King Neptunes' 120 Gallon Sumpless Adventure.
by
, 07-01-2010 at 07:55 PM (2850 Views)
So I'm most likely going to be bombarded with various post telling me that I am absolutely nuts for thinking about setting up an aquarium without a sump. But my wife purchased a standard 120 gallon All-Glass aquarium for me for Fathers Day and rather then take the aquarium back to the store to imply that she did something wrong I would rather run with it. Besides I know that a sump has many uses and provides for a broader spectrum of equipment to be used but in my thinking really what is a sump but an extension of your aquarium... And with the right mindset I'm pretty sure I can put together a thriving aquarium that will born born off the beaten path. Besides I personally like a challenge and definitely find myself not conforming to a standard in my everyday life. So thank you tagging along and let the adventure begin!
Aquascaping with Key Largo Rock and Bahamas Aragonite Sand
Thursday, July 01, 2010
My goal with aquascaping within this aquarium was to keep it simple while providing enough swimming space for fish and enough room for coral growth. Granted it definitely makes things look a bit bare in the beginning, with rough estimates I have approximately the entire upper half of the aquarium free from rock work and I would say about 25 percent of the aquarium is free with caverns and caves for swimming space. Not to mention this should definitely make position of pumps for water flow extremely easy due to the lack of obstructions currently in the aquarium. So I turned to Marco Rocks for my order of 90 lbs. of Key Largo Rock from Florida and 40 lbs. of Bahamas Aragonite Sand. The 40 lbs. of
Bahamas Aragonite Sand gave me a 1 Inch sandbed which was perfect for my needs.
Tap Water Filtration with Water General 6 Stage Reverse Osmosis/Deionization System
Friday, July 02, 2010
I live in a wonderful area of the Bronx but like most reef aquarium enthusiast in New York and around the world for that matter, water quality straight from the tap is not something to be admired. So I decided to purchase a Water General 6 Stage Reverse Osmosis/Deionozation System to filter out the tap water for my aquarium. The unit was shipped from California and arrived about 1 week ago. I placed it in the half bathroom of our home in to appease my wife which would not let me place it underneath the counter in the kitchen which happen to be directly across from where the aquarium is sitting. Unfortunately the plumbing in the Half Bathroom is old school and the equipment included for setup with a compression based system would not work so I am waiting for a faucet adapter to be delivered to me to recitfy this issue. I would have changed the plumbing myself but it wasn't something I considered doing at this time. Also I have amazingly low water pressure and placed an order with H20 Science for an Aquatec 8800 Booter Pump with Transformer to resolve this issue along with an added bonus of a Dual In Line TDS Meter. The shipments should be delivered around Wednesday, July 07, 2010. Until then it looks pretty.
Water General 6 Stage Reverse Osmosis/Deionization System
- Stage One: High Capacity 5 Micron Sediment Filter.
- Stage Two: High Capacity Carbon Filter.
- Stage Three: High Capacity Carbon Filter.
- Stage Four: TFC 100 gallon per day Membrane.
- Stage Five: Deionization & Demineralization Filter.
- Stage Six: Deionization & Demineralization Filter.
Tap Water Filtration with Faucet Diverter Valve
Friday, July 02, 2010
I came home to a great suprise today after work. The Faucet Divertor Valve that I had placed an order for just two days prior showed up earlier then expected. However, even after specifying that I required a 15/16 Male thread in order to connect it to my faucet I quickly realized they did not send me the appropriate adapter. So I went to two seperate Home Depot's in order to find the correct adapter only to discover that the particular size I needed was sold out in every store within 50 miles. So I managed to locate the piece from PlumbingSupply.com and placed my order. Hopefully it will be here before the end of next week.
Tap Water Filtration with Aquatec 8800 Booster Pump & Hannah Instruments Dual TDS Meter
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Well the UPS delivery guy showed up extremely late this evening to drop off my package. Poor guy looked exhausted and I really couldn't blame him because this heat has been horrible. But I got my delivery from H2O Science. I have to say I was not extremely impressed with their packing but at least my equipment made it here in one piece. I was a bit late but I still managed to mount the Aquatec 8800 Booster Pump next to my Water General 6-Stage Reverse Osmosis/Deionization System and mount and connect the Hannah Instruments Dual TDS Meter to the Water General 6-Stage Reverse Osmosis/Deionization System as well. I still have to clean up the tubing a bit using cable mounts but it was just too late to be hammering on the walls. Also I am still unable to test the system because I am still waiting on the Faucet Filter Adapter from PlumbingSupply.com. One feature I appreciate is that the Aquatec 8800 Booster Pump came with rubber feet to reduce the noise caused by the vibration of the unit.
Tap Water Filtration with PlumbingSupply.com Faucet Adapter & H2O Science Diverter Valve
Saturday, July 10, 2010
I finally received the last piece of the puzzle yesterday. My PlumbingSupply.com 15/16 Male to 55/64 Male Faucet Adapter came in which allowed me to connect the H2O Science Diverter Valve to the sink in the Half Bathroom were I setup the Water General 6-Stage Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Tap Water Filtration System. Installation took about 5 minutes with all the necessary tubing being cut into the correct length. I also ran the Waste Water tubing adjacent to the Feed Water tubing in for direct exiting via the sink. I still have some slight cleaning up to do with the tubing and wireing so everything looks neat.
Saltwater Mixing with Tunze NanoStream 6025 & Brightwell Aquatics Neomarine Reef Aquaria Salt
Friday, July 16, 2010
After some initial research among the various salt mixes available I decided to go out and purchase some Brightwell Aquatics Neomarine Reef Aquaria Salt from a local retailer "Gotham Aquatics" who was having a sale on it. After a very long drive sitting in rush hour traffic to Brooklyn and back to the Bronx I finally got home with my salt. From the claims and reviews regarding this salt it seemed to be the correct choice with you get what you pay for ringing over and over in the background. I now needed a method to mix the salt accordingly without having to resort to the All Clad Stainles Steel Cooking Spoon from Williams Sonoma that is hanging in the kitchen. So I purchased a 5 gallon painters bucket from Home Depot and placed on order for a Tunze NanoStream 6025 Pump with new generation Titanium Allow Shaft rated at 660 gallon per hour at 6 watts of energy to be used inside the bucket to stir the purified water and salt mixture so that my wife doesn't murder me for touching her toys in the kitchen.
Continue to part two of my thread: http://www.reefaddicts.com/entry.php...venture-Part-2