MrX's 120G Build

[delta]

One thing you can do to make the skimmer more efficient it to put the Durso's in a container of some sort container with the skimmer pump that way it is skimming raw tank water. You want the skimmer to draw concentrated tank water so by creating a mock baffle you make your skimmer more efficient.

Having you skimmer intake in the wrong place can great reduce the out of the skimmer. That is why most HOB skimmer do not perform well they have inadequate surface skimming. With a sump your tank over flow skims the surface so the more concentrated tank water out of your drains you get to the skimmer the better.

Sorry to hear about the issue with the LFS

coming along nice

 

[MrX]

One thing you can do to make the skimmer more efficient it to put the Durso's in a container of some sort container with the skimmer pump that way it is skimming raw tank water. You want the skimmer to draw concentrated tank water so by creating a mock baffle you make your skimmer more efficient.

Good point. I'll try and find another container today and set that up.

 

[MrX]

Bought a new trash barrel that the drains will fill and that water will be sourced to the skimmer. As Greg mentioned this will assure that the skimmer is cleaning the water right from the DT.

This fits great, slows down the water, sources the skimmer water, and provides a convienent water level marker for me!

 

[MrX]

Got the 40B back from the LFS today, so I hooked it into the system. Worked out pretty well... got the drain/output from the 40B going right into the skimmer source bucket in the sump. Might tweak the input drain pipe length a bit, and maybe add an elbow to the overflow drain to the sump. Just waiting a couple hours to do a salinity check and see how badly I threw it off.

Still no movement on the cycle/ammonia spike. Might toss a little more fish-goo in tonight.

I also just cut the hole in the wall down a little more to let the drains curve more smoothly and see if that helps with the noise. I might also raise the pipe on the noisier side and see if that helps even out the overflow usage any; hopefully reducing the noise a bit.

My lights are in at Reef Gems. John was going to do some testing on them today and ship them out. Can't wait to see them!

 

[banshee1]

With that drain pipe going into you 40b out of the water like that your going to get a ton of salt spray.you would be better off to either loose that t all together and just loper the pipe so that its half under the water or just lower out so its just submerged

 

[MrX]

With that drain pipe going into you 40b out of the water like that your going to get a ton of salt spray.you would be better off to either loose that t all together and just loper the pipe so that its half under the water or just lower out so its just submerged

Yeah, I haven't glue the downward pipe from the T- yet on the 40B input. I wanted to get the water level where I wanted it and then cut a piece of PVC so it's just below the water line. I thought of just letting the pipe angle right into the water but I wanted some support on the far end; that's basically what the T- was added for.

Finishing up this is tonights project/plan.

 

[MrX]

In a holding pattern waiting for my lights to arrive and my tank to cycle.

The lights shipped on Tuesday from WI and I was hoping they'd be here Friday, but no such luck. Looks like Monday or Tuesday at this point. Then I need to figure out how to hang them. I'm thinking from the ceiling with some sort of retractable hanger things to raise and lower them. Any suggestions on hanging options are appreciated.

The tank is currently reading 0.50-1.0ppm ammonia, nitrites looks like it might be edging from 0 to 0.25ppm. For some reason I was thinking the ammonia would spike waaayyy up (chart goes to 8.0ppm after all), but someone mentioned to me that probably won't happen.

Today my brother-in-law, the electrician, helped wire out generator into the electrical panel. Brandy-new Generac XG8000 ready for whatever National Grid and Mother Nature can throw at us. Without that I probably wouldn't have bothered getting into this hobby. He's going to come back another day and wire up a 4-gang power outlet over in my sump/frag area.

Thinking about future system additions I'm thinking some type of ATO first and then a controller. Reading about controllers I think I'm leaning towards the Apex Jr. No clue about ATOs yet; I just know I don't want to be having to manually top off all the time.

Tank is very clear, salinity seems to be holding steady, and the skimmer looks like it's starting to do its thing.

Auction tomorrow! Going to be painful watching all the cool stuff pass by. hehe

 

[MrX]

Today I made my first livestock/coral purchases at the auction:
- a pair of clownfish (from the University of New England)
- a pink (?) emerald crab
- a frag of Kryptonite Candy Cane

These are all boarding at mnavicks until my tank finishes cycling. After acclimating the fish and the crab they looked very happy/content in his sump. The kids were very excited and can't wait until they come home to our tank. Before leaving Mike's he gave me a couple cups of sand from his DT and sump. I put each cup in the same location in my setup.

