64g Tokyo tank

[Anonymous]

No problem. There wasn't much leg nor work involved. Besides I was curious myself, having originally removed whatever markings there were on it (you can see the blur on one side where I tried to rub off the glue with some sort of abrasive cloth without realising what that would do to acrylic ).

I think you're right - it'd be far too big for you. It's only just about doable in the 60cmx45cmx45cm sump I have. But hope it's helpful inspiration.

 

[Anonymous]

8)

 

[Anonymous]

Nice work Tom! keep the pics coming!

Just a comment, in the pics in the previous page there is a clear piece of flexible hose coming off the PVC (grey)- make sure you take that off, put it in a cup of boiling water for a minute, and refit more securely- its going to fall off when there is water in it. Cable ties work well, especially if you can get the heated hose all the way onto the grey PVC.

 

[Anonymous]

Man, I struggled for ages to get that further on and in the end thought "well, if it's that hard to get on, it won't fall off so easily". But you think it might?

I hadn't heard of the boiling water trick - sounds like it might work. Does the pipe shrink back again so it's nice and tight?

 

[Anonymous]

Man, I struggled for ages to get that further on and in the end thought "well, if it's that hard to get on, it won't fall off so easily". But you think it might?

I hadn't heard of the boiling water trick - sounds like it might work. Does the pipe shrink back again so it's nice and tight?

Yep. It's an incredibly handy trick for getting flexible tubing around something that's a really tight fit, and when it cools it does shrink and thus get even tighter. And I'll also second the notion of using a cable tie; even if it's 99.9% to be unneccessary, they're cheap and easy to use so there's never a reason not to.

 

[Anonymous]

It will definitely fall off, maybe not on day one, but it will!

Boil a kettle and put water in a coffee mug. Hold the pipe in the boiling water for a minute at least- 2 is better. It will go on easily. It shrinks as it cools, then two cable ties make sure you donthave soggy carpets.....

 

[Anonymous]

Excellent - thanks Andy for the tip and CJ for the seconding of the idea. I'll get it done this weekend.

 

[Anonymous]

The plumber's just been again and now I have a fully connected, functioning RO/DI unit. This weekend is going to involve me fixing the flexible hose with Andy's trick, buying a transformer for the protein skimmer, a couple of timers for the lights and plug adaptors for a few bits of kit. Then I start THE FILL! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Sweet. Then you get to get all paranoid about the possibility of leaks for a day
(God knows I always do whenever I fill a tank)

So when are you going to place the rock order?

 

[Anonymous]

The plumber's just been again and now I have a fully connected, functioning RO/DI unit. This weekend is going to involve me fixing the flexible hose with Andy's trick, buying a transformer for the protein skimmer, a couple of timers for the lights and plug adaptors for a few bits of kit. Then I start THE FILL! 8)

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

:wink:
The trick with the hot water will take you all of 3 minutes to do, the rest of the admin you have to do can be done after you have filled the tank, fire that puppy up and show us some water!

 

[Anonymous]

Sweet. Then you get to get all paranoid about the possibility of leaks for a day
(God knows I always do whenever I fill a tank)

So when are you going to place the rock order?

Don't mention leaks!

I'm going to just keep telling myself that this thing is made in Japan and the only leaks are likely to be where I've been involved (which are a limited number of places, with a limited potential for disaster, if some potential for small amounts of water getting where it shouldn't).

The rock will get ordered once I have the tank full of water. The place I want to order from is all sold out of half and full cases, but has some quarter cases in stock on offer (made up of smaller pieces, intended for smaller tanks), so I might resort to ordering a couple of those. Here's a pic from the site of the 1/2 case and then one of the 1/4 case. I'm not sure if it makes sense to go for the smaller cases. I might ask my wife to give them a call and ask how soon before they get a new shipment of rock in (they're linked to Okinawa Aquarium and I think they're the last lot allowed to take live rock locally, but probably only infrequently - from the website it looks like every few months).

 

[Anonymous]

The plumber's just been again and now I have a fully connected, functioning RO/DI unit. This weekend is going to involve me fixing the flexible hose with Andy's trick, buying a transformer for the protein skimmer, a couple of timers for the lights and plug adaptors for a few bits of kit. Then I start THE FILL! 8)

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

:wink:
The trick with the hot water will take you all of 3 minutes to do, the rest of the admin you have to do can be done after you have filled the tank, fire that puppy up and show us some water!

