Wolrey's 58 build thread (1 Viewer)

[wolrey]

Jess and I moved recently, and I thought....hey new house.....why not a new tank, that way I don't have to move my old one and worry about a sandbed, etc. This being our first house, I wasn't quite prepared for how far down the list the tank ended up. We had everything else in our lives moved but the saltwater tank and Jess's discus tank. The night before we had to be out of the old apartment, I stayed up most of the night making saltwater and setting up equipment for the new tank. The next day, I put all the corals, liverock, and fish in buckets and brought them to the new house....with it's 6 hour old saltwater. I tried to use as much of the water from the old nano as I could, but with only 20 gallons - liverock, there wasn't much to transfer.

Stats,
Old Oceanic 58 gallon - boy this monster is heavy, it came drilled, but with Mary's help I built and installed a overflow.
Stand - DIY stand made of 2x4's and veneered maple plywood.
Skimmer - Tunze 9010
Flow - Tunze 6025 and MJ900 Mod
Return - was a old scary Eheim 1062 but has since been replace with a great Ocean Runner 2500
Controller - AquaController Jr - compliments of SWE and one of Fritz's amazing group buys
Lighting - DIY T5HO - Is there any other kind?? Running 4 cooled bulbs right now but have equipment for a 5 th

This picture shows the front of the tank. The doors to the stand haven't been stained yet, but are sitting on the to-do list.

Topoff is handled by the Controller and a aqualifter pump pulling kalkwasser out of a jug. I did some reading on the topic by RHF on RC and the volume added in 1 min isn't a problem for my water volume. The 1 min intervals of the controller don't cause any pH problems in the tank.

AC Jr and my sexy Car cellphone mount to keep things clean. Bought it off ebay for $5. How did I ever live without this thing??

 

[coldwaterreefer]

Very nice. very clean look great job:beerchug:

 

[wolrey]

Sump

The hood is basically a box that I made out of maple boards and a piece of veneered plywood as the top. The ends are drilled for entering air and a fan is inside the top of the hood blowing out how air. I got the idea from an ATI powermodule.

Skimmer and assorted mess.

The new return pump and some extra liverock. I have currently banished my old sixline wrasse to this compartment as he was picking on my Clown Fairy Wrasse

I'm still working on using photoshop to color correct pictures, but this one is pretty close to true.

A sweet new Maze that had to come home with me from OD.

My "Hair Alage Refuge" overflow.

 

[Zibba]

Looks absolutely fantastic. Great job on the build. I always liked your old 20g but I'm sure you're going to love the extra room! Really nice pictures too, love the RBTA - what a perfect place for it to plant its foot!

 

[Zekester]

Looks Good man

 

[NandKBlock]

Very nice! I really like your non-conventional aquascaping and all its nooks, crannies, and overhangs. It makes the aquascape interesting in its own right.

:biggthumpup:

 

[Jeremy P]

Great set up. It's always nice to look at a clean tank and sump. I can't get over how much the torch has grown.

 

[gitsumpottery]

looks better in person!

 

[fivesmallworlds]

Glad you were able to get it all moved successfully! How's your Swedish spice rack treating you?

 

[coralreefer]

Looks very nice! Did everything survive the move?

 

[Redwinger]

Jeff that looks phenomenal! Great Job!:biggthumpup:

 

[wolrey]

Thanks for all the kind words. So far everything has survived the move. Most of the sps have even gotten more intense in color. I suppose it has something to do with higher nutrients in the new tank or the fact they aren't 3 inches away from T5 bulbs...... I did of course make a TON of accidental frags. I can't imagine moving a large tank and trying not bust the corals all to hell.

1/3 of the liverock is from the old tank and the rest is from David G that he had already acid/bleach treated.... a huge thanks goes out to him!!!!

 

[storrisch]

got any pictures of the back of the mount you are using for the AC jr. ??? I am trying to decide how to might mine.

 

[wolrey]

I got the idea for the AC Jr mount from Reefcentral, but I know that Li does something similar except the snake part on his is much largergay1. It attaches to the back of the tank with a large suction cup that has a lever. Off of the suction cub is a 6" stiff yet bendable shaft that leads to a flat mount. It came with several different adapters for phones, but I just used some 3M double sided tape.

Here is the type I bought...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Car-Cell-Phone-...ryZ20336QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[curlyq]

I've got a question for you about that maze coral. I bought one about two weeks ago, and my colors have been going downhill. (I bought it without knowing anything about it - I know...stupid) What kind of light/flow is it under?

 

[mtfatwork]

a maze (IME) will do best at or near the bottom of the tank, unless you have weaker lighting like pc, or possibly vho (depending on how deep your tank is)

 

[curlyq]

I've got 4x39W T5. I just moved it to the bottom a few days ago. Hopefully it will start coloring back up now! Thanks Mary!

 

[wolrey]

You might be able to move it up eventually. With any coral, it's important to acclimate it to your light level. Start it out low and then move it up depending on what it is.

 

[wolrey]

Does anyone have experience with venting a skimmer to fresh outside air? I'm wondering how effective it might be to have my skimmer vented. Seems the basement likes to have CO2 build up and depress the pH..... I can open a window, and that solves the problem for the day, but I'm not sure opening the window is going to be popular in the winter....

Any thoughts???

 

[David Grigor]

I don't recommend it. I though it was bad enough when I did the skimmer mod that increased the air input. The extra 60degree air from the basement getting sucked in made the tank temps dropped 4 whole degrees and the heater ran full blast non-stop.

Imagine what it will do to your tank temps when you have 20-30 degree air going straight into your skimmer...........

If you house has a fresh air exchanger perhaps T off the furnace intake would help get fresher air that isn't so cold. I don't have an exchanger so I just live with it and do the best I can by running Kalk.