A whole new dimension!!!

[WPH]

Awesome man!!! I can't wait to see some pictures....

 

[mfinn]

Getting closer

 

[Madisons_Mommy]

Ok so I was the first one up this morning and good news is that the new tank isn't sitting in our basement!!! We still have no leaks and everything looks good to me so far. Project today.....make up 200g of salwater!!! Hmmm how in the world are we going to do that? This should be a fun project today!!!

 

[returnofsid]

Charlie, I've considered that and might do away with the Ys. Last Haul is doing just great!! Still need to take and post some pics so you can help me ID some of it....lol.

Last night, before going to bed, I joked with Angie about waking up in the morning and finding the tank had gone through the floor....lol. PHEW, glad to see it still in place!!

 

[Darthv247]

just mix the water in the tank

 

[returnofsid]

That would be the ideal way to do it, but in our situation, it won't work. I'm placing, healthy, live rock in the tank. I will build the base of live rock and then surround it with dry sand. Then I will start adding saltwater, building the rock up as I go, in order to keep the live rock covered in saltwater. To keep the live rock alive, I'll need to add saltwater instead of freshwater. Once the tank is full of water, I think placing live rock, sand and aquascaping will be too difficult.

 

[Taqpol]

I aquascaped my tank with salt water in the tank, and then added sand afterwards. Took awhile for the sand to clear but afterwards it was fine.

Totally up to you, but if its a lot easier to mix it in the tank I'd say go for it.

 

[returnofsid]

Tagpol, was this a 27" deep tank and 36" to the back of the tank? The top rim of my tank sits at 5'3" high....lol. Just don't know that I'll be able to do it with a tank full of water. I'm actually thinking I might need to get in the tank to start...lol. I'll do some thinking....

 

[Taqpol]

Nah, mine is the standard 24" deep on a stand thats 24"-30". I'm sure the five foot height would make it more difficult.

 

[returnofsid]

I just look at the back/bottom of tank, the tank is 36" front to back, and think, "How in the world am I going to reach that!!!??? LOL

 

[mfinn]

Any way to build a short tempory scaffolding in front of the tank to aqauscape?
A few planks across the front and a couple short ones on the side?
Make the top of the tank waist high?

 

[returnofsid]

I have a step stool that'll help. I've come up with a plan. I can make 64 gallons of SW at a time, with the 2 garbage cans I have. I can do that in about 9 hours. So, I'll get that amount ready, place the base of live rock and dry sand, then add that amount of SW. Then....I start over, making another 64 gallons...lol. Because it'll take me a couple of days, at this rate, I'll not be able to use the return pump. I'll place a couple of powerheads in the tank, for circulation. I figure this'll allow me to go slowly, which will allow the sand storm to calm down before I get to the final aqauscaping point.

Barbie had offered to loan me an extra 100 gallon stock tank that she has. Took me awhile, but I recently realized that I have no where to put it...lol. Hmmm, it would be handy. I might just have to take up the entire room, with the 200, 75, computer desk, Angie's Nano and the 100 gallon stock tank!!

 

[Taqpol]

Sounds like a plan!

I had a 45 gallon brute rigged up with a float valve to stop my RO/DI machine so I filled up the brute with RO water and everytime it was full I pumped it into the tank and starting mixing saltwater using my vortechs as mixers. When it was halfway full and up the right salinity and temperature I added my rocks and sand, which pushed my water up to a little over 3/4 full. From then on I would mix salt in the 45 gallon brute and added it to th tank until I was able to use my sump.

 

[returnofsid]

Well, I decided to go ahead and take Barbie up on her offer to loan us the 100 gallon stock tank. I'll start it filling with RO/DI tonight, along with the 2X32 gallon trash cans, which are already full of saltwater. So, by tomorrow, mid morning, I'll have about 160 gallons of saltwater ready to go. Then the fun begins!! Hopefully Angie will be willing to take lots of pics while I'm busy playing with rocks, sand and getting wet!!

 

[Madisons_Mommy]

So I'll give a bit of an update on the tank progress. We managed to get it pretty much all the way full with saltwater and we did get some rock in there and some sand. I think Michael did take a few pics that I'm sure he'll get up on here tomorrow.

We still have to break down our 75g and our 46g tank and we will be using a lot of the rock from those 2 tanks. In which they are HUGE pieces in both of those tanks.

I can't wait till we can actually put our corals and stuff in the tank. Then I'll be saying " we need more corals, look at all the room we have!" instead of " we just don't have anymore room to put any corals" LOL

 

[Myteemouse]

When you run out of room just keep the ones you like the most and sell the rest!
Let the favorites grow out.

 

[Madisons_Mommy]

That is probably what we'll do. But we like all our corals....lol. I know that there won't be any leathers in the tank at all. The Shrimp and Goby won't be going in cuz there a pain in the a** and put sand on all the corals that are in the sand. Once we start breaking down, that's when we'll decide what we're keeping and not. We have decided that were going to use the 40g breeder as a frag tank and get that cleaned up. It will make a great tank for frags. I can't wait....LOL

 

[returnofsid]

Here's a few boring pics to look at....lol.

Here's about 1/3 of the rock I added today. That's a lid from the largest Rubbermaid tote I have. To give you an idea of size, the lid is about 3' long.

LOL Ceiling fan right above the camera, you can see the pull chain. Okay, this is all the rock I added today. There's still LOTS of room. I'm sure I'll re-aquascape several times before I get it all in.

Ran out of water, so I put a pump in to circulate water, and called it a night.

 

[sandswhitson]

LOOKING GOOD!!! Can't wait to see it in person. It will just want me to get mine going faster!

 

[tamarindthai]

wow!!congrats,she wet,,,i like your seawhirls position,,it's going to sweep through the whole tank,,what is GPH through them.