Sam's Oceanic 120 - DIY solutions

[Projects with Sam]

When I see people on YouTube doing it I'm always like mine will be waaaay better...

Glad I have a ton of the netting so I can get a redo after vacation... At least 1/2 the tank is protected from jumpers...

Got a decent T5 Ballast for $17! I am going to pimp-out the hood with some massive blues. Unfortunately I couldn't get a dimmable ballast.


And lastly some photos of all my coral. I bleached out the red Monti I got... I destroyed it with my dips.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Getting some surf casting for in!

 

[Projects with Sam]

I just got a $17 2F54t5HO ballast. Non dimmable. I just picked up some ATI bulbs from BRS so will be putting in some serious blues soon

 

[Projects with Sam]

So while on vacation, the neighborhood babysitter I had coming over to feed the cat and change the litter box... etc... was also minimally taking care of my tank. She called and said the bucket I had her dumping daily for the skimmer was filling up too fast and had overflowed...
I had her pull the skimmer plug because I still need to figure out how to get it to keep its setting. (Cadlights PLS-120)
She didn't tell me the severity of the overflow... (probably a lot of my 25Gallon ATO reservoir - 33Gallon Brute can)
Anyway - she cleaned it up but didn't mention the return pump was making a lot of noise gasping for water. (may have been from evaporation after she left for the day).

I got back to a tank with lots of Algae from super low flow, cloudy water from lack of filtration/flow and uber low salinity from 25+ gallons of ATO water being dumped into the tank to replace what the overactive skimmer dumped onto my floor... *sadface*

Nonetheless, I slowly brought up salinity and really easily blew-off the rocks with a few wet swishes. I changed my filter-floss and added some stuffing to polish. All the fish made it and looked great. The super low return flow (600-800GPH), 1/4-1/3 through the 24W UV kept everyone ich free... Polyp-lab medic will be delivered today. I'm going to start QT on a lawnmower blenny I've had my eye on at Petco for 3++ Months.



I got a new Wavemaker from Amazon because I had a gift card. I have been very happy with my JEREPET SND-7000 return pump and I saw a discount on the "JEREPET 3400GPH Aquarium Wave Maker DC 24V Powerhead with Magnetic Mounting Wavemaker with Controller and LED Display Circulation Pump for 40-100 Gallon Tank (3400GPH)" (They need a better name...)
I got it and am also equally impressed. It is absolutely silent. Aside from the controller being rubbish, I am happy enough to make a safety guard for it (its pressure-fit onto the pump). I'll sell them cheap on my eBay for anyone else who wants one. If anyone wants to trade coral for one I am open to offers!


And I quickly redid the mesh top for the left side of the tank.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Now I feel as special as all the other folks with well-or semi-well-thought out welcome gifs!

I made a model in Fusion360 then recorded the toolpath of milling it on a cnc.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Added an update about the little Hippo Tang with serious HLLE to the forums. It was video heavy so I didnt want to add it to my build thread.

Hippo Tang HLLE Recovery progress from January 22 2022 - March 5 2022

I got this guy from the lfs basically for free in the hopes I could help him out. Here are two videos taken ~5weeks apart. I fed him appropriately and added vitamins (VitaChem - didn't know about SELCON at the time.) I am encouraged by his progress. January: March:

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Projects with Sam]

Lost my first fish last night.
I put an Orchid Dottyback into the tank on Tuesday and the Neon Dottyback was having nothing of it. I came in on Wednesday morning and couldn't find the new fish so I thought it had lodged itself in the rocks or something like that. 1/2 way through the day I saw it hanging out in my mushroom basket. It had to do a little jump to get in and out and was doing it frequently to avoid the attention from the Damsel and Neon Dottyback.
I came in this morning and saw the orchid d. hanging out where the neon d. usually does, and the emerald crab was out... I thought nothing of it till about noon. I went to checkout the side of the tank I don't have a screen on and sure enough, I found his corpse...
bummed, but he sure was an aggressive fish; wanted to kill so badly he went airborne. That was one heck of a jump.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Sump cleaning day!

you only get the after photo!

