MitchReef's Reef...well the current one at least....

[Big K]

It will be....I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks and will get it finished up after that....just don't really want to stock it up until I return...new tank and livestock + away for 9 days = too much anxiety.....

If you come to town you should get in touch....I would be glad for you to see it in person!!!!

We may have to take you up on that, Mitch!

 

[NathanMI]

I really like your sump design. I may do that myself. Idk if ill have enough room in a 50 though. I would like to get a skimmer I can plumb outside my sump and then use your design for the box the feed and return go to.

 

[MitchReef]

You ought to have enough room in a 50, especially if you go with the skimmer outside the sump.

BigK, just let me know when you're going to be down this way...we are on the opposite side of the city from Disney, but you will be close to WorldWideCorals....

 

[MitchReef]

I got all the rockwork done...I think....I like it but still haven't decided if it's "the one" I also made the bracket for my ATO floats and got that running....I made the bracket for the Fuge light and got it painted so I need to install that this week....I am having issues with my camera and the LEDs...the pictures were all coming out really grainy and generally BAD!!!!!! I set my White Balance by evaluation, which is the best I can do with my camera....I will put up a picture of the scape when I get a decent picture....

 

[NathanMI]

I'm looking forward to pictures!

 

[2XAl]

Can't wait to see it! Wish I had some advice for LED photography.

 

[MitchReef]

I think I need a better camera....but that WILL have to wait....

 

[MitchReef]

A friend came over tonight with a much nicer camera than mine, and he was able to get a great shot of the tank as it currently stands....the brown stuff is diatoms, they will go away soon :)


You cannot tell from the picture, but there are roughly a million caves and
swim throughs....I will be adding about an inch and a half to two inches of sand, it just hasn't been able to happen yet....

He also brought an Apogee MQ-200 PAR meter and I measured the light from the LEDs. Apogee says the meter underreports the PAR readings from LEDs between 4.2% for Cool Whites to 10.7% for Royal Blue. Anyway, the readings directly from the meter with days and blues on full power were:

Just peeking out of the top of the water I got 1950 PAR
Just below the surface was 1650 PAR
Top of major rockwork (about 10" from the water surface) 440 PAR
Bottom glass 225 PAR

Not too shabby for $179 shipped in a 24" deep tank....

 

[kbuser92]

Pretty good.

 

[NathanMI]

That looks good! How do you plan on adding sand with the water in without making a mess? I've never tried that before. Good luck with the diatoms!

 

[MitchReef]

It's not that hard. I will put it around the rocks best I can then let the natural flow of the tank put it where it ends up....that's what ends up happening in the long run anyway....

 

[NathanMI]

That's true. Thank you.

 

[MitchReef]

I'm going to help a friend do final setup and plumbing on his new tank today....If I have time I will be opening up the ventilation return cutout for the room's ceiling so I can get the air moving....the room has been hovering about 81 degrees and I need that heat and additional humidity controlled....that and the fuge light install are really the only big things I am aiming at for this weekend...I will be leaving on vacation next weekend and will be gone for a week....then I hope to have the silly box of water done with cycle and ready for livestock....It is getting treacherously close to being a baby reef....

 

[NathanMI]

How long until your cycle is done? Mine took almost 2 months!

 

[MitchReef]

I'm done but I started with cycled, cured, working Live Rock with no die-off needed...That's the advantage of putting rock directly from a working clean tank directly into the new tank....I threw 2 big pinches of pellet food in it and got no ammonia spike this time!!!

 

[NathanMI]

I cured my live rock in the system first then added some food for cycling. I'm upgrading my sump from a 20g 200gph return to a 50g with a 800gph return. I have rock curing in the garage for it!

 

[MitchReef]

I have the trimwork for the living room painted and curing to go up before bed tonight and I got my Two-Part dosing system up and running. I opened up the hole above the tank so now I have actual air conditioning in the tank room...it's really quite nice in there now...I need to add a doorscrub to the bottom of the room door and I think it will be quite nice in there...I didn't hang the fuge light yet but may still get it done this evening, dunno....

I am leaving next Saturday for a week away so the project will be on a brief hold, but I believe I will have nice Bahamas Aragonite sand waiting when I get home....With a few little exceptions I will then change the gist of the thread from a build thread to the beginnings of a Reef thread!!!! And in just 5 Months!!!!

 

[MitchReef]

Added the door sweep to the bottom of the door and it's pretty much a read door now!!!! I put the trimwork around the tank so the Living Room looks pretty much complete, still need to caulk the trimwork and touch it up, but that's easy stuff....

I need to go in and hang the fuge light, the bracket is ready and the light even attached to it....just need to actually mount the silly thing an it will be done.....I'm quite pleased with everything....once the diatoms pass I will be ready to start stocking I believe....

Getting there....

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

Don't tease us! You are going on vacation first. But, what is your stocking list (sorry if I asked before, I'm addle minded sometimes).

 

[2XAl]

The anticipation is killing me, I can only imagine what it's doing to you. Obviously it's my obsession with the hobby but I find empty tanks sadder than orphaned puppy dogs. I have a 30 that I got as a hand me down in my dining room just itchin to be filled for some reason or another.