Viv's blog

Viv · 04-25-2006, 11:28 AM

Blog Created for Viv

Viv · 04-28-2006, 05:32 AM

My blog is about the conversion of my sand tank to BB. The tank, well cabinet and its surrounding really needed TLC, so this is my beginning. The first pics are of the old sand bottom, which wasn't bad, but I found myself falling into the same trap...that of purchasing more and more inverts to deal with the nutrients getting caught up in the sand. It did look nice, but, I, needed to get away from the same trap I kept finding myself. So pics of the old sand bottom, old tank clean out, and light boxes...an upgrade to 3(400w) MH, and 4(96w) CF. Lighting came from Reeftanklighting.com. (Highly recommended)!

Viv · 04-28-2006, 05:39 AM

So, of course now I had to hang the lighting, which was quite the feat for me...cutting board to hang between the ceiling joists, and then coming up with the correct hook and hook (probably should have been hook and eye, but what do I know) to hang the light. The aluminum hood had to be drilled to place hooks and got chain to hang from the hood hook to the ceiling hook---many trips to HD as, of course picked up wrong sizes of everthing and then had to correct it all....learning experience, LOL....So heres pics of the light hanging and the underside of the lighting to show off the reflector...

Viv · 04-28-2006, 05:46 AM

Oh yeah, before hanging the light, I pushed the tank forward about two feet, giving more room behind the tank...the cabinet was truly a mess so it was time to deal with it...reinforced the back supports, and of course decided to paint, cause if I was ever gonna do it, now was the time...(being that the tank was empty). Also cut the board for the bottom of the tank and place inside for a dry fitting...So, heres the cutting board and light, and old cabinet, the priming of the stand and new sump location (behind the cabinet-now the cabinet will be used to store DRY goods!)

Viv · 04-28-2006, 05:52 AM

Now, I've just about caught up to where I am with my renewed tank...pics of the painted cabinet, new hardware installed in the doors (thay came unattached when I got the cabinet - to old and rusted out to hang), and the new and painted and hung doors. I'm rather proud of what has taken place so far, I've done it myself, and learned and awful lot...

Viv · 05-05-2006, 10:45 AM

I did some pvc plumbing and finally hit the big fill....

Viv · 05-05-2006, 10:59 AM

only to find out (when it was all filled of course, and coming out the returns) that I was sucking air...found a leak at the bulk head, so I tightened, still leaked, and I tightened, and tightened...and of course had to drain everything to change the bulk head 'cause I cracked it with all the tightening...what a mess, had to saw apart new glued in pvc as there was no other way to get the bulk head out....so I do that and put it back together again no more leaks but still sucking major air....so I follow the return back to the sump where I find a major air sucking ball valve...right where it screws on - no biggy I think - probably just the plumbers tape needs changing (its pretty old). So I attempt to turn the ball valve to the off position, but its so tight, I can barely move it...I know a hammer, and it nudges, cool, now I'll just turn it off....well wrong!!! There was a piece of pvc that went from the sump to the ball valve and it broke...and of course the sump was full!!!!! Water everywhere!!! Major mess, but it caused me to get a new ball valve and fittings (of course could't find the right sized so brought it down with fittings to fit the mess, and of course placed a new bulk head in the sump as the previous still had the broken piece of pvc.....pic-broken ball valve, new ball valve with fittings....

Viv · 05-06-2006, 01:55 PM

Today is truly a wonderful day. I can report with a pic that the tank has been filled with water, along with the sump and there is not an air bubble to be found....not only that but my but now I have a cabinet that can be used...and something must have been learned 'cause this is the quietest and prettiest tank I have redone on this tank so far...so yes, I am a happy reefer here at TRT and although I've been here for awhile I truly feel I am just beginning. The tank is a little cloudy right now as there are no animals in it currently, so in went some kalk with the water...the rocks, which have been cooking are clean, and there placement has left plenty of room for coral...the truly wonderful lighting bought from Doug at Reeftanklighting.com is better than I could have imagined, I will down the line a little get an electrician to place some dedicated lines as this luninaire runs on 4 ballasts... anyway here's a cloudy pic of the filled tank, and one tip I could let others ' know about, that is truly obvious, but I never had the good fortune of finding, is to have your water fall into your sump below the water line....I orginally had mine falling above the water line and hitting a filter pad to catch debris (wrong!) This allows for a tremendous amount of crashing water noise,that I just figured I had to have, (wrong!) Now the pvc pipe that brings water to the sump is into the sump about 4-5 inches under water- the only noise that is heard is the hum of the Little Giant pump returning water to the tank. PIC...

