Very long time coming 150 build

[md2882]

This is a long time coming but is finally happening. I bought a Deep Blue custom 60x27x24 DT with custom cabinet when I graduated nursing school 8 years ago and it has been sitting in my garage ever since. Life just got in the way. I had a tank crash due to a stuck heater several years ago and sort of lost interest since. I have maintained what was left after the crash half heartedly until recently. what I have left is a 60" 120 Gal with a DIY sump controlled with a Digital Aquatics controller with a 29 Gal DIY sump.

The only thing left in the DT are a Naso, Yellow, and Tomini Tang and 1 mocha clown (Black with a orangeish face now that he is big). A TON of purple and red mushrooms (pretty much covering the whole aquascape) and a few orange ricordia.

Oh, and can't forget the vermitid snails...lots and lots of vermitid snails...

Other than the 4 fish I have had forever I am only keeping the ricordia from the old tank...eveything else will be totally new. I have been accumulating equipment over the last six months and and ready to start this thread. I wanted to wait until I could post fairly frequently during the change.

Here is the old tank that was a fantastic mixed reef many years ago.


I wanted to wait so I could review equipment I was using during this build. the fish and the ricordia will be spending time in QT during the change.

 

[Rp8]

Nice! Show us some pictures

 

[md2882]

Second post: Quarantine equipment

Quarantine will be a 40 Breeder

 

[md2882]

The Quarantine is set up and cycling I opted for some very large PVC for hiding places because I will be putting 9 years old livestock in this for an extended period. I have never noticed any problems with any of these fish but I will be treating them prophylactically with copper and a broad spectrum antibiotics for at least 45 das so this is a good opportunity to tell you my opinion of some of the equipment.

 

[md2882]

I am using brightwell Aquatics to cycle the tank
Microbacter Dry Rock Bacteria Starter Kit - Brightwell Aquatics - Bulk Reef Supply

 

[md2882]

I like the Tidal 110 but be the tank needs 6-8 inches behind it to accommodate this filter. I love that it surface skims as well as the tube. you can adjust how much comes from each but the dial at the bottom of the surface skim is difficult to access. I added a sponge filter on the tube for increased biologic filtration

Flow is awesome. the filer comes with a ridiculously small amount of Seachem matrix. it doesn't even cover the coarse sponge in the bottom. the media is fine but A LOT more is needed. I got the box of Marine pure spheres shown in the earlier pic and it fills the compartment perfectly.

The basket in the white is what comes out when you need to service the media. this is perfect for custom media in a HOB filter.

 

[md2882]

Ammonia still holding at 2.0 ppm. Day 4. Just a waiting game at this point. I know the API ammonia test can falsely read 0.25 ppm ammonia when there is none but I could not get accurate results with the Salfert test. The “sensors” that are used always ended up off the chart every test. The provided standard did the same. The test also takes 15-30 minutes. I think the API will be close enough. When I get near 0 ammonia I will begin to test for nitrate and be done with it.

 

[md2882]

Quarantine cycled a couple of days ago. Haven’t had time to go fishing till. Today. Clownfish into quarantine today.

 

[md2882]

Nyos nitrate test kit finally came. Nitrate about 25. 25% water change. Yellow tang out of main tank into QT. He’s not very happy but doing well.

 

[md2882]

Well my yellow tang didn’t make it in the quarantine tank. My clown, Naso and Tomini are doing well. My Naso is obviously not satisfied with his current home in a 40 breeder but things are coming together now. The stand and tank are in the room.

 

[md2882]

Just finished the stand lights. I couldn’t find a bracket for the led’s that held them tight so I printed my own. I don’t know what I did before I got my 3-D printer for Christmas I still need to figure out electronics. I’m thinking about a 15” kitchen cabinet beside the stand. (I left room) but am leaning toward something in or beside the stand made out of 8020 extrusions.

 

[md2882]

Alright. Progress finally....

 

[md2882]

Plumbing underway for hopefully the final time. Does anyone use plumbers grease on their rubber gaskets. Never had a bulkhead leak after I started using this
Yes it is reef safe.

 

[md2882]

So I decided my tank sat too far down in the stand and added 1/2” of wood so the edge of the bottom rim is even with the top of the stand trim. Then it took me a minute to figure out why my plumbing wasn’t fitting....duh. I was not going to redo any plumbing so I came up with this. 1/2 inch spacersI placed under the bulkheads on my sump. It actually looks awesome.You can see them in this pic if you zoom into the sump area that is just water to leak test one final time

 

[Nelsons_reef]

Looking great so far

 

[md2882]

Picks of my sump before installing. Synergy reef with a few custom touches. They are awesome to work with
Matching auto top off container too

 

[md2882]

Water going in. I don’t know why I didn’t rinse my sand. I have every other tank o have set up. I used Caribsea dry special grade. Perfect size to not blow around and still small enough to be sifted by my future goby

 

[md2882]

My cycle actually finished today. I think. We will see if nitrates hold at the same value tomorrow after ammonia hit 0 today. Looks like a perfect 8-9 day cycle. I used Brightwell’s system and so far it’s worked perfectly.

 

[md2882]

I consider this my first failed attempt at my controller board. It looks ok but I’m going to redo it. I didn’t take into account the number of connections or the size of those connections to each device. It works so I’m gonna let it ride for. Now. The power supplies are mounted to anouther board behind this one....same issue

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Looking great. thanks for sharing.