Reef Journal - First Build Ever!

[vox]

This is my first post on these forums and I wanted to send out a big "Hello" to the Atlanta Reef Community!

I live just north of Atlanta in Woodstock and have a growing family that includes my wife, four kids, one bipolar cat, one guinea pig, four hamsters, and soon... a reef aquarium.

I have wanted to build a salt water aquarium for the past 20 years or so and have decided to take the veritable plunge this year. :yes: I had an aquarium as a child and raised guppies but this will be my first try at building a reef.

As I build this reef I thought that it would be fun to post my progress. That way. Hopefully these posts will be fun for you and educational to me and others that are moving down the same path.

 

[drnecropolis]

Welcome.. We love pics

 

[vox]

Getting Started:

I started out at the local fish store, Marine Fish in East Cobb, as they were about to have their big annual sale and I figured that was the best way to start. Kyle spent (literally) hours with me helping me figure everything out (thanks Kyle!) and I ended up with a BIG list of toys.

Then it was off to the Internet to research all-in-one aquarium solutions. I wanted an all-in-one because (1) I like the mini-reef look and (2) they are tidy. This aquarium will be in my home office and very visible from the side so I didn't want a lot of tubes, lines, and pumps hanging off of the back of the aquarium. I really liked the idea of a box aquarium with no seams at the corners and decided on a Red Sea Max 130D.

I'll have 34 gallons to work with (29 in front and 5 gallons back where the pumps and skimmers go) so that gives me a bit of wiggle room for water parameters. Initially I was thinking of going with a 14 gallon solution but decided that 34 would work out much better for me in the long run. I picked the black stand as it matched the color of the unit and put in my order with Marine Fish off of Johnson Ferry Road.

 

[dannybradley]

The best investment you can make is an Atlanta Reef Club membership. It will save you at least 10% at sponsor stores.

Marine Fish is a great store, and offer a 30% discount during the week.

Mon-Fri: ARC discount is 30% off livestock and 20% off drygoods
Weekends: ARC discount is 10% off everything

Good luck with your build.

 

[vox]

Aquarium arrives:

A week later and my RSM130D arrived! I got the call on Thursday morning and had the tank in my car just after lunch. It was tricky getting the main tank part into my car (it's small) but with a bit of tweaking it finally fit. The main tank was a LOT heavier than I thought it would be and I was lucky to get it from my car to my office solo and without damaging me or it.

I unboxed everything later that night and got the empty tank positioned on the stand. I positioned it 3 1/4" away from the wall and near an outlet. I didn't push it right up against the wall as I wanted to leave some room for ventilation if I find out that I need a chiller. I don't want to move this thing as it is supposed to weigh 440 lbs once full. It is centered on the wall and very visible from the hallway and kitchen/breakfast nook.

So far I'm impressed with the instructions and build quality of this tank. :up: It took about an hour to put the stand together and another hour to set up all the pumps/lights/cords etc. No sand/rock/water yet but the empty stand is looking good and it is bigger than I thought it was going to be from the pictures.

 

[vox]

The best investment you can make is an Atlanta Reef Club membership.

I'm planning on doing that!

 

[vox]

Rocks:

So, I have my aquarium set up and now I need rocks and sand!

I picked up 28 lbs of live rock from Marine Fish during their sale. Most of it is Carribean and four of the pieces fit together really nicely. If I balance things just right I can have a structure that is as tall as it is wide. I was inspired by this thread: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/general-reef-aquarium-discussion/44055-rockwork.html">http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/general-reef-aquarium-discussion/44055-rockwork.html</a>.

I went to Home Depot and bought 1/2" pvc and a 5/8" masonry bit intending to peg this together. I also bought some HoldFast by MarineLand to help hold things together. As I was stacking the rock up on our driveway I decided that the pegging looked way to difficult for me to pull off and discovered that it my design was actually fairly stable without pegs.

For the bottom of the tank I bought a thin piece of acrylic and cut it to fit. I decided not to go with a plenum or use egg-crate on the bottom.

I brought my rock into my office and set them down on a big beach towel. I put the rock into the aquarium piece by piece and cut my stick of HoldFast up into about 10 small chunks and used that to help stick the four pieces together in a way that looked right. I then set up two nice big pieces of Fiji rock to the left and put in 20 lbs of live sand (CaribSea Arag-Alive). I let this all sit for about an hour to give the HoldFast plenty of time to firm up.

I ended the night with pouring all of my salt water (I had three five gallon jugs) into the tank. I set up a bowl in the corner of the tank and poured the water into that, then fished out the bowl.

The rock-stacking and restacking and restacking took me about 2 hours and was a blast.

 

[vox]

More water:

So now I have a tank with rocks and 1/2 full of water. I need more water containers!

