Agnate80700
Aquarium Advice Freak
---FIRST UPDATE---
Well, after many months of waiting, I have begin setting up my 150 gallon tank! Folks in this forum have helped me a long way from where I started, and since they nicely asked for updates when I started my 150gallon, here they are
This is day 1 and 2 of setting it up.
You will have to excuse the messy room. This is the place Im moving into come august. By that time the room will be empty and there will be nice carpet down (We decided to carpet around the tank to avoid ruining the carpet from the weight). Im setting this room up to be a very calm, soothing living room. Since my (hopefully) glorious fishtank will be here, I dont want the room to have anything high energy.
This is my 6-stage ro/di Unit I bought off ebay. 100GPD rated, water tastes pretty good hehe. Took like 4 hours to set up though, sheesh.
RO/DI unit
Here you see my ghetto rig for filling my tank. I bought a garden hose, wrapped about 1/2 a roll of teflon tape around the ro/di spigot and wrapped that with about 1/2 a roll of duct tape, and ran the hose to the tank so it could fill.
Hose hookup
Here you can see the tank itself. You can see the thin layer of water in there (lol) as it begins to slowly fill. I have it pulled away from the wall for the moment wile i finish setting some things up behind it. Even with all that weight, its surprisingly easy to move still.
Messy tank
This is a shot of the sump. Part of it is cut off since its behind the wall of the stand. I actually ended up getting it for free since the dummies on ebay refused to send me the skimmer they described in their auction (it was a package deal.) I opened a claim with paypal and they found in my favor so I got a full refund. Justice Prevails!!
Sump photo
Heres a photo of my lighting system. 1030 Watts total, VHO/MH. Should keep my corals happy.
Lighting unit
This is a shot of the backside of the tank. This is my DIY plumbing I pretty much had to figure out on the spot at Home Depot. Took like 2 hours of staring at their wall of PVC, but I think I got it right.
Backside of the tank
Photo of my Aqua-C EV skimmer. Took this this way because the way I have to place it no one will ever see it again lol.
Aqua-C EV 180
Heres a photo of the tank a little tidied up, and set against the wall.
Tank cleaned up
Last picture for the 1st round of photos. A shot of the inside of the stand, you can see the jumble of stuff I have crammed in there. (Yes I can get to it all, no it isnt easy, yes it is optimized lol)
Under the tank #2
more photos to follow
---SECOND UPDATE---
Today I finished up the water return system. I got varying GPH ratings for my overflows, so I went with the mag 18 and decided if it ends up being too much Ill just return it and get the 12.
As you can see, the ro/di water is filling up slowly but surely. No leaks so far!
Returns
I set it up so the water gets pumped up via vinyl tube, and hits my home made quadruple spout. (this photo is before I screw-clamped the vinyl tube onto the pvc.)
Another shot of the returns
Same thing from a different angle.
Returns #3
---THIRD UPDATE---
Yesterday I emptied the tank due to possible chemical tainting via garden hose and started over filling it with ro/di water.
Today I was pleased to find my tank almost completely full (again) after letting it run for about 36 hours.
With all the water in, it finally came time to test all the plumping. With a deep, DEEP breathe I turned the powerstrip on and... everything worked!!! No leaks whatsoever I was so proud lol, nothing I build ever works right at first.
Here is the tank, full up and water running.
Tank filled (2nd time)
Another angle of the same thing.
Same thing different angle
Look, ma! No leaks!!
Look Ma, no leaks!
Heres a shot with everything powered on.
Everything powered on
The tank after dumping a whole bucked of salt (minus 10 gallons worth). That was fun!
Aftermath of salt
Next on the agenda: sand. I looked around local lowes/home depots for yard right or oldcastle sand but no luck. Then I went to oldcastle's website and lo and behold, I live like 8 miles away from an Oldcastle/American Stone-Mix store.
---FOURTH UPDATE---
Just wanted to post the up-to-date story here. I'll get some new photos up tomorrow (I forgot my camera when I went over today, sorry guys heh)
After cleaning out the sand, I had it all placed back in, water set back up salt added and whatnot, powerheads on and everything's rolling good. I decided to let it run over night for the 1st time (I was very nervous to let it go without my immediate supervision.) I came back the next day to find the tank fully clouded up again, as one of the powerheads had come off its sucktion cups and was pointing almost straight down into the sand bed. This messed up not only the water, but also threw a ton of sand/silt into my Wave2K machine and caused it to jam. (This was about 5 or 6 days ago)
Yesterday, I took the wave machine apart and cleaned it out, and its working A-OK now (thank god!) Also the water is about at 70% opacity (after placing rock, see below), versus 95% like it was yesterday.
