180 Gallon Foam Rock Wall Penisula in 2 weeks

[Mav2]

Before I begin, I would like to say a massive thank you to all those who are part of reef central/Reefkeeping, your tanks, experience and knowledge of keeping water have been invaluable.

I would like to say a special thank you to Twiggy, Speckled Grouper, Last Light (God Bless) and Paul Brun; whose foam rock walls and beautiful tanks have been an inspiration to me.

I set up my first Reef tank 5 years ago. After seeing a friend’s 50 gallon tank I was hooked and decided to set up my own. After 6 months of fishes and corals dying on me for no apparent reason, I gave up and broke down the tank.

7 months ago I decided to build a 60 gallon tank. 44" x 24" x 15".

Today, after 3 months of planning I decided to upgrade to a 120/150 gallon tank. The tank would be a peninsula style tank with a central overflow and the main structures would consist of a foam rock wall and a central rock pillar (to hide the overflow)



Tank and sump specifications

48” x 30” x 24” – Display tank
(Ground and polished edges, Black silicone)

36” x 20” x 16” – Sump and refugium
(Mangroves, Sand/Miracle mud)

Central overflow with Rectangular glass insert

Aqua medic Turboflotor 1000 Multi SL

Eheim 1250 Return Pump

Tunze 6045 x 2

2 x 39watt T5’s, 4 x 54watt T5’s, 2 x Aqua-rays LED’s

2 x 300watt Heaters (In sump)

Ventron UV 15 (Temporary)

Live rock for Sump and Main display

Live sand refugium



Stand specifications




Travertine Honed and Filled natural Tiles

48” x 30” x 36”

¾ Marine Ply construction
(2 inch Ventilation/Access holes to Right side)
Removable Front Panel


Friday 12th March 2010

After finishing my final designs on the tank and sump, decided to order it today. ETA 7-14 days.




Sunday 14th March 2010

Picked up the tiles from Topps tiles. 17 (600mm x 600mm tiles (plus 1 freebie!). Tiles, Grout and adhesive cost £130.

Ran through designs with Dad and parted with the “cash” for the materials. ETA 4-6 days.

Monday 15th March 2010

Popped into the LFS to get an update on the tank. (A little early I know…so what…I’m excited)

Tuesday 16th March 2010

Had, day off work today. Bad cold, I would say Flu but everyone seems to “scoff” at the mention of the word….as if it’s only reserved for people over 70. Made good use of my time thought:

Ordered On-line

1) 6 x 54watt T5 bulbs (3 marine whites, 2 daylights and 1 actinic)
2) 3 bottles of Bob Smith industries epoxy resin for my “Rock wall”
3) 2 cans of “Rock Fix” pond foam “Rock wall)
4) 2 x Egg crate sheets of 24” x 24”
5) Jaeger 300watt heater



Wednesday 17th March 2010

Still off work. Light bulbs were delivered. Wow that was fast!

Ordered On-line

1) Aqua medic Turbo Floater 1000 SL Protein Skimmer
2) 2 x Twin Arcadia Lighting controllers

Just received a call that one my deliveries (no idea which one) had been delivered to the wrong address and was now back in the Royal mail office. Rushed down there, but they shut at 1.00pm. Not happy. Will pick it up on Saturday. Think I’ll do a little research on “Reef Central” tonight. I need to work out the best way to transfer livestock from my current tank (60 Gallon) to the new (150 Gallon). I would really like to eliminate the cycle, if possible.

Thursday 18th March 2010

On the way home from work I picked up 30Kg of base rock for the Rock wall , 4 kg bag of Tropical marine sand, some cable ties and my pre-ordered; tins of pond foam “Rock fix” by NT Labs. Arrived home, to find a couple of parcels. The Egg crate and Heater had been delivered.

Here’s a shot of my “initial” lay out:

Initial layout.jpg

[Mav2]

Friday 19th March 2010

Arrived home to find I had missed the delivery of the protein skimmer. Never mind, not really in a rush….Monday will do!

Picked up the tank stand from Dads this evening…it looks BIG and I’m looking forward to tiling it tomorrow.

[Mav2]

clip_image002.jpg

[Mav2]

Thanks! It's coming ....

Started, the first stage of the foam wall today. So far so good!

