Lance's 225 gal tank

[fdiddy]

That stuff is actually a pretty good product in my experience.. i put it in my sump and refugium when i started to get that stuff on as much LR and filter media as possible, had "almost" zero cycle... i still waited the 40 day nitrogen cycle out though.. .never know..

[Lance]

Originally Posted by fdiddy

That stuff is actually a pretty good product in my experience.. i put it in my sump and refugium when i started to get that stuff on as much LR and filter media as possible, had "almost" zero cycle... i still waited the 40 day nitrogen cycle out though.. .never know..

Yeah, I've used it before and am using it now; but never so much at once.

[Lance]

UPDATE TIME: The tank has cycled! Mike you were right the Hagen Cycle added at 10x the recommended dosage really sped things up. Thanks man!
Added a few more pieces of live rock and a few corals. A real nice big Pipe Organ (8"x8"), Candy Cane, Kenya Trees, Mushrooms and Toadstool, (compliments of Marie: thanks Marie). And also took some Mushrooms, Toadstool and Kenya Tree from my 90 reef. And of course I have the expected, new tank hair algae, growing everywhere. (ugh)


















The other day we got the sump drilled, thanks to my good friend Mrfish55 and his glass-drilling bits. He did an awesome job.





Oh, and I bought a fish! A nice little bannerfish from our local LFS, that I didn't really want, but the wife fell in love with him so we got him. QT'ed him for 14 days and popped him in the tank. He's about 21/2" long and all by himself in 225 gallons of water. Having the time of his life! (I kinda like him now.)



The other day I installed the bulkheads, got the sump in place and finished off the plumbing.





(What a crazy day today was): OK, time to fire up that big Reeflo Barracuda. Plugged it in, turned on the switch, and water ****es out all over the place! WTF! This ain't right! The water is coming from the housing of the pump itself. It had come from the factory with the nuts not tightened. Easy fix, though. I tightened the nuts and turned it on again: no leaks!

[Lance]

Then I farted around for the better part of an hour adjusting the gate valves from the drains and the Barracuda, until I had the tank and sump water levels where I wanted them. That was when I found a leak. One of the unions was leaking, so I took it back to the plumbing supplier and got another one. This one was fine. I found another small drip on a PVC connection, but a small dab of Oatey FIX-it Stick cured that.

Everything was running nicely, so I took the time to add sand and live rock to the sump.



There was a bit of a problem with micro bubbles, even though the sump has 4baffles; so I took a large piece of filter floss and folded it nicely in between 2 of the baffles. No more bubbles. Great! So, then I took a coffee break, and while drinking my coffee I hear the pump labouring. I rush back to find that a big piece of filter floss had gotten pulled loose and got sucked into the pump. #%&@!!!! Turned the pump off, disconnected the unions, and took the pump apart. Bloody pump is so powerful it sucked a large piece of floss right off the sheet from about 8" away and at the top of a baffle. Removed the floss, put the pump back together and clamped the floos to the baffle this time: looks kind of silly but does the trick.



So, now it's time to hook-up the skimmer. Can't wait to see how this big guy performs. It's an MR-3 with dual Becketts powered by an Iwaki MD-70RLT. I have the skimmer on top of a Large PVC tower so that it is sitting above the water level.

[Lance]

Man, I love this skimmer! Bubble Heaven! And I don't even know what I'm doing with it yet. I'm adjusting the gate valve from the pump to the skimmer and the gate valve from the skimmer to the sump and the needle valves and everything I do the bubbles just come faster and harder. So, finally I just open the gate valve from the pump wide open and adjust the needle valves and I get some real nice froth. These pics were taken immediately after turning on the pump, with the gate valve from the pump almost closed. I'll get some pics up tomorrow with the valve wide open.

[Mrfish55]

Looking good Lance, hows the noise on the return pump? I'm going to have to stop by and check things out.

[marie]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Looking good Lance, hows the noise on the return pump? I'm going to have to stop by and check things out.

Me too

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Looking good Lance, hows the noise on the return pump? I'm going to have to stop by and check things out.

For a large pump, it's not too bad. The Iwaki running the skimmer is actually noisier. They're both in a closet so they don't bother anyone.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by marie

Me too

Absolutley. On a side note, was everybody happy with our frag order.

[Mrfish55]

I am happy with what I got, nice coloring and great polyp extension, hopefully they grow quick as I have some catching up to do (dropped by Maries and saw her tank-STUNNING!) How did you make out with your new additions?