My 90 gallon tank journey

justingraham

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well since I'm about a week away from transferring from my ghetto garage tank to my rebuilt 90 I figured I should finally start my build thread.

Last take a trip down memory lane October 28th 2016 me and my amazing girlfriend
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That's her with the duck face

bought a house together. It was move time here's my tank in the apartment ready to be moved well this pic was when I first set up the tank but U get the idea.
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At the time I had aprox 32 frags to be moved along with four fish in qt.
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That picture is missing the bi color blenny and the other clown but it's what we have for a visual aid so we're going to use it.

So my plan like any other person was a one day move. 20 hours later the tank and qt still were in the old apartment the only thing in the apartment. Luckily the landlord said we had until the Monday to get everything out. Saturday the 29th wifey (the girl above with the duck face) wanted to make the new house ours by setting up everything our way. That was two pm by the time that was done. No way I was going to be able to set up the tank where I wanted to today no way so I got a plan.

First I didn't want to rush it and regret not doing it right the first time. There were some things I didn't like about the stand (u ever see a tank from across the pond?? It's like the tank is part of the furniture of the house that's what I wanted not just a random fish tank in the middle of a house) so it was decided the stand and canopy needed a reboot.

So what to do with the qt'd fish and corals? Well I ran out and bought (how lucky was this it was petco dollar a gallon tank sale) 40 breeder and metal stand for the fish in qt And a 50 gallon container from tractor supply for the corals. We decided to keep the fish inside and the corals outside in the garage. Here are some pics of that to keep u guys interested
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corals in ghetto garage get up
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Apparently I only have videos of when the tank was first set up so this pic is from a month after the move if u look close u can see two clowns a kole tang and a chevron tang in this pic(I know I know tang po po relax just breath and relax u can write me a ticket)

So from November to December I was stockpiling parts
regal 170int from @MRodrigues1991
Picked up 2 26 inch reef brite 250 watt metal halide hybrids
40 breeder sump kit from exotic marine
Picked up a chevron tang on Black Friday from tsm he went into the 40 breeder also picked up a magnificent foxface from them as well he was in the ghetto frag tank in the garage
A signed deisil reef squad t shirt

During this time I lost almost all of my corals I blame it on out of sight out of mind the temp was fluctuating a lot also I wasn't keeping up on topping it off with water and low ph. Hence the reason I added a fish to the frag tank force me to go in there everyday. Some coral did survive but not for to much longer the neglect of the tank just caught up to the corals.

We went for sushi
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Timeline update this is mid December
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Christmas week obligations for mama

I was also trying to talk my girl(the duck face and the one who is extremely happy about the sushi) into a 180 gallon tank. She said girl stuff so we ended up painting the living room she wasn't quacking around and she knew how to get what she wanted so a new plan emerged 180 gallon tank after the paint whooo (spoiler alert look at the thread name)
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another Spoiler alert This is the wall the tank is going to be on taped up and ready to go.
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After paint
Time table update This is now December 30th so the house is painted ready to go get a 180 gallon tank.

But something inside me just isn't right. This is my second stint into saltwater and I never had a tank that truly thrived. I just lost all my corals and we both are a little sad about it even tho we went for sushi the pain is still there. I want a tank to thrive for once I finnaly have someone in my corner with this hobby and I don't wanna take advantage of it by going hog wild on the build and spending money before I make it with the possibility of it not working out. So we decided let's rock the 90 gallon for two years build it to an amazing specimen and if we can do that then we will upgrade the tank to the 180. (At this point I'm learning patience) so it's December 31st and that's what we settled on. I will rebuild the stand and tank to make it easy to work on and make it so it matches the house like the people over the pond do so it's part of the house not just a fish tank in the middle of the house.

