Coral in the Capitol

[ccurnick]

Nothing major to report other than i picked up another MP40W.

Parma’s today tested at nitrite: .2 and nitrates were 1ppm.

Cycle is moving along!

 

[ccurnick]

I unfortunately have a bad update. My tank is no longer level and it appears to be dipping in the front left corner by roughly 1/4”. After some more investigation i discovered that the stand is warping on that corner for some reason. SCA Aquariums immediately sent out a replacement and i will be swapping it over when it arrives. Luckily i used unions on the plumbing so it won’t be too much of a PITA to move.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I unfortunately have a bad update. My tank is no longer level and it appears to be dipping in the front left corner by roughly 1/4”. After some more investigation i discovered that the stand is warping on that corner for some reason. SCA Aquariums immediately sent out a replacement and i will be swapping it over when it arrives. Luckily i used unions on the plumbing so it won’t be too much of a PITA to move.

Ugh. that is crappy. Nice to get a new stand, but still a big job. Luckily it is early in the tank's life.

 

[ccurnick]

I have shimmed the entire stand so it is level for now.

I dont think it will be too bad since I have no livestock to worry about.

• Drain water into buckets
• disconnect plumbing (thank you unions!)
• clear out stand
• move tank
• reassemble
• add water

It might extend my cycle by a little bit but that is better than having the tank break and flood my condo

 

[ccurnick]

A blessing in disguise is that this will now give me an entire stand worth of scrap wood to make a matching electrical cabinet so I can move it all out of my stand!

 

[Miles Williams]

I think I liked it more before the second batch went in, honestly, but I am a minimalist. I would say do not feel you have to use it all. I like to stay around 2/3 the height to the waterline too, to allow for growth. That said, if you prefer the look of a rock wall, I would try to vary the heights along the top a bit.

Was thinking same exact thing about the rock

 

[Schnizzle]

Nice build! Good luck with the stand swap. SCA started offering the solid wood stands just after I decided to build my own. I was torn between the 90 cube and 90 long. I opted to go long.

 

[ccurnick]

Not much to report other than the cycle is moving along rug swimmingly! (See what i did there?)

Ammonia: <.2
Nitrite: 1
Nitrates: 50ppm

Still waiting on my new stand to arrive, which is when I’ll do my first water change and shortly after introduce a small CUC.

 

[ccurnick]

My new stand is en route and i have New test results!

With Red Sea Marine care test kit.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:1
Nitrate: 50

I will be doing a water change, start using my skimmer, and then add ammonia back up to 2ppm and see what happens. Small amounts of brown algae have also started to grow.

 

[Janci]

That are good readings.
Time to get the tank settled and diatoms in/out.

 

[ccurnick]

I plan to. New stand should be here early next week as it gets in area on the 10th. Not planning on messing with anything until then.

 

[ccurnick]

Stand should be here early next week!!

Not much of an update but i plumbed my ro/di under my sink!

 

[ccurnick]

Tank went from 1.5ppm of ammonia to 0 overnight, as well as had a passive explosion of pods.

Good signs all around. Water change happening this week and my new stand gets into the area tomorrow morning, hopefully I’ll have it in the next few days.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Tank went from 1.5ppm of ammonia to 0 overnight, as well as had a passive explosion of pods.

Good signs all around. Water change happening this week and my new stand gets into the area tomorrow morning, hopefully I’ll have it in the next few days.

Very nice. Should be a productive week.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Tank twins! Even have the same stand. I went with a Trigger sapphire cube sump tho.

One piece of advice. Level the stand 3 or 4 times, then level it again. Get a bunch of door shims from your local hardware store or Lowe's or Home Depot. Also get 1/4"/6mm yoga mat to put between the tank and the stand. That black foam pad they send is garbage.

I had that exact stand fail about a week in and crack the bottom of my tank, leaking 40 something gallons of salt water onto my hardwood floors over night. I woke up to a 1/4 filled tank that was running the night before.

SCA made good on it and I have a brand new tank and stand that's been running 5-6 months now. I did have to rent a dancer and completely resurface my floor tho.

 

[ccurnick]

Tank twins! Even have the same stand. I went with a Trigger sapphire cube sump tho.

One piece of advice. Level the stand 3 or 4 times, then level it again. Get a bunch of door shims from your local hardware store or Lowe's or Home Depot. Also get 1/4"/6mm yoga mat to put between the tank and the stand. That black foam pad they send is garbage.

I had that exact stand fail about a week in and crack the bottom of my tank, leaking 40 something gallons of salt water onto my hardwood floors over night. I woke up to a 1/4 filled tank that was running the night before.

SCA made good on it and I have a brand new tank and stand that's been running 5-6 months now. I did have to rent a dancer and completely resurface my floor tho.

That is exactly what I am trying to avoid haha. I currently have the stand shimmed, and the tank is perfectly level. I got a thicker mat to put between the tank and stand, and hopefully, that will be of more help if the stand is still not level.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

That is exactly what I am trying to avoid haha. I currently have the stand shimmed, and the tank is perfectly level. I got a thicker mat to put between the tank and stand, and hopefully, that will be of more help if the stand is still not level.

Good. I hate to be the Debbie Downer, but I just wanted to warn you.

Tagging along, for twinning purposes.

 

[ccurnick]

New stand came in today!

Time to sand and paint the interior with an epoxy. Hoping to transfer the tank this weekend over to it.

Let the work begin!

 

[ccurnick]

Good Params today after a 10g water change

ammonia: 0, nitrite: 0 nitrates: 10ppm

Made quick work with the stand as well. Swap is planned for this weekend most likely.

 

[Janci]

Nice looking stand. I hope the swap went smoothly.