the UPS installed, redo all the cable management after those things are done, get the mixing station completed.

I'm wishing I would have ordered the return pump before Christmas when it was $206. Now it's back up to $254! Grrr!!! Gotta have a pump to make the mixing station work and I like the idea of having a spare return pump on hand to simply swap without hassle so I guess it's time to order it.

 

[JasonK84]

Alright, I think I figured out how I want it. Just gotta order my pump and get it all plumbed up. Also need to get an auto shut off for my RO/DI filter.
Even mounted a power strip for pump and heaters. Garage is very cold so may need to use all of my spare heaters until spring!

 

[JasonK84]

Just introduced 2 new fish from QT into the 120! Up to 9 fish swimming around. Would have a Harlequin tusk on the way but Live Aquaria doesn't have any at the moment.

 

[JasonK84]

Purchased my pump for my mixing station today. I had found one that was an open box (new) on eBay and was emailing with the seller on a better price since some pieces where missing. The pump brand new from online merchants goes for $254.00 and this one was listed at $194.00 and stated it was missing the intake strainer and inlet/outlet fittings. I offered $150 but hadn't received a response. I checked Amazon again and they had it listed from the manufacturer for $206.00. I jumped on that and emailed the eBay seller letting them know I was no longer interested.

 

[JasonK84]

I hooked up wave pumps 2 and 3 a while back (not sure I like their positioning yet) and decided to add the new lights today. Got the old lights off and got the new lights in place before realizing the plug to the hub wasn't long enough to get where I wanted to mount it. Instead of hooking the old lights back up I ordered the extension wire from Amazon and put my Ocean Revive 247B light on from the 30 gallon tank I took down in the beginning of December. Probably should have just put the old T5 36" back on but it's only until the extension arrives.

Any recommendations of pump placement are welcome. I've got 3-1050GPH wave pumps. #1 & #2 are programmable for stream, surge, or pulse and also flow power from 10% to 100% and also frequency of pulse or surge from .3 seconds to 7 seconds. Pump #3 is only able to run in a continuous stream at a power level of 10% to 100%.

 

[JasonK84]

I also got my return pump hooked up to the UPS battery backup and tested the run time on a fully charged battery. With 1500AH batteries and only pulling 76 watts I should have got over 15 hours of run time (got nowhere close)!

Unplugged the UPS to simulate a power outage (only return pump running on battery backup). Estimated run time popped up on display as being 115 minutes but was actually decreasing remaining run time at a slower rate. Unplugged at 18:20 this evening and it was fully spent at 20:45. 2 hours and 25 minutes was what it gave me. Good to know info I just wish I got more. I was hoping to have enough time to run a full shift at work plus drive time (10 hours) but it is what it is. Most outages around here are corrected in 30 minutes or less. I guess when I get notified of an outage I'll run home after 2 hours to crank up the generator so there is no interruption to the filtration.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

You are going to build a shark tank? ;Drool

Did you figure out why the ups didn’t give you the run time you expected?

 

[JasonK84]

You are going to build a shark tank? ;Drool

Did you figure out why the ups didn’t give you the run time you expected?

The shark tank is still in the planning stage but if we get a building built then it's happening.

Not sure on the UPS. I've read on some threads that their purpose is to supply power short term power for getting computer systems shut down properly during an outage. I'm sure the shorter duration is due to the power consumption of the power converter built into it.