There really is no point in using small sized base rock, as it just disappears into the foam!!!

Left to dry for a few days and built the central rock tower to cover the overflow. Finally used epoxy and sand to finish.




Saturday 20th March


Woke up this morning in a great mood. I had been looking forward to tiling the stand all week. After 4 hours here is the finished product.

[Mav2]

finished.jpg

[Mav2]

tiling done.jpg

Happy with my work, I decided while letting it dry before wiping the excess adhesive off the tiles, I would take a bath.

Came back down stairs an hour later and the tiles ere falling off. !!!%%%** not a happy man. Not sure where I had gone wrong I decided to take a look at the empty bag of adhesive that was sitting in the garden. It was out of date. It read February 2010.

2 hours later I had taken off all the tiles (with ease, I might add) and removed the adhesive from the back. Fed up, I went down the road – two beers and a Kebab later and I was feeling …..a little better.


Sunday 21st March

Woke up early this morning and went to the Tile shop. Before entering I was weighing up the best approach. Should I go in “ranting and raving?” or do I take it “slow, calm and steady?” I went with the later. It was a good job that I did, otherwise I would have been even more embarrassed when the manager stated, “….that’s not the use by date, that’s the manufacturing date….”

…..my bad. He explained to me that perhaps I should have used some primer. 20 minutes later, primer in hand I was home and set about priming the cabinet. 4 hours later….. fully tiled.

Monday 22nd March

Arrived home to find my protein skimmer, return pump and Tunze’s had arrived. Sealed the tiles with the appropriate sealant. Waited a few hours then “grouted” the stand.



Tuesday 23rd March

Wiped off grout and waterproofed the inside of the cabinet

Wednesday 24th March

Drilled 12 (3 inch) ventilation/access holes into the (untilled and unseen side of the cabinet

Thursday 25th March

Installed 3 mm padding around the top edge of the tiled unit. I’ve calculated that although the tank will sit with a 3 mm overhand around the cabinet, the 1/2 “ foam, both it and the sump would sit, would still leave a 1 to 2mm gap once the tanked was filled.

Friday 26th March

Drilled a 8 inch hole, dead centre of the cabinet to allow for the central overflow and fittings…….the tank and sump are arriving tomorrow morning !!!!!!!!!!


Saturday 27th March

9.30am - They have arrived !!!!!!

I overslept and woke up to the sound of ringing in my ears. Overall I’m happy with the tank, but would have liked to see a little more care taken in “some” areas with the silicon.

Installed both rock walls and pipe work.

[Mav2]

Sealed Pipes. Secured side Rock wall with sealant and placed a length of 4 x 4 in the tank to support its weight.



Sunday 28th March

Time to fill it up and check for leaks. Perhaps I shold have done this before I placed the Rock wall ….my impatience (…not a good thing!) got the better of me.

No leaks so far……

pipe work.jpg

[Mav2]

glass over flow.jpg


with over.jpg

[Mav2]

………..Filled and circulating

full 1.jpg

full 2.jpg

[Mav2]

with lights.jpg

with lights 2.jpg

[kblakely]

Not to sound negative... this is all very interesting and the aquarium looks great. Just curious if you ever figured out what your initial "everything dying for no reason" problem was? It seems like there is a chapter of the story we are missing here... the chapter where you figure out that the problem was your old aquarium.

[Mav2]

Good question. I did figure out the answer to the question of "...why everything was dying for no reason..." .........me!!!

I added fish too quickly, battled against nuisances badly ...e.g added a Arrow head crab to a tank full of "occupants" I kinda knew he would destroy. Topped up often with tap water (bad boy) and had poor filtration (not enough live rock or alternatives)

[kblakely]

Great. Again... didn't intend to sound negative. I just was a little worried that you thought a larger tank would be the solution to all your problems. Sounds like you have done your homework. I suspect you discovered the number one problem most people encounter when starting out. The urge to go too fast. Good luck man... looks great.

[Mav2]

Thank you....