Thanks for reading next post will be from January till now. And it will be worth the wait till then here's a couple of photos I forgot about
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that is a possums that almost killed me at work
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and here is my cat stuck in a plastic bag
For what it's worth I honesty think my cat can take the possums my cat is from the hood a hood rat cat if u will. While we are at work I'm pretty sure she slings cat nip to the neighborhood cats. U can take the cat out of the hood but u can never take the hood out of the cat
 

Chrisfish

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Lol, great thread and waiting for the next post :D
 
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justingraham

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Part duex

New year new beginnings or at least that's what they say

This may not seem important but it's what they call foreshadowing in the business we Trash picked an ugly set of furniture a corner table and a coffee table it needed some tlc so off it went to my aunts. I'm handy but I stink at staining stuff plus she's retired and enjoys scowling Craig's list for furniture to redo this is her please don't judge her for only knowing her from this photo. Plus she does a better job putting the stain onto wood then well u will see

















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Please don't tell her I posted this picture up I'm really scared of her she's a retired state trooper and well yea


So yea back to the story trash picked stuff is where we are at I can't find the photos of the before so to paint you a picture i need u to close ur eyes but still somehow manage to read this maby get ur significant other to read it to you but I need u to imagine a piece of trash thrown out in someone's front yard it lived its life ten maby twenty years inside that nice warm house everyday the owner would put his cup or possibly his feet on it. But now the owner got a raise and doesn't want the table anymore it doesn't match or doesn't hold cups the same any more it's has now just been labeled a second hand piece of furniture that out lived it's welcome inside the house it was once in and now resides in the front yard waiting for the trash truck to eat it up well that's what it was someone's trash until one Sunday me and my awesome sauce girl drove past it now since we have hearts of gold we couldn't see that furniture meet the great furniture god in the sky so we grabbed it up and drove it to my aunts (stain face from above)

Well the face above MY Aunt did this told ya she did a better job putting the stain on wood instead of herself
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As Charlie sheen says Winning

You might be thinking what did I just read but remember every good story has foreshadowing in it

The stand and canopy needed a reboot
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this is from when I bought the tank. (It's the black one if u weren't paying attention before) it's nice and simple pretty much matches everything but still just a tank on a stand in a house it isn't mine yet(I mean it is I paid for it but like when u buy a house u make it ur own u don't set it up exactly how the other people have it) so I decided to make it my own

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Tank hanging out in the garage
The canopy well it's a black box that the lid lifted off of. My new lights fit in there as seen above but it wasn't in a usable way. God invented hammers and drills for a reason so let's get this party started.
Off came the hood

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So this whole time I'm looking at threads on this lovely site and gathering up info in my brain of what people hate about their set ups and what the would do diffently. People want to be able to remove the lights to change bulbs and what not. So my plan was to make the canopy in two parts that will fit together. (As in the above pic u can see I have a problem with caffeine but in my defense Monsters and mtn dew are delicious and I can stop whenever I want)

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boom baby it works. But it looks like it was hit with a bag of nickels. Just ugly as all heck.

Some of you may be asking urself How is justin going to put the lipstick on this pig? Well let me tell ya how I went to Home Depot and picked out some trim I truly liked and wrapped it around the 1x1s u see above (picture after the next story I promise)

So wifey said she wanted everything under the stand fine is what it is she puts up with a lot from me so it's the least I could do
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(Halloween pic)


So the stand could not fit a 40 breeder in it (wifey strikes again making me do more work) no matter what I couldn't get one in it so god invented routers as well

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so I trimmed the sides and put a new bottom on it

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Now here it is lipstick on the pig ready for paint January 20th going to be dropped off at stain faces house

And then the truly unexpected happened my grandfather my aunts dad passed away everything came to a screeching stop
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That's me and him in Colorado couple years ago he was a great guy and has truly been missed

That's it for now
So I guess I lied in the first post I'll need one more post to get us up to date

Also we can't end a post like that
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So here is proof my cat is straight hood this was her house before we found her notice it's made out of cardboard
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And the township made us put up these signs(look at her on the left ready to attack) there was just to many complaints from the mail men and lady's.

She's a hood cat chick just trying to make a living selling cat nip

Till next time
Justin
 

saltyfilmfolks

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Hahaha.... Great read. I cant wait for more.
 
