Tbaity's 100 Gallon Build

[tbaity1401]

Long time lurker...minimal contributor. This will be my third reef tank setup and I've stolen almost all ideas from this forum. Last tank was taken down in 2017 for a move and I've been itching ever since. Found a 100 gallon (48 x 24 x 20) for a good deal and took the plunge. Planning this time and taking it slow has been a huge benefit so far. I've planned to set the tank up opposite of the garage so my ATO and auto water change will be housed from the garage. Purchased the tank in early January and been sitting as I make progress. I am a CPA and work in Public Accounting so tank time has been minimal as it's my busiest time of the year. Will use this thread for tank progress and to interact with the community.

All I have right now is a mess. My wife's tired all of the accumulation of boxes!

What I've accomplished so far:
1. Installed a floor for the aquarium stand and waterproofed with killz and rustoleum
2. Painted the stand an almond color rustoleum to better match furniture. The tank is going in my office.
3. Ran RO line from laundry drain for RO drain and saltwater drain.
4. Installed floor jack...house is on a crawl space.
5. Tinkered with plumbing
6. Installed BRS RO
8. Overflow has two holes. Drilled a return on the opposite side so I can run a Herbie overflow.
9. Installed LEDs so I have lights under the cabinet.


Equipment list:
Two G4 XR15 Pro
48" aquatic life hybrid (3 blue plus 1 purple plus)
Nyos 120 skimmer
Apex, 3 FMM, ATK, AFS, WXM, DOS, two eb8
Jebao DCP 10000 return
Can't decide on powerheads but leaning towards the WAV
2 finnex 200w heaters
1 BRS reactor for carbon
Manifold with 3 ball valves. 2 will be open

The DOS and 1 FMM will sit in the garage on the opposite wall of the aquarium. Not having to carry any buckets is huge.

Plan is to attempt a mixed reef.

 

[fishguy242]

welcome to the light ,no need to lurk lol, start build thread ,we all can follow along the build happy reefing

 

[Hemmdog]

Nice setup!

 

[Hemmdog]

welcome to the light ,no need to lurk lol, start build thread ,we all can follow along the build happy reefing

This is a build thread, lol

 

[fishguy242]

This is a build thread, lol

LOL it's late haha

 

[tbaity1401]

Got the DOS and FMM mounted in the garage today and some of the cable management runways came in. I have this monstrosity of a cabinet that was original to the house. I don't think it can come out so using the bottom right portion as an equipment cabinet. The right panel is glass that will have to come out to run cords. I could drill a hole in the glass so debating doing that vs. pulling it all out.

Waiting on a bulkhead from BRS to come in before everything comes inside and gets wet! Learned the hard way as I didn't plan my plumbing on paper. BRS is probably annoyed as I put in three $40-$50 orders over the past week all shipping separately -__-. Takes about a week to get to me so patiently waiting. If I would have planned appropriately, we'd already be cycling!

Other than the bulkhead, only other hurdle is mounting the lighting and getting a saltwater vat. The tank will be right beside the cabinet and the studs line up with the ends of the tank perfectly. The studs I want to use to mount the floating canopy are approximately 46"-47" apart so will be cutting it close with the 48" aquatic life. I haven't pulled the aquatic life fixture out of the box so I'm hoping there's room. If it won't work, I'll have to go back to the drawing board. I'm using a Food Grade barrel for RO water that I modified to so I can see the water level. The dilemma with using one of these for salt is it doesn't have gallon markings. Probably going to go with one of the Norwesco 65 Gallons for salt but been putting it off because they're $200 locally. It's funny in that $200 seems like nothing for aquarium gear but I've had hesitations for some reason about a salt vat.

I have two pretty cool oil paintings in my office that we got from a local artist in Murrels Inlet, SC. Should be a pretty good indication of one of the first fish that'll be in the tank.

Off to New York this week for work so hoping to get wet by next weekend!

 

[tbaity1401]

One step closer...aquatic life fixture is up with the floating canopy. Really liked the ease of the canopy. Getting antsy to mount radions but going to hold off because I might need to take it down to get the tank in place. Probably will have 15-17" clearance if I moved the fixture to its highest point.

 

[tbaity1401]

Now the fun begins!

 

[tbaity1401]

Got the T5s and Radions installed. Started some cable management but a lot left to be desired. Didnt have any shrimp so threw some tuna steak along with microbacter7 and fritz9 to start the cycle!

 

[tbaity1401]

Any stocking ideas....
I'm thinking the following:
Typical pair of clowns
Some sort of wrasse
Yellow eye kole tang
Another tang...yellow or purple
Fox face
School of blue green chromis or lyretail Anthias
Blenny

What am I not thinking about. Trying to stock fish that will also be beneficial to the reef.

Thanks for any input!

 

[tbaity1401]

Installed some ROX .8 carbon on the manifold today to get rid of the cycle stench. Also did a little cord management. Having the cabinet next to the aquarium is nice. 1 week into the cycle trying not to get impatient

 

[tbaity1401]

Picked up a Jebao SLW20 for the center back of the aquarium. Planning to put a WAV on the left side. Have it all the way up on random mode and not super impressed to be honest. Wondering if I should have just got the Nero while it was on sale.

 

[tbaity1401]

Updates...
1st round of fish through quarantine...2 snowflake clowns, 1 magnificent foxface, 1 lawnmower blenny. All doing well. Put some starterzoas in the tank too.

Added a WAV and refugium light. Need to grab some Chaeto

 

[tbaity1401]

Fish...

 

[tbaity1401]

Was burning through DI Resin every 150 or so gallons with 2 TDS before the DI cartridge. I'm on well water so the water must have a high concentrate of CO2. Added a brute trash can to degas the RO water before DI. I've made 100 or so gallons so far after degassing and not even a hint of DI color change. Somewhat inconvenient but extremely effective! Only thing left to do is switch the aquatec solenoid to the RO output.

 

[tbaity1401]

Also...Aquamaxx CO-2 skimmer is a beast. Not sure why they don't get more love.

 

[jordan10]

Also...Aquamaxx CO-2 skimmer is a beast. Not sure why they don't get more love.

Nice build. Had a question for you I just put a co2 scurbber on and it used up my media in 2 days the hole media is purple. How long does ur last?

 

[jordan10]

Sry that not co2 it's carbon right?

 

[tbaity1401]

Correct, its carbon. My PH hovers around 8 but I'm not dosing anything yet. I'll wait to see if it buffers at all before deciding to run the air line outside or use a CO2 scrubber. Ive always heard that a CO2 scrubber can do wonders but does exhaust media fast ‍♂

 

[tbaity1401]

Sry that not co2 it's carbon right?