Jeremevans

I have two Wrasses already (Red Tail Coris and a Melanarus) will a 6 Line be okay with those guys?

How's the coral now? Any luck getting rid of the pests?

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Sent a PM and a text message.

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On 5/18/2017 at 7:29 PM, albertareef said:

I would also expect your current wrasses to snag those if they are flatworms or similar. As far as overwrasing... I personally subscribe to the "you can never have too many wrasses" theory with the sole exception of the six line. Kept lots of wrasses together over the years and only had a serious problem with six lines.

So... what happened with the six lines? Problems with coral or other fish?

I run LEDs and heat is not an issue. I do have AC that keep the house cool though.

12 on/off. I run this opposite of the tank lights. I should add some update pictures. The light is overkill and even with a plastic cover over each side of all grows great. I removed GFO reactor and phosphates after still undetectable using Salifert (and my eyes... ).

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Are they round? Planaria are often reddish brown and not round.


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Last weekend was productive. I managed to finish framing out the stand, completed a leak test and then connected the pump to verify the return plumbing would handle the flow. I did the math on the 1" return but I wanted to see it with almost no head pressure to believe it.

Now on to the exterior of the stand, plumbing in the crawl space and reinforcing the floor.






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I tumble a small amount in a reactor. I would be cautious not to add too much or high flow through it or you could drop rapidly. I always run some so I've never had my system as high as yours.


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I need to throw out some Chaeto. I have a basketball size chunk that needs to be cut down to a baseball size.

I live out in St Helens but I work in downtown Portland. So I could schlep it in to work with me and you could meet me downtown if you wanted.

I bought a 44# box a while back so I have plenty... I'm even further than Washougal probably though.

59 minutes ago, Emerald525 said:

Nice post! Way to build your dream tank on a budget! Thanks for the reminder of what a pain it is to move a big tank and why I'm sticking to 60 gallons or less for now unless someone else delivers!

Yeah...when we move the tank into the house I'm going to have a BBQ to entice people to help since I think it will take a small crew to flip it and take it through the front door.

Congrats!

Is that the carpet anemone that eats only expensive fish? 

This is the start of a thread that will follow the build and progression of my 200g tank.

The tank is expected to primarily house SPS, but you could call it a mixed reef...or a compromise. My wife wants to have more fish and I want to have more SPS.

This project started in late March 2017. It began with an interest in a larger tank and specifically a tank with deep dimensions (cube or close to a cube).

As we started to look at custom tanks we stumbled upon a used tank for sale that met the general concept we were after. That tank measures 48 wide x 36 deep x 27 tall. The glass appears to be 1/2" this and front and sides of the tank are low iron Starphire glass. The bottom glass appears to be a bit thicker.

Step one was loading it into a truck and moving it from Hillsborough to St Helens. It was a dark and rainy night...the first step was to get the tank into the truck. Luckily the tank was on a stand and it was almost exactly the height of the pickup truck which made for an easy slide into the truck. The nerve wracking part came next which was driving it over Cornelius Pass and cringing at every bump. The tank did make it back in one piece, but then we had to work out how to unload it.

So, the tank lived for a rainy week in the back of the truck parked outside. Luckily it is so heavy that no average criminal could have even attempted to steal it. Later in the week we devised a method to black some layers of moving blankets on the garage floor and lower one side onto the blankets while the other side leaned on the tailgate. Then we had two people tilt the tank away from the truck and the thirst guy pulled the truck away. We laid the tank town and there is sat with some sand.

The next day I started to remove some the sand and start to clean and inspect the tank. What did I find? Hermit crabs! There were a few hermits alive in the tank and I did try to rescue them. In then end only one survived and is still around as I write this. I kept cleaning and found another surprise.

Along the back of thank on the bottom plate of glass there was a round chip up against the edge of the tank. This chip was held in place by the silicone and had been hidden by sand. I decided to pull the chip out by carefully slicking away some silicone so that I could better clean and inspect the tank. This is point where I thought why did I buy a used tank--oh yeah--because life is too easy if you always buy things new. 

After a few days reading stories about cracked aquariums and glass repair I decided to proceed as follows. First, I would clean the area where the chip was located and then I would attempt to use a windshield chip repair kit to reinstall the chip. This chip about 1/8 at the thickest point so I reasoned with myself that is probably did not compromise the integrity of the tank, but it might have compromised the silicone seal. If it did cause a seal problem then the tank would have to be torn down and resealed. If I was going to tear down the tank then I was definitely going to replace the bottom glass. All that said, I proceeded to replace the chip so that I could do a full water test and find out my fate.

As I waited for the epoxy to cure I learned that sunlight is requirement. So on the second day I opened the garage and by some magic there was a sunny day in Oregon for the first time in years (well at least months). The epoxy did cure and the results look better than I would have imagined. The tank is now lying in wait for the water test which will take place shortly.

