Tank Journal Archive

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
The 2018 New Beginnings
So, it's time for a new beginning.

A few years ago I become slack; my weekends were spent hours away visiting my now wife. Water changes didn't get done, dosing went mental, and algae grew.

The tank has always been running, at least until last December. I'd never been able to recover from the algae issues & neglect. I put a fair bit of effort into removal of phosphates to get on top of it, but never quite managed to get there.

We built a new house, and in December the tank moved in, dirty, and stayed that way until the weekend. All of my fish moved out to a spare tank in the garage along with most of that rock, and they've been stuck out there ever since. The garage sadly is something between a DMZ and a garbage tip after a cyclone.

Finally, yesterday I got sick of staring at a dirty, empty tank that I walk past a million times a day. It's time.

Sorted out so far:
- coral sand (coming)
- 2 boxes of base rock (I will need a lot more, and maybe a bit of live rock to seed it)
- lighting (new, probably not quite enough to get to the bottom or cover the width, but it's a start)
- some salt (want to get back to using NSW, but logistically that's a bit challenging at the moment)
- IBC is filling with RO/DI (only way I can get volume into that then transfer via pump to tank)
- ordered new sump from Deer Park. Same size as old one, but this one setup for an ATO res.
- new heater
- working on changing the electrical layout in the cabinet; way too much salt ingress with original setup. Setting up an isolated side to dedicate to electrical.

Not really rushing this one; needs to be budget, needs to look nice, and needs to be tidy.
Quite happy to let this one cycle for a couple of months; full cycle - lights, heating, the works, then I'll introduce the fish. No real plans in terms of corals yet; haven't thought about them. Will probably just stick to mainly softies given the light won't be great. Don't really have the motivation, time or money to be making significant coral purchases either, so they'll just be things that happen when I get around to it.

To dos:
- More rock. Will get some live rock when I collect the sump and keep it in the garage in a container with some flow
- cabinet/sump lighting
- Need to get power to the tank
- Maybe some new wave makers
 

megsez

Member
Apr 29, 2012
534
167
sunshine coast
Good luck David I am you but about 2 months on. Can say it is good to get back in to it. You say no plans as yet for SPS but the bug bites again believe me
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Good luck David I am you but about 2 months on. Can say it is good to get back in to it. You say no plans as yet for SPS but the bug bites again believe me
Never really got into SPS. I like em, but can't keep em. I don't really expect quite the discipline I used to have either, so softies it is for now :P
 

