Java's Upgrade - 57 Rimless

[java]

Its Upgrade time! My tank got a bit neglected over the years kids getting busy with kids life etc, So now its time for a new breath of life!

My original 20 High, Its been up for about 10 years now. I found a used Oceanic 57 that the price was right on, it has a few scratches. Im always on a tight budget so its a budget minded tank.

I picked up a RKL not too long ago that will be going on this tank. I will reuse my 20H sump from my old tank. As well as the PH's from there. The return will be a rio 3100. I did pick up a new Koralia 1400, moves a lot of water!

Its drilled for a 1" herbie drain. The sump and equipment will be going in the closet behind the tank.

On to the pics. Sorry they are all from my cell phone. I get excited and working on the tank and all but forget to take pics, and don't want to find the real camera.

Tape on the wall, planning the size of the new one.


New stand. Solid oak butcher block top, doesn't give off the usual fish tank look



Painting the back of the tank. don't mind the wrapping paper



Tank on the stand!


Cut holes in the wall for plumbing! eek! wife didn't freak out thought, she was expecting bigger. Said it was fine as long as I could fix them later.


Brute for RO/DI, one 5 gal for kalk top off, one for SW mixing. Trying to make everything as easy as possible on this tank.




Used DJ strip for pumps for WC mixing etc.


3/4" loc line for the return, used 1" pipe for a bit less head loss.


RO/DI is in the mechanical room with the hot water tank and furnace. Lines run in the crawl space to the RO/DI resuvoir in the closet, and the waste line goes to one of my down spout drains.




Filling the water!


Sand added!

 

[java]

Learned a lesson today..... Hydor heaters SUCK!!! I took my RKL off my little tank to install it on the new one yesterday, turned the heater to 75 stuck it in the tank.

Come home today after work and start to play with the tanks, the old one is at 83! ***! and the heater was on and running.

Moral of the story dont trust the Hydor thermostats..... leather look ****ED, clown seems to be fine.

Got some more done today. finished the sump plumbing, and got it running!

Sumpless!!


Cleaned up. Not real pretty but its clean and free! its been working for the last 8 years, why change it now?


Sump in the closet behind the tank. The drain is awesome, dead silent once its tuned. This is the first rio pump ive used, its noisey! But its in the closet and i cant hear it in the living room.


Also built a probe holder, hold the DA iTemp, Ph and a float switch for ATO.


Full and running! salinity is pretty close, ill check again tomorrow. I added a piece of rock that i had in my sump, so hopefully any cycle will be done quick. its a bit cloudy from moving stuff around in it. Was almost clear when i got home.


My light should be here on Wednesday!!

 

[HUNTER01975]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pandora32]

Looks real nice so far. Why is there an apple on the floor in the first pic?...lol

 

[java]

Looks real nice so far. Why is there an apple on the floor in the first pic?...lol

Thanks, it's a big green bouncy ball My daughter obviously loves to clean up all her toys.

 

[HeiHei29er]

Having a "fish room", even if it's a closet would be awewsome!

Congrats on the upgrade.

 

[java]

Having a "fish room", even if it's a closet would be awewsome!

Congrats on the upgrade.

Yeah it's pretty awesome! All the splashy sump noises are gone. I wouldn't know the tank was there If I didn't look. Its a nice change from my old one.

 

[rainydave]

Very nice build.
I'll totally envious of the "fish room".

 

[java]

Thanks!

I've got micro bubbles..... I cleaned my skimmer really well and that might be part of it, but I've also got 500 gph going thru my skimmer section. I'm a little bummed, didn't have any trouble before.

 

[java]

Pic from this morning.

 

[TJL]

Very nice upgrade and nicely done as well. Are you planning on hanging a LED or MH pendant above ??? Just a thought I had looking at Fish-room pics, to help contain possible water spills you could look into a couple of rimmed cargo mats for back of SUV's etc... seems like dimension wise they would work for you ... maybe

Cheers, Todd

 

[java]

Very nice upgrade and nicely done as well. Are you planning on hanging a LED or MH pendant above ??? Just a thought I had looking at Fish-room pics, to help contain possible water spills you could look into a couple of rimmed cargo mats for back of SUV's etc... seems like dimension wise they would work for you ... maybe

Cheers, Todd

Very interesting idea, I don't have anything in place now either. I did put a drain in the floor though, mostly for doing WC's.

I'm going with a LED, supposed to be here today! It's a Chinese one with a built in controller, should be fun.

 

[java]

Well today i pulled another circuit into the closet where the sump is. Dont mind the overcut...... there is another outlet right there.. oops.



Then the brown santa came!

 

[java]

Rocks and Clown moved over!

I have one piece of LR from my other tank that grows HA, im thinking ill peroxide it before it goes over. or should i just forget that one and let it dry out? Will be going to the LFS with mt wife to pick out another big piece of LR, i stopped by today but figured it would be good for her to pick one.

Its a little cloudy from moving stuff around...

 

[java]

More pics, picked up some more LR today and a piece of dry rock. Also a little sixline, loves all the holes in the rocks and is eating already!

 

[java]

Got the new rock in the tank, and went ot the LFS. Picked up a Cleaner shrimp and a Derasa Clam. Cant seem to get a picture of the siline, always on the move!

 

[vlangel]

Is that a bottle in the tank? Once in a FW tank we had a raphael catfish go in a bottle and open his spikey fins and get stuck. He was in there 3 days when my husband decided he needed rescued. He got a hammer and hit the bottle just hard enough to crack it without crushing the fish. (This was outside of the aquarium of course!). Anyway I had that fish for over 10 more years so I guess he only used 1 of his 9 lives with that incident. We've never put another bottle in a fish tank after that.

 

[java]

Wow that's crazy, I did find a hermit shell in it at one point, but only the tiny ones even fit. Its an airline sized one.

 

[vlangel]

I guess only the tiniest fish would fit and off hand I can't think of any reef fish that could get stuck. My husband is a bottle collector and that's why we had one in our tank. You're not a bottle collector too, are you?

 

[java]

Nope, just always thought it kinda looked cool in a reef. Its a Jameson bottle though

here are a few from today