ednadadie's first tank build

[edandadie]

edandadie’s first tank build

March 1, 2013

Greetings! My name is Ed, and I’m a newbie. I've always been fascinated by aquaria

and have been patiently waiting for several years to get my act together. Alas, here we are!

It all started almost 5 years ago in San Antonio with my ex-boss, offering to give me

his broken 100 gal tank, if I would come get it out of his apartment. I loved the idea,

though had no idea what I was getting myself into. Sure enough, one of the long side

pieces of glass was broken- he was none too pleased with sharing the results of how

that happened. At least he was on a bottom floor apartment. He directed me to his LFS

who fixed me up with a new piece, sealed up for around $100.

So I said, “Now what boss?” He just smiled, laughed, and said “good luck” Three years

later, while the tank quietly stood empty on its end in the garage, I got notice of a job

transfer to Austin. Excited about the move my wife Adie and I found a place to live in

Round Rock, and I had the perfect spot to set up that tank.

One day now about a year ago I came across a local fish store while on lunch break

down by my office- Fishy Business near Burnet and Braker. So I stopped in, and started

phase 2 of my experience; education. Walking in the place my eyes were drawn to their

beautiful main display tank, which was jam-packed with live rock. No sand though. I had

heard stories of sand and bacteria and cycling; I respect nature’s way of doing things,

but was at a loss on how to try and mimic it successfully when considering how vast the

ocean is and how small my aquarium was.

What they said was simple and sounded right to me. The idea was to keep the water

clean, and having a potentially unstable environment in sand could compromise that.

As a result, I decided on the Berlin Method, as they practice at Fishy Business. Lots and

lots of live rock and an oversized skimmer- get rid of those nitrates before they have a

chance to create a problem in the first place.

While saving some money, I developed a plan for the build of my first aquarium. I had a

100-gallon tank, 60”x18”x20” with 3 holes (I plugged one of them), 2 of which had 2-” bulk

heads pre-installed. Step 1 was a stand. I love to build things, but have learned through

the years that sometimes it’s a better idea to buy instead. Discovering that the 60” tanks

are rare these days I wasn't left with too many options for finding a cabinet that wasn't

$500+. After shopping around I found the perfect yet unconventional choice, at Home

Depot. Back in the back by the kitchen cabinets I found the right size unfinished oak

cabinet designed to be covered by countertop, on sale. I had the lumber guys rip a sheet

of oak veneered plywood to the right size for a top to set the tank on; they ripped the rest

into the pieces I needed to build the lid/light box. I edged the top with oak veneer, and

stained and lacquered the whole thing to match our furniture.

Step 2 was lights; though quite curious on LED’s I decided on Actinics, basing my decision

on the good feeling I had from the advice at Fishy Business. I bought a ballast, wiring kit,

and T12 endcaps on ebay from ClubReef and the 4ft 110W VHO bulbs from Fishy Business.

I installed a sheet of aluminum flashing and wired everything to the lid (heat source #1:

present issue with slightly high water temp).

Step 3 was plumbing. I went with solid flex clear tubing instead of the ribbed hot tub

hose to help reduce noise, in and out of the display tank. I bought a 29 tall for the sump,

and after lots of research I consulted one of the engineers in my office for design specifics.

I bought some 3/16-” acrylic sheets from Lowes to create the baffles to separate 3 chambers,

right to left: Fishy Business built my overflow box, outfall into the skimmer chamber (ASM G2

on a 6in eggcrate stand), through the bubble trap, into a chamber to be filled with live rock,

into the return pump chamber (QuietOne 6000), and out through 3-U-tube directional outflow

nozzles that hang on the back of the tank, no powerheads. A one-way ball valve on the return

keeps the concern for flooding at bay.

Step 4 was water. As my research showed, frequent water changes were to be vital to the

life of my aquarium, and as I wanted a low-maintenance, self-sustaining system I couldn’t

see myself making all those trips to import water. I went with an RODI system from Water

General, and installed it right there in the cabinet next to my sump. It came with a 2-gallon

reservoir and for a few dollars more a mechanical auto-top off float device. The tank shares

a wall with our hallway bathroom, and 1/4" tubing through the wall for water source and

discharge through the sink drain pluming was easy to do.

At this point I was ready for step 5, live rock. Only, I had hit my budget!! (I won’t mention

too many numbers, not to frighten off any other newbies, lol). Oh no, the system was built,

and I couldn’t get started (yet another sign to trust in patience). So, I started saving again,

and furthering my research. I did do a system test to be sure there were no leaks, and to

ensure that the system would flow properly. Evaluating the running system helped to adjust

a few issues; I previously had water flow over top of a baffle into the return pump chamber,

which caused inefficiency due to the creation of bubbles from the falling water. Also, the

skimmer pump was sending water over the bubble trap, so I decided to just re-do the sump

altogether. I enlarged the skimmer chamber by 2”, and raised the middle baffle higher to

keep the water flowing correctly; I also modified the return chamber to have the water flow

under the baffle, through eggcrate & 1”filter media, both of which solved my plumbing problems.

