Reef Addicts - Blogs - 75 gallon tank by blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/blog.php/3186-75-gallon-tank en Mon, 20 May 2013 01:19:51 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.reefaddicts.com/images/misc/rss.jpg Reef Addicts - Blogs - 75 gallon tank by blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/blog.php/3186-75-gallon-tank Little 29 gallon is 4 years old this week http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28225-Little-29-gallon-is-4-years-old-this-week Sun, 02 Sep 2012 05:01:22 GMT Unfortunately, my 75 gallon build has stalled for much longer than I wanted...hopefully soon, hopefully. Until then, my little 29 is still plugging... Unfortunately, my 75 gallon build has stalled for much longer than I wanted...hopefully soon, hopefully. Until then, my little 29 is still plugging along and as the title says, it turns 4 years old this week (actually Sept 6). So I thought in the absence of any updates for the 75, I'd post some pics of the 29. Over the years, much has changed, recent rash of jumping fish, hair algae outbreak that either overgrew and choked out my zoa garden (or maybe more likely, the high nutrients that fed the hair algae, killed the zoas), and lots of learning along the way.

FTS...maybe doesn't look like much compared to many, but up close there's more color than this pic indicates.



Lots of light pastel colors in the coralline algae.



Mushroom


Ricordeas





And finally the sole surviving fish: I call it Fred Fish, my wife being slightly more artsy in her naming schemes calls is Sunrise


I'm aware that it's blurry, and I apologize. This fish constantly moves, so this is the best out of about 40.

Anyway, it's been an interesting journey. Being that each one of those rics started as a single head, maybe I've got growing/providing them with a good habitat down now. If I can just have as much luck with zoas and sps in the 75 (assuming I ever get to finish it), I'll be pretty happy in another 4 years. ;-)

Blakew
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]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28225-Little-29-gallon-is-4-years-old-this-week <![CDATA[Rod's Food "problem"]]> http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28166-Rod-s-Food-quot-problem-quot Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:09:55 GMT Calling it a problem is really over stating what's going on, but I'm looking for opinions none the less.

As you may know if you've followed along, my little 29 gallon has gotten healthier, but I've lost several fish to jumping and am now down to 1, a Flameback Angel.

Everytime I feed the angel, he fixates on the large pieces in Rod's original mix, most of which are too large for him to eat, grabbing them and then spitting them out and then grabbing them and then spitting them out over and over again. All the while the smaller food, including the seaweed and vegetables in the mix (which are better for the angel anyway) drift to the bottom and get lost in the gravel. I've tried leaving 1 powerhead on to keep circulation going, hoping that would keep the food suspended long enough for the fish to see it prior to it sinking to the bottom, but he/she just keeps trying to eat the big chunks.

I tried to use my wife's hand held blender to break up the chunks into smaller pieces. Unfortunately, not only did it not work, but my wife was pissed.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Blake ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28166-Rod-s-Food-quot-problem-quot Sad day for the 29 http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28094-Sad-day-for-the-29 Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:35:02 GMT Came home today and was missing my little clownfish, Waggles. Looked all around and found him, turned into jerky, laying on top of the baseboard... Came home today and was missing my little clownfish, Waggles. Looked all around and found him, turned into jerky, laying on top of the baseboard heater. :sigh:

He was the third permanent (I say permanent because I didn't know any better than to follow a particular fish store's advice and used damsels to cycle the tank when it was first set up...sorry.) fish in the 29. (Purple firefish 1st-added Nov 8, 2008; Wheeler's Watchman Goby 2nd-added Dec 3, 2008 and Waggles was added Dec 13, 2008). He/she was always healthy and happy, would eat flakes from my finger tips, attacked the pipette when feeding frozen food, and was in general a joy to watch. Model citizen of the tank. Never bothered any of the other fish as long as they stayed away from his "tree" of xenia (first and biggest clump in the tank). He/she'd been with us for a while.

