Niteowl's 120g Build Thread

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niteowl03

Well I just got my 70g Oceanic tank today so I figured I would start this thread so you could all be amazed!! I picked this tank up from bdare here at a great deal. Came with tank stand and canopy. Also had a friend whos tank busted a few years back and gave me a ton of equipment. I am going to get the 48 LED kit from RapidLEDs on probably a 10" heatsink. Here is where I stand now:

70g Tank
29g sump
what I think is a DAS skimmer (if someone could identify it in the pic that would be amazing)
Mag 9.5 pump
Statuary 3 pump
Koralia 3
Koralia 1

I have posted pics of the setup below. I am hoping to pick up the rock and water by the end of the week. I need to figure out the plumbing in order to get this cycling. I am unfamiliar with this type of sump so if there is someone here who can chime in with some ideas that would be great. It was explained to me that water drains into the back left corner, runs through the baffles which have a carbon bag in them. The water then takes a 180 degree turn and 80% goes into the skimmer and about 20% goes right past it. Then the return pump sits in the front left. If there is someone in the Arlingtonish area that would want to come help me plumb this whole thing as it is my first attempt at a RR tank im pretty sure i could get the wife to give me some beer money.

Here is the tentative list for fish:
Yellow tang
flame angel
2 jawfish
2 clown fish
1 or 2 6 line wrasse
green mandarin
lemonpeel angel
firefish
Watchman goby
Coral Beauty Angelfish

Corals are going to mainly softies with maybe a little SPS.

Any input on this setup would be much appreciated!

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Grats on the new tank, I really like those tech tanks. The skimmer you have is a DAS bx1 and as for e sump set up, it is a unique layout that I am unfamiliar with so if you were told one thing I would go with that. Plumbing isn't too hard, but the key is to take your time, just like everything else in this hobby. First, draw out what you want and post that here to get help on it, then do a dry fit on everything, a fresh water leak test, and finally glue it all together. it's great that you are starting your fish list early, I would cation about when you add the mandarin and the six line as they should probably be the very last fish you add, probably a good year after you are up and running at least.
 
Ok just a quick update, I think i have my plumbing figured out and will be messing with it probably Wednesday. I am thinking about running my return up the overflow and out each side with the nozzles pointed towards the front corners of the tank. I will then place a Koralia 3 in the back corners pointed towards the front center. Does anyone see any issues with this? Are the Koralia 3s too much flow for that tank?
 
Ok after much thought I wanted to post my plumbing thoughts up here to get some input. I got this sump for free and while it is not the normal design I am trying to make it work (if this is stupid someone please tell me) I will be using the DAS BX1 skimmer for now but will probably upgrade to a reef octopus or something similar in the future. If I would be better off just getting a "standard" sump I am ok with that. Also this sump is 30g and I am looking at a "standard" that is 20g should this cause a problem?

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So here is the layout:
bottom left corner white is drain
top right corner white is return
black is skimmer
red is new baffles
tan and green is refugium
gray is return pump.

The lady that I got the sump and skimmer from said that she ran them in almost the exact opposite setup I am thinking but with no refugium.

Looking forward to your thoughts and ideas.
 
Ok previous sump idea scrapped. I am just going to turn that tank into a frag tank in the future. New sump purchased and plan on plumbing the tank tonight. Here are my thoughts for the plumbing of this tank. The drain will split going into the skimmer section and the refugium. I think my biggest question is, do i need the ball valve on the main drain line or should I be ok with just the 2 on the legs? If you see any thing that i can/need to change or improve please let me know.

Please ignore my terrible art skills!!

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Well I did get it plumbed! Got it right the first time!!

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Also got the rock in the tank and some water, just waiting for sand to settle.

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Was trying to make sure I had enough room to place corals and that the fish had enough room to roam as they chose. I know its fairly basic but the wife likes it!! I will finish getting th rest of the water in it and get the skimmer cleaned up tomorrow and we should be starting the cycle!!!
 