 

[Projects with Sam]

Installed my new management board! Love how far it slides out!

 

[Projects with Sam]

Got a RBTA from a local reefer a few days ago and think he is doing well! He has found a spot he likes and is chilling. I've been showing my clowns hosting videos on an ipad hung from the side of the tank. They watch intently.

 

[Sean Clark]

Great of you taking on those two blue tangs in the condition that they were in. Following along.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Great of you taking on those two blue tangs in the condition that they were in. Following along.

Thanks! The lfs I got them from actually have another hippo tang and a sailfin that are similar to how the little guy was. I've been bringing them vitamins and got the staff to do a round of metroplex/kanaplex/focus for them. I plan to bring PraziPro but I'm not sure they will/can do anything then what is in the food.
If anyone is interested in picking them up beyond cheap and they're in the Chicagoland area let me know and I'll get some photos of them up.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I made my t5 light this weekend! I designed and 3D printed some parts that would allow me to use steel vertical shelving brackets ( ) I had and some aluminum flashing to make a double light. I'll be putting out a video about it on my YouTube channel soon enough. I need to add cooling because its getting pretty hot in that hood. I also need to relocate the lighting timers. I will probably redesign it wider and I'll make it so I can mount the LEDs to the frame and raise / lower it on pulleys. Cant run the lights for more then a few hours till I do the cooling because I'm worried about the heat.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

12/2/21

New to saltwater aquariums! This is my first marine tank. I've kept African Cichlid for the past 4 years during which time I enjoyed the 'gear' side of it as much as the livestock so saltwater is a logical progression. I am happy to say I've built tanks, stands, overflows, sumps, canister filters, lights, and small circuit/sensor-based gadgets to help automate systems and provide redundancy in the short time I've been in the hobby. I ran 200 gallons across 4 tanks and a sump in my freshwater setup before I sold it to get a foothold in salt.
I have recently sold my Freshwater and have bought some Saltwater gear. I was lucky to find a great tank being sold by a great guy who was excited to help another get into the hobby. As such, He hooked me up with tons of stuff to help me on my way (even a bucket of salt!)
I am excited to start-out with the following equipment:

Oceanic 120 tank (2 weirs, one on each side) and stand
Eshopps R-300 Sump Gen 1 (36x16x16)
CAD Lights PLS-150 (conic) Super Space Saving Pipeless Protein Skimmer
Danner 9.5 return pump ~950GPH AC pump (so reliable but noisy as hell)
Jerepet SND-7000 return pump ~1850GPH DC pump (too much flow?)
Sicce 2mm utility pump (thanks brs!)
Assorted flow pumps from prior owner
2 GalaxyHydro LED Aquarium Lights
Slaouwo 1000W NOAH-S-X-100 plant grow light (repurposed as refugium light)
Eshopps rectangular filter holder for the R-300 Sump Gen 1
4" filter sock holder and 14" 200Micron filter sock
300W Eheim JAGER Aquarium Heater
ATO system with one operable float switch
E-Marco-400 Aquascaping Mortar Complete Kit - Grey
over 350gallons of salt mix
BRS Refractometer & calibration juice
API freshwater master test kit
10 gallon QT tank with filter and heater
5 buckets of dry coral rock (bleached for a week & drying)
1 bucket of sand (not being used)
125mL MicroBacter Start XLM - Brightwell Aquatics
125mL MicroBacter7 - Brightwell Aquatics
Assorted additives and chemicals rom prior owner


I plan to post my journey on my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/randomprojectswithsam
I cant wait to do some cool DIY projects for the tank... Project #1 (after setup): auto roller fleece

Here are a few of my old African cichlid tank:





My new tank!




12/8/21
Completed one of two of my heater controllers. Total cost for two: $10
my only issue is that I cant get them to display Fahrenheit.