I guess I've been lucky to have gotten by this long with an open top.:rolleyes:

So the fish tally isn't so good. In nearly 4 years I've had:
(1)Several yellowtail and one domino damsels (which required completely tearing all the live rock out of the tank to remove. Even without the concerns about how tough it is on the damsels to use them for cycling a tank, the amount of work required to get them out once the tank is cycled is not worth it. Do yourself a favor and use deli shrimp, ammonia, or one of the prebottled methods to cycle your tank. These fish all survived and went back to the fish store as trade ins (lowered price of firefish).
(2)A purple firefish: very entertaining and neat fish. Was with us for about 2 years (quit keeping good records after about 18 months). Just disappeared. One night he was there, the next morning he was gone. Never found any sign of him.
(3)Watchman goby: still in tank
(4)Waggles the clownfish: jerky, found today
(5)Flameback Angel (was supposed to be a Centropyge Argi - Cherub Angel, but fishstore sold it during the 2 week waiting period and gave me the Flameback for half price as a way of saying they were sorry, should have waited on another Cherub) 29 has always seemed too small for the Flameback - he constantly moves around the tank and chases anything that gets near him. Still with us. Probably will trade or sale him when I move to the 75. I don't want him to eat all the "sticks" I hope to put into the 75.
(6)Psuedochromis Fridmani - Orchard Dottyback: jerky, jump from tank and found cats playing with him in the last couple of months.

Not a very good track record, I'll admit. The clownfish was the reason my wife let me set up a saltwater tank in the first place. Maybe I'll get a pair for the 75.

Blake ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28094-Sad-day-for-the-29 Finally won the battle with the hair algae in the 29 http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28075-Finally-won-the-battle-with-the-hair-algae-in-the-29 Tue, 29 May 2012 20:16:55 GMT Before (January 2012) Image: http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq265/Peapod1313/1612.jpg a few months ago Image:... Before (January 2012)

a few months ago

After


Things are on the upswing again at work, so hopefully I can at least get the 75 in the house before my birthday also.:p
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]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/28075-Finally-won-the-battle-with-the-hair-algae-in-the-29 Beefing up my clean up crew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27996-Beefing-up-my-clean-up-crew Sat, 17 Mar 2012 03:19:54 GMT Sorry if this is a double post. I had a post all ready to go then I accidentally navigated away from the site and poof the post was gone. :eek: ... Sorry if this is a double post. I had a post all ready to go then I accidentally navigated away from the site and poof the post was gone. :eek:

Anyway, as I've posted previously, I'm really making an effort to get the hair algae under control in my 29 so it doesn't get transferred to the 75. To those ends I've changed the type of food I'm feeding from Ocean Nutrition Formula TWO Marine Pellets to Rod's Foods Original (wanted the Fish Only but the only "lfs" (1 1/2 hours away) that carries Rod's didn't have any), reduced feeding from twice a day to once a day, increased water changes from twice a month to once a week, started dosing phosphate remover the night before a water change and tonight I'm beefing up my clean up crew.

Nothing special an emerald crab, 6 red leg hermits, 2 small turbo snails and 2 astrea snails. I know it's kind of silly to dress up a picture of crabs and snails in a bag, but I really like the vignette feature on my recently acquired phone.





Blake ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27996-Beefing-up-my-clean-up-crew Pictures from my little corner of saltwater happiness http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27990-Pictures-from-my-little-corner-of-saltwater-happiness Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:56:16 GMT While the 75 gallon build is waiting its turn to get some more funds directed its way, I thought I might share some pictures from my 29. The Florida... While the 75 gallon build is waiting its turn to get some more funds directed its way, I thought I might share some pictures from my 29. The Florida ricordeas and the Xenia seem to be the only things that have always done well under the PC lights (that I used to have) on this tank. Luckily, they seem to continue to be realitively happy under the lower wattage t5s.

You'll have to excuse the hair algae. Though I'm finally beginning to win the battle, there's still more than I would like in the tank.
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Not too bad for a phone camera and some stock google editing software...one of these days I'm going to have to invest in a digital SLR though.

Blake ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27990-Pictures-from-my-little-corner-of-saltwater-happiness 29 gallon feeling jealous of all the attention the 75 is getting? http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27972-29-gallon-feeling-jealous-of-all-the-attention-the-75-is-getting Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:04:06 GMT I suppose the 29 gallon must be feeling jealous of the attention and parts bill for the 75 gallon.:rolleyes: Today while I was home for lunch the... I suppose the 29 gallon must be feeling jealous of the attention and parts bill for the 75 gallon.:rolleyes: Today while I was home for lunch the second of the main tank power compact light units went up in smoke. Horrible smell! Luckily, I was home and was able to get it unplugged and outside. No fire, but did I mention the horrible smell. Fried ballast is not a pleasant smell.

