Here I go again.

[Mark Novack]

And this is where I am as of today, 27 February 2022. The water has been running for 40 hours now.

 

[blaxsun]

Looks like a lot of goodies to setup!

 

[G Santana]

Way to go, good luck!

 

[MnFish1]

And this is where I am as of today, 27 February 2022. The water has been running for 40 hours now.

It looks pretty darn good where you are!!! Good luck

 

[Mark Novack]

And an RO water update and more stuff stuffed into place. 28 Feb, 0848hr. Got the desk taco, er, DeStaCo in a good place. Water has topped the overflow and sump is filling. I have 25 liters of replenishment water and 70 liters extra for final rock rinse after bleaching. The Heater/Chiller/UV unit is plumbed. As you can see I have some wiring to manage and space to affix cable boxes and power strips. Once its all installed with a carboy for RO water and algae reactor its crowded so I really am trying to keep it neat and orderly.

 

[Mark Novack]

Now that the 1st compartment of the sump is filling, there is seepage into compartment 2. However, its so little that it of no concern and this sump is only a temporary piece baffled with plexi to test the general function. It was a sized box made by a local dude for cheap...ish (yeah, he saw me coming) without polished corners or nice gluing and I have cut myself deeply along the edges more than once. If I like the funtion of the baffling then I will have Defish build one for serious quality. Defish built the tank and stand. They have some designs standard, do lots of custom, and install fish store aquariums. I bet that they will tighten up the baffle spacing and give me a larger empty compartment. The sump is wide and I think I over spaced the baffles.

 

[Mark Novack]

1 March, 0030hrs. Had a productive day. The water is turning over, salinity 1.017 and at 25 degrees warming to 29. I'll tie up the cables tomorrow and get my water jug into place. Weather forecast says it should be good to work outside to start rinsing the rock.

 

[Mark Novack]

As the coraline loosens from the overflow, I give it a daily scratching. Once it stops peeling I'll pull out the sediment. Water is a bit cloudy today. It might be a bloom of Prodbio bacteria that is starting to grow and get into the Marine Pure blocks.

The rock is rinsing at 33 Celsius. My wife, 'The Nose', detects a slight "pool" odor. I'll do a water change and put in another bottle of conditioner if The Nose still detects it tomorrow.

 

[Mark Novack]

Oops. I wasn't thinking when The Nose tested the rock cistern. The buckets to the right are still bleaching. I'll have to move them across town and have her try it again.

 

[Mark Novack]

Apparently, the right thing to do it to place a cannister filter of active carbon on this rinse. According to some deep reading, it will not only remove the remaining chlorines virtually instantly but also 33 other undesirable tap water possibities. Then let the RODI rinse finish it off. You must understand Belgian water bills before asking why I use tap water at all. First, its about 5x the average world price. Then, there is the heavy user charge, where above a certain volume the price augments 40% (water hog prices). Long term, it would be cheaper to install a 3000 liter pumped rain cistern and RO from that.

 

[Mark Novack]

Just playing with some ideas

while waiting for my RODI rinse to fill up.

 

[Mark Novack]

It's 5 March. Rock and sand are in. Salinity is 1.016 and temp 29C. I'll play with the arrangement for the next few days until I am happy from all angles that I have multi level placement for coral.

In 14 days I'll start raising the salinity to 1.021 over 6 days, lower temp to 28C and add my live rock.

Mark

 

[Mark Novack]

Two thoughts for filling a large tank with RODI. Check your RODI pump temperature. It may need a rest every 12 hours. Mine got really hot. And if you are using a water softener, consider stopping the RODI during the regeneration cycle. Our water before the softener saturates the membrane fast.

 

[Mark Novack]

Flipped a rock or three around. It's getting there.

 

[Mark Novack]

And there was light And the electricity meter turned fast. The light was good but not needed yet. So the light was extinguished.

 

[Mark Novack]

Remark to self. Today, March 7, 1300hrs, squeezed bacterially active blue filter sponge from small mature aquarium into large tank during cleaning and water change of small aquarium. Probably the most effective bacterial seeding since turning on the system.

I am now paying lots of attention to the parameters of the little tank as it will be the primary life source. Basically not missing a water change.

Mark

 

[Mark Novack]

March 8. Did large water change on small tank. Took two cups of sand from big tank, placed in Rea Sea filter bag and placed into filter tower of mature aquarium between siporax and blue sponge.

 

[danny_corals]

Rockwork looks great! I love the overhangs

 

[Mark Novack]

I have been aqua scaping. Sometimes you just look and look and find a better way. I wanted the plates off of the sand. Also, just flipping over the largest base rocks looks better. Subtle but I think it's done.

Nitrite at 2ppm x 3 days on day 12!

 

[SchrutesReefs]

Looks great, clean setup. Going to be lots of free space for swimmers!