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Cayars New Tank
- Thread starter mynd
- Start date
Re: 1/2
All I have is a cheap digital camera ($40 job). I'm looking to pick up a nice Nikon 200 but can't find one with the lens package I want so I've been waiting.
As far as the "live" setup it's currently a 265 main display with dual overflows, very minimal sand (enough to cover the bottom) and 500+ pounds of liverock , a 125 (6') tank as a refugium with 5/6" live sand bed in it and a 55 as a return tank. The 125 refugium might also be used for frag growout also. All equipment is in the basement. At present beside the natural filtration (live rock) I'm only running a fluval 404 with some carbon in it.
To help kick-start the system I added 2 bottles of Fritz-Zyme Turbo Start 900 and 4 packs of BIO Spira Marine to the main display. I also added one bottle of Reef Nutitrition Tigger Pods to the 265 display and 2 bottles to the refugium. I started a tigger pod culture with another bottle today in a 2.5 gallon tank. I wanted to make sure I have plenty of pods in the tank for my Manderins.
Tomorrow I plan on getting the skimmers online. I'm going to try using my old Proclear 200 sump for running poly pads and to hold the skimmer (steady water level). I'll add in my Proclear 300 sump for holding all the kent and Phosban reactors (different media) although I won't fire them up yet as they aren't needed yet. I also plan on getting the 200mg Ozone and 80 watts of UV up and running this weekend too. I also need to integrate the Calcium, Kalk (Limewater) and Nitrate reactors into the system although I don't really need them online yet as well as the computer system but I need all the equipment online first. I also need to find some good power strips I can mount to the wall with enough outlets to power everything.
I never really did any plumbing work before and had a couple of bad joints that dripped a little so I had to redo them which set me back a couple of days. Since it's spring break I have my 2 kids all week and haven't been able to spend as much time on the tank as I've wanted or to continue to unpack the house. TV first (quick setup) tanks second, everything else third (not including time with the kids of course).
The tank just went live on Easter with the first corals thanks to Absinthe who made a house call and delivered 5 corals to me the next day. I picked up 18 corals from All Aquatics on Monday (were being held). Tuesday through Thursday the kids and I visited 3 or 4 other lfs and picked up whatever corals we like for a total of about 30 corals in the tank.
Today I picked up a few small 20 gallon long tanks for QT use. I do a tank to tank transfer method (8 days total) to rid ich and velvet from fish before putting them into the display as well as to observe the fish for other problems. My daughter has been wanting a powder blue tang and longnose butterfly so we picked up one of each today as well as 5 yellow tail damsels and 11 blue/green chromas. These fish are in QT at present. Once these go into the 265 I've got a 44 gallon hex tank filled with fish that need to go back through QT (tank to tank transfer) to rid them of ich.
I helped a fellow member out (who I won't name) right before I moved by holding a couple of fish of his. I had no place to put them at the time except for my main tank and now have ich in the tank. It's not really a big deal as it's under control and won't be long before I can rid them of it.
Anyway, in about 2 to 3 weeks I'll have 50 fish or so in the 265 along with any additional corals I pick up during that time. I still have another 120 sitting in the garage that needs to get setup. Once I get someone to help me carry it into the house I'll do the plumbing on it and turn it into a trigger/lion tank. I'd like to put a clown and huma huma trigger in it along with a Fu Manchu lion. Maybe a large angel or 2 as well. I'm sure that will be a FOWLR tank but since it will be tied into the basement equipment it will benefit from the central "processing". Once I've got the 44 hex empty (my fish holding tank) I'm going to turn it into a stand alone sea horse tank (Matt get ready for questions). It was going to be my daughters tank but she wants to many corals that she couldn't have in the tank because of lighting. I'm going to get her a Red Sea 34g Max tank instead which has T5 lighting and a protein skimmer built in.
I had been planning on doing a large 750 gallon tank but the more I look at the 265 the more I'm thinking of scrapping the 750 idea and adding another 265 on the opposing wall which will give the room a really nice feel and will be a lot cheaper too. This would also give me the option of doing some different fish too for diversity.
I wish I had a picture so I could have saved the "thousand words".
But to answer your question mynd, yes anytime. You can wait till it's setup and I have all the fish in it or see it now and watch the progress as it all comes together.
Carlo
All I have is a cheap digital camera ($40 job). I'm looking to pick up a nice Nikon 200 but can't find one with the lens package I want so I've been waiting.
As far as the "live" setup it's currently a 265 main display with dual overflows, very minimal sand (enough to cover the bottom) and 500+ pounds of liverock , a 125 (6') tank as a refugium with 5/6" live sand bed in it and a 55 as a return tank. The 125 refugium might also be used for frag growout also. All equipment is in the basement. At present beside the natural filtration (live rock) I'm only running a fluval 404 with some carbon in it.
