Jeremy's Reef Tank

[Babybrown1249]

Hey

So whats going on with the new tank at Jeremy's. I stopped in today and its starting to look good. What are the overall plans? Need help with anything?

[mitchellmoto]

Well I'm setting it up as a full on reef. I don't want peopple to think i maintain the tanks there because of the horride condition of most. I only maintain the 75gal and will maintain the 240gal once setup. They don't really have to time or exact know how to keep anything really complicated so I will be putting in mostly easy corals with just a few more delicate types. It overflows into a sump on the other side of the wall. The sump/refugium will consist of a 55gal and an oceanic 50gal. I don't have everything exactly hashed out yet but, I'm thinking first 55gal will be a deepsand bed with lots of cheato and extra liverock. It will then overflow into the 50oceanic where chemical media will be and most of the space will be for the overflow during power outages. The ETSS skimmer and retun pump will also occupy this area. I will then build shelves above for storage of tank items. Under the main tank, in the stand I have placed a 4ft 30gal. I will make this the quarantine tank and everthing will go in there first no exceptions.

I placed all the rock so there is basically 3 islands with lots of swimming Space for fish. This will also allow the use of 3 MH, one placed over each island. 400w over the center with 250w on the side. This way I don't have to use 4-6 MH which will require lots of electricity and add tons of heat over the tank.

I mean to keep simple livestock. Easy corals that have lots of movement. Xeinia, kenya, colts, GSP, Zoas, anemones, and as many fish as i can sensibly keep in there. Lets be honest most new hobbiest, and the people that I hope to grab the attention of, will find a large colorful tank full of movment far more interesting than a tank full of sticks (SPS). I myself love SPS but it isn't what gets most people into the hobby. Also SPS are harder to keep and the tank needs to be simple to maintain in the event I bug out and stop helping for some reason.

Now that is the rough plan. So far I have rebuilt the stand, Plugged all the bulkheads for the previous closed loop. I then placed all the rock built the standpipes and plumbed it through the wall.. Saltwater is now in the display area but not so full it goes into the overflow. This was so I can start cycling and other things while I finish the sump.

Still to do:
Finish overflow pluming
Drill three more returns
Plumb returns
Put glass partitions in sump
Plumb skimmer.
Add sand
Build light system
build shelves
complete quarantine system

It isn't being built very quick because they are rationing their funds. Plumbing adds up and I have been the one to purchase all the plumbing so far. I work on the two tanks for exchange of items in the store. I hope to get the returns done next week hopfully. Then since there are plenty of broken tanks in the back I will cut some up for use of the glass to make my sump partitions. I'll get everthing plumbed and running and sit back and let it cycle slowly. Once it is nice and established i'll work on the rest starting with the lights.
Well I have droned on far to long but you asked
As far as help????? I not usually the type of pearson to ever ask for help even when it is needed. This is my flaw!! I also do most of the work between midnight and 4 in the morning. But I will keep you in mind. If your just wanting to hang out and watch and are up that late I'm sure you could come sometime. I only go in for an hour or two at a time since I don't get paid by the hour. I go in get something done and leave.

Hope that gives you some idea of the plan and if interested I suppose I could post pics as i progress.

Later
Mitch

[mitchellmoto]

I just thought even, though Jeremy owns it I hate to call it Jeremy's Reef Tanks since I do all the work

[Babybrown1249]

I guess it really is your tank lol...Let me know if you want any help with it.

[mitchellmoto]

Little update:
I drilled 3 more return holes and completed 95% of the return I also completed the overflow plumbing. I was missing a few fittings to complete the return but I'll get that this week. I also promise to do my best to get pics this week.

[Babybrown1249]

I stopped in a checked out your tank...starting to look good. I think Jeremy might have added some water. The DT is a little high. Let me know if you need any help.

[mitchellmoto]

Yes i think it is coming out fairly nice. Still lots of work but since it is spring break I didn't even go to the store once. So hopefully it still is running nicely..

[Babybrown1249]

Yea it still looks good but like a said I think they added to much water to the DT

[mitchellmoto]

I'm assuming By DT you mean display tank if so no that is how high the water should be. With the sump and refugium in place you can't really overfill the Display tank because as long as you have the proper overflows and not an overpowered pump any extra water added to the display tank will simply overflow into the sump/ refugium. You can overfill the sump/ refugium and if you do that when the power is turned off on purpose or by a power outage then the water will overflow the sump and hit the floor but the display tank will simply drop the water level.

I hope I explained that right.. Simply puy if setup right youcan't overfill the display tank.

I do hope to finish some small projects this week. I want to finish the refugium/sump this week. Everything is running now but i want to finish setting it up. It will have a deep sand bed, a refugium mineral mud bed, a cryptic zone lots of rock and of course algea.

[mitchellmoto]

Sorry I try to get pics this week as well.

