reefman069
want more mini maxi
looks super nice. cant wait to see fish and coral in that tank. keep the pictures coming.
Grab a Brewski with Drewski's 90 Gallon Tank! (picture heavy)
- Thread starter drewski
- Start date
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drewski
Member
Thank you all for the kind words! I've got 2 ultra platinum clowns and a yellow tang in there right now. I will be making a pit stop to Natalia's at some point this week! 
I'll leave ya with this for now.
I'll leave ya with this for now.
drewski
Member
sweet build. even more awesome that it didn't require ME to be patient at all. love the bulk updates.
Thanks! I always hate waiting for update. Glad I could be of service.
drewski
Member
Update 1/23/14
After about 2 months of soaking in a vinegar bath, I cleaned and put my Reef Octopus NWB150 skimmer into the system. I'll take pictures after work today. I also, finally got around to taking a couple pictures with my lights on. All of my photos have been taken from my iPhone, so the white balance isn't correct. I'll have to stop being lazy and whip out my DSLR.
The tank itself has been cycling since November 2013, but didn't have lights on it til last week, so there was never an algae bloom. Currently, all my rocks are covered in diatoms. Nasty. I jump started the system with Dr. Tim's One and Only. That stuff worked great. I had the clowns and tang in QT for 6 weeks before adding them to the system, which you can see to the right of the tank.
But for now, here she is.
Current Equipment:
90 gallon Reef Ready Aqueon Tank
40 gallon breeder sump
Custom Oak Stand/Canopy
Reef Octopus NWB150 Skimmer
2 200W Heaters
2 MP40 W ES
Megaflow Overflow System
2 Evergrow IT2040 LED
Superwave DC Return Pump
~80lbs live rock
40lbs RPS Pure White Sand
Current Livestock:
2 Ultra Platinum Picasso Clownfish
1 Yellow Tang
10 Nessarius Snails
After about 2 months of soaking in a vinegar bath, I cleaned and put my Reef Octopus NWB150 skimmer into the system. I'll take pictures after work today. I also, finally got around to taking a couple pictures with my lights on. All of my photos have been taken from my iPhone, so the white balance isn't correct. I'll have to stop being lazy and whip out my DSLR.
The tank itself has been cycling since November 2013, but didn't have lights on it til last week, so there was never an algae bloom. Currently, all my rocks are covered in diatoms. Nasty. I jump started the system with Dr. Tim's One and Only. That stuff worked great. I had the clowns and tang in QT for 6 weeks before adding them to the system, which you can see to the right of the tank.
But for now, here she is.
Current Equipment:
90 gallon Reef Ready Aqueon Tank
40 gallon breeder sump
Custom Oak Stand/Canopy
Reef Octopus NWB150 Skimmer
2 200W Heaters
2 MP40 W ES
Megaflow Overflow System
2 Evergrow IT2040 LED
Superwave DC Return Pump
~80lbs live rock
40lbs RPS Pure White Sand
Current Livestock:
2 Ultra Platinum Picasso Clownfish
1 Yellow Tang
10 Nessarius Snails
Matsu49
Active member
Nice wood work! Dr Tim's is really good. I also used it to seed cycle my tank with dry rock. Can't wait to see your tank progress.
KimD
Member
Looks great! Nice stand and nice tank.
drewski
Member
Update: Muriatic Acid Bath for Live Rock
First, thank you for all the comments! It's been quite a journey.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give my old rock a muriatic acid bath. I have read that this eats away a layer of the rock, which helps remove some of the leached phosphate and any living things that may have died in the time that they have been sitting in buckets. It was a 10 part water, 1 part muriatic acid solution.
1. I first, piled the rock into a 20 gallon bucket from Lowes.
2. Filled bucket to the top of the rock with water.
3. Added muriatic acid.
4. Let solution sit for 2 hours (until the reaction was complete aka stopped bubbling)
5. To completely neutralize the reaction, I generously added Baking Soda.
6. Drained water from bucket.
7. Rinsed rock/bucket and filled back up with water.
8. Let Water & Rock soak for 30 minutes, then drained and filled back up again.
9. Did Step 8 three times.
10. Finally left rock to soak for 1 week in water with powerbeads to keep movement.
Disclaimer: If you decide to do this, please be sure to remember this GOLDEN RULE: ALWAYS ADD ACID TO WATER, and not the other way around. The reaction that the two make is very violent, and can be fatal.
Other than that, as long as you cover your eyes, mouth, and skin, you're good :yo:
First, thank you for all the comments! It's been quite a journey.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give my old rock a muriatic acid bath. I have read that this eats away a layer of the rock, which helps remove some of the leached phosphate and any living things that may have died in the time that they have been sitting in buckets. It was a 10 part water, 1 part muriatic acid solution.
