190 Hawaiian Reef (or as close to one as you can get)

[koa25]

So I snagged this familiar behemoth from the one and only, Vice Presidente Allan Laviers. It sat for a bit before I started cleaning it. I tackled the tank and sump first. A dozen razor blades and a sore hand later. She is clean and shiny. I wish I would have taken a before shot of the sump. It was literally a wall of calcium on all sides. That was fun soaking and scrubbing. But now you can see into it ha ha.
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After cleaning the tank it sat a little longer. Didn’t want to set it up with the pending move, but recently decided to make sure it was ready to set up right when I get to Hawaii so I don’t go through withdrawals too bad. I sanded the stand down inside and out. Gave it a new look. Went with a Natural Sequoia stain, which turned out great in my opinion.
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One thing I decided to do, which I am glad I did, was to leave some of the original black paint in the seams and stain over them. I saw it before and almost gives it a burnt edge look which turned out great. Pics aren’t the greatest. But they give you an idea.


I am trying to modify a reefcotopus recirculating skimmer I got from Rob with a bubble blaster pump I got from Eric, which is going to be a chore in itself. But it fits perfectly in the last chamber of the sump. So it is a good skimmer for the job.

[koa25]

Hit my max on images on the last post. Here is the wood close up.
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[Scutterborn]

Certainly looks very sharp. I like the stain choice too.


-Ben-

[Paul28]

thats going to be a fun size for rock work

[allan]

What a fun tank. Brings back memories.


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[Scutterborn]

What a fun tank. Brings back memories.


You gettin all nostalgic and misty eyed, Allan? :)



-Ben-

[allan]

Yes, I long to run my fingers across that starfire glass, to whisper quietly to all the corals growing just on the other side of it...

Should have made it a condition of the sale, that he couldn't leave the state of Texas with it.


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[electricrcplane]

looking good Mike, maybe I'll schedule a vacation with the wife to Hawaii, of course my motive will be to get some really nice corals while I'm there...... I don't think she'd mind even if I told her that's why I want to take her to Hawaii.

[koa25]

Ha ha. I was suppose to send this to my brother. But he knocked his wife up. No money or time. So it's mine now. It will make it's way back to Texas in a couple years. Just taking a layover in Hawaii until it returns. Ha ha. An extended vacation if you will. It is an awesome foot print. I will have to do man made rock though. So that will be interesting for sure. That will be some trial and error at first.

Thanks Eric. You and the wife are welcome. I will have a spare bedroom for friends visiting. Sherita is getting her dive gear ready now ha ha.

[Sherita]

Ha ha. I was suppose to send this to my brother. But he knocked his wife up. No money or time. So it's mine now. It will make it's way back to Texas in a couple years. Just taking a layover in Hawaii until it returns. Ha ha. An extended vacation if you will. It is an awesome foot print. I will have to do man made rock though. So that will be interesting for sure. That will be some trial and error at first.

Thanks Eric. You and the wife are welcome. I will have a spare bedroom for friends visiting. Sherita is getting her dive gear ready now ha ha.

You know it! I've never been to Hawaii, I'm already excited LOL.

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the footprint on that tank. It's awesomeness.

[koa25]

Ha ha. Kristy wasn't kidding that there was going to MAAST meetings at my house. The whole crew is coming lol.

[Mr Cob]

Nice project Mike...where's the Hawaii pics dude? You living on base?

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[koa25]

I'm still local Bro. I will be in Hawaii come June 1st. I will post plenty of pics to rub it in everyones face :p I appreciate all the places in my other post you gave me a heads up about. I will be checking them out. I purchased a Go Pro camera so i can take pretty pictures while diving for you guys. ha ha. I have a house lined up off Base. It will be using every Penny of my BAH for the rent. Painful ha ha.

[Mr Cob]

Awesome man. Look forward to it. Wish I was into reef tanks when I was there.

