Brew's 90G. Quick Video update.

Hey! where have you been? LOL ^ that is a cute lil hippo! Congratz!!

 

Just been really busy. Working, taking classes. Out of town a lot.

Yeah, she's awesome! Thanks!


So I just went to the LFS and picked up a 38G tank to do a sump build on. I'll be drawing it up throughout the next few hours and hopefully getting the glass cut tomorrow sometime.

 

Nice! Congratz on the new sump tank as well! Whats the dimension of it?

 

It is a 38G, so it's roughly 36L x 12W x 20H.

Please take a look at my design and help a brother out. I need to be sure it's mostly correct before I start to build it.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/sump-design-do-i-have-go-ahead-121222.html#post1201839

 

So I've basically completed the sump.

Scary news is..... I'm moving house. As I said earlier, I dread the idea of moving the tank, but it'll give me a chance to make a few changes to the aquascape, as well as set up the new plumbing for the sump all at once.

My plan is to set up my 30G tank at the house, let it run for a couple days, then capture all my livestock and take them over to the new house... break down my tank, and have it set up within 2 days at the most. I'm sure my fish will all be very stressed in that tiny 30.

 

So I'm in the middle of the move. It's going slow, but hopefully that means it'll go well.

I have a 30G barebottom tank set up at the new house... with a HOB protein skimmer (aquaC remora) and a powerhead running. Put some LR in there from the current set up. I'm going to give it 2 days to settle, then start the big stuff with a little help from some friends.

I'll be switching from my current wet/dry filter sump, to the new 38G long sump that I have built. It will be housing a skimmer on the left, fuge on the right, and return pump in the middle. SOoOoOO I ordered the things that I need for it to be complete once the move is done;

i. Skimmer - After reading quite a bit, I decided on the Reef Octopus 6 (Reef Octopus Needle/Pin Wheel Protein Skimmer)

ii. Return pump - I chose a Mag Drive 700 GPH pump. I'm thinking this should be adequate flow. I do have a good amount of GPH flow with the powerheads in the tank.

iii. Phosban reactor! I've wanted one of these for a long while, and couldn't resist the urge to add one to the cart. The "deal of the day" was ROWAphos 500ml for 35 bucks or so, so I added some of that to the cart too!

iv. Filter socks - added a few 200micron filter socks for either side of the sump (2 lines from DT into sump) so that I can keep my water crystal clear and rotate them between washes.

Needless to say, I am very impatiently waiting for it to be delivered. At this point I'll be lucky if I get it by Saturday, but I'm expecting to wait till next week sometime.

I'll post tons of pictures of the move, and the new setup! Wish me luck!

 

Good luck, and love to see some pics in action!

 

So update on the move:

Last night I removed all the LR, and captured my livestock. It took forever to catch each and every hermit, and snail, but I just didn't have the heart to bury them in the sand. I even found a small lobster I put in the tank about 2 months ago. First time I've seen him since!

Transferred the fish to a temporary 29G tank I have set up at the house already:


IMG_1815 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Bare bottom, but it has a good amount of rock for the Tang to hide out in. Hopefully it won't be too stressful of an environment for them all.

Next I emptied the 90, and took out all the sand. Had to make some adjustments to plumbing, as well as my stand. I will definitely be doing some things differently this time around.


IMG_1834 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_1833 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_1814 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_1837 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

This is the tank set up at the new house:


IMG_1845 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

This time, I decided to use egg crate at the bottom of the tank. I can't believe how much easier it is to aquascape, then just on the glass.


IMG_1844 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Unfortunately, I spilled 1/2 of my water out of the back of my truck. Also, 99% of my live rock that I had cemented together previously, pretty much crumbled apart when I took it out of the containers. I guess the drive was too bumpy. Very big disapointment. I am very, very unsatisfied with my current aquascape. Also, most of the rock spent a good amount of time out of the water, so I have no doubt I will be having a cycle.

Anyway, I did what I could in the time that I had, and threw together a basic scape. I'll be going to the LFS, and getting some rock, to start building some replacement pieces. I'm going to really take my time, and come up with some unique structures. Nothing is worse than a tank with a wall of rock, in my opinion.

I'll post pictures of my progress as I work.

I expect my delivery of my new skimmer, phosban reactor, and return pump tomorrow. After work, I'll be doing some serious plumbing for the new sump.

Overall the move has been a success so far. I wanted to redo the aquascape, so I'm almost glad that my rocks fell apart.

Stay tuned, and offer any advice you have!

Family portrait in the small, temp tank:


IMG_1841 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

 

So I just got done moving. All of my livestock survived, which is awesome.

I had a good few hiccups though; I spilled a good amount of the water I was trying to save for the switch, I cracked my sump, had multiple plumbing leaks after I tried to put everything back together, my live rock broke into lots of little pieces.... nothing huge, but many small, very irritating things.

On top of that, I have started a new job, but am still working at the current one. Basically doing around 80 hours of nightshift each week at this point. Not easy to do anything on the tank with this schedule. Hopefully within 3 weeks I'll have a contract at the new hospital and be done with the current one.

But, I think the worst is over. The tank is up and running, with my new sump, new reef octopus skimmer, new return pump, and new phosban reactor! After seeing a buddy use filter socks, and how amazingly clear his water was, I decided to add a couple to my setup.

Of course I know most people aren't reading this, and will just jump to the pics, so here they are! lol


IMG_1845 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Empty tank. I used eggcrate on the bottom this time.


IMG_1846 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Fillin' her up. All murky and nasty.


IMG_1942 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

New skimmer and Phosban reactor! I read great reviews on both products before ordering.


IMG_1851 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Inside ze box.


IMG_1852 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

More unboxing.


IMG_1854 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Assembled. I love the red.


IMG_1857 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Solving new plumbing setup at homedepot. By the time I was done, I pretty much had the whole isle blocked off.


IMG_1934 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

The sump. I'm not using the fuge side just yet. Next time I go out on the boat I'll bring back some mangrove stems and plant them in some substrate on that side.. or some sump mud. (As a side note, anyone know anything about that? What should I plant them in?)


IMG_1936 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

Skimmer + Reactor. I started off with a very small amount of Rowaphos.. maybe 75ml. I'll up it to a higher level over the next few weeks. Maybe 250ml? Haven't checked pH, but I'm not concerned with that small of an amount.


IMG_1928 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

FTS. Poor quality. I'm not thrilled with how my rocks came out at all, but I had to get my fish back in the tank, so I kinda threw them together. I've been drying out some other rocks, and will be buying more soon. I'm going to slowly switch out the rockscape in 3 sectional moves.

I'll upload a feeding vid in a couple minutes on this thread too.

Feel free to throw any suggestions / advice my way.

That's about it for now.

 

annnd here is the feeding video.

I know, I should turn off flow when feeding. I usually do, but I like my hermits to get a good amount every couple days.