SaltwaterandLime's epic adhd build thread....

[SaltwaterandLime]

Did you get your ATO replaced? I no longer have any water level issues. My only issue right now is some algae issues. Been dosing microbacter7 and microbacter clean consistently. This has seemed to help keep things from getting worse. My next water change will be the real tell once I clean up the sand bed. Not sure if this helps you with any of your issues. Sorry to hear things have been rough I hope things with get better for you.

I can't really figure out which side to put the ATO sensor on. Some days the left pump will run dry, some days the right one will. It doesn't make sense

 

[NTar11]

I can't really figure out which side to put the ATO sensor on. Some days the left pump will run dry, some days the right one will. It doesn't make sense

The ATO should run until you have proper system volume and then quit. Mine took a bit to catch up and my system is actually a lot more filled then I thought it needed to be. I have my ato in the left side pump reservoir and it’s about 8 inches below the top of the glass. This keeps that chamber about 3 inches below the baffle that separates compartments. See attached picture.

 

[NTar11]

You know what I’m forgot I also put a ball valve on my left pump because I was running dry and I haven’t opened it all the way back up yet.

 

[NTar11]

Scratch that valve is all the way open. Sorry for the unnecessary post.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Scratch that valve is all the way open. Sorry for the unnecessary post.

I actually ended up reducing the flow in one of my pumps also and that has helped a lot.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Took apart my mixing containers this morning to scrub them out and the boys immediately invented a new game. I may never get my brute rollers back......

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

We did a thing;


www.saltwaterandlime.org

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Spent the last week painting one of the bedrooms at the old house (my great-grandparents house sits on the same property as us and is just used for storage). I am going to be turning this room into an office/craft space for myself. Austin is also working on one of the other rooms over there and is going to use it as an office/work table space. We both have multiple hobbies that take up a lot of space so this is going to help clear up a lot of clutter from the living areas of our house. This will give us a lot more room to work on the reef tank project in the living room.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

This happened today! We are finally getting so close to our goal! We made a few changes with the overall plans, but I am super excited and happy to have things moving forward. We brought home a Red Sea Reefer 250 G2 today. It will eventually use a lot of the gear from the Tideline 62. This tank is 36" wide but the overall gallon capacity is about the same if not a tiny bit larger than the tideline.

The stand and tank are in place and leveled but none of the plumbing or anything is hooked up yet. Hopefully I can work on that a little bit tomorrow.

I went to our LFS today with the intention of ordering a smaller tank but they had this one in stock and I got a great deal on it.

I need to raise my painting up on the wall so it isnt blocked by the tank.

Next step is plumbing, but I also need to finish building the stand for the waterbox 25 that is going to go on the opposite wall so that they can both start cycling.

In case anyone was wondering, a Red Sea 250 can in fact fit into the back of a Toyota 4Runner with the stand already put together....

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This happened today! We are finally getting so close to our goal! We made a few changes with the overall plans, but I am super excited and happy to have things moving forward. We brought home a Red Sea Reefer 250 G2 today. It will eventually use a lot of the gear from the Tideline 62. This tank is 36" wide but the overall gallon capacity is about the same if not a tiny bit larger than the tideline.

The stand and tank are in place and leveled but none of the plumbing or anything is hooked up yet. Hopefully I can work on that a little bit tomorrow.

I went to our LFS today with the intention of ordering a smaller tank but they had this one in stock and I got a great deal on it.

I need to raise my painting up on the wall so it isnt blocked by the tank.

Next step is plumbing, but I also need to finish building the stand for the waterbox 25 that is going to go on the opposite wall so that they can both start cycling.

In case anyone was wondering, a Red Sea 250 can in fact fit into the back of a Toyota 4Runner with the stand already put together....

Best of luck with the plumbing!!

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Plumbing got started yesterday, went fairly smoothly. I'm now waiting on a small adapter I had to order since my return pump only comes with a 3/4" barb and the red sea is standard for 1/2" tubing. Amazon to the rescue and that should be here tomorrow.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Started on the stand for the waterbox 25 peninsula tank. This project got set to the side about a month ago while we just pushed through the holidays. Now I really want to get it finished so I have an extra spot for holding things while we set up and transfer over the big tank.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

It still needs trim, a door, and paint. But we are another step closer!

My children rudely told me that I would be more successful with a carpentry hobby instead of fish.....

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

More work on the stand for the WB 25 today. I got the trim pieces measured and cut, but before I attach them I sanded everything and put a base coat of oil based primer on first. Oil based gives more water protection than latex primer, and by painting it before the molding it means even if water gets under the trim all of the exposed wood is covered. Oil based does have a longer dry time and absolutely has to be done outside.

Also.... my cat is weird. While i was working on the trim he just randomly decided to try and climb on my dog and start chewing on her. ....also, that's a 50 pound dog.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

My youngest started playing around with aquascaping today. I think we are going to break all this rock up smaller and glue it back together. He wants to build some towers and things.

Also brought home some new equipment also

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

While not as straight forward and easy as it might have been, we got it all together tonight.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Need some advice on how to organize our tank space and equipment. We still need to find a place for an ATO reservoir, dosing pumps and containers, and equipment/controllers. We are considering building cabinets on either side of the tank. There is about 10 inches between the tank and the half wall, and about 12 inches between the tank and the couch.

 

[Mschmidt]

How much can you fit in the cabinet? It looks like you can stack the dosers over an ato on the right.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

How much can you fit in the cabinet? It looks like you can stack the dosers over an ato on the right.

I think that's the plan right now, keep everything wet inside the cabinet. The boys and I are just talking about building a little controller cabinet onto the half wall to the right of the tank

 

[Mschmidt]

I think that's the plan right now, keep everything wet inside the cabinet. The boys and I are just talking about building a little controller cabinet onto the half wall to the right of the tank

That could took really cool. I'm doing that somewhat so the controls aren't near the wet.