So since step 5 turned from adding live rock to flow evaluation, we’ll move live rock to

step 6. After already hitting my budget, it would have been a tough and expensive choice

to buy so much live rock to fill my needs. I was going to need like 200lbs, and choices were

between $7 per pound and $12 per pound… yeowch. After careful consideration of my

options, and the length of time already a part of this adventure, I decided I didn’t need

reef ready rock- I would go with dry rock. The rock available locally wasn’t that spectacular,

covered in coralline algae sure, but just rocks. I ordered 150lbs from Marcorocks, and let

me tell you- they are beautiful. They showed up on my doorstep 3 days after purchase,

and were closer to 160 lbs. Beautiful, porous, football sized rocks, with no water weight,

and ready to aquascape.

3-weeks ago, after making and mixing 120 gallons of freshly made RODI water with a

substantial amount of special-order reef crystals salt from Gallery of Pets at 183 & Duval,

I set the system in motion. The 150 lbs of dry rock filled the system nicely, atop a thin bed

of coral gravel also from Gallery of Pets. The system ran great, real quiet. Specific gravity

at 1.026; the temp at 79 degrees; in theory, I’m ready. I bought an API reef test kit, a 300w

heater, and a Mag Float-350 off of Amazon. Also in theory- with this system, no cycling…

(remember I introduced this build with “I’m a newbie”). I bought a 6lb piece of purple rock

for seeding and 4 yellow-tail damsels on sale at Gallery of Pets (though I hate playing God,

my kids have named them “survivor fish”).

Today the system seems as stable as when it started and the damsels seem happy.

I lose about an inch of water from evaporation out of the middle chamber of my sump

everyday and still top off manually at the moment. My calcium levels are a little low; I

bought some Kent additives today, did my first calcium dose and mounted the auto-top off.

The water temp increased to 82 degrees on day one, and fluctuates from there about a

degree during daily light cycle shifts. Heat source #2 is the combination of heat from the

return pump and the skimmer pump, trapped in my enclosed stand. I’ve heard to add a

clip-on fan pointed at the water surface in the sump to drop a few degrees, and will try soon.

My future plans hope to include coralline algae propagation; I hope this year brings many

a scrapings from the inside glass. I plan to add just a couple more fish, definitely the typical

friends- a yellow tang, a blue tang, a mandarin, and the clown fish (per the wife and kids).

Once I have determined that a cycle wasn’t needed, isn’t happening, or I go through it, I plan

to start adding coral, the intended primary inhabitants of my tank. I’d also like to incorporate

breeding of food to limit the dependency on outside maintenance needs all together, and

eventually start coral fragging. I am still interested in adding LED’s, and controlling the

system, maybe with Neptune’s setup. It’s been an adventure, and I am very proud of myself

so far. I look forward to learning more about aquaria and eventually having the tank to show

for my efforts. It’s been fun so far!

PS, just in case, know that I don't represent any of the businesses I've mentioned during this build.

No way did I follow any one bit of advice to the 'T', I only mention the good experiences I've had.

Thanks!

[(Bio)³]

Can you give some info on your RODI unit? I know I had a pressure tank I was going to use but ended up finding it wasnt the best thing.

[Jimbo662]

Great thread! With this group it won't be long before your tank is full of corals. I've had my tank going since Sept and I've probably bought 5% of my corals from LFSs...everything else has been from members. I've learned to keep an eye out on the For Sale section on a daily basis!

I used dry rock just like you did but also added some live rock covered in coraline. I finally started seeing signs of it spreading after about 4 mths.

[edandadie]

Can you give some info on your RODI unit? I know I had a pressure tank I was going to use but ended up finding it wasnt the best thing.

I bought it on ebay for around $200, it's made by Water General. Its a 6 stage, has a drinking tap after the 5th stage (I use it to clean the outside glass) and that 6th stage is the DI. Filter replacement is inexpensive but the DI doesn't have the greatest reviews. The pressure tank that came with the unit is great so far.

[(Bio)³]

Just be careful the rubber bladder doesn't leach and break down over time. The drinking rodi units aren't quite the same I've heard.

[jestep]

Awesome that you did enough research to get something this organized right out of the gate. The stand looks really good, I thought it was a commercial one at first sight.

My dry rock ended up causing a cycle, so I would at least speculate there being some organic matter on it, although I have no idea where it comes from. You may also need to add lighting depending on what type of coral you are planning on growing. In such a large tank you may be limited on most SPS and higher light coral.

Anyway, looks like a cool setup.

[Richard L]

Now that's a clean and organized sump. Very nice. Keep it up!

[+Dustin Blevins]

You've gotten off to a great start! I'll definitely like to see it once all the livestock is thriving!

[ShawnM]

Very Nice setup and I agree with Jestep on the lighting. Good luck cant wait to see it full of coral and fish

[new55galSALT]

Nice setup and good luck