JLobes 120 restart.

[Jlobes]

Ill apologize now, I didnt realize this was gonna be so long!

well, finally getting around to starting a thread for my tank. Been on R2R for some time, but never got the motivation to start one up, now is the time.

Had the 120 up and running for some time(3-4 years), and had a great time and success with it. The last couple years were pretty rough personally, and resulted in some slight depression coupled with lack of desire to take care of poop. I was hermiting, not active on the forums, and in general a grump. lol That ultimately started the algae battle, and subsequent tank crash, more on that later. Things are better, personally and tank wise these days.

Flash forward to a few months back. The tank was chugging along, suffering, covered in algae and I knew it was time. I hated the idea of taking it down, love the hobby too much. So, I was committed to making it amazing again. Really missed the vibrancy and fun I got from the tank and I was back in the hobby.

After lots of water changes, sand suctioning, algae picking, and more, the tank was starting to look decent again. things were recovering and seemed like the tank was gonna rebound.

Then disaster! went on a short trip, and heater went out. house sitter was only trained at basic upkeep, and did their part, just one of those things. Guess the universe has other plans.
Got home to a cooling tank and some more disaster with crazy algae growth. YAY! :/

action mode ensued and got the heater replaced and functioning. Doing water changes and scoping the damage. In the middle of a water change, the plumbing, up and running with no issues for all the 4 years mentioned, decides to spring a leak. It was either from the bulkhead or the union, was hard to tell at first. while investigating and trying to find the leak, i ran into an issue with the plumbing situation, and realized in that moment, it was time to start over. There were so many things in my mind, that over the years i knew I would change IF i ever restarted the tank. like moving or what not. NOW was that time.

So, I set up a 37G cube in the office. This is to be the holding tank for any of the remaining livestock and also an intro/back up tank for the DT. I will also have a QT for all new additions, this was one of my early/amateur downfalls with the first 120. But new arrivals will get a QT and then into the backup, only then after a stint will they be accepted into the DT.

All the livestock was transferred, albeit not much given my previous collection. some of the cleanest rock was taken from the DT, scrubbed clean in clean salt water, and added to the nano, with addition of some salt water rinsed sand. Then the 120 was drained, broken down, cleaned and modified.

This brings us, in a short and sweet version, to today. The 37 is/has been up and running and is doing great. All livestock is on the mend and showing improvement. Even have a pink ******* colony I thought was toast, springing up new growth!!

TODAY is also the first full 24 hours of the new tank up and running!! feels great and Im excited to be on a new adventure, with much more knowledge and skill. Had it just about up and runnign last week, but ran into some faulty union ball valves, and had to order some new ones. living out here is great, but FedEx isnt prompt. So a week later, new cepex union ball valves in hand, I got the plumbing reworked and fired her up!! what a great feeling. overnight no leaks, drips, dribbles or puddles, so we are good to go.

Cycling to commence today.

Heres what went down after the breakdown and what went into the new setup:
-stand sanded, stained, sealed, rubber floor, painted inside white, installed new LED strip
-Rock was bleached, RODI soaked, vinegar soaked, RODI soaked, rockscape built using Emarco400 and left outside/sun for a week+
-tank was cleaned
-plumbing was completely scrapped and replaned and plumbed.
-overflows are hard plumbed, returns use silicone flex.
-electrical area was reworked and organized


Heres the equipment list:
2 Radion XR-30 Gen 2(upgrades soon) to be mounted on RMS
3 MP40 Wes
Reeflink
Battery Backup(coming soon)
vertex omega 150
Synergy Reef Systems SS-34: Atomic Red
Reef Octopus Water Blaster 3000
2 Vertex Rx-u 1.5 reactors (carbon/GFO)
Synergy ATO box (coming soon)
sicce micra ATO
JBJ ATO(probably gonna upgrade)
heaters undecided(hydor ATM)
PYLE 9 switch DJ/toggle controller

I think that just about covers the upgrades and installs. Many pics to come. Ill try to keep this updated and use it as a log for the tank.

The rock, cooking in vinegar. It was crazy bubblin!

The new rock work in progress. Emarco 400 is the BOMB. use it!

Another of the rock, close up

The stand. restained, sealed and painted. rubber floor not in pic

WOOHOO special delivery!

Packed with care!!

Packed with care!!

Packed with care!! with some added goodies, travel cooler bag and microfiber towel.

in case you were wondering, its got cool blue lights

first FTS The rock on the right, not done yet

First FTS The rock on the right, not done yet

The plumbing. custom painted.

If you made it this far, THANKS. any feedback would be awesome. I wouldnt be here without yall and the things I learn from R2R.

 

[Jlobes]

dont everyone chime in at once. LOL

 

[doylef4i]

You're building my dream tank. I love the dimensions of the 120 and your other equipment selection is envious as well. It all looks great. Keep the pics and updates coming please.

 

[MikeyB]

Glad to hear you stuck with it. I sorta had the same thing happen a couple months ago myself. I couldnt keep any coral alive, got fed up was going to quit but stuck with it. I ended up pretty much starting over myself and it was the best thing i could of done. But enough about me

Everything looks real good. I love those sumps. I went with a trigger sump myself, but if i ever start another tank it'll definitely be from Synergy. Rock work looks real good too.

