edsbeaker
Grandma Has A Reef Obsession
Hi All.
I upgraded my tank about 10 months ago from a 75G to a 140G, and would like to share the details of what I've done so far as well as document the future progress. I am new to this forum so I'm going to be importing the details from a thread in my local club forum just to catch everyone up to date. There have been changes along the way, so I would like to keep the timeline as accurate as possible. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!!
Feb. 23, 2013
I decided to upgrade my tank for various reasons. My 75 gallon was scratched, which drove me crazy, the location of the tank in my home wasn't ideal, and I have been fighting a dino problem stemming from not properly cleaning my marco rock and sand before putting it into the 75G. So I needed to remove the rock and start all over.
It didn't make sense to go through all this trouble without an upgrade, so...... here we are.
The space that I wanted to put the tank was not quite large enough for a 6' tank. I knew I wanted at least 2' wide, and so decided on the 5'. I just ordered my 5' X 2' X 22" tank, stand and canopy from Great Lakes Aquarium, and will get it around the end of March. The stand will have doors on the front and both sides for easy access into the stand.
The canopy will be 14" high. It has doors on the front, as well as a flip top on a piano hinge that opens the entire front, and doors on both sides. I'm only 5' tall, so all of this will make it easier for maintenance in the tank and sump.
Details of the setup
It will be a mixed reef with minimalistic rock work. Lot's of open water.
Tank- 140G 5'X2'X22" reef ready, with starphire front and both sides, black silicone.
40 gallon custom sump made by Anthony-Nano Sea Creations
Controller- Apex light
Lighting- ATI dimmable 6X 54W fixture
Flow - 2 mp40's with WXM module for apex control
Skimmer- SRO 2000INT
ATO- Tunze osmolator
Dosing- 3 Drew's pumps from BRS, magnesium, alkalinity and calcium
GFO and Carbon- TLF reactors
BRS 6 stage RODI- added 150GPD upgrade with booster pump.
For the next year or so, my son, daughter-in-law and 4 small grandkids will be living with us. One of the things that was difficult to do on the old tank, with the kids, was water changes. I had my hose going across my kitchen and family room and draining into my laundry tub. A dangerous thing with four kids around. So I'm going to be doing things a bit more safely this time around. I have to keep my sump upstairs, because my husband has a train layout in the basement. We have run into problems in the past with his metal tracks rusting from the saltwater with an open sump, so can't have it down there. But I will have the dosing pumps, the ATO, and my closed saltwater change container in the basement. I have purchased pumps to keep permanently in the sump and the saltwater container, and have routed the plumbing through the basement, so that it is hidden and permanently set up. All that I need to do is turn on and off the pumps with my apex for instant water changes. I'm really looking forward to not having to roll out the hoses each week. In fact it is so easy, maybe I'll do 5% changes twice a week.
What I'm working on right now.
While I'm waiting for the tank/stand to arrive. I am in the process of bleaching all of my rock. It's been sitting in a brute container for about a week. I will be taking it out on Monday, rinsing it a couple times, and then adding some Prime to the water to get out any remaining ammonia. Then it will sit out to dry for a few days. Next step will be a soaking in some lanthanum chloride to make sure all the phosphate from the rocks is gone, adding a piece of shrimp and curing it all in the brute until the tank comes.
I am also cycling a QT. I've never successfully used one, but would like to do things right this time. I have a 20G long with a HOB filter. I'll be adding a piece of shrimp to start it cycling, and in a couple of weeks will add my first fish. If my timing is good, they should be ready to add to the DT when it is ready. I do plan on dosing the QT with praxi pro first, and then after water change and carbon, dosing cupramine to those fish that are not very sensitive to it. I do not trust myself to diagnose ich visually , and have a belief that if in the gills, it can be missed. Any comments on this? I know angels should not be treated with cupramine if at all possible. Any others I need to worry about?