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[koa25]

Jerry rigged a bubble blaster pump to the recirculating skimmer i got from Rob. Put it in a tub of water and was worried at first with the bubbles it was making until i added some vinegar. All worries went away. I knew it need something to skim. But i was getting hardly any bubbles.
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Not pretty. But it will be in the sump anyways.
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After adding some vinegar.
Need to seal up the return pipe better. Micro bubbles are escaping. But its working crazy good.

[koa25]

Well I got my household goods in finally. And so it begins. I have to build a quick pedestal for the stand and tank. They lost that of all things during shipping and I need the tank higher for the sump or I wont be able to work in it... ever.

[Mr Cob]

Woohoo! Awesome! You local yet brah? Get small kine jealous ovah heah!

Shoots....

Lol

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[koa25]

Eh ya. Da kine! Howzit be bruddah? I took to the locals like like a Hawaiian to da pupu yeah? Real quick like. Ha ha. It's nice to see a tank in the house again. Still need some stuff before she'll be water worth. But atleast it's here for me to work on now.

[350gt]

how do you walk with you place like that???..... housing is sure different over there...


won't the water pour out of the tank?... hmm.....

[koa25]

how do you walk with you place like that???..... housing is sure different over there...


won't the water pour out of the tank?... hmm.....
Here in Hawaii, the laws of gravity don't apply And water surface tension is so strong that it will hold in shapes and can be molded... like jello But fish can still swim Iin it of course...

Got a question. This did have 2 overflows setup originally. But one of the over flows has slowly fallen apart. My question is one enough if I plugged those other holes. One 2" drain and a 1" return? Cause I like the additional space of the other over flow being down. More swimming room for the tangs. I will still have plenty of flow with powerheads and possibly a wave maker. Just curious as to what you guys think... appreciated

[Scutterborn]

That depends on how much your return pump puts out. A single 2" drain will drop some water. I know. I've got two. It should be fine. You don't need a bunch of flow in the sump.

[koa25]

I was looking to do a sicce 5 that puts out 1300gph. 1" pvc should be able to handle that with a reasonably low psi. But I will be dialing it back to 3/4" at the top for loc-line heads. But with the head height of almost six feet the flow should drop back to around 1000 to 1100 gph. I need the find the fl9w to head height chart for sicce pumps again so I can check on that. But around 1000 gph in that big ol sump should be perfect.

[Scutterborn]

Dude, did you make a fort out of the cushions?

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/13/yme3e3yr.jpg

[koa25]

In the army we call it cover and concealment :ph34r:... No. The movers kind of came in and tossed everthing on the ground and ran. Reading the paperwork they were suppose to set everything up. Or at least offer. Didn't get offered. Just a dump and run. But thats fine. Had to figure out how things were going to get placed anyways. Feng Shui style and give the house a killer vibe.

[Scutterborn]

No, the Army still calls their places forts. Marines call them camps...

:)

I had extra cool points riding on you saying yes... Oh well. I'll save them for next time you post.

[koa25]

Which wave maker would work best on a 4' x 3' tank.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-comline-wavebox-6208.html?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=rtrgting

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-wavebox-6215.html?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=rtrgting

Ive read a lot of good things about the smaller guy. But it peaks at 210 gallons. Just over my tank size. So should I probably go with the larger guy?

[koa25]

No, the Army still calls their places forts. Marines call them camps...

:)

I had extra cool points riding on you saying yes... Oh well. I'll save them for next time you post.

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[Scutterborn]

Go big or go home.

Seriously it depends a lot on what other types of flow and how it's placed in the tank. With my closed loop output being at the front and drawing from the back and the returns slowed down, my full size wave box is cranked nearly all the way up. I've got a 3/4" wave. It still moves everything in the tank. Just not a ton of movement. It's nice and gentle at 85% of max power.

[koa25]

Yeah. Thinking I might go big. Plus I'd like to try it out on the plywood tank if I can which will be around 350ish. Don't know how well the magnets will hold through 1 inch wood. I will probably have a single koralia 1400 or if i splurge on a mp40 to help move what the wave maker keeps in the water column out of the tank and down into the sump. Still debating.

