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July 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Upgrade/build thread: 20 gallon to 50 gallon
As many of you have seen in my other posts, the 20 gallon reef has become to small to house our coral collection. It's time for an upgrade. I've had this drilled 50 gallon for a couple of years and now it's finally come time to set it up! 
Dimensions are 36x18x18. Last night a member of the reef club came over to help us with plumbing. We'll be using a 20 gallon long for a sump.
Here's the tank. You can see the collection of PVC that's been growing while we tried to figure out the plumbing. 
Here are some shots of the plumbing in progress. What a pain, LOL.   
We're going to leak test in about an hour and a half. If all goes well, we may start the transfer later tonight. Might have to wait until tomorrow, though. | 
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July 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| W  hat fun, it will be beautiful when it comes to life. Waiting for the coming pictures.
Dave | 
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July 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| 25 minutes until leak test....  | |
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July 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| *sigh*
We found a small leak in the return plumbing. Time for more PVC glue and we'll see what happens in a couple of hours. | |
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July 18th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hang in there, you'll get resolved soon. Please keep us posted | |
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July 18th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Oh, for sure... I'll be keeping you all posted in a couple of hours when the PVC glue is cured! LOL
*edit*
Found another tiny leak. We're trying the PVC cement again and will retest in a couple hours.
Last edited by harpua2002; July 18th, 2009 at 10:33 PM.
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Still working with the plumbing. I think we've almost got it under control. We're draining the tank tomorrow, and will start the upgrade in the morning. | |
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Congrats on setting up the new tank Harpua! Plumbing drilled tanks can be a bit trying at times but well worth it in the end. Can't wait to see it up and running!  | |
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks Ken!
*edit*
This morning's test went great. We're rinsing aragonite sand and will be beginning the transfer soon!
Last edited by harpua2002; July 19th, 2009 at 10:31 AM.
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Swweeettt! | |
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| The sand is still dusty. We have the tank full of FW right now and are running a HOB filter on there to try to clear it up. | |
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Getting better! The system is running with SW and the skimmer is running in the sump... | |
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
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Last edited by harpua2002; July 19th, 2009 at 07:35 PM.
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July 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
|  I'm getting dizzy just reading this. It's looking wonderful Harpua. I'm soooo glad your making it look easy  otherwise I'd get discouraged with my dreams of a bigger bigger bigger tank 
Keep the pic's coming I'm finding this very very cool to watch. | |
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July 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| LOL thanks!
It's done now. Here are some more pics. It doesn't really look that blue in person!
the sump: 
FTS:  | |
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July 20th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| That looks fabulous!
Great work! | |
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July 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Oh gosh! This is a beautiful tank! Aged nine I helped do sump plumbing for a 250 gallon saltwalter built into a wall!
And I'm glad I see the mandatory towels for unwanted spills!
Good luck, it's gorgeous, I know your hard work'll pay off soon | |
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July 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks! It's got a long way to go before the corals grow in, but we'll get there eventually. | |
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July 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by harpua2002  Thanks! It's got a long way to go before the corals grow in, but we'll get there eventually. | I would've loved the tank next door to have corals, but instead they had lots of anenomes. I'm definatly going to try the corals when I get the salty in about five years | |
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July 20th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| What an experience!!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I am sooo looking forward to seeing it grow. Just as much as I am with my own! It's beautiful Harpua  congrats! | |
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July 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| JW what u doing with the 20H? | |
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July 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by ABCDemily I would've loved the tank next door to have corals, but instead they had lots of anenomes. I'm definatly going to try the corals when I get the salty in about five years | Nems are cool but I don't think we're going to get any. We've heard too many horror stories about them taking a walk around the tank and stinging everything in their path, or worse, taking a walk into a powerhead and nuking the tank. Quote:
Originally Posted by MizRamzi What an experience!!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I am sooo looking forward to seeing it grow. Just as much as I am with my own! It's beautiful Harpua congrats! | Well thank you! I'll try to get a pic of the wrasse later... he's beautiful!!! I love that we finally have a tank that is big enough to stock a fairy wrasse for its entire life. Quote:
Originally Posted by BigJoe JW what u doing with the 20H? | Nothing much. Probably adding it to the collection we have of tanks in the shed that aren't set up. LOL. It will come in handy as a QT tank though, if we need it. | |
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July 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| well i hope mine ends up looking half as good as yours is/was... | |
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July 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| The tank has been rescaped, and we were finally able to pick up a monti cap from a fellow club member. Here are some more pics.
yasha goby 
filamented flasher wrasse 
misbar perc 
FTS after rescape 
new monti cap  | |
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July 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Harpua, what's the best way to attach a frag to another? I've got that lil piece of polyps just sitting on the sand and I wanna get it up on another piece of LR. Mr Goby and Mr Hermit keep moving it around.
I love your fishes!!!! | |
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July 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| We use marine epoxy to attach the frags to rocks.
Thanks for the kind words everyone! | |
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July 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! the fish are awesome too!!!! ...just wish I had the guts...lol...I've got the tanks...just not the nerve... | |
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July 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Grrr... we have diatoms again. LOL
I knew this was going to happen, but just as our 20 was getting established, it was time to upgrade. We started the 20 right before Thanksgiving. Although the tank is cycled and seems stable, it will be a while before it will be "established" again. I can't wait until the coralline starts to take off again. | |
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July 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Here are some fish and coral pics.
Fish:
yasha goby 
misbar perc 
filamented flasher wrasse  
Some of the corals:
wrasse and acan 
yellow acro 
devil's armor palys 
zoas 
zoas 
tooth coral 
Last edited by harpua2002; July 26th, 2009 at 03:09 PM.
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