To help kick-start the system I added 2 bottles of Fritz-Zyme Turbo Start 900 and 4 packs of BIO Spira Marine to the main display. I also added one bottle of Reef Nutitrition Tigger Pods to the 265 display and 2 bottles to the refugium. I started a tigger pod culture with another bottle today in a 2.5 gallon tank. I wanted to make sure I have plenty of pods in the tank for my Manderins.
Tomorrow I plan on getting the skimmers online. I'm going to try using my old Proclear 200 sump for running poly pads and to hold the skimmer (steady water level). I'll add in my Proclear 300 sump for holding all the kent and Phosban reactors (different media) although I won't fire them up yet as they aren't needed yet. I also plan on getting the 200mg Ozone and 80 watts of UV up and running this weekend too. I also need to integrate the Calcium, Kalk (Limewater) and Nitrate reactors into the system although I don't really need them online yet as well as the computer system but I need all the equipment online first. I also need to find some good power strips I can mount to the wall with enough outlets to power everything.
I never really did any plumbing work before and had a couple of bad joints that dripped a little so I had to redo them which set me back a couple of days. Since it's spring break I have my 2 kids all week and haven't been able to spend as much time on the tank as I've wanted or to continue to unpack the house. TV first (quick setup) tanks second, everything else third (not including time with the kids of course).
The tank just went live on Easter with the first corals thanks to Absinthe who made a house call and delivered 5 corals to me the next day. I picked up 18 corals from All Aquatics on Monday (were being held). Tuesday through Thursday the kids and I visited 3 or 4 other lfs and picked up whatever corals we like for a total of about 30 corals in the tank.
Today I picked up a few small 20 gallon long tanks for QT use. I do a tank to tank transfer method (8 days total) to rid ich and velvet from fish before putting them into the display as well as to observe the fish for other problems. My daughter has been wanting a powder blue tang and longnose butterfly so we picked up one of each today as well as 5 yellow tail damsels and 11 blue/green chromas. These fish are in QT at present. Once these go into the 265 I've got a 44 gallon hex tank filled with fish that need to go back through QT (tank to tank transfer) to rid them of ich.
I helped a fellow member out (who I won't name) right before I moved by holding a couple of fish of his. I had no place to put them at the time except for my main tank and now have ich in the tank. It's not really a big deal as it's under control and won't be long before I can rid them of it.
Anyway, in about 2 to 3 weeks I'll have 50 fish or so in the 265 along with any additional corals I pick up during that time. I still have another 120 sitting in the garage that needs to get setup. Once I get someone to help me carry it into the house I'll do the plumbing on it and turn it into a trigger/lion tank. I'd like to put a clown and huma huma trigger in it along with a Fu Manchu lion. Maybe a large angel or 2 as well. I'm sure that will be a FOWLR tank but since it will be tied into the basement equipment it will benefit from the central "processing". Once I've got the 44 hex empty (my fish holding tank) I'm going to turn it into a stand alone sea horse tank (Matt get ready for questions). It was going to be my daughters tank but she wants to many corals that she couldn't have in the tank because of lighting. I'm going to get her a Red Sea 34g Max tank instead which has T5 lighting and a protein skimmer built in.
I had been planning on doing a large 750 gallon tank but the more I look at the 265 the more I'm thinking of scrapping the 750 idea and adding another 265 on the opposing wall which will give the room a really nice feel and will be a lot cheaper too. This would also give me the option of doing some different fish too for diversity.
I wish I had a picture so I could have saved the "thousand words".
But to answer your question mynd, yes anytime. You can wait till it's setup and I have all the fish in it or see it now and watch the progress as it all comes together.Carlo
Re: Cayars' new tank
I hear ya jazzsam. I'm getting good at moving them too. This particular 120 has been moved 3 or 4 times including a 3rd floor apartment. It was by far the heaviest thing I moved into the apartment. By the time we got between the 2nd and 3rd floor it seemed to get so heavy I thought I was going to die. Moving it down the 3 flights of steps and into the garage wasn't to big a deal. I guess it's a gravity thing.
The 120 isn't reef ready and I've never personally drilled a tank before. I'm pretty sure the bottom is tempered so that's not an option. I could drill the back of the tank and put in a back centered overflow. I'm debating drilling the tank or just using a HOB overflow. If I drill it I should probably do it while it's in the garage.
If I had the proper diamond bits I'd probably give it a shot. Besides eBay does anyone know any local places to buy the bits to cut glass?
Carlo
I hear ya jazzsam. I'm getting good at moving them too. This particular 120 has been moved 3 or 4 times including a 3rd floor apartment. It was by far the heaviest thing I moved into the apartment. By the time we got between the 2nd and 3rd floor it seemed to get so heavy I thought I was going to die. Moving it down the 3 flights of steps and into the garage wasn't to big a deal. I guess it's a gravity thing.