So in the last couple of months both 65 watt power compacts (used for the main lighting in the tank) have given up the ghost and the power compact unit over the hang on the back fuge went out as well. Atleast with the other two the ballast just made a vibrating noise and died. The last of the three made sure its demise will be long remembered.

Unfortunately, that left me with no lighting over the tank. When the fuge light went out I just took the fuge off and cleaned it so I can put it on craigslist. When the first of the main tank lights went out, I figured I could limp along with the one remaining light until I got the 75 up and running. Unfortunately, this plan didn't come to fruition. :sigh:

I had always hoped to have the 75 cycling by March because I knew it would be a busy month. My other hobby (growing/dwarfing Japanese maples) takes up most of my time (and money) during March due to repots, changing out soil, pruning etc. Also, my wife is going to see her family in Arizona this month, and I had promised to get her phone set up with some movies and books for the trip. Her mom sent her a standby ticket and sitting at the airport by yourself with nothing to do is never fun.

The timing and the shortness of funds left me with few options. So off I went to the closest pet store and found the cheapest 30" light solution I could on short notice. It's an Aquasun 2 lamp t5 unit. Lighting over the tank went from a barely adequate 130 watts of power compact to 48 watts of t5. I hope not too many of the ricordea's die due to loss of light. The xenia I'm not too worried about (turned into more of a pest than an interesting specimen) and the hair algae long age killed most of the zoa's.

The good news in all this is due to multiple large water changes, reduced feeding, pulling as much as I physically can, using phosphate remover, and cleaning my skimmer with vinegar (improved skimmate production) I think I'm beginning to finally turn the corner on the hair algae. The remaining stuff in the tank is beginning to turn a very light green to yellowish color. I was also able to find Rod's Foods at a store in Renton. Long drive for fish food, but I'm often in the area anyway, so I picked up some of the original mix yesterday. I'm hopeful that the t5 "temporary" unit will get me through without too many ricordea looses and the new regiment will finally get the phosphate issue under control so it doesn't get transferred into the 75.

Blake ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27972-29-gallon-feeling-jealous-of-all-the-attention-the-75-is-getting Transportaion engineers and plumbing...oh my - AKA plumbing part II http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27937-Transportaion-engineers-and-plumbing-oh-my-AKA-plumbing-part-II Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:03:09 GMT Well, I planned my work and worked my plan...until my brain got in the way, then I revised my plan and made things way more complicated. :D Anyway,... Well, I planned my work and worked my plan...until my brain got in the way, then I revised my plan and made things way more complicated. :D
Anyway, the plumbing is done...mostly.

How we got there:

Time to plumb a pump.

I started with a 3/4" to 1 1/2" adaptor threaded to a 1 1/2" union. I screwed these 2 fittings together prior to putting them on the pump to avoid cracking the pump housing.
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Then I screwed this assembly on to the pump.
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Next I screwed a 1 1/2" thread to slip fit adaptor to the top of the union. Here's the finished assembly (from an earlier photo).
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Next I built the manifold. This will split the flow from the Mag12 between feeding my biopellet reactor, charcoal reactor and return flow with the option to bleed off extra flow to the cheato section in the sump.

First I got all the parts laid out with short pieces of pipe cut for joining all the fittings together.
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Then I glued the pieces for the 1/2" and 3/4" reactor feed sections together and glued those to the reducer tees. Then I carefully lined up the reducer tees so they would be level when glued to the 1 1/2" tee which would split the flow between the return and the manifold. I did this dry first and put marks on the fittings so that I would have a way to line them up quickly when I was glueing the pieces together.
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Then I glued up the rest of the fittings. I took the double union ball valve apart prior to gluing all the fittings together to avoid getting glue in the ball valves.
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Next I measured, cut and glued the upright from the top of the pump to the manifold. Then I glued a 45 degree bend to the top part of the 1 1/2" tee going up to the return and glued another union to the 45. A short piece of spa flex to keep pump vibrations from being transferred into the main tank via the return plumbing and another 45 completed the manifold. Then I measured and cut the pipe to get the return to the top of the tank. (2) 90 degree bends finished out the return. I still need to add a short piece of pipe and another 90 to direct the return.
Sorry, not alot of pictures for this process, just one of the completed return and manifold.
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To finish out the second overflow pipe, I glued a wye onto the bottom of the overflow pipe, added a 45 to the bottom and finished it off with spa flex to get into the skimmer section. Then I added a 22.5 bend to the wye and glued on a slip fit to thread adaptor.
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Last step was to add spa flex into the cheato section.

