Greybeard's Wide, Shallow Peninsula
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najer
Valuable Member
Starting to get the bits and pieces together... Looking good
Very clean and functional looking.
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
I _love_ the width... but... if it had to be up against a wall, I wouldn't have gone more than 24" wide. Too hard to reach. With a peninsula, you need to reach something on the other side, you just walk around it. Couple that with the 18" depth, it's very easy to access whatever I need.
The sump is 18" wide, I really think I'm going to like it, depending on exactly how it ends up going into my sump closet. We'll find out soon
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Reboot proceeding.
New sump plumbed and equipment in place. Tank inhabitants moved to temp tank. Tank cleaned...
Oh, on the off chance any of you ever need to deep down clean a big tank, empty it, wet vac it out, and put a couple gallons of RO water with 3/4 cup of Citric Acid per gallon. Enough to put a half inch or so in the bottom. Use a soft bristle brush, calcium deposits, coraline algae, tube worms, etc... it all comes right off. On my 140g peninsula, took me a half hour to clean the bottom and 3 visible sides, which weren't too bad, and another half hour to clean the back panel, which was pretty heavily encrusted with dying sea life. Used a small pump and a bit of hose to keep a section saturated, and a nylon scrub pad where coraline was real heavy. Much better than vinegar, which I've been using for decades.
Got a piece of 1/4" starboard on the way, should be here in a day or two. Then, I can start laying out my new rock, pinning or epoxying where needed.
New sump plumbed and equipment in place. Tank inhabitants moved to temp tank. Tank cleaned...
Oh, on the off chance any of you ever need to deep down clean a big tank, empty it, wet vac it out, and put a couple gallons of RO water with 3/4 cup of Citric Acid per gallon. Enough to put a half inch or so in the bottom. Use a soft bristle brush, calcium deposits, coraline algae, tube worms, etc... it all comes right off. On my 140g peninsula, took me a half hour to clean the bottom and 3 visible sides, which weren't too bad, and another half hour to clean the back panel, which was pretty heavily encrusted with dying sea life. Used a small pump and a bit of hose to keep a section saturated, and a nylon scrub pad where coraline was real heavy. Much better than vinegar, which I've been using for decades.
Got a piece of 1/4" starboard on the way, should be here in a day or two. Then, I can start laying out my new rock, pinning or epoxying where needed.
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Crabs McJones
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Cant wait to see it!
minus9
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Citric acid is great and is what I use to clean things. I use it to clean my gyres, just fill a bucket with roughly 2 gallons of RO and a cup of citric acid, put one gyre in and let it run for an hour, rinse in RO and repeat what the heck the other one, done.
Can't wait to see the reboot, you're setup is great! I love shallow tanks and a shallow peninsula, even better! Good luck and I'm glad you're moving forward. This is a great example of experience and what a reef should be and seeing the end game. Kudos to you sir!
Can't wait to see the reboot, you're setup is great! I love shallow tanks and a shallow peninsula, even better! Good luck and I'm glad you're moving forward. This is a great example of experience and what a reef should be and seeing the end game. Kudos to you sir!
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
1/4" HDPE board is here I get to start playing with rocks tonight!
Had to trim it a bit to fit just right. Stuff cuts like butter. All the online advice shows special plastic blades... I don't have anything like that, so I just put a nice, sharp crosscut blade on the table saw. Worked out fine. Nice, clean cut.
Oh, and I think the remaining bits will make real good leveling shims
I get to start playing with rocks tonight!Had to trim it a bit to fit just right. Stuff cuts like butter. All the online advice shows special plastic blades... I don't have anything like that, so I just put a nice, sharp crosscut blade on the table saw. Worked out fine. Nice, clean cut.
Oh, and I think the remaining bits will make real good leveling shims
cmaxwell39
Valuable Member
Love the scape. Will give plenty of room for fish to swim and plenty of spots to place corals as well.
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Sump Closet Rebuild...
Replaced mirrored sliding doors with louvered bifold doors... allow me to keep the doors closed without worrying about humidity in the closet.
Replaced 40g Rubbermaid with 60g barrel.
New sump, no ref, so the closet will be dark, unless I'm in there.
Lots to do yet, but it's starting to seem like I'm getting somewhere.
Figured the Trident deserved a place of honor... not to mention make it easy to maintain.
Replaced mirrored sliding doors with louvered bifold doors... allow me to keep the doors closed without worrying about humidity in the closet.
Replaced 40g Rubbermaid with 60g barrel.
New sump, no ref, so the closet will be dark, unless I'm in there.
Lots to do yet, but it's starting to seem like I'm getting somewhere.
Figured the Trident deserved a place of honor... not to mention make it easy to maintain.
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
House built in '71... so... yeah
Tank is circulating through the sump, heater is running... I'll be starting the initial bio filter tomorrow, once the temp comes up. No leaks !
