250 gal. Mixed Reef - From Start to Finish

[Stussi613]

How much rock is that, weight wise?

[Herstead]

Good question!

The rock in the photo, not including what we will have in the background and sump is around 170 lbs.

That is dry rock, from what we have researched dry rock is ~75% of the weight of live rock if it were to be dried. So when it becomes live in the system it would be like using 226 lbs. But as I said earlier, it is not all we are using.

We are also going to have a 2-2.5 inch sand bed. The rock work is going to be on stilts, probably composed of brick, to keep it from being supported on the sand or buried but done so the brick will be completely buried and invisible.

- Jonathan

[Stussi613]

Wow, something to reference the scale might be helpful for those following along...I was sure that was about 50lbs of rock based on a first look 

[Nienna]

Jon cropped the photo it originally showed the tank in the background - now all you can see is the base.  The cardboard box it's in is about 5' by 34", with the tallest bit of rock sitting 16" up.

[Herstead]

So my DVD's were beside where we have the rocks set up, so I added one for scale. Decided on the worst one possible for this. 

- Jonathan

[Stussi613]

Okay, that puts it a bit more into perspective! 

I like the layout, you'll have lots of shelves for corals...looking good!

[Aquaticfinatic]

Update!!

[Stussi613]

Update!!

John and Steph are the only people that move slower than me 

[Aquaticfinatic]

John and Steph are the only people that move slower than me 

We are all dooooooommmmeedd I tell ya! That bad slower than stussi 

[Herstead]

So yeah, been awhile since an update. Been busy with a lot of things.

We now have our main pump and are getting our plumbing supplies together.

We bought 6, 45 gallon Olive Barrels at Cohen and Cohen for $17 each to hold mixed water, kalk and RO/DI water.

We also purchased an Orca Pro I Skimmer, used, through the classifieds here on OVAS.

And today we finally got around to foaming our rock wall. The photos show the progression of the foaming. We actually used two brands of foam. One was Handi Foam which was bought online the other was Touch N'Foam Landscaping foam from Lowe's. If we had known Lowe's had it we would not have bought the first two cans online and would have just gone with the stuff from Lowe's.

There was a bit of a learning curve to judge how much the foam would come out of the can with what pressure and how it would expand but we are very pleased with how it turned out.

We plan to cover it with epoxy and then sand to make it look like rock in the near future.

- Jonathan

[Aquaticfinatic]

Where is this store? Is it the furniture place in Nepean?

We bought 6, 45 gallon Olive Barrels at Cohen and Cohen for $17 each to hold mixed water, kalk and RO/DI water.

[Nienna]

Where is this store? Is it the furniture place in Nepean?

Here's the link to their site: http://www.cohenandcohen.com/reuse/

They are real olive barrels - be aware that you need to clean them out before use, and you need to check to make sure you're not buying one that's been cracked.

In other news, we got word that our 'stand' for the basement sump and other aquarium equipment has arrived and is ready for pick up.  We'll probably be getting that this weekend.  It's a heavy duty metal shelving system - once that's set up with the sump in place all we'll need is the remaining pvc plumbing parts as we've got the flow path all diagramed out.

The main room where the tank will be is hopefully going to be painted by the end of this weekend.

[Herstead]

Hi all,

Sorry for the long wait, we have been working on it a lot, but have not had enough time to update.

Here is a picture of the rock wall with epoxy and sand on it.

More pics and info to follow.

- Jonathan

[Aquaticfinatic]

Just put water in it already!! 

[Stussi613]

Just put water in it already!! 

They're holding out on us...They have water in it and fish in quarantine!

[Nienna]

They're holding out on us...They have water in it and fish in quarantine!

Yup, I'm afraid there's quite a few pictures we need to get up on this thread - getting the chance to actually sit down at the computer for longer than 15min is the issue atm.

We'll try to get the pictures processed and up by the end of this weekend 

[Herstead]

Hi all,

So I thought we had taken more pictures then we did, but here are the highlights. First pic is the rock wall in and siliconed and the dry rock in place with us just starting the sand. Next is all the sand in with salt water and a piece of live rock for seeding. And finally a more detailed shot of the live rock.

We have our Tunze powerheads in but not in their final configuration and the lights need to be added and baffles put in sump so we can add the remaining water and turn on the return pump.

[Feivel]

Any Updates??

[dbl_dbl]

Cool scaping, looking forward to an update.

[Herstead]

Sorry about lack of updates. We do plan on updating this but with all the work with Aquamania and other things, Stephanie and I have not had much free time.

For now here are a few pics, we have baby trochus snails that were born in our tank (7 at last count), our snowflake clowns and me getting a manicure from a peppermint shrimp.

- Jonathan