RAP 120 Looking for member sugestions

[rcpalmer1]

I have had a saltwater tank of one kind or another for 20 years. I just started getting back into corals this year. With the help of this forum and youtube I have learned more in the last year than I did in the first 19 years.

At Reef A Palooza I won the Mega Drawing. This was my truck getting ready to leave. I and going to document this tank start to finish. I am also hoping to get suggestion and help from community members. When I have time I am going to post all the items I received. The first two things I am looking for input is what should I use for substrate. The aquarium in glass. My current glass tank I have crushed coral but I also have several scratches. I have three 1000 gph power head ordered and a 1900 gph return pump coming. There should be a lot of water movement and am not sure if sand would stay put.

The second thing I need to figure out is how to setup the sump. I received a Next Reef NRS-30. If anyone has this sump please post a picture so I can see how you have it setup.

 

[GatorScott]

You lucky son of a........congrats man. What a win!!!!!! I'm happy you're documenting on here. It'll be cool to see the progress.

 

[chefjpaul]

Awesome!

 

[rcpalmer1]

You lucky son of a........congrats man. What a win!!!!!! I'm happy you're documenting on here. It'll be cool to see the progress.

I had 250 tickets in the other drawings and didn't win. I didn't expect to win the big one. I had already gotten up and was starting to walk out when he called the first two number. I had one ticket that was a match. I stopped. He called the the third number. I still did not think I was going to win as I had missed three other raffles by one number. When he called the last number and said I had it I was still thinking they were going to say it wasn't a match.

I call it God but call it what you believe in, Buda, Karma, or luck. I believe I won for doing something good for some one else. I have always liked helping other. I was in the Military, been a Rotarian, and a Firefighter. The best things that happen to me always seems like they happen after I do something for someone else.

Yourreef.com posted on this forum asking for help with his booth. I had offered. The corals were suppose to have arrived 8am Friday. John called me about 10 am saying his flights and the corals flights had gotten messed up. He was in GA and didn't know what time he was going to get here and the coral were now expected to arrive at 2:30. I picked his corals up at the airport and another person from this forum meet me at RAP and we started setting up the booth. John finally made it in and we got the last corals in the water 10 minutes before they kicked everyone out for the night. Sadly he lost 300 corals but if we had not gotten the rest in the water that night it would have been much worse. I can't say enough good things about John. He was more concerned about make sure he took care of me and the other guy than his loss.

Moral of the story always help anyone you can and never expect anything in return. In the end you will be rewarded for all your good deeds. But it nice to get a few of those rewards before the end!!!!!

 

[rockinzebra457]

Congrats man!

 

[rcpalmer1]

The bottom picture is all the frags John hooked me up with. A lot of the Zoas were closed. They are just now starting to open. They are some of the coolest Zoas I have seen. Each time a new one opens it is a surprise. I bought a frag rack to hold them until I get the new tank setup.

Got and email today from Wide World of Corals. They are going to send me some corals once the tank is ready. I had put the new tank in the garage until I had a game plan for moving my old tank out to replace it with this one. I am not sure if this is what pushed my wife over the edge but she is now wanting me to keep my old tank and just adding this one. I hope tomorrow to be able to post a pic of it in its new home.

 

[rcpalmer1]

So got the new tank in its forever home today.

I decided the sump needed a refugium. So I added a baffle.

I talked to the guys over at Realreef they suggested keeping the rocks in water. So here is my trash can full of rocks

Thanks goes out to Aquaforest for the free tub of salt.

I am working back to back 12 hours shifts so this may be all I get done in the next few days. The guys over at saltwateraquarium.com gave me a heck of a good deal on some power heads and return pump. They shipped today. So maybe I can get it plumbed Friday.

 

[mckinleyw]

Congrats man. Can't wait to see it wet. Would have loved to have been the one loading it on my truck lol. Again congrats. And im following

 

[rcpalmer1]

Pumps from Saltwateraquarium.com arrived today. Time to get tank plumbed.

 

[rcpalmer1]

 

[rcpalmer1]

I am getting ready to mount the controller. I see a lot of people mount the display outside the cabinet. What would the recommendation from the community be? Mount it on under the cabinet or outside the cabinet?

 

[rcpalmer1]

Got some plumbing done today. I also wired up all four pumps. I added in three extra valves incase I need to add some components later. I also put a plug I can remove. I would love some suggestions on how to clean up the wiring. I have 4 dc power supplies, 4 wires to the pumps, a wire for the IR sensor, a wire to the display, and a wire connecting the controller to the hub.

 

[Mele__Reef]

Wow looks great! Thanks for sharing that ! @rcpalmer1

 

[rcpalmer1]

Just got done aquascaping. The first two rock are from Carib-Sea. They are man made and in some cool shapes. The rest are Real Reef. Both are great because they didn't destroy the reef for it.

 

[mckinleyw]

Aquascape looks awesome.

 

[Grey Guy]

Nice work! I can plumb it, but it never comes out so nice.