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justingraham

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Part three
Because of the popular demand of the four people who posted I shall continue

A whole week was lost after my grand father past away and that wasn't the only thing that was lost
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Both kole and Chevy passed away. They were being over fed ammonia crept up I wasn't paying attention and then one morning they were gone.
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Me and my lady went for sushi( yea I know it's a little weird that we go and eat fish when our fish or corals pass away but I will be darned if it's just not the best food ever made)

So now I had two tanks going clowns in a forty inside and the ghetto garage tank. I decided it was time to make them one. The clown went into the garage and the old 40 gallon tank went into the laundry room (hint more foreshadowing) where I wanted to put the sump all along
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Below the shelving right here^ This is the pic of what the old home owners kept in here I don't drink (only monsters)

no pics were taken of the move but if u hang out a little bit longer I will post up a video omg smiley face I know ur excited but calm down and finish reading

The stand was dropped off at my aunts sometime between then and now so I was getting closer to the end project with so much to still do

Still no pics I'm sorry after the next break I promise I'll post one up

I decided I was going to put the sump kit together from exotic marines and connect it to the ghetto garage tank or for now on the GGT for short. Taylor does an amazing job and is very nice to work with if ur on the fence just be like nike and do it
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This is how it came out (I added the inch thing on the side because I know people like that)(I swear I can stop drinking monsters when ever I want plus that wasn't mine anyway someone broke into the house blantantly disregarded the attack cat sign and put it there was I not supposed to drink it?)

So my plan was to use the water and rock in the GGT but it was yucky water so I decided to hook this sump in line with the GGT so I could break in the skimmer and also lower the nutrients to normal levels(out of sight out of mind ladies and gents and that the truth) so of course this happened
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Out came the water from the GGT into the sump to see if it would work(which it did) put a couple cinder blocks under it and that brings us back to here
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I also have a tank problem with my monster problem but I can stop that as well.
So I got everything hooked up and running skimmer skiming bio pellets and phosban going ok ok here is the video I promised calm down guys



The GGT tour

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So now wifey was saying wifey type things again and how can u say no to that face??
the living room is too dark.( Actually she didn't say it I did I incepted it into her head and boom baby resesed lighting which also means two 20 amp electrical outlets for me)

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Finished looks so much brighter don't ya agree? (See stain faces aka my aunts product the coffee table and side table in the room with yet another random monster that one was mine I can admit that no one planted that one there)

So I think I am going to stop again this is tough to do and I need a break and to get some work done

But I can't leave you without a picture of my ghetto cat acting ghetto
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Can u find her??? That's how u know she's from the streets
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that and u can never sneak up on her

Till next time

Justin
 
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justingraham

justingraham

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Just do what she says and you won't get hurt.
Yea that's true but I am one of the lucky ones that their women are just as involved I mean I can't add anything without her noticing
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that was when we went to mamas together couple months ago now the other woman in my life is a mean sob but is a daddy's girl at heart
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Don't let that picture fool u tho thirty seconds later she swatted me in the face for looking at her the wrong way
I forgot how many photos I took and how much has been done in the last month the end result is truly amazing so thanks for reading I guarantee it will be worth it in the end
 

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Wow Justin you certainly know how to keep folks entertained in your writing. I had a big s&@t eating grin reading this thread. Looks like things are coming together. I hope stain face doesn't catch wind if this. You may up on a short sabbatical in a less than comfortable 4x8 room.
 
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justingraham

justingraham

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Wow Justin you certainly know how to keep folks entertained in your writing. I had a big s&@t eating grin reading this thread. Looks like things are coming together. I hope stain face doesn't catch wind if this. You may up on a short sabbatical in a less than comfortable 4x8 room.
Well I hope not either
Duck face found the thread tho and she enjoyed it I was busy tonight(u saw why) but I'll continue on this epic journey tomorrow along with a stop off at the post office thanks for reading
 
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justingraham

justingraham

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Subscribed!

Great read, Justin! Looking forward to go at this together buddy! Keep up the good work.
Well u know the ending but stick around for the story should be a good one
 

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