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Josh and Chelsea's 120 and 90 builds

69K views 994 replies 29 participants last post by  M I N I O N 
#1 · (Edited)
Josh and Chelsea's 90 SPS lab build

New updates on page 32.


Update 1/22/13:














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Original post:

I figured it was about time to start an upgrade thread now that one of the big tanks is actually running.

So far, Chelsea's 90 is up and running. We were setting up a 25 for her but we found a deal which we could not refuse on craigslist for the complete 90 set-up. We decided to split the costs of her set up and divide up the components. Right now the 90 is running with a lot of the equipment for my 120 which is why I decided to conjoin the build threads. Most of the things from my 20 have been taken down and are being sold off. All of my stuff will be in the 90 until the 120 is done and then we will get the 120 100% running and redo the 90.

Here are some pictures of the simple set-up we have running right now:






Being that I'm so used to spending a ton of time building custom glass and acrylic parts for everything, it was a really nice change of pace to throw together a quick bare-bottom, reef-ready tank with a Rubber Made sump. :rotflmao:

Most of my corals have lost some of their color from the move due to the sudden change in parameters, flow and light but check out the polyp extension now!







Next up for this tank is going to be a whole lot of new flow, LEDs and then probably an ATS.
 
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#2 ·
Looks nice doing a similiar shuffle soon one tank goes to temp holding tank 20g goes into a frag build state and half of the 30 goes into the frag tank other half to the 150 lol almost need a flow chart to keep the equipment organized lol
 
#7 ·
We really weren't going for the cheapest option, if we tied them together, it would be to more efficiently use the space under the tanks. If all of the filtration equipment were on one side, the other side could house a large mangrove lagoon. :)
 
#9 ·
Thanks. All of the pictures in this thread thus far have been taken with an iPhone 5. I'm going to whip out the DSLR and get some better pictures sometime soon but I would like to get a longer glass scraper first and clean this thing. All of my corals are now in the tank and I'm real excited that the cardinals have been schooling out in the open regularly.
 
#11 ·
You should see the bucket of detritus that we pulled out of the tank the first day when setting it up... it was everywhere! With all of these power heads, I'm going through a filter sock every 3-4 days right now.

I think we are going to run four koralia 1400s and either two vortech mp40s or a single mp60 on the 90. When the 120 is set up, both tanks will get sand so the 90 will keep the koralias and the 120 will get the vortech(s).
 
#16 ·
I am building the 120 rimless with C2C overflow but no closed loop. The stand will be finished black with a granite top which I already picked up. The granite is 55"x29" so it will be exposed a few inches all the way around. I'm excited to get more involved working on it.
 
#17 ·
I took a few livestock pictures tonight/this morning but I don't have time to edit them all so I did one to share with you guys.



Meet Snooki and Jwoww... Yes, they got these names by being orange. We promised ourselves that we would never own clowns or any other fish which quite literally "bite the hand that feeds" but these guys came with the 90 and are some rather attractive elderly folks. Chelsea is going to keep them. For now, they are staying in the display but they will ultimate wind up in a custom 20-30 gallon sump by themselves with an anemone.
 
#20 ·
Is say go with the BB pump.. the air draw is much better from what Doc has said.. I have the Sicce pump on my SWC extreme and it is a bit louder than I'd prefer.. and the airdraw is less too.. I'm looking to upgrade to the HY3000 too.. looking forward to seeing this build MINION. The CBB will be a happy fish... Kudos... I think I'll tag along...
 
#21 ·
The CBB isn't used to not running the tank but he seams to be enjoying the extra space. He has definitely been on the defense but I don't think the added stress has made a difference in his over-all health and it should subside. In not too much more time, he will lose the clowns as tank-mates as he moves to the 120 but the tang is going to move with him. The aquascape on the 120 will be very minimalist and bonsai-inspired so hopefully the extra swimming room will make a big difference.

Are you using the factory wheel in your Sicce pump? I have heard of people getting great results with the red devil. I have also been debating adding a recirculating pump to the skimmer in addition to the Sicce just to get the extra air injection and over-all turbulence without increasing the amount of water processed.
 
#22 ·
Actually Doc sent me a needlewheel for the 2500 pump.. I havent got mine running.yet.. im still filling the tank and sump.. actually I'm doing the rock work tomorrow after work.. super stoked for that...
 