Bashsea sump came with fancy down tubes, with angled slashes and a bumper at the bottom... had to change those out in favor of some plain 1" tube. Noisy
Oh well, looked good, I suppose Probably would have been fine if I'd raised the sump water level a bit, but I like normal operating level to be fairly low in the sump. Provides more room for water backing up when the power fails. Don't need to put my skimmer on a riser, either. Of course, you don't get much time with evaporation before the pump starts sucking air, but with my direct ATO, that's not a problem.So far so good
cmaxwell39
Valuable Member
Sounds like things are progressing well. New sump looks good and you will be much happier with the louvered doors.
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
12 days after starting Dr. Tim's method, Ammonia crashed to zero today. Nitrites >2, Nitrates >40. Turned on my skimmer last night. I'm going to give it 2 more days, see how the nitrites look, and do a 50% water change. At that point, I should be able to put my fishes back in the tank.
Once I've got fish, I'm going to do a 4 week 'lights out' startup on KZ's Zeo system. Drop the Zeolite rocks, a bag of Carbon, start dosing Zeobac and Zeofood, and watch nitrite and nitrate levels closely. Probably go ahead and hook up my Trident, get it up and running. Supposed to let it run for a while before you calibrate it.
So... Corals for Christmas? Sounds like a plan to me!
Once I've got fish, I'm going to do a 4 week 'lights out' startup on KZ's Zeo system. Drop the Zeolite rocks, a bag of Carbon, start dosing Zeobac and Zeofood, and watch nitrite and nitrate levels closely. Probably go ahead and hook up my Trident, get it up and running. Supposed to let it run for a while before you calibrate it.
So... Corals for Christmas? Sounds like a plan to me!
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Ok, Bio filter active, fishes re-introduced and happy... Thanksgiving over...
Last night, I added Zeolite to my new reactor, and started dosing blue bottles. I'm sure, over time, I'm going to be more comfortable with this stuff, but the lack of precision really bothers me.
A quote from the Zeoguide:
"Zeobak: 2 - 4 drops per 25 gallons net water volume daily over a period of 2 weeks."
Sooo.... on a 150g system, that's a range of 12 to 24 drops per day for 2 weeks, totaling between 168 to 336 drops, or 8 to 16 ML initial dose. It's all like that... a wide range.
"Subsequently, dose 1 - 2 drops per 25 gallons net water volume once or twice weekly"
So... same system, 6 to 24 drops a week... Depending on what, exactly? Doesn't say.
Someone really needs to go over this guide from the standpoint of a new user.
Last night, I added Zeolite to my new reactor, and started dosing blue bottles. I'm sure, over time, I'm going to be more comfortable with this stuff, but the lack of precision really bothers me.
A quote from the Zeoguide:
"Zeobak: 2 - 4 drops per 25 gallons net water volume daily over a period of 2 weeks."
Sooo.... on a 150g system, that's a range of 12 to 24 drops per day for 2 weeks, totaling between 168 to 336 drops, or 8 to 16 ML initial dose. It's all like that... a wide range.
"Subsequently, dose 1 - 2 drops per 25 gallons net water volume once or twice weekly"
So... same system, 6 to 24 drops a week... Depending on what, exactly? Doesn't say.
Someone really needs to go over this guide from the standpoint of a new user.
lilchris_357
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For Zeobak, you want to dose the 4 drops per 25 gallons every day. Zeobak is going to get your cycle started. If memory serves me correctly, Zeobak will be dosed EVERYDAY you're running Zeovit. Zeo start is EVERYDAY during cycle, after the cycle, its twice a week, that's the carbon source that feed the bacteria (zeobak). With Zeovit you will become very in tuned with your tank. You will notice everything going on inside, ie polyp extension, coral growth, diatom blooms etc. Based on issues you have is going to determine how you tweak your dosing regiment. You can overdose Zeostart, it will create a slimy, snotty film in your sump. ZeoBak, I don;t think you can overdose, it's bacteria. Other than Zeobak, and in the initial start up, always dose the lower end of what they recommend. The one thing I figured out with Zeovit and why people don't like it (other than having a million little blue bottles) is they rush this system. They strip all the nutrients out the tank too fast and then they rush to add all the other supplements ie. Phol's Xtra Special (extremely Potent) , coral vitalizer before they understand what they are adding. Key take away, Zeobak, spongepower, Zeostart dose full amount during initial cycle. After cycle, I think Zeostart is twice a week. Again, watch your tank...
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Thanks!
No trouble there, I _like_ watching my tank
It's one of the reasons I picked this method.Oh... not dosing Spongepower. Zeofood. There's some literature saying Spongepower instead of Zeofood, but most still says Zeofood7... I'm going that way. Zeoback, ZeoStart, and ZeoFood.
I'm in no rush. Went through a 2 week bio-filter build with Dr. Tim's, now doing the first month on KZ with fish only, very limited lighting, no corals. Once I'm stable there, I'll add corals. Probably start with a trip to my buddy's place, with a pair of side cutters and a box of ziplock bags. He's promised me frags of all his SPS corals
No hurry. It's much easier to wait, now that I've at least got fish back in the tank.
