Brett's Reef

BrettE · Mar 17, 2023

I thought it best to start at the beginning. First, I marked off the location of the supports of our floor. Then I made some diagrams, and I sent them to my friend Walt, who's a structural engineer. He said "Looks good!", so away we go.

Here's the alcove where the tank will live.

Here's roughly what the tank will look like over the support structure:

Lastly, and overhead sketch:

BrettE · Mar 17, 2023

Then, I went to Reef Stock in Denver. I met the fine folks at Algae Barn, and I decided to buy a tank from them. I bought Cade 1500 S2. It's sitting at their warehouse, waiting for me to setup delivery. As soon as we paint the trim in this room, I'll be ready for a tank.

jsker · Mar 17, 2023

Congratulation on your new system. I cannot wait to see the system setup.

BrettE · Mar 17, 2023

Today, Mike the electrician came out. In addition to some other cats and dogs, he installed two dedicated 20A GFCIs where the tank is going to go.

While Mike was here, I also got a look inside the wall here. Behind this will are the stairs. The stairs going up are double wide, so there's some dead space back in there. I think I'll be able to route some small tubing down to the basement for the eventual water mixing station. Eventually I think that will evolve to automated water changes.

BrettE · Mar 17, 2023

jsker said:
Congratulation on your new system. I cannot wait to see the system setup.

Neither can I, and neither can my daughter. She doesn't ask every day, but almost nearly every day: "Dad, when are we getting fish?"

Honestly that's kind of how this started. Daughter asked about getting some fish, and I had a moment where I realized: you know, I've always wanted a reef tank; I think now is a good time.

jsker · Mar 17, 2023

It is great that your daughter is going on this journey with you.

BrettE · Apr 4, 2023

Slow going, but making some progress. Put in two dedicated 20A circuits for the tank, wired ethernet.

Now we're working on PVC through the wall and floor to the basement to run tubing for auto water changes.

The way our house is built, there's an empty cavity behind the alcove where the tank is going to be setup. I opened up the wall, so we could get access to the empty space. That will allow easy running of tubing for water, Aquabus, or whatever we decide to do. The plan is to run something like 3" PVC from behind the tank to the basement. The utility room is just under the hallway here.

After opening the wall, we started on a small cubby to hang coats. We're going to make it so the rear wall is removable, so we can get into the empty space.

BrettE · May 28, 2023

We got the tank in place. We got the rocks done. I used purple mortar because that's what the LFS had on hand, and I was impatient. From what I understand it'll all get covered anyway, so I'm not too fussed about it.

I have most of the gear in the sump now, and I think the layout will work ok. Got my roller mat plumbed this morning. Just need to run all the wiring now.

Gumbies R Us · May 29, 2023

BrettE said:
We got the tank in place. We got the rocks done. I used purple mortar because that's what the LFS had on hand, and I was impatient. From what I understand it'll all get covered anyway, so I'm not too fussed about it.

I have most of the gear in the sump now, and I think the layout will work ok. Got my roller mat plumbed this morning. Just need to run all the wiring now.

Love the aquascape design!

BrettE · May 29, 2023

Gumbies R Us said:
Love the aquascape design!

Thanks!

BrettE · Sep 12, 2023

Since it's been 3.5 months, I figure I should update this thread.

I nicked by tank. See thread.

BrettE · Sep 12, 2023

I ordered a replacement from @AlgaeBarn . We had some issues with the shipping company, but Algae Barn took good care of me. Eventually I got a new tank. My movers chipped that one. See thread. I decided it would probably hold water, even though I wasn't happy about it.

BrettE · Sep 12, 2023

Next I setup my salt water mixing station and my RODI, so I'd have water to put in this tank. I've got a 20' vinyl hose that goes upstairs to the tank. I can use the pump to send water upstairs when needed.

BrettE · Sep 12, 2023

Next I put fresh water in the tank and watched for leaks. The only leak I had was a spot where I removed a plumping piece and forgot to put it back. Oops. Ironically, I removed it, so I could tighten up another connection to avoid leaks.

Somewhere in there I also put the rocks and sand in the tank.

BrettE · Sep 12, 2023

Next I waited for it to clear up, then I added salt. I used Tropic Marin Pro Reef. I added it over the course of about 2 hours until I hit 1.025 as measured by a Hanna salinity meter. I'm getting the meter replaced because one of the temperature digits is missing some segments, and the salinity jumped .004 SG points. It was doing fine, then suddenly jumped. Both in my tank water and the cal solution. Salinity now!

Side note: Caribs Sea sand...some of them have the clarifier packets inside, some have it mixed in. It's not clear from the packaging. I spend a long time looking for 2 packets I couldn't account for, only to learn the clarifier was probably mixed in with the sand.

BrettE · Sep 12, 2023

A couple days ago I dosed the tank with Fritz Turbo Start and their Fishless Fuel. I dosed to about 2 mg/L total Ammonia. Tonight it's down to 0.8 mg/L.

We're hopping to get a couple clown fish in there soon.

Gumbies R Us · Sep 13, 2023

BrettE said:
A couple days ago I dosed the tank with Fritz Turbo Start and their Fishless Fuel. I dosed to about 2 mg/L total Ammonia. Tonight it's down to 0.8 mg/L.

We're hopping to get a couple clown fish in there soon.

Best of luck to getting the clowns in there!