Coral reefer
Past President
I have the pro
Mike's Last Build
- Thread starter sfsuphysics
- Start date
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Sweet, you around today?
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
9 for me!
2 sediment, 2 carbon, 2 RO, 3 DI.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Ok, starting the fill up job, TDS meter says 0 TDS after 2 stages, so I'm going to go with "good enough for me" for now, the 3rd mixed bed stage is there to maybe pick up minor stuff, but considering the layer of dust over everything... well we'll just call that part of the cycle process. Either way my patches are holding after a whole 1/2" of water (colder weather means making water goes a bit slower), so it's going to take a while to fill up.
Funny story, for everyone but me, overflow box is on, but completely didn't think about it as I was staring at eye level at the bottom of the tank, then when I stood up. DONK! right into the bottom of the overflow, it's solidly built, and attached well and while it didn't split my head open damnit if there isn't 3 inch long lump on my head right along the edge I hit it... yeah did not feel good.
Oh well, filling the tank and when it's maybe 50% filled (baring any catastrophes) I'll add salt, then think about how I want to do rock work. Part of me wants to stack and use gravity to hold things together, however another part of me wants to try my hand against at emarco to get "gravity defying" shapes like overhang ledges and what not. Oh well I have some time to think about it.
Also don't have a sump yet either, so not like it's going to be ready for action in the next few days anyways, I figure the main tank can cycle through with rock (although I've had rock curing in vats for months upon months, so I am anticipating very little cycling). I did bite the bullet and get some of that "bacteria in a bottle" I'm going to try out though. I got an ammonia test kit (sure it's old), so I think I'm good to watch a cycle or not.
Funny story, for everyone but me, overflow box is on, but completely didn't think about it as I was staring at eye level at the bottom of the tank, then when I stood up. DONK! right into the bottom of the overflow, it's solidly built, and attached well and while it didn't split my head open damnit if there isn't 3 inch long lump on my head right along the edge I hit it... yeah did not feel good.
Oh well, filling the tank and when it's maybe 50% filled (baring any catastrophes) I'll add salt, then think about how I want to do rock work. Part of me wants to stack and use gravity to hold things together, however another part of me wants to try my hand against at emarco to get "gravity defying" shapes like overhang ledges and what not. Oh well I have some time to think about it.
Also don't have a sump yet either, so not like it's going to be ready for action in the next few days anyways, I figure the main tank can cycle through with rock (although I've had rock curing in vats for months upon months, so I am anticipating very little cycling). I did bite the bullet and get some of that "bacteria in a bottle" I'm going to try out though. I got an ammonia test kit (sure it's old), so I think I'm good to watch a cycle or not.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Well that sure didn't last long, one of my RO membrane housings, like the first one I had am still am using, has a tiny leak... upon further inspection it seems the threads on the inlet are disintigrating as the threaded connection slides in and out now. So poop on that.
Asking around to borrow one, but in the mean time I can go down to 1 membrane and just have a lot more waste water.
Asking around to borrow one, but in the mean time I can go down to 1 membrane and just have a lot more waste water.
Coral reefer
Past President
I have one.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Cool, talked to Mario he has one too, but if you're going to be around later tonight I'll just swing by and pick it up until a new one arrives.
Coral reefer
Past President
I will be around later
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Ok back in business! Thanks Mike!
Notice the tank was a few millimeters off level so needed to adjust that, unfortunately the life of a 2/3 year old doesn't exactly let me spend time downstairs fiddling with tank stuff in the morning because wifey likes to sleep in. Otherwise I would have just turned the thing on last night. But it's level now, water is flowing, no leaking (I hope), salt comes today... although considering the colder weather I expect it to take a bit longer than usual to fill.
Notice the tank was a few millimeters off level so needed to adjust that, unfortunately the life of a 2/3 year old doesn't exactly let me spend time downstairs fiddling with tank stuff in the morning because wifey likes to sleep in. Otherwise I would have just turned the thing on last night. But it's level now, water is flowing, no leaking (I hope), salt comes today... although considering the colder weather I expect it to take a bit longer than usual to fill.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Uhoh...
we have water ... in a tank? NUH UH!
This is 3 hours worth of water... it ain't getting salty until tomorrow at least.
Did get my buckets of salt, didn't realize BRS shipped buckets in boxes. Quite a few times in the past, I've had buckets of salt show up just with a shipping sticker slapped on the side, granted that was FedEx so their policy might be different than BRS.
Need to find the power supplies for some of my pumps to knock down those microbubbles that formed in the tank... very annoying.
And Mike got your DI resin, it showed up today too.
we have water ... in a tank? NUH UH!
This is 3 hours worth of water... it ain't getting salty until tomorrow at least.
Did get my buckets of salt, didn't realize BRS shipped buckets in boxes. Quite a few times in the past, I've had buckets of salt show up just with a shipping sticker slapped on the side, granted that was FedEx so their policy might be different than BRS.
Need to find the power supplies for some of my pumps to knock down those microbubbles that formed in the tank... very annoying.
And Mike got your DI resin, it showed up today too.
grizfyrfyter
Guest
This is why I like having 100g of water in the garage at any point in time. New tanks get insta-filled.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Well it is a 200g tank, so it wouldn't quite be insta-filled 
I do have water storage though, however it's not hooked up yet, RO/DI unit is just sitting in the room churning out water instead of being mounted. I have a 100G container, and a 55G drum, I'm thinking the container for salt water and the drum for fresh, I have to work out the logistics of cramming 10 lbs of crap into a 5 lbs sack, or the old shower stall location in my garage.
