bigdrew
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2019
- Messages
- 241
- Reaction score
- 293
- What state or country do you live in
- Pennsylvania
I am officially re-entering the hobby after 5+ years out. Also, first time joining R2R! Excited to leverage the knowledge from the reef community on this site (and hopefully contribute something, to somebody along the way)! There is some unbelievable expertise on here!
So, what am I working on and why join the "community?" I saved up for a custom built 64 gallon reef ready aquarium. I am focused on building a dedicated "softy" tank. (I had this awkward area in my house where there used to be a grill...inside, recessed into the brick wall). I purchased a custom euro-braced aquarium from glasscages.com, pre-built with a center overflow. I must say, it feels/seems extremely well built!
Below are a few pictures of the project. It has taken me about 12+ weeks to get everything setup (sump, plumbing, equipment, tank, "frame" around the tank, basement RODI water station, etc). I ran multiple tap water tests (ie. filling the tank and flipping everything to "on") to ensure plumbing wasn't leaking, return pump was properly connected, sump wouldn't overflow during a power outage, etc. Custom fitting this stuff into a brick "box" has been tough! Further, working on it under there is a challenge as well. I am also struggling to figure out a solution for an ATO reservoir (there just isn't space), but perhaps one day something will come up that makes sense.
I just started my cycle on February 4th. Used some of my brother's 10+ year old dead "live" rock and aragonite that was dried out in his basement. The only bacteria "seed" I used was a 20lb back of live sand from Petco and a few sprinklers of old fish food. Today, I finally got my RedSea test kit today and the water tested 0 for Ammonia, .2 ppm for Nitrite and 50ppm for Nitrate. It appears (knock on wood) that I am into the "3rd" phase of the cycle, which in two weeks, seems a bit quick. Hence, the knock on wood. We shall see.
I fired up my lighting schedule and turned on my skimmer for the first time tonight too. Looking forward to some diatoms, slime and hopefully some hair algae over the next few weeks! I'll keep posting my progress, if for no reason other than posterity's sake.
So, what am I working on and why join the "community?" I saved up for a custom built 64 gallon reef ready aquarium. I am focused on building a dedicated "softy" tank. (I had this awkward area in my house where there used to be a grill...inside, recessed into the brick wall). I purchased a custom euro-braced aquarium from glasscages.com, pre-built with a center overflow. I must say, it feels/seems extremely well built!
Below are a few pictures of the project. It has taken me about 12+ weeks to get everything setup (sump, plumbing, equipment, tank, "frame" around the tank, basement RODI water station, etc). I ran multiple tap water tests (ie. filling the tank and flipping everything to "on") to ensure plumbing wasn't leaking, return pump was properly connected, sump wouldn't overflow during a power outage, etc. Custom fitting this stuff into a brick "box" has been tough! Further, working on it under there is a challenge as well. I am also struggling to figure out a solution for an ATO reservoir (there just isn't space), but perhaps one day something will come up that makes sense.
I just started my cycle on February 4th. Used some of my brother's 10+ year old dead "live" rock and aragonite that was dried out in his basement. The only bacteria "seed" I used was a 20lb back of live sand from Petco and a few sprinklers of old fish food. Today, I finally got my RedSea test kit today and the water tested 0 for Ammonia, .2 ppm for Nitrite and 50ppm for Nitrate. It appears (knock on wood) that I am into the "3rd" phase of the cycle, which in two weeks, seems a bit quick. Hence, the knock on wood. We shall see.
I fired up my lighting schedule and turned on my skimmer for the first time tonight too. Looking forward to some diatoms, slime and hopefully some hair algae over the next few weeks! I'll keep posting my progress, if for no reason other than posterity's sake.