 

[dallas reefer]

Did you just go with the sch80 fittings for the color?[emoji6] not a bad idea. That purple is legit.

 

[Jlobes]

You're building my dream tank. I love the dimensions of the 120 and your other equipment selection is envious as well. It all looks great. Keep the pics and updates coming please.

Thanks. its taken much time and thought to get here. pretty envious of my own tank! lol

 

[Jlobes]

Glad to hear you stuck with it. I sorta had the same thing happen a couple months ago myself. I couldnt keep any coral alive, got fed up was going to quit but stuck with it. I ended up pretty much starting over myself and it was the best thing i could of done. But enough about me

Everything looks real good. I love those sumps. I went with a trigger sump myself, but if i ever start another tank it'll definitely be from Synergy. Rock work looks real good too.

For Sure!! Honestly, the whole situation was terrible!! losing corals, fish, time, $ etc. and I was so close to calling it quits. But I sat down, took a long look around and KNEW that I needed to have my tank!

the restart wasnt easy, but I feel like longterm it will totally be worth the effort!! Im really stoked on all the upgrades and improvements that were made. Its much easier to access and maintain, easier to get at equip and electronics, and it looks 1000 times nicer(imo)!!

I looked at the triggers, and elite aquatics, but in the end SRS was the obvious choice. the sump looks amazing. has great features and they are active and helpful here on the forum.

thanks for the compliments. ill have to check your build

 

[kschweer]

Sorry to hear about all the troubles! Everything is looking good. Love the purple and sch80 plumbing, looks slick. Best of luck moving forward! Will be following along to see the progress. How are you liking the vertex reactors?

 

[MikeyB]

For Sure!! Honestly, the whole situation was terrible!! losing corals, fish, time, $ etc. and I was so close to calling it quits. But I sat down, took a long look around and KNEW that I needed to have my tank!

the restart wasnt easy, but I feel like longterm it will totally be worth the effort!! Im really stoked on all the upgrades and improvements that were made. Its much easier to access and maintain, easier to get at equip and electronics, and it looks 1000 times nicer(imo)!!

I looked at the triggers, and elite aquatics, but in the end SRS was the obvious choice. the sump looks amazing. has great features and they are active and helpful here on the forum.

thanks for the compliments. ill have to check your build

I felt the same exact way, although i never lost fish all the time, coral, $$, headache, trying to figure out why everything was dying. I love my tank, ive always had fish growing up so i couldnt just quit and part me of wanted to push through and end up having a great looking tank eventually.

Can't wait to see how your tank progresses. I don't have a build thread myself as i always seemed to be fighting some kind of issue, now that my tank is doing so well and has been for almost 6 months, i feel its now time.

 

[Jlobes]

Did you just go with the sch80 fittings for the color?[emoji6] not a bad idea. That purple is legit.

thank for the compliments. the painting definitely took a bit of time, but i think it was worth it! at the very least, I think everyone should use acetone to remove the ugly red lettering on PVC. but im big on aesthetics, obviously. yeah, honestly i did use sched8o just for looks, a bit spendy, but as i like to say.

do it right, do it once!

 

[josh.j.avila]

Can you snap a picture of your manifold

 

[Jlobes]

@josh.j.avila
its more of a stuboff than a manifold, but ill see what i can dig up. this one is posted up there, what else do you need to see? all the plumbing is in full view here.

 

[dallas reefer]

What glue did you use?

 

[Jlobes]

What glue did you use?

Fir plumbing? PVC glue fir slip joints. Plastostick for threaded joints.

Emarco400 for the rockscape

 

[Scubafrog]

Very nice. Like the clean organized plumbing. As a newbie with just a Biocube I enjoy the sump/plumbing pictures to learn from. Yours is organized that even as a newbie I can understand everything that you have going on. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jlobes]

Very nice. Like the clean organized plumbing. As a newbie with just a Biocube I enjoy the sump/plumbing pictures to learn from. Yours is organized that even as a newbie I can understand everything that you have going on. Thanks for sharing!

thanks. seriously, took ALOT of time planning it all out and making sure it was gonna fit/work, probably much more time to plan/think/organize than actually "plumbing". however, since this was a restart/remodel, I wanted to do it "right" and make it super easy to use and access.

 

[josh.j.avila]

perfect, thank you buddy.

 

[Jlobes]

perfect, thank you buddy.

not a problem. any questions about it, just ask.

 

[josh.j.avila]

Greatly appreciate your helpfulness. I'm attempting to do mind and want to do it right with expandability options in the future.

 

[Jlobes]

Greatly appreciate your helpfulness. I'm attempting to do mind and want to do it right with expandability options in the future.

i hear ya! i was gonna add a third 1/2 TUBV on the "manifold", but space was tight, and I couldnt really think of a reason to have it, so just two. i went thru all sorts of possible configurations on paper, in my mind and even holding pvc pieces in place to study the flow and the space. many options were tossed, but a few combined to make the current design.

Ideally, Id love to do some other installs for people!! its seriously one of my favorite parts of the process.