I received a box of rocks today.

[NY_Caveman]

UPDATED 12/02/20

BUILD TIME: 3 Years, 2 Month
ROCKS WET: 3 Years
TANK WET: 2 Years, 5 Months


BUILD THREAD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(post # and subject)

JBJ Rimless 30 Saga
2 The Beginning
18 Delivered
24 Crack
28 Dimensions

JBJ Rimless 45 Saga
57 Planning
70 Delivered
78 Dimensions
80 Crack

76 Aiptasia Eradication

JBJ Flat Panel 45 (current build)
99 Planning
141 Delivered
191 Setup and Water Fill
236 Live Rock Added
271 CUC Added
310 Cleaner Shrimp Added
316 First Fish Ordered
334 Pink Streaked Wrasse Added
352 Back Filtration Comparment Details
369 IPSF Order with Bonus Coral
377 LPS Added and Re-Aquascape
441 ATI ICP-OES Results
444 Trip to Manhattan Aquariums
452 Midas Blenny Added
529 Bubble Tip Anemone Added
547 Second Batch of LPS Corals Added
651 Amphiprion Ocellaris Added
745 SPS "Stick" Corals Added
832 Darwin Amphiprion Ocellaris Added
1,008 RAOK 1,000th Post Giveaway
1,216 Montipora Corals Added
1,755 Spotcinctus Clownfish Added
2,081 Geometric Pygmy Hawk Added
2,176 Acanthastrea Added
2,323 Current PAR Measurements
2,465 Lobophyllia Added
2,760 Life Stuff (why I was absent)
2,855 Tank Moving Day
3,385 Tank Crash Recap
3,830 Male Spotcinctus Clown Added
3,837 Cheap, Beautiful Corals Added
4,547 Skyler Tribute
4,614 New Blenny and Pederson's
4,886 Cave-a-palooza 2019
5,158 Bubble Tip Anemone Split
5,327 Cespitularia, Caulastrea Added
5,748 Huge Zoa Pack Added
6,023 More BTA Splits
6,087 RFAs and Sympodium Added
6,104 BTA History and Split Recap
6,136 Shrimp, Crabs, Urchin Added

_____________________

 

[NY_Caveman]

The Beginning

“I received a box of rocks today.”

Only in reef keeping does this statement bring excitement. Perhaps in the diamond industry as well, but our rocks are equally valuable.

I ordered 10 lbs. of dry AquaMaxx Tonga shelf rock from Marine Depot to augment my future live rock aquascape. This would be so boring to most people, but not to us in this forum. As I pored through the collection one word kept popping in my head – potential!

I have to say I am really impressed with this rock. First thought was it seemed like more than 10 pounds. I weighed it though and it is exact which reinforces I am a terrible judge of this metric. Second was the pieces were thicker than I expected. Thin would have been fine, but more brittle for shipping. The pieces are all useable and mostly rectangular to diamond shaped as I had hoped. Some of the smaller pieces are the most unique. One even has a clam shell stuck in it.

This was the first of many boxes of goodies on the way for my JBJ Rimless 30 build which I will document in this build thread. The tank itself should arrive by the end of November. I know it seems a bit early to start a build thread from most I have seen, but to me the patient planning process is probably the most important stage in a new tank. In the coming months, as I accumulate equipment, I will update this thread. I will include some lists and diagrams in the near future to share what I have planned so far. Thanks for reading!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Exciting! Looks good!

 

[andyg1960]

Nice. I'm interested to see how you plan to incorporate that shelf rock. I am in the aquascaping planning process as well. Do you know how you plan to incorporate the shelf pieces?

 

[E_reefer]

Only in reef keeping does this phrase bring excitement.

Too funny but so true! I love checking out the Lfs rock tub for any “choice” pieces.

 

[Dsnakes]

I am looking forward to seeing your build progress I like the look of the jbj tanks.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice. I'm interested to see how you plan to incorporate that shelf rock. I am in the aquascaping planning process as well. Do you know how you plan to incorporate the shelf pieces?

Well, probably not what you expect. I am planning a bare bottom reef with black starboard. The live rock will be in two long, diagonal islands and I will use some of the shelf rock between the islands to fill the space. Other, smaller pieces may be used more stacked in with the live rock. It will NOT be a bunch of stacked shelfs and I am not planning on glueing any rock.

I have some diagrams drawn up, but I am at work right now. I am going on a trip tomorrow, but will post some of those diagrams Sunday. Thanks for your interest!

