Michael's 120g - Take Two

Recently I've decided to get back to corals, so over next few weeks I'll be resetting my 120g tank that used to be SPS infested :) back to its saltwater state.
As of right now it is still housing freshwater plans and couple of tetras, corries, and two plecos, but soon they will be relocated. If anyone wants all of my plants or fish pm me, will be cheap.

Here is the current state of the planted tank
http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4761.jpg

Ordered bunch of basic stuff needed for the tank, most of it should be here today.

Yesterday I got the Tunze power heads and the simple wave maker controller for them. Egg crate from Lowe's for some in sump dividing.
And about an hour back FedEx dropped of 3 boxes of salt and 200lbs of sand. Two bags were ripped open, but Dr. Foster sent out two replacements already. Not sure what to do with open ones, about 1/4 of the bag was in the shipping box and dry, rest is still somewhat wet. Left sitting in the buckets for now.
http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4760.jpg

Still waiting on rock, skimmer, rodi unit, test kits, couple extra koralias 1400, although I'm hoping two Tunze 6105 would be enough for 120g tank, seemed bit crazy in 5 gallon bucket heh. And eventually parts for the LED build, drivers on back order so will be few weeks, plan to control them with Jarduino type setup assuming I can solder one together lol.

As far as old things that I already had from before - have ranco controller for heaters, 120 tank obviously and 55 sump. The current LED set up that proved to be quite outstanding for plants in 120g will be converted to a sump light, although a pretty strong one I suspect - it has 16 Cree XM-L U2 run by 2100mA driver with 40 degree optics so cheato will be backing. Thankfully it is fairly easy dimmable with a simple turn knob so I will be able to dial that in to something more reasonable and at the same time reduce the heat produced and power used.


Anyways, thanks for reading.

I am very excited about growing corals again and I will try to see you all guys and the meeting in a few days.

Also have a quick question if anyone would be able to chime in.

I have some poret foam from Discus tank days - http://www.swisstropicals.com/Poret%...Pricelist.html

Each sheet can divide 55g tank completely, so around 12x20. Two sheets are 2" thick and are 30ppi (basically really tiny cells), one is 4" thick and is 10ppi (more of a normal filter sponge cells, maybe a little smaller).

Do you think it would be a good idea to use either of two types as a divider in the sump?

Positives - can catch micro bubbles from the skimmer and make sure cheato does not spread around (although I can do the same with eggcrate)
Negatives - traps dirt and somewhat pain to clean or even take out (drips everywhere lol), possibly too fine to let stuff like pods through from cheato back to the tank.

So for now I decided to not use it and just isolate cheato chamber, which will probably be about half of the 55g tank with double wall of eggcrate, but it's a shame to let it just sit without use :)

Sounds like you have a project on your hands! Excited to see it come togeather. Seem slike th filter mat would trap poo and lead to a mess in the long run. Just my 2cents.

Keep the updates coming!

UPS finally got here!


Here is the new RO/DI system from BRS and next to it a used skimmer I got for pretty cheap, will be good back up and maybe one for QT tank if needed.

http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4762.jpg


And here is the dry rock from BRS. Ordered 110, got about 131 per UPS labels. Sizes are quite crazy heh, but everything is pretty light and very porous. Will start soaking them tonight, and maybe give them a power wash on Saturday to clean some of the dead dry matter off. Wonder if I can fit all of them in the tank >< If anything might need to break some apart!

http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4770.jpg

http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4771.jpg

Looking good
;-)

looks like its all coming together.

It looks like you are off to a good start! Your rock looks nice.

I checked my sand after I saw your post. All my bags were sealed.

I'm going to use 12" x12" glass baffels in my 55 gallon sump. I'm trying to get rid of the bubbles and isloate a refugium. I'm not planning to use any pads at the moment. They might become a maintenance problem. This is my first sump build, so I'm a beginner.

Where did you get glass from? I don't need it for baffles, as I tend to rearrange things so committing to one layout won't work long term hehe, but I could use some for shield for the LEDs. seems like glass might be more durable long term than acrylic or whatever they sell at Lowe's.

Test kits and 3 koralias came in today. Have almost all the parts now. Skimmer should be here on Monday and hopefully in few weeks LEDs will be here as well.

http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4773.jpg

Installed current planted tank lights into the sump for macro algae. Half of the 55g sump is glowing now :)
http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4780.jpg

Maya hard at work helping me hold LED lights while I attach them to the inside of my stand
http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4775.jpg

I ordered the glass from State Wide Glass Inc (407-933-1588 ). They are just down the road from Aqua-Holics. Lowes sells 3/32" glass and they will cut it for you.

Cool thanks. I called them up. Guy said it would be around $22 for 1x4 feet piece of glass. Think he said 3/16 thickness.

In either case sounds affordable enough, will go to them and see how stuff actually looks, 3/16 doesn't really tell me much if that's too much or too little, but I'd like something sturdy for the LED shield.

They are a bit far from Lake Mary area though, but I guess it's ok to drive there once. Will try to check google for something closer perhaps.

Welcome back Michael! I'm so excited for you, following the thread. ^_^ Planning to start the 55g in August lol
-Mariel

Thanks!

Did some more prep work after I got back from school :)

Rock has been soaking in water for about a day now, so I took it out and pressure washed it a bit. Then I soaked all of the rocks in hydrochloric acid (about gallon of acid per bin).

http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4781.jpg

Nice foam ehh.

After about 20 minutes of soaking, I took all of the rocks out and pressure washed them again.

I think that did a lot to help remove most of the dead dry stuff off the rocks, although I am sure there is still bunch left.

As of right now I placed them all back into the barrel and slowly filling it up with RO water. Once it fills up, I'll add salt and start curing the rock for a while.
http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4785.jpg

is the hydrochloric acid safe for the fish? how do u make sure its all gone?

It's also known as muriatic acid btw. I really don't know if it's persistent or there are some side effects, but it seem to be widely used on reef forums for this kind of thing - to kill live things like algae, pests, or to dissolve already dead material as it is in my case.

As far as neutralizing it, it's really not that strong, I worked without gloves or anything and I didn't feel any stinging even in a couple of cuts on my hands, but you could use backing soda bath to quickly make sure it would react with the rest of it. This is similar how in cooking to mix soda and vinegar and make bubbles :) Or you could just wait and it will react with the rocks until exhausted, that's where that big mess of foam came from in the pictures above. Pressure washing and just running lots of water through each rock after, surely removed it all, otherwise it would just continue to fizzle with the rock itself. It's pretty neat how quickly it would react with the rock, second drop of it would touch the surface there would be instant bubbles, very similar to backing soda.

Barrel is now filled up with RO overnight. I added some salt, powerheads, and a skimmer. Already see some stuff coming out into the skimmer's cup.

http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4786.jpg


Also took down the planted tank today and cleaned everything out. Ready for move in! :)

http://reef.verynotgood.info/image/2...b/img_4787.jpg

I'll be bringing the plants to the meeting tonight if anyone would like to grab some. Also couple of manzanita branches and two plecos - common black type and bushy nose one.

looking good

i got some of that pukani rock i have to clean but im scared using that muratic acid

Why?

It's not that strong that it will burn you, although don't go and drink or splash it in your eyes :P

And I'm quite sure it will not just sit there waiting for fish to come by and burn them, it reacts very easily with the rock itself and then you wash it with water or even with added baking soda if you really want to be sure.

People soak rocks with bleach, to me that seems more dangerous as that can linger for a while.

And finally, I wasn't one to thought it up, looks like many people before me used it so it likely is quite fine for this.

lol not scared of it hurting me im scared of killing my corals Attachment 3125