Susan's RS Reefer 3xl 900 Fantasy-Dream Build

[Jonathan Adams]

Ugh! Not sure I should be worried. Got the tracking number on my tank from the LFS.

9/23/2021	08:54:37 AM	Arrived at OAKLAND, CA
09/23/2021	09:04:48 PM	Departed OAKLAND, CA in route to destination terminal
09/24/2021	01:24:14 AM	Departed OAKLAND, CA in route to destination terminal

Where the heck is it! Oakland is probably not even an hour from Hayward where the tank is going! No movement since the 24th?

Sure hoping it gets delivered tomorrow or the weekend or I might not be able to get it on Wed. LFS said if they get by Tue they can do it, but does that mean deliver late on Wed. then not help me set up?

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

Tomorrow, I'll fill another brute with RO water. Holding off on making salt until I know the tank will be delivered. Will also take 10 gal of old tank water out. Prob. every other day or so in order to get about 30 gal worth for the new tank

Good news front my other tank has no3 at 5! And po4 at .05.

Easier said then done don’t stress it’s almost here than the real drum begins! Now of course if you see no movement I’d probably stress lol

 

[Susan Edwards]

No tank yet!!! Some movement except it says exactly as above! Except today's date! I hope this doesn't mean it is lost....

On the good news front, my new Duncan has 3 new heads. Old tank is at Po4 is at .05 and no3 is at 5. it is finally doing well! Even though I lost another powerhead. Down to 2. Don't want to use my new ones...

Weekend plans, around work, is to clear things for the tank and get the office ready. Need to move desk out and clean floors. And move a piles of equipment out but fast to get too, like the skimmer. Hubby will work on lights and I'll continue making water. ordered more salt. Using Reef crystals and the left over LA salt to be cheap, then trying out fritz. I work 8 hrs tomorrow and 5 on sunday. Sure hoping the tank is delivered on time for me to get on Wednesday!

 

[Susan Edwards]

More progress.
All but 1 outlet in office is either fixed (needed rectangle outlets not round) or changed. Just have 1 left. Hubby misplaced the outlet cover for it lol's. 1 outlet behind tank has been disconnected and water proofed so no water can get in and cause a fire or damage. Tank will use new 20 amp outlets added.

Light fixture bar is progressing. They won't be up in time for the tank so I don't think I can move my corals over

did a 10 gal water change in current tank. Will keep doing this week until I get 30 gal old water for new tank.

Still have to pop holes in the electrical boxes to run my cables and tubing from garage into laundry room and into office.

Off Monday so need to get some cleaning done, get desk ready to move out of office on Tue. Assuming tank delivery happens this week. going to call lfs tomorrow after I ck the shipping tracking.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Whoo Hoooo!!! Tank being delivered to the fish store today!!! We are a go for Wednesday install!!!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Another Whoo Hooo Tank has been delivered and they are building the stand. Also a manifold, installing 2 UV's and doing my diy red sea mesh lid. I have 2 feed doors that I can pop in! Everything paid except what is left on the tank!

So excited!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Tomorrow's the day! Whoo Hoo!!! Jumping for joy!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Let pictures say it all lol's. The build is now built!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Was going to spend tomorrow playing with tank but got called into work. Why are the young people just not reliable! Dang it!!!

Now to figure out the powerheads and gyres and figure out my flow. Still getting the overflow/returns dialed in. Pretty quiet tank once it is set right.

Lights will go up this weekend--Saturday. I have Sunday off and it had better be sacred!! (hear that Michaels lol's). I'll move most of the corals over. A couple I want to wait until this tank is stable. Sunday I hope to get the net cover/tops done. And then the fun begins--catching the fish!!

We still have lots of work to do. Getting the top off water, the automatic water change, dosing set up. Finish the water change station and figure out a control panel for all the cords/power bricks/controllers. Oh, need to learn Apex (controller system) to set up the equipment. Then I have to decide how to sell the old tank... So yeah, tank is here! Whoo hoo but no resting on my laurels...