[Scutterborn]

The magnets are rates up to 3/4" I think. I've got the double magnet and 3/4" glass. It doesn't move at all. You may get away with the double magnet on yours.

[koa25]

Yeah. Sounds like the route I mayhave to go. I read people had issues with them on 3/4" glass. Appreciate the heads up. Do you have the new controller type with the auto wave button? 6092 I believe is the number.

[Scutterborn]

Yeah. It's not the old school one that Allan a has. :)

[koa25]

Haha. Subtle jab there. Lol. How do you like it? Makes it easy? You can hook two wave boxes up to if need be right?

[Scutterborn]

Correct. It'll run a slave as well.

[koa25]

May have to splurge a little. That has a lot of potential downthe road. But by the time I do a bigger tank. Newer and cooler stuff will be out ha ha.

[koa25]

Order a bunch of plumbing parts and toys the other day from BRS. Shipping to the island is going to take a toll. No free shipping out of the lower 48. Lame. Snagged a wavebox at a killer deal. And they were nice enough to ship as well. Still need to build a platform for the stand and redo the seams of the tank just to make them pretty again and give me ease of mind. Slow but steady.
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[rrasco]

Did you start a thread for your plywood tank, or no? I thought you had, but I can't find it. I'm debating building a behemoth myself.

[koa25]

I missed your question somehow. Sorry Robert. I did start a tank thread on the plywood build.

http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?75256-The-Woody-Tank&p=916860#post916860

[koa25]

Got in my toys from BRS finally. Took a while. Stupid island and no longer getting free shipping. Got my plumbing and pumps in. Work has begun. Building a stand pedestal and canopy this weekend. Wood is already cut. Just have to piece it together. Slow but surely. Won't be set up anytime soon. I'll be in training starting the 9th of sept until the November 26. No point in getting it running until I get back. But I'll have it water tested before I leave.
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[rrasco]

All good Mike. Thanks for the link.

[Scutterborn]

You could start cycling it...

[allan]

Man.... That is one suh-weet tank. 8-)

[koa25]

You could start cycling it...
I thought about that. I was going to collect the sand from the ocean off shore a bit so it wasn't effected too much by sun screen and lotions and other human fun stuff in the water. So I won't have much of a cycle other than the rock, which apparently they have live rock here..., and curious what it will be like with sand straight from the ocean. Plus water evap is pretty bad here and I will be gone a minute so my roommate would have to top off. I don't have that much faith in him ha ha.


Man.... That is one suh-weet tank. 8-)
Thanks, got a killer deal on it. Guy was a fool to let it go. He has a pretty wicked setup now though... through some trial and errors of other tanks. :/

[koa25]

220882208922090
got the stand extension attached and sanded. Just needs a staining. Did a water test on the bulkheads. Seem to be holding water. Added a little silicone for my paranoia. Jerry rigged a bubbleblaster to my reef octopus replacing the psk 2500 on it. Should have freshwater circulating by tomorrow night to check everything. Building the canopy tomorrow.

[alton]

Looks good, can't wait to see some Hawaiian fish swimming in there.

[koa25]

Some updates

223382 brs reactors for carbon and gfo
22339Skimmer with a bubbleblaster 2000 hooked. This thing produces some serious frothy mess. Need to dial it in better. Still overflowing. 6 inch sand bed in the fuge. Was going to do miracle mud. But no one carried it on island and I'm not paying for shipping.
22340Bio pellets on the back. Got them tubling good. Using full dose cause I won't have any corals. Just fishes.
22341Wp-40 and a tunze wavebox for motion. Those wp-40s pack a punch
.22342and the display with sand and some rock. All sand was collected from the ocean. From a little ways off shore in a 14 foot john boat... It was a headache to collect, load in the boat, unload from boat, load into the truck, and so on. Was a fun sunday for sure...

[Mr Cob]

Looks great dude.

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[allan]

Okay, man, I really miss that tank. But it's in capable hands and it looks like a real clean set up.

