[JErrodbuffington]

So i have aquired the tank, and i have started to collect equipment, now its time for some ideas from you guys..

first of all the tank is 6 foot by 18 inches by 22 inches tall... it has two overflows built in already.

i have already ordered the return pump, it has to pump up and over about 5 feet on two returns.. i went with the mag 18...

I ordered this skimmer
http://www.championlighting.com/product.php?productid=73545&cat=1619&page=1

i also will have the two mp 40's i have now..

i will be ordering a 42 led setup from rapid to go along with the 36 that i have.. i may order 6 more because my other drivers are capable of 14 leds each.. so that will be 78 leds with 42 of them being dimmable..

so now i need help with the sump.. i have 23.5 inches of height and the stand will hold a tank 18.5 inches wide, and i would not like to take up more than half of the lenght so that is 36 inches, i may could give up more space and do 48 inches.. i have not gotten a sump yet so i dunno if its gonna be a rubber maid sump or a glass tank sump, i know which is cheaper but i really want a good bubble trap... which is easier to build in a glass tank, i could do it with a series of larger and larger buckets but i would rather have a glass or acrylic tank underthere..

ok now i want to order rocks from brs.. but how much dry rock to get.. i will already have a 55 tank full of live rock, so i will probly only need to double what i have.. here is a pic

i do want more room with open sand soo.. i dunno what to order.. maybe all new rock or just mix it in good with my reef rock..

I dunno how much sand to get either, i wanna make about a 3 inch sand bed, i will use the 40 lbs i have now so some will be covered..

As far as coral goes i will pretty much have it covered all ready.. i got more than 20 species of sps, lots of zoas, rics, several hairy mushrooms, but it will mainly be sps.. so i dunno how well the others will do.. i know my lunar eclipses are doin fine and i skim like crazy and clean like a mad man..

ok so this will sum up the first post.. i am so excited to get a home and to start this project.. i am gonna keep the 55 setup while the 125 cycles.. then add stuff over.. i dont know how to do it really.. i guess i could plump the 55 into it, get it established, then take it out of the system and let that be my mushroom/zoa tank...

any suggestions are wellcome..

if fsureefer comes along will please tell me about how much it cost to get the supplies to make as much diy live rock as you did... is it really cheaper?

so excited...

 

[JErrodbuffington]

also phosban reactor... how much GFO would one go through in a month?
i may or may not do this...

also still in the air is a UV...

 

[Rustl3r]

also phosban reactor... how much GFO would one go through in a month?
i may or may not do this...

also still in the air is a UV...

the amount of GFO you go through is impossible to know. if u do get a reactor. I would mix in pellotized carbon.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

Was just trying to get a figure of what the maint would be.... May not get one..

 

[salty198]

I have a reactor on my tank, and used to use Granular GFO from brs, the 4 pds container. This last me about 3 months. I change it with every water change I do. I am about to try a different method using aragonite sand, suggested by Geoff in this thread..http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/gfo-vs-bio-pellets-177637.html

You clean like a mad men from what you say so i dont think you would really need one imo... I only have one cause of my job I may skip a cleaning here and there

 

[schooleyosis]

Sounds like a fun build. If you look at my build (click on the link in my signature) I used about 110-120 pounds of Marco dry rock for my 120g and 80lbs of Aragonite for the bottom. I think this will give you a good indication of how much you need of both.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

also phosban reactor... how much GFO would one go through in a month?
i may or may not do this...

also still in the air is a UV...

I like the BRS reactors personally. I have mine plumbed into my return line (to eliminate the need for an additional powerhead) and I couldn't be happier.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store...r-bags/dual-brs-gfo-and-carbon-reactor-1.html

Based on the calculator on BRS you will need 31 TBSP of GFO to treat your 125 g. which is roughly 2 cups.

They recommend you replace the GFO every 4-8 weeks depending on your tanks needs. Monitor algae growth, particularly on the glass and adjust replacement time or the amount of GFO accordingly if necessary.

I find that I need to replace my GFO about every 8-12 weeks (I am running 8 TBSP on my 45 g.). I use the algae growth on the glass as a guide. If I am scraping the glass more than once every 7-10 days, I know it is time for the GFO to be changed.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

i really like the idea for a phosban, not as a husbandry replacement but for a little help along the week...

now to tackle the move.. first the move from my apt to my house. and second the move from the 55 to the 125.. i moved from a 46 bowfront to a 55 in a weekend, with not fatalities, some stress on myself and the fish and coral but everyone stayed ok. tht thing is this tank is more than twice the 55..

also how to setup my sump.. its 48 long, 13 wide.. a 40 long.. i have read over some plans but you all who have them tell how did you set yours up.. i need ATO, heater, skimmer, phosban,bubble trap, mag 18 return..

