Vincerama2's 180 gallon "Wifebane" reef project!

Getting closer! I picked up a glass sump from a friend...more as a favor to him actually, for $50. I was planning on making an acrylic one, but I can do that later if this sucks. It's heavy as crap though.

I will post pics soon ... soon...

I've painted the main stand, except for the doors, and I've primed the hood, ready for paint.

I've discovered something too ... USE A PAINT ROLLER on large flat surfaces! Not only is it way faster, it gives a much nicer coat. Unfortunately, I used a brush on the stand. Well, people should look at the tank and not the crappy paint job!

I'm leaving the doors off, until the tank is set up, so painting them is lower priority.

One unexpected task showed up ... painting the wall. After I had the electrical put in, the walls are covered with fixed spackled holes. It should be an easy task, but it will take time.

Also I'm going to go over the floor where the tank will go with more varathane/polyurethane to help reduce water damage from spills.

Wife anger level is increasing, since I started primering/painting the stand/canopy parts...

 

tagging along because your title wins. +1 for wifebane

 

Well, I see that my October 2013 target to finish it has come and gone. Next target ... March 2014! Because, once again, my folks are visiting from Canada. Also, there is now so little space in the dining room with two tanks, a pantry and dining table.

Wifebane is living up to it's name even more ...

 

Oh and thanks again to SFSUPhysics (Mike), Apon (Arnold) and Tr1gger (Dan) for coming over and helping me move the tank from the garage to the dining room a few months ago!

Hey, like they say "In Reefkeeping, nothing good happens fast", including updating your tank journal!

V

 

march is next month dude.....good luck. Are you still looking for a vortech? The other guy didn't buy my extra one.

 

Hey, I picked up a pair of Vortech's, they had a Black Friday 20% rebate on them, so saved $186 for a pair.

Yeah, March is coming soon ...

V

 

I've updated post #5 with pictures of Wifebane as it stands now.

The skimmer is one that CookieJar gave me, I fixed the pump and it seems OK, but loud as all crap, mostly from the air intake, so I'll make some "silencers" for them.

The return pump is a Jaebo DC 3000. Wow, I mean WOW is it ever quiet!

Then I'll just tune the drain at the sump to be quieter and I think the majority of the sound will be from the overflows. It's possible the standpipes are too low for the flow so I get a bit of a water fall sound there. I'm sure algae buildup will help with that!

I've decided to go with sand. It looked to weird without sand, plus I want sand critters!

Enjoy the pics! Post #5!

V

 

I should point out that my parents arrived last week, but the tank is at 90% set up. But it needs to cycle. I put some seasoned rock in there, but ... a cycle is a cycle. I think I can mostly claim victory to my March "parents in town" deadline. Mostly.

V

 

bi-annual update:

Wifebane's Jaeob return pump failed and one fish died. Need to add extra pump or HOB filter for surface agitation in case of return pump failure.

Via Aqua 2600 (or 3600) replacing return pump.

Only corals in tank are some zooes, some GSP and one little toadstool which is being nibbled.

V

 

Battery operated air pump works well too

 

This seems like the easiest and cost effective measure.

 

The B11 air pump helped last week when we had a blackout. However, it doesn't help if a pump fails as there is no way to detect it.
What I think I will do is add a hang-on-back filter without media in it, on the back of the tank. If the return pump fails again, at least there will be a small waterfall from the filter return that may provide aeration.

As a further update, I've swapped the two LEDs on the sides with Metal Halide lights. The algae certainly likes it better. However, my inability to grow corals in this tank may not be light related. If so I may swap back. Or not, since it's a lot of work.

I've purchased and sent in a water testing kit from Aqua Medic. I mailed it today, so in a few days they should recieve it and mail me a report.I will post the results in another thread. It was pricey ($40) but I want a baseline of how crappy my water is, then I will test specifically for anything that is out of spec. I highly suspect that magnesium is an issue, as I did some tests and it seemed low. Instant Ocean I think is also notorious for lacking magnesium.

And final update, I bought forum member "mediumrare's" Skimz 203 skimmer which is beautifully made and much larger than my current AquaC EV120. Maybe that will help.

In any case, Wifebane is becoming more of a fish tank than a reef tank, but I'm trying to swing it back.

Oh yeah, I bought a tiny Klein's butterfly to replace the return-pump casualty. Hopefully he/she will help with the aiptasia that is starting to re-assert itself!

Bi-annual report done!

V

 

Yeah, I can relate to having more of a "fish tank" than a "reef tank."
I had a couple of big coral die offs and cyano outbreaks.
For me it was user-error more than anything.
Hard to get it back. Still tempting to completely tear down and restart.

> Klein's butterfly
I hope you are not planning on a lot of soft corals.

 

Or Palys for that matter - from Matt's article.

 

Yep I had considered that, since this Klein replaces a previous (reef safe) Klein. The old one only nibbled aiptasia when the tank was not heavily fed.

In anycase, the tank corals are currently a few zoas, maybe 8 large BTAs, and maybe 200,000 aiptasia, so I'm willing to risk it.

V

 

well, good thing it's only 200,000 aptashia & not 500,000 because then you might have to consider doing something about them. . j/k
I hope it works for you

 

Well, there is a reliable way to get rid of Aptasia : Majanos.
For me, my Aptasia issue pretty much went away when rocks became covered in Majanos.
Want some?

 

I'll be honest, I don't know the difference. My kids call them all "The Enemy". We named the new Klein "Little Jimmy". Hopefully Little Jimmy will actually help out.
Aiptasia-X occassionally works, and occassionally it triggers massive aiptasia/majano respawning events.

 

Majanos wand?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/for/5974316169.html

 

For some reason, I thought the club owned one of those. If not, we should.