I ordered a load of tonga shelf rock from marinecenter.com @ $50 off plus free shipping. Today I got it and was ready to place it into the tank (it was about 20% opacity before I started placing rock)... but when I opened the box, what I saw was not what I thought I was going to get. But since it was technically dying in my hands (free shipping = UPS ground, not 2 day or overnight like you'd think) I put it in the tank incase they wanted the stuff back. When I got home earlier tonight, I emailed them explaining that what I got seemed to be regular premium fiji LR (which was $170/45lbs) and I had paid for 60lbs of tonga shelf($275). Not 30 minutes ago (about 10:55 EST) they called me up and told me that indeed, I probably did get the wrong box because someone earlier that week had recieved a box of tonga rock when they wanted fiji rock. (heres the part I feel bad about at the moment) He said they didnt want that rock back because the freight cost wasnt worth it, and he would give me a discount or whatever I thought was fair. I kindly explained that I had all the fiji rock I really wanted, and that I needed tonga rock as I wanted the flat surface for planned future coral placement. I... didnt really want to pay even more money just to get what I should have got, even though technically I did feel it would be only fair that I pay for this fiji rock I got. I hate being placed in a bind like that, and after himming and hawing (I even tried to get em to just send me the difference's worth of tonga shelf) he decided I could just keep the fiji rock and they'd send me out my box of tonga for free. Feels kinda like a hollow win, I dont like that they had to bite the bullet for a shipping error, but in the end what am I supposed to do *shrug* oh well, I guess I get 45lbs of premium fiji rock for free. Im sure the guilt will pass come tomorrow morning.
My overflows are set up, the Durso standpipe idea took care of about 70% of the noise issue I was having, and I had 50' of 1/4" inside vinyl tubing sitting around from refill #2, so I cut some long pieces of that and put it in the hole I drilled on top of the standpipes, and draped the tubing back behind the tank so now I cant hear anything at all!
(photos tomorrow I promise hehe)
---FOURTH (and a half) UPDATE---
As promised, photos:
Heres a shot of the standpipe installation with the vinyl tube running behind the tank. Absolutely silent, its awesome. (the rock is there to push the tube under the water so it doesnt make splashes. I gotta get another little bit of 1/2" PVC to extend it below the water but until then, we gits da rock.)
Refitted with Standpipes
Little shot of some of my free fiji rock. As you can see, the water is still kinda cloudy, but theres the sand bed and everything. Right now the rock is kinda just... in there, at some point (probably after I move so I can put the rock from my 30 gal in) I'll place the rock nicely and epoxy it together (unless someone has a better suggestion?)
Old rock placement
This is the inside of the sorta-canopy (more on that in the next photo) I chose material with foil on the back in hopes I would minimize loss of lighting. I may do away with it though, as it might just trap heat. Time will tell.
Inside the canopy
TA-DA!!! Here's the whole thing (minus about 110lbs of rock, some of which is in the 30 gal, some is enroute from texas) beginning it's cycle. Yeah setting it up was fun, but man am I glad thats over with. As for the canopy, as you can see its not really a canopy since the lighting fixture kinda extends past the ends of the tank. So I got some styrofoam and cut em to size and fitted them together so they would seal out the light and spray painted it black to match the rest of the tank. It isnt well done though and Im almost certian that at some point in the future it'll bug me enough so I'll redo it. But for now, it doesnt take away from the tank and it keeps light from blazing out, so its serving its purpose.
The whole thing
---FIFTH UPDATE---
Ok... so all the rock is in (except the rock in my current tank, that wont go in until I move) and I've set it all up in a hopefully permanent configuration. PS I hope that aquastik holds....
Heres crapy shot #1 you can kinda see some of the overhangs i made with the tonga. Its a little hard to tell, the tank is still cloudy from moving all the rocks around.
Rockwork #1
Heres a front-on shot. I'll try to get some better shots after the dust settles. It looks really nice (i think) I swear!
Rockwork #2
---SIXTH UPDATE---
Heres the tank again with the dust now settled. Im quite pleased with the rock layout right now, but man I dont trust that underwater epoxy for jack. I honestly dont think any of those rocks are actually glued together. The cycle is almost complete at this point, ammonia is at 0, nitrite is at 0.4 and surprisingly nitrate is only around 15, as it was at about 80+ last I checked. I'll probably be putting in the order for a cleanup crew this week.
This is a side shot. Here you can see the overhanging ledges. Hopefully some coral will like it there.
Ledges from the side
The other side of the tank. Take note the seemingly selectively algae covered rock next to the standpipe.
Rockscape V2.0
The whole thing. I'll probably stack the rock in my 30gal in front of the wave maker to hide it as best I can, and stack some on the other side of the right standpipe. Should even the rock placement a little more, though I think itd be fine if it were left alone.
