My 90 gal build + stand build - Page 4

Gill again · 11/02/2009, 06:51 PM

Everyone should have a controller. No, I dont mean my wife! I mean an aquarium controller. I am having much fun. Just hooked up the Moonlight control and I went with the blue led. Looks amazing. I would take a pic but I am sure it would lose its beauty so I will spare the crowd (the 3 people reading this thread) the pain of trying to make the color out. Next I have to figure out how to make my T-5s fade in and out. From what I understand about the icecap 660 its capable of doing this. I also understand that it will kill the bulbs quicker but hey I dont want to stall the economy by slowing down the cash flow to the LFS.

Gill again · 11/02/2009, 07:57 PM

Joy my ORP probe shipped today!

Gill again · 11/05/2009, 08:29 PM

Been working on the auto top off with the Digital Aquatics controller. It looks like it is gonna work well. Also I have been looking at the ammonia and nitrite levels. The ammonia continues down and the nitrite is starting to fall as well.
I would assume, with this being the end of the second week, that due to my using as much LR as I did and it being of quality cured well prior to receiving that this is the reason for the cycle moving so quickly. Looking at the nitrite level coming in around .4 and the ammonia at .2 or lower . I would say we are getting close. I plan however to give it an additional week after I reach 0 ammonia. The coraline algae seems to really be on the come back. Lots of color on the rocks. I also added another Koralia 2 pump to the system. I may use it as well as an additional one for night time seas. For now I am going to use it to pump a little more water around the rocks.

robs.mark · 11/06/2009, 05:25 AM

Hows the flow improved with the two K2'S?

Sounds like your flying!! ;-)

RedHeckle · 11/06/2009, 07:25 AM

Gil,

Very nice work and your tank. Love the stand and the aquascaping. Need to read through then whole thing and take some notes for my 90g build.

Keep them updates coming!

-Glenn

Gill again · 11/06/2009, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robs.mark

Hows the flow improved with the two K2'S?

Sounds like your flying!! ;-)

I only put 1 in right now. I was gonna buy 2 but for some reason, voices in my head probably, decided to only get the 1. Looking at it in the tank I dont know where I would put the other. The way the aquascape came out I may have to use a maxi jet on the left side. Again this all may be not necessary but I think I want some variances in the flow and for now I dont have adjustable pumps.
Like you said gonna buy it all twice if I dont watch it.

Hey thanks Glenn, I really appreciate the compliments. Everyone is so kind. I hope the progress keeps going. I think most of its luck and the rest is great suggestions from good peeps. Let us know how your build goes.

Gill again · 11/07/2009, 04:19 PM

Appears that some "life" has emerged or been washed off the LR. I have several, 5 to 8, small brown cocoon like things floating in the tank and have found 1 on the rock itself. Any idea to what these are? They are about the size of rice grain and brown. I took one out and looked at it and it appeared grub like is the best way I could describe it. I also have something attached to a rock that appears to be coral. It has a purple appearance. I will try to get a picture of it and the brown things and post the.

Gill again · 11/07/2009, 06:02 PM

Here is a link to a youtube video I did with the 2 "life" forms I am talking about. The very first image of the little brown cocoon and then the purple "flower" like object. The rest is me flying through my live rock with my underwater video camera.
v=emdGmcT03nEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emdGmcT03nE

Gill again · 11/15/2009, 07:42 AM

Well things are certainly slow when waiting for the cycle to end. But good things come to those who wait. All is testing 0 and everything else seems to be good. The phosphate is still testing high. Anyone got any thoughts as to why? Its about 1.5 on my low test (instant ocean test kit). Other than that all looks really good. The LR has a lot of color. So I went to the LFS and took my to girls and let them pick out our first fish. They went right to the clowns and I didnt flinch. I love them too. The only question left was black or orange. That wasnt a question very long either. So 2 very nice Perculas are being held at the LFS waiting for us to pick them up next week. I will also be getting a toadstool for the new guest. Now back to the tank. I have prepared 120 gal of new water and plan to make that exchange tomorrow. Test all that then probably Wednesday, if we can wait that long go get the fish and coral. Of course I will get pictures up as soon as they hit the water. For now thats that.

robs.mark · 11/15/2009, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gill again