Oh, corals and fish... Need more.... Lots more...

 

[fishguy242]

CONGRATS.. Great job...

 

[najer]

Nicely done, congrats.

 

[Susan Edwards]

CONGRATS.. Great job...

@najer Thanks! I have to admit it was nice having the LFS do the install. Especially putting in the rockscape I had all ready. Not sure I could have done it lol's. I of course, knew the tank dimensions but holy cow, seeing it, is like holy cow! Dropped 1 of the wet side mp40's in the tank and had to use long tweezers to get! Going to be interesting to see how I'm going to manage with my short arms

After work today I'll play with the mp40's and r45's and set some schedules

Tank stayed dialed in overnight. Water a bit lower in the overflow but still okay. Need to do a power off and see where my sump level is

 

[James_O]

Following and congrats! It looks great already. Good work.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Tank is pretty much dialed in. Added a heater. Need to buy 1 more. Using a temp heater now until I can take my good one from the other tank. Might just drop a heater into the display to get the temp up a bit.

Did first measurements and wow, are the numbers LOW! With nothing in the tank I'm adding what I need between today and tomorrow and sat. I'll dose in the am and test in the evening and then dose again.

Salinity 1.022. Will pour in some super concentrated
Number show new tank/old tank
Mg 1140/14
Alk 6.1/8.3 (should be 9)
Ca 300/380 (should be 400)
So those are the numbers I want to get close too. I'll wait an hour between ca and alk and 30 min for mg after alk. (ugh. waited 1.5 hrs and still had some precipitation.)

Amm 0
PO4 .11
NO3 5
ghost feeding tank as I added 4 bottles of bacteria and some current live rock and media in the sump

Ordered some LONG tweezers as I can't reach the bottom lol's

set a schedule for the mp40's. No idea if it good or not. Setting flow to just 50% for now. Have them on the back wall

Reefwave 45's next. One is higher than the other lol's.

Think I'm going to wait on setting up apex equipment until it is all organized. I'll have to manually add water. Still need to figure out my levels. There is a float in the return area which I won't be using so I can gauge that for now.

Lights will go up Sat. Corals into tank on Sunday, and then fish. Want to get as much pods as I can so might swish the rocks in tank water to get some off the rocks and seed this tank.

All in all, a good day

 

[blaxsun]

Q: What are you running with the three bulkheads on the extra sump chamber in the far right of the cabinet?

 

[Susan Edwards]

Q: What are you running with the three bulkheads on the extra sump chamber in the far right of the cabinet?

No idea yet lol's. They are going to hook up the UV there and the manifold. Assume that is what you are asking about. I know I want 1 outlet for fast water changes like if I've dosed the tank with chemi clean etc. The other 2 will be for reactors down the line. Prob. a calcium eventually. I am still nervous with a reactor outside of the sump. My rowaphos reactor has its own pump.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Trying to get my parameters stable in new tank with nothing in it!!
Numbers yesterday/today
CA 340/360
ALK 7.9/8.5
MG 1200/1050

Adding a bunch more of each. With nothing in there it is n ice I can add large amounts at a time. Will test again tonight and add more. Had to order more alk from amazon. Lucky it will be delivered today as I'm almost out. CA also getting low. Thank you Amazon!! Rather amazed that the numbers keep dropping with no corals.

I had switched salts for the start up. Actually used 3 different salts. Fritz for the 65 gal as I want a clean salt and then IO for the rest with a bit of LA which I had on hand.

Work this afternoon/evening. Lights will be up when I get home. Will test and add more. Corals move in tomorrow. If the lid is done tomorrow, will start moving fish.

Have some nice flow going. No idea how it is in the tank as no corals yet lol's. But the surface looks nice.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Lights! Camera! Action!

Lights go up today. and then corals go in. Will have to remove some tank water as I'll be adding several rocks into the system. If we get the lids done today, I'll start adding fish.

