I will be re-setting up my 80 gallon reef tank soon...

JPLreefer

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#1
I will be changing a few things around. Mainly because I dont have a chiller and I will be trying to remove all electronics from the water. There will be a few exceptions for certain equipment. I will be getting the Nextreef NRS-30 sump and an external pump. Does anyone have a suggestion? I need to to be able to keep the flow at about 4-6x the display tank at about 5ft verticle and about 6-7 ft total piping back to display tank.

Anyone have a process that I would be able to cure my rocks again to make them live rock once again? First things first, I need to get all the dead stuff off the rocks then put them in a brute trash can with salt water and a power head to circulate the water. But, for how long?

I need to remove all the old sand and clean the tank. But, with what? Should I keep the sand or should I just get new sand?

I will be more patient with setting it up this time around instead of loading it up as i did last time. It did last 2 years, until I started to travel for my new job. I want to set it up so that if I am gone for a week, I wont have to come home to fix what my kids and wife didnt do... Any suggestions?

Equipment that I already have:
80 gallon tank
Apex controller
PM1 module
WXM module
Calcium reactor
Reef Octopus 150
MP40 and MP10
2 little fishies GFO reactor - turned into biopellet reactor.

:help (2):
 
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#3
Any external pump you would like to run as long as you can get 500-700gpd@5'. Should suffice. Maybe a eheim 1262, sp2, HY-WB5000 are few good choice..

I would start curing your rocks NOW. Say a month of FW, then drain. Another month or so for saltwater than seed it with some none pest infested LR.. It's all starts here if you don't want pest..

Definitely Remove all old sand and go with new LS or dry sand...no point of doing anything half arse..

Get yourself a 15g-20g ato reservoir with a tunze3155 and your good to go for about a week+.

GL and have fun with your system build...oh we like pictures too. So post some up and possibly more will chime in...
 

JPLreefer

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Looks like my new project of putting my tank back up will have to wait. The wife and I have decided to buy a house. Good thing is, no longer having to worry about leaks affecting other people. Had a few leaks due to the dog jumping on the equipment next to the tank. He knocked a few hoses out of the sump and caused around a 20 gallon leak. I live on the second floor of my complex and it leaked through pretty badly.
 

JPLreefer

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Update: I have started to soak and prepare my rock to become live rock. Ok, trying to upload pix but forum will not let me...

First cleaned off old live rock after it has been sitting out on my balcony bleaching away. Sat it in tap water while a circulation pump moved the water around for a week. I was amazed with all the sh!t that fell off of it even after I thought I had cleaned it. **Darker picture of rocks**

Second step has begun this week. I have rinsed all the rock off with tap water and set it out for a few minutes while i put in 25 or so gallons of RODI water. Placed all the rocks in and began circulating once again. It has a lid on it so that nothing can get in it like leaves, bird sh!t, or what ever. **Daytime pic of rocks**

I will do this for a week then do a 100% water change and repeat. This second step will go on for 2-3 weeks. Haven't decided yet.

Third step will be salt water soak while introducing Dr. Tim's one and only. I have the ammonia sulfate to add to the brute trash can to cycle the Live Rock. That process will take 1-2 months prior to me setting up my tank once again.
 

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Sosee

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#6
Sounds like you are doing it right and using patience.
Curing the rock is a long process but well worth the wait.

Keep us updated with pics.
 
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#7
You my need. Pressure rated pump. I'm running a Barracuda gold. Its going about 7-8 ' vertical Nd 20' horizontal. I thought the lump would be way too strong. But its just perfect. Same as you. Hoping I won't need oowerheads wasting space, looking ugly, wasting energy, Adding heat.
 

JPLreefer

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ok I went 2 weeks without a water change. The rocks sat in RODI water for 2 weeks with circulation. I just did 100% water change and added 2 flat rocks for shelf type aquascape. The next water change I will begin to soak it in salt water. And I will let it sit in salt water for a week before I put in Dr. Tim's the one and only.

I will take out my old sand from my tank and begin cleaning my tank. My question is, what should I clean the tank with? Just RODI water?
 

JPLreefer

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#9
Decided to add an additional pump to move the water a little more. One more week then I start the salt water phase. I ordered 2 golden maroon clowns and hopefully Age of Aquariums holds them in quarantine for me.
 

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JPLreefer

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Took out the sand. Now I just have to clean the tank, I will be using distilled white vinegar and RODI water to clean the tank. Hopefully that will be quick and easy. I'll take a before cleaning and after cleaning pic.
 

JPLreefer

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Ok, first week in salt water complete. Dr. Tim's the one and only put in the trash can with the rock. Ammonia (the bottle that comes with the one and only) drops added to the trash can as well. Hopefully they wont take long to cycle. Once the cycle is complete, do I continue to add ammonia drops to it? To keep it alive? How many drops? Do I add during the cycle?

James (newtothis) helped me buy some things for my tank. Aquamaxx BP reactor. I will be getting my sicce 4.0 and sump soon. Looks like sicce 4.0 return pump tomorrow. Sump next week. I will get my manifold fixed and set up as well. Once I have it set up I will take pix and post them.
 

adrianocampo

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#12
I'm going to be doing the exact same thing soon. I want to redo my aquascape and start fresh!

Going to start all over again. clean tank. I'll start a re-build thread as well.. gonna bleach the rocks i have in my tank and all.
I have tons of coral and fish i'm trying to save.. so i first have to start off with cycling a new tank and getting that tank all ready..

its going to be a LONGGG process...
 

JPLreefer

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it has been a long process. I am anxious to start the tank. But one thing I have learned from my past experiences... patience. I bleached my rocks by letting them sit outside on my balcony. One thing i didn't do was rinse off my rock after a few months. I didn't rinse them off until I started my live rock process. A month ago I started my process, I still have minimum of 3-4 weeks of seeding my rock. Even after I set up my tank with live sand and get my rock in there with saltwater, I will have to wait to make sure I get my first cycle completed before I start putting in my first fish (pair of maroon clowns).
 

JPLreefer

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Should I wait until August to start my tank? To avoid the heat? Or should I just go for it? I reduced the amount of pumps in my system. I will only have my return pump, skimmer pump, and 2 mp40s.

I had a return pump, skimmer pump, carbon reactor pump, biopellet reactor pump, and calcium reactor pump before I took it down last time.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk
 

JPLreefer

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finally cleaned my skimmer, carbon reactor, and display tank. Hopefully everything will come along quickly. I will be getting my tank up and running soon!
 
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