Well things are certainly slow when waiting for the cycle to end. But good things come to those who wait. All is testing 0 and everything else seems to be good. The phosphate is still testing high. Anyone got any thoughts as to why? Its about 1.5 on my low test (instant ocean test kit). Other than that all looks really good. The LR has a lot of color. So I went to the LFS and took my to girls and let them pick out our first fish. They went right to the clowns and I didnt flinch. I love them too. The only question left was black or orange. That wasnt a question very long either. So 2 very nice Perculas are being held at the LFS waiting for us to pick them up next week. I will also be getting a toadstool for the new guest. Now back to the tank. I have prepared 120 gal of new water and plan to make that exchange tomorrow. Test all that then probably Wednesday, if we can wait that long go get the fish and coral. Of course I will get pictures up as soon as they hit the water. For now thats that.

Well done mate, your patience is paying off! dont worry about the phosphates, they will drop given time.. 10% water changes weekly religiously, have you done one yet during your cycle?

Gill again · 11/15/2009, 12:33 PM

Yeah, I did some water changes and I have to figure out whats going on. Will probably do a sample test straight from the RODI unit. The TDS says 0 on the unit. Anyway, if that has phosphates then I guess a reactor will be in order.

Gill again · 11/16/2009, 08:01 PM

Ok so I did a 60% water change.
I also checked the phosphates out of the RODI and as expected there were none. I will monitor the water parameters tonight and tomorrow and if all is well then its to the fish store to pick up our new guest. I will also be picking out a toadstool for the tank. Saw a pretty yellow one but was talked out of it at the store. Anyway hope to be able to post some pictures tomorrow night. Stay tuned!

Gill again · 11/18/2009, 09:05 PM

Ok so the big day finally got here! The Clown fish are home and seem to be very happy. I took some video of them and will try to get that posted tonight. I will include a link when I do. Also got a leather toadstool and a piece of what I think is "fuzzy grass" mushroom coral. The toadstool hasn't opened back up yet but the grass is starting to peak back out. Again pics will get posted as soon as I can. For the corals I want yall to see them when they open. For now I am just happy that the fish seem happy.

Gill again · 11/19/2009, 06:08 PM

Ok as promised.

Pics

Toadstool, star polyp, and the clowns. I will post the youtube later.

[IMG]

[/IMG]

Gill again · 11/21/2009, 08:00 PM

Picked up 3 more fish today. I will post some picks probably tomorrow. Want them to get settled in tonight. Here is the list.

1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Yellow head jawfish
1 Coral Beauty angel

Gill again · 11/22/2009, 03:25 PM

As promised pictures of the new fish.

The Watchman

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The Yellow Head Jawfish

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The Coral Beauty Angel

[IMG]

[/IMG]

Gill again · 11/23/2009, 09:22 PM

I managed to put a couple of computer fans on some acrylic and wired them up to a transformer. All that may sound impressive but it was a trial and error thing. Luckily with only 2 wires the amount of options were low.

Anyway with all that I was able to configure the reefkeeper to turn them on at X temp and back off when temp fell below X temp. Really fun stuff!

thejuggernaut · 11/23/2009, 11:39 PM

good looking system...following along! So what kinda gunk did you skimmer turn out when the rock was cooking.

frickenfragger · 11/24/2009, 11:51 AM

Looks great, love the stand, wish I had the ability to build my own. I have a 90 I am about to start on, need to get a stand though, the rest of the goodies should be shipping today.

Gill again · 11/24/2009, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejuggernaut

good looking system...following along! So what kinda gunk did you skimmer turn out when the rock was cooking.

Thanks for the compliment. I hope to keep up the progress as well as things have gone so far.The skimmer seemed to produce pretty good. The rock I got was also in very good shape when it shipped. I am struggling with getting the skimmer adjusted perfect. I have to admit I went somewhat cheap on the skimmer and will probably upgrade that at a later time. May be why the adjustment is difficult or it could be perfectly fine and I could be the problem

either way I think it could be better.

Frickenfragger--- Thanks man. I have to say that building the cabinet and being able to look at that gives me a lot of pride. You guys cant see the mistakes I made looking at these pictures, but we wont tell anyone about those, and its not as hard as most people think. With this hobby as well as cabinet making I think these are the main secrets.

