Upgrade in Process!

[Tricina]

We started this in January 2021 to go from a total of 100 gallons of individual saltwater tanks to this larger about 500 gallon system! we have two 210 tanks and massive 125 sump. I say 500 because of the roughly half filled sump tank... I took a couple weeks researching aquarium room designs and finally made up my mind on a layout, the room is an 18 foot by 11 foot space where our home filtration is at and laundry room. I have been homing coral and fish and copepods and microalgae and phyto already to be able to get this beast going. We currently have one of the displays up and the sump in. I got the phyto and copepods and microalgae in place in the sump with crushed coral and still have to hook up the two dosing machines and finish fixing the RODI system (total pain in the ass) I was told to put this build in here so now yall get to enjoy my headaches along with me! I have so many smaller tanks holding these guys and it is seriously a 12 hour work day trying to manually keep up with the levels to keep everyone happy! 

 

The RODI on a well.... headache. There is so much sediment its costing more than the tank (almost exaggerating). We are waiting for the whole home sediment filter to come in so we can try and save on the filters for the RODI system, hopefully. It runs about 8 hours and sediment filter is full currently and we added a second sediment filter to try and keep up with the sediment. We have run into so many headache with this thing and already moved things around a few times trying to understand the pressure and what goes where and why certain things cannot go where... (pictures are not of the current layout for the RODI)

 

Framework... not as bad as we thought! we have some adjusting to do with the wall side still to get a seamless look, one tank is taller and other is longer, both 210 gallons. the taller tank will be with corals and the longer will be fish only (though I have contemplated putting in "evasive corals and microalgae" in there to give it some color even if the fish will eat it or trim it back some)

 

Rockscape..... Still got glue and mortar and epoxy all over me.... COMPLETE PAIN trying to do negative scaping lol this scape has been built 4 or 5 times because it kept breaking! 3 year olds and rockscape do not mix well, neither do tired worn out mamas trying to get to work early to be done early lol End result looks pretty good and we are happy with it. 

 

Plumping and sump - PAIN we had a leak.... one of the returns had a drip and then a spot we designated for copepods and phyto in the sump had a leak and now copepods and phyto are all through the system lol cycling the coral side with copepods and phyto makes for a messy cloudy look! After it took us 5 days to finally finish filling the sump and first display, we were not going to empty the tank to try again.... just going with it for now as we have one more 210 to get into place after I can get the fish into this coral display. As you can see there are smaller tanks taking up the spot where the second display is going..... I am running out of room lol

 

As soon as these two displays go up and are running, we are going to finish building out the aquarium room and FINALLY make what is currently our bedroom into a home office/library. hopefully this wont take much longer.... 

[YHSublime]

Hello, and welcome to WAMAS! That's a lot of water, have you kept reef tanks before?! 

[Tricina]

Hello, and welcome to WAMAS! That's a lot of water, have you kept reef tanks before?! 

Thanks for the warm welcome, yes it is a lot of water. Yes I have had reef tanks before. Quite a few of them now actually. Do I need to post my credentials now? I am fairly new to reefing, but aquatic life in general, far from new. I have a fairly good grip on what to expect, how to roughly manage what situations, learning about the personality of different corals still as every species has their behavioral differences just like the subspecies. It’s a fun task to break down the differences and how to make everything thrive instead of just survive. I decided to fully embrace this large system in January, got tired of the micro management on the smaller tanks. Been testing at least every other day to make sure everything is as it should be for all the life in each individual tank. It would be nice to finally only test one system and just adjust a dosing machine instead.


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[lynn.reef.nerd]

yo! You're on WAMAS! Can't wait to see the progress here. 

[Tricina]

yo! You're on WAMAS! Can't wait to see the progress here. 

Lol blame Aaron for that one, he told me about this group and site and such lol


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[wildcrazyjoker81]

36 minutes ago, Tricina said:

Lol blame Aaron for that one, he told me about this group and site and such lol


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I'll take the blame. Looking forward to watching this system grow and fill in.

[Tricina]

I'll take the blame. Looking forward to watching this system grow and fill in.

May need you and Lynn’s help for reminders to post updates, I won’t lie, it’s hard to remember that others want to watch the build out!


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[YHSublime]

1 hour ago, Tricina said:

Yes I have had reef tanks before. Quite a few of them now actually. Do I need to post my credentials now?  

 

Woah, wasn't insinuating that at all, just asking a question and trying to learn more about your build. It's not often somebody shows up with 500 + gallons on post #1. Anyways, looking forward to watching you build continue to grow. Cheers. 

 

[Tricina]

29 minutes ago, YHSublime said:

 

Woah, wasn't insinuating that at all, just asking a question and trying to learn more about your build. It's not often somebody shows up with 500 + gallons on post #1. Anyways, looking forward to watching you build continue to grow. Cheers. 

 

Sorry still getting use to this forum as I just joined today lol was on fb where everyone is a critic and always knows everything even though they contradict themselves all the time lol I do apologize! I do agree post number one with a massive build is odd, didn’t know about this place till just recently! Glad to be here now though!!