No corals.... not even softies?

[Big_Pun]

Okay, man, I really miss that tank. But it's in capable hands and it looks like a real clean set up.

No corals.... not even softies?

dont know why you sold it.... looks great !

[koa25]

Thanks guys. It is coming along. Sorry I stole it out of Texas, Allan. When i get back I can sell it back to ya. I should have my plywood going at that point... Hopefully. Tested the water today and I am at 0 across the board for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Tossed some man made live rock in the tank the other day. Local guy made a lagoon and dumps thousands of pounds of man made rock in it to seed it to make LR. Pretty smart on his behalf. Has corals, algae, sponges and even scallops on it. $6 a lb ain't too horrible either considering what you're getting, the location and he is the only dude on island to do it. Tossed a little yellow tang in the tank today cause they are as cheap as a chromis here and he is looking happy and is eating nori. So now i wait.

[koa25]

Oh, and apparently there is a Coral underworld here ha ha. I was talking to a guy at the fish store today and said that a lot of people have ones imported. Kind of crazy.

[koa25]

Ordered AI Hydra conversion for my Sol. Should be here by the end of the week. Will be ordering a second unit for the tank here soon. One is not enough. The tank is running really good. Hermits are running around and cleaning all the manmade LR i tossed in the tank that is completely covered in algae, sponges and other gunk. The yellow tang is happy as a lark in his mansion sized tank with no roommates. I will try and snap some pics tomorrow.

[reefreak]

Sounds like fun down on the island glad to hear mike.

[CoryDude]

Ordered AI Hydra conversion for my Sol. Should be here by the end of the week. Will be ordering a second unit for the tank here soon. One is not enough. The tank is running really good. Hermits are running around and cleaning all the manmade LR i tossed in the tank that is completely covered in algae, sponges and other gunk. The yellow tang is happy as a lark in his mansion sized tank with no roommates. I will try and snap some pics tomorrow.

Was just to about to ask if that tank would ever taste water again. Nice build thread dude. Mahalo

[koa25]

22659Got the plumbing finished for the reactors and a hose hook up for easy water changes. Parameters are still 0 across the board. Tang and snails are doing great. LR is all looking great and the dry rock is starting to get a nice coat of algae all over it and getting color to it.

[koa25]

Just an update FTS. Got a blue hippo, Kole eye tang and a couple chromis. Caught the Kole eye tang, an urchin and a couple crabs and slug at the beach one day. All are eating healthy and very sociable. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/14/4e2a2a2a.jpg

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[Mr Cob]

Looks great, must be nice to catch what you want :P

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[allan]

Uh, what is that red thing in the middle?

[Scream311]

Looks all to FAMILIAR !!!! :lauging:

[allan]

Yeah it does... :-)

[koa25]

That red thing? It's scientific name is impostorous planticus, otherwise known as my roommate said my tank needed a fake plant and tossed in an orange one and I've been too lazy to take it out ha ha.

It is Rob. Not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Was chasing morish idols and Achilles tangs like a mad man. Got all kinds of tore up on rock. I'll get better at it... hopefully.

[allan]

When are you going to send me an Achilles Tang?

[Mike]

Since you are taking orders, I would like a small mated pair of crosshatch triggers and Kristy would love a pair of HI flame wrasses. Please see what you can do. :P

[Scream311]

Ill Second that Order of Amazing Crosshatch Triggers ;-)

[koa25]

I know it's not the most exciting thing ever. But I had been reusing the same lonely filter sock for the 190. Instead of paying 19 bucks for one locally. I ordered 25 for 80 bucks. This should last me a while.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/29/tujypeha.jpg

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[Flyride95]

Wow yea you can say that.


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[koa25]

So I knew I had a pistol shrimp in my tank cause I hear the infamous clicking all the time. Even during the day. Must have snuck in on a piece of LR. But I finally got eyes on him today. He has the coolest blue markings and coloring to him. Rather large too. I'll have to get a better pic of him. But this is all I have for now.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/02/ugunazat.jpg

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