OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
I had used copper in the tank, but I have since used Cuprisorb and done a number of water changes. The last three tests have all read zero copper.
Weeble's Euro-180
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- Thread starter Defective_Weeble
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OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
(Non)update -
Between being out of town and some family things that had to get handled, I've fallen a bit behind on getting this build done. However, the paint is finished, the wave makers are here and I have my first full weekend to work on it coming in 2 days. I'm going to enlist the help of my 10 and 12 year olds to do some plumbing work with me. They really like working on the tanks so I think it will be interesting for them to see how one is built.
I have 8 more days before the DT is ready to have fish again (72 day fallow period following an outbreak), so I'm hoping to have everything in place before that happens. I'd really hate to move fish out of the hospital to one tank, then tear it down and move them again, but holy crap am I ready to have this hospital 40 out of my living room.
Fingers crossed!
Between being out of town and some family things that had to get handled, I've fallen a bit behind on getting this build done. However, the paint is finished, the wave makers are here and I have my first full weekend to work on it coming in 2 days. I'm going to enlist the help of my 10 and 12 year olds to do some plumbing work with me. They really like working on the tanks so I think it will be interesting for them to see how one is built.
I have 8 more days before the DT is ready to have fish again (72 day fallow period following an outbreak), so I'm hoping to have everything in place before that happens. I'd really hate to move fish out of the hospital to one tank, then tear it down and move them again, but holy crap am I ready to have this hospital 40 out of my living room.
Fingers crossed!
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
Not yet. But I did turn this:
Into this:
Had to order 2 more bulkheads after finding that the ones I was going to used were a bit more worn than I was comfortable with. They'll be here Monday. I got the sump chambers sketched out under the stand, and the pipe cut to length. So really all that's left to do is put the tank on the stand, hook up the plumbing and leak test. I gave myself plenty of unions so that I can pull the plumbing out from under the stand to move the thing into the house, and hopefully avoid any future problems.
Now to see if that theory holds true.
bknapp
Has been left unattended
I would consider using Hofer Gurgle Busters for your overflow pipes. When they're tuned and built correctly they're dead silent.
Here's a link:
http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/HGB_construction.html
Good progress today man.
Here's a link:
http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/HGB_construction.html
Good progress today man.
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
It's definitely a consideration, but I had really good luck with the Durso on my 120, and they've been dead silent as well. I'll see how they do, and if I am not happy with them, the tank actually had a Hofer setup with it. I'll just pull the Durso and stick the Hofers in.
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
Moving the tank onto the stand today for a final dry fit and leak test on the plumbing. Fingers crossed that I didn't screw anything up too bad!
In other news, I found a sweet deal on an Apex Jr the other day via a Facebook group. It's the old version, when they would sell the Jr with no display. While the display is nice, with the web and app interface, it's kinda overrated. So for $75 shipped to my door, I'm going to have heater and pump control. Or at least heaters, return pump and skimmer. I'm going to leave the RW-15s to their own controllers for the time being, but I might end up wiring them in to the Apex once I get the right modules.
I finally made a lighting decision too. Hopefully I won't regret it. I'm going to run all Kessils for the time being, give it 6 months to see the results, then add T5 or Stunner Strips for supplementation as needed. I really don't see the Kessils as being an "all you need" light, but rather as a replacement for halides that I'll need/want to supplement in order to get the results that I'm hoping for.
At any rate, I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing on longer-term growth in the tank in this video. While I know that success is highly dependent upon husbandry, the lighting goes a long way toward great results.
[video=youtube;ul5658ProK8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul5658ProK8[/video]
In other news, I found a sweet deal on an Apex Jr the other day via a Facebook group. It's the old version, when they would sell the Jr with no display. While the display is nice, with the web and app interface, it's kinda overrated. So for $75 shipped to my door, I'm going to have heater and pump control. Or at least heaters, return pump and skimmer. I'm going to leave the RW-15s to their own controllers for the time being, but I might end up wiring them in to the Apex once I get the right modules.
