Rick's 100 gallon tank build

R

rsnoddy

So I figured I would start a tank build log for those who might be interested in following my progress.

[attachment=0]Empty tank dying to be set up.JPG[/attachment]
 
Live rock is cooked and cleaned. I soaked it in muratic acid and neutralized it in baking soda.
You can check out this thread if you want the details:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=102956

[attachment=0]rock cleaned with acid and nuetralized with baking soda 2.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=1]rock cleaned with acid and nuetralized with baking soda.JPG[/attachment]
 
Sump is cleaned and ready to go
[attachment=1]Sump needs to be cleaned badly.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Nice clean sump.JPG[/attachment]
 
So I did something different this time. I went and had Plexiglas cut to fit the interior of my stand. Basically my sump is enclosed in a small tank now. I doubt it would fully contain a total sump failure as the front pane is only 5 and 1/2 inches high due to the door hinges but I should contain small spills. The other reason I added the plexi was due to the salt spray I had next to overflow drain in my previous set up. Salt crust of wood was not fun to try and get clean but I was able to do it. Hopefully this will prevent this type of problem from occurring again in the future.

Sorry for the picture quality. It was a hard picture to take but hopefully you can get the idea.

[attachment=1]Added plexiglass around inside base of tank stand.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Added plexiglass around inside base of tank stand 2.JPG[/attachment]
 
How did you get the sump so clean...must have been a bunch of scrubbing?? I like the plexi glass on the bottom of the tank to hold any small spills...great idea
 
Looking good, that acid wash will really help you get off to a clean start and help you keep phosphates down. It will really be worth it once you start testing your parameters and don't have hair algae covering every rock :)
 
Rock is in the tank. This is the first attempt at aquascaping in this new set up. Hopefully I can live with it. I tried to set up a bunch of different platforms for placing corals at different levels.

[attachment=2]Rock is in.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=1]Rock in 2.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Rock in 3.JPG[/attachment]
 
Thanks for the feedback Mike! I appreciate any and all feedback! That is one of the reasons I wanted to put together this build log.
I read the article you provided me. Good stuff! Although I respect what he has to say maybe I am partial to a "rock wall"? :)

[attachment=0]DCP_5424.JPG[/attachment]

Here are a few pics from my previous set up. The first one has a bit of an algae problem but it was one of the few I could find from a little further back. The next two are after having the corals in the tank for a few years. I have had my first reef going all the way back to 1999 and I guess I took the rule of thumb for 1.5 pounds of rock per gallon of water literally. I was always of the thought that if I had more live rock it would better buffer the water parameters. Not sure how true this is but I never had any problems with my tank.

[attachment=1]DCP_4960.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment=2]DCP_4956.JPG[/attachment]

Yes I know I can take a bit of it out of the display and add it to the sump BUT I actually like the way it looks :) Maybe it is just personal preference. I know you cannot see it. Maybe I will post a pic here later, but the rock is a good 3-4 inches off of the back of the tank. I specifically stack it this way to allow for water flow and to prevent detritus build up. You will also notice that I sloped my sand bed towards the front to help flow the detritus to the front of the tank. Again I guess it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Hopefully you can tell from the two pics of the more mature corals that it isn't actually all that bad of a look. Again personal preference.

~ On a side note I am running power compacts so at this time I am not set up for SPF or any other type of stony corals. I would most definitely agree that if I was running an SPF tank that I would definitely want to give my corals plenty of room to grow.
 
End of day one. Did not have enough water and all the LFS were closed. Tried to do a search for "self service water", "RO/DI water locations" but could not find any valid matches. I ended up placing a Mag 7 in the overflow chamber and did a loop that way just to be able to get the water moving. That was enough for the first day. Me and my daughter Caitlin were at it for about 10 hours.

[attachment=0]The first day is over and I am beat.JPG[/attachment]
 
So day two begins with a trip to the LFS to get some more water.
Here is a shot of the sump and some of the plumbing. Surprisingly enough even though the water looks cloudy it was really wasn't that bad. The whole tank was pretty much clear in less than an hour.
 
And it is finally finished...

[attachment=0]And it is completed just need to get the bacteria going now.JPG[/attachment]
 
I am so sorry for the picture quality! I am having to take these with my I-Phone. I have not yet unpacked my camera. For those of you who are not yet aware I just moved into my new house. After unpacking the essentials I went straight to setting up my tank :) I will find it in the next few weeks and post some much better pictures!!

With the flash:
[attachment=1]with flash.JPG[/attachment]

Without the flash:
[attachment=0]without flash.JPG[/attachment]
 
So my order from Marine Depot came in today. Included in the box was my new bulkhead. I had a spare bulkhead that was narrowing down my overflow drain to 1" at the connection point but that was all that I had so I went with it until my new one came in. I took these photos showing the old plumbing versus the new plumbing in preparation of asking the question "Is it really worth purchasing a new expansion joint to be able to use the 1 and 1/2" durso pipe. Well I answered my own question. I used the 1" durso pipe in the picture because it slipped right into my new bulkhead so nicely BUT it shook and gurgled something fierce!! My solution was to remove it and simple add the old durso pipe with the necked down bottom fitting that will go into the existing opening. I will make a trip to Lowe's tomorrow to get the correct fitting. The purpose of this post is to possibly provide some assistance to a future fellow reefer that might be struggling with this same question. I still can not wrap my head around how a 1 and 1/2" durso pipe makes such a big difference between a 1" durso pipe IF they are both being restricted down to a 1" inch bulkhead opening but they do! The results don't lie.

Old:
[attachment=1]old plumbing.JPG[/attachment]

New:
[attachment=0]new plumbing.JPG[/attachment]
 
Not much to update at the moment. Waiting for the tank to cycle. I did a 20 gallon water change last night but I still have traces of Ammonia and Nitrate :(

I stopped by pet o rama (at least I think that is the store South on Cooper, almost to 287). They had this coral encrusted rock in with there live rock. $3.99 a pound. I had to pick it up just to see if I might be able to save it. If not then I am out $4.

[attachment=0]$4 coral.JPG[/attachment]

Other than that the two ballast I had order came in and I have them installed. The parts I needed for my auto top off came in from Aquahub. I have them both up and running. Just waiting for the tank to finish cycling. AHHGGGggg I hate waiting!! I am so inpatient.
 
kind of like seachem's stability? used it on my 75g and i'm not sure if it worked or not, but i have coraline after a month. major brown and hair algae the first 2 weeks though.
 
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