My 1st Father's Day Gift

[astiesi]

Well, I finally have some progress to report...

I ordered 50 lbs or dry rock and 10 lbs of LR from marcorocks.com. It arrived 48 hours after ordering and was packed flawlessly. Each piece of LR, 10 lbs gave me 2 pieces, was individually wrapped in wet paper, then in large plastic zip bags, then in a large black plastic bag. There was enough bubble wrap to survive a 5 story fall. Both pieces did not have so much as a pebble broken off in transit. The 50 lbs of dry rock was packed similarly, minus the individual packing and wet paper. Out of 50 lbs I ended up with only a small handful of pieces which broke off in transit. I was very pleased with the service and would recomment this seller for anybody looking to buy rock online.

On 10/10 I was finally able to get water in the tank! I dropped in a few raw deli shrimp and the cycle is progressing. Last reading showed NH3 at 1.0 and NO2 still at 0. Will be testing again tonight. I'll also be posting a picture as there is finally something to take a picture of.

On Thursday the lighting will arrive. I've joined the T5 club and ended up with the 6x39W Nove Extreme Pro unit. I know there are units out there with better reflectors but right now the cost of these units is beyond my budget. I like the NEP for the active cooling. I spent a little extra and got a few upgraded bulbs...started with 2 Geissman Aqua Blue +'s.

I also got a Refractometer as a birthday gift from my brother...can't believe I survived with the swing-arm this long. Very cool tool.

[falhiem]

I was wondering if you could provide a picture of the Marco Rock? I am considering purchasing 100 lbs of it and would like to see what you got.

Thanks

[tnwillia]

Wow your plumbing looks great. It will make your life much easier down the road. Off to a great start!

[astiesi]

Here are some pictures of the tank, a little over 2 weeks into the cycle. Lights should be delivered tomorrow. Falhiem, all the rock you see was ordered from marcorocks.com. You see two pieces of live rock (about 10lbs) on the top of each tower. Everything else is their dry base rock (about 50lbs).

Tom, the plumbing looks nice but I'm still having problems with noise. The overflow itself is quiet but the water rushing sound in the PVC drain is louder than I expected. I may have to try to insulate the pipes. Not sure what else to try.

[nightfire76]

probably making alot of noise because the piping is so wide.a trip to lowes or home depot to get insulation might help alot,depending on the type you get of course,maybe also play with cutting off the flow a bit with the valves you installed,but looking good so far

[BigAl07]

Looks GREAT! MarcoRock sure does have a nice look and feel to it

I know that occasionally I'll have to "Tweak" a valve to stop the "Rushing Water" sound in my PVC. The trick is to make THAT silent without causing it to either GURGLE or RUSH somewhere else. It will happen over time.. or at least mine did...

[astiesi]

Hey Al, I've messed around with the valve a few times, I just don't like the idea of closing off the drain lines. I got it to run almost silent once but the valves on the drains were almost fully closed. The reason I chose the 1500 kit was for the redundancy of the drains. If I match return flow to possible drain flow I'm not leaving much room for error.

[BigAl07]

This is very true. I'm not sure how you would quieten the sound without sacrificing the "redundancy" of your system.

[astiesi]

Well in an attempt to fix one problem, I have improved another. I added 2 90 degree elbows to the end of the drain lines just under the water level. This change had the desired effect of reducing the amount of bubbles in the sump but it also quieted the drain lines down quite a bit. Things still aren't silent but they are much improved.

Also, my latest test results (Tuesday night) showed the NH3 level to be 0 and the NO2 level to be 0.25. I am hoping that by this weekend both levels will read 0 and I'll be able to start moving livestock over. I'll provide a picture update tonight.

[nstiesi]

They quieted it down because the elbows added backpressure to the drain.

[astiesi]

Well, the cycle is complete and as of Wednesday the plan was for a water change on Saturday and then it was going to be time to transfer the livestock. However, I found a "shocking" problem Wednesday night (yeah, yeah...couldn't resist). Basically, the used Mag 9.5 is leaking voltage into the tank. I measured about 40V with the pump turned on, 0 with all other equipment. After looking locally and getting $140+ quotes for a new pump, I ordered online and won't get the new return pump till next week.

So, everything is on hold this weekend. I'm still having the microbubble problem...I'm actually hoping that a new return pump will make a difference since I have tried just about everything else to eliminate the problem.

I did finish building a couple screen tops for the tank as well as changed out the power outlet with a quality GFCI outlet. The NEP fixture also came in and is sitting on top of the tank...I'm impressed so far but I'll reserve any recommendations until after I see the effect it has on my coral. I'll take some update pictures this weekend and post them.

[BigAl07]

I wonder if the Mag 9.5 is TOO much? I know if I turn my Mag18 all the way on HIGH it (somehow) causes bubbles in the display even though the water level is 12" above the pump. I can only assume that the water movement is so strong that it's pulling the bubbles under/over BOTH bubble traps instead of allowing the water to "Dwell" long enough for them to settle out. Just a guess...

[astiesi]

Al, I thought the same thing but I reduced the flow to next to nothing using the ball valves and still had bubbles getting pushed into the tank. Maybe I should have went with a Mag 7...too late now I guess, its on its way.

[nstiesi]

Just a thought....which valves did you turn. Have you tried reducing the flow via the return valves, not the drain valves?

Oh, and "shocking", that was terrible. I am dissappointed in you, young Jedi.

[astiesi]

I was using the return valves to reduce the flow from the pump...