I finally made a lighting decision too. Hopefully I won't regret it. I'm going to run all Kessils for the time being, give it 6 months to see the results, then add T5 or Stunner Strips for supplementation as needed. I really don't see the Kessils as being an "all you need" light, but rather as a replacement for halides that I'll need/want to supplement in order to get the results that I'm hoping for.
At any rate, I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing on longer-term growth in the tank in this video. While I know that success is highly dependent upon husbandry, the lighting goes a long way toward great results.
[video=youtube;ul5658ProK8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul5658ProK8[/video]
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
There's a reason that we leak test. I found that reason a couple days ago. After getting the plumbing dry fit, I did a fill test on the tank. As soon as water hit the overflows, it started raining inside my stand. Fortunately I had a sump tank and another (eventual) frag tank in place to catch the water. All four bulkheads leaked. Oops! Interestingly, it took far more tightening than I've ever had to do with this style of bulkhead to get them to stop. But with the help of Stephan (R2R - scason) and his gigantic pipe wrench we were able to tighten them without having to teeter the tank on the edge of the stand.
While the 180 was filling, I drained out the 120 and set everything up in its temporary home. A 100 gallon Rubbermaid trough holds almost all of the water and rock. The fish are still in their 40 breeder hospital tank for the time being. I ended up half-filling a 32 gallon Brute as well, which holds the remainder of the water and the rock from the sump.
We got the 120 outside and laid out for cleaning. Fortunately it's going away tomorrow morning so it's not going to anger my HOA too much...I hope.
Moving the 180 was a bit more difficult than we anticipated. We didn't have suction cups, so Stephan and I had to hand carry it. My brother-in-law (Brandon) was with us to give some extra help, but thin doorways and a hallway meant that he could only help so much. Stephan's son and my wife teamed up to move a set of collapsable sawhorses along with us, so when we needed a break they were immediately in place. Suffice it to say, we needed a few breaks for the trip from the garage, through the front door, down the hallway and then onto the stand. Then, once the tank was finally on the stand we had to manhandle it into position. The front trim of the tank kept us from being able to easily put it in place if the back of the stand was against the wall, so we left the stand sitting out in the floor until the tank was in place.
There's still a lot of work to do, but things are getting closer.
- I realized this morning that I hadn't tested the flow rate on the Dursos yet, so I might have to make the air holes bigger. Not a huge deal, but something that I'd have much preferred to do in the garage versus my living room.
- I'm crawling under the house later today to solve the "big tank running along the joists" bounce. Fortunately it's on an outside, load-bearing wall so things actually aren't as bad as they could be. Just a little wiggle. But I want far less wiggle before I put water in this thing. The advantage of this tank over the last is that it's a full stand, with a lot of contact area. My previous stand was 4 points, on the corners, and always made me a bit nervous.
- A LOT of wiring work needs to be done. I picked up an Apex Jr for a steal (new in box, $75 shipped) so that will control the heat, Kessils and refugium light for now. (I think, anyway. I need to make sure that the 3 Kessils won't overload the 8 amps if I plug them to a single outlet.) I'll be adding an EB-8 soon, doing away with the de facto DJ power strip. But for now the power strip will run the RW-15s, WP-40, skimmer and return pump. My goal is to make the wiring look as clean as the plumbing, so I've got a lot of "under the tank" time to do today.
Fingers crossed, it gets wet tonight! Oh, but I do need to find another 30 or 40 lbs of sand...
While the 180 was filling, I drained out the 120 and set everything up in its temporary home. A 100 gallon Rubbermaid trough holds almost all of the water and rock. The fish are still in their 40 breeder hospital tank for the time being. I ended up half-filling a 32 gallon Brute as well, which holds the remainder of the water and the rock from the sump.