Wrangy

Member
May 7, 2013
2,923
1,567
Research
Hahaha thanks mate.
Trying to keep myself mentally psyched for it; studying again, so hopefully its ready for stocking just after exam time lol
After exams is a good time to reward yourself!! I'm not jealous though haha I don't think I have the mental fortitude to go back to uni! haha
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
After exams is a good time to reward yourself!! I'm not jealous though haha I don't think I have the mental fortitude to go back to uni! haha
Hahaha yeah. I just need to remind myself that I need to finish this Masters just so I can get a new job that pays enough to actually pay off what I just spent lol :P
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Useless update 1:
I think I'm waiting on 3 deliveries from Fastway, 2 from Star track and a sump being built lol.
Relined the inside of my cabinet this arvo with coreflute board. Sounds kinda odd I know - the timber has stood up exceptionally well to this many years of salt but I've noticed signs of mold and a bit of nastiness from bits that have been copping salt splashes. Lining it this way is cheap enough, and easy enough to rip out and replace if it molds up. Its also quite a dark cabinet (its got a mahogany stain so its kinda drab inside), so the white just makes the inside a little easier to inspect.
Seriously budget, but I did it a few years ago on one of my systems that was sitting on shelving.. helped protect the walls behind it from spray and was dead easy to keep clean. Won't look schmick, but I'm a lazy prick, and if nothing else, it doesn't involve paint, which is a plus (my sinuses have had enough for the year lol)
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Useless update 2:
Around a day without wife & kids and a fair bit of study, quite a bit was achieved:
- Power point went in. Stupidly high so the kids can't get to it, accessible enough that I can get to it, and hidden enough that it has automatic spousal approval.
- Finished relining the inside of the cabinet with board and made it look tidy.
- Electrical board when in, it doesn't have a lot of space, but at least this time it's relatively isolated from the wet stuff.
- Put in supposedly "white" LED strip lighting into cabinet. More like RGB pretending to be white. Not really that bright, and not what it's supposed to be, but it was too cheap to waste time sending back, and does the job well enough for inside the cabinet. The lining helps. Previously had a lot of light in there and couldn't see a damned thing
- Light arrived. Impressive amount of light for something so small. Probably not quite enough PAR to do more than softies, but enough to get me started. May just add another later on to beef it up a bit more. Great spread with 120degree lenses though.
- Ordered and received a CP-40 gyre clone. Not sure how it'll go, but hoping that I can have it at the back of the tank and get enough movement from it; every video I've seen people have had to dial it down a bit, so that's positive.
- Bucket of salt received and dumped into 700L of RO/DI. Should be enough to get started. Can't stick with ASW, but currently can't get through garage out the back door to facilitate a load of water being delivered. Will need to work on that.
- Vinegar spa running in said garage, currently soaking old skimmer so I can clean it up as a spare (pumps misbehaving though). Old return pump is currently turning over water. None of this stuff was cleaned when the tank was moved in December, so it's a bit grotty lol.
- New Eheim 300w heater arrived. Damn it's big. I used to have 2x300w heaters in there that were half as long. Hope it fits the sump, and hope it lives up to its reputation for being bloody good.
- Ordered new skimmer; should be a bit lower and easier to get around in the new sump. Not high end; but as per build goals: budget. Wanted to try something that wasn't Bubble Magus.
- Ordered new pump for my Smart ATO; old one died after trying to achieve a 1m head for a few days without me realising (long story). Debated whether I use this given their finickiness, but I think I will keep going with it.
- Also ordered 10kg of marco rock. That should have me up to nearly 50kg of base rock.

At this point, the only planned things with moving parts that will be recycled is the return pump.. mostly because it was replaced under warranty in the last couple of years. Everything else that moves is new. I'll at least have some spares of things if new stuff dies.
The CP-40 I'm really hoping works well at the back.. I don't want to have wavemakers on the sides if I can avoid it; kids, magnets, cords. The less there is for them to be able to touch, the safer everything is.

Still need to fit a foam matting on the floor in the cupboard. Job for when I get time. Eager to get the sump in now so I can get this thing plumbed. Still waiting on sump, 2 boxes of sand, 3 boxes of rock, skimmer, ATO pump, and whatever else I've already forgotten about lol. Will need more rock. Probably be live rock from there on.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
Study first, fish tanks second unless you're like me, I combined the 2 over the course of my studies. Going through life stupid and broke isn't going to cut it mate, just ask 90% of my fellow countrymen.
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Study first, fish tanks second unless you're like me, I combined the 2 over the course of my studies. Going through life stupid and broke isn't going to cut it mate, just ask 90% of my fellow countrymen.
Thats the general plan. Tank is a good break though.. some of the stuff I'm studying is intense (try looking at ciphers and cryptograhic algorithms for hours on end when you suck at maths and you'll get me lol), so its a nice mental break :P
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Useless update 3:
Rock spas currently running in the shed. A few tubs, 40kg of base rock, some salt water out of containers i've carted around 3 houses, a few old heaters and a couple of old wavemakers that needed some cleaning. Should have grabbed the rancid prawn the missus bit into last night and tossed it in, but didn't think of it at the time.

Will grab some live rock at the weekend and get it into the tubs to help seed em.

Found the old Waveline DC6000 and run it for a few days in a tub with vinegar and water (it was never cleaned when we pulled it out last year), and seems to be running fine. Currently have the Kamoer running 2L per hour per channel of water and vinegar trying to clean the tubes of my old supplement containers. Getting lazy now. Anything that needs a clean just goes in the vinegar for a couple of days lol.