Here's the mostly finished product. I also still need to use some alcohol to clean up the excess glue per Midnight's previous suggestion. (Going to try that now.)
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The spa flex going from the wye to the cheato section is connectd via a threaded conneciton. This was an after thought that may have been unnecessary and certainly added some extra time and complexity to the project. The idea is to make sure there's enough flow going to the cheato section. If the Mag12 isn't strong enough to provide 400 gph to the tank, 350 gph to the biopellet reactor, 200 gph to the carbon reactor and around 100 gph to the cheato section. My original design didn't include this option, but it was easier to plumb it in now and not need it, than to need it and have to plumb it in later. If I don't need it, there's too much flow to the cheato section or not enough to the skimmer section (don't know that any of these are a real posssibility) then I can unscrew the spa flex and screw in a threaded plug.

The one thing that became obvious after I got the plumbing installed is that I'll need to have the baffle closest to the skimmer cut higher in the back forming a rectangular weir in the front. This will prevent water from flowing directly between the overflows and the return pump and force it to move toward the front of the tank so it can be skimmed prior to being returned to the pump.

With my target being 400 gph through the sump and a 6" wide weir, the flow over the top of the weir will be around 1/2" high.

Maybe it'll all be clearer once I get the baffles ordered and have some pictures.

Anyway, sorry this post was short on pictures, thanks for following along, and as always all comments are welcome. ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27937-Transportaion-engineers-and-plumbing-oh-my-AKA-plumbing-part-II The big oops http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27935-The-big-oops Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:47:18 GMT Anyone see what's wrong with this picture?

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Doh! Guess I get to fix it in the morning. :sigh: ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27935-The-big-oops <![CDATA[Let's plumb - part 1]]> http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27933-Let-s-plumb-part-1 Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:56:10 GMT I want to start by thanking melev (Marc) for a great plumbing article and the follow up comments as well for helping me plan and begin the plumbing... I want to start by thanking melev (Marc) for a great plumbing article and the follow up comments as well for helping me plan and begin the plumbing on my tank (finally).

Marc's article can be found here: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...o-it-correctly

Here's the tank and sump on the stand (yeah).
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Here's most of the plumbing parts. Some of you will notice there's a single union ball valve in the pile. Marc's article suggests these are not to be trusted. However, it was half the price of the double union ball valve, so of course, like an idiot, I bought it. That said, I should have listened to Marc's advice, because when I really started looking at the single union ball valve, I understood what Marc was saying. The union side of this valve doesn't seal the way a normal union or double union ball valve seals. When the union side is removed from the ball valve, it takes the part of the valve that the ball valve would normally seal against out and the ball part of the valve will rock back and forth in the housing. It's hard to explain and maybe part of why I didn't understand Marc's complaint with the valve until I saw it for myself. So this brings up my first reitteration of one of Marc's suggestions: take things apart while still at the store . (1) This allows you to make sure that all the o-rings are in place, (2) if I'd pulled this apart at the store, I'd never have bought it. It was obvious it didn't seal once I took the union side apart. Anyway the single union ball valve has been replaced with a double union ball valve. You may also notice, since I have no way to transport long sticks of pipe, I bought 5' sticks. Lowe's had 5' sticks but didn't have any 1 1/2" and Home Depot cut a couple of 10' sticks in half for no cost. However, fair warning, the cut was aweful and I lost a few inches from both halves because I had to cut out the very crooked and heavily jagged cuts from the Home Depot employee. That said, atleast I could get the pipe home without it hanging out the window or some such nonsense and if a couple of inches is going to mean the difference between your project working or not, buy another stick of pipe. It's the cheap part of the plumbing supplies.
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First objective was to get the overflow hung.
Here's a better picture of the "chip out" I talked about in my blog about drilling the tank for the overflow. With the black paint on the back of the glass the chip out shows better.
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The chip out is at about 7:30. It's about a 1/16" to 1/8" deep and about the same wide.

