Aquaph8's 225 Build

[aquainas]

The additional cost, space and time factored with a quarantine is easily appreciated when you encounter situations that require total overhaul to completely eradicate a pest live AEFW or Monti nudi's or crypt in the case of fish. (Most people live with it.)

Brett it's good that you're pushing through and staying positive through it, just do yourself a favor and do not add any montipora to the new tank. Perform dips and keep an eye out for egg masses (usually on the underside) scrape and repeat in a QT system until you are 200% sure they're gone.

Now let's see this thing wet!

[aquaph8]

Originally Posted by aquainas

The additional cost, space and time factored with a quarantine is easily appreciated when you encounter situations that require total overhaul to completely eradicate a pest live AEFW or Monti nudi's or crypt in the case of fish. (Most people live with it.)

Brett it's good that you're pushing through and staying positive through it, just do yourself a favor and do not add any montipora to the new tank. Perform dips and keep an eye out for egg masses (usually on the underside) scrape and repeat in a QT system until you are 200% sure they're gone.

Now let's see this thing wet!

I have removed all montipora from the tank now and im just gonna live with out them for a while. Nothing touches the tank befor QT for now on. As far as the seeing it wet, ask and you shall recieve. Its been a long, long weekend.

Little advice, if you dont QT everything you could end up with a Mermaid and a Merman.

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In the cabinet shots

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[aquaph8]

And the tank with Salt water finally.

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Changed the bulbs around a bit and cleaned all the reflectors, and replaced a ballast. So far everything is doing great, well except all the montipora.

Thanks to everybody who followed along thus far, its been a lot of fun and I hope you'll hang out and watch it grow with me.

[jbanks]

Fantastic Bro! Looking great!!!!

[jjk_reef00]

Wow looks great! That light fixture looks amazing. How do you like the wavy seas?

[aquaph8]

Originally Posted by jbanks

Fantastic Bro! Looking great!!!!

Thanks Jonathan, I was too lazy to do the sand. LOL Guess I'll go bare bottom for now, I dont have any more energy left to be rinsing sand.

Originally Posted by jjk_reef00

Wow looks great! How do you like the wavy seas?

Thanks man, the wavy seas are great so far, Id like to see them on a stronger pump and put them to the test. My only problem with them is one is blowing out air bubbles, I can't figure out why.

[Reef_Noob]

Cute lil merman and mermaid ya have there... Guardians of the reef huh

Great to see that ur tank is up and running...
Closely monitor the cycling process coz though the live rock is from ur old tank, the tank will go thru a mini cycle.

Good luck and Congrats.
Do keep updating.

[aquainas]

Good looking setup man, everything looks well organized and easily accessible inside the stand.

Ah yes, I do recall having a mermaid attack in my tank, which a cold fresh water dip took care of rather quickly

[prop-frags]

Brett, your tank is looking great!

[aquaph8]

Originally Posted by Reef_Noob

Cute lil merman and mermaid ya have there... Guardians of the reef huh

Great to see that ur tank is up and running...
Closely monitor the cycling process coz though the live rock is from ur old tank, the tank will go thru a mini cycle.


Good luck and Congrats.
Do keep updating.

Thanks man, they had a lot of fun playing in the tank, I had a hard time getting them out. Everythings doing great with the change so far, ill be sure to keep a close eye on everything.

Originally Posted by aquainas

Good looking setup man, everything looks well organized and easily accessible inside the stand.

Ah yes, I do recall having a mermaid attack in my tank, which a cold fresh water dip took care of rather quickly

Thank you, it feels so good to finally be organized, my last tank was such a mess in so many ways. I tried getting my wife in there but she's no fun, LOL

Originally Posted by prop-frags

Brett, your tank is looking great!

Much appreciated Mike, I keep getting more great ideas from your thread but I'm about out of space.

[aquaph8]

Now for the sand. I gotta figure out how I'm gonna do this without making a complete mess. Thoughts anyone?

[jbanks]

very slowly! I think you're going to have a little mess for a few days no matter what you do Bro.. It will take some time for the sand to settle and for the bacteria to grow and weigh it down a bit.. Just turn your flow down as much as you can for right now. Good luck!

[prop-frags]

Brett, when we added our sand, we made sure it was well-rinsed, turned off our tunze's and closed loop and put filter socks on our drains. Ours settled out w/in a few hours. Hope this helps.

