Long overdue upgrade

byronsn

byronsn

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Hi all,

So I have finally decided to start up my new (to me) reef tank after procrastinating for the past few years.

I picked up a secondhand tank, sump and stand from @Nemo84 around January 2019. Dimensions of tank are 800*600*600. Corner overflow with 2x40mm holes drilled for plumbing. Sump is just under the length of the tank, never measured but I'm thinking 600mm. Sump height is at 400mm but the baffles that were in place was at 350mm high. About this later. He also through in a canister filter, which I'm not sure how to make use of in my setup, may just get rid of it soon. Around this time also came across a Reef octo INT200 skimmer at a good price, so I grabbed it.

So about a month ago, while looking for plumbing bits for another project (RDWC grow setup), I decided to get what I needed for the tank as well and finally get the ball rolling. Went with 32mm plumbing all round (overflow and return). Have a minor problem with this, will explain a bit further down.

Once I had the plumbing in hand, things started to move forward. Got some dry rock and aragonite from my LFS (Aquatics for Finatics in Durban North). Only took 18kg of dry rock, and a 25kg bag of Aquamedic aragonite. Also managed to get a Zetlight QT6600 (gen 1) from @Baberbek . Has a few bulbs burnt (UV), but I have already received the spares from Improved living, and will be replacing soon. Thanks must go to @Baberbek for the light as well as the Smart ATO, as well as @hotdog83 for bringing it down to durbs for me.

Managed to get the tank plumbed, both overflow and return (SOBO 5200 as a return pump for now). Initial leak tests went fine, but had to do a few tweaks. Did my scape, which I'm trying to keep minimal, and dumped in my rinsed out aragonite. Redid the return plumbing last week, then proceeded to fill the tank with RO. While tweaking, managed to break the silicone seal on the overflow pipes, now I have a tiny leak that drops into the sump. I'm not happy with this, and need to find a way to re-seal it without having to redo the plumbing completely.

With the sump baffles being 350mm high, the water level was way too high for my skimmer. Not to mention there was almost no place left for water to settle when the pumps switched off. Drained my sump last week, cut out the 2 baffles (3 compartment sump), sent the glass to be cut and then re-glued them into place. Unfortunately I don't have any before pics of the sump, but I will take some current pics and upload soon.

Heres a few pics of the scape to keep you guys going. All comments welcome.

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The previous post was getting a bit long so I decided to split it, also some info that I forgot to add.

So I know its only 18kg of rock, but I also have a liter of Seachem Matrix that I'm going to add. Only used about 20kg of the Aragonite. Along with this I also got some stability, to aid with the cycle. Still going to start the cycle old school, piece of hake or prawn or whatever I can find. Plan on taking it slow, but I am also just too excited to get it running.

I still do need to get a heater, as well as a chiller - when I can afford it. My LFS said that he may be able to help me out on this front. For flow, I may just get a couple of Jebao wavemakers, but was looking at a Maxspect Gyre. Want to keep just LPS and softies. Haven't decided on exactly what yet, but I have enough time. Will get a doser when I start adding corals, homemade bulk 2 part and Mg to be dosed.

In terms of future inmates, besides CUC - what I definitely want to have:
-going to be moving over my two clowns from my current tank and then shutting that down, have been neglecting it lately.
-yellow bellied damsels
-purple firefish
-sixline wrasse
-goby (haven't decided on which one exactly
- hopefully a mandarin eventually.
 
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Does anyone have any advise on how to re-seal the overflow?

Option 1 is to just fill the bottom of the overflow with silicone. It's almost impossible to get your hand to the bottom to seal only around the pipes. I believe just blanketing it with the silicone, and then smoothing it over with a long ruler or something should work. I have a spare tube of silicone that I'm intending to completely empty there.

Option 2, I was thinking of using Filla foam (expanding poly foam), but I'm unsure how non-toxic it actually is. It's going to be in the overflow and therefore in contact with the water so I'm very unsure about this.

Option 3 - Someone with very very skinny hands please come over and help :m16:
 
Baberbek said:
Looking good bud!!!!!
Keen to see how this progresses.
Click to expand...

Thanks,
Once I get the leak sorted and test, will add salt and start the cycle. Much excite. still undecided on the solution though. Leaning towards the silicone blanket
 
How's the progress? Did you manage to seal the leak?
 
I've literally just drained the tank this morning. Going to remove the current plumbing and redo. Hopefully this will sort out the problem.

I did try covering the area with fresh silicone, but that didn't solve the problem.

Going to try a 1 inch running nipple through the glass, with gaskets and back nuts to hopefully seal well. Will then use silicone over that as a backup.
 
Re-did the Plumbing of the overflow yesterday. Will leak test when I get home today and if all's good then we are ready for takeoff. The leak was the only thing holding me back, besides some small equipment. Water should go back in tomorrow, or tonight if I have the time, and then salt.
 
Just a quick update. Plumbing was sorted out about two weeks ago now. No further issues since then thank god. Once all the salt was in and I got to my desired SG (1.025-1.026), I started the cycle with a piece of fish. The tank took just over 8 liters of salt. Used the tropic marin pro reef as that is what I had. Going to change to the Aquamedic AB salt, as that is what my LFS usually has in stock and uses himself as well. Using some backwards mathematics, my total water volume is 219L.

Tested for ammonia yesterday, finally picking up at between 0.2-0.4. Now that I have a detectable reading, I've started dosing stability. Just to keep the nutrients going in the tank, I'm also adding some old stock of zooplankton daily, just to feed the bacteria hopefully.

Planning on moving the clowns over next weekend, pending testing of course. I'm hoping that by dosing stability it will speed up the cycle drastically. Going to be keeping the lights off for the next month or so.

Does anyone here in durbs have some chaeto they are willing to spare? Will be needing it around the time I start with the lights.
 
So my cycle is almost done. Nitrites are still testing high but I'm putting that down to old test kits. I tested my 5yr old nano, and that's still testing high on nitrites as well. Planning a water change this weekend to bring down the nitrates, which are testing between 32 and 64 on the red sea pro kit. I'm thinking 50-75% change this weekend.

I need some advice on flow as I haven't gotten that sorted yet. I'm stuck between 1 maxspect 2k gyre, or 2 x jebao slw-10. Either way it will be more than enough flow for me, softy and LPS planned, might try some easier SPS later on. My total water volume is around 220l and display alone is around 160-170. Any advice will be appreciated.
 
So the cycle is finally over, took ages with the dry rock. Moved my 2 clowns over from my other tank, which I will shut down soon. Haven't started running the lights yet, maybe in another week. Also added 2 Damsels over the weekend, they're still getting used to the tank and are quite shy still. no pics of the damsels yet.

Decided on 2 SLW-10 for flow, only have one for now, will get the other once its needed.

IMG_20210208_173206.jpg
 
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