1. Take your time and plan well.
2. Be able to hide / fix your mistakes.
3. Never admit you made a mistake unless you have to and you will be considered an expert! <------JKING

thejuggernaut · 11/24/2009, 10:37 PM

yea...my skimmer was hard to get consistant skimmate when it was lightly loaded. Once i got a decent bioload it started turning out better.

jeffeg · 11/24/2009, 11:45 PM

looking good.

robs.mark · 11/25/2009, 04:33 AM

very nice sir, loving your work!

Gill again · 11/25/2009, 08:53 PM

Thanks Mark. I almost lost my Jawfish today. That sucker jumped into the overflow. I knew he was missing or at least hiding pretty well but I found him in the overflow trying to jump back out. I have to figure out something for that.

Suggestions?

Gill again · 11/26/2009, 09:24 AM

For now I have taken the following actions for the jumper.

Put door screen (cloth) across the back opening. Made, what I think is pretty cool, a support system from fishing line in a tee-pee fashion over the top of the overflow and covered that in the screen as well. Now if he jumps towards the overflow he will fall back in the aquarium.

11/02/2009, 06:51 PM	#76
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Everyone should have a controller. No, I dont mean my wife! I mean an aquarium controller. I am having much fun. Just hooked up the Moonlight control and I went with the blue led. Looks amazing. I would take a pic but I am sure it would lose its beauty so I will spare the crowd (the 3 people reading this thread) the pain of trying to make the color out. Next I have to figure out how to make my T-5s fade in and out. From what I understand about the icecap 660 its capable of doing this. I also understand that it will kill the bulbs quicker but hey I dont want to stall the economy by slowing down the cash flow to the LFS. __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/02/2009, 07:57 PM	#77
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Joy my ORP probe shipped today! __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/05/2009, 08:29 PM	#78
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Been working on the auto top off with the Digital Aquatics controller. It looks like it is gonna work well. Also I have been looking at the ammonia and nitrite levels. The ammonia continues down and the nitrite is starting to fall as well. I would assume, with this being the end of the second week, that due to my using as much LR as I did and it being of quality cured well prior to receiving that this is the reason for the cycle moving so quickly. Looking at the nitrite level coming in around .4 and the ammonia at .2 or lower . I would say we are getting close. I plan however to give it an additional week after I reach 0 ammonia. The coraline algae seems to really be on the come back. Lots of color on the rocks. I also added another Koralia 2 pump to the system. I may use it as well as an additional one for night time seas. For now I am going to use it to pump a little more water around the rocks. __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/06/2009, 05:25 AM	#79
robs.mark Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 1,461	Hows the flow improved with the two K2'S? Sounds like your flying!! ;-) __________________ knowledge is power! Current Tank Info: Lagoon

11/06/2009, 07:25 AM	#80
RedHeckle Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Twin Cities, MN Posts: 93	Gil, Very nice work and your tank. Love the stand and the aquascaping. Need to read through then whole thing and take some notes for my 90g build. Keep them updates coming! -Glenn __________________ Twin Cities Marine Aquarist Society www.tcmas.org Don't let them steal 2nd base! http://ww5.komen.org/ Current Tank Info: 90g w/30g sump, Solar T5 4x54w, BM NAC7

