• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Advanced Complexity" Reef Aquarium

J

Jasonanatal

Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium Update.

Aquascaping: Marco Rocks (Recreacting a Natural Reef)

I looked at my aquarium recently and my wife said that I really needed some more rock. So with permission from the misses I began to do some searching for rocks online, within the local reef clubs and on Craigslist. Well lucky for me I stumbled upon an ad within Craigslist from an individual who was just starting a setup but decided to get out of the hobby in anticipation of his new child. So for an amazing deal of $175.00 I found myself in the possession of 200 lbs of some of the most beautiful pieces of Marco Rocks that I have ever seen.

The rocks were delivered on Saturday, December 27, 2008 and layed out for the the aquascaping project in my living room. Now I recently lost both the Powder Blue Tang and the Achilles Tang to a massive outbreak of saltwater ich so their is no worry to the animals within the aquarium with the exception of my Ultra Grade Maxima Clam which has been exposed to this type of cycling in my previous setup. I know what many would say but I just don't have the infrastructure in place to house him in a seperate aquarium. With guidance from the Mrs. the project began within a simple idea of how the layout would be. I hope everyone enjoys. Please excuse the massive algea outbreak which will be dealt with shortly.


IMG_0946.jpg

IMG_0947.jpg

IMG_0948.jpg

IMG_0950.jpg

IMG_0949.jpg

IMG_0951.jpg

Photograph - Sunday, December 28, 2008 - Marco Rock aquascaping within my 120 gallon All Glass Reef Aquarium.
 
panmanmatt

panmanmatt

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Re: Reply to panmanmatt.

Jasonanatal said:
panmanmatt said:
Is this the same tank you are taking down in this thread? http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=14499.0

Just curious why you would be adding rock to a tank you are getting rid of. The new scape looks awesome though.
Click to expand...

Not selling anything! Changed my mind. Thanks for the compliments.
Click to expand...

May be a good idea to update your for sale threads then so folks will quit posting in them thinking you're still selling.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Re: Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium.

sorry to hear that you lost both tangs!!! ouch. :'(
 
R

REEFLECTIONS

Re: Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium.

really glad ur still in it... i felt so bad seeing that pic of you with the skimmer next to the tree 2 weeks ago.... and if you don't over populate the coral, maintenence can be not to bad...
 
J

Jasonanatal

Reply to Reeflections.

REEFLECTIONS said:
really glad ur still in it... i felt so bad seeing that pic of you with the skimmer next to the tree 2 weeks ago.... and if you don't over populate the coral, maintenence can be not to bad...
Click to expand...

Reeflections, I'm glad to say that I'm still in it as well. This is such a beautiful hobby that I really couldn't promise myself that I would be happy if I could part from it.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Re: Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium.

Super ;D glad your still in.
Really sorry about your losses. Nice rock congrats on the purchase and the setup looks great.
 
R

REEFLECTIONS

Re: Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium.

and by the way i really like the way to framed out that stand the way you did... it will make "wrapping" it very easy and give you a great look...and easy to customize cause there's lotsa wood to work with
 
J

Jasonanatal

Reply to Jrwohler.

JRWOHLER said:
Super ;D glad your still in.
Really sorry about your losses. Nice rock congrats on the purchase and the setup looks great.
Click to expand...

Jrwohler, thank you. I'm glad I'm still in as well especially since I found such a great deal.
 
J

Jasonanatal

Reply to Reeflections.

REEFLECTIONS said:
and by the way i really like the way to framed out that stand the way you did... it will make "wrapping" it very easy and give you a great look...and easy to customize cause there's lotsa wood to work with
Click to expand...

Reeflections, thank you for the compliments. I definitely have some ideas on the standwork but I always end up just going with the flow of things and modifying on the fly.
 
J

Jasonanatal

Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium Update.

Chemical: D&D H2Ocean Salt Mix (Starting Up the Reef With The Best)

Well they are definitely a few things that I forgot to post about in order since the aquarium has been setup. I normally get wrapped up in various projects so I wanted to get a few things out of the way. I wanted to startup my aquarium with the very best salt possible. So I contacted Marvin at D&D The Aquarium Solution and had him send me a large bucket of the D&D H2Ocean Salt Mix which the majority is made of evaporated sea salt from the Red Sea and additives such as Calcium and Magnesium. The salt mix has had some great reviews from other reef aquarists, so naturally I thought I would give it a try.


IMG_0640.jpg

IMG_0641.jpg

IMG_0642.jpg

IMG_0643.jpg

Photograph - Thursday, January 01, 2009 - D&D H2Ocean Salt Mix.

For the current time I now conduct water changes on a schedule of every two weeks changing approximately 15 gallons of saltwater. The mixture is mixed one day in advance as well as aerated and heated for 24 hours. After the water change has been completed I wait another 24 hours before testing my aquarium water parameters. Below are the most recent test results.


Water Parameter Test Results for Monday December 29, 2008

Salinity Grade: 10.25 SG
Average Water Temperature: 79.3 degrees Fahreneheit
Alkalinity (CaCO3): 144 PPM / 8.06 dKH
Calcium (CA): 474.72 PPM
Magnesium (Mg): 915 PPM (Raised to 1335 PPM after dosing with Kent Tech M additive.)
pH (Lights On): 8.13
Phosphate (PO4): 0.05 PPM
Ammonia (NH3/4): Undetectdable
Nitrite (NO2): Undetectable
Nitrate (NO3): 2.0 PPM
 
J

Jasonanatal

Jasonanatal's 120 Gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium Update.

