Joe's 65 Gallon Aquatic World

J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Tank002.jpg



The plans for the new baby: The plan is to keep it simple.
Sumpless and no closed loops or any other complicated matters will be left for reserve use in the future once I get a little experience under my belt.
Been researching since September, and just now purchased the tank. I'm middle class, so I'm taking things very slow. :)
The plans are at first to go FOWLR, but eventually after my tank has maintained some stability, I will venture into some of the hardier corals.
So far, I've come up with a tentative list that should come together nicely.

* T5 retro lighting for the canopy; 4-6 bulb setup should probably do it
* Protein Skimmer - Since I'm going sumpless, it appears I'm more limited, but I'm leaning towards these choices: AquaC Remora Pro, Tunze DOC 9005 or the Deltec MCE 300.
* Live Rock - 40-45 of live rock; the rest will be some manmade DIY rock that I currently have kuring. Its been kuring for about 2 1/2 weeks now and should be ready by the end of December.
* Flow - Maybe a couple of Seio M620 or Maxi-Jet's of some sort. Are Maxi-Jets a respectable brand?
* Water - I have well water, but I don't trust it too much, so I'm definately going to make an RO/DI system a priority. Purely H20 seems to have a few nice systems that have caught my eye.
* Substrate - Not sure what brand it is or what its called, but if anyone that has been to Aquarium Center down in Randallstown, and are familiar with the 480 gallon display they have, then I'm sure you could help me. The white'ish substrate they have in that tank is what I like. So, whatever that is, is what I would like to go with.
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Performed a water change in my two Rubbermaid kuring totes. This is my sixth complete water change since the 6th of November for my DIY rock. I'm not really sure how much rock this is, but it appears to be quite a bit. This should seed nicely from 45 lbs of live rock. Here is what it looks like with a halfway attempt of "aquascaping" it. :)
Sorry about the first picture; its out in our dark basement so I had some camera issues.

DIYRock2.jpg


DIYRock1.jpg
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
My DIY rock consists of:

1 Part Portland Cement Type I/II
2 - 2.5 Parts Water Softener (rock salt)
Just enough water to create an "oatmeal" type texture.

For a couple small batches I used CaribSea sea floor to create different textures, etc..
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
December 15th, 2006
___________________

Ok.. have a shipment on the way. My Christmas gifts, if you should call them that. Will not have everything I need, but slowly it should come together. The items I have on the way:

AquaC Remora Pro Skimmer, with Rio 1400 pump
(2) Maxi-Jet 900 powerheads
(2) Eheim Jager 100w heaters
Marine Depot Refractometer
Tower Shock Buster 3-Outlet Electrical Cord with Inline GFCI

Ok; with that said, I know I will eventually need more flow. I may eventually perform the MJ mods once I've had my tank up and running for a while, and get ready to start venturing into mushrooms, polyps, etc...

As soon as the items arrive, I will definately post pics. I know how everyone loves new toys. :)
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Got some photos of the new toys. Tax return money is only a month away.. Thank goodness!

Some updates:

I have about 10-20 pounds of my homemade rock being seeded by three pounds of LR (rubble) I purchased from the LFS. I currently have it setup in my nephews old 10g. SG is at 1.025 and the pH is 8.4. Haven't tested anything else; going to let nature takes its course.
Its been setup for one week and I've now noticed little critters and such come out from hiding. It appears there are a few bristleworms and something similiar to a bristleworm, but it is about 1/2 inch long.

There is also a larva like object that moves, and swells up like it wants to bust open. I suspect it will be hatching eventually.
Here is a photo of it.
P1000489.jpg
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Eventually I will be performing the medium flow mods on the Maxi-Jets.
Here are the shrouds I have made for them so far. A Dremel and a somewhat steady hand + a couple of sch 40 PVC couplings from the electrical section in Home Depot.

P1000492.jpg
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Well, I've decided to add a sump to my 65g setup. I purchased a fuge off of "usa_aquarium" off of eBay. There's been alot of speculation on the quality/morality of this said person, but I decided to take a chance. All of the acrylic came cut nice & straight. There were no imperfections and it assembled fairly easily.

Here is the sump/fuge sitting in the stand. AquaC Remora Pro in the back, right. There will eventually be a Mag 5 attached, sitting on the bottom.
P1000507.jpg
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
As you can see, I didn't plan very well. After all the research, planning, etc.. stuff still doesn't seem to come into place. I almost didn't leave enough room to do any plumbing. I was planning on having my return pump, run externally. Once I fitted the finished sump, I realized "Oh $hit!".. no room. So, I had to place my Quiet One 3000 internally. As you can see, after numerous trips to Lowes, I still don't have a clue about how to do plumbing. SO, here is my rigged up attempt to install my return pump, with a way of unclamping the connection, in case I need to replace or clean the return pump.
P1000504.jpg
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Another "... in progress" photo of the return line plumbing. 45 degree elbow, sending the return pipe up the back wall of the aquarium.

P1000502.jpg
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Tank back painted black. Piece of advice: blue painters tape sucks. See the seep-through, even though I pressed it down.. nice.. not

P1000515.jpg
 
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Earlier in my chronicle I posted about my "DIY rock". I've scrapped this plan.
After 10 weeks or so of curing, my nephew placed a couple of small pieces in his 30g freshwater tank for decoration. A week later, fish began to die. Not sure if it was from the DIY rock or not. So, we pulled them out. I'm not taking a chance.
Going with 40-45 lbs of live Fiji, and got some CaribSea base rock to finish it off.
 
Last edited:
J

JOSEPHLB

Member
Steve,

LR is arriving Friday... so only a couple of days now. This tank has been sitting with its "perfectly clear water" since November :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top