I plan to order my 120 tank soon but I am starting to build out my sump room and water changing equipment. I started with a 5 X 8 room in my garage that I guess was intended for a storage room This will document how my new build proceeds. Let's hope I don't run into too many snags. I will be building my Water making shelf in this part of the room.
OK, so I ordered a HEAVY DUTY shelf from home depot..... and began to put it together..... Wow not so heavy duty. It says up to 4k pounds right...well I put my foot through the shelf without any problem. So I bought 3/4" plywood and cut shelves. I then doubled the wood on the shelves to 1.5" after all there will be over 450 pounds on each shelf.
Hiya, If you don't have your tank already, Kevin at Paradise Pets can order it for you. He's got really good prices on tanks. Kim/Benton, AR
Thanks not familiar with Paradise Pets... I have been going to Hot Springs and the guy over there seems really willing to work with me on price. I will compare..thanks.
Did some work this weekend...added a backer board to the wall to mount my Apex Controller EB-8 power unit to power Protein skimmer, main tank return pump, refuge lighting. Dosing pumps. PM-2 unit for Salinity and Temp in Main sump. Break out unit for float switches for Auto Top off These are near the Water making station. I want to put a break out box here too so I can connect float switches. I also will need power for the bottom tank that will hold all my trash water from .auto water changes, protein skimmer, and RODI black water. PM-2 unit is for Salinity and temp in NSW tank. EB-4 unit to power pump to empty trash water tank. Also Mounted the RODI unit
Two EB 4's? Are those two small units breakout boxes? What are they for? Great start. I like the planning and execution even before the tank is there.
Added some commentary to those last photos...thanks for the compliment huntindoc... I hope to have my sumps cycled before I get my main tank in....
Cool. pH and temp came with mine. I'm really interested to see how well the salinity probe works. Do you have a refractometer? It would be nice to see how accurate it is.
Yes got one just to make sure and calibrate the probes correctly. Got the PH too need that for my two part dosing.
Finished my water making station. top tank is for RODI, middle tank is for Salt mixture, bottom tank is for trash water. I will be plumbing that into the drain so it will pump straight to the drain when float triggers. I also got in my main flow pump My Ozone maker that will attach to my protein skimmer and some bio media that I intend to build a cage for in my sump. OH yea got the auto top off too I also added my float controller Bought the first of my sumps...big Rubbermaid 100 gal stock tank. Got to get a 2" bulk head fitting for that though because it only comes with a 1" on it.
Bought my sump. 100gal Rubbermaid. Glad I tested it before putting it in the fish room. Guess I will have to replace and test again.
The bulkhead fitting on these Rubbermaid tanks can be a bit rough on the molding seam and cause a leak. Take it completely off and clean up the excess on the molding seam where it meets the rubber gasket.
Did that...still leaks... I have a 1" schd 80 bulk head that I will replace it with tonight and add some silicone around the hole too. then retest.....
Had some time to work on the fish room today. Not in to big a hurry because the tank won't be in until January. Oh well. I started my sump. created wiers to channel the water the way I want it to flow. I put bio media between the wiers and created an area to throw cheto. I hooked up all my probes and placed them... I also got in my glass jars for incubating my phytoplankton. I got to Chinese LED's to put on either side of these jars.
Got my skimmer collection method setup to go straight into my waste water tank. Set my phyto production with 3 different kinds of phypto: Tetraselmis, Isocrysis, and Nannochloris Can't add any more pics. because it says I have reached my limit. Sorry.
Well my 120 has grown to a 150. I just ordered the tank from Chris. should be in before the end of the Month... I have well established phyto production, my pods aren't growing as well as I would like, and my bio filter seems to have cycled. I started my bio reactor last week so I am hoping that by the time the tank gets here that will have begun to cycle. I bought one from Reef Dynamics. It took over a month to come in but at least it is up. I found a 2nd skimmer that I bought. MR-2R from MRC.... got it in yesterday. going to clean it all up and figure out how to get it into the system.
LOL... I actually found better 1 gal glass tea jars from Walmart. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Aladdin-1-Gal-Glass-Mason-Beverage-Dispenser/33965501 got them shipped direct to my door....