We got the 120 outside and laid out for cleaning. Fortunately it's going away tomorrow morning so it's not going to anger my HOA too much...I hope.
Moving the 180 was a bit more difficult than we anticipated. We didn't have suction cups, so Stephan and I had to hand carry it. My brother-in-law (Brandon) was with us to give some extra help, but thin doorways and a hallway meant that he could only help so much. Stephan's son and my wife teamed up to move a set of collapsable sawhorses along with us, so when we needed a break they were immediately in place. Suffice it to say, we needed a few breaks for the trip from the garage, through the front door, down the hallway and then onto the stand. Then, once the tank was finally on the stand we had to manhandle it into position. The front trim of the tank kept us from being able to easily put it in place if the back of the stand was against the wall, so we left the stand sitting out in the floor until the tank was in place.
There's still a lot of work to do, but things are getting closer.
- I realized this morning that I hadn't tested the flow rate on the Dursos yet, so I might have to make the air holes bigger. Not a huge deal, but something that I'd have much preferred to do in the garage versus my living room.
- I'm crawling under the house later today to solve the "big tank running along the joists" bounce. Fortunately it's on an outside, load-bearing wall so things actually aren't as bad as they could be. Just a little wiggle. But I want far less wiggle before I put water in this thing. The advantage of this tank over the last is that it's a full stand, with a lot of contact area. My previous stand was 4 points, on the corners, and always made me a bit nervous.
- A LOT of wiring work needs to be done. I picked up an Apex Jr for a steal (new in box, $75 shipped) so that will control the heat, Kessils and refugium light for now. (I think, anyway. I need to make sure that the 3 Kessils won't overload the 8 amps if I plug them to a single outlet.) I'll be adding an EB-8 soon, doing away with the de facto DJ power strip. But for now the power strip will run the RW-15s, WP-40, skimmer and return pump. My goal is to make the wiring look as clean as the plumbing, so I've got a lot of "under the tank" time to do today.
Fingers crossed, it gets wet tonight! Oh, but I do need to find another 30 or 40 lbs of sand...
Last edited:
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
It did indeed get wet the other night, but not fully. When I got it inside I noticed a slight leak from the threaded fitting that went into the right return line bulkhead. Tightening that threaded fitting caused the bulkhead to leak again, which sent me into a bit of a fury for a while. But, with some creative stretching and channel lock work, I was able to get it tightened back in place.
I'm pretty happy with the end result, so now it's time to let it marinate for a while and see how it runs. I do have a feeling that I'm going to do a bit of tweaking on the light placement, but in general I'm exceptionally happy with the spread and fill that I'm getting from the Kessils.
The plan for now is to just let things ride for a bit. I'm not sure how well cycled the tank was after sitting fallow for 72 days, as I only fed it lightly to keep the inverts happy. So I definitely don't want to add a bunch of stock until I see how things level off.
I'm pretty happy with the end result, so now it's time to let it marinate for a while and see how it runs. I do have a feeling that I'm going to do a bit of tweaking on the light placement, but in general I'm exceptionally happy with the spread and fill that I'm getting from the Kessils.
The plan for now is to just let things ride for a bit. I'm not sure how well cycled the tank was after sitting fallow for 72 days, as I only fed it lightly to keep the inverts happy. So I definitely don't want to add a bunch of stock until I see how things level off.
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
Day 18:
Things are going well, for the most part. Though a stupid mounting decision on my part almost had me waking up to a fried tank. I hadn't secured the RW15 controller well enough inside the canopy and woke up to it floating in the tank this morning. Luckily everything is fine and it looks like the power strip tripped the outlet before anything could be damaged. I'm out a controller, so I've replaced one of the RW15 with a spare WP40 that I had sitting around for the time being.
My wife and I went out of town for a few days, leaving my brother in law to tank-sit for us. He fed pellets and I think he overdid it a bit as I came home to phosphates reading at .21. I did another test yesterday and they're down to .18 so I'm just letting them fall naturally. Fortunately it wasn't high enough of a spike to cause any problems, but my back glass does have some gunk on it.