The 120 isn't reef ready and I've never personally drilled a tank before. I'm pretty sure the bottom is tempered so that's not an option. I could drill the back of the tank and put in a back centered overflow. I'm debating drilling the tank or just using a HOB overflow. If I drill it I should probably do it while it's in the garage.
If I had the proper diamond bits I'd probably give it a shot. Besides eBay does anyone know any local places to buy the bits to cut glass?
Carlo
Re: CAyers' new tank
Just a little update on the tank/system. I had to redo a couple of pipes that had small leaks in them. Now everthing is holding water nice and tight.
I've got a bunch of corals and frags in the main tank now, but still no fish.
The contents of the new tank (sand & rock) have been fallow for over 30 days and has been through a freeze so I'm sure it is parasite free.
I have two quarantine tanks setup with the use of a spare tank. I'm using the tank to transfer method to make sure all fish are parasite free (no ich or velvet) before entering the system. In one tank I've got a powder blue tang and in the other tank I've got 11 blue/green chromas and 4 damsels. The chromas and damsels just made the 4th tank change today so in 2 days they will go into the main display tank. The powder blue will get the 4th tank transfer tomorrow and two days after that will go into the main tank. After these guys make it into the tank I've got 25 or so fish in my 44 holding tank that will go through the same procedure before entering the new tank.
I hadn't mentioned before but I used John/Phyl's idea of the "baffle" return system which is most excellent. Building that thing was a pain in the but! I made mine with 8 returns on it for good measure. I'm presently only using 2 of them for the returns to the 265. To get things up and running quickly I hooked up all my equipment using the pumps I had been using with them before. I'm off to Lowes shortly to pickup some adapters to make use of the baffle returns and retire some of the smaller pumps.
In the 265 besides the sump returns I've got 2 of the Wavy Sea Plus devices mounted on the center beams. I'm using flex house on these for now as I'm playing with different pumps to see how much flow I can get in the tank using the Closed Loop. Also mounted on each Wavy Sea is a MaxiJet 1220 with the Hydor 360 degree rotating nozzle on each one. The MaxiJet sits right above the closed loop return and the combination of the rotating maxijet with the back and forth motion of the Wavy Sea is creating some interesting water patterns but still isn't enough flow for the tank. I'm still getting stuff settling on the bottom. I've got 4 hydor #4 pumps and 2 #2 on order (group buy and online backorders) so when these come in I'll try and replace the MaxiJets with these and see how much difference it makes (optimistic).
I now pretty much have all the equipment up and running but it's not as "pretty" as I'd like (in time). I drilled a bulkhead hole in my old Proclear 200 sump and put this online. It will be used for polypads and it holds the skimmer. I was able to adjust the flow properly so that a trickle of water is coming out of the bulkhead and spilling into the main sump. This keeps the water level exactly even in the ProClear 200 so the skimmer is now working like a charm with no adjustments needed (finally). I also got the 200mg ozone unit up and running at the same time as the skimmer. I replaced the airpump I was using on it (cheapy) with a Coral Life luft pump which allows you to dial in the amount of air through the ozone unit and into the skimmer (wish I did this before).
I've got 3 phosban reactors online running carbon and have 4 more on order via this month's group buy. I'm not sure what I'll run in them yet but I like having them around just in case. I've got the Fluval 404 canister filter online running a combination of Purigen and carbon. I also hooked up one of my TurboTwist 12X 36 watt UV units. I was going to hook the second one up too but decided to wait until I could hard pipe them into the baffle system with a couple of gate valves to control the flow through them properly.
This weekend my dad is planning on a visit so I'll probably get him to help me carry the 120 into the house and get it setup and leveled (going to be a trigger/lion tank). I hate to have help from a 72 year old but he helped me move the 125 and said it wasn't that heavy so... Speaking of my dad, he is getting the "reef bug". The other day he called me and told me he stopped in ZOOs and saw a couple of pretty fish. He asked me if he were to pick up a couple of fish could I hold them for him. He has a nice koi pond so it's no big surprise he would like the reef setup.
I've taken a series of pictures with my cheap digital camera but now can't find the cord to plug into the computer to download them. Once I find the cord I'll upload the pics.
That's pretty much it for now until I come across the camera USB cable.
Carlo
PS could a mod change the thread title to "Cayars" instead of "CAyers" (no e), thanks.
Just a little update on the tank/system. I had to redo a couple of pipes that had small leaks in them. Now everthing is holding water nice and tight.
I've got a bunch of corals and frags in the main tank now, but still no fish.
The contents of the new tank (sand & rock) have been fallow for over 30 days and has been through a freeze so I'm sure it is parasite free.