#23 ·
What color is your wheel? When you buy it, I believe it comes with a yellow paddle wheel, a white pin wheel and then a sheet of enkamat. I got this skimmer with the package off of craigslist so the only thing it came with was the pinwheel. The skimmer pulled a ridiculous amount of gunk when we first set it up and were purging the detritus from all of the rocks but after running for a while, maybe it just has nothing left to pull. Either way, I started dosing MB7, Bactiv8, vodka and vinegar so it should be getting more. We still have bubble algae and hair algae which came on the rocks and seam to be spreading.

I may do a nitrate and phosphate test tonight.

Did you order dry rock or live?
 
#24 ·
I bought some rock from.a local reefer that was.getting out of the hobby 6 months ago.. its been curing in a garbage container since April so it should be plenty purged by now... I'm laying down a.bed of crushed coral to place my LR on and then Friday I have #50 of dry caribsea sand coming and thats going in as well.. check out my build thread linked to my Sig if you like... The first 50 pages are mostly planning and gossip.. but the last 20 or so are all about the build now.. I can't wait to get this thing running.. :)
Doc sent me the Orange needle wheel.. not sure if it was an after market job but it fit nicely.. i have the paddle wheel with the paddles cut off and was used for a meshwheel mod.. according to saltwater creations site the meshwheel pulls more air than the needle wheel... They also have a full parts inventory if you need to order somn.. check it out..
 
#26 ·
I tried hooking up an air pump to it last night like I have on my T1000 but the little psk2500 couldn't chop up the bubbles as well as my mesh modded OR3700 did. I may try mesh modding the psk2500 before I buy a bubble blaster.
 
#27 ·
A limewood airstone mod would work well in that skimmer too ill bet... The aqueon nano.skimmer airstones kick a ton of bubbles... If you have a powerful enuff pump that thing produces alot of foam.. I have a tinkered counter-current model I built from a seaclone 100. I just have an air stone on a hose toward the bottom of the skimmer and it males really good foam when the pump is operating properly.. ots a very old pump.. I'll guess from the 70s easily... A newer air pump and limewood would be a beast.. only downfall is they need to be changed every month or two to remain as effective...
 
#28 ·
That's actually not a half bad idea. There is definitely enough turbulence in the body to make use of the extra bubbles. I think tonight, I am going to mesh mod the existing pump and see how that does. If it still isn't enough, I have a whisper 40 which was feeding T1000 and I could use it with a pair of air stones. I have a feeling that if I build out the mesh wheel wider (the purple wheel is almost twice the size of the factory wheel) it could easily handle the air flow of the pump. If it can't, I will try out two air stones in there.

Searching for a bubble blaster, I found a pretty sweet deal on a Super reef octopus 3000 skimmer which is tempting.
 
#29 ·
#31 ·
My only issue with buying the bubble blaster pump is that for an extra $140, I could buy an entire SRO 3000 skimmer with the BB pump included. I wish I could find the pimp used. The over-all design of the extreme 200 is rather good so it feels like it would be a waste to upgrade the whole skimmer.
 
#33 ·
I have read mixed reviews on it, not because it isn't a badass skimmer but because people have been using it on a tank which doesn't have a large enough bio-load for it. The load on my 120 is going to be so small that I am unsure about the full upgrade. The thought of adding a second psk2500 pump but recirculating even comes to mind. That way the skimmer would process the same amount of water but turbulence would increase drastically, as would the quantity/quality of air bubbles.
 
#34 ·
I guess I'm going to have to rename this thread..... I just found a 150 on craigslist for $200 which I'm picking up tomorrow. My 120 had some scratches on the inside which I was going to buff out so this will save me some time and money. The big question is going to be whether or not I wind up converting it into a rimless. If the thing is only 1/2" glass, I doubt it would be able to withstand being rimless unless I eurobraced, which in my opinion, takes away from the look of the tank.
 
#36 ·
Good news, I picked up the new tank and the dimensions are actually pretty sweet. It is a 150 gallon tank which is 72"x24"x20"... So this thing is going to be a long and shallow tank. I wound up getting it for $140. I also won a bubble blaster 3000 off ebay for $145 which is about %25 off of retail. Happy camper today!
 
#37 ·
We picked up the carpenter's flasher wrasse last night and it did not survive acclimation (four hour very slow drip - have had bad luck with wrasses). This morning I found him belly-up in quarantine. I went and picked up another one who seams to be doing a lot better. We also lost one of our glass cardinals but we are really not sure to what. Everybody else seams to be very happy and healthy.
 
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