My 90 gallon tank journey

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justingraham

justingraham

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that skimmer looks to be working great!
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That's two days I say it is doing ok at best. Don't need you getting a big head over there that the skimmer I bought off ya was a good deal and all

Just kidding thanks man it worked great started skimming I wanna say within the first 24 hours. I only have it on level three of the pump as well. By far easiest to set up and nicest skimmer I have ever had. I'm a shoot ya a text in a bit and thanks for following
 
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justingraham

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So this thread has been up for a lil Over a day now and it's above 350 views( yea I am surprised as well) I will continue this epic journey of love.

Ok where did we leave off
(Quick back check)
Recessed lighting was put in (yea I did it not only am I a good story teller but I'm handy with the steal of u know what I mean earn your keep regulators mount up)

So it was a clear black night a clear white moon justin G was in the streets just trying to redo the stand in all black just wouldn't do.. (regulators reference)

Ok onto business and pictures!!!!

So tho house is coming together quite nicely walls have been painted lights have been put in. The stand is at my aunts house(stain face) getting lipstick put on it. Now I'm searching this forum on how to make my reef ready tank flow more. Turning my Dorso into a herbie and there just isn't a way I'm liking it. My plan is to have two vectra m1s as returns (I already have one) returning thru two sea swirls(I have both of them) and I hate the look and more importantly the amount of room a reef ready tank takes up. So for literally a week or more I'm trying to figure out how to do it with the tank as is. Then one day it hits me like right in the forehead a synergy reef overflow. So onto the inter web I go the 16 inch is on sale!! Then to boot right before I click buy brs is having their monthly group bye!!! At this point I just filed my taxes and made a deal with my beautiful sexy forgiving girlfriend!!! So For flow in my tank besides the sea swirls and return pumps I wanted to try out the wavs so I added that to my brs cart as well!!(my planing of the equipment for this build is to make it ready for a 180 one day so all I have to do is swap the tank out when that day comes) I'm telling ya I have never been so excited to get mail in my life. The package from brs was delivers on a Thursday and since I'm to much of a wuss to dril my own tank tsm coral once again came to the rescue for me( man it's been a while since a photo hasn't it??)
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The wavs and the most useless piece of a tank ever I somehow didn't take a photo of the synergy overflow but ur just going to have to trust me on this one.

Off my tank went to go drilled and two days later it was back and drilled so nicely
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Perfection!!! I can almost smell the end in sight!!

While this was all going on the water bill came. O no bad water bill bad water bill. So I had to do something to make this beautiful face happy
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Well that's technically not her face but I was the one who did the French braid. U may now be thinking wow justin you are truly a man of all trades and u know what u are absolutely correct I do it all(except drill glass that is just scary)
So the water bill came in it was insane I have a twenty year old rodi unit with no pump. So I started looking into pumps and then realized well I mine as well replace every filter as well and start fresh. I found all the parts and it was like 98 dollars(don't quote me exactly on that) and premium aquatics was having a sale on vertex rodi units and a 100 gpd unit was only 26 dollars more so I used that water bill to talk my way into a new rodi unit along with the rodi smart buddy
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They both came two days later and that night this happened
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Now I don't know much but I do know this the water bill just came for this month and let's just say wifey is way happier so I recomend an upgrade to a boost pump to any and everyone who is throwing away their money without one. Not only that in literally an hour I made 5 gallons of water that's crazy from what I came from it took two days to fill up a 35 gallon brute before.

So the end is now in sight we are only about two weeks behind so I will try to wrap this up in the next post I took a brake from plumbing to write this so I'm off and back to work.