 

[JErrodbuffington]

Ok so the purchase of the house is coming along nicely.. faster than i thought.. so i am trying to get my ducks in a row in my head.. along with the phosban and the uv idea, i really have always wanted all my rock to be off my sand with a rock lift..

can someone show me some pics, not just of the stand, but of a reef that is grown out that has use of a rock stand?


i just wanna see some pics of how it looks 6 months, or a year down the road..

also need help with rock.. i am looking at different dry rock on BRS and Marco..

at BRS i like the pukani but its more expensive but lighter, also like the reef saver but its more dense but less expensive.. i just dont know how much of a weight difference there is..

at marco i really like the scaping kit.. that is awesome, even tho i could make it my self probly i would buy it from them because its all together there..

one more thing about rocks.. do i keep this system totally separate, or should i use my rock, even tho it looks not like the marco or brs rock.. i would rather start afresh with new rock.. i just hate the cycle time...

how much dry rock will i need? will 50 lbs be enough for a 6 foot tank 18 inches front to back.. i dont want it jam packed but i wanna make sure i got enough.. You see how open my rock scape is now, it will be the same i just dont know if 50 lbs dry will do it, or if i need 100 or in between..

also

 

[salty198]

you can look at my build thread and see pvc used to lift the rock off the bottom. In time is has become covered in coraline algea,

 

[JErrodbuffington]

ok so the house gets closed on tomorrow friday the 13th.. ha..

and my first order of stuff came in.. will get pics.. i got some pukani i gotta go play with it...

i do have questions about curing.. all i need to do is get it soaked and washed basically to get all the dead organic material out.. right?

any suggestions..

 

[schooleyosis]

I took a rubbermaid tub and filled it with RO/DI water and dunked each piece of rock in it until nothing else came off the rock. As the water would get dirty I'd dump it and refill with fresh RO/DI. It took a while to do all 120 lbs of dry rock that I used but was well worth it because I knew I was putting dry, CLEAN rock in my tank.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

thanks schoolyosis.. i planned on just letting it soak in tap water for a while for the bulk of the stuff to get off of it, then letting it completely dry in the sun, then soaking in ro.. as long as all the tap water evaporates, and then i soak in ro again i should be ok right..

or should i not worry about using my ro water and just use ro from the beginning.. i treat that stuff like gold sometimes.. i dont want to use up my filters to fast but i dont want to cause problems either..

the rock is probly about what i expected, i thought maybe it would cover more area but i am proud to have what came.. it is really nice looking rock and if i get a stand for some of this then more rock will be up off the bottom than what i done in the floor here.. i think this will be fine.. its 75 lbs of pukani.. there is alot of rubble tho, that broke off in shipping. probly about 10 lbs maybe more.. but that will work for gaps, frag plugs etc.. so all positive..

anyway here are some pics..

in the picture where i am pointing.. that is a gate valve supplied by brs.. i thought that was great of them.. i had planned on trying to figure out how to get a gate valve on the brs reactor with pvc... now i just gotta figure out to get the pump connected to the reactor.

i really hope you guys follow along and help me out.. this is the first planned out setup i have done, this morning was embarrasing(for those who know what i am talking about)but i hope still get positive feedback from you guys..

here is the other stuff i got.. missing from this pic is my skimmer, my return pump, my pump for the brs reactors, one dosing pump, heaters, sump tank.. etc.. but this is what came in today.

 

[schooleyosis]

Wow; it's like Christmas over there!!! Looks like you have some fun ahead of you.
As far as cleaning the rock goes. I'd stick with all RO water. The point of starting a tank with dry rock is to keep a pest free and clean tank. Why take the chance of adding TDS or other chemicals to your nice, new, clean rock???
I'm not gunna be much help on the other items... I am curious as to what you are embarrased about though.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I used the same methode as schooleyosis. I rinsed my rock in a five gallon bucket until it wasn't putting milky white water off.

 

[JErrodbuffington]

schooleyosis the embarassin thing was another thread altogether.. i am sure you read it and just dont realize it yet..

so no soaking.. just dipping.. hmm... makes me wanna go get a bucket so i can start..

wait... gotta get the tank in the house first lol i will get pics of the tank as soon as i can this is gonna be long and drawn out because we start moving this week so the tank will go back seat for a while.. lol but i will be back with updates everyday i can..

i really am thinking hard on an arduino controller for my lights..

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Jerrod, I wouldn't soak it, I don't think there is any need to. Just rinsing it to get the shipping dust off should be plenty!

Arduino as in home made or something along the lines of a Reef Angel Controller?

 

[schooleyosis]

That's how I cleaned my rocks... Just my opinion. My tank was fairly clear the day I filled it with water. I don't think I rinsed my substate enough and that contriubuted to the cloudy tank the first few days.
And I think you are right about the other thread.
Good luck on the move!

 

[JErrodbuffington]

well this rock was live rock at one time so i am scared there are dead stuff living deep within.. so this is why i want to soak it, but i may not.. i did notice some dead... something.. looks like dirt dobbers nest(if you even know what they are, its a southern thing i think)on one of the rocks. its muddy colored but is textured like flesh, but is definitely dead dried up something.. its gotta go..

there are a ton of things goin thru my mind, getting glass cut, rock stand, moving, gotta clean my current tank.. will i use some of my old rock in the new tank... gosh...

08 i was thinking of my own arduino project.. i am a quick study on that stuff sometimes, but if its to much for me my uncle works as an electronics engineer for nasa and is always doing little cool projects with robotics, and wierd experiements with different stuff.. he is really good with elelctronics and making things work together..

 

[schooleyosis]

Oh it was once LR... I would look into other threads on how to "cook" it. I've never done it but there is a lot of info on here on how to go about it!
One step at a time. Make a list and prioritize. Of course the hobby comes before the move...LOL