1. I first, piled the rock into a 20 gallon bucket from Lowes.
2. Filled bucket to the top of the rock with water.
3. Added muriatic acid.
4. Let solution sit for 2 hours (until the reaction was complete aka stopped bubbling)
5. To completely neutralize the reaction, I generously added Baking Soda.
6. Drained water from bucket.
7. Rinsed rock/bucket and filled back up with water.
8. Let Water & Rock soak for 30 minutes, then drained and filled back up again.
9. Did Step 8 three times.
10. Finally left rock to soak for 1 week in water with powerbeads to keep movement.
Disclaimer: If you decide to do this, please be sure to remember this GOLDEN RULE: ALWAYS ADD ACID TO WATER, and not the other way around. The reaction that the two make is very violent, and can be fatal.
Other than that, as long as you cover your eyes, mouth, and skin, you're good :yo:
drewski
Member
Update 2/5/14
So, I got some new goodies in the mail from Bulk Reef Supply. I used 1/2 cup of GFO and about 3-4" of Carbon. I have never used either of these in my tanks before, so I'm testing out what would be good for my system.
1. BRS Dual Reactor (GFO/Carbon) with MJ-1200 - This was really easy to setup, as BRS gave me all the parts necessary with everything precut and sized.
2. BRS Bulk Premium ROX 0.8 Carbon
3. BRS Bulk GFO
4. BRS 150 GPD Water Saver Upgrade Kit for my RO/DI unit
5. Vertex Line Magnet Holder for my dosing pumps - This will be nice so I don't have anything hooked over my sump.
6. Two - 1 Gallon Space Saver Jugs for Alkalinity and Calcium dosing
7. Air King Fan - It gets hot/humid in the sump, so I wanted to be able to cool everything down.
I also just moved my aquascape around to something a little more permanent. I will post some pictures as soon as the water column clears up. Until then, enjoy and thanks for the comments!
So, I got some new goodies in the mail from Bulk Reef Supply. I used 1/2 cup of GFO and about 3-4" of Carbon. I have never used either of these in my tanks before, so I'm testing out what would be good for my system.
1. BRS Dual Reactor (GFO/Carbon) with MJ-1200 - This was really easy to setup, as BRS gave me all the parts necessary with everything precut and sized.
2. BRS Bulk Premium ROX 0.8 Carbon
3. BRS Bulk GFO
4. BRS 150 GPD Water Saver Upgrade Kit for my RO/DI unit
5. Vertex Line Magnet Holder for my dosing pumps - This will be nice so I don't have anything hooked over my sump.
6. Two - 1 Gallon Space Saver Jugs for Alkalinity and Calcium dosing
7. Air King Fan - It gets hot/humid in the sump, so I wanted to be able to cool everything down.
I also just moved my aquascape around to something a little more permanent. I will post some pictures as soon as the water column clears up. Until then, enjoy and thanks for the comments!
drewski
Member
The bucket was fine. The acid didn't appear to weaken the bucket at all.
drewski
Member
Well, from what I saw and researched, the acid will neutralize anything that's leached. As far as weakening the bucket, I could see that, but I saw this exact experiment done on things that are made of far weaker material, and they were just fine. But who knows, it might just take several acid washes before it takes a toll on the bucket.
didn't think about that.
I've read about a bunch of people doing it, just haven't seen pictures. The pictures made the reaction look a lot more violent than I expected. Nice to see them to kind of know what to expect if I ever felt I needed to do it.
FWIW, I clean my parts with muriatic acid exactly how Andrew described. I put my hand into it without much of a thought. It itches a bit but rinsing your skin with water removes the acid and I've never had a reddened reaction or anything from doing this. I dont recommend ever doing this but just wanted to give people an idea of how reactive diluted muriatic acid is. Its very effective but wont immediately melt your skin either.
Andrew, Your tank is looking awesome and your last goodie package was a nice one. Keep the updates coming
Bosco83
Well-known member
Looks great you guys did such a nice job on the stand and canopy!
Maxx
Staff Housemonkey
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2003
- Messages
- 2,935
Never heard of the muriatic acid bath for rocks until recently.
I can see its benefits though.
However,
If the purpose of the acid bath is remove an phosphates etc that will leach from the rocks, did you rinse it in RODI water after the acid bath, or not?
If not, are you not worried about the phosphates in your tap water being absorbed by your newly acid washed rock?
I can see its benefits though.
However,
If the purpose of the acid bath is remove an phosphates etc that will leach from the rocks, did you rinse it in RODI water after the acid bath, or not?
If not, are you not worried about the phosphates in your tap water being absorbed by your newly acid washed rock?
kylehustonvw
Active member
this is awesome congrats on finishing it
kpiotrowski
Kevin
there are different concentrations of muratic acid. I can't get the stuff used to etch concrete at my local hardware anymore, and the new stuff is called "safer". there is a HUGE differnce! I have completly melted rock with the old stuff inside and hour a 1/10 or 1/15 ratio. I must assume drewski used the new stuff if you soaked for 2 hours, right??
very very nice build and build thread by the way. I'll be happy to follow along!
MAC2
Well-known member
Is there any danger breathing the fumes?