Thanks for reading and have a great and glourious day let's get this up to 1 thosusand views in a week we can do it I have faith (George Michaels faith not limp bizkit faith) in all of you till the next time

And in case u think my cat isn't ghetto I ran out today and came back home to this
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Gansta kitty slinging nip she's the only one on the block with that temptation

Justin
 

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This just keeps getting better and better:D
 
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justingraham

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This just keeps getting better and better:D
Why thank you I hope I can continue to entertain like russel Crowe (the guy who assaults people with telephones) did in Gladiator "what do we not entertain you"
 
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justingraham

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Hey ok so this is my thread so I'm going to say what really grinds my gears

People on this website that add photos then when u click on them to zoom in it takes you to photo bucket


Ahhhhh seriously rev and his crew have done an awesome job of just being able to upload a photo right here on this website but noooo ur to cool for school and make my phone open up photo bucket which doesn't work for iPhones so uggg just grinds my gears that's all I got right now but man that just makes me not want to subscribe to ur thread it's a big one so carry on with ur day


What u guys don't think I know u want photos ?? (But notice when u click on mine it doesn't re direct u to somewhere u can not see the photos)
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see I told u I don't have a problem with monster. Also side note I have a burial ground for my fish bottom left of photo(go ahead click on the photo it will only enlarge not redirect) I often wondered if I pored my water change water onto the grave yard if the fish would come back as zombie fish. I'm to scared to find out so I don't do it.

Till next time

Justin
 
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justingraham

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Another quick update before bed time I know I said I was going to try to wrap it it in the next one but I'm having a lot of fun with this so ur going to have to deal with it.

It is my thread so I can do what I want.

So the tank was just drilled by Matt at tsm corals for me. It came out perfect. I picked the tank up on a Saturday I borrowed my aunts truck to pick up the tank she was out of town doing important stuff retired people do. stain face told me the stand would be done on Tuesday. So being the impatient person I am while I was there borrowing the truck I sneaked a peak at the stand. Well let me tell you it looked amazing
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She is way better staining wood then her face. U should also know I'm not showing u all the pictures because I like movies and books with a twist at the end.

So it is Saturday stand is coming Tuesday so much to do so little time.

We have hardwood floors and they are nice. I want to keep them that way so when we sell the house there is less work to do.
So reinforcing the floors was a necessity.
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For this wonderful sexy woman(not the cat)

So I called upon the only man I trust with this type of stuff.
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my dad George Willis Graham. Don't let the pumpkin dress fool u he's a man of all trades.

After a seven hour story later about nothing my dad came up with a blueprint of what was needed to be done to support the floor

My dad and mom came over Ma and my beautiful lovin sexy woman hung out and jooged (girl lingo for redecorate) up the house
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That's my Ma she has a small nose

We knocked on support out in a couple hours that Sunday night
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Yes that is a crawl space and no it wasn't fun. My back was hurting so we called it a day.

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We ate pizza. (No sushi cause no fish were lost)

The next day Monday I wanted to finish the last suport I called in help from the love of my life and we got it done

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All done and ready for the lipstick on the pig to be dropped off the following day.

Ladies and gentleman we are close the end is in sight I say one more post and we will be up to date but we all know that's prolly going to be two to three updates.

I hoped u enjoyed this last post we are almost at 400 views let's hit five hundred in two days. I always wanted rev to post on one of my threads as well (make me feel like I have made it in life so if ya know him point him this way)

Thanks for reading










What u think I wasn't going to give u an update on my cat haha
When I came home after running out to Home Depot I noticed some more cats on Kitty's turf now kitty isn't one to back down this is her hood her street and well I'll let the picture speak for itself
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Don't mess with a hood rat cat they will cut ya.

Goodnight

Justin (and also Kelley my beautiful duck face girlfriend since she is now reading this thread)
 

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Will be wait impatiently for the next update;)
:p
 
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justingraham

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Ok I have been rather busy with life recently and haven't updated this so let me see where I was and we will continue on this epic journey together
 
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justingraham

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Ok got it so the weekend was over floors were supported tank was coming in two days.

Excitement was to be had the end was almost in sight.

Monday night I was finishing up running the two 20 amp dedicated outlets for the tank. And a random guy knocked up on the house. He was pan handling Anderson windows. Now me and the girl friend have talked about getting new windows in the house as the old ones are old and outdated. Appointment added to the calander.


Finished up the electric all is well in graham land thought I had a photo of it but I don't so this is what Happens in the ghetto in a snow storm
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ur wipers are gone

Tuesday stand delivered while I was at work
Well I'll let the Picture explain
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Like I said I kept some secrets to myself I added a counter top and wait till u see how I did the canopy.