I also got some sand and rubble from jeremy052274. That went right into the DT. The kids loved the six snails that were in there! So far, 6 hours later, three are still definitely chugging along. The other 3 (two really small pointy ones and a larger pointy one) made some trails earlier but I don't see them doing much now. Not sure they are still alive or not (Update: just walked by the tank and the larger pointy one has moved from where it was! The two smaller ones still seem to be in the same place). Of the three active ones two are hanging out in the left-front corner of the DT and appear to like climbing the glass. The third active one I lost track of but then found in the middle of the tank heading under some rock work towards the back.

I added some of my leftover dry sand to my sump after moving the rocks around a bit. The front third of the sump now has about a 2" sand bed, with the rocks walling it in a bit and keeping it away from the return pump input. Between this, the live sand, and the extra 5 gallons of saltwater I added everything is cloudy again.

Other than that I got a water test at Tropic Isle and picked up a 1" elbow and threaded adapter to raise the level in my frag tank a bit. I ended up drilling some holes in the elbow to create a psuedo-overflow; then I took the drain filter I had, cut the end off, and inserted it upside-down into the top of the elbow. I really should have drilled two overflow holes just to be safe. Oh well... (until it clogs and floods!). My water test came back with salinity at 1.022, I was reading 1.025-1.026, so I might have to calibrate my refractometer. pH I was told is at 7.8. Ammonia and Nitrite are pretty much where I thought they were with my testing.

Time to let the new sand/salt settle down, keep and eye on the snails, and eagerly await my lights! Hope tomorrow is the day!

 

[MrX]

Clowns and crab in Mike's sump:

Snails from Jeremy in my DT:

Added and elbow and some holes to the overflow in the frag tank:

Put about 2" in the front third of the sump:

 

[MrX]

Quick update before I call it a night.

The six snails I mentioned earlier (from Jeremy) are all still alive and exploring the tank 8+ hours later!

Also noticed we got some more guests from the sand Mike gave me. I looked in the tank and noticed little trails through the sand from him; more snails to watch! Nothing in the sump sand that I can see.

Kind of exciting to actually have something in there now.

 

[MrX]

Damsels are settled in and appear to be fine. Pretty sure I've seen them all eat at least a couple pellets. When I go down to check them the minute I turn the corner from the stairs and they see me they bolt behind/under the rocks and pvc.

Just did a set of tests and got these results: pH = 8.0-8.2 | ammonia = 0.25-0.50ppm (more towards 0.50ppm) | nitrite = 0.50ppm | nitrate = 0ppm

Forgot to add my salinity, it's at 1.023. Based on the test I had done at Tropic Isle before the auction I had to recalibrate my refractometer; it was off by .003.

Waiting, like a child waits for Christmas, for the UPS guy to show up with my LEDs! Once they come it's time to figure out how to hang them.

 

[MrX]

POSTED THIS LAST NIGHT BUT IT GOT ERASED WITH THE DATABASE ROLL-BACK. Not 100% sure why there is a double post before this one.

The Cerith (4 or 5) and Nassarius (4-6) snails in the tank now are still active. It's fun watching them move around the tank. A little earlier one of the smaller nassarius snails was riding one that was slightly bigger as it tried to climb the rocks. It looked like the bigger one shrugged and the small one was knocked off and fell to the sand.

Tonight we bought four damsels to live in the frag tank and generate some more "stuff" to assist in the cycle. We got two blue yellow-tails and two four-striped (black and white). After acclimating them for 20-25 minutes into the frag tank they went. The two four-stripes hung out around the overflow pipe, the two blues dropped down into the corner. I was able to see at least two of them eat a few pellets about an hour after being in the tank. I moved a large piece of rock and a couple smaller pieces from the sump into the frag tank for them to hide/relax. Also threw in a couple pieces of PVC pipe. The maxijet is off for the night... will turn it back on tomorrow. Lighting for now will be the ambient light from the window and slider about 10ft away.

Got tracking numbers for my lights today, they will be here tomorrow!!

