solar squirrel

Tank as of 1/24/2010

Tank as of Feb 28, 2010

I’ve always wanted a salt-water tank, but didn’t have the money or the knowledge to ever make it happen.  What started as a joke between Todd and me turned into us putting our money together and getting a used 110- gallon tank with a built-in corner flow cut-out.  We spent the better portion of a day a few weeks ago transporting the tank, base, water, rock, and fish.  Here’s the post about it.

The tank was in the garage for a few days while Todd worked to build the base and seal the areas that were likely to have leak issues.  He also painted the back wall of the tank black.  I scrubbed the inside to get all of the crusty algae off and used a razor to make the walls sparkly clean.

Tank in Todd's car waiting to be unloaded to the garage

After the base was made and Todd sealed everything it was time to move the tank upstairs to the living room.  Even completely empty it probably still weighed several hundred pounds.  I couldn’t even lift it an inch off of the ground, so Todd had his friend Paco help.  (Paco also helped move the freshwater tank - he’s our go-to strong guy for moving tanks!)

Here it is empty on the base with Todd standing next to it for perspective:

Empty Tank

Foam (black stuff) and rock (white) which will make up the back wall of the tank

Todd had been reading tons of online forums and decided that he wanted to build a fake rock wall in the back to add dimension but also provide a place for the coral to grow.  He used egg crate for the base and then put expanding pond foam on top (safe for animals).  After that he added sand and rock with silicone to make it stick.  (100% silicone - pond safe).

After the foam and larger rock pieces were placed, he added sand and smaller pieces of rock to completely cover the foam and make it appear as if it was a single solid piece of rock.

Sand

Todd adding silcone to make everything stick

After the walls were built he adhered it to the back of the tank with more silicone.  Here’s a picture of it in the tank drying:

Rock walls drying

Todd used pieces of wood wedged against the tank to keep the wall in place while it was drying.  The silicone takes about a day and a half to dry so it was exciting when Todd finally added water.  Todd added fresh water initially to test for leaks.  Unfortunately there WAS a leak.  Todd noticed it the following morning and had to drain the entire thing, seal it, and then let the silicone dry.  All this time we had the live rock and our only fish - a blue tang - in temporary storage bins in the basement.

Temporary home for the tang.

The poor tang was in this container for a week while Todd worked to get the tank ready.  This fish is TOUGH!  When it’s stressed it’s color fades and it lays on its side like it’s dead.  Even in this small container it was hard to find it because it would wedge itself between the rock and hide.  We had its original tank water in this container and put a heater to keep the water warm for it.  We didn’t feed it while it was in the temporary container because Todd said it would add to the toxins in the water, which he wanted to keep minimal.  (It was probably too freaked out to eat anyway!)

The second attempt at adding freshwater was successful.  Even with nothing but the fake rock wall, the tank looked pretty:

Tank with water and custom-built rock wall

After a day of having the freshwater in the tank without leaks, it was time to fill it with its original salt water (and some new salt water) and take the live rock and the tang out of their temporary storage locations.  The reef book had a section that described how to add fish to your tank.  It said to allow them to acclimatise to the water by placing them (in a bag) into the tank for 15 min.  Well - when we put the tang (I named him tangy - I know, such a scientific name) into the tank he went crazy and wanted to swim!  He was flopping around in the bag and Todd could barely hold onto him!

Tangy getting set free into his new home!

The 15 min we were supposed to wait turned into only about 15 sec. because he was going so crazy.  We decided that it might be better to just let him go in the tank rather than allow him to have what looked like a fish seizure in the bag.

As soon as we let him out of the bag he quickly went to the left side of the tank and laid on his side at the bottom like he was dead.  (Defense mechanism).  It would just take him a few days to get used to the tank and start swimming around.

After Tangy and the live rock were finally out of temporary storage, Todd could slow down and focus on designing the tank.  He bought more live rock and some coral and worked on placing them so that they would be both functional and pretty.

In order to do this he had to really get in the tank so that he could place it exactly where he wanted it to be.  This is easier said than done.  The tank was too big for him to be able to reach all the way inside, so he put on snorkeling gear to do it!  It was HILLARIOUS!!!!

Todd snorkeling in the tank!

Arranging the live rock

Finished live rock arrangement

Shot of the base and tank

So - hopefully you are wondering about the logistics of how the tank is filled, drained, and filtered.  Some salt water tanks just use the space in the base of the stand to fill all of the necessary items for maintaining the appropriate water quality.  Todd wouldn’t have that - no - he opted to adventure into an insanely complex plumbing job, running hoses from the tank, down through the floor, along the basement ceiling, and into a large, stand-alone 100-gallon sump.  (The larger the quantity of water, the better).

Hoses running into and out of the tank

There are 2 hoses coming up from the floor.  The one on the left is water draining out of the tank from its overflow slots which are at water level on the left of the tank.  This water is drained slowly off of the top of the tank as the water is moved around by the powerheads.  (The power heads create lots of water movement which is critical for the reef to stay healthy).

The hose on the right is filling the tank with water from the 100-gallon sump in the basement.  It’s then split so that water is entering the tank on both the right and left.

close-up of the hoses coming up from the living room floor

The power strip powers the lights and the power heads.  The pump that is doing the work of moving all of the water from the sump to the tank is in the basement.

Hoses coming through the ceiling in the basement from the living room

The left hose above is the one that is the return from the tank.  The right hose is supplying water to the tank from the sump.

hoses running along the basement ceiling into the laundry room

Todd had to drill through cinder block to get into the laundry room.  (Not just wood like he had originally thought).  I think he had to buy a special drill bit to get through the concrete!

Going through the wall and into the laundry room

Hoses coming into the laundry room

From here the hoses head along the wall of the laundry room to the sump.  The sump is a 100-gallon storage location for the salt water where the water from the tank is drained into an area where it is filtered and also the source of the water heading up to the tank.  The sump has several parts to it, including a protein skimmer, refugium, live rock storage, reverse osmosis water treatment, phosphorous filtration, and a pump to move all of the water.

That insane science experiment is not yet complete - so you’re gonna have to wait to see it!  As I type this Todd is working on re-locating the protein skimmer and adding sand to the refugium.  You are not going to believe this thing!  Once it is complete I’m going to post a photo and include labels for all of the different pieces.