I have 5 chromis in quarantine that I bought from a local guy getting out of the hobby. Not the most exciting of fish, but I was down to 2 from my original 5 so I'll be glad to get a true school back into the tank. I need to make up my mind as to what fish I put in next, but I'm really leaning toward a Red Sea regal angel. Though I might do a melanurus wrasse because A: I want one and B: I was battling a very light infestation of flatworms in the 120 so I'm sure they're still around.
I was going to wait a bit to add the base cabinet that will hold the display refugium, but after reading Mitch's horror story about his Tunze shorting out I'm moving it up in priority a bit. I'd really like to get all of the electronics out from under the stand and into the base cabinet that won't have the humidity issues. Though my stand has an open back, it obviously still holds higher humidity than the rest of the room.
Things are going well, for the most part. Though a stupid mounting decision on my part almost had me waking up to a fried tank. I hadn't secured the RW15 controller well enough inside the canopy and woke up to it floating in the tank this morning. Luckily everything is fine and it looks like the power strip tripped the outlet before anything could be damaged. I'm out a controller, so I've replaced one of the RW15 with a spare WP40 that I had sitting around for the time being.
My wife and I went out of town for a few days, leaving my brother in law to tank-sit for us. He fed pellets and I think he overdid it a bit as I came home to phosphates reading at .21. I did another test yesterday and they're down to .18 so I'm just letting them fall naturally. Fortunately it wasn't high enough of a spike to cause any problems, but my back glass does have some gunk on it.
I have 5 chromis in quarantine that I bought from a local guy getting out of the hobby. Not the most exciting of fish, but I was down to 2 from my original 5 so I'll be glad to get a true school back into the tank. I need to make up my mind as to what fish I put in next, but I'm really leaning toward a Red Sea regal angel. Though I might do a melanurus wrasse because A: I want one and B: I was battling a very light infestation of flatworms in the 120 so I'm sure they're still around.
I was going to wait a bit to add the base cabinet that will hold the display refugium, but after reading Mitch's horror story about his Tunze shorting out I'm moving it up in priority a bit. I'd really like to get all of the electronics out from under the stand and into the base cabinet that won't have the humidity issues. Though my stand has an open back, it obviously still holds higher humidity than the rest of the room.
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
Day 39, still Kessils only. Overall I'm incredibly happy with what I'm seeing. I genuinely thought that I'd need to do more than 3 lights to effectively light the tank. Of course I was also concerned about SPS growth and color, as well as growth patterns.
What I've found is that my concerns were completely unwarranted. At least so far. I have montipora and a birds nest on the sand bed, 32 inches under the light. Both of them are growing fast. My birds nest was completely bleached and it is now almost fully colored again. The monti is a deeper red than I've ever seen it before.
I know that Kessils get a lot of hate, and I'm still waiting for the 6 month mark before I make my final verdict. But so far I can tell you that I've never been happier with the total package of a light than I am with these.
No big plans right now, other than waiting for the chromis and wrasse to get out of QT. We bought and lost a Coral Beauty without much of an explanation. She was fine one day and dead the next in the QT. Otherwise I'm just enjoying watching the growth of the corals and not being in any hurry to add things to this tank. There's a lot that I want, but it's a matter of finding the right pieces at the right prices, so I'm just taking it slow.
(Ignore the dirty sand bed. NEED MOAR SNAILS!)
What I've found is that my concerns were completely unwarranted. At least so far. I have montipora and a birds nest on the sand bed, 32 inches under the light. Both of them are growing fast. My birds nest was completely bleached and it is now almost fully colored again. The monti is a deeper red than I've ever seen it before.
I know that Kessils get a lot of hate, and I'm still waiting for the 6 month mark before I make my final verdict. But so far I can tell you that I've never been happier with the total package of a light than I am with these.
