My 2nd First Try: 72 gallon Bowfront Re-build

[john.m.cole3]

Great Job!! It looks like you have put a ton of time and elbow grease into this.

I personally would ditch the switch board, it looks like a safety issue and an eye swore. But it looks like you are headed in that direction anyway, with the ADJ Power Strip. I considered getting a large power strip for my new build but couldn't find a place to mount it. I think that the Power Strip is a great idea!

Here is a tip, many reefers use filter socks, I personally don't like them (I hate changing them out every other day). But what I do (and I see them in the background of your pictures) is, take a bio-bag and rubber band it in the sump on your return from your display tank (the same place you would put a filter sock). This doesn’t do a great job of cleaning the water, though it does help. But it really quiets down the return. When you first put it on, it will make a sizzling noise but after that it is quiet.

I am excited to see how this turns out!

Hey, thanks alot my friend! It did take some time to scrape the back glass and clean up and plastidip the stand, but I am overall happy with the results. I'll probably use the swithchboard in my garage for some man cave stuff further down the road, but that monstrosity is going nowhere near a drop of water! I'm going to be making a small cabinet off the side of my stand to house the power strip and an old 10 gallon tank w/ a lid for my ATO reservoir. I'll be using regular IO salt and kalkwasser to maintain calc/alk. Didi I forget anything..., lol

 

[john.m.cole3]

Now that is looking good John!
Waiting to see water flow again

Thanks @twilliard ! You are the reason I went with my oversized skimmer and am wanting to switch over to Triton one day when I can have a large enough refugium! That's a Skimz 203 rated for up to 190 gallon tank w/ a heavy bioload. I sent off my first test to Trition this week for my current 46 setup. When that comes back, I'll determine if I'll be using any rock from that setup.

 

[john.m.cole3]

This will be for all of my electrical equipment and ATO reservoir. I will seal it in case any water splashes on it

 

[Nibejeebies]

Following along ... You sir have given me many ideas

 

[Bunnee911]

You will enjoy the ato. That is my number one device to keep things stable. Research kalkwasser now.

 

[john.m.cole3]

More equipment has arrived.
Rocks from @billysreefconnection are so awesome. Pourous, good size, clean, cheap, free delivery with the package I got. Will be aquascaping this weekend.

Finnex 300W titanium heater w/ digital controller

Eheim auto fish feeder (b/c I want a flame angel and barlett anthia in this tank and I hear they do best when well fed)

60 lbs/200 gal worth of regular old IO salt (I've got my reasons)

And the Motherload... 48" ATI 6 bulb dimmable fixture. I CAN NOT WAIT to get this fixture set up. Switching from Orbit Marine LEDs to this is like switching from a bicycle to a Mercedes Benz! Somebody please, TAKE MY MONEY!!!

 

[john.m.cole3]

Progress today. I resealed the tank with RTV 103, did some aquascaping and got in a new product.

Tunze 5074 calcium dispenser. It's used to hold the kalwasser in your ATO reservoir so your pump doesn't come in contact with the kalk therefore preserving your ATO pump's life span. Figured it was worth a try.

I still need to clean a few areas of the black silicone to make it perfect.

One more rock structure to create, then plumbing and this puppy will be wet soon!

 

[john.m.cole3]

@jsker I didn't know if you had seen any of this... I hope your weekend has been going well!

 

[jsker]

@jsker I didn't know if you had seen any of this... I hope your weekend has been going well!

Thank you for asking, the weekend is going well.
@john.m.cole3 I have not, I really, really like my finnex heater. I hooked it up to my Apex. you have a lot of toys to start with, I have to post stuff that I am selling for the reason of learning and changing. After the sump I should be good with change for awhile I hope. Just a suggestion Check this out http://aquaforest.eu/product/component-1-2-3/ this is the balling method product. Once I got is dialed in I have not added kalwasser, Ca, and my PH is staying were they need be. I am dosing a couple of there other product along with the 1+2+3 but know fuss with mix and adding.

My weekend got even better, I do not have to working today

 

[dewboy1127]

This will be for all of my electrical equipment and ATO reservoir. I will seal it in case any water splashes on it

Where did you find a cabinet like that?..I am in process looking for something similar for basically exact same thing...my ato and doser to sit in.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Where did you find a cabinet like that?..I am in process looking for something similar for basically exact same thing...my ato and doser to sit in.

Hobby lobby

 

[dewboy1127]

Hobby lobby

oh heck yeah thanks ..i have one of those around i know and never thought to check there...if dont mind me asking how much was it?If dont want say could just say if was over or under $100?thanks again...may go look today...by way keep it up everything looking good

 

[john.m.cole3]

oh heck yeah thanks ..i have one of those around i know and never thought to check there...if dont mind me asking how much was it?If dont want say could just say if was over or under $100?thanks again...may go look today...by way keep it up everything looking good

I have a friend who works at Hobby Lobby and gave me some advice... "if what you are looking at is not on sale for 50% off this week, it WILL go on sale the following week for 50% off"
How cool is that??? also, if you are impatient (me) you can go online and print out a 40% off coupon at any time. I got the stand for $120 and the sign above it for $20. Took me a while to pair them together b/c they weren't just sitting next to each other. I found a black toy chest at Walmart (can't remember price) that was a solid color a very sturdy. It would hold a 10 gal aquarium for ATO and was lower in profile.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Thank you for asking, the weekend is going well.
@john.m.cole3 I have not, I really, really like my finnex heater. I hooked it up to my Apex. you have a lot of toys to start with, I have to post stuff that I am selling for the reason of learning and changing. After the sump I should be good with change for awhile I hope. Just a suggestion Check this out http://aquaforest.eu/product/component-1-2-3/ this is the balling method product. Once I got is dialed in I have not added kalwasser, Ca, and my PH is staying were they need be. I am dosing a couple of there other product along with the 1+2+3 but know fuss with mix and adding.