My anticipated fish list is
Powder blue tang,
Flame angel
Coral beauty angel
Foxface
Midas Blenny
2 Clowns
2 Bangaii Cardinals
1 Firefish
2 Fairy wrasse of some kind
The QT tank will be set up permanently until the tank is fully stocked.
Mar 1, 2013
Today I am working on getting all of my dead rock ready. I have around 75 lbs of Marco rock waiting for my quart of lanthanum chloride to be delivered, and then can start soaking my original 75 lbs of rock in it. I have also ordered an additional 50 lbs of nano marco rocks. I went with nano so that I could make some interesting rock work. I thought the smaller pieces would make it easier to make some interesting details.
I have also been working on getting plumbing, airline tubings for my dosers, ATO wiring and tubing, RODI tubing and Apex cables through holes I've made in my floors and walls between my basement and upstairs laundry room, and dinette, where the tank will go.
The tank will be going in the spot in the picture above. One of the hoses will connect to a pump inside a 44G brute container with saltwater that is stored in the basement. You can also see the tubing for my three dosing pumps, also in the basement, and my ATO will also come up through here. The second hose coming up will be attached to a pump in my sump. The sump will be upstairs under my tank cabinet, but the plumbing for this one goes down to the basement and then across my crawl space and upstairs again to the laundry tub in my laundry room. By using my apex, I can just turn on and off both of these pumps to take water out of the sump, and replace it with the clean saltwater from the basement. Then the ATO container, also in the basement, and the saltwater container both are fitted with float valves, so that my RODI, it has a shut-off valve, will turn off automatically when the containers are full. The only work I will need to do is add salt to the brute can after a water change. Since the brute can is a 44G, I will only have to do this twice per month.I am so looking forward to no hoses needing to be connected each time.
When I look at so many of these builds, I notice how clean and neat everyone's work is. I'm a bit lazy about that, so please excuse my less then ideal carpentry skills. And please, please, please, if you ever have the opportunity to meet my husband, NEVER, EVER mention that there are holes in my floor and wall. I don't think he's noticed.
To be continued!
I upgraded my tank about 10 months ago from a 75G to a 140G, and would like to share the details of what I've done so far as well as document the future progress. I am new to this forum so I'm going to be importing the details from a thread in my local club forum just to catch everyone up to date. There have been changes along the way, so I would like to keep the timeline as accurate as possible. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!!
Feb. 23, 2013
I decided to upgrade my tank for various reasons. My 75 gallon was scratched, which drove me crazy, the location of the tank in my home wasn't ideal, and I have been fighting a dino problem stemming from not properly cleaning my marco rock and sand before putting it into the 75G. So I needed to remove the rock and start all over.
It didn't make sense to go through all this trouble without an upgrade, so...... here we are.
The space that I wanted to put the tank was not quite large enough for a 6' tank. I knew I wanted at least 2' wide, and so decided on the 5'. I just ordered my 5' X 2' X 22" tank, stand and canopy from Great Lakes Aquarium, and will get it around the end of March. The stand will have doors on the front and both sides for easy access into the stand.
The canopy will be 14" high. It has doors on the front, as well as a flip top on a piano hinge that opens the entire front, and doors on both sides. I'm only 5' tall, so all of this will make it easier for maintenance in the tank and sump.
Details of the setup
It will be a mixed reef with minimalistic rock work. Lot's of open water.
Tank- 140G 5'X2'X22" reef ready, with starphire front and both sides, black silicone.
40 gallon custom sump made by Anthony-Nano Sea Creations
Controller- Apex light
Lighting- ATI dimmable 6X 54W fixture
Flow - 2 mp40's with WXM module for apex control
Skimmer- SRO 2000INT
ATO- Tunze osmolator
Dosing- 3 Drew's pumps from BRS, magnesium, alkalinity and calcium
GFO and Carbon- TLF reactors
BRS 6 stage RODI- added 150GPD upgrade with booster pump.
