This will document the evolution and building of the 75gallon Reef Tank
(aka PITA..aka Money Hemorrhage..aka pretty awesome with even more awesomeness potential).
Eric (BF) decided that we needed a fish tank.... About 10+ years ago he had like 8-15 tanks and was very good at them... but I think my memory is better than his.... He said he really wanted to do one and with my urging we decided on Salt water/Reef... what a frigging PITA... from the plumbing to perfecting the water flow... you have to have the exact flow out of the tank as you do into the tank.. or it can cause major issues.. like over-flowing... We are still fighting this battle and it seems to be one of those things that not many people talk about... so any insight on this would of course be helpful!
Saturday - 5/28/2011
We decided to stop by Petsmart to look around and apparently discuss the idea a bit - It had been in his head and I guess it finally came to fruition.
We had the kids with us (my 4.5yr old and our 2yr old daughter). We decided to do Saltwater - I had in my head that I wanted Seahorses - but of course knew very little and have never done tanks before. (we have now decided against Seahorses after some research)
We decided on a 75gallon with a stand and talked with someone who seemed to know a bit about saltwater.
We left the store with the following:
75 gallon tank
Stand
20lb live sand
20lb live crushed coral
20lb live aragonite
Fluval Pump
Heater/Thermo
We got home and built the stand and placed the tank on top.
We filled the tank with the sand mixture and filled tap water (bad move.. we know and fixed it.. but this is the daily account)... added the salt and hooked up the Fluval pump to start to cycle the system.
Sunday - 5/29/2011
We got up and decided to hit two local fish stores that specialize in Reef/Saltwater.
After speaking with the owner at the first store we changed our tactics a bit.
I had also done a fair amount of research and decided that we could in fact NOT have seahorses – that if we ever did get seahorses, it would be a separate tank…
We bought 50lbs of live rock and on his recommendation, 2 Chromis (I know this can be controversial… we are learning people) and some frozen brine shrimp food.
Eric went to the second store on his own and by the time I had gotten home we had the CPR Protein Skimmer, a wet sump and a different pump. He had also taken out 50% of the water and replaced it with RO water and had gotten the salt levels back to the correct levels.
I then later went back to the same store to get directions for the Sump, that were missing and ended up purchasing the CPR overflow.
We re-plumbed the system – This is now a pattern…… and had the tank running… we then realized (due to the water flow and trying to figure out a fish screen) that Eric had in fact had put the overflow in backwards and upside down Talk about not reading the directions…. When we figured that out, we realized that the tank was too close to the wall… so with some careful usage of a crow bar we moves it out from the wall (Eric had done this earlier in the day during the water change to try and level out the tank.. and after utilizing some particle board, was able to do so).
We took apart the CPR overflow, got it back together correctly – ran to the hardware store for more PVC connectors and re-plumbed the system… AGAIN….
What we found was that the intake/outtake was not working.. It seemed that we could not get enough water from the tank to the sump to keep up with the pump…We (ie, Eric) – then pulled out the overflow and RE-PLUMBED (yes.. again) the system to be a simple PCV intake Siphon.
We later realized that while he sucked out the air to get flow… that maybe he had not actually gotten ALL the air out….
So currently… We have this plumbing hookup
Simple PVC intake Siphon with a fish basket
PVC into the Sump with Ball Valve and the smaller pump
CPR Protein Skimmer
This weekend - We will be RE-PLUMBING the system - AGAIN. Adding the CPR overflow back in as well as the bigger pump.
Day 2 (Sunday 5/29/2011) - Saltwater/Reef Tank Build
60lbs Live Sand and 50lbs live rock and 3 plastic plants (First day with rock and 2nd day with sand)
Day 3 (5/31/2011) - Saltwater/Reef Tank Build
80lbs Live Sand and 100lbs live rock and NO plastic plants. 2 Chromis (Fish) and one Hermit Crab... we found him in the sump while adjusting the flow.. he must have hitched a ride on the live rock.
Its day 3.. and while I see the awesome-ness potential.. and the kids ADORE it.. and it only has 2 fish right now since it needs to cycle for 2 weeks... it is causing us to not go to sleep until 1am almost every night since Saturday....Again.. perfecting the water flow from the in-take and out0take has been a HUGE PITA... along with the equipment and having to modify everything...
Farther out view after we re-arranged the rock.. we probably need another 60lbs of rock for the tank and the sump (filters the water in the tank like the ocean)
Day 4 (6/01/2011) - Saltwater/Reef Tank Build
80lbs Live Sand and 150lbs live rock + Coralife Lighting (bought for a steal on sale) + 1 powerhead
2 Chromis (Fish) and one Hermit Crab
(aka PITA..aka Money Hemorrhage..aka pretty awesome with even more awesomeness potential).
