The Build Thread l- Bart's Old 60 Gallon

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Hi, all.

I really did intend to start this build thread a month ago, but we were too busy setting it up to write much about it. Now that things have calmed down somewhat, we can document what's gone on so we can get a handle on where we need to go with it.

The tank itself is a 36" cube 60 gallon. Kate and I drove down to near Tullahoma to pick up the tank, stand, fish, etc, etc.

Now not to knock Bart, but when we picked it up it needed a pretty thorough cleaning. I was trying to draw a line between "clean enough" and "so scrubbed out I crashed the tank." But I didn't want to restart Bart's bumper crop of hair algae while at the same time knowing his water was balanced enough all his fish were happy.

The site was already picked. You know that Fathead commercial where Clay Matthews said he hated that lamp? Yeah. There used to be a lamp and end table there. I cut out the carpeting, put down a 3/4" sheet of plywood to reinforce the crappy OSB subflooring that everyone uses these days, and got the tank base that Bart made in there.

Work was proceeding frantically. We knew we were going to need more RO water (twenty gallons minimum, and the LFS closes at 6. The fish (two small male clowns, one Big Mama clown, one flame angel, one engineer goby, and a red bubbletip anemone) were still in the cooler. We at least got it up and set, using twenty gallons of water moved from Bart's, and made a run for more water.

To be continued in Part II.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Following!

 

[bknapp]

Good looking start.

 

[dwilliams87]

I'm ready for Part II.

 

[Dowtish]

Lets see some more!

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Part II

Oh, before I forget, all that black live sand- really coarse stuff- came from Bart as part of the deal. It was definitely alive. I've seen small worms and itty bitty starfish and all kinds of stuff come out of it. There have been some "HOLY S*** KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!" moments.

All right, while I was trying to get everything frantically connected (sump drain through base into sump tank, pump into sump end, adding my protein skimmer to the sump, getting the heater going...), Kate was on the phone with the LFS explaining we were coming in to get about forty gallons of water and bribing the guy to stay open an extra few minutes. Complicating matters was the fact I was having a horrible stabbing pain in my right foot.

So we got Bart's rocks and frame of chaeto into the sump, and let it sit while I tried connecting the pump. We plugged in the pump, and it ran for about thirty seconds before it died. I just tossed it to the side- we had to get to the LFS.

Returning from the LFS with lots of water, we did a partial change on the bedroom 30 gallon at the same time we got the 60 gallon filled. Between the upper tank and the sump and all the plumbing, it's danged near a 75 gallon system.

Getting home, the pump was deader than disco. Kate found a new one on Amazon with free overnight shipping, so we ordered it. Meanwhile the heater was working and the temp was where we could start floating the fish who'd been in their styrofoam cooler all this time.

We also had no confidence in just live rock as a filtration system, so Kate ordered a Fluval U4 filter at the same time. Meanwhile we used an air filter we had on hand and chucked a couple large air stones into the tank to get some aeration so the livestock didn't die off.

So by Monday when the new pump and new filter arrived, the chaeto frame had died off and the hair algae was already reclaiming the live rock in the sump tank. We pulled that all out, put the new pump in, got the new filter in there, and managed to squeeze in a CPS protein skimmer I already had. So it looked about like this:

Now that day the flame angel vanished. I found him crunched under a rock where the engineer goby (named The Kraken!) had dug the sand out from underneath it. danged murderer.

Now of course while I'm preoccupied with the underside, I can't forget about the top side. I found a three foot long German U-boat on the British section of eBay that was way cooler than anything I'd seen around online or at any of the LFSs, so I just had to have it.

Now you will note the left-hand wall of the tank. At this point (perhaps two weeks after install), it was the one wall I couldn't clean with a Mag-Float so it was starting to become a hair algae haven. We since acquired a lawnmower blenny from one of Clarksville's LFS's (J&M Pet Land on Fort Campbell Boulevard) named Husky (short for Husqvarna) and he sorted that out in a day and a half.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

All right, that frame isn't chaeto, it's something else and I can't remember what it was.

So we cross-contaminated the hair algae from this tank to the 30 gallon nano in the master bedroom, probably when moving the red bubbletip neme. Hair algae did what cyano couldn't and made a horrible unstoppable mess that shrugged off algaecide and four cycles of ChemiClean.

So taking that tank apart, the high-fin cardinal (named Blackhawk since he hovers), the royal gramma (Grandma), and the comb-tooth blenny (Lenny) are all living out here along with the twin clowns (names pending), Big Mama, and Husky. The two clowns from the bedroom tank are in a temp holding rig back there. But so far the two blennys have kept their distance from each other.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Now what I need is some constructive criticism on that sump setup. The Fluval U4 is the only thing working- the protein skimmer's not working for some reason.