Well after a minor hiccup with the refugium moving sand into the return the tank is now running. I got a CFL fixture from a friend to use during the cycle!! Definitely going to have to get another Koralia 3 to add more flow to the left side. The DAS BX1 skimmer is a beast!! Thanks to JBSmurf for coming over and making sure everything was good to go yesterday on my first real build. Ran a water test this morning just to see and was shocked a little by the results!

Ammonia - 0.5
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 0
pH - 7.4 (Dont quite understand this)

FTS
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Sump fully plumbed and running
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You bet buddy. Glad to help and looking forward to seeing how this progresses for you. I'm sure someone might have a better way but I would get some klawk and bump that ph or get a 2part that raises ph

Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk
 
Do not add kalk our two part unless you are low on calcium and alk. Never dose those to raise your ph. It's more likely that you need better oxygen transfer. Try running the air house from your skimmer outside if possible. Also point your powerhead at the surface so it creates small ripples. Wait a few hours and re test your ph.

Tank is looking great! In the next week our so you should get diatoms on the rocks. After that typically is green hair algae. Once you see green hair algae it's time for the clean up crew. :)
 
@matt_longview wrote:
Do not add kalk our two part unless you are low on calcium and alk. Never dose those to raise your ph. It's more likely that you need better oxygen transfer. Try running the air house from your skimmer outside if possible. Also point your powerhead at the surface so it creates small ripples. Wait a few hours and re test your ph. Tank is looking great! In the next week our so you should get diatoms on the rocks. After that typically is green hair algae. Once you see green hair algae it's time for the clean up crew. :-) said:
Might not be a bad idea to test for all of these things Aaron, if the pH is still low after a week then you I think you will need to do something to get it up, if it continues to fluctuate then I would almost bet you have an alkalinty issue.
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I have the air house for the skimmer running outside the stand and have the powerhead pointed at the surface of the water creating ripples as well as my return line needs another piece or 2 of lockline so its sitting just below the surface level creating lots of ripples! I am going to let the tank sit for about a week and see where things are at, then I will consider dosing I just dont want to rush any part of this other than getting my LEDs in!! All I have to do now is decide if I want crees or Luxeons!
 
Sounds like a good setup for oxygen transfer. Just make sure it's fresh air as much as possible.

If it is calcium and alk causing the low pH, that will show up in the calc and alk test results. If they're already low before having any corals in the tank, switch salt mixes! It would save you lots of headache having a quality salt brand with correct water parameters right after mixing than dosing fresh mixed salt. Many people have pH issues even after getting air transfer from the room because of high co2 levels in the room. If you open a window in that room or run the hose outside for a few hours you can mark that off of the list of potential causes then move onto the next step of troubleshooting. It's like they say... check the easiest solution first.
 
The salt being used it Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt with salinity at 1.023. I will be purchasing the calcium and alk test kit this weekend so I will take a look at that.
 
Well the cycle is underway! Im a bit surprised the ammonia was at 4.0 yesterday and has dropped to 1.5 at 5pm today so maybe that is going to mean a quick cycle. I am starting to consider clean up crew and would like some input. Currently I have in my 14g biocube that will be transferred over:

1 Tongan conch
1 peppermint shrimp
4 nassarius snails
3 red legged hermit crabs

Thanks in advance guys.
 
Well the rock work is completed and the cycle is still progressing. This morning the Ammonia had dropped to 4.0 and the Nitrite was up at 2.0 so we are moving along quite nicely! Still trying to figure out a clean up crew if anyone has any suggestions!
 
I'd go with all snails. http://www.reefcleaners.org gets absolutely amazing reviews from everyone, including myself. I'd recommend them to just about anyone.

I'd either wait until you hit the GHA phase and then add a 70g crew, or go ahead and add a 30g crew planning to add another 30g crew when more algae than they're eating starts to show up.

Rockwork looks good. You're on your way now! :)
 
We JBsmurf decided to come over and rearrange my rock so that I could utilize the shelf rock better. I cant say im totally mad at him I think it looks good.

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Well I tested the water @ 6 today and got the following parameters:

pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 2.0
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate - 80+

I need to get another 20+ lbs of sand in the tank and we should be ready for the clean up crew in about a week!
 
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