 

[andyg1960]

Well, probably not what you expect. I am planning a bare bottom reef with black starboard. The live rock will be in two long, diagonal islands and I will use some of the shelf rock between the islands to fill the space. Other, smaller pieces may be used more stacked in with the live rock. It will NOT be a bunch of stacked shelfs and I am not planning on glueing any rock.

I have some diagrams drawn up, but I am at work right now. I am going on a trip tomorrow, but will post some of those diagrams Sunday. Thanks for your interest!

Great, thanks. Looking forward to seeing those diagrams and pics when you can!

 

[stevieduk]

I ordered 10 lbs. of dry AquaMaxx Tonga shelf rock from Marine Depot to augment my future live rock aquascape. This would be so boring to most people, but not to us in this forum. As I pored through the collection one word kept popping in my head – potential!

I have to say I am really impressed with this rock. First thought was it seemed like more than 10 pounds. I weighed it though and it is exact which reinforces I am a terrible judge of this metric. Second was the pieces were thicker than I expected. Thin would have been fine, but more brittle for shipping. The pieces are all useable and mostly rectangular to diamond shaped as I had hoped. Some of the smaller pieces are the most unique. One even has a clam shell stuck in it.

This was the first of many boxes of goodies on the way for my JBJ Rimless 30 build which I will document in this build thread. The tank itself should arrive by the end of November. I know it seems a bit early to start a build thread from most I have seen, but to me the patient planning process is probably the most important stage in a new tank. In the coming months, as I accumulate equipment, I will update this thread. I will include some lists and diagrams in the near future to share what I have planned so far. Thanks for reading!

back when i started keeping marines, that would have come in a box of water and would have been alive with various things. Not so much fun now the sterilise it

 

[Dan Cyr]

Nice! I just received my 50lb order of Reef Saver Dry Rock from BRS and the pieces were awesome and exciting as well. I know it's already cleaned and cured, but I have it in a tupperware bin with pump to get all the dust from shipping off of it. My wife was making fun of me making a "pile of rocks" on my work bench..... "You have a problem!" she said! LOL

 

[NY_Caveman]

TIME IN: 1.5 Months

Designing the Aquascape

My plan for the JBJ Rimless 30 is two long diagonal islands. The idea is to create nice depth and great flow.

The purple is live rock and the grey is dry shelf rock. I used Microsoft Excel to arrange simple shapes in a kind of “Colorforms” way. I like Excel because it is easy to use and the underlying grid can be useful to approximate measurements. Each cell (little square) is 1 square inch in these screen grabs.

I have tried it a few ways and like this layout best. The room placement will make make the front and left side of the aquarium fully viewable. The challenge will be getting small pieces of diverse aquacultured live rock.

In this version I tried the limits of live rock sizes. Could it work with three large rocks? What would be the maximum size?

I think of these images not as what I will exactly do, but as a guide to my idea. The success of the final reefscape will not be judged by its resemblance to these crude images.

Way in the future I envision the longer, taller back island will feature several different Montipora species. The shorter, front island and across the front of the tank will have LPS species. Probably no soft coral, maybe a couple of choice Acropora much later.

I added some more simple shapes to the aquascape above to help me get a feel for colors, what would fit and how I might space out some of the possible aggressors.

I will post livestock plans in a later post, but since intended livestock is important at every stage, I wanted to mention what I was thinking. Expect more on that and equipment choices soon.

 

[Dan Cyr]

Designing the Aquascape

My plan for the JBJ Rimless 30 is two long diagonal islands. The idea is to create nice depth and great flow.

The purple is live rock and the grey is dry shelf rock. I used Microsoft Excel to arrange simple shapes in a kind of “Colorforms” way. I like Excel because it is easy to use and the underlying grid can be useful to approximate measurements. Each cell (little square) is 1 square inch in these screen grabs.

I have tried it a few ways and like this layout best. The room placement will make make the front and left side of the aquarium fully viewable. The challenge will be getting small pieces of diverse aquacultured live rock.

In this version I tried the limits of live rock sizes. Could it work with three large rocks? What would be the maximum size?

I think of these images not as what I will exactly do, but as a guide to my idea. The success of the final reefscape will not be judged by its resemblance to these crude images.

Way in the future I envision the longer, taller back island will feature several different Montipora species. The shorter, front island and across the front of the tank will have LPS species. Probably no soft coral, maybe a couple of choice Acropora much later.

I added some more simple shapes to the aquascape above to help me get a feel for colors, what would fit and how I might space out some of the possible aggressors.

I will post livestock plans in a later post, but since intended livestock is important at every stage, I wanted to mention what I was thinking. Expect more on that and equipment choices soon.