Marco rock order got bounced; they were out of stock, but did get a new pump for the smart ATO.

Have ordered another light - something I can customise a bit. Not high wattage, but will add a bit more blue into the mix. The whole "Full Spectrum" lighting thing has never done much for me, always looks a little too white, so a bit more blue should help balance it a little more to my taste.
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Pointless update 1:
Cleaned out Dave @ Deer Parks live rock collection. 2 hours driving for 15 minutes in store, and most of that was showing my little man some fishies lol.
Rock is now seeding some base rock in the shed spas. Also have one tub with some sand in it with a bit of the rock.

Dave suggested I might see the new sump next weekend, which would be awesome. Give me some time I don't really have to install it, plumb the whole damn tank and fill it and get on with the job :P
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Still waiting on sump. Looks like it might be next weekend now. Frustrating, but then I do have other things I should be doing lol.
My Seneye Reef arrived. Don't much like the PAR readings from my lights, but meh, not trying to grow anything hard yet lol. Rock spas were smashed with some Dr Tims, so the nitrates between 5-10ppm. Seen some life getting around in there which is kinda promising.
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
So.. I may have had a slight moment yesterday and things happened....
20180819_091713.jpg


Kinda sumpless but otherwise off to a start. Impatience lol.

I'll have to pull the bookshelf out on the left to fit it in, but meh.
Not really scaped - just rock in from the spas, and was put in while the water was almost white, so I'm actually impressed it looks as it does lol.I might point out that I'm a lazy prick, so how it is is likely how it will stay :P

The Eheim heater is doing a mad job. It's managed to push 1C per hour since I filled it. Water was <10C when I started. Rock went in while water was cold, so expecting a bit of die off, so the Dr Tims One & Only should have its work cut out. I've also started putting some drops of Aquaforest Bio S in, so hopefully the bacteria should load up nicely.

If you notice the top right looks a lot like the Seneye PC app - there's a PC on the top right book shelf that has a little 10" monitor hooked up (usually have a spare PC or ten for these kinds of things lol). It's not really staying as I want to swap it for the web server later, but while the tank is establishing it, its a cool way to keep an eye on it.

In terms of light - I've just ordered a cheap Mars Aqua LED - 300w. Seems to have good reviews for a budget light. The lights on there really aren't gonna cut it. PAR at the bottom is way too low. General plan is to pull the weakest light out, as I can change the LEDs in it with some more white and move it to one of my freshie tanks and solve a problem that has.
The Fluval light doesn't do a bad job for its price, but 2 foot is a bit much for it - PAR backs off largely due to low power + wide lenses. I'll move it to the back where is doesn't have the depth to deal with. It has a nice wide throw.
The Mars Aqua isn't going to be ceiling mounted (if I can avoid it), so I'll have to rejig it to fit in the hood. I'm expecting to pull out its lenses to reduce spotting and it can be further forward where I need a bit more punch.
If I absolutely have to, I'll consider a ceiling mount, but I really, really don't want to go back to stuff hanging over the tank again.
Apparently these can be a bit noisy in the fan department, so half expecting that I may re-work it a bit. Also noted that some people have been re-wiring the dimmers up to controllers. Very high risk of me getting carried away if I take to this thing with a screwdriver.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
I use Mars Aqua lights over a bunch of my runs, they work and they're dirt cheap. they grow Zoanthids like nobody's business.
 

DavidS

The Resident Loony
Jul 17, 2011
3,337
1,033
Ballarat, Victoria
Mars Aqua is on. Looks OK. Wound up with PAR over 1000 at the surface lol. Even at the bottom, the readings were insane (around 600). I pulled the lenses off all bar the row closest to the front. That pulled the averages at the bottom back to ~300, which seems far more like it. Can always put a few more lenses back if I need to get some serious light down the bottom, but with the lenses it just looked like overkill.

I might need to raise it a bit higher.. given how its built with that much mains power so close to the vents, a few extra inches might make me more comfortable. Job for when I get over my cold.