Eric (BF) decided that we needed a fish tank.... About 10+ years ago he had like 8-15 tanks and was very good at them... but I think my memory is better than his.... He said he really wanted to do one and with my urging we decided on Salt water/Reef... what a frigging PITA... from the plumbing to perfecting the water flow... you have to have the exact flow out of the tank as you do into the tank.. or it can cause major issues.. like over-flowing... We are still fighting this battle and it seems to be one of those things that not many people talk about... so any insight on this would of course be helpful!
Saturday - 5/28/2011
We decided to stop by Petsmart to look around and apparently discuss the idea a bit - It had been in his head and I guess it finally came to fruition.
We had the kids with us (my 4.5yr old and our 2yr old daughter). We decided to do Saltwater - I had in my head that I wanted Seahorses - but of course knew very little and have never done tanks before. (we have now decided against Seahorses after some research)
We decided on a 75gallon with a stand and talked with someone who seemed to know a bit about saltwater.
We left the store with the following:
75 gallon tank
Stand
20lb live sand
20lb live crushed coral
20lb live aragonite
Fluval Pump
Heater/Thermo
We got home and built the stand and placed the tank on top.
We filled the tank with the sand mixture and filled tap water (bad move.. we know and fixed it.. but this is the daily account)... added the salt and hooked up the Fluval pump to start to cycle the system.
Sunday - 5/29/2011
We got up and decided to hit two local fish stores that specialize in Reef/Saltwater.
After speaking with the owner at the first store we changed our tactics a bit.
I had also done a fair amount of research and decided that we could in fact NOT have seahorses – that if we ever did get seahorses, it would be a separate tank…
We bought 50lbs of live rock and on his recommendation, 2 Chromis (I know this can be controversial… we are learning people) and some frozen brine shrimp food.
Eric went to the second store on his own and by the time I had gotten home we had the CPR Protein Skimmer, a wet sump and a different pump. He had also taken out 50% of the water and replaced it with RO water and had gotten the salt levels back to the correct levels.
I then later went back to the same store to get directions for the Sump, that were missing and ended up purchasing the CPR overflow.
We re-plumbed the system – This is now a pattern…… and had the tank running… we then realized (due to the water flow and trying to figure out a fish screen) that Eric had in fact had put the overflow in backwards and upside down Talk about not reading the directions…. When we figured that out, we realized that the tank was too close to the wall… so with some careful usage of a crow bar we moves it out from the wall (Eric had done this earlier in the day during the water change to try and level out the tank.. and after utilizing some particle board, was able to do so).
We took apart the CPR overflow, got it back together correctly – ran to the hardware store for more PVC connectors and re-plumbed the system… AGAIN….
What we found was that the intake/outtake was not working.. It seemed that we could not get enough water from the tank to the sump to keep up with the pump…We (ie, Eric) – then pulled out the overflow and RE-PLUMBED (yes.. again) the system to be a simple PCV intake Siphon.
We later realized that while he sucked out the air to get flow… that maybe he had not actually gotten ALL the air out….
So currently… We have this plumbing hookup
Simple PVC intake Siphon with a fish basket
PVC into the Sump with Ball Valve and the smaller pump
CPR Protein Skimmer
This weekend - We will be RE-PLUMBING the system - AGAIN. Adding the CPR overflow back in as well as the bigger pump.
Day 2 (Sunday 5/29/2011) - Saltwater/Reef Tank Build
60lbs Live Sand and 50lbs live rock and 3 plastic plants (First day with rock and 2nd day with sand)
Day 3 (5/31/2011) - Saltwater/Reef Tank Build
80lbs Live Sand and 100lbs live rock and NO plastic plants. 2 Chromis (Fish) and one Hermit Crab... we found him in the sump while adjusting the flow.. he must have hitched a ride on the live rock.
Its day 3.. and while I see the awesome-ness potential.. and the kids ADORE it.. and it only has 2 fish right now since it needs to cycle for 2 weeks... it is causing us to not go to sleep until 1am almost every night since Saturday....Again.. perfecting the water flow from the in-take and out0take has been a HUGE PITA... along with the equipment and having to modify everything...
Farther out view after we re-arranged the rock.. we probably need another 60lbs of rock for the tank and the sump (filters the water in the tank like the ocean)
Day 4 (6/01/2011) - Saltwater/Reef Tank Build
80lbs Live Sand and 150lbs live rock + Coralife Lighting (bought for a steal on sale) + 1 powerhead
2 Chromis (Fish) and one Hermit Crab