The next part I tried to do pretty quick to keep the silicone from setting up before I got everything together, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the actual process. Plus, I had silicone on my fingers and didn't want to get it all over my phone.

First I put some teflon tape on the threads of the threaded street elbow and screwed it into the bulkhead.
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As you can see, I didn't take a picture until after it was mounted and some of the plumbing was already completed.

Then I spread some silicone in the chip out and around the threads of the bulkheads, put one of the rubber gaskets on each of the bulkheads, inserted the bulkheads through the holes I had drilled previously from the back of the tank, put another rubber gasket on the threaded part of the bulkhead sticking through the tank and hung the overflow on the bulkheads.
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If you look close you can see a shiny area about 1/4" wide on the threads. This is where I had spread silicone all the way around the bulkhead in the threads.

Next I stuck the bulkhead nut on the bulkheads, snugged up the nuts, adjusted the height of the overflow as best I could (see previous hole drilling blog for additional discussion about the overflow adjustment), and tightened the bulkheads down as tight as I dared. Having never used bulkheads before, I hope I got them tight enough, but I certainly didn't want to overtighten them and crack the tank. They are fairly snug. About as tight as I could get them without using channel locks or some other tools, but then again, I work at a computer all day so I'm not exactly the strongest of people.
Here's the finished product from inside the box.
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And here's a view of the box in it's final resting place from outside.
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Unfortunately, this view also shows off my crappy seam resilicone job and why I was temped to cut out the silicone I'd just put in and start over. For the most part it disappears (or atleast doesn't look as bad) when water is in the tank, so that's why I decided not to start over.

Next it was time to start cutting pipe and glueing parts together.
Here's the saw I used (I've had this saw for nearly 20 years. Don't know why, but admitting that suddenly makes me feel older than I felt just a few minutes ago.) and a close of up the blade. It worked very well and make nice smooth cuts. Home Depot had a package of 2 for $45 at Home Depot or a single blade for $30 or $35, so I bought the pack of 2. (Bought these when I was buying material for the stand, cause the blade that was on the saw was over 10 years old. I haven't used this saw much since moving to Washington.)
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And here's the glue. I chose this glue specifically because it said it worked and cured in near freezing temperatures, so I knew the cold garage wouldn't cause any problems. It also specifically mentions that it works with flexible pvc, so I knew it'd work on the spaflex I planned to use for parts of the project.
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If you choose to use this glue, don't muck around. It sets faster than other pvc glues I've used in the past. Here's a picture of the first joint I glued where alignment counted and as you can see, I didn't get it aligned before the glue set. Oh well, lesson learned (work fast) and I know where there's more pvc fittings.
Oops.
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Since Marc's "plumbing primer" article is so good and covers all the techniques, I didn't take pictures of every step along the way, just some intermediate shots of the work I've done so far.
Unions glued to overflow elbows.
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A couple of bends to reduce some of the noise of the overflow (per previous suggestion).
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And the stub pipes to get the overflows down to the sump. Notice the left pipe is completed with a 45 degree bend and some spaflex into the skimmer section of the sump.
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Also, notice I left the stub pipes a little longer than necessary to accomodate the rigid insulation or foam camping pad that will go between the tank and the stand to accomodate any uneveness in the stand top. Eventually, I will add pipe supports to the 2x6 rim joist on the stand to take any pressure the hanging plumbing may be putting on the back of the tank.

Heating the spaflex for 4-5 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees per Marc's article worked really well to "unkink" the tight curl the spaflex had obtained from sitting on a spool for who knows how long. Here's a picture showing the curve of the spaflex as I bought it laying next to the section I had heated and straightened.
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Unfortunately, I ran up against that pesky 8PM noise ordinance again and didn't get as far as I'd hoped, but I've made a good start. I have a good plan and should be able to finish up the plumbing over the weekend. (Nice long 3 day weekend coming up, wohoo!)

I'm really enjoying this build (I'm quite the tinkerer, so this project is right down my alley.) and I'm enjoying sharing the experience with everyone else. Hope you all are enjoying following along.

As always, all comments are welcomed. ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27933-Let-s-plumb-part-1 Activities to cure my impatience http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27930-Activities-to-cure-my-impatience Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:18:54 GMT I want to keep my project moving forward, but as I said in my last post the oil base floor and utility enamel is taking a long time to dry.... I want to keep my project moving forward, but as I said in my last post the oil base floor and utility enamel is taking a long time to dry. Fortunately, I learned my lesson and started painting without thinning first. When I painted the remainder of the stand, it dried much faster and I've been able to get two good coats on the top and sides. I plan on moving ahead with the plumbing this week prior to putting the second coat on the underside of the stand.