Viv · 05-06-2006, 02:06 PM

That light is truly amazing-showing is only the 96w CF white light, I'll eventually show the 96w CF actinic alone and with the white CF, and that's doesn't include the 3 400w MH, Sunglasses will definately be needed

...I still have a few fixups yet to accomplish. Little paint touch-ups (like where I had paint touch the tank-I didn't edge very well!!) and there is that bubbling that happened when I orginally had the water dripping, caused that lousy Behr paint to peel off, had been drying for three days prior, IMO that has to be the worst paint I have ever used!! Then there is the netting to place over the overflow boxes...but at least its running and I have water I can test, I've missed having a tank....

Viv · 01-27-2007, 01:53 AM

Alot happened since then...added a bullet xl 3 from precision marine. Excellent skimmer and much better than what I had...added a Iwaki 70 RLT to the skimmer, and yes, it is definately like a jet engine...it even whirs to life like a jet engine...besides its tremendous skimming ability (you can dial it right up to the edge) it has to be one of the easiest skimmers to clean...it takes less than two minutes to clean out and just have to turn the screws to put back on the base. Anyway, did that and got a new 100 gal sump to go with the skimmer--different time frames, but one lead to the other....pics of the skimmer...

Viv · 01-27-2007, 01:56 AM

and here's the skimmer and pump attached to the skimmer---have since learned to make the skimmer work more efficiently I should really use soft tubing to connect the feed tube to the skimmer-but, haven't done that yet...its on the list, though...

Viv · 01-27-2007, 02:09 AM

Ok, so I got that far and waited...trying to tweak my water with kalk and deal with my new BB...being that the system (BB) was new to me and my rock had been cooked I went through many changes with the tank...one of the biggest changes was a bryopsis bloom that really took a toll...I eventually actually boiled my rock in huge spagetti pots..yup, did it! Yes, the bryopsis was killed, finally, but, (and I couldn't believe it) was still attached to the rock....it eventually came off, that stuff is really stubborn!! From there to various diatom and algae blooms, which I was a little concerned about...after all, I wasn't sure if there was anything left to this rock. I guess I basically made the rock base rock...but I am determined to make this rock work, lol...I don't know why, it hasn't had any coralline algae, just the greeen stuff...but I like the way it sits in the tank....any way, tweaking the waters' chemistry has been an on-going problem...I use kalk, and although it has keep my calcium and alk well, the ph has always been a problem...if I drip the calc slow enough not to cause a ph problem the calcium and alk begin to drop...not a lot, but enough to be throughly frustrating. I came across another reefers thread about a new Calcium Reactor and it lit a fire!

Viv · 01-27-2007, 02:18 AM

So, I figured it was time, besides, now I have become much less afraid of things blowing up, I'm still a little hesitant, but not afraid any more...I hunted the internet and fell in love with the Geo Reactor...So here it is...

You know for someone who isn't mechanically inclined the simple stuff is the worst...and I found this out trying to attach the out let tubing from the CO2 tank to the precision valve on the regulator...I finally started fiddling with the precision valve and found out it comes apart, lol...that you put the tubing through the nut on the precision valve and then screw back on...lousy pics but here they are

Viv · 01-27-2007, 02:23 AM

I then added a check valve between the solenoid valve and the return to the tank, again, the ends of the check valve unscrew and you place the tubing through the nut and rescrew the nut back on the oneway valve...

Viv · 01-27-2007, 02:26 AM

Now ready to connect the plumbing, plumbing connections completed, and put the top on the reactor