mfama417
Active Member
Hello R2R! Short background story. I have been in the hobby close to 10 years years starting in middle school and working my way up the tank ladder. Iv also helped my uncle design and maintain his various systems and while I was in high school designed his entire 330 gallon (400gallon+ system). I went away to college and had to sell off my personal tank (oceanic 45g tech tank) and maintained being in the hobby through his tank. in 2010 due to personal reasons my uncle had to sell his tank and I was "out" of the hobby for a few years. Though all that time I still browsed the fourms dreaming about one day getting back into a reef tank. Fast forward to today and i'm home again and was debating getting back into the hobby. A little nudge from my friend and a deal on craigslist and I was off to Jersey to pick up my new tank. The system specs are:
Tank: Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless
Sump: 20L divided into 3 chambers
Stand New Deep blue 48x24 stand
Light: Reef Breeders Photon 32
Flow: 1x Vortech MP40W
Return Pump: Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0
Skimmer Reef Octo 4 Pinwheel
Reactor: BRS Dual
Controller: APEX
The tank came used with a stand the sump,skimmer,return,deep blue 4 bulb t5ho, a bunch of random powerheads. and the RK Lite. I was told the RK wasn't working but he was informed by DA that all it needed was firmware. Well turns out you cant always believe what someone says. When I got to pick the tank up it was clear this man had not taken very good care of the system. It was like he almost purposely bathed everything in saltwater. The reefkeeper was clearly having problems and the stand was in bad shape. The other equipment all looked good and just needed a good cleaning so I still took it. I went and found a good deal local on a larger stand so I could fit more underneath and upgraded the lighting and flow. After finally having time and putting a few hours in cleaning everything up its starting to come along. a 24 soak in vinegar does wonders so heres how everything looked once the tank was first set up in October.
Light rack is 2 conduit pieces bent and spray painted to match. I had to rearrange my entire bedroom to fit this tank but it was well worth it.
2 panel view from my bed
Built a little shelf to help keep some of my electronics dry. also drilled the stand for 2 80MM pc fans for circulation.
Next I ran the drain plumbing and installed some led lighting inside the stand to help illuminate inside. All the wires will eventually be sleeved to conceal them a little better. also did some cable management with Velcro straps and command velcro anchors.
Got the light hung and the rockwork done and filled the tank.
Rockwork
messy filling it up
cloudy but with the reefbreeders photon 32 on over it
and just a quick shot of how I hung the light. 2 peices on conduit with a hole drilled in it. Bolt ran up through that hole and looped the reefbreeders mounting eye over it. hold the bolt and hanging kit in place with a washer and a nut. Thats all for tonight tomorrow I need to clean up and make sure everything runs well.
[/QUOTE]
Fast Forward to today and after a massive hair algee battle i can now begin to place the corals off the racks and back onto the rocks. I have one fish (a blenny) who hates to come out from hiding. now that I have time i will get the tank back into pristine condition. for now here's a couple of pictures. I could also use dslr lessons.
FTS
WWC rainbow ******* and WWC pink Krakatoas (won the pink krakatoas in a raffle!!!)
My Frag rack full of zoos
PW Rainbow Honey Acan
Also I couldnt resist a good Black Friday Deal so I got an APEX!!! I got the apex with lab grade PH as well as the WXM Module. Please excuse the wiring I still need to tidy that up.
"organized" you can also see my DIY led fuge light with 3x3w cree leds
a little hard to capture but i had these two containers custom made to fit in the stand. The one that you cant really see pressed up against the stand is my ato and hold about 11 gallons the other is my w.c container and holds about 15 gallons. you can also see the skimmer in the background
more updates to come soon. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Tank: Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless
Sump: 20L divided into 3 chambers
Stand New Deep blue 48x24 stand
Light: Reef Breeders Photon 32
Flow: 1x Vortech MP40W
Return Pump: Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0
Skimmer Reef Octo 4 Pinwheel
Reactor: BRS Dual
Controller: APEX
The tank came used with a stand the sump,skimmer,return,deep blue 4 bulb t5ho, a bunch of random powerheads. and the RK Lite. I was told the RK wasn't working but he was informed by DA that all it needed was firmware. Well turns out you cant always believe what someone says. When I got to pick the tank up it was clear this man had not taken very good care of the system. It was like he almost purposely bathed everything in saltwater. The reefkeeper was clearly having problems and the stand was in bad shape. The other equipment all looked good and just needed a good cleaning so I still took it. I went and found a good deal local on a larger stand so I could fit more underneath and upgraded the lighting and flow. After finally having time and putting a few hours in cleaning everything up its starting to come along. a 24 soak in vinegar does wonders so heres how everything looked once the tank was first set up in October.
Light rack is 2 conduit pieces bent and spray painted to match. I had to rearrange my entire bedroom to fit this tank but it was well worth it.
2 panel view from my bed
Built a little shelf to help keep some of my electronics dry. also drilled the stand for 2 80MM pc fans for circulation.
Next I ran the drain plumbing and installed some led lighting inside the stand to help illuminate inside. All the wires will eventually be sleeved to conceal them a little better. also did some cable management with Velcro straps and command velcro anchors.
Got the light hung and the rockwork done and filled the tank.
Rockwork
messy filling it up
cloudy but with the reefbreeders photon 32 on over it
and just a quick shot of how I hung the light. 2 peices on conduit with a hole drilled in it. Bolt ran up through that hole and looped the reefbreeders mounting eye over it. hold the bolt and hanging kit in place with a washer and a nut. Thats all for tonight tomorrow I need to clean up and make sure everything runs well.
[/QUOTE]Fast Forward to today and after a massive hair algee battle i can now begin to place the corals off the racks and back onto the rocks. I have one fish (a blenny) who hates to come out from hiding. now that I have time i will get the tank back into pristine condition. for now here's a couple of pictures. I could also use dslr lessons.
FTS
WWC rainbow ******* and WWC pink Krakatoas (won the pink krakatoas in a raffle!!!)
My Frag rack full of zoos
PW Rainbow Honey Acan
Also I couldnt resist a good Black Friday Deal so I got an APEX!!! I got the apex with lab grade PH as well as the WXM Module. Please excuse the wiring I still need to tidy that up.
"organized" you can also see my DIY led fuge light with 3x3w cree leds
a little hard to capture but i had these two containers custom made to fit in the stand. The one that you cant really see pressed up against the stand is my ato and hold about 11 gallons the other is my w.c container and holds about 15 gallons. you can also see the skimmer in the background
more updates to come soon. Thanks![/QUOTE]