For tonight, I decided to move the project forward the only way I could. I decided to finally clean the back and paint it.

A quick trip to Walmart, stopping by Dairy Queen on the way so my wife could have an ice cream cone, and I had the Krylon Fusion.
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I mixed up a vinegar solution (1 cup of white vinegar per gallon of hot water) and started washing the tank. I found, for many of the more stuborn dirt/scale (this tank was previously used for Discus) a razor blade out of a utility knife worked well.

After cleaning the outside of the back glass as good as I could, I masked off the tank. I used masking tape to tape around the inside of the holes I had previously cut in the tank and back masked the holes on the inside of the tank. Then I used some old newspaper (we always keep the sales papers we get in the mail to start fires (we heat with a wood stove)) and masking tape to protect the sides, top and bottom of the tank.
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Next, painted the back, using multiple light passes in each direction until the glass was evenly coated.
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I let the paint flash for a few minutes and then removed all the masking.

I'll let the the paint cure overnight (or maybe two days depending on if the stand is completely dry tomorrow or not. Then I'll finally get started on the plumbing. ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27930-Activities-to-cure-my-impatience Weak weekly update http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27925-Weak-weekly-update Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:49:15 GMT A very busy work week and cooler temperatures have slowed progress to a crawl this week. On Monday I got the top on the stand frame and lifted the... A very busy work week and cooler temperatures have slowed progress to a crawl this week.

On Monday I got the top on the stand frame and lifted the tank into place for a trial. I wanted to confirm the height would be about what I'd thought and get the wife's approval. Here's a picture of the tank on the frame with my wife (5'2") standing next to it. I thought I'd also gotten a picture with the sump in place once I'd completed the lower platform, but I can't find it now.

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It took a couple of hours to cut the plywood, screw in the sleepers and screw down both platforms. Due to my early cut off (8pm as discussed in a previous post), this took up my work time on Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday evening on my way home from work, I stopped by Lowes and bought some floor and utility enamel. The instructions stated to thin the paint with mineral spirits for the first coat on unpainted wood. With lows in the upper 30's and highs in the upper 40's I thought I'd be okay to get some paint on the stand. So I poured out some paint into a smaller container and thinned it (about 3:1) with mineral spirits. Unfortunately, with temperatures this low and the normal Pacific Northwest weather returning this week (drizzle, drizzle and more drizzle) the enamel didn't dry to the touch until today. Today (between bouts of being sick) I flipped the stand over and put the primer coat on the remainder of the stand.

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On Thursday my order from Bulk Reef Supply came in. I didn't see in the user policy anything about specifically mentioning suppliers and couldn't find if this is a sponsor of the site or not, so if I'm not supposed to mention non sponsors, let me know and I'll edit the post. With that being said, I was quite impressed with the quickness that this order was filled and shipped. The free shipping was via UPS ground and got here in basically 4 business days. In my opinion well worth paying the little bit of extra money over ebay or Amazon to get quick service and shipping.

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Reef Octopus BR-70 biopellet reactor
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BRS bio pellets.

Bulk Reef Supply's website recommends approximately 1 cup (236ml) per 50 gallons. I figure the total amount of water in my system will be between 80 and 100 gallons. (78 gallons in main tank minus sand and rock plus around 25 gallons in the sump. (I'm guessing about 1/3 of the 40 gallon sump volume won't be usable due to the baffle heights to make the skimmer work correctly. This should work out fine as I need a minimum of 7.5 gallons open space for drain back from the main tank assuming 2" of the tank's volume will be sucked back into the sump when the return pump is turned off. The tank is approximately 48" x 18" with 2" draw down (0.167' x 4' x 1.5' = 1 cubic foot & 1 cubic foot of water is 7.48 gallons).

With the above stated I figured I will need to run the entire 500 ml in the reactor. So I checked to make sure the reactor would hold all 500 ml.
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The 500 ml only fills the reactor about half full so I'm hoping there will be enough room to fluidize and tumble the pellets.

