My Wife's the Greatest <3

[z nano reefer]

Hello fellow reefaholics,
For about 6 years now I have been progressing from a 14 gal bio cube to a RedSea 130 D which is filled to the Max with corals and fish. So last week my Wife took me to my favorite LFS and surprised me with a custom stand and tank she had them make for me. Holy Crap, does it get any better!.
So I figure while I gather all the rest of the equipment needed I will chronicle this build and ask you guys for help , since I never dealt with a sump before. So here it goes
It's a Deep Blue 90 Gal drilled tank with a nice cherry wood cabinet, she included the Eshopps 200 sump and the pump , and then proceeded to tell me she had the place order 2 78 watt Cree LED fixtures with dimmers. My jaw dropped, boy do I owe her big time. So to recap I just ordered 50 lbs of Pulkani dry rock from BRS, being that I have about 50 lbs already in my current tank to transfer over, Hopefully 100lbs should be enough, what do you guys think? and now comes the weekly ordering as I scrape together much needed Reef funds when I can. This will be tricky in this difficult economy. Placed a small order for a couple of valves and misc plumbing parts needed from Marine Depot.
No Skimmer, yet what to buy? Reef Octopus, Bubble Magus,Vertex, ATB, I tech, etc.. the list goes on and on , I need advice so confusing.
I figure it will take at least 1/2 months to get it up and running , then the transfer the inhabitants from the smaller tank into this one.
So here goes.....

wish me luck! only kidding lol...

 

[jjmoneyman]

OMG I love your wife! Happy valentines day!

 

[PSU4ME]

Lucky you!!!!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Congrats beautiful new tank !

 

[DesertOrchid]

Happy Valentines Day eh?!! Awesome set up! You owe her diamonds and I mean BIG diamonds! *L*

 

[jpsika08]

Now, if she got you that, what did you get for her? I think this big tank is just a big message

Welcome to RS

 

[Bearjohnson]

UUMM yea your wife is the greatest and boy does she have an eye for beauty! (Not you the tank LOL)

One of my favorite woods is cherry so you bet I'm jealous. Tell her one of the boys from RS said Super Job!:bluenod:

Congrats on the new tank and by all means keep the pictures coming!

 

[z nano reefer]

Thanks guys, what did I get her, 2 dozen red roses and a promise to keep letting her go shopping when she wants to.. Also I work about 60 hours a week supporting 2 kids in college and 4 cars, a house etc... so I guess she appreciates my hard work and realizes that I love this hobby. I have been keeping fish since 1984. I wish I could afford all the elaborate tanks and equipment you guys have its amazing all your tanks and every time I read another thread about the unbelievable tanks you guys have., I just stare drooling and wishing. So I will try to the best I can with what I have..
Thanks and I'll definitely need your help setting this up

 

[dmatt88]

Dude. Rockstar buy. Hell kiss her from me! U can grow into this slowly just stay on top of waterchanges. Spread the cost over a few months. Fresh salty ro/di water changed weekly will buy u time. Or jump in n go nuts. Works for me! Congrats!

,......im Matt n i support this message

 

[steved13]

Congrats on the new Tank!!! And the great wife.

 

[z nano reefer]

Thanks Matt, your tanks are amazing, and I love reading your threads... yeah I have the ro/di set up in the basement and religiously change 10% water weekly in my RSM 130 . I try to practice good water management My coral growth in my small 130D have been great and this is what I'll be transferring over..

 

[jjmoneyman]

Your tank looks great. It's a shame to break it down but you're obviously out of room for more coral. You've got a keeper so don't let her go!

 

[dmatt88]

No problem moving things over to a bigger tank ill walk u thru it. Problem is ur gonna need more corals. Oh dear whatta ya do? Aha. I'd make Myreeftoyours a favorite site! U have skills buddy.

,......im Matt n i support this message

 

[Blue Space]

That tank is gonna be swe-e-e-et! It really is a beautiful stand. I'll be watching your build thread for sure!

 

[phantom2991]

i made my husband read this thread. hopefully he gets some good ideas from it. lol!

 

[tommyboynj]

Wow. Now that's a nice gift.

 

[z nano reefer]

Thanks, Steve, Mark,Juan, Joe and anybody else I'm missing, you guys encourage & inspire me in this hobby. Yeah I know my wife's the greatest, who else can say they were totally surprised like I was with a perfect present like that. She really gets me, and it helps being married to your best friend for 26 years. she even rearranged the living room furniture so we could fit this in there so i can appreciate viewing this amazing tank in my living room & best yet she placed a leather recliner in front of this so I can kick back and enjoy.
you guys have any thoughts on a skimmer to put in my sump? and is it necessary to put a gate or ball valve on the sump feed line? My LFS says I don't need to do it
what do you think...

 

[jjmoneyman]

Do you NEED to put a gate valve on the sump feed line? nope. I put ball valves on everything though. I've never had the need to use it but if ever comes the day when I want to, it is there.

There are quite a lot good skimmers out there, and even more crappy ones. In my opinion go with one that is rated for 2X your tank volume, then add some extra. I actually run 2 skimmers on my system, I like redundancy on everything.

 

[z nano reefer]

Thanks for the info- whats the difference between a needle/pin wheel skimmer and a recirculating skimmer and which is better?

 

[jpsika08]

These are two different parts on the same skimmer

The Recirc means that there is a pump recirculating water in the skimmer's cone.
The pin wheel is the impeller type that goes in this recirc pump of the skimmer and helps produce bubbles.

Most skimmer have the recirc pump and these pump have the pin wheel impeller