Rockscape V2.0 (different angle)
(All photos taken with Canon 5D equipped with Canon 34-70 2.8L)
Well, after many months of waiting, I have begin setting up my 150 gallon tank! Folks in this forum have helped me a long way from where I started, and since they nicely asked for updates when I started my 150gallon, here they are
This is day 1 and 2 of setting it up.
You will have to excuse the messy room. This is the place Im moving into come august. By that time the room will be empty and there will be nice carpet down (We decided to carpet around the tank to avoid ruining the carpet from the weight). Im setting this room up to be a very calm, soothing living room. Since my (hopefully) glorious fishtank will be here, I dont want the room to have anything high energy.
This is my 6-stage ro/di Unit I bought off ebay. 100GPD rated, water tastes pretty good hehe. Took like 4 hours to set up though, sheesh.
RO/DI unit
Here you see my ghetto rig for filling my tank. I bought a garden hose, wrapped about 1/2 a roll of teflon tape around the ro/di spigot and wrapped that with about 1/2 a roll of duct tape, and ran the hose to the tank so it could fill.
Hose hookup
Here you can see the tank itself. You can see the thin layer of water in there (lol) as it begins to slowly fill. I have it pulled away from the wall for the moment wile i finish setting some things up behind it. Even with all that weight, its surprisingly easy to move still.
Messy tank
This is a shot of the sump. Part of it is cut off since its behind the wall of the stand. I actually ended up getting it for free since the dummies on ebay refused to send me the skimmer they described in their auction (it was a package deal.) I opened a claim with paypal and they found in my favor so I got a full refund. Justice Prevails!!
Sump photo
Heres a photo of my lighting system. 1030 Watts total, VHO/MH. Should keep my corals happy.
Lighting unit
This is a shot of the backside of the tank. This is my DIY plumbing I pretty much had to figure out on the spot at Home Depot. Took like 2 hours of staring at their wall of PVC, but I think I got it right.
Backside of the tank
Photo of my Aqua-C EV skimmer. Took this this way because the way I have to place it no one will ever see it again lol.
Aqua-C EV 180
Heres a photo of the tank a little tidied up, and set against the wall.
Tank cleaned up
Last picture for the 1st round of photos. A shot of the inside of the stand, you can see the jumble of stuff I have crammed in there. (Yes I can get to it all, no it isnt easy, yes it is optimized lol)
Under the tank #2
more photos to follow
---SECOND UPDATE---
Today I finished up the water return system. I got varying GPH ratings for my overflows, so I went with the mag 18 and decided if it ends up being too much Ill just return it and get the 12.
As you can see, the ro/di water is filling up slowly but surely. No leaks so far!
Returns
I set it up so the water gets pumped up via vinyl tube, and hits my home made quadruple spout. (this photo is before I screw-clamped the vinyl tube onto the pvc.)
Another shot of the returns
Same thing from a different angle.
Returns #3
---THIRD UPDATE---
Yesterday I emptied the tank due to possible chemical tainting via garden hose and started over filling it with ro/di water.
Today I was pleased to find my tank almost completely full (again) after letting it run for about 36 hours.
With all the water in, it finally came time to test all the plumping. With a deep, DEEP breathe I turned the powerstrip on and... everything worked!!! No leaks whatsoever I was so proud lol, nothing I build ever works right at first.
Here is the tank, full up and water running.
Tank filled (2nd time)
Another angle of the same thing.
Same thing different angle
Look, ma! No leaks!!
Look Ma, no leaks!
Heres a shot with everything powered on.
Everything powered on
The tank after dumping a whole bucked of salt (minus 10 gallons worth). That was fun!
Aftermath of salt
Next on the agenda: sand. I looked around local lowes/home depots for yard right or oldcastle sand but no luck. Then I went to oldcastle's website and lo and behold, I live like 8 miles away from an Oldcastle/American Stone-Mix store.
---FOURTH UPDATE---
Just wanted to post the up-to-date story here. I'll get some new photos up tomorrow (I forgot my camera when I went over today, sorry guys heh)
After cleaning out the sand, I had it all placed back in, water set back up salt added and whatnot, powerheads on and everything's rolling good. I decided to let it run over night for the 1st time (I was very nervous to let it go without my immediate supervision.) I came back the next day to find the tank fully clouded up again, as one of the powerheads had come off its sucktion cups and was pointing almost straight down into the sand bed. This messed up not only the water, but also threw a ton of sand/silt into my Wave2K machine and caused it to jam. (This was about 5 or 6 days ago)
Yesterday, I took the wave machine apart and cleaned it out, and its working A-OK now (thank god!) Also the water is about at 70% opacity (after placing rock, see below), versus 95% like it was yesterday.