I also got my return pump (Mag 12).
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I also bought some of the plumbing parts. I forgot to bring the hose barbs from the bio pellet and carbon reactor with me, and I couldn't remember what size they were for sure, so I didn't get the hose barbs and ball valves for the manifold.

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That's a 1 1/2" union screwed to the top of the Mag 12. I knew what the measurements were for the pump, but I was still surprised by the size of this pump. It's beefy and heavy.

Last but not least I got two 150 watt heaters. I was a little disappointed with the length of the leads on these finnex heaters. There's no way I'm going to be able to put the temperature sensors in the display and have the heaters in the sump. So I guess once the tank is up and running, I'll have to see if I need to run the water in the sump slightly higher than the display to keep the display at the desired temperature.

My 29 has had a 100 watt heater in it that seemed to be running quite a bit lately (maybe just my perception, maybe because it's been a cooler than normal winter or maybe because we ran out of firewood already (usually burn a cord and a half in 6 months, this year we burned a cord and a half in right at 4 months) and have electric heaters running). At any rate I figured, since it'll still be a little while before I need the heaters in the 75, I'd test one of them in the 29. It has held the tank steady at 75 and only seems to run a few minutes at a time a couple of times a day. Yeah, I know it's 5 watts per gallon in this tank which is almost twice the recommended 3 watts per gallon, but it's working so well, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have gone with (2) 200 watt heaters rather than the (2) 150's for the 75. I guess atleast I didn't spend a huge amount for these heaters so as long as they work okay for now, I can decide if I want to buy a couple of 200 watters when I'm able to get an Apex controller down the road and and switch the control or the heaters to the Apex.

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Couldn't resist including my Ocellaris, who was very interested in what I was doing in her tank, in the picture. ;-)

So that's the weak update for this week. Didn't get much done and unfortunately it's taking so long for the paint to dry I'm not sure how much will get done this coming week either. I want to wait until I have the plumbing figured out to put the baffles in the sump and I can't finalize the plumbing until I can set the tank and sump on the stand and can't do that until the paint dries. So hoping for a warm spell this coming week. Both so the paint dries and so I don't have to run these electric heaters. I hate running the electric heaters but I really hate buying firewood especially this time of year. No one up here seems to store the firewood they're selling inside and by this time of year, even if it's cured, it's soaking wet from rain and burns very sooty after I've spent an hour trying to get it to burn, if I can get it to burn. Guess I need to start putting up more than I think I'll burn so that I have enough for cold years like this year.

Hope you enjoyed the update and thanks for following along. As always, all comments are welcome. I'm here to learn. ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27925-Weak-weekly-update <![CDATA[Let's build a stand - Part 1]]> http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27908-Let-s-build-a-stand-Part-1 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:28:43 GMT First let's take care of some house keeping. I ordered some more parts Friday (Mag 12 for return, (2) 150 watt heaters, and the biopellet reactor). I was a little disappointed because the Vertex reactors were out of stock, so I ordered the slightly more expensive Reef Octopus. Both reactors seem to get good reviews so I don't think I necessarily settled for a lesser version and I was into free shipping so I didn't want to wait for the Vertex reactors to be restocked. Everything should arrive by next weekend so it was time to get started on a stand so I could work on my plumbing next weekend.

A good friend of mine has a few trees which were badly damaged during the snow and ice storm we had a few weeks ago and I was going to trade the use of his pickup for cutting down and removing the damaged trees. I also get the firewood out of the deal so that's a win - win situation. Unfortunately for me and even more unfortunately for my friend he got pneumonia. So he get's a minimum of 1 week bed rest and I was out a truck (I hate not having my own truck anymore. A situation I definitely plan to remedy once the housing market is on steadier feet.)

So $20 later, I had a rental from Home Depot and a load of wood to get started.

Here's my stack of cut wood. 2x6's for the top and 2x4's for the legs and base.

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Kreg pocket screw jig and the "pockets".

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Kreg pocket screws and a photo of the recomended screw size chart from the side of the package. I'm using 2x lumber (thickness is 1-1/2") so I have the 2-1/2" screws.

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If anyone chooses to use this kit, you'll also need the longer #2 square head bit to reach the screws in the pocket. I had the smaller size from a kit I was given a few years ago, but they wouldn't reach all the way down into the pocket to bottom out the screw. Another thing to note is even using the 2-1/2" coarse thread as recommended for soft 1-1/2" wood, it is very easy to over tighten the screws and cause them to spin in their holes. (Had to drill new holes on several which I overtightened.)