[aquaph8]

Originally Posted by aquaph8

Thanks man, the wavy seas are great so far, Id like to see them on a stronger pump and put them to the test. My only problem with them is one is blowing out air bubbles, I can't figure out why.

Fixed this issue. The problem was where the hose attached to the wavy sea. I have no idea why air came in but water didn't come out but no complaints there. I had used plastic hose clamps cause I was trying to avoid the metal ones and they didn't tighten up enough. I put on a pair of the metal ones and it sealed it right up.

[aquaph8]

Originally Posted by jbanks

very slowly! I think you're going to have a little mess for a few days no matter what you do Bro.. It will take some time for the sand to settle and for the bacteria to grow and weigh it down a bit.. Just turn your flow down as much as you can for right now. Good luck!

Originally Posted by prop-frags

Brett, when we added our sand, we made sure it was well-rinsed, turned off our tunze's and closed loop and put filter socks on our drains. Ours settled out w/in a few hours. Hope this helps.

Started the process of rinsing the sand. I get it now. All the years Ive been in this hobby I never had new sand it was always from an already established system and very minimal. I appreciated the tips, you both are always a pleasure to have around.

[aquainas]

+1 to using filter socks on the drains, also start adding the sand from the back to the front using a medium sized bowl as when it begins to cloud you would still be able to see whats going on somewhat.

[prop-frags]

Another trick on adding the sand if you want to go to the trouble, is to use a large caliber tube (think 2" pvc) with a large funnel at the top. Put the tube into the tank with the bottom of the tube near the sand bed. Pour the sand into the funnel down the tube and this allows you to greatly minimize the big clouds, and keep the sand closer to where you want to put it, avoiding spilling onto livestock and your aquascaping.

[c-me-fish]

Originally Posted by prop-frags

Another trick on adding the sand if you want to go to the trouble, is to use a large caliber tube (think 2" pvc) with a large funnel at the top. Put the tube into the tank with the bottom of the tube near the sand bed. Pour the sand into the funnel down the tube and this allows you to greatly minimize the big clouds, and keep the sand closer to where you want to put it, avoiding spilling onto livestock and your aquascaping.

Agreed, ideally you'll find something that flexes a bit... saw some a while ago made of a black material but don't remember where... this method is a 2 person job though.

[aquaph8]

My first choice was to go with the pipe but I didn't have anything big enough so I filled up a plastic container with sand and set it on the bottom then opened one corner and slowly let water in. I still got some cloudiness but atleast the sand went where I wanted it. I rinsed and rinsed and then rinsed some more and never did get the water to run clear. I swear you could rinse the color right off the sand before that stuff was clean. I'm just gonna do a bag a night until I'm happy so I dont cloud up the water too bad. Im really liking the looks and texture of the Sea Flor special grade sand, glad I went with it.

[Reef_Noob]

Um Brett the process of adding sand wouldv been least complicated if ya hadn't added the fish. U couldv done it in one shot after draining out almost 90% of water and slowly adding the sand and sifting it again slowly to the areas ya want it to cover.
Rinsing sand is always a good idea helps to remove any phosphates in it.
How many fishes do ya have in there?
If ur unable to do drain the water and refill then best idea would be the funnel pipe method.

And if ya wanna get things cleared up fast just get a power filter bigger the better and fill it with filter floss and some carbon and run it in the tank ur tank will clear up in just few hours time and the sand won't settle on the corals. Turn off the wavemakers initially then after few hours turn em back on and residual dust will be circulated and picked up by the filter

And yea adding a filter sock with some filter wool in it is a good idea too so nothing settles in the sump.

Good luck bro and keep us posted.

[aquaph8]

The water cleared up pretty fast. Fish had to all go in, it was a one day swap.

[prop-frags]

too late now, but for others reading this, try reefflakes. Cleanest sand ever. Period.

[aquaph8]

I added the rest of the sand today. Its a little cloudy but its clearing up really fast. I turned the pumps down for now until everything settles in. Ill post a new pic when it clears up a bit more

[aquaph8]

Originally Posted by prop-frags

too late now, but for others reading this, try reefflakes. Cleanest sand ever. Period.

.
Mike, are you talking about the Tropic Eden stuff? I tried but at the time I ordered the sand it was all sold out. But yeah, sea flor is pretty dirty. It has all kinds of little stick things in it too. I bet I rinsed it 30 times and the water still looked like milk.

[jbanks]

Originally Posted by prop-frags

too late now, but for others reading this, try reefflakes. Cleanest sand ever. Period.

+1