The last leg of this update is related to the stand and the sump. We have been thinking about various sump configurations and settled on placing the sump in the garage. This opens up options for various sizes, looks and material. I nearly picked up a Rubbermaid watering trough several times and kept thinking I wasn't crazy about the roundness and extra space it would tank. Then came a post for a free 125 gallon tank (18x23x72). That seemed like a viable option and the price was right so I headed out to pick it up. As luck would have it we started down the road and a severe weather alert was issued for hail and lighting. As I turned off the road just about a mile away from the pickup location I watched lighting strike and two transformers blow....

We picked up the tank and headed to the Home Depot. The storm barely slowed us down. I had pondered a stand design for a couple of weeks and decided to go with wood instead of steel. I had some doubts about being able to keep the stand from rusting in the long term, and I had the tools and know how to build a wood stand so I chose to build a wooden stand. We picked up (6) 2x6 boards and (8) 2x4 boards as well as some joist hangers and a sheet of 3/4 plywood.

The core design is modeled off the link below although the facade is still up for debate.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/29-building-an-aquarium-stand

 

Other components that have been collected:

Iwaki MD-70RLT Pump (to send water back to the tank from the garage)

Reeflo Orca 250 protein skimmer (probably bigger than I need but it is rated for 200-800 gallons)

A couple other pumps that will probably end up being helpful for water changes and not much else.

 

Other components that still being contemplated:

Pumps for flow...I'm looking at dual Maxspect Gyre xf280 or xf250s.

More lights. I have 2x Ocean Revive T247b's and a 4 x 48" t-5 fixture. I would like to get two more OR 247b's but it seems like the supplied evaporated recently (maybe due to new model forthcoming?). Maybe some Radion lights will be in my future.

 

Well that was a lot for today. I'm sure someone has an opinion or advice or argument to offer now so have at it. I'll keep plugging away and in the next episode you might see me getting under the house to reinforce the floor and run some pipes.

Jeremy 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting to show a little color...negligible growth


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So... it was too good to be true. I never heard from the seller and the item didn't ship. I did get a prompt refund from Ebay/Paypal though so no harm in the end.

Sent you a message. I could come out tonight if you get this. Otherwise tomorrow night.


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125g tank not drilled
Needs cleaning.. It's filthy, but its free ;-)
Was a running system a couple weeks ago..
 
Free, come get it off my porch..lol
 
Located in Longview, wa
 
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I could use this as a sump for the 200g in setting up. I might be able to come up one night this week otherwise this weekend since I'll need an extra pair of hands. I'm in St Helens so it's not to far. Do you care when I come over? What's your address?

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I'll take a share if you want to coordinate it.

 

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4 minutes ago, spectra said:

 

Different seller though. Its Ebay so your money is safe. I got scammed 10 years ago on Ebay and money was paid back quickly.

 

Funny thing is Ebay and Amazon always seem to side with the buyer no matter what happens........I know a person who sold a plant on amazon and a year later someone makes a claim the plant died........a year later and Amazon refunds the money......[language filter]!

 

So that's why there aren't any frags for sale on Amazon...

By the way I pulled the trigger on buying one and I will update with what shenanigans ensue...I couldn't resist. 

This looks like it might be a great deal... if it is real. I suppose there is PayPal / Ebay protection if it isn't.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/112378307777

11 hours ago, dayze9 said:

I have 2 130's in my 180. I started with a 150 and it was hard on my sand bed, that and my tank is apparently a snail farm. The snails would get in and destroy the 150s propellers. I upgraded to the new harder props (which i believe they all come with now) and the size between the props is the same size as the slots the water flows through so the snails would jam up the 150, where with the 130 the props are further apart so of a snail gets in, it just eventually gets launched back out. I haven't seen any new ones other than the 130 and 150.

I had not thought about snails getting caught in them. I suppose there is a case for only having larger snails... or using more of the smaller Gyres.

I'm thinking that two would be the way to go and I am thinking about mounting them vertically in the corners. I had not thought much about the sand bed being disturbed. I use a coarse sand bed so maybe that would be okay--it is more like fine aragonite gravel than sand.

 

I am looking at the available Gyre Pumps on the market and I'm not sure how to size the right one (or two?) and whether I should consider different brands...

Q1: What size or model should be used in a 200g tank (48x36x27) with mostly SPS? It seems that sizing by GPH is not necessary the right way...and maybe placement and orientation are important.

Q2: Should I use one large Gyre or two smaller ones? Assume no budget worries and tell me why I need 10 if there is a good case.

Q3: It looks like Maxspect is the most common and appears to be of high quality. Are there others worth considering?

Q4: Should I connect the Gyre(s) to my Apex controller (or is it even possible)?

Q5: It seems like Gyres are great, but should I really be thinking about replacing flow equipment with these or should these just be add-ons?

Digging up an old thread to find out how the DC pumps have held up. Who is still running them and who isn't?

Me too!

 

 

As luck would have it Mr. Brett was looking to offload a 48x36x24 glass tank so I decided this was close enough to what I wanted.

Stay tuned for the build thread as I reinforce my floor, build a new stand, plumb a sump to the garage (probably) and more...