I ordered a load of tonga shelf rock from marinecenter.com @ $50 off plus free shipping. Today I got it and was ready to place it into the tank (it was about 20% opacity before I started placing rock)... but when I opened the box, what I saw was not what I thought I was going to get. But since it was technically dying in my hands (free shipping = UPS ground, not 2 day or overnight like you'd think) I put it in the tank incase they wanted the stuff back. When I got home earlier tonight, I emailed them explaining that what I got seemed to be regular premium fiji LR (which was $170/45lbs) and I had paid for 60lbs of tonga shelf($275). Not 30 minutes ago (about 10:55 EST) they called me up and told me that indeed, I probably did get the wrong box because someone earlier that week had recieved a box of tonga rock when they wanted fiji rock. (heres the part I feel bad about at the moment) He said they didnt want that rock back because the freight cost wasnt worth it, and he would give me a discount or whatever I thought was fair. I kindly explained that I had all the fiji rock I really wanted, and that I needed tonga rock as I wanted the flat surface for planned future coral placement. I... didnt really want to pay even more money just to get what I should have got, even though technically I did feel it would be only fair that I pay for this fiji rock I got. I hate being placed in a bind like that, and after himming and hawing (I even tried to get em to just send me the difference's worth of tonga shelf) he decided I could just keep the fiji rock and they'd send me out my box of tonga for free. Feels kinda like a hollow win, I dont like that they had to bite the bullet for a shipping error, but in the end what am I supposed to do *shrug* oh well, I guess I get 45lbs of premium fiji rock for free. Im sure the guilt will pass come tomorrow morning.
My overflows are set up, the Durso standpipe idea took care of about 70% of the noise issue I was having, and I had 50' of 1/4" inside vinyl tubing sitting around from refill #2, so I cut some long pieces of that and put it in the hole I drilled on top of the standpipes, and draped the tubing back behind the tank so now I cant hear anything at all!
(photos tomorrow I promise hehe)
---FOURTH (and a half) UPDATE---
As promised, photos:
Heres a shot of the standpipe installation with the vinyl tube running behind the tank. Absolutely silent, its awesome. (the rock is there to push the tube under the water so it doesnt make splashes. I gotta get another little bit of 1/2" PVC to extend it below the water but until then, we gits da rock.)
Refitted with Standpipes
Little shot of some of my free fiji rock. As you can see, the water is still kinda cloudy, but theres the sand bed and everything. Right now the rock is kinda just... in there, at some point (probably after I move so I can put the rock from my 30 gal in) I'll place the rock nicely and epoxy it together (unless someone has a better suggestion?)
Old rock placement
This is the inside of the sorta-canopy (more on that in the next photo) I chose material with foil on the back in hopes I would minimize loss of lighting. I may do away with it though, as it might just trap heat. Time will tell.
Inside the canopy
TA-DA!!! Here's the whole thing (minus about 110lbs of rock, some of which is in the 30 gal, some is enroute from texas) beginning it's cycle. Yeah setting it up was fun, but man am I glad thats over with. As for the canopy, as you can see its not really a canopy since the lighting fixture kinda extends past the ends of the tank. So I got some styrofoam and cut em to size and fitted them together so they would seal out the light and spray painted it black to match the rest of the tank. It isnt well done though and Im almost certian that at some point in the future it'll bug me enough so I'll redo it. But for now, it doesnt take away from the tank and it keeps light from blazing out, so its serving its purpose.
The whole thing
---FIFTH UPDATE---
Ok... so all the rock is in (except the rock in my current tank, that wont go in until I move) and I've set it all up in a hopefully permanent configuration. PS I hope that aquastik holds....
Heres crapy shot #1 you can kinda see some of the overhangs i made with the tonga. Its a little hard to tell, the tank is still cloudy from moving all the rocks around.
Rockwork #1
Heres a front-on shot. I'll try to get some better shots after the dust settles. It looks really nice (i think) I swear!
Rockwork #2
---SIXTH UPDATE---
Heres the tank again with the dust now settled. Im quite pleased with the rock layout right now, but man I dont trust that underwater epoxy for jack. I honestly dont think any of those rocks are actually glued together. The cycle is almost complete at this point, ammonia is at 0, nitrite is at 0.4 and surprisingly nitrate is only around 15, as it was at about 80+ last I checked. I'll probably be putting in the order for a cleanup crew this week.
This is a side shot. Here you can see the overhanging ledges. Hopefully some coral will like it there.
Ledges from the side
The other side of the tank. Take note the seemingly selectively algae covered rock next to the standpipe.
Rockscape V2.0
The whole thing. I'll probably stack the rock in my 30gal in front of the wave maker to hide it as best I can, and stack some on the other side of the right standpipe. Should even the rock placement a little more, though I think itd be fine if it were left alone.
Rockscape V2.0 (different angle)
(All photos taken with Canon 5D equipped with Canon 34-70 2.8L)
