Bigjohnwoody

So the swirl is enough to get the proper reading? I like the saran wrap idea as well! I thought about doing that but thought it might affect the reading! Thanks everyone for the input!

Yahhhhh! So glad you joined up dude! Been here like 4 days and am totally hooked!

So next up I had to figure out what RO/DI unit I was going to buy! I read great things about thefilterguyz.biz and called them up and talked with Jim! He was really a nice guy. He had a lot of information and was not there just to sell me stuff. You could tell that he genuinely cared about my success in the hobby. So I decided to buy my unit from him. I ended up going with the ocean reef miser 6 stage water saver unit. I added on the dual tds meter, RO bypass so I could use the unit for drinking water, and a float valve so I don't have to stress if I forget about it being on as well! The unit was very well built and I could not be happier with it. I am very glad that I went with them and would do business with them in a heart beat again. First class service! Installation was so easy I had my three year old do it! (Im Kidding) I did let him help though!

Ok So I bought API test kits for ammonia nitrite and nitrate! I seem to like the simplicity of all of them except the Nitrate test! I shake the bottle as it says in the instructions follow them too a T and then when I shake it for the minute it seems to start leaking all over the place. I have done it twice with diff test tubes and caps, both times it starts leaking everywhere. What am I doing wrong? Can I just put my finger over the top or will that mess with the readings? The other kits don't seem to leak but I only shake them for 5 seconds! I bought Salifert for my Cal, Alk, Mag and a Hanna meter for Phos. Please help!

Here is a pic of the finished product! Then I had to water test it! I was incredibly nervous as I had never worked with acrylic before and was afraid that as soon as water touched it, it was going to burst all over the place! Thank god this did not happen and it held water completely and worked just the way I planned! NO LEAKS....Yipeeee

So since I bought a tank that had overflows in it I had to get a sump! So of coures I looke into getting a megaflow sump! I had megaflow overflows so it just sounded right! I then decided that it just was not big enough since I had a whole closet and decided I would get a big tank silicone some baffles in it and make that work instead. I then through.... you guessed it more reading discovered melevsreef! He has an incredible sight on acrylic works. So I decide I would build my sump out of 3/8" Plexiglass G. I probably could have made 1/4" work but I just wanted the piece of mind of the extra strength. So I modeled it after his model f design. I put the fuge section at one end and the skimmer section at the other and my return in the middle! The dimensions are 48" x 18" X 16" Deep. My Skimmer section is 11 x 18 and has about 10" in depth, my fuge section is 13 x 18 with about 12 3/4" in depth and my return section is 19 3/4 x 18. I made a 3 baffle bubble trap on my skimmer section that a re spaced 1" apart and I cut grooves in my baffle on the fuge section to prevent chaeto and snails and things like that from getting into my return section! So here are some pics of the build process!

So the next thing that I did was gonna be having to figure out where I was gonna put the tank! There was really no clear spot that stuck out to me! I really wanted it in the living room so that while I watched TV I could also enjoy my tank! There was just no room for it though! So next I decided I was gonna put it in our dinning room. It was a perfect spot so I decided to just put it there! That was until my wife said "Hey why don't you put it ine the family room?" I really did not want to put it that far away from everyone. Until she told me that the small walk in closet that is in the room, I could make into my fish room! I jumped at the chance in a heart beat! So I went to work on that room. At the time there was carpet in it and that had to go so I riped it all out and tiled the floor! After that though I just had to put running water in it. So I decided I would plumb in a sink. The problem with this was the small walk in closet was actually part of the garage that the previous owner sectioned off and made into a closet for his daughter. So beneath the floor is a slab of concrete! So no way to get to plumbing under the house. So I decided I would go into one of the wall's in the closet that happens to share a wall with the washing machine! So I riped out sheetrock and ran my water lines and drain lines parallel through the wall until I got to the spot that I was gonna install my sink at! So now I had water! I really wanted to install a floor drain into the fish room but the concrete pad was having no part of that so I was unable to do that. I however did install a ceiling exhaust fan to help get a lot of the moisture out of the room!

