The Dream 120 Reef

[Mark092]

I used diluted bleach in a rubbermaid stock tank for a few weeks to prep some pukani dry rock. Soaked it in tap water for a few weeks, then added heated saltwater with some food to start the cycle. I added it with some live rock from an old tank, and added fish and corals right away, and it was fine. Didn't really get any algae.
Here is a video from BulkReefSupply if you're interested. They have a bunch of videos about curing rock and lots of good info. Pretty sure they say that Marco dry rock is clean and doesn't need the bleach method FYI though.

 

[Luke.]

Ordered another 40 pounds of the flat both sides , hopefully get it by Friday

And ordered a bottle of Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter Start XLM thanks @Kman !
Hopefully it works well ,

 

[Josh]

@Josh tell me a bit more about that stuff so is that equivalent To like dr Tim’s and instant oceans stuff to help cure/cycle dry rock??

Yeah its kind of like that except it probably also contains something that works like seachem prime as well. They say it cleans out the dirty pores and also starts you off with a good bacteria colony. Im not sure i would use it on a mature tank it can nuke your nutrients like GFO if you overdo it. Works great to cure rock though.

 

[Kman]

Ordered another 40 pounds of the flat both sides , hopefully get it by Friday

And ordered a bottle of Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter Start XLM thanks @Kman !
Hopefully it works well ,

I have cycled a few tanks with it and I like it. Plus it isn't crazy expensive.

 

[Luke.]

Well busy day , pulled the trigger and acid bathed my Marco rocks , I highly recommend doing it if you have to / want too , today was a perfect windy day , few people drove by slow and were wondering wtf I was up too .. but I think with covid going on I don’t look to silly with gloves and mask on . Just had to hide the acid bottle lol . But all seriousness very pleased with the out come ! I watched 10 vids and read lots of forums on this
Did the shelf rock longer then the other cut flats Marco rocks , gave them a good hose off, then soaking over night and will dry in the sun for a few days before going into the tank for the cycle . Almost there , getting all the plumbing tomorrow thanks to @EricTMah and another weekish and plumbing will be done and ready for water ! .. can’t believe how fast this comes along when you have the money for stuff .. well wait the year to save up!

 

[Luke.]

Officially ready for water !!

 

[TORX]

Only feedback here is a cautionary tail of moving that power bar from directly below the plumbing. If the plumbing ever leaks...

 

[Luke.]

Only feedback here is a cautionary tail of moving that power bar from directly below the plumbing. If the plumbing ever leaks...

Good call ! I’ll move it off the the sides , thanks!

 

[Jason Bell]

Looking good Luke! Fill her up.

 

[Luke.]

Looking good Luke! Fill her up.

Can’t wait ! Will have to change rodi stuff out , and will start filling !

 

[Luke.]

Got the sand in , pumps in place , will start filling then aquascaping , still a bit of work to do in about 3 months tops ..

Need to build a hood for the top to hide lights and t5s , finesse With the rodi to make t more effective and add float switch , biggest challenge will be the hood , as I need to match maple with expresso stain , maaayyy cheap out and not go maple .. idk stuff expensive lol

Either this weekend or next it’ll have water in it will be placing an order tonight for rodi filters

Also took out the sulphur reactor , I just don’t want to use it right now

 

[Jason Bell]

Come on man, get that thing wet.

 

[Luke.]

Aquascaping finished , just going to start making water tomorrow ! Never had mp40s before so excited to see them in action !

 

[Painter Steve]

Looking good!!! Did you end up using all the rock you ordered? When your ready Ill make sure to have a couple frags ready to donate to your new tank.

 

[Luke.]

Looking good!!! Did you end up using all the rock you ordered? When your ready Ill make sure to have a couple frags ready to donate to your new tank.

Yeah I’ll I used it all , and probably could have used another 20 pounds , I made use of every rock though , I’d love more shelf rock in but at 9.99 a pound minimum 5 pounds , I think I’m happy with what I got .. plus when corals grow it’ll look much better ,

And thanks , I’ll let ya know what I’m looking for , I’m trying everything I can to have a pest free tank , so I’ll be picky with what’s I’ll be getting / buying for this tank / really want to get a qt tank going I have a 20 gallon long kicking around thanks Steve I’ll let ya know when it’s ready!

 

[Jason Bell]

Looking good. I'm sire you'll really enjoy the MP40 pump, I should have gone with them over the gyre pumps....next upgrade.

 

[Luke.]

@Jason Bell here ya go lol day 1 .. 6 1/2 hours and this is how much I got filled (mixed the salt in already , never did a leak test when I bought this tank .. fingers crossed knock on wood so far so good

 

[Jason Bell]

Nice! Finally wet. What's your RO unit rated at? Excited to see this take shape.

 

[Luke.]

Nice! Finally wet. What's your RO unit rated at? Excited to see this take shape.

It’s the maxwater flow 6 stage 75gpd rodi good unit , I don’t think you can do lots of upgrades , I think the unit runs best around 60 -65 psi and they don’t recommend more .

 

[Jason Bell]

I'm using a Spectrapure 90 gpd at 80psi, I get just over 4g/h but would like to swap that out and the 180 unit. I'm sourcing a couple vertical 115g tanks, one for salt and one for RO.