The Port 120

[LBReefer]

After saying goodbye to my last tank, I didn't lose much time in identifying a replacement. I decided I would go slightly bigger and design this tank with all the features, fauna, and design I could muster. I quickly realized that this was going to be way more daunting than I had realized.

 

[LBReefer]

I found a 120 gallon tank, stand and sump combo on craigslist. I drove down to check it out and I was very impressed. The previous owner had reinforced the cross braces (something I know appreciate) and replaced all of the silicone with black. It turns out that his spouse worked at a couple of the local public aquariums and had some expert skills.

I loaded up the tank and sump and headed back to the office.

 

[LBReefer]

When I went back to pick up the stand, I realized that there was no way to it was going to fit into my SUV. The seller was kind enough to discount the original asking price and I placed an order for a new stand from my LFS.

After the owner of the LFS very patiently trying to color match the look I wanted in the new stand, I broke down and decided to stain it myself.

 

[LBReefer]

I was trying to replicate a shiplap look I have seen elsewhere. The fine folks at Home Depot pointed me towards a semi-transparent stain with a bluish tint.

After struggling with multiple round of staining, sanding and reapplying I realized that semi-transparent stain and pine do not make for a good combination. I could never get the look quite right.

I went back to Home Depot where I selected a solid stain with grey/blue look. Many rounds of staining/sanding layer, I got the stand where I wanted:

 

[LBReefer]

I decided to take advantage of a great black Friday sale at another LFS I frequent. This turned out to be a bit too good to be true.

After placing the new fish in QT, they started dying off quickly. I was super frustrated.

 

[LBReefer]

Saddened by the loss of my new fish, I decided to head out and remind myself why I was doing this.

I want a little bit of this in my life everyday.

 

[LBReefer]

Based upon some solid advice, and a strong dislike for the previous plumbing, I decided to redo the plumbing on the tank/sump.

I wanted to reuse the fancy trigger systems sump that I had purchased for the previous tank:

The previous owner of the tank had taken the unusual step of attaching a 2" union to the outside of the bulkhead. It took me a long time to figure it out and even longer to realize that the union was glued to the bulkhead. This made it impossible to unscrew the bulkhead. I tried replacing half of the union with a new one, only to realize that the threading of schedule 40 unions is not uniform:

Luckily I had picked up an inexpensive handsaw at the local Ace Hardware Store and I went to town on the bulkheads:

Several trips to Home Depot, a specialty plumber store and back to my LFS later, I had new bulkheads on hand. Unfortunately I managed to strip them both by getting sand into the threads.

One of the guys at the LFS felt bad for me and gave me a new as a Christmas present.

New bulkheads installed, I got out the primer/cement and went about finishing out the plumbing. It was a bit odd to use my new saw on my office desk, but ...

At the risk of jinxing myself, I am pretty hspoy with how it turned out:

 

[LBReefer]

I reused the return plumbing from my previous tank, but I think I need to replace the check valve.

With the plumbing done it was time to get the system wet. I enticed my very kind coworker to assist me in carrying the first 45 gallons of water:

 

[LBReefer]

I had told myself that I wasn't going to allow this new tank to have a rats nest of wires. I purchased a few (many) power supply holders from Fish of Hex and went to work wiring up the tank:

 

[LBReefer]

And she's wet!

After finishing the plumbing and wiring, I dumped the first 45 gallons into the tank/sump and decided to check the return pump.

 

[LBReefer]

I'm still struggling with plumbing issues. I broke down and called my LFS to see if they can send somebody out.

 

[LBReefer]

When it rains it pours. It actually did rain in Long Beach for the first time in five months.

And I found this guy floating at the bottom of my temporary tank.

I was planning to give him to a friend to make room for my future pair of mandarin gobys. Nonetheless, I was sad to see a longtime fish bite the bucket.

 

[Kershaw]

Based upon some solid advice, and a strong dislike for the previous plumbing, I decided to redo the plumbing on the tank/sump.

I wanted to reuse the fancy trigger systems sump that I had purchased for the previous tank:

The previous owner of the tank had taken the unusual step of attaching a 2" union to the outside of the bulkhead. It took me a long time to figure it out and even longer to realize that the union was glued to the bulkhead. This made it impossible to unscrew the bulkhead. I tried replacing half of the union with a new one, only to realize that the threading of schedule 40 unions is not uniform:

Luckily I had picked up an inexpensive handsaw at the local Ace Hardware Store and I went to town on the bulkheads:

Several trips to Home Depot, a specialty plumber store and back to my LFS later, I had new bulkheads on hand. Unfortunately I managed to strip them both by getting sand into the threads.

One of the guys at the LFS felt bad for me and gave me a new as a Christmas present.

New bulkheads installed, I got out the primer/cement and went about finishing out the plumbing. It was a bit odd to use my new saw on my office desk, but ...

At the risk of jinxing myself, I am pretty hspoy with how it turned out:

Looks like things are coming along.
I wanted to point out one thing, your new drains look in the picture like they are reverse grade. May not be a huge issue but working in the trades I have seen big problems from PVC that is reverse grade/ back grade.

 

[jeffrey750750]

Sorry to hear about your losses, luck in the new year is right around the corner

 

[LBReefer]

Sorry to hear about your losses, luck in the new year is right around the corner

Much appreciated!

 

[LBReefer]

I was able to identify the cause for my mysterious fish losses.

Despite the fact that my ammonia alert looked like this:

My red sea showed 1.2ppm ammonia:

To say that I am frustrated would be an understatement. I'm also embarrassed and feeling a big guilty.

I lost both my pajama cardinals, my melanarus wrasse, and a coral beauty to something entirely preventable.

My favorite clownfish pair and the foxface have made it through thus far. I'm hoping that the ammonia won't have done any permanent damage to them.

 

[LBReefer]

Looks like things are coming along.
I wanted to point out one thing, your new drains look in the picture like they are reverse grade. May not be a huge issue but working in the trades I have seen big problems from PVC that is reverse grade/ back grade.

Yeah I am a bit nervous about that. The reverse grade is very slight and is a product of trying to hard plumb into two separate feeds into the filter socks.

Any tips for what I should do at this point?

 

[LBReefer]

Well after dumping an additional 5-10 gallons of saltwater into office carpet and going through 5 bulkheads, I desperately called my LFS Age of Aquariums to see if they could come to the rescue. And they did!

Apparently I had managed to get pvc cement into the threads of the return line bulkhead. I thought I had just mistreated it for the 345th time.

Two hours and many thank yous later, my system is humming:

The middle kessil isn't staying on. I have a spare, but I have a stripped screw on the mount for that one. The adventure continues.

 

[LBReefer]

After seeing a thermometer get stuck "on" in a QT tank, I'm now a firm believer of adding a controller to any programmable heater.

Unfortunately my previous inkbird's thermometer went down the tubes:

So in with the new:

 

[LBReefer]

I've had this guy and a "surprise" invert in qt for the past few 6 weeks. I have him hanging out in a little fry basket inside a separate invert QT tank.

I love these guys for the rare opportunities in which I actually get to see them work. I have one in my bare bottom main tank and I haven't see him in 6 months. I can tell that he is still alive based upon the distinctive and slightly terrifying pistol sounds.

I look forward to pairing him with a goby one of these days.