The wife and I spent the week settling into our new apartment. Overall, I really like the new place. It's surprisingly better than our previous apartment. Our goal this week was to get our fishy roommates into their new home.
Tuesday (July 9th)
Today we moved our current fish and coral into the new apartment. It was a smooth process as we have done this once before. Siphoned out the water into 5 gallon buckets, loaded the tank and equipment into the back of the truck, carried it up the stairs and set it up in the hallway. This will be their temporary home as the new tank is finished.
Friday (July 26th)
Other than the move itself, this may have been the most productive day for the new tank! I spent the majority of the morning cutting and dry fitting my orange PVC prior to gluing everything in place. I decided to keep with white schedule 40 fittings. The white really kept the cabinet looking bigger.
After a lunch break it was time to start the aquascape. I really want to keep this an open/minimalistic aquascape. The goal was to have lots of tunnels and overhangs for fish, yet keep enough room to mount corals. I was careful to keep in mind that the tank will be most often viewed looking from the front right/side right. It was my first time using Nyos Reef Cement. After a couple of mistakes with the ratio of powder to water I figured it out and was very impressed with the product. I ran out just before finishing the scape, but decided to move forward with the build and add these pieces later.
Once the rockscape was "finished" it was placed in the tank, sand was added, and I began the long process of filling the tank. One bucket at a time...55 minutes a bucket...
(I know what you're thinking...I can't see the rockscape!!! Wait for it...)
Saturday (July 13th)
Woke up early to start filling buckets. Also decided it was time to do a quick leak test of the bulkheads. Sure enough...there was a pretty substantial leak coming from the emergency drain. After a mild panic attack and several choice words, I diagnosed it as a pinched o-ring. I replaced the o-ring and the problem was solved. Few hours later the tank was filled!
I turned on the Varios4 return pump and learned that I was pretty good at gluing everything together as there were no leaks in the plumbing. We had company that afternoon so the tank sat and settled as I took a much needed break.
Sunday (July 14th)
This was the most stressful day of the build so far... I am by no means computer savy, so the thought of figuring out the Apex system put fear in my soul. After countless YouTube videos, dozens of step by step walk throughs, and many many hours...I managed to get the tank up and running on Apex Fusion! This was a proud moment. Luckily my wife is a little better at programming and was a huge help during this step.
I need to wait for my probe calibration fluid to arrive later this week for everything to be good to go. With the majority of the hard labor done I was finally able to stand back and appreciate what I have accomplished!
I plan to let the tank sit this week to ensure a cycle does not start up. Until then I have a 3/4" gate valve arriving Monday to replace the stock RSR valve...which I cannot dial in. I also have more Nyos Reef Cement being shipped to finish up the rockscape! Other than those few items I plan to start the skimmer this coming weekend and maybe add my fish!
Tuesday (July 9th)
Today we moved our current fish and coral into the new apartment. It was a smooth process as we have done this once before. Siphoned out the water into 5 gallon buckets, loaded the tank and equipment into the back of the truck, carried it up the stairs and set it up in the hallway. This will be their temporary home as the new tank is finished.
Friday (July 26th)
Other than the move itself, this may have been the most productive day for the new tank! I spent the majority of the morning cutting and dry fitting my orange PVC prior to gluing everything in place. I decided to keep with white schedule 40 fittings. The white really kept the cabinet looking bigger.
After a lunch break it was time to start the aquascape. I really want to keep this an open/minimalistic aquascape. The goal was to have lots of tunnels and overhangs for fish, yet keep enough room to mount corals. I was careful to keep in mind that the tank will be most often viewed looking from the front right/side right. It was my first time using Nyos Reef Cement. After a couple of mistakes with the ratio of powder to water I figured it out and was very impressed with the product. I ran out just before finishing the scape, but decided to move forward with the build and add these pieces later.
Once the rockscape was "finished" it was placed in the tank, sand was added, and I began the long process of filling the tank. One bucket at a time...55 minutes a bucket...
(I know what you're thinking...I can't see the rockscape!!! Wait for it...)
Saturday (July 13th)
Woke up early to start filling buckets. Also decided it was time to do a quick leak test of the bulkheads. Sure enough...there was a pretty substantial leak coming from the emergency drain. After a mild panic attack and several choice words, I diagnosed it as a pinched o-ring. I replaced the o-ring and the problem was solved. Few hours later the tank was filled!
I turned on the Varios4 return pump and learned that I was pretty good at gluing everything together as there were no leaks in the plumbing. We had company that afternoon so the tank sat and settled as I took a much needed break.
Sunday (July 14th)
This was the most stressful day of the build so far... I am by no means computer savy, so the thought of figuring out the Apex system put fear in my soul. After countless YouTube videos, dozens of step by step walk throughs, and many many hours...I managed to get the tank up and running on Apex Fusion! This was a proud moment. Luckily my wife is a little better at programming and was a huge help during this step.
I need to wait for my probe calibration fluid to arrive later this week for everything to be good to go. With the majority of the hard labor done I was finally able to stand back and appreciate what I have accomplished!
I plan to let the tank sit this week to ensure a cycle does not start up. Until then I have a 3/4" gate valve arriving Monday to replace the stock RSR valve...which I cannot dial in. I also have more Nyos Reef Cement being shipped to finish up the rockscape! Other than those few items I plan to start the skimmer this coming weekend and maybe add my fish!