DeLucs' 25 Gallon Bowfront Journey

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DeLuca414

New Member
So I guess I'll officially start a build thread for my tank.

Well it has been setup as a freshwater tank (it was given to me, so its only temporary lol) as of February 20th 2014.

Its a 25 gallon bowfront that my was left in an apartment in my building and my property manager gave it to me lol. Heres a couple pics of how it sits right now.




Tank itself is in pretty good condition, couple scratches here and there. Meh I can't complain it was free lol. The stand is dinged up and scratched bad lol, little bit of an eye sore. So I might build a stand, maybe lol

Well to get on with it, I have ordered a few things to get my saltwater gears in motion, so in the next upcoming weeks I will be getting my equipment and hopefully, HOPEFULLY start my reef by the end of the month. So stay tuned!
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
so I picked up some live sand for the tank last night. I got two 1 gallon containers full still in saltwater, not sure if it'll still be alive when i actually setup the tank but it was cheap and should be more than enough for my tank.



and this morning my pleco was just chilling there with one of the plant just sitting on his head, didnt have a care in the world lol




stay tuned, some more stuff will be arriving shortly:eek:lsmile:
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
well I got something in the mail today for my tank.....can anyone guess what it is?




yup thats right, a new mp10es .....well not new, bought it used but it works awesome. I've never had an mp10 before, nor have i ever seen one. When I opened up the box I was like this thing is $235 brand new...its tiny.

Once I tried it on the tank, I fell in love hahaha its a beast.



some wave action there lol.

I dont think the freshwater fish liked it to much, and the fake plants flew everywhere lol.

Question about the mp10 tho, does the cord have to go upwards? can I let it hang down?

so stay tuned, should be getting a couple more packages shortly.
 
goma

goma

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
I think you'll find that if you don't put the cord upwards, supported by a tie strap and the sticky pad, the dry side will eventually fall down.
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
whippetguy said:
following along
Click to expand...

Thanks :)

got a couple other things for my tank yesterday. Took a couple quick shots with my camera phone, sorry for the quality.




i got a reefkeeper elite with 2 pc4s, sl1, temp probe, ph probe, the hub and i also got a refractometer.

its a little bit disorganized right now but i will organize it soon
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
hey everybody, its been a couple weeks since i last updated but i had a slight change of plans.....i just bought a drilled Biocube 29 with stand,10 gal sump, mag 5 return, and a almost new sicce voyager 4 powerhead. i got it all for $100 :pBJ: o he also gave me a box of dry rocks, sump light and said once its finished cycling hes going to hook me up with a couple frags from his 120gal tank. Im pretty pumped right now.

over the past couple weeks i noticed more and more little things about the bowfront, it has lots of scratches and the silicone is starting to peel off. i checked over the bc29 for scratches and only seen one and it wasnt bad at all.

Here she is,


still needs to be cleaned up a bit, heres the sump


doing a v-bath right now to kill all the coraline. also threw out the crush coral he gave me, since i have sand(and i like sand alot better) but left the crushed coral in the sump.


theres my new baby! i personally like it better than the bowfront, has alot more depth to it and i love cube tanks. i used to have a bc14 and loved it!

stay tuned for more updates to come shortly!
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
Alright! so its been a long couple days, i ran the entire system in a vinegar bath for 2 days to clean everything out.
I set my max water lines on the sump for my fail safes and everything was working good. After I turn everything off, the sump was at a certain height and stayed that way. Except when I left it over night. the water level raised to the rim of the sump. Thank God none spilled over. However after further investigation i found that the "stand pipe" going to the bulk head was not cemented in place, so the water would seep through the drain to the sump veeeeeerrrrryy slowly.



I picked up some pvc cement today and cemented it in place. If my power ever went out I would not want anything overflowing, even if it was very slow.

Here's a pic of everything being cleaned


Her she is all cleaned up and moved to her final resting place. (couldn't get off all the coraline, but managed to get most of it)



I also cleaned out the sump and threw out the rest of the crushed coral.


I also got come new things in the mail in the past couple days,
1) A package from DRS FOSTER N SMITH with my salt mix, API Test kits, RO/DI filters and refractometer calibration solution.
(our kitchen table with all my junk on it lol)


2)Got an RO/DO unit. (the DI, is still on the table it needs to be hooked up)


3) And last but not least a blue box mp10 with a nosiy dry side. (only got it for $100, and I ordered some bearings for it)


Well that's it for now folks, I'm hoping to start making some RO/DI water tomorrow and hopefully start filling her by Monday (trying to wait atleast 24 hours for the pvc cement to cure)
until then,
Have a good one!
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
I almost forgot! The guy I bought the bc29 from insisted that it was made of acrylic when I bought it, but I always thought that biocubes were all made of glass. Maybe the older ones were acrylic? I just wanted to make sure, it sounds like glass when you tap it. I've never had an acrylic tank so I don't really know what to look for in difference. There's a sticker on the bottom of the tank "J10". Possibly a manuf date of July 2010? lol iunno but if someone can let me know that'd be awesome.

thanks
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
Alright, so I got my RO/DI pumping some water right now.

TDS from the facet


TDS coming out of the unit


RO/DI is working great, took about 2 1/2 hrs to get a full 5 gallon bucket.

I currently have 5 gallons in the tank with one gallon of sand in there atm. I will be putting more sand in once it clears a bit, so I can see the depth. Whatever I have left over I will put in the refug.


I'm so excited, one step closer to getting it fully setup. All I have left to buy are some lights, but I will get them closer to when the cycle is done.
 
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DeLuca414

New Member
Alrighty then!

so I finally, FINALLY got everything in and all setup. Here she is ladies and gentlemen.


That picture was taken a couple days ago and since then I have made an attempt to clean up the wiring and hung a LED fixture I just received today.







The LED fixture is a Chinese 55 - 3w Bridgelux running on 3 separate drivers.
driver 1- 12 NW,6 UV,2 Red,4 RB,2 Blue
driver 2- 26 RB
driver 3- 3 moonlights

All LEDs are dimmable and the fixture can be programmed with the built in controller. Very similar the the Reefbreeders or the Evergrow.

Well here she is with everything in its place and setup.



All I have left to actually do is, replace the bearings in my blue box MP10 (eventually going to upgrade it to ES) and to paint the mounting bars for the light fixture black (when it gets a little nicer outside).

I'm really excited to actually have her finally setup and everything running.

Now its the waiting game we allll love and enjoy.

stay tuned for more updates to come.
 
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