Now the fun part destruction and construction.

Quick reminder as people often forget The floor has been supported the dedicated outlets have been ran the stand has been stained by my aunt stain face walls have been painted tank has been drilled almost every piece of equipment has been purchased

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As said before The beautiful wifey (see above pic) wanted the sump under the tank and I stratigically left a 40 breeder in the laundry room for a reason. Well my dreams came true. After we brought the stand inside and I started to plan the plumbing she goes I know what why don't you just put the sump in the laundry room Bingo my plan worked hahahahaha.

But that meant more work a lot of work to be honest. Holes galore in our pretty house.
Let's go over the holes I will need to put in just to put the sump in the other room.
I'm running a 16 inch synergy reef overflow so three 1.5 inch pipes have to go thru plus two 3/4 return holes to go to my sea swirls. Easy right nope.

Anyone know how far studs are apart? What does a 1.5 pipe at a 45 degree angle drop in eight inches? How not to mess up the crown moulding for a fish tank? Will there be enough room for the overflows to drain into the sump in the next room?
Tons of things to think on
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But as one of my close friends says proper preparation prevents poor performance (Ed Owens) so I planed and planed and planed at the end I will dedicate a post to my blueprints for this build
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I figured it all out and when the wife was out doing important grown up stuff I cut a hole in the wall
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And I prayed it was right then I calculated an 8 inch drop at a 45 degree angle and cut another hole
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Now there was literally a lot I had to think about while I did this I had to center the tank on the wall left to right get the right height off the wall from the ground then the right distance threw the wall it was a lot of pressure but with the five P's that my buddy Ed taught me I nailed it and I don't like to brag but I nailed it.

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Now above I said I had a surprise about how I was doing the canopy well that's for another post these take awhile to do


And what everyone truly cares about the Cat update we went away for a wedding last weekend
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Mozel Tov
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We hate selfies
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for some reason everyone had their duck face on
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My beautiful woman who I couldn't do this without
And then after the festivities we come home to our gangster cat like this. Now I have told her to always wear her hat straight but she's from the streets and does what she wants
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Till next time

Justin

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dang that cats a problem! Train her like the monkey in hangover II
 
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justingraham

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dang that cats a problem! Train her like the monkey in hangover II
She's a rebel can't control her she's from the streets although I have trained her to sit and give a kiss but that's only because she gets her "nip afterwards"
 

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lol the other 5 are cats. I have a fat one that's like a dog. Trouble climbs the ladder to look in the tank
 

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New news highlight, its wet, aquascaped, and has fish!
 
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justingraham

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New news highlight, its wet, aquascaped, and has fish!
And corals don't forget the corals
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Par map of tank
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my pride and joy from @locito277 who got it from @aquavista99 Oregon tort

Also half the corals are from aquavista and they are awesome sauce if he's selling u should by
The other half is from Adam at battle corals and well it's battle corals
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Then for my only lps what I was told a holy grail from a local reefing couple who have helped me out along the road and who also have a shark and sting ray along with 2000 gallon system with multiple tanks(Anthony and Theresa) this just doesn't photo well it is gold and green and is amazing two big heads two small ones growing in
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And birds that decided to grow up in my wreath on my front door a birdsnest in my front door if you will
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Just messing around here's the real birds
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that are alive and doing well so well that the do not stop chirping


But as stated before I will continue to tell the story of how I got to birds in my wreath a little later but for now enjoy the pictures that's what half of u want anyway so there ya go




Cat attack right for snoopies throat
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She's a stone cold killer

Justin
 

Reefing threads: Do you wear gear from reef brands?

  • I wear reef gear everywhere.

    Votes: 32 15.9%
  • I wear reef gear primarily at fish events and my LFS.

    Votes: 11 5.5%
  • I wear reef gear primarily for water changes and tank maintenance.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • I wear reef gear primarily to relax where I live.

    Votes: 26 12.9%
  • I don’t wear gear from reef brands.

    Votes: 118 58.7%
  • Other.

    Votes: 13 6.5%
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