My journey journal..

[Reefinglens]

Last week my AP9X started over heating. I contacted Kessil and they got a replacement right out to me. So I ran a 360X on my tank for the days I had to wait for the AP9X to come in. When I received the light yesterday I decided I’d jump into the tank too. I did some re-aquascaping, organizing and pulled trigger to add sand. One of those 5 minute tasks turned into a whole day event kinda days. Lol

 

[Qwiv]

Like the new scape. Did you add a dry sand of a "live" sand?

 

[Reefinglens]

Like the new scape. Did you add a dry sand of a "live" sand?

It’s dead live sand haha. It was an unopened bag of Caribsea Ocean Direct live sand that has been sitting in my garage from a build I did in 2017, so it was obviously dried out. Added brightwells XLM and called it a day. Water is clear, everything is open and parameters are still in check. I’ll be testing daily over these next couple days though.

 

[Reefinglens]

A bit late on posting this, but does anyone recognize this tank?

I finally got started working on this a bit this weekend. Updates soon to come.

 

[Reefinglens]

Gave the tank a full detail, lifted the stand to my preferred ideal height and giving it a face lift.

Oh yeah, and a cat fish found a new home. Lol

 

[H2OPlayar]

Yes, tall tanks are the best!

Also, great paint job!

 

[Srt4eric]

Looking good.

 

[DaddyHook]

Tank count check?

 

[Reefinglens]

Tank count check?

Running? Technically 4..
Owned? 8 haha

 

[Reefinglens]

Doors and tank are up, swapped out the hinges with soft close. Went with the IM leveling mat under both the tank and sump.

Decided to go glass on glass tank and sump.

Still need to level, the front slopes 7/16” - I’ll be using polycarbonate to raise it up with composite shims for fine tuning.

Next up plumbing.

 

[Reefinglens]

And on another note, the WD and Pink Lemonade I got from @jhuynh are doing great!

Torch garden is doing well, and I have some gems that I ordered from a friend that I’ll be picking up once the new tank is done and cycled.

Hammer valley is fluffy

Zoa rack is getting full..

Everything is a mess anticipating this tank upgrade. Can’t wait to get everything moved over and organized in this new tank!

 

[Turkeysammich]

Oh man. That aquarium is day and night. Great job.

 

[Reefinglens]

Tank is level. Now to plumb what I can since many of my fittings come in tomorrow.

Left side

Front

Polycarbonate sheet cut to size for a discrete touch.

The front bottom comes off for cable management and “hiding” just like I did on my reefer 250.

 

[Reefinglens]

Wasn’t planning on having a screen.. now it’s a real consideration. Darn cat. Lol

 

[Srt4eric]

Wasn’t planning on having a screen.. now it’s a real consideration. Darn cat. Lol
View attachment 37970

I completely forgot. I have a screen for that tank if you want it.

 

[Reefinglens]

I completely forgot. I have a screen for that tank if you want it.

Yes please!! Lol

 

[Reefinglens]

Finally got around to doing the plumbing.

Decided to utilize 2 of the 4 holes as dual individual returns, 1 main drain and 1 emergency drain. I’ll be creating a closed loop within the overflow for additional random flow.

I’ll give it a full day to cure and dry then we’ll get wet!

Also Painted the back of the sump to hide the ATO line that crosses the sump. And plan to put my trigger 5 gal crystal ATO in that little space on the right, based on measurements it will be an extremely tight fit, so we’ll see if it will even get in there. But it will back up and refill the glass ATO.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Clean plumbing, very nice sump area!

 

[DaddyHook]

Very nice!

 

[Reefinglens]

Inching forward..
50% leak test underway.
Long as everything is still dry in the AM, we will fill er’ up and let sit for another 24hrs before adding salt.

PS. The cat was pissed off watching me add water