The Journey - 300+ Gallon System Build - Picture Heavy

[Trainwreck618]

Your aquascape looks great! I really like open scapes, it's way more manageable. Also your garage sump room is clean! Gives you plenty of room to work on whatever project comes next.

[bpcardona]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck618

Your aquascape looks great! I really like open scapes, it's way more manageable. Also your garage sump room is clean! Gives you plenty of room to work on whatever project comes next.

Thanks so much. I think that open space is a design piece often overlooked. I also wanted to provide more swim area for my inhabitants. As for the garage/sump room, I have spent some tim in there making improvements. This was the area of my build that got rushed, and as a result last the attention to detail I wanted. However I am happy with it and enjoy working/playing in there.

[Babyfaceur]

Let us know how the dosing containers work out for you.

[bpcardona]

This happens to be my third redesign of the QT system. Keep in mind this is in my garage and I live in Florida, therefore I must have a chiller. Also this setup is to be samples, due to the lack of space under the tank. (Truly I could make room for a sump, but would rather not.) My first had only a HOB filter and I wasn’t happy. My second had egg crate separating some bio balls and the drain. This however proved to be disastrous when the first fish to be QTed went in. My unbelievably colorful Potters Wrasse decided he could fit through the egg crate. He was damaged beyond repair and died 2 days later. So I had to redesign….again.

This time I chose to make it more similar to the system I like, my display. I decided to build it with a three stage “in-tank” filter. Meaning that I wanted a stage with a filter sock, one with bio material, and a third for a float switch. So I went to work. I drilled a 4in hole into a small piece of glass, praying to the lords it would break. I cut some groves into the top of the glass to allow for overflow, silicone it all in and water tested. It all worked great. I have the second chamber half full with bio balls and the top half with CPR’s Bio Bale. I had preorder Dr Tim’s one and only, and 8oz bottle, to begin the cycling process. I am currently on day 5 and have seen zero changes.

[bpcardona]

Today was all about my wifes elementary classroom tank. I need to bring this tank back to glory. Check out her build.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2315808

[jrascher]

Brian,
I love your build and progress on your system.
Great job and please continue to keep us posted.

[worm5406]

Thanks for the updates!!

What are you going to start dosing and what amounts? Who are you getting the supplies from?

[bpcardona]

I have been doing weekly dosing up to this point, but I am reaching the point where that might not be enough. Besides, I want consistent water parameters. I am planing on continually to use the products I have been which are: SeaChem Reef Builder (buffer), SeaChem Advanced Calcium, and SeaChem Advanced Magnesium.

I will have to get you the numbers a bit later, I have been sick and in bed for a week now. Very little work has been done. Yesterday was spent at urgent care, then the dentist, then finally an oral surgeon. He said I needed a ENT, but it was to late for that. So I suffered the night and spent today at the ENT, then a CAT scan (mostly battling insurance approval), then back to the ENT. Needless to say I have spent my monthly budget for the tank on medical treatment. On a brighter note, I have plenty of help with husbandry. ( That's my wife's classroom tank)





Thanks for all the compliments. Hopefully I will have more tomorrow.

[bpcardona]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck618

No worries, good idea with the teeth on there. If you already posted this picture it must not have registered. I have one last question, but if you could answer this on your thread I think it would be more helpful. You carved those teeth into the glass, I've never done that, and I kept wondering how you did that without breaking the glass? I mean with acrylic that's easy, but glass.. I just kept picturing you using a dremel or something similar and small glass shards flying up in your face. Please explain how you did that because I'm very curious on the process.

This was a question posed by Trainwreck within his own thread. I was kinda hi-jacking his thread----- Please check it out.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2379787

I used simple wet saw from Home Depot. It is similar to the one below. I had it around for some tile work I did and thought I would give it a shot. It works great, but SAFETY PROTECTION IS A MUST. The cuts are a bit rough, but they work. The precision is fairly high with straight cut, but you need to go slow. I cut those ridges as well as the entire length of the glass baffle.

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pro...763198_400.jpg

[Trainwreck618]

This seams way better then what I was imagining! Great idea and thank you for the further explanation.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Great hearing from you again. I see you have your child trained to do water changes and other maintenance already. When you are free(and also get well) I'd like to come see your setup. I hope you don't mind. Keep up the good work.

[ERivera65]

Originally Posted by bpcardona

I have been doing weekly dosing up to this point, but I am reaching the point where that might not be enough. Besides, I want consistent water parameters. I am planing on continually to use the products I have been which are: SeaChem Reef Builder (buffer), SeaChem Advanced Calcium, and SeaChem Advanced Magnesium.

I will have to get you the numbers a bit later, I have been sick and in bed for a week now. Very little work has been done. Yesterday was spent at urgent care, then the dentist, then finally an oral surgeon. He said I needed a ENT, but it was to late for that. So I suffered the night and spent today at the ENT, then a CAT scan (mostly battling insurance approval), then back to the ENT. Needless to say I have spent my monthly budget for the tank on medical treatment. On a brighter note, I have plenty of help with husbandry. ( That's my wife's classroom tank)





Thanks for all the compliments. Hopefully I will have more tomorrow.

hope you get better soon!, best wishes!

[skanderson]

just finished reading your thread. if you want an opinion from a omfs you can pm me about your medical problem. im assuming that since its between a omfs and a ent it is an abcess? let me know if you ant a 3rd opinion.

[bpcardona]

Originally Posted by skanderson

just finished reading your thread. if you want an opinion from a omfs you can pm me about your medical problem. im assuming that since its between a omfs and a ent it is an abcess? let me know if you ant a 3rd opinion.