[howaboutme]

Yes, has to be the best 1st post ever!  Welcome.

 

I'm a lurker on FB on a few reef groups and all I can do is smh. It is great for viewing nice photos, getting ideas, buying/selling, etc. But not so much for obtaining advice. Good luck!

[Tricina]

Just now, howaboutme said:

Yes, has to be the best 1st post ever!  Welcome.

 

I'm a lurker on FB on a few reef groups and all I can do is smh. It is great for viewing nice photos, getting ideas, buying/selling, etc. But not so much for obtaining advice. Good luck!

Ya the advice is an anxiety attack waiting to happen! Thanks for the warm welcome!! I am glad to be here indeed!! ?

[DaJMasta]

That is an impressive system!  I imagine the headache of having it plumbed together will payoff as a lot of extra stability and one less sets of dosing and testing.  The aquascape looks great, too, one of those ones that has more of a FOWLR look when it first gets put in, but when you have corals encrusting and branching from all of it, I'd expect it to fill in quite well.

[Tricina]

That is an impressive system!  I imagine the headache of having it plumbed together will payoff as a lot of extra stability and one less sets of dosing and testing.  The aquascape looks great, too, one of those ones that has more of a FOWLR look when it first gets put in, but when you have corals encrusting and branching from all of it, I'd expect it to fill in quite well.

Thanks for the welcome!! The scape will actually have more on the coral side as I am building some “float scape to go along the back as well as soon as I figure out either strong enough magnets or a way to secure them. Still debating on this idea of float scape lol


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[therootcause]

Great looking scape.


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[Tricina]

Great looking scape.


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Thanks! I am hoping it looks just as good when growing in!!


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[Tricina]

Still cycling as we hang the lights and hook up the dosing system and auto top off tank.... we also repairs the leaks in the sump baffles as well. I need more coffee. One thing we also did : we incorporated and are now officially a company... now I get to figure out how to do the rest of starting up a business lol!

Did I say I need more coffee? And a babysitter?


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[lynn.reef.nerd]

Congratulation on the business. Once you get going, you should consider sponsoring WAMAS as a vendor. If you need any information, feel free to contact any of our officers.

 

Cheers!

[Tricina]

Congratulation on the business. Once you get going, you should consider sponsoring WAMAS as a vendor. If you need any information, feel free to contact any of our officers.
 
Cheers!

I most certainly would love the idea to sponsor this place! Once I finish with all the paperwork I need to do, I will certainly be getting into touch with y’all. Right now my mind is only working on “what is the next thing I need to do!”


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[Tricina]

Update - added a lowboy to the system and didn’t get the flow exactly right on the valves it seems, had a spill over last night, it seems the flow changed some during the night some how?

What are some ways yall combat this on your lowboys? Is there a way to rig up an emergency flow to a low boy?


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[AlanM]

did you drill it yourself and add bulkheads?  How many drains does it have and how much are you putting in?

[Tricina]

did you drill it yourself and add bulkheads?  How many drains does it have and how much are you putting in?

It came drilled with the bulkheads and was a used tank. It has a single drain in it. The pump is split evenly (same length hose) between two 210 and the one 50g frag tank. I have the pump turned down all the way now. It is a SYNCRA SDC 7.0 WIFI CONTROLLABLE PUMP 800-1900 GPH - SICCE so on the lowest setting with the 2.5 foot rise it should be still about 800gph for all three tanks (470 gallons)

Once I figure out the overflow issue, I can run it at this and it does not increase the volume in the tanks. The drain if fully open and on a 1 inch hose where the supply is now closed to half till I can try and figure out an emergency relief valve. I placed in some extra power heads to keep water flow moving within the tank.


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[Tricina]

So news update, we had a lightening strike hit the home in the beginning/middle of may?? … all sorts of damage. It hit the direct tv box and came into the home and did a lot of damage apparently. We have been busy fixing the odds and ends as a result of the strike. Had to replace pumps (even septic), fans, a light, we lost a tv(the main one) all our direct tv boxes, all of the routers (it’s connected to the satellite), somethings not right with the ac and hopefully someone is going to check it here soon. (Friend of the family having to wait for reply) . So much damage to odds and ends things like the microwave that stopped working then worked then stopped… replaced now lol I don’t do creepy…

Bottom line.

I am worn the H-E-double hockey sticks out. I was hit by the strike too and haven’t really had the chance to go to the dr with all of this! Not cheap at all! My shoulder is down right killing me from where I was hit…

Good news, everyone is still very much alive and well lol major catastrophe adverted. Someone please send me coffee and a masseuse!!


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[YHSublime]

What a strange event, is this something insurance will cover?

[Tricina]

What a strange event, is this something insurance will cover?

No they don’t cover lightening strike damage - already checked before. Direct tv has offered to replace things since it came in through their dish, that helped with most of the items, but some items we still have to try and see as it’s been now over a month in finding out they were also damaged.