Will have to remove a lot of rock from the old tank to get to the fish. Plan to put them in buckets of tank water so I can ck for cuc. Swish them around to get pods off and try to run the water through a sieve to save what I can.

 

[Susan Edwards]

whoop whoop whoop. Most of the fish are in and all corals! Lights are up and the diy lids are on. They are a bit loosy goosy...

Will get better pics with some whites. I'm doing the acclimation for the red sea 160's. It's set for 30 days. Not sure I need 30 days. Can adjust if needed. Figuring out the various flows for the corals. Fish are all out and swimming all over. Still have 4 I think to get over. 1 is the goby and pistol shrimp pair. They will be last. Also the mandarin. Might put her back in the observation tank with the clowns and damsels. But she will be okay in there alone for a while.Will see if there are pods there. Ordered pods.

Will use prime for a week just in case. A double dose today (1 more at bedtime0

Time to check my alk/ca/mg
better pics in better light tomorrow.

 

[blaxsun]

So how's the tank doing?

 

[Susan Edwards]

So how's the tank doing?

So far so good! Am loving having this tank in my office even though I have to look over or to the side of my monitor lol's. Need a slightly smaller desk so I can turn it sideways haha

Finally getting my parameters in line without dosing by the cups! Was dosing 12 fl oz on some while tank was uninhabited.
This am/pm numbers
CA 400/400 dosed 2 oz this morning. Dosed 2 oz tonight and will see where in morning
ALK 8.5/8.1 Dosed 2 oz/2oz and will see in am
MG 1350/1230 Dosed 4 oz in am, dosed 8 oz at bedtime
NO3 at 5
Po4 at 0 Dosed 1.5 caps of neo phos. Took out boyds chemipure elite (put in baggie so I can reuse later). Still running reactor with rowaphos as I don't want the silicates from the sand. Feeding heavy!

Returns are dialed in. Skimmer still over skimming. Heat is at a steady 77.6 with 2 temp heaters. Will add the one from the other tank tomorrow with the controller.

Fish seem happy and healthy. Adding vitamins to their food. Finally got the barber goby in today. Can't find the pistol shrimp. He may be in the rock where they made their home. I hvae it in a container with some water and keep turning the rock.

Added the narsarius snails and hermits from old tank. Snails went in the 40 gal observation tank.

Flow for most part of all devices is around 40%. LIghts working! On acclimation mode. Corals all seem happy. Will move the alveopora onto the low rock to get out of sand. Frogspawn looked good tonight. It may be recovering. All else is good. In another post I'll detail what I have for coral and fish.

Doing a trade with some guy for corals for some rock, an older black box light and the rest of my leathers. Might do that on Saturday. Meeting at the lfs so that means maybe new fish and corals there too!!

Guys at the fish store coming back next week to finish the manifold and install the UV. Need to get the board cut that will separate the wet side from dry side.

Added pods to the refugium. Found a light at brs I want (magnet mount) but they are out of stock. No sand in the refugium. Just some live rock for now. I divided the refugium (second smaller sump) and have the reacter in the smaller half. UV pump will go there too. Might move the reacter to the skimmer chamber. It's big enough. Can always take the divider out.

Next to do is set up the ato. Using 2-4 half qt pitchers each day. To do that I need to mount controllers and bricks to the wall (temporary) so i can get the hoses through the hole in wall. After that, figure out the awc and get the apex equipment set up. Control panel/cabinet is going to be a big project. Some items need to go in cabinet--mp40's do not have long enough cords for this tank! Oh and get dosing hooked up once I figure out about what I'm using per day.

shut down old tank today. Has about 2" of water. I removed most of sand looking for the pistol shrimp.... Will get it up for sale!

Lot to do yet like also sorting through all the bits and pieces and organizing what I need daily. No room in this room for my cart!!

I will admit this was an amazing and absolutely crazy and learning process with a lot of things I didn't anticipate-like getting ca/alk/mg where I wanted them