 

[jeremy052274]

Awesome! Those snails I gave you just happened to be in the sand, if you keep a close eye you will see tons of baby snails hatching, I'm sure. They tend to crawl up the glass in the evening. I think those damsels are a good idea, nice and hardy (especially since you're at the tail-end of your cycle). And your kids will love them. Most importantly? You have them in your frag tank with no decorations or anything, so you'll actually be able to catch them should you not want to keep them!

My refractometer was off by about 3 as well from the package before I calibrated, so similar results here.

Keep posting, I'm excited for you to get your LED's! Also, that crab looks adorable and the candy cane is the same one I got from the auction and it's healthy and happy as can be.

 

[MrX]

Awesome! Those snails I gave you just happened to be in the sand, if you keep a close eye you will see tons of baby snails hatching, I'm sure. They tend to crawl up the glass in the evening. I think those damsels are a good idea, nice and hardy (especially since you're at the tail-end of your cycle). And your kids will love them. Most importantly? You have them in your frag tank with no decorations or anything, so you'll actually be able to catch them should you not want to keep them!

My refractometer was off by about 3 as well from the package before I calibrated, so similar results here.

Keep posting, I'm excited for you to get your LED's! Also, that crab looks adorable and the candy cane is the same one I got from the auction and it's healthy and happy as can be.

Thanks again for the sand and crabs Jeremy! It's very cool to see stuff moving around in the tank. Even this little bit of life is entertaining. The nass snails have been everywhere!

The damsels still appear to be doing well. Fed them some pellets this morning and a cube of frozen brine tonight; tossed a little of that into the DT as well. Everytime I go near the frag tank they hide in the pvc/rocks. Big scary bald me! hehe

The LEDs came today but I think they are going back tomorrow. The tank looks great with them on but unfortunately they weren't treated very well in shipping (from the manufacturer to the guy who I ordered them from, or from him to me, not 100% sure which yet). I'm working with the seller now to see what can be done before I just ship them back. More updates to come.

 

[MrX]

*sigh* Back to square one in regards to LEDs. Any other suggestions? AI Sol, AI Vega? Radions I think are out of my price range. Any idea how many I'd need over the 48x24x24? The two I had for a bit today were 120W and seemed to cover very well. Whereas the AI Sol are 75W so I'm guessing I'd need one or two more at least.

Help a reefer out!

 

[mnavick]

^Metal Halide

 

[banshee1]

2 radions would work fine

 

[banshee1]

They are designed to cover a 24inx24in area

 

[MrX]

One of the four-stripe damsels was dead this morning when I checked on them. That kind of surprised me as the four-stripes looked like they were doing better than the Yellow-tails; they were swimming more/stronger and appeared to be eating more.

ETA: Just noticed what looks like a cut on the side of its head as well...

I'm wondering if it was because I turned off the maxijet 1200 and the only from was the the input from the DT drain and the output into the sump. Maybe the tank was a little to stagnant? I did notice there was a chunk of missing skin on one side of it, so I'm wondering if the other damsels ganged up on it. Do damsels fight amongst each other no matter the species? Or would it be more like 2vs2 (four-stripes vs. yellow tail)?

The other three ate some pellets this morning and gobbled down 3/4ths of a frozen-brine cube (I tossed the rest into the DT). While feeding the brine I noticed one of the Yellow tails seemed to be protective of his pvc pipe. When the four-stripe went within 4-5" of the opening it looked like the yellow tail zipped out and poked at him.

I'm going to leave the maxijet on tonight and see what happens; the damsels can hide behind/under the rocks or in the pvc if they want to rest/sleep. Should I be overly concerned about too much flow in the 40B with the maxijet 1200?

Hope I don't wake to another casualty.

 

[MrX]

Just ordered two Apollo SolarBlast Dimable led fixtures, an Apex Jr, and an Apex VDM from http://apolloreefled.com/. Spoke to Joe for a few minutes to ask some questions and get some assistance with checking out (promo code wasn't working, he extended it for me).

Read some good things about their lights last night and his customer service today was great.

Picture from their site (Note: This is just an image link pointing to the image on their site, I didn't want to copy/upload/etc. a new image. The BUY NOW button doesn't do anything.):

Let's hope the shipping for my lights goes better this time!