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End frames screwed together.

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Front and back frames.

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The frames screwed together and extra "screw strips" added in the corners.

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This is as far as I got tonight (those pesky noise ordinances are always getting in the way of having late night fun around here ;-0 ). I also ran out of normal 2-1/2" screws. So tomorrow I need to make a quick trip back to Home Depot to pick up another pound of screws and finish screwing the frames together and put the other two sleepers in the base frame.

As always, everyone's thoughts are welcome. ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27908-Let-s-build-a-stand-Part-1 Overflow update http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27906-Overflow-update Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:18:54 GMT The overflow I ordered came in today. Here's the package contents. I guess candy is a trademark thing for these guys, lol. Just noticed the hole saw isn't in this picture, but it came with the kit also.

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Measured multiple times and placed the template.
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Per the instructions, I got the holes started using the template and then removed the template.
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I think I may have been drilling too slow, because it took forever. I also learned why they say to use a drill with a clutch. Although I thought I was very careful, I had a "chip out" on the first hole. Luckily it's small enough that the gasket covers it. I think I'll put a dab of silicone in there when I install the overflow box for the final time.
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Here's the box basically just snug up. I'll take it back out and clean everything well before the final installation.
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I know there's tons of youtube videos that show this install, but I wanted a record of my install.

A couple of things I learned from the process. The template is larger than the hole saw and even using the template the hole saw danced around a bit until it began to grind into the glass. The end result was that all my careful measuring didn't mean much. The holes ended up uneven and the box ended up lower than I wanted. The hole saw makes a bigger hole than the bulkheads, so I can level up the box, but the water level in the tank is going to be a half inch or so lower than I wanted. The other part of the story is I didn't pay enough attention to how deep the "teeth" in the box are so I'm going to loose some more water height. Another thing I learned is you can cut holes in glass with a normal drill but you have to be extremely careful as you begin to break through the opposite side. Luckily, when the hole saw caught, the drill was turning pretty slow so it just chipped at the edge of the hole rather than shattering the whole piece of glass. With the second hole as I approached the point where the hole saw was just about to grind through the opposite side I started lifting up on the drill ever so slightly so the hole saw had very little weight on it and it ground a much cleaner hole.

Anyway, a part that I've been worried about is done and I'm a little more comfortable with drilling glass if I ever need that skill again. ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27906-Overflow-update Overflow - 700 GPH, 1500 GPH or something else http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27900-Overflow-700-GPH-1500-GPH-or-something-else Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:36:01 GMT I'm ready to order the overflow but wanted to get some input from some of you guys with more experience. After all I'm really liking the idea provided in one of my earlier blogs about using an MP-40 and maybe adding an MP-10 for flow over my planned use of a snapper hybrid (less electrical use and fewer holes in the tank). I've also just about talked myself into the AI Sol leds because they're more electrically efficient and if they last as long as advertised will be a significant savings in buying bulbs.

So my plan for drains and returns was to use a 700 gph overflow with a wye. One side stays 1 1/2" and goes to the skimmer section on the right side of my sump. The other side reduces to 1" with a ball valve to control the amount of flow and goes to the cheato area on the left side of the sump. Both of these overflow into the middle section where my return pump, heater, charcoal reactor and biopellet reactor are located. The return pump would be a Mag 7 (with the head this wouldn't over power the 700 gph overflow).

Then, based on Marc's manifold design on his 400, I got to thinking I could upsize the return pump and feed both the charcoal and biopellet reactors as well as the return from the same pump, saving myself a pump to feed the two reactors. I was thinking if I did a Mag 12 the manifold could feed both reactors and have a ball valve controlled bleed off back into the skimmer area to keep the flow to the return from over powering the 700 gph overflow box. My concern is if something blocks the overflow or drain line the Mag 12 even dialed back as described above could over power the drain.

So my first question is should I go with the 1500 gph overflow (provides redundancy but adds another hole to the tank) or do two drains provide twice the opportunity for something to go wrong? Next question, see anything in my revised return pump planning you'd change?

Any and all thoughts are welcome. ]]> blakew http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php/27900-Overflow-700-GPH-1500-GPH-or-something-else