Back to the LFS and I pick up three more water containers with salt water. I also pick up salt (Oceanic Sea Salt Mix 50 gal), and a bunch of starter supplies. Now I have six 5 gallon jugs and this should give me enough water to go a month between trips to the LFS. I'm planning to use RO/DI water from my LFS.

Here's what I'm figuring:
- change 10% weekly, so 3.4 gallons a week or ~15 gallons a month
- top off with fresh water, I'm guessing a few gallons a week of evaporation so ~15 gallons a month

Six should be the right number for me and also give me the space to drain my tank almost completely into these jugs if I need to do that.

 

[vox]

Redo the rock!

I found some great looking rock today and decided to redo my stacking! :doh:

The Fiji rock on the left side didn't quite look right to me and I found this great piece of Tonga (I think) that I can put in-front of the Fiji. I can't keep all of the Fiji so sold back the larger 4lb piece to a LFS. If I had a BIG tank there was some amazing Marshall Island rock but my 34 gallon is just too small for all of that great rock! i really like my four piece Carribean sculpture and now with the Tonga next to it and the Fiji behind it is really looking nice.

I got all the rock in, the water in, the salinity dailed in (it was too low because I goofed up and put 1/2 cup per jug instead of 1/2 cup per gallon. , and my temperature adjusted to a stable 79 degrees F.

The water is really starting to clear up now that I have the pumps going so I'll take some pictures.

 

[harleyguy]

First off welcome... Secondly you will find that http://www.photobucket.com">www.photobucket.com</a> is your friend and it will make us your friends as well... We live for pictures....

Thanks

 

[vox]

Uploading pix to Photobucket now. hoto:

 

[basscyn]

Welcome!
:cheers:

Looking forward to the build pics

 

[vox]

Awesome Barbara, that would be great! I want a snake but my wife said if a snake arrives she leaves. :tongue:

Also, I did join so now I'm a bona-fide member. :shades:

Seems that I can only edit posts that I made "while" I was a member. So these are the pix for the above posts...

 

[vox]

Pictures:

Here's my first attempt at stacking rocks on the driveway. I decided I didn't like the Fiji on top as the entire thing looked too round to me.

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Here's a good look at the final "sculpture". It's hard to see that columns once all the water is in but you can see it pretty well here...

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The bowl in the corner stopped the sand from going everywhere.

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This is the formation with all the Fiji on the left. It didn't blend as well as I wanted so I ended up moving things around.

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Here's how things look now from a few different angles. First from straight on:

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Now moving to the left corner:

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Now moving to the right corner:

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And head to toe.

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[cr500_af]

I think half of the ARC lives in Acworth or Woodstock.

Looking good so far! I hope you didn't have the rock out of water TOO long so you don't get a lot of die-off.

 

[vox]

Looking good so far!

Thanks for the good word!:thanks:

I hope you didn't have the rock out of water TOO long so you don't get a lot of die-off.

I kept the rock wet except for the two hours I was stacking and letting the putty dry. The rock was still moist, just not wet during that time. I'm hoping nothing important died.

 

[vox]

I think half of the ARC lives in Acworth or Woodstock.

Heck yeah! That's where all the cool people are!

Nice! It's good to have friends close by.

 

[vox]

OMG! And we both have OCD. We may have been separated at birth!?!?!?! Are you in your early 40s???

Guilty as charged on both counts.

I'm sure I'll see you guys at the next ARC meeting. I was going to go to this last one but didn't have anything set up yet and had a little league baseball game to attend.

 

[vox]

Here are my notes from trying to figure out whether to buy a RO/DI unit or buy LFS RO/DI water.

Initial equipment cost of RO/DI unit and parts:
- Pure-Flo2: $188.99
- ESU Float Kit: $28
- Drinking Water Kit (so I can use this for drinking water as well), 3 gallon pressurized (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~YSP5531.html">http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~YSP5531.html</a>) $160
- Various valves/etc: $10
Total: ~$400

Maintenance cost:
- Deionization cartridge $40 (replace every 6 mo) = $80
- Micron cartridge $7 (replace every 6 mo) = $14
- Carbon block $7 (replace every 6 mo) = $14
- TFC replacement membrane $90 (replace every 2.5 years) = $36
Annual total cost ~ $144

Salt mix is $0.30/gallon

Can buy RO/DI salt water from LFS for $1 per gallon.

Water use:
- change 10% of the water weekly, this is 3.4 gallons x 52 = ~177 gallons of salt per year
- fresh water topoff, this is minimal (say 1 gallon per week) = 52 gallons of fresh per year

Total water purchase: $177 + $26 = $203 annually

Compare this with water filter cost of $144 + salt of (177 @ .30) $53 = $197

Basic difference of $6 per year but with an upfront cost of $400 I have a breakeven of $400/6 = 66 years.

Conclusion: Go with store bought water. :up:

 

[vox]

If I can save money over time I'm definitely willing to install a RO/DI unit but it needs to pay for itself over the span of a few years.