So after I bought my first skimmer but before I bought the Bubbleking I bought my light! I once again did not do much research and bought a all in one light. I ended up buying a Current Outer Orbit 2x250 w metal halide with 4x54 w t5's and 18 lunar light setup! Now I am sure this light will work fine but after doing much more research I figure I should have done a retrofit myself and gone with something a bit different! I guess if I did everything perfectly I would have no way to improve so when my Current goes out I will just have to replace it with something a little different. HEHE. (Please don't tell my wife ) I did know that I wanted 250 w metal halides cause I am pretty sure I can put anything in my tank and it will survive so I don't have to worry about not having enough light which was one thing I never wanted to worry about!

Ok so the next piece of equipment I bought was a AquaC EV180! I looked in a marine depot catalog and the first picture I saw was this skimmer. I figured it's gotta be the best so I bought it! I once again did not do much research and was kinda kicking myself for buying this skimmer. I am not saying that it is not a good skimmer I just read a lot and people thought they were kinda out dated for the price. Plus they say that you constantly have to keep adjusting! I do not know any of this to be true or not true since I never used one so please don't take offense if this is the skimmer you own! So I sold it!! I did some more research and really wanted to buy one of the msx skimmers. I heard they are rock solid and skim like crazy and everyone seemed to be in love with them! I really wanted a Bubbleking but no way on earth I could fork out 1000 bucks plus for a skimmer! My wife would kill me! So as I was searching the seller forum on RC I stumbled across a Bubbleking 180 gen 2 skimmer that was used for about 6 and in perfect shape for 525 bucks shipped! I did not think twice and I bought it! So here are some pics of my beast!

That is a great offer! I am about an hour and a half from you which really sucks though! Why are you taking out your sand? Going barebottom? I will let you know for sure but probably too far! Thanks a lot though!

So now that I had my tank I had to build a stand. I really did not want my tank just sitting on concrete blocks so I was gonna buy a aga stand from Aqua Serene. After looking at them I then decided that I could make a much nicer stand for a lot less money! So I did some research on what I wanted my stand to look like and fell in love with a stand from a member on RC. His screen name was will16. I basically copied his design so I don't get much of the credit! He was great to bounce questions off of and his photography skills are amazing. He recently got out of the hobby and it was a sad sad day because his tank was truely amazing. So without any more waiting I will post some pics of my stand! Finished Product I decided to paint it black becasue I figured it would be more durable to saltwater. I painted it with a oil based paint in a hvlp spray gun setup! It took about 4 coats and a lot of sanding and making sure it looked perfect because as I am sure a lot of you know black shows absoulutely EVERYTHING!!

Ok so first off I had to figure out what size tank that I wanted. I did some research and kind of found out basically that in this case bigger is actually better! LOL. So now I had to try to convince my wife that I needed a 500 gallon tank! Yah you guessed it.... never gonna happen. She gave me a max of 4 feet, so I went through some threads on RC and most people liked the standard 120! Only 5 gallons less than the 6 foot tank but in a nice 4x2x2 dimension! So I set the mark and decided that was the tank I was going to go for! I then found out I should get a reef ready tank! So I decided to go that route! I did not know hardly anything at that point and if I could do it again I would probably buy a 120 tech tank with just one center overflow and a would starphire the front and side glasses! I at that point had no idea what starphire was so it never even crossed my mind!

Ok I have to know this! Why use a filter sock? I thought I read that they just turn into nitrite heaven's and they are a nuisance! I designed my setup not to have any should I reconsider?