For the next year or so, my son, daughter-in-law and 4 small grandkids will be living with us. One of the things that was difficult to do on the old tank, with the kids, was water changes. I had my hose going across my kitchen and family room and draining into my laundry tub. A dangerous thing with four kids around. So I'm going to be doing things a bit more safely this time around. I have to keep my sump upstairs, because my husband has a train layout in the basement. We have run into problems in the past with his metal tracks rusting from the saltwater with an open sump, so can't have it down there. But I will have the dosing pumps, the ATO, and my closed saltwater change container in the basement. I have purchased pumps to keep permanently in the sump and the saltwater container, and have routed the plumbing through the basement, so that it is hidden and permanently set up. All that I need to do is turn on and off the pumps with my apex for instant water changes. I'm really looking forward to not having to roll out the hoses each week. In fact it is so easy, maybe I'll do 5% changes twice a week.
What I'm working on right now.
While I'm waiting for the tank/stand to arrive. I am in the process of bleaching all of my rock. It's been sitting in a brute container for about a week. I will be taking it out on Monday, rinsing it a couple times, and then adding some Prime to the water to get out any remaining ammonia. Then it will sit out to dry for a few days. Next step will be a soaking in some lanthanum chloride to make sure all the phosphate from the rocks is gone, adding a piece of shrimp and curing it all in the brute until the tank comes.
I am also cycling a QT. I've never successfully used one, but would like to do things right this time. I have a 20G long with a HOB filter. I'll be adding a piece of shrimp to start it cycling, and in a couple of weeks will add my first fish. If my timing is good, they should be ready to add to the DT when it is ready. I do plan on dosing the QT with praxi pro first, and then after water change and carbon, dosing cupramine to those fish that are not very sensitive to it. I do not trust myself to diagnose ich visually , and have a belief that if in the gills, it can be missed. Any comments on this? I know angels should not be treated with cupramine if at all possible. Any others I need to worry about?
My anticipated fish list is
Powder blue tang,
Flame angel
Coral beauty angel
Foxface
Midas Blenny
2 Clowns
2 Bangaii Cardinals
1 Firefish
2 Fairy wrasse of some kind
The QT tank will be set up permanently until the tank is fully stocked.
Mar 1, 2013
Today I am working on getting all of my dead rock ready. I have around 75 lbs of Marco rock waiting for my quart of lanthanum chloride to be delivered, and then can start soaking my original 75 lbs of rock in it. I have also ordered an additional 50 lbs of nano marco rocks. I went with nano so that I could make some interesting rock work. I thought the smaller pieces would make it easier to make some interesting details.
I have also been working on getting plumbing, airline tubings for my dosers, ATO wiring and tubing, RODI tubing and Apex cables through holes I've made in my floors and walls between my basement and upstairs laundry room, and dinette, where the tank will go.
The tank will be going in the spot in the picture above. One of the hoses will connect to a pump inside a 44G brute container with saltwater that is stored in the basement. You can also see the tubing for my three dosing pumps, also in the basement, and my ATO will also come up through here. The second hose coming up will be attached to a pump in my sump. The sump will be upstairs under my tank cabinet, but the plumbing for this one goes down to the basement and then across my crawl space and upstairs again to the laundry tub in my laundry room. By using my apex, I can just turn on and off both of these pumps to take water out of the sump, and replace it with the clean saltwater from the basement. Then the ATO container, also in the basement, and the saltwater container both are fitted with float valves, so that my RODI, it has a shut-off valve, will turn off automatically when the containers are full. The only work I will need to do is add salt to the brute can after a water change. Since the brute can is a 44G, I will only have to do this twice per month.I am so looking forward to no hoses needing to be connected each time.
When I look at so many of these builds, I notice how clean and neat everyone's work is. I'm a bit lazy about that, so please excuse my less then ideal carpentry skills. And please, please, please, if you ever have the opportunity to meet my husband, NEVER, EVER mention that there are holes in my floor and wall. I don't think he's noticed.
To be continued!