Plumbing: CPR CS90 Overflow Box (Some What Safe at Removing Water)

I originally opted out of purchasing an aquarium with built in overflows mainly since my original design did not include a sump in order to keep the overall weight of the aquarium to a minimum. However, as this project sprials into something else I am now making the best of things and had to resort to using an overflow box to transfer water from the aquarium to the sump. I could have drilled but that would require me breaking down this aqarium and that was simply not a task that I wanted to undertake again. So I have had great luck with standard U-Tube Overflow in the past but wanted to make sure that I choose the best equipment that would work with my design. So I turned to the nice folks at CPR and purchased a CPR CS 90 Overflow Box to solve my problem.


IMG_0858.jpg

IMG_0859.jpg

Photographs - Friday, December 12, 2008 - CPR CS90 Continuous Siphon Overflow Box.

IMG_0864.jpg

IMG_0863.jpg

IMG_0865.jpg

Photographs - Friday, December 12, 2008 - CPR CS90 Continuous Siphon Overflow Box Bulkhead being sealed with All Glass Aquarium Safe Silicon for extra protection against leaks.

IMG_0866.jpg

IMG_0867.jpg

IMG_0868.jpg

Photographs - Friday, December 12, 2008 - Flexible tubing being connected using PVC Cement for a secure connection to the CPR CS90 Continuous Siphon Overflow Box.

The CPR CS90 Overflow box had some nifty features which made it stand out above the rest. The box itself is constructed to be 1 entire piece where as most overflow boxes come in two parts that are usually held together with nylon screws as well as sporting individual U-Tubes giving a combing total of 4 individual pieces on average. The CPR CS90 Overflow Box is constructed to one single piece and also includes a vent hole for easy siphone starting and continued siphoning of air via a Tom's Aqualifter Pump.

Now this device has it benefits but definitely has some downfalls as well. The siphon hole that is integrated into the CPR CS90 Overflow Box needs maintenance as much as any other piece of equipment in this hobby. It can become clogged with detritus or algea since the tubing is clear and reduce the flow or even break the siphon since bubbles cannot be extracted via the Tom's Aqualift Pump. I generally am anal about maintaining my equipment so I solved this problem by purchasing 3 seperated Tom's Aqualifter Pumps, two of which I use in a weekly rotation while one pump is strictly a backup pump should one of the pumps fail so that I can maintain the rotation. When the pump is removed for the weekly maintenance I clear the lines by running the pump in a Vinigar/Freshwater solution for 1 day. The pump is then dried off and placed in storage until the next rotation. I have also resolved the problem of the clear tubing building up with algae by replacing the tubing with Black RO/DI tubing which inhibits the light from feeding algae within the tube.
 
J

Jasonanatal

Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium Update.

Plumbing: Custom Acrylic Sump 22"w x 16"d x 16"h (Custom King)

Normally my original plans did not include a sump but as the project progressed I really saw a need to add a sump. So I contacted one of the members of a local reef club "Manhattan Reefs" and asked if he could construct an Acrylic Sump. The sump was constructed with Euro Bracing, four seperate areas (Protein Skimmer, Filter Sock, Refugium and Return Pump) with bubble baffles. It measures 22 Inches width x 16 Inches depth x 16 Inches height and made with 1/8 Inch thick Acrylic. It currently holds 24.4 gallons of water and is currently filled with 15 gallons of saltwater.


IMG_0856.jpg

Photograph - Friday, December 12, 2008 - My Custom Acrylic Sump made by Custom King of Manhattan Reefs forum.

IMG_0961.jpg

Photograph - Friday, January 02, 2009 - My Custom Acrylic sump installed underneath my aquarium.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Re: Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium.

He did a nice job on the sump.  Small but really functional.

"Natural Simplicity" at its finest.
 
J

Jasonanatal

Reply to Jrwohler.

JRWOHLER said:
He did a nice job on the sump. Small but really functional.

"Natural Simplicity" at its finest.
Click to expand...

Jrwohler, that he did and for a great price as well. The sump only cost me $170.00
 
J

Jasonanatal

Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium Update.

Aquarium Issue: Algae Bloom Within My Aquarium (Pretty Intense)

Well not everything that I post can about my aquarium can be good news and this is most likely the start of a series of post as my aquarium goes through the process of becoming mature. I must admit that I am a very heavy feeder for the fish that I house in my aquarium, which is most likely the source of my algae problem. However, the aquarium currently has no fish and I have not been feeding anything and this algae is wiped down in the morning and returns once I get home from work in the evening. Below are the most recent water parameter testing results. I know that the phosphates are present and that in combination with an 8 hour photo-period could be enough to keep my problem occuring. What do you think?


Water Parameter Test Results for Monday December 29, 2008

Salinity Grade: 1.025 SG
Average Water Temperature: 79.3 degrees Fahreneheit
Alkalinity (CaCO3): 144 PPM / 8.06 dKH
Calcium (CA): 474.72 PPM
Magnesium (Mg): 915 PPM (Raised to 1335 PPM after dosing with Kent Tech M additive.)
pH (Lights On): 8.13
Phosphate (PO4): 0.05 PPM
Ammonia (NH3/4): Undetectdable
Nitrite (NO2): Undetectable
Nitrate (NO3): 2.0 PPM


IMG_0957.jpg

IMG_0958.jpg

IMG_0959.jpg

Photograph - January 02, 2009 - Algae Bloom in my aquarium.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Re: Jasonanatal's 120 gallon "Natural Simplicity" Reef Aquarium.

Water source? RODI? Or NYC special, right from the tap?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top