[hackshobby]

Welcome to my new adventure!

In the process of deciding my new direction as I close down our successful 210 gallon softies tank we've had up and running for 7 1/2 years to make more room in our home as is now required. I have noticed the 'snippets' of my PLANS, thoughts, questions, and HOW'S n WHAT IF'S, have begun to willy-nilly all over the place.
I like everything in 1-BOX so will officially start my new thread.

( VISION )


A dedicated fish room in our cellar, revamping an old fish room I had there in the 80's.

Set up as a FRAGGING, and GROW OUT 'journey'. Probably will be exploring and venturing into 'sales and trades', in an attempt to encourage TANK RAISED CORALS.

A series of FRAGGING and GROW OUT containers in an environment conducive to this rather than a 'pretty display' set up. ** I MAY, and more than likely will set up a 'display aquarium' as I go to feature the looks of my successes eventually in there as well.....MAYBE.

As of right now I will be staying with my softies I've been growing.......taking my 210 apart and placing all all my Corals and Fish in the containers I'll have set up and ready to GO......And from there begin the FRAGGING process, rather than FRAGGING everything first before moving them down stairs. Will save a huge amount of time and effort.



As a STARTING POINT.....

After being on my few month long WINTER BREAK now for 1 week, I/WE have finally uncovered my old fish room.....just a lot of EVERYTHING accumulated over the decades of it not being a fish room.
It's now an empty, gutted 10X10' room.

Even though this is Christmas Eve, I'm planning on putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls this morning before we get our celebrating started around here.
That way, come Sunday, I can begin laying out and build my benches to support my systems.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.......let the fun begin!

Hack



*** ("I will NOT be selling on here, or pushing my site if n when I develop one. THIS THREAD will simply be covering my journey into this new aspect of our hobby.")

INDEX

PAGE 4 Ist DAY of it up n running

PAGE 5 LED videos

 

[Tinsnips]

Subscribed. This is gonna be cool! Keep us posted Hack!

 

[VWD]

He won’t be selling here , but for a small fee you can join Hacks frag of the month club, lol

I will be following

 

[hackshobby]

......OOOoooooooo.....
Just keep those 'tongue n cheeks' a com'n.....there's ideas and wisdom in these.

I just know 'passing them on down the road' is the logical conclusion to this journey. I've spent my reefing journey just blessing Folks, including covering shipping. I can see still 'blessing' some, but I've discovered in this 'new world' we find ourselves in that OVER NIGHT will be the only way to go.....and sadly, we pay dearly for THAT.

BUT THIS is a lot of pages down the road yet.....,.'cart before the horse' heck.....the trees haven't even been planted for the cart, and the horse's parents haven't even met yet.
Hack

But then I do have a bumper crop of Corals to get me going already.

 

[jerryclunsford]

Even overnight isn’t necessarily overnight.

 

[hackshobby]

YUP.....A lot of folks are having problems. A lesson learned is you ship the beginning of the week in case of a delay, they're not sitting in a truck or warehouse over a weekend......still BAD but not as bad.
Hack

 

[Wiskey]

Has it been 5 days with no pics?! Unthinkable!

I'm excited to see how this goes for you Hack! One great thing with all this is that you can have one system to manage, and you can always tie a display onto it anytime, and still not have any more stuff that you have to test! Down the road you could even do a bunch of specialty tanks if you wanted, all tied in, and maintenance is still nice and easy with one batch of water to heat, filter, dose, and test.

Whiskey

 

[hackshobby]

.......What a coincidence Whiskey......Just sat down with a lap full of cheese burgers getting ready to post an up date.

Visualizing

Perfect height!

'Making decisions', and coming together

PLAN-E will be having all 3-tanks tied in together......Using 1 1/4" hose between them with a ball-valve, so I can isolate any tank as required without draining all 3 in case something goes wrong.
My LifeReef HOB skimmer is going to pull tank water from the furthest tank and discharge into that 'waterfall' tank, which in turn empties into the nearest tank to it.

I had a heavy duty bench from my old fish room I had set up in there, but was unhappy with it.....and opted for Blair's route with the cement blocks. I have a floor drain in there, and couldn't particularly give a rat's butt if water gets on the floor, so didn't want wood being the 'limiting factor'.

It's starting to progress now that Christmas is falling astern.......I'm setting a GOAL for it to be ready for riders come the weekend.......NOT taking any bets!

Still have to figure out 'flow'......NOT thrilled with my existing power heads. Each tank is 40 gallons, so have to do some looking, or see if'n my Friends on here have some thoughts.
Going with a 'room heater' yet as my old system uses, and PROBABLY staying with my t-5s.....I am harboring thoughts of going LEDs, and leaning towards those Viparspectras I'd been looking at for a while.

VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control 2pcs165W LED Aquarium Light For Coral Reef Fish Tank 640206933377 | eBay

(16) t-5 bulbs are due for a change out with this move......and for the same price as the bulbs, I can have those LED's.
Don't know if I'd be happy or not....kicking the tires as it were.

Moving along,
Hack

 

[VWD]

I know nothing about those lights, price is right, but then again you have the T 5 already and we all know what they are capable of and nice for coverage.

 

[jerryclunsford]

I would re-think how you connect the tanks together. You can isolate a tank but if you do system flow stops at the tank before it. The skimmer will empty last tank and most likely overflow tanks before the isolated one.

 

[jerryclunsford]

I like my 300w Vipar. Just doesn’t ramp up and down.

 

[hackshobby]

NO I wouldn't isolate the tank while the stem was still running......It would just be the ability to drain 1 tank if required with out loosing all my water.
Hack

I would re-think how you connect the tanks together. You can isolate a tank but if you do system flow stops at the tank before it. The skimmer will empty last tank and most likely overflow tanks before the isolated one.

 

[hackshobby]

I like my 300w Vipar. Just doesn’t ramp up and down.

They don't seem to offer the 300 wt. any more in the 'reef configuration/, only the 165's.

I have half the water depth now to light, about 1 foot compared to the old system's 24"

I'd probably go the LED......BUT......but I am glad to hear you like your's, and forgot you had them.
Hack

 

[jerryclunsford]

If you don’t want to be able to have the system running and isolate one tank. I would add a T and another valve on each tank so you can close the valves isolating the tank then open one valve to drain.

 

[hackshobby]

God willing, and I have this finished come the weekend......put some water in there and see if'n it passes the ole leak test. We have some massive water gathering trips to the shore next. 4 X 40 gallons = LOT! That's looking at at least 40 (5) gallon pals ("Only carry about 4 gallons in those 5 gallon buckets. So that's around 4 round trips to the Atlantic......1/2 hr. each way. Forward my mail who'd Ya.

It'll just be that initial huge amount.....after that it's just my normal handful of buckets now n then for cleaning. I bought a 30 gallon trash can and installed a hose bib in it.......it's outside the cellar window at the fish room. Pull the van up, open the valve, and pour away....wasn't about to huff 40 5-gallon pals down the cellar.

Hack

 

[hackshobby]

A long way to go, but the trains finally rolling out of the station.....

Got to order some Reef Crystals from Chewy's to strengthen this stretch of the Atlantic.....got to pic up some 'egg crate' while I'm at Lowe's getting the rest of the plumbing.

PLAN A......I'll be transferring all my Corals to 2 of those tanks. Swishing them good in some salt water before setting them in the new system. Reserving the 3rd tank for my 'fragging operations to begin with. Then as my colonies get fragged out, I'll do the same with a 2nd tank.....then 3rd.

My 210 will look like CRUD during the transfer......7+ years of 'stuff' hidden in the depths of the rock work. Once the salt water is in, and stabile, I'll carry a handful of my rocks down there.......Hopefully theres plenty to grab beneath the encrusting layers of Corals. Planning on leaving the rock in the 'upper sump' so I can keep the frag tanks as clean as I can.
Will be using raised egg crate, probably 3-4 trays in each tank, with lots of flow keeping anything unwanted up in the water column.
I MAY even decide to add some 'mechanical filtration' as I go.......see how much dirt is generated in this system.
I will be retaining our Fish during the move, and thus feeding our system to keep our nutrients up. I'll keep my eyes on the 'numbers' as time goes by, but won't be incorporating the 'vodka dosing' yet...But won't hesitate if needed. I will start right off with the Alk and cal. dosing thanks to all the GSPs.

Sure I'm forgetting more than I'm remembering,
Hack

 

[VWD]

Been looking at that light, maybe perfect for my seahorse tank, just have to see if they have some kind of mounting system. Need to get the kessils off and on my reef.

 

[jerryclunsford]

The Vipars are designed to be hung. Comes with adjustable cables maybe 20 inches long.

 

[VWD]

The Vipars are designed to be hung. Comes with adjustable cables maybe 20 inches long.

I want something with brackets, don’t want to hang from ceiling. I like to find a 30 inch t5 set up

 

[hackshobby]

Spent the day between....and REVISITING 3 hardware stores. PVC, those valves, and assorted 'what-ya-needs' drive me NUTS! Gather what I 'think', and keep going back for what I forgot....or didn't know.
But finally got the tanks all plumbed together, and silicone is setting up......played it safe with the bulkheads, and added a liberal amount all about.

Decided each tank doesn't require a valve, only the end on that I would be connecting to in the future.

PLAN-A......making some trips to the shore tomorrow and drag some ocean home. Fingers crossed.
get the water in there, 'fortify' it......get some rocks in there, get the heater going and then see where that takes us.....

Will probably use my existing PHs for now to get us up and running......same with our t5's, especially after Vinnies little video on LEDs earlier.

Getting close......
Hack