No big plans right now, other than waiting for the chromis and wrasse to get out of QT. We bought and lost a Coral Beauty without much of an explanation. She was fine one day and dead the next in the QT. Otherwise I'm just enjoying watching the growth of the corals and not being in any hurry to add things to this tank. There's a lot that I want, but it's a matter of finding the right pieces at the right prices, so I'm just taking it slow.
(Ignore the dirty sand bed. NEED MOAR SNAILS!)
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
Also, day 39 with no water change. Parameters are all still in line, though calcium is getting a bit lower than I'd like. I'm starting to see heavy coralline growth so that and the SPS are likely sponging up the calcium pretty quickly.
I don't really have enough fish yet to get the tank dirty, but I'm feeding them heavily in hopes of getting some nitrates for the biopellets to use to keep phosphates in check. I'm starting to see a couple small spots of what appears to be cyano, so it may be time to actually do a change and dose some Microbe Lift Special Blend to combat things. My skimmer output tells me that the pellets are cycled (thick, dark and FUNKY) so now it's time to get the bacteria in balance.
I don't really have enough fish yet to get the tank dirty, but I'm feeding them heavily in hopes of getting some nitrates for the biopellets to use to keep phosphates in check. I'm starting to see a couple small spots of what appears to be cyano, so it may be time to actually do a change and dose some Microbe Lift Special Blend to combat things. My skimmer output tells me that the pellets are cycled (thick, dark and FUNKY) so now it's time to get the bacteria in balance.
SantaMonicaHelp
Valuable Member
The set up is really nice tho. I can't wait to see them all bloom in your tank 
it must be beautiful!
it must be beautiful!
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
First water change done. I figured 40 days was long enough. Nitrates are still reading 0 but the phosphates took a dip down to 0.09 from 0.17 a few days ago so that tells me that my pellets are probably kicking in. I started dosing Microbe Lift Special Blend tonight in hopes of getting ahead of this small cyano bloom.
Added a purple firefish tonight that had already been coppered and QT'd so he could go straight into the tank. So far he and my red firefish are getting along famously, even sharing a dart hole.
Added a purple firefish tonight that had already been coppered and QT'd so he could go straight into the tank. So far he and my red firefish are getting along famously, even sharing a dart hole.
SantaMonicaHelp
Valuable Member
Sounds like the purple firefish is making itself at home already! I'm glad to hear that everything is good! :bigsmile:
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
Another week, another batch of tests. Phosphates are still a bit high, around 0.10, and I've got a sand bed covered in a blanket. Not so bad in the higher flow areas, but the lower flow parts look fluffy. Ahhh, new tanks.
Anyway, not really going to change anything for now. Confirmed that I did have a couple small spots of cyano, so I started dosing Special Blend to put more good bacteria into the system. I lowered my light cycle down to 8 hours for now, based in part on my desire to have less algae and in part because of this video:
[video=youtube;3ebxZqaayTU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ebxZqaayTU[/video]
At any rate, things are OK. Not great, but OK. I'm looking forward to adding the 5 chromis and the wrasse in a few more days, hopefully upping the bio load to add some nitrates so that the biopellets can export the phosphates more readily.
Anyway, not really going to change anything for now. Confirmed that I did have a couple small spots of cyano, so I started dosing Special Blend to put more good bacteria into the system. I lowered my light cycle down to 8 hours for now, based in part on my desire to have less algae and in part because of this video:
[video=youtube;3ebxZqaayTU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ebxZqaayTU[/video]
At any rate, things are OK. Not great, but OK. I'm looking forward to adding the 5 chromis and the wrasse in a few more days, hopefully upping the bio load to add some nitrates so that the biopellets can export the phosphates more readily.
OP
OP
Defective_Weeble
Salty
Yeah, using a Hanna. And I know it's not off the charts, but 0.10 with a blanket of algae is driving me a bit nuts
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