Baby's First Reef Tank

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Okay so it's not exactly my first tank, but it was my first full sized tank with a sump so a lot of this process was new to me. I started in the hobby four months ago with a 28g cube that I found on Craigslist. It's a nice little tank and it's doing great, but I have been wanting to upgrade to something bigger since I started. My husband was totally against a bigger tank at first, thinking that I would lose interest quickly, so the 28g was a compromise with the understanding that I'd move up to something bigger if I liked reefing. Then he surprised me a month ago with a 75g tank as an early birthday present!

Ever since I got the tank, I've been spending almost all of my spare time researching or buying equipment for the new tank. My current tank doesn't have a sump, protein skimmer, ATO, or refugium so all of this was new to me. I probably would have been better off with an AIO tank but the spouse was finally on board with reefing so I was going to embrace this tank!

Anyways, a month later I finally have everything I need to get this tank up and running. I took two days off work and spent my long weekend getting my tank ready. First I had to drill the tank for the overflow and returns. I hadn't used an electric drill before this so it was intimidating to say the least...

Drilling.jpg


It took me THREE HOURS to drill the first hole. I was so scared that the entire thing was going to explode at any second. Even though I had checked with the manufacturer to make sure it wasn't tempered, it was still pretty scary. After the first hole was done and I was sure the tank wasn't tempered, the next three went a bit smoother. I took it really slow the entire time and ended up spending the entire day just drilling those four holes but in the end I got a good result so it was worth it to me!

Holes.jpg


Please forgive these crappy pictures, the room my tanks are in is TINY and extremely cluttered right now. The cheap phone quality isn't helping, I guess my next tank upgrade should be a proper camera! Anyway, my next step was to dry fit the plumbing. I put together a diagram but this was a daunting task since I have no plumbing experience and no reefing friends to help me out. My awesome co-worker did have some plumbing experience so he offered to come over and help me put it together. I thought we'd be able to knock it out in a few hours since I already had a diagram but no, this process ended up taking another three days. Everyone on the R2R forums was really helpful and quick to give me advice, especially @W1ngz who patiently answered a dozen questions while I tried to figure out how to make this work! After a lot of adjustments, my plumbing was finally installed!
IMG_20190513_220002.jpg


I dressed up the front of the stand a little bit too. I feel kind of silly posting it when so many other people on here make their own stands from scratch, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out.
Stand.jpg


I'll be testing the tank for leaks after I get home from work today. If all goes well, I'm hoping to finish laying out my aquascaping tomorrow and start adding water. My RODI is slow so I expect this to take a few days. I already have some bottled bacteria for cycling and I'll be adding a few pieces of rock from my current tank as well.

I can't wait to get it up and running! Best birthday present ever!
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks! Everyone here is always so supportive, this is why I am hooked on R2R!

The tank is filling up now for the leak test. Kinda nervous... Let's hope it did this correctly! ;Nailbiting
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Welp, water happened. Lots of water. It did not pass the leak test lol! Luckily the floors are all tile so no harm done though my poor cat disagrees.

The good news is that as far as I can tell, the plumbing itself is not leaking, it's the bulkheads inside the overflow. The bad news is that I haven't been able to stop them from leaking, even after removing the external box.
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Remember to cut the power to the return pump to simulate a power failure. That way you’ll know if the power does go out, nothing is going to overflow.

Great advice, thanks! I'll definitely do that once I can figure out this leak and get it running.
 

W1ngz

Failed Padawan
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2019
Messages
2,307
Reaction score
3,825
Location
Montreal, Canada
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Eep
Hopefully there’s gaskets inside the overflow for each bulkhead?

Welp, water happened. Lots of water. It did not pass the leak test lol! Luckily the floors are all tile so no harm done though my poor cat disagrees.

The good news is that as far as I can tell, the plumbing itself is not leaking, it's the bulkheads inside the overflow. The bad news is that I haven't been able to stop them from leaking, even after removing the external box.
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
@W1ngz There aren't any gaskets on the inside. Seems suspicious to me too but as far as I can tell this is the way they are all made. I'm using an Exotic Marine Systems overflow. It has a gasket between the internal overflow and the inside of the tank and another gasket between the outside of the tank and the outer box.

I suspect the paint might be the issue, I didn't know you were supposed to not paint beneath the bulkhead gaskets. Going to scrape some of it off and try again.
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
There’s no gaskets here? Under the bulkheads inside the box?

It looks like that's your external overflow? If so then no, my bulkheads in the external overflow that connect to the plumbing have gaskets beneath the flange. The ones on the internal box don't though.

