Dan's 120 Reef Reboot

PicassoDan · Dec 3, 2019

Got the tile grouted, the tank and stand moved up and set in place!

Started running plumbing, which takes me forever... Only two trips to Home Depot/Lowe's so far. This will be the beananimal style "safe silent overflow": one full siphon line with a ball valve to tune it, the trickle line that gets the tiny amount extra, and the dry emergency line. All three are 1" PVC. The return line from the pump will be 3/4" PVC, likely hard pipe as well. I debated using flex PVC, but in the end hard pipe is a little cheaper, and I think looks a little better.

I need to come up with some kind of strain relief bracket to hold the three lines at floor level.
In other news, Marco rock comes tomorrow!

PicassoDan · Dec 8, 2019

Drain lines almost complete, need one more piece of pipe. Doesn't make a huge difference flow-wise, but I'm using only 45° elbows, and no 90s. It does make it more complicated to do though...

PicassoDan · Dec 13, 2019

Drain lines are complete, return line is complete!
Let the filling begin!!!
It's been 3.5 years since I had the tank set up, so I'm a little excited.

PicassoDan · Dec 13, 2019

3/4" return line going up through the floor. I had to drill a hole through tile & subfloor to make the connection.

PicassoDan · Dec 13, 2019

RO just registered 7 ppm, the lowest I've ever seen. Why did I wait so long to get a booster pump!?!?

PicassoDan · Dec 30, 2019

Fish room framing and wiring is done!

PicassoDan · Jan 9, 2020

Finally got the overflow fully installed and running tonight! This is a huge milestone for me. I don't do anything quickly, and I've been planning this reboot ever since I took the tank down 3.5 years ago!!!
My view from the couch tonight:

PicassoDan · Jan 9, 2020

The rockwork is far from complete, I have to transfer the rock from the basement frag-tank and come up with something that looks decent.
I'm loving the Exotic Marine Systems overflow, it is dead silent.

PicassoDan · Jan 10, 2020

Reusing the 2x250watt radium MH setup. The canopy has no top to help with keeping everything dry.

Kent E · Jan 18, 2020

Dan, the workmanship is exquisite as usual. The work is tight and clean. Great job with everything.

PicassoDan · Jan 18, 2020

Hi Kent!!
The seedlings ready to move to the display tank as soon as I get the rock scape finished.

PicassoDan · Jan 18, 2020

Moved the yellow tang upstairs, and added an ocellaris pair and a tiny engineer goby. My next fish will be either a hippo tang or a blue throat trigger. Probably will wait a couple weeks though.
The main thing I really need to do is fix the rockwork...and add the aragonite so the engineer has something to dig in.

Kent E · Jan 21, 2020

Do you have a rockwork style you are going for?

PicassoDan · Jan 21, 2020

I'd like to get more open space, so I'm thinking a couple "bridges" connecting a couple islands... Maybe? I don't know. I kind of hate doing aquascape, it's too open-ended. I've thought about connecting pieces with fiberglass rod to enable more options.

PicassoDan · Jan 25, 2020

Did some aquascaping this morning, and I guess I'm happy with it. Marco rock is definitely nice stuff to work with. It has enough sharp points and crevices that it really stacks well. I've noticed that after only three weeks, there are lots of little purple coraline spots growing and pods are moving in.
For substrate I'm using aragonite. I never liked the look of bare bottom and sand blows around too easily.

PicassoDan · Jan 29, 2020

Started moving frags up from the basement. Full tank shot:

This is an ORA "the Carl" I picked up locally. It's starting to color up nicely:

I got a gift card for Christmas to Live Aquaria, so I splurged a bit... First time ever buying a coral online, and it went really well. Divers' Den did a really good job with packing, and the package arrived at 10:28am next day. It's a wild colony; acropora anthocercis. It's pretty pink, and I'm hoping it will develop white tips, and get even pinker . Reefbuilders did a nice article on anthocercis last year:
https://reefbuilders.com/2019/07/16/acropora-anthocercis-another-champion-coral-of-the-outer-reef/

PicassoDan · Jan 29, 2020

Another couple acro frags I got from a local reefer, not sure the names:

And a new guy that just can't wait to move out of quarantine, a blue jaw trigger!

PicassoDan · Jan 31, 2020

Marco rock after one month in tank:

Close up:

PicassoDan · Feb 7, 2020

Dinoflagellates: ostreopsis
They're at a pretty low level in the tank, but still looking into getting rid of them. Seems like they are the easier (easiest?) variety to deal with.
Interesting observation is that they seem to populate areas where the tank is newer. Not so many in the 1+ year old 40 gallon frag tank, but seem to prefer the 120 DT.