My Deep Blue 120 Build Tread Mixed Reef Tank

[William Norman]

Upgrading from my 55 breeder reef tank has been a long time coming.

I had been working on upgrading to a 100 that my wife found at a garage sale. It need to be all buffed out due to deep scratches. I was about 1/2 way done when I saw a tank for sale that caught my eye. A deep blue 120 with a steel stand. It had been setup for SPS, but that was ok.

My plan was to redo some of the plumbing to by pass the closed loop and use the 75 gallon tank i had acquired for the 100 as a sump.

The tank was under a tarp under an overhang for a while. So the stand needed some refinishing.


Here is the tank undergoing a leak test.

 

[William Norman]

The tank was fine but the bulkheads as I expected needed tightening.

He had hard plumbed the lines under the stand and they had to be cut in order to remove the tank.

 

[William Norman]

Here is a quick shot of some of the rust on the stand. Mostly superficial, but it was everywhere. I had tried to just use a palm sander at first, but quickly realized I needed my angle grinder. The angle grinder made quick work of it. Unfortunately I had a hurricane in the middle of all this and had to move everything inside for a few days.

When the sun came back out. I setup a spray booth in my backyard.
Wiped it down with mineral spirits.
Hit it with a box of Rust-Oleum cans.

Good as new.

 

[William Norman]

Here are few shots of me working inside during the storms. You can see our supplies on the counter in the background.

The piece of plywood under the tank was in good shape. The one for the sump needed to be replaced. I put 2 coats of kills as primer and then 2 coats of exterior paint.

While stuck inside I started working on the baffles for the sump.

Since I had a 75 I decided that I would create the sump as thus:

15 gallon ATO
15 gallon refugium
15 gallon return and bubble trap
20 gallon skimmer and equipment
10 gallon returns and filtration.

The 75 gallon fills the entire width of the stand plus about 1 inch. I will deal with that when I add my equipment and storage "wings".

Was my first time doing baffles in a tank. I tried to be careful not making a mess with the silicone. I have done showers, tubs, and windows in the past. I knew that i dont have a good track history. Still don't. The sump will not be a show piece.

I was trying to reuse glass that I had from 2 tables that were no longer wanted. They are thicker than normal baffles, and just required more silicone. I had my local glass shop cut them for me. $10 per cut seemed to be the going rate around here. Bit more expensive than I expected.

 

[William Norman]

My original plan was to use the closed loop returns as my returns, cap off the closed loop drain and not use his hose returns.

I have had good luck with Danner mag pumps so I purchased a new 1200.

We were a little surprised that the grey pipe from BRS was so light. Would have liked it darker. It is almost white.

I made sure to read a bunch of build threads and videos.

I order extra of everything. Plus I wanted to build a manifold in the near future.

One of my pups thought the pieces of cut PVC made great toys. Ever time I cut something he would run up and grab it off the floor.


So as they say you make plans and god laughs....

Those with experience in these things probably already guess what happened.

With the 4 closed loops acting as a return I couldn't drive enough power with the 1200 or even my 1800 which I pulled from my FOWLr to try.

So my choice was try a even bigger pump or go back to the drawing board and use the close loop as intended. Close loop was my decision. For now I will just leave the values closed and when my budget allows Ill add a pump to drive it.

I was concerned about putting 2 more holes in the back for new returns, so I just stuck with return hoses over the top. I was going to build a canopy anyway.

 

[William Norman]

While waiting for my additional plumping supplies I leaked tested each of the areas of my sump. Guess what. I had small leaks between a few sections. I guess my over silicoing required more. It also gave my wife and I some time to play around with aquascaping. I already had rock that I had bleached and cured from my 100 plan. So we went to our local LFS and got some additional pieces. I liked the bommies look. She liked the rock wall look. We ended up with a compromise. Might have to make some adjustments.

 

[William Norman]

All set to be filled.

My plan was to have my LFS deliver me water. But wouldn't you know it. I won a 6 stage BRS RO station.

BRS Rocks!

I am following the new BRS/WWC 4 month cycle. I have added FritizZyme 9 to start off. Plan to add Dr Tims after a few weeks and some natural saltwater that I will collect a few miles offshore. . The idea of 2 different manufacturing having different bacteria plus a few gallons of the real stuff.

 

[William Norman]

double

 

[William Norman]

The Stocking Plan - add first 2 fish wait, then add my fish from my 55 probably around month 4, then continue with rest 1 or 2 a month.

So I have a pair of clowns, a pair banggai cardinal fish and valentini puffer in my 55.

I would like to add in this order:
Foxface rabbit fish for algea control
Lawnmower blenny for comic relief + algea control
Paired Exquisite firefish
Flame hawkfish
Kole eyed tang
Naso Tang
A few wrasses maybe.
Bonded pair of mandarian gobies after the tank is really mature.

Having a hard time finding wrasses that my wife likes with these color combos. She doesn't like orange but I really like carpenter's flashers. I already have a formosa, blunthead and red coris in my FOWLR.

Thoughts ?

 

[William Norman]

One month in testing. Ammonia is way down. I also added a Brightwell Aquatics Xport BIO Plate in to the fuge this morning You can see I also have a 1 gallon of pond matrix seeding. I forgot to order a bag to keep it in. Ill have to goto my LFS. I seeded them with MicroBacter 7 over night. Today I am going to be working on my RO/DI setup on my yard. My mag drive pump came in so I happy that I will not have to wheel the Brute can around my house any more.

 

[SPR1968]

Great pictures William and keep them coming!

As far as fish choice, depends what you like I suppose and especially what your wife likes. You definitely need to keep her happy!

 

[NanoDJS]

Ditto on the mag drive still rocking a 18 for almost 15 years !!!!

 

[dbl]

Wow...this turned out great...really nice work. Signing up to follow this one for sure.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Nice build thread William! Following along!

 

[Billldg]

Tank is looking great. A good looking wrasse is a Male Blue Flasher wrasse.

 

[CasaReefer]

Welcome to R2R... Great looking Tank... Thanks for sharing..

 

[CasaReefer]

Sorry saw the October Date... I am Such a Noob...

 

[William Norman]

Tank is looking great. A good looking wrasse is a Male Blue Flasher wrasse.

Thank you. Casa - Really like that blue flasher. Do they need to be kept in pairs and or multiple females ? Or could the male be by itself ?

 

[Billldg]

The male can be by itself, but make sure you get a male from the start as I am not sure if they will turn into a male without the competition.

 

[William Norman]

I have been ghost feeding for a 2 weeks. Surprisingly my ammonia has now moved up. I guess I have added a mini cycle now. I am glad my fish are ready. My original plan was to add them this weekend, but my supplier had a QT issue, so now I have to wait till probably 3rd week of Jan. I am going to do a 10% water change today and a my second addition of bacteria - DR Tim's one and only. I wonder if my temp is slowing everything down. I have been at 76. Might need to add another heater. Been waiting for the BRS ones to come back in stock.