Thanks! Great to see water going in!
Reefinnewb's 120g SCA build
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lanceinhuntsville
Active Member
Just got mine delivered. I’ll be following your build, as you’re a few steps ahead of me
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reefinnewb
Active Member
Nothing huge to update. I picked up 70lbs of dry rock this weekend and spent the past few days gluing and epoxying everything so there are lots of wholes and structures for fish to hide. The tank is all but filled with water. I plan on adding more over the next few days and getting the tank circulating and checking for any plumbing leaks. I want to make sure I can get my parameters between both tanks fairly identical. Friday is go time. I'll be pulling an all nighter to get stuff transferred over. I have about 60lbs of rock in my current tank that is 6-7 years old that I will be rinsing off in fresh saltwater prior to going into the new tank to get all the loose detritus out. I've had a huge emerald crab in the tank that has been wreaking havoc on my aquascape and has been breaking a ton of coral off the rocks. I now only have a few pieces that have coral encrusted on them. The rest I can break off so I'm not limited to a certain rock placement. More updates to come! I've enjoyed taking my time to get this built up correctly, but I'm ready to be done and have my office back. It's an obstacle course to get to my desk right now..
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reefinnewb
Active Member
Ok alot to update!! Added 70lbs of dry rock. I spent a few hours gluing and puttying the structure. Hard to see from the pictures but there are a lot of caves and swim throughs; really happy with how it came out.
With the new tank being on the opposite side of the room, I was able to move everything from tank to tank. I made sure all the parameters were in check and moved the rock over first. Once the rock was moved and scaped, I was able to move the fish over and finally the corals. The only casualty I've had was a montipora which never really took off in the last tank. All the others were open almost immediately like nothing happened.
With the new tank being on the opposite side of the room, I was able to move everything from tank to tank. I made sure all the parameters were in check and moved the rock over first. Once the rock was moved and scaped, I was able to move the fish over and finally the corals. The only casualty I've had was a montipora which never really took off in the last tank. All the others were open almost immediately like nothing happened.
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reefinnewb
Active Member
After having the tank up for about two weeks, I decided the light wasn't gonna cut it so I jumped on the noopsyche sale and grabbed two k7v3 140w lights. With the eurobrace I knew I wasn't going to be able to mount them traditionally so I came up with a plan and a design. I took some measurements and came up with a bracket in fusion360 that would allow the lights to slide over a piece of 3030 extrusion. After a few hours of printing, it was time to get them installed and hung. I still have some clean up to do with them and take some PAR measurements but that's for another day.
lanceinhuntsville
Active Member
Looking great!
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reefinnewb
Active Member
Thanks! Was a lot more work to upgrade than I thought. I've done a few in the past but I wanted to make sure this was done right. I'm going to let the tank settle for a few more weeks before I start adding more livestock.
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reefinnewb
Active Member
Thank you! It helps that my dad does custom furniture. I have some skill but he makes it look simple.
I'm hoping to test the lights this weekend. My son has soccer stuff all day, then I'm out of town tomorrow. Going to try and squeeze it in.
Goaway
10K Club member
Sounds like a busy weekend. But lots to enjoy 
It can be troublesome to map par. I use the seneye and having to hook that up to a laptop every time I want to use it, keeps me from checking my numbers.
Corals look really nice and happy from the above photo. I would only map par at that point for light demanding species. Also, to check bulb integrity. LED lights seem to fade in power over the years. So I have heard.
It can be troublesome to map par. I use the seneye and having to hook that up to a laptop every time I want to use it, keeps me from checking my numbers.
Corals look really nice and happy from the above photo. I would only map par at that point for light demanding species. Also, to check bulb integrity. LED lights seem to fade in power over the years. So I have heard.
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reefinnewb
Active Member
I was able to do a quick par measurement.
Center top: 350ish
Right and left top: 225-250
Bottom: 100-150
I'm using the SPS/LPS preset at about 9" above the water. I'm going to keep it like this, I love the color and PAR meets my needs. I had to move the lights out to the edge of the rack about three inches to increase par at the edges. So far the lights impress me. My only concern is the power supply gets pretty hot.
Center top: 350ish
Right and left top: 225-250
Bottom: 100-150
I'm using the SPS/LPS preset at about 9" above the water. I'm going to keep it like this, I love the color and PAR meets my needs. I had to move the lights out to the edge of the rack about three inches to increase par at the edges. So far the lights impress me. My only concern is the power supply gets pretty hot.
Goaway
10K Club member
Yikes, on the the power supply. I wonder if it will need a fan on around them. Are you only using the 2 lights for the 120?
I do like the results of the par. Thanks for the update!
I do like the results of the par. Thanks for the update!
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reefinnewb
Active Member
I actually 3d printed some spacers just so there is some air flow. I'm going to monitor them but I think they should be ok with the spacer. If not, a small fan moving some air over them would be fine.
On a side note, I just ordered more cleanup crew from @reefcleaners. They are to be delivered Saturday which would put them about 4 days in transit. Fingers crossed. It is fairly cool here so I'm optimistic. Also, my second MP40 should be here today. Then I can finalize the wiring.
I'm dealing with crazy diatoms right now probably from the new sand and the 70lbs of dry rock I added. I tossed in some Rowaphos yesterday afternoon and so far it seems to have helped some.
On a side note, I just ordered more cleanup crew from @reefcleaners. They are to be delivered Saturday which would put them about 4 days in transit. Fingers crossed. It is fairly cool here so I'm optimistic. Also, my second MP40 should be here today. Then I can finalize the wiring.
I'm dealing with crazy diatoms right now probably from the new sand and the 70lbs of dry rock I added. I tossed in some Rowaphos yesterday afternoon and so far it seems to have helped some.
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reefinnewb
Active Member
Not a whole lot to report. I'm seeing awesome growth on my SPS corals already which I never thought I'd see this early. My bird's-nest is growing like a weed, I can see it growing by the day. It's unreal. I've added the second MP40 and have the two running reef rest in antisync. That really seems to get things moving.
I ended up grabbing a 100 dollar coupon from BRS so I ended up grabbing a Reef Octopus classic 150int. While my Somatic 60s us pulling coffee like crazy, I think a larger skimmer is needed as I only have 5 fish!
The Noops are insane and I love them. They seem to run a tad hot but so far doesn't seem like an issue.
I ended up grabbing a 100 dollar coupon from BRS so I ended up grabbing a Reef Octopus classic 150int. While my Somatic 60s us pulling coffee like crazy, I think a larger skimmer is needed as I only have 5 fish!
The Noops are insane and I love them. They seem to run a tad hot but so far doesn't seem like an issue.
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reefinnewb
Active Member
Nothing really new to report. I found that Kalk dosing is not keeping up with demand. The jebao doser I have isn't working properly so I've been dosing by hand. I'm in the process of building a calcium reactor much like the GEO 612. I already have most of the stuff laying around so in the end it will probably be on par with the cost of a quality dosing pump. I'm hoping to have that ready to bring online next weekend. I'll take some pictures of the build process once I get going on it.
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