KissMyWrasse/Es355lucille 140g Tank Journal

[es355lucille]

Hi Guys and Gals, This is not much of a tank build as we purchased a fully operational system. There are however some modifications and extras that we will be working on. Here are some of the specs:


140 gallon main display (Starphire glass on 3 sides) euro braced. 60"x18"x30"
50 gallon sump c/w ebojager heater, bio balls & mechanical filteration
48"Giesemann Infiniti 2x250W MH + 4x54W T5
Precision Marine Bullet II protein skimmer c/w Beckett aeration head, extension riser and separate waste collection
Return pump and protein skimmer pump both Danner 1800 mag drives
250 lbs of Tonga branch live rock (still in rubbermaid drum)
New purchases :biggrin: Vortech MP40W / Tunze 6055 / RODI Unit / 2x45g plastic drums
I am working on installing a water changeout system. One small pump in the sump (no head pressure) will be piped to the sewer in the basement. Another larger pump will be in one of the 45g drums and be piped back to the sump for water top up and water changes. This pump will have to pump ~12 feet of head. Everything will run off switches installed in the frame of the stand. Auto top off to come if I can be confident with redundant switches for flood protection.


Huge thanks to Raf and his twin brother as they delivered this unit all the way from Cold Lake, Alberta. They even meticulously set up the unit where we decided it should go.

So here it is. The wrap is still on the glass to protect from scratches while we do some work on the system.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/140g%20Tank%20Journal/IMG_0410.jpg

Sump: The reasoning behind the bio balls is more for noise dampening than conventional use. Not sure if I will keep these or not. Ideas anyone?

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/140g%20Tank%20Journal/IMG_0402.jpg

Orientation: The aquarium is a room divider between the kitchen and living room.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/140g%20Tank%20Journal/IMG_0412.jpg

[lobsterboy]

wow, what a nice set up, sump is awesome, hope you get that filled soon.

[Dolf]

Looks great. I would have loved a tank in my livingroom but the strength of the floor dictated that it go to the basement. Very nice addition.

[Carmen]

Oh, that will be an incredible set-up! Can't wait to see it set-up! BEAUTIFUL!

[Canuckgod420]

are those scatches all over the glass?

[mseepman]

I think that might actually be shrink-wrap to prevent scratches.:biggrin:

are those scatches all over the glass?

[parkinsn]

are those scatches all over the glass?

I think its shrink wrap.

Looks great, I cant wait to see water in it!!

[fishytime]

Dats gonna be saweeeeet guys. I would consider not using the bioballs... unless you religiously clean them they can become a nitrate factory. If the sump is noisy there are other ways of dampening the sound...sponges,filter sock,etc...something easy to remove and clean. Or it may be a design flaw with the plumbing or sump layout that is causing the noise. Is it a herbie style drain,....durso?

[Canuckgod420]

well i sure hope its shrink wrap......almost looks like someone used a sanding block as an algae scraper....lol

Otherwise, sweet setup

[brizzo]

That's a nice setup you got! The pictures the previous owner had posted were very stunning. I love the peninsula tank look :mrgreen:

[es355lucille]

he he....it does look pretty bad! but it is shrink wrap that I just left on since the move as I have been working on and around the aquarium. I left it to protect it from clumsy me!

well i sure hope its shrink wrap......almost looks like someone used a sanding block as an algae scraper....lol

Otherwise, sweet setup

[Rbacchiega]

gonna be a looker for sure! Looking forward to the progress on this one. I heart peninsula tanks...and wall tanks...and normal tanks... and and....

anyways....

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you guys out!

[es355lucille]

Thanks Doug....I will be reviewing the use of the bioballs for sure. Raf says this unit is very quiet, but he used different ways to obtain this for sure. Now I checked the drain and its a straight pipe just waiting to be converted to a herbie.:mrgreen: I looked up Herbie on the RC to get an idea of how to do this......still not completely sure, but first look it appears to be a simple setup. Thanks I will be chatting to you about this.

Dats gonna be saweeeeet guys. I would consider not using the bioballs... unless you religiously clean them they can become a nitrate factory. If the sump is noisy there are other ways of dampening the sound...sponges,filter sock,etc...something easy to remove and clean. Or it may be a design flaw with the plumbing or sump layout that is causing the noise. Is it a herbie style drain,....durso?

[es355lucille]

So I added the new NO3 & PO4 reducing pellet system. Reactor and pellets from Red Coral. As you can see I don't have much room so I hosed the unit in......everything (dosing unit etc) is spilling out into the kitchen.

This unit is sponsored by Heinz as they provided the stand. Also a piece of hardwood flooring as a base on top of the can.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/IMG_1021.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/IMG_1022.jpg

I was using the Zeo system and finally got the nitrates to ~0.......but I was finding that as I am getting busier that I cannot keep up to the maintenance of the Zeo system. I will still dose some KZ products but I am hoping that with the long lasting pellets that my wife can maintain the system while I am on the road for a week at a time.

[walloutlet]

Great setup. I have the exact same stand only using it for my protein skimmer. :mrgreen:

[es355lucille]

I am going to leave my phosban reactor running for a week while the pellets start to activate. But I will be removing it and just running one PBR150 with carbon.

[es355lucille]

Thanks, Sometimes it comes down to what you can find around the house! LOL! :biggrin:

Great setup. I have the exact same stand only using it for my protein skimmer. :mrgreen:

[fishytime]

I recently had a chance to closely examine the this tank and all I can say is WOW!...... I really dig your aquascaping B&S....... was really hard concentrating on the job at hand with that tank in the background:wink:

if the stand fits huh?(for the reactor)......

would like to "jam" with yous two sometime:biggrin:....