[Mav2]

IMG00248-20100401-2120[1].jpg

[Mav2]

IMG00248-20100401-2120[1].jpgAttachment 107434

I'm pretty happy so far. Yesterday added 100 ml of Rowa phos (Phosphate remover) and added a carbon hang on to the sump. Transfered the rest of my live stock and corals from my 60 gallon. (Tuesday I had added 4 Chromis)

Checked the parameters today:

PH: 8.5
Alk: 240 ppm
Hardness: 240 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 15 ppm

[Mav2]

However, I have a slight problem the nitrates in the old tank are:

40-80 ppm!!!!

…..all livestock being transferred today. Let me re-phrase that….all livestock with the exception of my “two yellow tailed damsels”….get transferred today!!! (….they bite me every-time I put my hand in the tank)
Livestock includes:

1 Clown Fish
1 Copper band Butterfly
1 Lipstick Tang
1 Square back Anthias
5 Chromis
1 Boxer Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Serpent Star
1 Sand Shifting Star fish
Hermit Crabs (not enough)
Turbo snails (not enough)

Friday 2nd April

Added a second 300W heater to the tank. Adjusted the protein skimmer, hopefully in will settle down in the next 24hrs. Added fluorescence light to the sump for the mangroves. As a temporary measure I will have my 4 x 39W T5’s to supplement the LEDS (Just until my light units FINALLY arrive)

FTS with lights.jpg

[Mav2]

... I will try! Thanks again, when you put a lot of effort into a project like this it';s so rewarding to get such a positive response. By the way....please feel free to be critical...particularly if it's constructive.

tested water parameters again today -

Nitrite is still - 0 (So i'm asumming I definetly didn't have a cycle!!!) Picked up a replacement skimmer today, it's buzzing away , still settling down I think.

The mangroves are doing their job the nitrate's are just below 10 ppm




http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/a...Pillarshot.jpg


A couple of shots from today


http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/a...ewtankshot.jpg

[Mav2]

Pillar shot.jpg


FTS with lights.jpg

[dmb1977]

looking good dude- nice to see a british tank! good old blighty

[Mav2]

Thanks for the comments ....i need some cheering up after what Barcelona did to my side yesterday!!!!

[Mav2]

I think I may have omitted the fact, i filled the new tank with mainly tap water(80%) the rest a mixture of RO and water from my old tank.

It wasn't really practical to use RO water instead. Of course I realised the promblems that may be caused with the high levels of phosphates but i did have a plan....

Water parameters yesterday were:

Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 popm (I thinks the mangroves are doing a marvelous job along with the protein skimmer)
Hardness: 180
Alk: 240-300
PH: 8.5

However...yesterday I bought my phosphates test kit (along with a bottle of 37.5% proof voka)

Phosphates: 5-10 (not good), I knew the levels were gonna be high and some of my rock and sand has developed a rust like brown algae.( Despite the fact I have 100ml of phosphate remover in the sump, to be fair, my calculations were incorrect and this should have been 200ml)

I worked out the NQV (net aquarium volume i.e Display tank + Sump + skimmer - rock displacement ( around 30% of Display and sump) and started my voka dosing

1ml per 25 Gallons, therefore for 3 days I will be dosing 5ml per day, days 4-7 I will adjust the dosing amounts (...there was a thread on reef central with instructions on this, I will make sure I find it so I can give proper thanks to its author)

By weeks 3-4 by nitrates and phosphares should be pretty close to 0
....fingers crossed

(Apparantly, as voka is carbon based the nitrate and phosphate molecules are attracted to this carbon source and converted to a easy to remove (via the protein skimmer) substance, which also apparantly leads to an increase in skimmer performance. There is a potential side effect for which a ozone reactor or activated carbon (which I have hanging in the sump) negates....I'll let you know how I get on

[Mav2]

Today is day 4 of the vodka dosing regime, parameters are as follows:

Nitrates: 7.5 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Phosphates: 5 ppm

As per regime, upped the dose today (x2 for days 4-7), dose today 1ml

Algae has not grown at all, fish and coral look healthy. still gaving to stir the sand every two days.

[Mav2]

It's been a while since I last posted. So I thought I would add some recent tanks shots. During the last 3 weeks, I went through some troublesome "Cyno" problems. .....It was everywhere. I was changing water every 3 days, cleaning the rock and sand; daily ......and finally.....a bottle of "anti -Red" later....... ALL GONE....yes all of the cyno is gone

[Mav2]