Later
Mitch

[mitchellmoto]

Yea!! pics
Door off. This is where the quarantine tank will be. You can see it under there already. Stamd is filty and will need another coat of paint once the tank is setup. I just don't want to scratch up the paint while working on it so I will wait.


Doors on


Looking down the long end


Here is the Sump/refugium behind the wall.


Refugium, first stage. Deep sand bed (still need to add more sand) Refugium mud, cryptic zone. Still have to figure what else might be cool to add to the empty sectio on the left.


Sump. Jeremy overfilled it!! But this is where the ETSS skimmer resides, filter material to collect floating junk, more live rock inside the black compartment.Return pump. In the furure will be area for chemical media as well.

[mitchellmoto]

I have a good start and will continue to work on it and post pics as I go.

Mods and anyone who cares. This is a store. I'm setting up this tank but I do not work there and do not recommend the place, I'm not trying to advertise the place at all. I'm just trying to describe the process if I am breaking any rules let me know and I will gladly stop.
The name of the store isn't even in the forum anywhere, just the name of the owner.

Later everyone.
Mitch

[mitchellmoto]

Sprung a few plumbing leaks and I've been scrambling to fix them. I think I have them under control now but I will find out tomorrow once all the glue has dried and I power the pumps back up. I plan to start working on the lights soon. As said earlier. There will be a 400w MH over the center and 2 250w MH one on each sides. I need jeremy to get some reflectors and some new bulbs, but I can start building some sort of hanging cover for the reflectors.

Later
mitch

[Tpi_Demons]

Hello guys, Just got the new tank up and running. Here are a few pics. Sorry they are not the greatest quality, Cam takes bad pics in daylight. I added an overflow and drilled the back glass. There is 155Lbs of live rock in the display tank and 40 Lbs in the sump. I have a 40 watt LED on the sump and 2 108 watt T5 HO fixtures on the display tank. At the moment I an running about 350 GPH through the sump, im still waiting on the eheim pump. It will bump the flow up to around 750. If you guys have any ideas on how to improve my setup please PLEASE tell me. Thanks for looking.

[mitchellmoto]

TPI Demon I moved your post to the members tanks thread.

Later
Mitch

[mitchellmoto]

Well tank is still off to a good start. I ended up installing a closed loop. Just one intake and two returns. I used flexible pvc plumbing to simplify the install and glued it all together before I left for Taos. When I get back next week I will take a quick pic. I need to start the hanging light fixtures.

Just a quick update.
Later
Mitch

[mitchellmoto]

Sorry for the lack of posts but it is coming up on Finals week and I'm busy with class and studying. I'm still keeping the tank up and everything is coming along. Still need to build something for the lighting. The closed loop is running with no issues and no leaks.Yea!
I'm ready to carfully add a light layer of sand.
I will try to get some pics in the next week or so.
Later

[mitchellmoto]

Still haven't done too much, just maintaining it. I have 4 monos acclamating to full saltwater right now. Thought a few silver schooling fish would look cool. Going to take the stocking very slow but I want lots of movement and color. And I hope to find fish out of the norm. I don't want the same old yellow tang and clowns swiming around.

Still need lighting of course. Going to see if I can get Jeremy to get something on that going and get him to order some sand for christ sakes.

[mitchellmoto]

Okay here is an update actually the last update. I'm done with that damn tank and that damn store. I don't have that time or space to tell the whole past store but in the end it comes down to Jeremy keeping his hands out of the two tanks I maintain. This is because he is clueless. Here I am taking my time to setup the tank patiently and properly and I go in tonight to find he has thrown in several fish in the tank. A red line angel, a harlequin tusk, and a zebra eel. None should be going in a tank meant to be a reef tank and what boiled my blood the most was not one had gone thru any quarantine. Man I was ****ed. I can't say how many time I had stressed that nothing goes in the tank without going thru quarantine.
I counted 23 saltwater tanks that these fish could have gone in but he decideds to put them in the tank I'm setting up. This was supposed to be a display tank no fish were to be sold out of this one. It was going to be the store's tank.

And to anyone who brings up that it is his tank is right. Even though he didn't follow the deal we setup, in the end they are his tanks. That being said I'm not his employee so I can tell him to go take a hike which I did. I left a note and the store key there and I won't being going back.
Sad thing was it was kinda fun but I'm tired of dealing with Jeremy BS, so oh well. I'll just focus on my own projects.
I did get the Mono's switched over to full saltwater and added them to the tank before i pulled out. I just didn't want to leave anything hanging.

Just give it a little time and they will look just as bad as the rest of the store. Just another one of the Local store that I done shopping at. Well actually I never really purchased anything there anyways so no great loss I guess.


Later
Mitch

[chuy marquez]

No good deed goes unpunished. I had some bad luck with some LFS.

[mitchellmoto]

Well the are no real hurt feelings but the eel found its way into the overflow down to the sump and then got sucked up by the return pump. The large angel had some sort of fungal growth and died within days. Perfect reasons why fish should go into quarantine.