I just started my tank about 6 days ago and am wondering if it is now a good time to add chaeto? If it is a good time I am looking to get some good quality stuff, preferably full of Copepods and such! Also I need some good quality seed sand so I can get some more life going in my tank! Trying to do stuff the best way I can but I don't really know anyone in my area to get sand from! Thanks! John

Ok so I called Ecotech first thing this morning and I have two options buy one now and get it in a few days and then return mine in a prepaid box and they will credit me back the money once they get my wetside or send them my wetside they will fix it and send it back. I wanted it asap so I choose to purchase one and go with the first option! I hope this is my first and only problem with these pumps! They are far to expensive to have problems 5 days after running!

Ok so everyone asked and I will deliver. I started my build thread on here! It is just an introductory page so far but there will be more to come and it's gonna come quick so hold on. I need you all up to speed so I can get some much needed input Thanks.

Ok So I just joined here! I actually found out about this site today! I never new there was a local forum! Very very glad that I found this. I have already started a build thread on ReefCentral but after having people ask me to do one on this site as well I feel honored and would love to do this! So yes this is from the past so it is going to go pretty quick! So a little background on myself first. I live in the Roseburg, OR. area and have, since about 7th grade, I am now 29 years old and have a wife (who is coming along slowly to this hobby) and two kids. I have been interested in saltwater tanks ever since my parents had three tanks back before 7th grade when we lived in the Seattle area. They actually got so into it that they became wholesalers and sold fish and actually made there own salt on a commercial level. (This was back in the undergravel, crushed coral, and dead coral pieces they had to take out and bleach evey so often when they started to not be brilliant white days!) They have been out of the saltwater hobby since we moved! I really do not know why. It is fun though to have my father come over and see my tank now and for him to see how far the hobby has come. (I am so gonna get him hooked again LOL.) So I decided I wanted to do a predator tank about 2 years ago and was telling my wife all about the clown trigger, lion fish and Tesalata eel I was gonna have and that was the end of that! No eel in the house. ( I think she was afraid it was going to crawl in bed with her or something) So I decided no Eel I'm going reef tank then. I figured it would be no more than a thousand dollars to start from scratch. (Blah haha) I had no idea and neither did she. So after two years of planning and reasearch and thousands of dollars I finally have my tank set up and hope you guys enjoy my long ride into a shortened condensed one. I however am just cycling and have a lot more to install and hope I get everyone caught up to speed quickly so I can get as much input as possible. Thanks. I will have pictures to come and continue this tomorrow.

Yes I do have the wetside base on. The whole unit runs like always and then you can hear it starting to spin down and then you can actually watch the whole wet side spin base and all and then either it will spin off or the motor will shut down! I did it like three times then cleaned it even though it's new and then it did it again! Put on my other wet side from my other vortech and it works perfectly! So I am not without circulation atleast! Even though I only have live rock in the tank right now it would not be the end of the world if I did not have two vortechs!

So my brand new mp40es vortech I just set up 5 days ago is broken! Actually the wet side is! It is not dirty at all ( it's only 5 days old) I took it apart anyway but it does not help! It just spins up runs for 30 seconds and then spins the whole wetside until it either shuts off or spins it off to the bottom of the tank! I guess I will call Ecotech tomorrow and hopefully get this resolved!

I don't know if you guys got the e-mail but marinedepot is now offering free shipping on there salt as well if you go over 175! No more handling fees!

Lol.... That's good... Anything is possible for the right coral frags.

I hope I was not to late but I signed it anyway!

You get all the props on me finding this site. Thanks again and GO DUCKS!!

So as the title says hello everyone. I just found out about this site today from impur! Big thanks to him! I have been on ReefCentral for over a year and was beginning to wonder if I was the only person in the state of Oregon that was going to have a full blown reef tank. LOL. I did not ever know this site existed. So I have been researching and slowly building my tank over the last 2 years and finally got it cycling last Monday November 29th! It has been a long road. Very Very excited now! I have a Standard 120 RR with a 30 gallon home made sump! I am doing a build thread on RC and here is the link. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1927460 (I really hope it is ok for me to do that) I figure it is easier to do that then start one here but if I need to do that I can. I am excited to be part of a local forum and can't wait to start the addiction to another site! haha