11/07/2009, 04:19 PM	#82
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Appears that some "life" has emerged or been washed off the LR. I have several, 5 to 8, small brown cocoon like things floating in the tank and have found 1 on the rock itself. Any idea to what these are? They are about the size of rice grain and brown. I took one out and looked at it and it appeared grub like is the best way I could describe it. I also have something attached to a rock that appears to be coral. It has a purple appearance. I will try to get a picture of it and the brown things and post the. __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/07/2009, 06:02 PM	#83
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Here is a link to a youtube video I did with the 2 "life" forms I am talking about. The very first image of the little brown cocoon and then the purple "flower" like object. The rest is me flying through my live rock with my underwater video camera. v=emdGmcT03nEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emdGmcT03nE __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/15/2009, 07:42 AM	#84
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Well things are certainly slow when waiting for the cycle to end. But good things come to those who wait. All is testing 0 and everything else seems to be good. The phosphate is still testing high. Anyone got any thoughts as to why? Its about 1.5 on my low test (instant ocean test kit). Other than that all looks really good. The LR has a lot of color. So I went to the LFS and took my to girls and let them pick out our first fish. They went right to the clowns and I didnt flinch. I love them too. The only question left was black or orange. That wasnt a question very long either. So 2 very nice Perculas are being held at the LFS waiting for us to pick them up next week. I will also be getting a toadstool for the new guest. Now back to the tank. I have prepared 120 gal of new water and plan to make that exchange tomorrow. Test all that then probably Wednesday, if we can wait that long go get the fish and coral. Of course I will get pictures up as soon as they hit the water. For now thats that. __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/15/2009, 12:33 PM	#86
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Yeah, I did some water changes and I have to figure out whats going on. Will probably do a sample test straight from the RODI unit. The TDS says 0 on the unit. Anyway, if that has phosphates then I guess a reactor will be in order. __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/16/2009, 08:01 PM	#87
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Ok so I did a 60% water change. I also checked the phosphates out of the RODI and as expected there were none. I will monitor the water parameters tonight and tomorrow and if all is well then its to the fish store to pick up our new guest. I will also be picking out a toadstool for the tank. Saw a pretty yellow one but was talked out of it at the store. Anyway hope to be able to post some pictures tomorrow night. Stay tuned! __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/18/2009, 09:05 PM	#88
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Ok so the big day finally got here! The Clown fish are home and seem to be very happy. I took some video of them and will try to get that posted tonight. I will include a link when I do. Also got a leather toadstool and a piece of what I think is "fuzzy grass" mushroom coral. The toadstool hasn't opened back up yet but the grass is starting to peak back out. Again pics will get posted as soon as I can. For the corals I want yall to see them when they open. For now I am just happy that the fish seem happy. __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/19/2009, 06:08 PM	#89
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Ok as promised. Pics Toadstool, star polyp, and the clowns. I will post the youtube later. [IMG] [/IMG] __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/21/2009, 08:00 PM	#90
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Picked up 3 more fish today. I will post some picks probably tomorrow. Want them to get settled in tonight. Here is the list. 1 Yellow Watchman Goby 1 Yellow head jawfish 1 Coral Beauty angel __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/22/2009, 03:25 PM	#91
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	As promised pictures of the new fish. The Watchman [IMG] [/IMG] The Yellow Head Jawfish [IMG] [/IMG] The Coral Beauty Angel [IMG] [/IMG] __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/23/2009, 09:22 PM	#92
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	I managed to put a couple of computer fans on some acrylic and wired them up to a transformer. All that may sound impressive but it was a trial and error thing. Luckily with only 2 wires the amount of options were low. Anyway with all that I was able to configure the reefkeeper to turn them on at X temp and back off when temp fell below X temp. Really fun stuff! __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/23/2009, 11:39 PM	#93
thejuggernaut Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Lake Jackson, Tx Posts: 548	good looking system...following along! So what kinda gunk did you skimmer turn out when the rock was cooking.

11/24/2009, 11:51 AM	#94
frickenfragger Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 26	Looks great, love the stand, wish I had the ability to build my own. I have a 90 I am about to start on, need to get a stand though, the rest of the goodies should be shipping today.

11/24/2009, 10:37 PM	#96
thejuggernaut Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Lake Jackson, Tx Posts: 548	yea...my skimmer was hard to get consistant skimmate when it was lightly loaded. Once i got a decent bioload it started turning out better.

11/24/2009, 11:45 PM	#97
jeffeg Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 92	looking good.

11/25/2009, 04:33 AM	#98
robs.mark Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 1,461	very nice sir, loving your work! __________________ knowledge is power! Current Tank Info: Lagoon

11/25/2009, 08:53 PM	#99
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	Thanks Mark. I almost lost my Jawfish today. That sucker jumped into the overflow. I knew he was missing or at least hiding pretty well but I found him in the overflow trying to jump back out. I have to figure out something for that. Suggestions? __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium

11/26/2009, 09:24 AM	#100
Gill again Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montgomery,Alabama Posts: 205	For now I have taken the following actions for the jumper. Put door screen (cloth) across the back opening. Made, what I think is pretty cool, a support system from fishing line in a tee-pee fashion over the top of the overflow and covered that in the screen as well. Now if he jumps towards the overflow he will fall back in the aquarium. __________________ Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry. No very small animal can be beautiful, for looking at it takes so small a portion of time that the impression of it will be confused. Nor can any very large one, for a whole view of it cannot be had at once, and so there will be no unity and completeness. Aristotle <------apparently he never had a salt water aquarium Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef , 40 gal sump with refugium