Just don't forget about the flow because it looks like with putting so much across the whole tank, it may cause some restriction s in flow and possibly buildup of the gunky stuff!
But if you already have plans on multiple sources of flow, sweet!

 

[NY_Caveman]

The flow will be handled by a single gyre unit. I was considering the IceCap Gyre 3K, but now the new 2K is reported to be available next month. The flow would be set to forward gyre at a high percent (green arrow below) that would flow up over the back island. Then ramp to reverse gyre (red arrow) that would run downward and hopefully through the valley between the islands.

The gyre should provide ample flow in this JBJ Rimless 30 display tank of 26 gallons. The returns will probably not add much compared to the gyre.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Edited (redundant)

 

[NY_Caveman]

TIME IN: 1.5 Months

Equipment List

The image below is the spreadsheet I set up for this tank (I love using spreadsheets in all aspects of life). I am showing what I am paying as the prices can be found easily. I do keep links of where I purchased or am finding the best price, but they are not included in this view. Items in bold are items I still need to purchase.

As you see I track the obvious data and also include outlets (AC), controllers (CO) and Wattage. I will integrate a simple “DJ” power supply station also for quick, individual control (not listed, still researching). I estimate this system will only draw about 4 Amps if all equipment (lights, heater, gyre, etc.) were maxed. About what I was expecting. Love that.

My JBJ Rimless 30 is on backorder still and was just pushed another month forward. I ordered 11/02, now expected on 12/15. I am fine though since I plan on filling it in the early spring. I still have equipment to add.

When the time comes, the RODI water will go in and the ATO will run. I will then add salt and order the live rock. The skimmer and gyre will run during the cycle to break in and do their jobs. The gyre will run in constant speed mode during this period, then I will switch to alternating gyre mode once livestock are added. I will cycle with live rock and use no light for a week. I will add the LEDs with a short photoperiod of blues (5-10%), upping weekly from then on. White will be added slowly once the cycle is established. The media reactor and LED strip will be for a macro algae reactor. That will come after the clean up crew when I add the first fish.

I have really been taking advantage of these great November sales. When I started planning a new aquarium in August I hoped the timing would work out this way. I am trying to make my money count of course while keeping it simple and high quality. I figure I knocked about 8% off of my total budget the past couple of days with these deals.

However, I did splurge and get a Seneye Reef Monitor not in the original budget (it was on a separate list of future possibilities). I guess that evened things up a bit, but the other deals made it possible. I could not pass up a LUX, Kelvin, PAR meter for $139.99. @Bulk Reef Supply video showed it to be fairly accurate with certain directional limitations (no cosine correction). It will be very useful in setting up a new system and later when adding corals. Merry Christmas to me!

I know there will be surprises and deviations ahead, but I am doing my best to avoid indecision and panic. It helps that I am moving at a Trochus snail’s pace.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I had been waiting on a backordered JBJ Rimless 30 since 11/02 as I mentioned above. The date kept getting pushed forward and was now due on 12/15. I did a quick check with three other online vendors recently and none of them had this aquarium in stock.

I was willing to wait as I will not set up the aquarium until the spring, but I had two somewhat paranoid concerns:
(1) If JBJ is so far behind, they may pressure manufacturers for delivery leading to possible quality issues on the build.
(2) The 12/15 date was no guarantee. I may wait two months and then they keep pushing it forward, or worse, find out they discontinued the model.

Probably neither of these was likely, but when you are unsure the mind wanders. I just wanted to know I had one. The vendor I ordered from was very helpful and confirmed to me that they had not had one in stock since before my order. I thought maybe they were filling orders getting a few in along the way.

I also noticed JBJ has the new Flatpanel aquariums (25, 45 and 65 gallon) which is probably their focus right now. These Flatpanel sizes were not for me. I really wanted the Rimless 30, though. The dimensions are perfect for my space. I really want a 24” aquarium that has some depth and height.

Then, today, I found one. An online retailer had one and only one in stock. I scooped that up and cancelled my original order. I am very excited. It feels very good to secure the tank I want. Now I can worry about the shipping, HA!

 

[NY_Caveman]

The tank is on the way!!

 

[NY_Caveman]

TIME IN: 2 Months

Sweet! The aquarium was delivered today. Quick check and the glass was fine. The UPS freight person even noted how well it was packaged. Very excited!

 

[mckinleyw]

LOVE THIS!! those are some really cool layouts. Im following. Do u have your rock curing yet? cant wait!!!

 

[andyg1960]

Its an exciting day at the Caveman home! Looking forward to the build thread