Finalized my return and overflows!
I'll have a bar with 3 ports across the back. Its supported on both sides buy the weirs.
I was going to go with schedule80 but found the Ts were $5/ea... SO, I decided to use Krylon fusion.... but Menards didn't have it... They had Krylon Premium Enamel for $10 less... I got it and called Krylon; the nice lady that helped me stated that no matter what, they don't support putting their paints into aquarium environments...
I also found out that the base, a Modified Alkyd Enamel, is the same as Krylon Fusion's base and that the solvents that evaporate away are simply different and allow the paint to stick to even more hard surfaces. (pass it on)
It dries to such a nice matte and omg does it stick! My siphon brek hole is on the endcap in the far weir near the secondary Durso standpipe .



12/10/21

Finished the plumbing! I glued the return line and used plumbers tape and compression on the drain lines. I may glue the drains after a wet test. I am still not sure if the split Bean Animal I made will work appropriately.


I have started thinking about the rock-scape. I've broken apart my rocks and angle-ground some flat sides for base rock. Again, I intend todo bare bottom but I am fretful it will be difficult to cycle and I want to keep some sand-dependent species so I will be making a 'sand-island' in a rock feature. I hope it doesn't look odd.


The sanding and re-staining is mostly complete (still need to polyurethane) and I am disappointed to comment that it does not meet my standards for how a wood-trimmed tank should look (I was unable to match the stain and I am unwilling to sand and re-finish the whole thing.)
I am going black trim and stand. The Krylon fusion on the PVC pipes worked so well, I would need to paint to bottom of the tank black anyway, and the re-finish didn't pan out so this is my best course of action.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed it wasn't a black tank to begin with.
For posterity, here are the re-finish progress photos:


12/12/21
Change of plan... I went white with white trim!


12/14/21
More final touches to the finish before wet-testing the plumbing. Finalizing my rock structures. Very happy with the sand-oasis and the other two formations I've created. Almost out of E-Marco 400.
I like it more then Epoxy. I've done both and they each have their place but for doing large scale structures with the rock pieces I was able to make, I'd go Mortar everyday. My smaller Epoxy-based structures are great but It was too much with the crazy glue and the gloves and all... With Marco, If you spritz the Mortar with the water mixture, you can stick the rock dust to it easily and it assumes the color of the rock. then you can texture it and its done... all one step. Granted it takes longer because you can only do a few joins at a time; but if you're working with 3 structures you do a join on each every 2 hours/24hours. here are some images:
Second coat of Flexseal on inside of the stand.


Rock Formations:



Just 3D printed an Eshopps RS-300 Filter Floss Holder for my sump:

Eshopps RS-300 Filter Floss Holder by alejl

This object was made in Tinkercad. Edit it online https://www.tinkercad.com/things/39dL5mBYw1W

www.thingiverse.com

Let me know if you'd like me to print one for you (at cost); I can put it up on my ebay (u pay shipping).
Does anyone know if Inland White PETG is reef safe?

12/16/21
Filled it, leveled it, setup enough to run it. Did not have to modify the plumbing! it was ready to go and seemed tuned already... I did have to close down the gate valve and tighten a bulkhead. Even finished the aquascape in-time to give it a fresh-water rinse.


The water is cloudy from putting in the rocks because of all the fine coral dust used to cover up the glue and mortar joints.
Next on the docket:
*Sand* - cleanup / bleach sand for the 'sand-oasis' and the refugium floor.
*Lights* - Open-up the lights and clean their fans. Address their rusty screws. Turn around power plugs on left lamp so cables fall symmetrically. Build floating canopy to conceal lights + add 2 T5 fixture.
*Cabinet/power/space management* - organize the power cables - build extruded PVC management console.
*Refugium* - setup fuge lamp.
...etc...





12/21/21
PVC ceiling tile for a wire management and light timer box. I added the substrate and rocks from the 10 gallon to media bags and put them in the sump. I then put the fish from the 10 gallon into the 120. The tank got pretty hazy for a day after the additions. I setup an ATO and used the 10 gallon for the reservoir.

Leaving the tank for 10 days unattended with an auto feeder. It should be fine - even if the ATO empties the 10 Gallon, I have a floor drain...