Hey, you might be able to complete an aquarium and build a house simultaneously, but the rest of us take our time!

Besides, some of the things I need to buy for the aquarium it makes sense to buy before it gets wet (e.g. the bucket for the ATO etc). So you'll just have to wait another couple of days. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

LOLOL

I wish you were out here, I could help you out with some lovely rock. I put in more than a ton in my main display and about 400 kgs in the sump- its around $6.60 a pound here, if you buy it, free if you collect it. I have some stunning pieces in my sump that would look good in your tank, cured and seeded.

Keep the updates coming, its nearly as much fun as setting up my own tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Andy. I've got high hopes for this stuff. Last time I bought from this place it came with masses of hitchhikers (mostly good - corals, brittle stars, mini abalone, that sort of thing). Who knows whether this will be as good, but I looking forward to finding out once I order it. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

OK, time for a really simple question. The display tank is full now, but I've not yet added the water to take it over the overflow to fill the sump. It's been so long since I started a tank I can't remember the ordering of the next steps.

As far as I remember it's:

Fill tank and sump with RO/DI water.

Add salt. Mix and add more salt if needed to bring to right salinity (is 1.025 the right level to be aiming for?).

Add sand.

Problems with this way of doing it in my head - adding salt increases the volume, right? Adding sand clearly does. So how you ensure that you've got the right amount of fresh water in there before you start adding salt/sand? :?

Also, once I do get round to buying live rock (hopefully this week), do I need racks in the sandbed to support the rockwork? I know this is a popular way of doing things in the US, so I'm tempted to follow suit. I haven't found eggcrate yet though. Would a couple of upended draining trays work? The local 100yen shop has some, with permeable sides, but not permeable bases. Would that matter?

 

[Anonymous]

Just to prove it's finally wet, it not yet salty...

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010563.jpg[/rimg]

 

[Anonymous]

It's been a good seven or eight years since I last set up a large fish tank. I say that as way of preamble to confessing to the sort of schoolboy error that leads to your tank looking like this.

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010564.jpg[/rimg]

Yes, that's right. I forgot to rinse the sand.

That's a photo from right after the sand went in. It's been about five days now, with the first batch of live rock due to be delivered tomorrow. I bought some filter socks from the LFS last night, but they didn't seem to do much good (there was no selection, they don't seem to use them here, so I had to take what they had, which didn't seem to be made of particularly fine material). Today I bought some filter wool, as there hadn't been enough progress overnight. It seems to be clearing a bit better now. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the protein skimmer isn't working.

The bubbleblaster pump keeps cutting out after a short period (5-10 minutes) and then not starting up again until much later and much unplugging and replugging in. Which all means it's not had enough time to settle in and start skimming properly. I will have to do lots of water changes (which will probably have to be lots of small changes, as I don't yet have a lot of decent-sized buckets) to keep the nitrates/ammonia down (particularly a concern given the heat in Japan at the moment - hopefully there will still be stuff alive on the rock when it arrives!).

Luckily, Jeremy in Premium Aquatics is being very helpful about the protein skimmer. Glad I bought from them.

 

[Anonymous]

Tom, for a quick, cheap and readily available filter sock, go buy some cheap ladies stockings (You may call them 'nylons', I think the Yanks do) If one layer is not giving you the fine filtration you need, double or triple up. Secure with a rubber band if necessary. Filter wool also works well- that cloudiness should have cleared in a few hours. Be careful pulling the filter wool out, you may end up dumping the bulk of its contents back in.

As for the skimmer pump, it sounds like a faulty pump. Wait for one of the less electrically challenged people to add their comments, but its possible (I think) that your pump may be for the wrong frequency or voltage. If its easy to replace, just go to your LFS and get a similar volume rated pump that will work with your Hz and voltage. Its going to be cheaper and less frustrating than perpetual WCs and shipping back for a replacement (that may have the same issues anyway).

Sorry to hear about the headwinds, hope you get sorted, and keep us posted.....

 

[Anonymous]

:wink: PS, even a good rinse of the substrate will leave you with the same effect, so dont beat yourself up about it!

 

[Anonymous]

Tom, I never rinse the sand. Once you get some bacteria going all the fines will clump up and stop clouding the water. Sorry I can't be much help with the pump issues, though.