[es355lucille]

I was playing around during the holidays and learned how to create movies with my Mac computer. I created this one in a short amount of time to document the system for 2010. I hope you like it.

Click the area below to see the video I created of our 140g reef tank.

Ps. My wife is a songwriter and we produce our own music at home....so enjoy.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/th_AquariumVideoI.jpg (http://s655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/?action=view&current=AquariumVideoI.mp4)

[viperfish]

You might want to ease back on the flow in your Vertex reactor, having a bunch of pellets pinned to the top like that is a sign of too much flow. You just need to have enough flow to keep the pellets in motion but not so much that its pushing a bunch of them to the top.

[es355lucille]

Hey Thanks medhatreefguy, I learned that a while back....thats an old picture. Believe it or not I still have some of those pellets still in the system and a batch of new ones! they seem to last a long time. Thanks! Brad


You might want to ease back on the flow in your Vertex reactor, having a bunch of pellets pinned to the top like that is a sign of too much flow. You just need to have enough flow to keep the pellets in motion but not so much that its pushing a bunch of them to the top.

[AquaticFinatic]

well i sure hope its shrink wrap......almost looks like someone used a sanding block as an algae scraper....lol

Otherwise, sweet setup

You must just be a picture looker lol as the txt just above says shrink wrap is still on!

[es355lucille]

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1705.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1701.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1692.jpg

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http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1693.jpg

Our Emperor Angel, turning from the juvenile colors to adult.
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1688.jpg

New guy added Dec 2010. This guy must have some green on him somewhere......he is just like a John Deere........he is a workhorse!!
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1679.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1669.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_1662.jpg

[Wannabe]

Beautiful. Love the pair of clowns.

[es355lucille]

Thanks Wannabe. They are definately characters!


Beautiful. Love the pair of clowns.

[fishoholic]

Great pic.'s :biggrin: I have seen this tank and I have to say it is beautiful, I love the aqua scape it's really well thought out and looks awesome in person.

[fishytime]

Your back!!!??? (to canreef I mean):biggrin:

very nice pics indeed, guys and the video rocks too:wink:

[es355lucille]

Thanks Laurie.....I appreciate the kind words. We love the tank.....I think we need to do a new build some time in 2011....as this one seems so small now.

Great pic.'s :biggrin: I have seen this tank and I have to say it is beautiful, I love the aqua scape it's really well thought out and looks awesome in person.

[es355lucille]

Hi Doug, yes finally time to spend on Canreef. I miss this place....I see you are starting to build your tank again....can't wait to see it again. How is the new place?

Your back!!!??? (to canreef I mean):biggrin:

very nice pics indeed, guys and the video rocks too:wink:

[es355lucille]

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/140g%20Tank%20Journal/P1010508.jpg

[Skimmerking]

Looks Great Brad,

[es355lucille]

Thanks Mike. I changed the flow around and added new carbon and my LTA is the happiest thing in the tank.....besides the clowns.

Looks Great Brad,

[Zoaelite]

Fantastic set up, especially nice to see another peninsula tank. Only thing we need is a FTS please and thank you :biggrin:?

Btw your wife's voice reminds me of Dolores O'Riordan, great music to go with the video.

[es355lucille]

My wife (KissMyWrasse) thanks you greatly for your comments!

Here are a couple of tank shots from the weekend.....I was cleaning the tank so the light is offset and the one shot will show the workings underneath. I am really wanting to do a build from scratch as you can see (and well imagine) the extras are spilling out into the kitchen. (which I am standing in taking this picture) My wife is a very patient lady......but, I need to fix this. Also if I build in our unfinished basement then I will have more control over the natural lighting as this causes issues as well. Sorry for the messy shots! My new tank will probably be a 96"l x 30"w x 24-26"h.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/140g%20Tank%20Journal/P1010502.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/140g%20Tank%20Journal/P1010503.jpg



Fantastic set up, especially nice to see another peninsula tank. Only thing we need is a FTS please and thank you :biggrin:?

Btw your wife's voice reminds me of Dolores O'Riordan, great music to go with the video.

[es355lucille]

I found this guy in the rocks today. Now hear me out....my wife and I scour these rocks on a regular basis (daylight and night time) and this is the first I have seen this guy.....he's a good hider let me tell you.

Also I found a very cool forum as I am trying to identify this animal as a sea slug....sorry for my ignorance but he looks like he would be classified as a slug of some sort.

It appears to have a soft body.....tan stripes to dark brown just like you see in the pictures. Kinda furry looking appearance when I look through the magnifier. It has 2 maybe 3 spots on the top (blue circles) - I cannot tell how long this thing is....but it is 1/2" to 3/4" wide and just what I see is approx 2" long or maybe longer.

Anyone know what this is?

****As a side note please check out this link as its a very cool place for identification of sea slugs.****
http://www.seaslugforum.net/specieslist.htm

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3824.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3827.jpg

[fishoholic]

Crazy what you can suddenly find in your tank that you had no idea was there. Not sure what it is though :noidea:

I like the dimensions (96"l x 30"w x 24-26"h) for your new tank. It'll be cool to see it come together.

[es355lucille]

Was a surprise to us!

uummm the dimentions are changing all the time.....still not sure about what we are doing yet.


Crazy what you can suddenly find in your tank that you had no idea was there. Not sure what it is though :noidea:

I like the dimensions (96"l x 30"w x 24-26"h) for your new tank. It'll be cool to see it come together.

[es355lucille]

Thought I would update a few pics.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3872.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3868.jpg
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http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3809.jpg

[es355lucille]

I changed my flow and my water change schedule and now am trying a few SPS!!

Thanks Keith!
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3847.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3831.jpg
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[es355lucille]

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu279/es355lucille/Aquarium%202011/IMG_3858.jpg
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