I have two quarantine tanks setup with the use of a spare tank. I'm using the tank to transfer method to make sure all fish are parasite free (no ich or velvet) before entering the system. In one tank I've got a powder blue tang and in the other tank I've got 11 blue/green chromas and 4 damsels. The chromas and damsels just made the 4th tank change today so in 2 days they will go into the main display tank. The powder blue will get the 4th tank transfer tomorrow and two days after that will go into the main tank. After these guys make it into the tank I've got 25 or so fish in my 44 holding tank that will go through the same procedure before entering the new tank.
I hadn't mentioned before but I used John/Phyl's idea of the "baffle" return system which is most excellent. Building that thing was a pain in the but! I made mine with 8 returns on it for good measure. I'm presently only using 2 of them for the returns to the 265. To get things up and running quickly I hooked up all my equipment using the pumps I had been using with them before. I'm off to Lowes shortly to pickup some adapters to make use of the baffle returns and retire some of the smaller pumps.
In the 265 besides the sump returns I've got 2 of the Wavy Sea Plus devices mounted on the center beams. I'm using flex house on these for now as I'm playing with different pumps to see how much flow I can get in the tank using the Closed Loop. Also mounted on each Wavy Sea is a MaxiJet 1220 with the Hydor 360 degree rotating nozzle on each one. The MaxiJet sits right above the closed loop return and the combination of the rotating maxijet with the back and forth motion of the Wavy Sea is creating some interesting water patterns but still isn't enough flow for the tank. I'm still getting stuff settling on the bottom.
I've got 4 hydor #4 pumps and 2 #2 on order (group buy and online backorders) so when these come in I'll try and replace the MaxiJets with these and see how much difference it makes (optimistic).I now pretty much have all the equipment up and running but it's not as "pretty" as I'd like (in time). I drilled a bulkhead hole in my old Proclear 200 sump and put this online. It will be used for polypads and it holds the skimmer. I was able to adjust the flow properly so that a trickle of water is coming out of the bulkhead and spilling into the main sump. This keeps the water level exactly even in the ProClear 200 so the skimmer is now working like a charm with no adjustments needed (finally). I also got the 200mg ozone unit up and running at the same time as the skimmer. I replaced the airpump I was using on it (cheapy) with a Coral Life luft pump which allows you to dial in the amount of air through the ozone unit and into the skimmer (wish I did this before).
I've got 3 phosban reactors online running carbon and have 4 more on order via this month's group buy. I'm not sure what I'll run in them yet but I like having them around just in case. I've got the Fluval 404 canister filter online running a combination of Purigen and carbon. I also hooked up one of my TurboTwist 12X 36 watt UV units. I was going to hook the second one up too but decided to wait until I could hard pipe them into the baffle system with a couple of gate valves to control the flow through them properly.
This weekend my dad is planning on a visit so I'll probably get him to help me carry the 120 into the house and get it setup and leveled (going to be a trigger/lion tank). I hate to have help from a 72 year old but he helped me move the 125 and said it wasn't that heavy so... Speaking of my dad, he is getting the "reef bug". The other day he called me and told me he stopped in ZOOs and saw a couple of pretty fish. He asked me if he were to pick up a couple of fish could I hold them for him.
He has a nice koi pond so it's no big surprise he would like the reef setup.I've taken a series of pictures with my cheap digital camera but now can't find the cord to plug into the computer to download them.
Once I find the cord I'll upload the pics.That's pretty much it for now until I come across the camera USB cable.
Carlo
PS could a mod change the thread title to "Cayars" instead of "CAyers" (no e), thanks.
Yea, it's a lot of rock and my hands are still pretty cut up from moving it around. Sad thing is I still want/need a couple hundred more pounds for the 120g trigger/lion tank.
Not including frags, I've got 40+ nice corals in the tank but it still looks bare to me since I was previously used to the "crammed" coral tank look. I'm trying to control myself this time. I've got enough in there to be satisfied and can now enjoy growing out some frags (thanks to Ed & Absinthe so far).
Now that's it's getting nicer out maybe after I get the trigger/lion tank up and on the system and have all the fishes in the tanks, I'll throw a BBQ and have an open invite to the club. What's better then beer, BBQ, beer, horse shoes, beer, reef tanks, beer and a heated pool (if warm enough out)? I know you guys like your beer so I made sure to include that!
Carlo
Not including frags, I've got 40+ nice corals in the tank but it still looks bare to me since I was previously used to the "crammed" coral tank look. I'm trying to control myself this time.
I've got enough in there to be satisfied and can now enjoy growing out some frags (thanks to Ed & Absinthe so far).Now that's it's getting nicer out maybe after I get the trigger/lion tank up and on the system and have all the fishes in the tanks, I'll throw a BBQ and have an open invite to the club. What's better then beer, BBQ, beer, horse shoes, beer, reef tanks, beer and a heated pool (if warm enough out)? I know you guys like your beer so I made sure to include that!
Carlo
Didn't we decide beer and hundereds of gallons of salt water was a bad idea?? ;D