1/1/22
Got back in time to beat the snowstorm and for the New Year! Happy New Year!
A few things stopped running in the 9 days I was out of town... they started affecting the tank resulting in some pretty bad conditions for my poor livestock. Below is a breakdown of the problems and what happened:

The ATO pump I used was poorly setup and inadequate for the intended use.
I should have used a submersible pump in the ATO.
My auto-feeder was dispensing way too much food. It was set for 5-times a day feeding (cichlid) and the pellets were so small a ton came out of the huge door at its smallest setting. Most of the excess ended up at the bottom of the emergency drain weir rotting in a fuzzy stinky mess.

The worst was the ATO only replacing about 5 gallons of RODI water in the tank before failing. The evaporation eventually led to the water level getting so low in my return pump chamber that only a trickle of water was being sent back to the tank which then led to the heaters in both overflows only keeping the overflows warm and the tank getting into the low-mid 70s with a high salinity.
Needless to say, the poor clowns and the damsel were hanging out by the return jets.
I added 9 gallons of ATO RODI water and checked the chemicals again.

ammonia:0, nitrite:0, nitrate:0.05 ppm(after 15minutes)

Setup my QT tank with a bag of base rock gravel in a bag from my sump and made my second temperature controller.

I am at a loss for stocking... some ideas:

2 clownfish (in the tank)
1 damselfish (in the tank - should go into fuge?)

~6 Green Chromis (Chromis viridis)
1 Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto)
1 Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica)
1 Six Line Wrasse or yellow coris Wrasse or pinstripe wrasse or Melanurus/Hoevens/Wardley wrasse
1 Neon Blue Cleaner Goby (Elacatinus oceanops)
1 One Spot Foxface (Siganus unimaculatus)
1 Male Red Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias cheirospilos/squamipinnis)
6 Female Orange Lyretail Anthias
1 Mimic Lemon Tang (Acanthurus pyroferus) or a sailfin tang if not too big
1 Green Banded Goby (Elacatinus multifasciatus)

I am in no rush so am considering waiting and finding local deals from individuals.
I just bought all the meds to treat fish in QT so am also open to getting deals on sick fish from stores.

Wow i think they both look good, but your right the white looks really good! Very skillful nice work !

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Just printed and installed a skimmer carbon cap that I designed and posted here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5235342

"Looking good Mortimer!
Smelling good Lewis!"

Can you make one for a r.o 200int ? I'd love to have something like this. Im now following along good work man!

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I made my t5 light this weekend! I designed and 3D printed some parts that would allow me to use steel vertical shelving brackets ( ) I had and some aluminum flashing to make a double light. I'll be putting out a video about it on my YouTube channel soon enough. I need to add cooling because its getting pretty hot in that hood. I also need to relocate the lighting timers. I will probably redesign it wider and I'll make it so I can mount the LEDs to the frame and raise / lower it on pulleys. Cant run the lights for more then a few hours till I do the cooling because I'm worried about the heat.

I use this in some of my applications to keep cabinets cool. Im sure you already have ideas and options for what your going to do. Nice build thread its a good read, keep it up!

Coolerguys Programmable Thermostat Fan Controller Kit for Standard 3pin Fans

 

[Projects with Sam]

Can you make one for a r.o 200int ? I'd love to have something like this. Im now following along good work man!

Yes! I am doing custom work for corals/cash/used gear... whatever works out . PM me some photos and measurements and we can chat about whatever you need made.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I use this in some of my applications to keep cabinets cool. Im sure you already have ideas and options for what your going to do. Nice build thread its a good read, keep it up!

Coolerguys Programmable Thermostat Fan Controller Kit for Standard 3pin Fans

That is a great product but I was just going to manually wire up some old 120mm computer fans I replaced in my PC to a $3 power adapter and plug it into the timer. I actually have all that stuff on my floor ATM doing an upgrade. I wanted to space the tubes farther apart and put the whole thing on pulleys.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Upgraded my t5 light! - just made it a bit wider and added the timers so they drop down on hinges for programming:

 

[Sean Clark]

Whe you say "added the timers so they drop down on hinges for programming" do you mean that you have them on servos for time of day angle adjustments? If so I am taking my hat off.