So I guess I need a new protein skimmer, some more live rock, and something to soak up nitrates.

 

[SmyrnaReefer]

have you power tested the system? the sump doesn't look like it will hold much more water if the power were to turn off....

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Just tested it. With the left-hand pump chamber at average starting level, before a few days of evaporative loss when I top it off again, I killed the power. The sump got pretty danged full, but didn't overflow.

Bart knew what he was doing when he put this thing together, I guess. =)

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Now what I am looking for is some constructive criticism in helping me redesign the sump.

The main pump works well- plenty of lift to get back up to the tank.

Heater is doing its job.

The Fluval filter seems to be doing OK, but I obviously need more of a bio-filter component since my nitrates are high.

The protein skimmer I might as well give away to someone who wants a rebuild project- it's not doing a danged thing right now and I don't know why.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Made arrangements for a new protein skimmer and added more live rock to the sump. Now trying to catch the black combtooth blenny and return him to the bedroom tank which has recovered from its stripping and rebuilding.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Catching a black blenny in a mostly dark tank was a technical and tactical challenge, but I got him. He's back in the bedroom tank.

The royal gramma died for some reason, going to get two more- one for each tank. The one we had did well for months and made a nice cheap colorful fish.

Haven't done anything else with the sump. Cleaning that thing while it's running is a technical challenge. Sort of like fixing an airplane in flight. I'm going to add a PVC ball valve to the tank overflow that feeds it so I can shut off the downflow to it in order to work on it.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Continuing to talk to myself and keep a record of what I do, one of the smaller clowns in the 60 gallon started getting beaten up badly by Big Mama. She was going after him with apparently lethal intent. He's been transferred to the 30 gallon where the two juvenile clowns back there seem to like him. Obviously though I have one clown too many. Not sure why Big Mama had those two smaller males anyway. If anyone wants a clown, let me know.

After some reconstructive work on the sump dividers in the 30 gallon nano, I managed to end its Niagra Falls effect. Added a bag of activated carbon and a bag of Nitra-Zorb in the middle sump chamber before the filter.

Added Lexan doors to the sump level of the 60 gallon's stand. Looking at reconfiguring the electrical setup out here to it. Came back from the closing sale at Pet Palace with a couple frags, which means I need to start using the big metal-halide light again.

Need to clean the sump out tomorrow and get the half inch of gunk out of the floor of it, need to change the filters in the U4.

 

[roadrashpaul]

It is coming together nicely. I like the sunken uboat. That is weird about the clown. Did they always get along and all of the sudden the bigger one started picking on the little one?

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Yeah, Big Mama had her two smaller consorts. Bart had them tanked together and they were fine. They were fine for two months. Saturday she flipped out and started trying to murder him. He went dead pale with stress and was pinned in the upper corner, so I scooped him and got him into the back bedroom tank where the other two clowns seem to like him.

The creepy thing was that Big Mama spent the next half hour circling the tank as if stalking him and wanting to finish him off.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Cleaned the sump, attempted to install the Coralife 75G skimmer I bought from Jay, realized I really need a three-chamber sump, and tossed everything back together on a temporary basis until I can get one put together.

Also put a coral beauty angel in there- couldn't turn down the deal at the Critter.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Oh, the Fluval crapped out on me. Plug it in, nothing happens. I guess 70 gallons was more than it wanted to handle. Guess I need a new filter mechanism.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

New Pics

Current view from the "front" of the tank looking toward the back wall of the house. The amount of that coarse black sand moved from under the the U-boat wreck by the engineer goby is apparent in several spots.

Current "flank" view of the tank. While that new top rock looks unstable as hell, it's interlocked strongly onto the one below it. Still, I'm having definite second thoughts about it.

Eventual goal is for that L-shaped rock wall to be corals, while reducing the amount of black sand to the merely cosmetic and also retaining the U-boat wreck. There is one plug of frag stuck in the rocks already- was five bucks at the Pet Palace going out of business sale.

The rock at the left front of the pic is dead coral I got out of the live rock tank at our other LFS- was too cool not to get it.

Current overflow box, "toothed" type. With the toothless sort on Luis's new build, I'm wondering if this is the best possible method. Only the far drain is in use- note the cap on the near side one. Pump return is in the far corner.

Current sump arrangement as of the night of the 3rd. While reconnecting everything, discovered the Fluval submersible filter had died. Now need to think of something else before I commit to a design of the new sump. The new protein skimmer definitely means I need a third chamber. Also want to take better advantage of the space under here. Still, running just a protein skimmer is as lame as running just a filter had been. Thought about putting filter pad material in the overflow box as a temp measure with the filter's death.

Also removed the aluminum channel of LEDs that Bart had installed in the base for refugium use. Got in the way while installing the protein skimmer collection cup assembly.