Thanks so much, PM sent.

[bpcardona]

Tonight has been a night of disappointment. How is it that at a time when everything is going so well, mistakes so stupid can happen. This mistake was so simple that it could have been resolved in a matter of minute. Unfortunately, in the past two years I let this oversight continue. I would always say, “ Man I need to order those….”, “Maybe I will stop by _____ and see if they have them.” Nevertheless, my laziness has cost one of my newest inhabitants their life, and me a pair of fish that I have wanted for a long time. So what is it? A simple suction screen. Who did I loose? My female Spotted Mandarin, that was paired.

These fish were my most recent purchase, and were doing great. I loved watching both of them hover over the rocks and sand. As my last post said, I have been sick the past few weeks. Yesterday was my first full day back at work, and it was a LONG day. I didn’t pay much attention to the tank. This morning I couldn’t find the female dragonet, but didn't think to much about it. I checked a few more time throughout the day with zero success. Well, around 3pm I started searching the floors, overflows, sump, and socks. Nothing! I killed the pumps, and looked in the overflows again. There she was, in the bottom of the down pipe. I could see that she was lifeless and slightly pale. Curse words flew!

So what was the problem. As with most situations like these, it is not one mistake that doomed me. There were multiple areas that could have prevented this from happening. First, I purchased this tank used and the prior owner punched out the tabs in the overflow. This was meant to have a return pipe travel through, but I am using both holes as drains. Therefore these holes were left open. I imagine she simply swam through the hole looking for pods.

The next mistake (and biggest, and simplest to solve) was the fact I didn't use suction screens when I completed the overflow. I just kept putting it off. Well as a result a snail shell became stuck at the bottom of the pipe (around the area of the bulkhead). When the dragonet got sucked down the pipe, she could pass between the shell and pipe walls. Poor thing… Had the shell not been clogging the pipe, she would have likely gone for a wild ride, but survived.

So what have I done? I plugged the overflow hole in the overflow. I have ordered the suction screens. I have also removed the shell from the pipe. Just so damn mad!

PLEASE USE SUCTION SCREENS!

[bpcardona]

Well how do you cure a bummed reef keeper? You go to Sea World in the morning, Wide World Coral reef farm (grand opening) in the afternoon, and work on system in the evening. My 9 month old, Jacob, loves the aquariums. Wide World Corals set up is unbelievable, and of course I had to purchase a frag. I picked up the last frag of WWC Fanta chalice. Also my QT tank has almost completed it’s cycle.

On the note of the QT cycle. I want to provided a review of the Dr Tim’s one and only. I used this product for the cycling process of my display. I can say that I truly believed it helped. Did you read that? I think it H.E.L.P.E.D. I say this because I have since used the product twice, both time while cycling my QT system. Each time I started with biomedia such as, BioBale and Bio balls. The first time tested and tested with no changes in parameters. I wrote Dr Tims and received another bottle, this one with twice as much as needed. While I waited on the arrival of the replacement, I added a few pieces of live rock to the system. I tested and changes were happening. When the One and Only arrived I added it, and the cycle seemed to happen rapidly. Okay….know this time I order twice the amount of Dr Tims and tried to cycle with only BioBale and Bio balls again. Nope, didn't work. I tested for a week and I saw zero reading in both Nitrites and Nitrates. So do you see what I mean by HELPED? I had live rock in the display during its cycle process, so maybe it sped it up. I do not believe my display would have cycled without the live rock. I have called and wrote Dr Tims, but to my surprise I haven't heard anything back. The customer service I received last time was top notch, so I can only assume I have been lost in the shuffle of the holidays. However I added a few pieces of live rock and the cycle has almost competed. I have past one death zone and have one more to go.

[bpcardona]

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

Great hearing from you again. I see you have your child trained to do water changes and other maintenance already. When you are free(and also get well) I'd like to come see your setup. I hope you don't mind. Keep up the good work.

You are welcome over anytime. I need to get over there and see the completed project. It has been a long time.

[bpcardona]

The other day, when I was supposed to be resting in bed, I took he time to acid bath some old live rock that I had around. I did so with a 10:1 ratio of water to Muriatic acid. I of course took several safety precautions such as, heavy duty chemical gloves, mask, long sleeves and pants. As you can see in the picture below the reaction is impressive. I neutralized the solution with some baking soda and rinsed the rock. I then soaked it in RODI water for a few days and tested for phosphates and copper. I tested for copper because some of the rock had been purchased from another reefer and I wanted to be sure. Today I added that rock to an area in my sump and lined the back of the frag tank as well. Most of the rock in the frag tank is rubble rock so I can use it for fragging if necessary.

[worm5406]

The bottom picture looks like a bad link.

[bpcardona]

Originally Posted by worm5406

The bottom picture looks like a bad link.

I edited it in Lightroom and republished. That killed the link. I forgot to post the acid bath photo anyway so here is both.

[worm5406]

Very nice. Good bubble production (LOL)

What is the green item in the bottom right?

[bpcardona]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Very nice. Good bubble production (LOL)

What is the green item in the bottom right?

That is a WWC Toxic Waste Leptoseris. I have a few colonies and a few frags of it. If shipping weren't so high I would send you a piece.

[worm5406]

Ohh wow... that is nice. Also.. here in DC it is freezing outside, so if I was not at home it would be a brick of ice.

[bpcardona]

I played with some macro extension tubes tonight. Here is the results:

[/CENTER]

[bpcardona]

Few more: