Cigar Sherlock's 20 Gallon Long nano build..

[Cigar Sherlock]

Update: I was happy to receive several boxes from the UPS guy today. I immediately got to work getting things ready for the weekend launch. I calibrated the refractometer, ordered a custom cut acrylic piece for the top, soaked my new base rock, water tested the tank (no leaks) and child proofed the tank stand. As usual, I attached some photos of the progress. I also water tested the distilled from Kroger and found 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. I purchased 30 pounds of live sand to add tomorrow. Last steps are the purchase of more water and one piece of established live rock.

The base rock was from reefcleaners.com. I was very impressed!

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

That sux a brand new fixture should not be blowing out lights. I would return it

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They are sending me a new LED ballast and new set of LED's...i'm sending them the broken ballast back...so far they seem to be cooperative. There was a slight language barrier though, made it difficult to plead my case.

 

[Dowtish]

You might want to look into making a mesh screen top for your tank out of screen door framing. It will allow for better gas exchange and less evaporation.

[video=youtube;F0CzorCknWQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0CzorCknWQ&feature=plcp&context=C40dc2f2V DvjVQa1PpcFMKuG29yqrjlvuxph9koKjf4hLbmzAy1Vc%3D[/video]

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

Thanks Dowtish for the link. I'm going to try a custom cut piece of acrylic for the top and see how that works for now. I've got a penguin 1140 to help with oxygen transfer into the water. Will see how it works and if I'm not liking the top, I'll trash it and try a screen. Only cost me 10 bucks to get it and have it cut.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

I got to stop by the frag swap and join up with MTRC so I'm officially a member. It was very interesting to see how people responded to the uniform. HA! I got everything from "are you here for a raid?" to "just take me in". I wish I wasn't working today as I only got to visit for 10 minutes or so. Anyhow, I have new pics of the acrylic top in place and my rockscaping job. I'm not trying to win any contests with the scaping and I love a classic dragon back bone look.

 

[VandyTime]

Rob, love that scaping, but I think the acrylic cover will be covered in condensation. I have a small piece above the overflow and it stays wet! Have you tested it yet?

 

[gmoney243]

I have a glass middle brace on my tank that stays wet and accourding to par meter there's no relative par loss.

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[VandyTime]

I have a glass middle brace on my tank that stays wet and accourding to par meter there's no relative par loss.

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well it should work well then!

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

Well she is up and running. I'm not sure if the condensation will hurt me yet or not Darrell but I'll definitely be monitoring it. I love the clean lines the acrylic top adds to the tank, so i'm inclined to keep it that way unless it just becomes a hassle. I made two more noob blunders today while setting up the tank for the cycle. The first dumb thing was that I forgot to check the stand from front to back to see if it was level AFTER I put it in a new place. I had checked it before moving the tank to another area in my house but just assumed the floors were all the same. So after I got all of my water in place, I noticed the top line was slanted and immediately felt like a jack*ss. So, after church we went to Lowes and I got 3 more buckets to empty out the water and adjust the rear legs of the stand to level it out. Then, I did not check the clearance between the intake tube on the AC70 and the sand bed. Even after I have read online about it probably 100 times, I didn't check. When I put the final gallon of water in, it stirred up a little more sand than I intended and fronze up my AC70 pump. Luckily I was able to clean it all out, cut the intake tube to a more managable height and now everything works well. I'm expecting to make mistakes but today I was ready to slam my head into the wall heh. Nothing like an additional 1 1/2 hours of work because you didn't check things first. Anyways, tank is now going and is as clear as mud heh.

 

[Dowtish]

The water is in! let the wait begin!

 

[poolkeeper1]

I got to stop by the frag swap and join up with MTRC so I'm officially a member. It was very interesting to see how people responded to the uniform. HA! I got everything from "are you here for a raid?" to "just take me in". I wish I wasn't working today as I only got to visit for 10 minutes or so. Anyhow, I have new pics of the acrylic top in place and my rockscaping job. I'm not trying to win any contests with the scaping and I love a classic dragon back bone look.

Are you here to Raid LOL Now I can put a face to your name, Nice meeting you even though it was brief as I was guilty of that comment!
Bill

 

[gmoney243]

Nice. Should clear up in 24 hours

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[Cigar Sherlock]

The tank is clearing nicely and I took the little girl down to AC today to purchase some liverock. I only got a one pound baseball size purple chunk to seed the rest of what I have. The heater is in and working very well. The AC70 is on and I'm only running a mechanical sponge right now to assist with getting large particles out of the water. Should I be running chemipure or any carbon at this point or just wait until after the month cycle? I figured it was just wait until the end and don't do any water changes etc..just top off and measure until everything zeros out.

I only put the lights on for 3 hours today and was checking over the tank with my Iphone LED light when I spotted a *amn aptasia on the 1 pound rock I just bought. So I promptly stuck him with some superglue gel to keep him in his hole until he dies. I'd say this is a pretty typical start.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

I received my refugium light and have mounted it via silicon to the AC70. Now all that I have to do is cut out a section of the AC70 top and replace it with clear acrylic of the same size. Still no Nitrates or Phosphates recorded today but it's only day 5.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

HA, I messed those pictures up..all fixed now. It wouldn't let me edit the previous post.

 

[Cigar Sherlock]

I'm thoroughly confused at day 7 with 0 ammonia 0 nitrates and phosphates between 0 and 0.25...still waiting and still no diatom bloom

 

[gmoney243]

Well I haven't seen anything about fish or anything you've added to actually start the cycling. So if there's nothing producing waste then no amm or cycle. U need a fish.

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