The good news is that removing the paint fixed the problem! The system has been running leak free for almost an hour now. Woo!! I still need to figure out why startup is taking so long and where I want my water level set but I'll save that for tomorrow.
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Wow this has been a crazy week!! I thought for sure my tank would have been set up days ago but despite my best efforts, that hasn't happened.

Long story short, I had a lot of trouble getting the sump set up properly, mostly because I just don't know what I'm doing. First I had a hard time getting it to run as quietly as I should because it wasn't creating a full siphon. I finally figured out that the pipes going into my sump were too long, so I trimmed those down and redid some of the plumbing inside of the overflow box. This got it to run quietly but then I realized that I had screwed up and drilled the holes slightly off so one side of the overflow box was lower than the other. This also meant that there wasn't as much water flowing into the box as there should have been. Major problem! I never did find a good answer on what to do about this, apparently nobody else in the history of the world has been dumb enough to drill their holes crooked! I decided to take a dremel to it and even the slots in the overflow so that they would be level with the water line. It seems to have worked, there's a LOT more water flowing through than there was before, and it's still nice and quiet. After I finished dealing with that fiasco, I had to level the tank, which took another 2 days due to my house being on a very crooked foundation and the tank being on very uneven tile. I was also dealing with a mystery leak for a few days that just up and vanished. I never did figure out what was causing it, I suspect that one of my unions was either not seated properly or wasn't tightened enough.

Now that the tank is FINALLY in position and level, I'm running one last leak test. If it passes, I'll be draining the tap water out of the tank and adding in the RODI and the dry rock. I am SO ready to have this thing up and running!!! Right now it feels like I just spent a ton of money and put in a ton of effort and all I've gotten out of it is a giant mess! Haha!

Here's a pic of all my equipment for the tank. You can see my QT in the background too, it's currently housing a mystery fish who is very ready to move into his permanent home!

IMG_20190521_181018.jpg
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Leak test passed and the tank is currently being filled with RODI! FINALLY!! I got my aquascape done and added the dry rock and sand too. Another 40g of RODI or so and I'll be ready to turn it all on.

I picked up a bunch of frags from the WWC live sale this past weekend, they're supposed to be delivered next Friday. I bought WAY too many, but here are some of my favorites:
Corals.jpg
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Very nice and congrats! If you have any questions just ask!

Thanks a bunch! I actually do have a couple of questions about the timing of transferring fish and corals. I'll be adding some live rock from the current tank and a full bottle of bacteria tonight. How long should I wait to add the fish to the new tank? And should I add ammonia to feed the bacteria while the tank has no fish in it? I've heard conflicting opinions about the ammonia.
 

W1ngz

Failed Padawan
View Badges
Joined
Jan 10, 2019
Messages
2,307
Reaction score
3,825
Location
Montreal, Canada
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'd go all-in right away. Your rock and bio-filter are already supporting the bioload you have, so unless you plan to toss in a bunch of new fish right away, or plan to use any new live rock that may have some die-off and push up your ammonia levels, moving everything together should be a net zero.
 
OP
OP
FishyFish

FishyFish

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
244
Reaction score
248
Location
Houston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yes - curious - what purpose would ammonia serve? Are you planning to add new live rock - or merely switch what you have to a new tank? IMO - you're causing yourself more risk doing this 'piecemeal' rather than just moving everything at once. That way you have one filter system, one heater, you can use all of your old water (and 40 gallons or so new water) - you can add bottled bacteria if your worried (like Fritz Turbo - the 'keep cold kind) - but there is no reason you should have another 'cycle' if you do everything at one time - and dont add a lot of new 'live rock' that might have'dying stuff' on it.

I'd go all-in right away. Your rock and bio-filter are already supporting the bioload you have, so unless you plan to toss in a bunch of new fish right away, or plan to use any new live rock that may have some die-off and push up your ammonia levels, moving everything together should be a net zero.

Oh man if that's the safest thing to do I'd DEFINITELY prefer it! It would be so much easier than what I've been trying! I don't have new live rock but there is a lot of new dry rock and sand.

There will be one new fish coming in from QT but he could wait another week if need be.
 

Mixing lighting technologies: Do you use multiple types of lighting for your reef?

  • I currently use multiple types of lighting for my reef.

    Votes: 11 52.4%
  • I have used multiple types of lighting for my reef in the past.

    Votes: 2 9.5%
  • I haven’t used multiple types of lighting for my reef, but I plan to in the future.

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • I have no plans to use multiple types of lighting for my reef.

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top