My weekend got even better, I do not have to working today

Funny you mention Fauna Marin products b/c I am totally going balling method along w/ their trace elements once I "out grow" kalkwasser. I was manually dosing Kent Marine products prior to this and suffered from an alk spike that killed my cleaner shrimp and most of my softies. I want to use IO and kalk (how Randy does it) to see if I can pull off a low tech dosing regiment. Then, when I can prove to be more consistent w/ my tank husbandry, I will step up my game and add dosing pumps and a controller. Kow's the Apex treatin' ya?

 

[jsker]

Funny you mention Fauna Marin products b/c I am totally going balling method along w/ their trace elements once I "out grow" kalkwasser. I was manually dosing Kent Marine products prior to this and suffered from an alk spike that killed my cleaner shrimp and most of my softies. I want to use IO and kalk (how Randy does it) to see if I can pull off a low tech dosing regiment. Then, when I can prove to be more consistent w/ my tank husbandry, I will step up my game and add dosing pumps and a controller. Kow's the Apex treatin' ya?

I was fortunate enough to meet the distributor for @Aquaforest , and they were like why don't you try the Aquaforest products. I was using the @Randy Holmes-Farley methods for kalwasser, the mag 2 part and adding ca. I started with dosing manually the switched to dosing pumps and had good success with Randy's system. Randy does a good job with getting back with me, but when I started the balling method my total system started looking really good. The plus with the balling method is that I am not mixing 2 part, measuring ca, or adding kalwasser to my ATO reserve.
My system is on auto pilot now, besides testing. besides the 1+2+3 I am dosing the NO Pro, and ABC to help with the colors. I have two Jabos dosing pumps set using 7 channels now instead of 8. I was dosing Red Sea A,B,C,D with the Red Sea No3Po4X and then dosing Mg and Ca with the Kalwasser. The Aquaforest comes all ready for dosing in 5000ml for the 1+2+3 and 2000ml for the rest. I started the Aquaforest in January and just finished the total switch over two weeks ago, Now I have to sell some Rea Sea products that I have along with some Red Sea salt coral pro,
I started with IO Reef Salt and experienced some inconsistency with the IO salt and went to my old reliable Red Sea, but after discovering the Aquaforest I am quite happy with using there line with the busy schedule I keep.
I really like the Apex, like I was told "you have all that money in your system, get something reliable to mentor your system" so I went with the Apex. I saved up for the gold package for the reason that the gold had everything that I wanted to monitor my system with less expense than adding modules later. I will add the ice cap modules for my gyre's and I bet that the Hydra's will soon have a module to hook up to the apex so that there is a all in one controller for my system.

 

[jsker]

Thank you for asking, the weekend is going well.
@john.m.cole3 I have not, I really, really like my finnex heater. I hooked it up to my Apex. you have a lot of toys to start with, I have to post stuff that I am selling for the reason of learning and changing. After the sump I should be good with change for awhile I hope. Just a suggestion Check this out http://aquaforest.eu/product/component-1-2-3/ this is the balling method product. Once I got is dialed in I have not added kalwasser, Ca, and my PH is staying were they need be. I am dosing a couple of there other product along with the 1+2+3 but know fuss with mix and adding.

My weekend got even better, I do not have to working today

Hey what kind do sump are you going with?

 

[john.m.cole3]

DIY 30 gal

 

[john.m.cole3]

pics above

 

[john.m.cole3]

Busy day today. Got started at 9 AM and didn't stop until 10 PM.

I wanted to spray the back of the tank in plastidip black for my background. I taped and prepped. Went through a whole can of this crap (7 coats) and it wasn't blocking the light out at all. The best thing about plastidip is if you don't like it, it peels right off and it did!

Went to the LFS to purchase a background. I really don't like going there b/c a bunch of high school kids work there and don't know what they're doing, give bad advice, and act kinfa awkward when I try to strike up a conversation about reefing. I told the guy there that I have an area of 19 1/2" x 48" that needs to be covered in black background. He cut me something 19.5 x 48 alright, but it had a 1" white border at the bottom. I had to tell him the white border would show and would need something bigger. Got that.

I used soapy water and a squeegy to install this background on my tank and it looks pretty darn good. On to plumbing...

Let me start by saying that a PVC cutter allowed me to plumb this tank in less than an hour. Ratcheting PVC cutter at that! Only had to go to Home Depot 2 times . first, for an additional union and teflon tape. Second, for a coupling cause when I dry fit it all together I musta not pushed hard enough and came up an inch short on the full syphon section that is submerged in the sump (most important section ).

.The leak test went horrible. Not sure if the factory installed the bulkheads wrong or if I was supposed to rearramge them, but the gasket was on the dry side and the threads were on the inside of the box. I will have to replace all 3 bulkheads and get 3 more couplings, but it's not the end of the world.

End of the day, lot's of work was done and tank is still not ready... Oh YEAH! I finished my aquascape!

Have a nice work wekk everyone!

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!