I do have water storage though, however it's not hooked up yet, RO/DI unit is just sitting in the room churning out water instead of being mounted. I have a 100G container, and a 55G drum, I'm thinking the container for salt water and the drum for fresh, I have to work out the logistics of cramming 10 lbs of crap into a 5 lbs sack, or the old shower stall location in my garage.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Well decided to turn off the system for the night, dunno why but having water run without any sort of supervision makes me a bit wiggy. Either way just over 10 inches of water in 8 hours... whew! I am confused though because that translates to about 75 gallons, and with 2-75gpd membranes that should be closer to 50 gallons, even less due to the cold water coming out of the pipes. Guess that pressure pump really ups the output or something.
Up for tomorrow, digging through that mountain of wifemade crap in my garage and pull out all my aquarium stuff to try and find some pumps. I wanted to get a Gyre pump for the tank, still might, but unfortunately (fortunately?) a newer model is coming out so finding the older models is difficult and why would I want the older models anyways when new is coming out?
Up for tomorrow, digging through that mountain of wifemade crap in my garage and pull out all my aquarium stuff to try and find some pumps. I wanted to get a Gyre pump for the tank, still might, but unfortunately (fortunately?) a newer model is coming out so finding the older models is difficult and why would I want the older models anyways when new is coming out?
grizfyrfyter
Guest
I made and adjustable float valve mount for that. It took two days to fill up my 170.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
18 inches of water, done filling until a sump and plumbing hooked up. Starting the salting process, but damn that water is cold... 1400 watts of heaters on it now, PG&E execs are going to thank me later this month I'm sure. MP60 on one side, Rossmont MX4100 on the other, probably 5kGph flowing around, don't have the Vortech cranked up to full because those f'ers are loud when they get moving (pre-Quiet Drive technology).
Got a new refractometer, old one has a chip in the prism ... not sure if that actually affects the result though. This one is super fancy with an LED to back light it, although the LED makes the whole thing light blue, compared to the warm white lights above which makes the separation much more pronounced. Oh well, 15ppt and rising! Not sure if I should wait for the tank to warm up to at least 70s though before pushing into the 30s.
Got a new refractometer, old one has a chip in the prism ... not sure if that actually affects the result though. This one is super fancy with an LED to back light it, although the LED makes the whole thing light blue, compared to the warm white lights above which makes the separation much more pronounced. Oh well, 15ppt and rising! Not sure if I should wait for the tank to warm up to at least 70s though before pushing into the 30s.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Well I'm not dumping in a ton of salt at once, I'm doing 4 cups or so at a time, sprinkled in somewhat slowly, then waiting 15 minutes.
Well with the LED it's dark blue (above salinity measurement) superimposed ontop of a light blue (below salinity measurement), with the warm white LED that is my overhead lights, it's dark blue with almost white. It's basically a contrast thing that makes it a bit more difficult to read, not impossible by any stretch mind you, but it's not as instantly clear.
Well with the LED it's dark blue (above salinity measurement) superimposed ontop of a light blue (below salinity measurement), with the warm white LED that is my overhead lights, it's dark blue with almost white. It's basically a contrast thing that makes it a bit more difficult to read, not impossible by any stretch mind you, but it's not as instantly clear.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Aquascaping is an art it seems, you need to envision what you want with rocks, then imagine corals that will be on them, and if that wasn't hard enough you need to make that happen with the rocks that you have.
So I present you, Mike's Rock Scape!
TADA!!!!
But seriously, got these in there to just start a cycle up, get some bacteria flowing. And possibly build some of my ideas one piece at a time and then add around them with the rocks that are in there before putting more in. I have to say having a "skinny" tank that is 18-24" in depth is quite a bit easier due to being restricted on what you can do. In my mind I envision a "mountain" of caves in the back corner, little bommie in the front corner that's visible by two sides for perhaps some LPS (isolation). I see a very large structure in the middle, perhaps just a tall pillar of rocks, with possibly a few ledges reaching towards the other corners, leaving a lot of space to swim around and through. I like the idea of wide open areas, but I also know that having places to hide typically means your fish don't hide very much... but at the end of the day I need to just feel it out and see what I can do with what I have. Overall I'll get chip away at it as I have time, and when I feel happy, I'll cover the top in plastic and toss on a sheet of wood to keep any construction debris out while it goes through the cycle process.
Tempted to grab a bucket of that Emarco stuff too from BRS and give the whole cementing thing a try, I might need to for some of my structures.
Also on the todo list, find dark background I can put up on the outside of the tank, needs be rugged enough though that I can take it down if I need to see through that side. Something so I don't see out the window and into the fishroom area.
So I present you, Mike's Rock Scape!
TADA!!!!
But seriously, got these in there to just start a cycle up, get some bacteria flowing. And possibly build some of my ideas one piece at a time and then add around them with the rocks that are in there before putting more in. I have to say having a "skinny" tank that is 18-24" in depth is quite a bit easier due to being restricted on what you can do. In my mind I envision a "mountain" of caves in the back corner, little bommie in the front corner that's visible by two sides for perhaps some LPS (isolation). I see a very large structure in the middle, perhaps just a tall pillar of rocks, with possibly a few ledges reaching towards the other corners, leaving a lot of space to swim around and through. I like the idea of wide open areas, but I also know that having places to hide typically means your fish don't hide very much... but at the end of the day I need to just feel it out and see what I can do with what I have. Overall I'll get chip away at it as I have time, and when I feel happy, I'll cover the top in plastic and toss on a sheet of wood to keep any construction debris out while it goes through the cycle process.
Tempted to grab a bucket of that Emarco stuff too from BRS and give the whole cementing thing a try, I might need to for some of my structures.
Also on the todo list, find dark background I can put up on the outside of the tank, needs be rugged enough though that I can take it down if I need to see through that side. Something so I don't see out the window and into the fishroom area.
Coral reefer
Past President
I have emaco to spare. Need the other part tho.