Rob's Really Rad 180 Reef Rally

[RobB'z Reef]

Not too much going on lately. Been slowly filling my two 65 gal tanks with rodi water. No leaks! I have to travel for work next week and will be gone for two weeks, so I'm waiting till I return and then I'll be ordering my live rock from KP in Florida to get them cycling.

Took advantage of that Klir 40% off sale and this showed up on Friday.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Look what Santa brought while I was away on business! Looking forward to putting this together soon!

 

[Flameback Pair]

Look what Santa brought while I was away on business! Looking forward to putting this together soon!

@Rob.bucek on the bottom picture did they come like that cut on a 45* angle or did you cut them yourself?

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I had them do the miter cuts. The precision you really want is hard to get without the right equipment. They also have to do additional machining for the connectors as well. You can specify whatever length you like. I added these to help prevent racking. I'll flip them over tomorrow and post another photo.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

@Rob.bucek on the bottom picture did they come like that cut on a 45* angle or did you cut them yourself?

@powers2001

 

[Flameback Pair]

@powers2001

@Rob.bucek thanks for the photo. Which company did you use?

Mitch

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Added another two stages to my rodi...I suspect I got ***** CO2 in my well water. Ate thru aDI cartridge in 120 gallons of water, f-me. This will do until I consider the merits of a degassing station. The TDS of my tap water is only 230 so I'm just speculating it's CO2 at this point.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

@Rob.bucek thanks for the photo. Which company did you use?

Mitch

Framingtech.com. I looked hard at a few other sources and they just seemed to be the overall best value. They'll use designs they already have or use yours which will save you a bit of money if you're into something custom like I did from quote to delivery it was only 3 weeks, they were very good to deal with and the quality I'm seeing is definitely there.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

So with my first batch of salt water made I procured a couple brute cans for curing rock.

Finally unpacked the Marco rock I got from BRS and took stock of it. Pretty happy with the pieces I got, couple large and medium foundation rocks up top there. Nothing came in broken and I like the sizes they gave me!

With that I think it's time to fly in the rest of my rock from KP Aquatics next week and get things cooking!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Hope everyone had a great fourth of July weekend!

 

[jk_s124]

Hope everyone had a great fourth of July weekend!

 

[PacoPetty]

Awesome build thread! I’m looking forward to following.

 

[Reef370]

Did you get the stand together yet??

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Awesome build thread! I’m looking forward to following.

Thank you sir! I'm excited, my live rock is scheduled to show up tomorrow. I'm sure I'll post the results.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Did you get the stand together yet??

Still waiting on those t-nuts some bone head forgot to order

 

[thatsruff]

Hey all! Busy weekend here! Got the room painted Friday night. Took Saturday to go kayaking with my daughter and the gf.

Was an absolutely perfect day for it too!

Following along here! That is some beautiful water you can get on there. Very jealous!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Hello all! Just got my shipment of live rock in today from KP Aquatics! First live aquarium anything I've had on hand in almost 15 years! Pretty excited and nervous lol. Gotta bone up on my rock cycling knowledge tonight. Got in 60lbs that I split 50/50 across two bins along with the dry to help get that seeded as well

For now I got them covered in salt water, a power head and a heater in each one. Going to add some extra bacteria booster to also help things along, can't hurt. Not sure if I'm going try Dr. Tim's, I've heard it's not the fastest but I'm not exactly in a hurry, but I probably won't need it with this tick in play either. Gonna do some reading in this first. I got an update on my tank and it won't be in till the end of the month so I'm all good there.

The packaging of the rock was immaculate, nothing broken, bags intact and they were nicely wrapped. No dead or bad smell or white decaying matter on the outside. Gave them a short rinse in rodi water prior to putting them on the bins. Dislodged a few bristle worms for the effort.

They were a bit devoid of external growth and I didn't find any shrimp or crabs just yet so cool. I wasn't really after those things to begin with. Great corraline coverage, I'll add a light over the bins once it's cycled, we'll see what happens. So far I give them a solid A, ordered late on Monday, they shipped Tuesday got it by 10am this morning. I would use them again. Not too many games in town anyhow these days! Now where are those t-nuts...

Making more salt water tonight as I emptied one of my 65 gallon storage containers filling the brute cans and I'll have water changes coming up shortly. Transferred my full container of RODI to my mixing tank and am making more fresh water as we speak. I love this setup!

I was kinda brainless and had forgot to order some flexible hose for my mixing station so I got a bit of water on the floor. That'll be obvious in the short video I did no justice on yet again lol. Wondering if 3-5 second intervals is more appropriate. Will try again soon as a practice run before assembling my stand.

Some pics of the rocks below as well as my second lame butt attempt at a time lapse video.

 

[Reef370]

Awesome Rob.. I’m excited just watching everything come together.... can’t wait to see the stand and tank set up!!

 

[jk_s124]

Hello all! Just got my shipment of live rock in today from KP Aquatics! First live aquarium anything I've had on hand in almost 15 years! Pretty excited and nervous lol. Gotta bone up on my rock cycling knowledge tonight. Got in 60lbs that I split 50/50 across two bins along with the dry to help get that seeded as well

For now I got them covered in salt water, a power head and a heater in each one. Going to add some extra bacteria booster to also help things along, can't hurt. Going to try Dr. Tim's, I've heard it's not the fastest but I'm not exactly in a hurry. I got an update on my tank and it won't be in till the end of the month so I'm all good there.

The packaging of the rock was immaculate, nothing broken, bags intact and they were nicely wrapped. No dead or bad smell or white decaying matter on the outside. Have them a short rinse in rodi water prior to putting them on the bins. Dislodged a few bristle worms for the effort.

They were a bit devoid of external growth and I didn't find any shrimp or crabs just yet so cool. I wasn't really after those things to begin with. Great corraline coverage, I'll add a light over the bins once it's cycled, we'll see what happens. So far I give them a solid A, ordered late on Monday, they shipped Tuesday got it by 10am this morning. I would use them again. Not too many games in town anyhow these days! Now where are those t-nuts...

Making more salt water tonight as I emptied one of my 65 gallon storage containers filling the brute cans and I'll have water changes coming up shortly. Transferred my full container of RODI to my mixing tank and and making more fresh water as we speak. I love this setup!

I was kinda brainless and had forgot to order some flexible hose for my mixing station so I got a bit of water on the floor. That'll be obvious in the short video I did no justice on yet again lol. Wondering if 3-5 second intervals is more appropriate. Will try again soon as a practice run before assembling my stand.

Some pics of the rocks below as well as my second lame butt attempt at a time lapse video.

Good stuff man! Live rock looks great!

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Awesome Rob.. I’m excited just watching everything come together.... can’t wait to see the stand and tank set up!!

Me too lol, crazy how things start to build up fast. From a vague yearning to holy crap I just spent how much on a glass box?