monkiboy's 265g build thread

[monkiboy]

so my cerameco vida rock arrived earlier today!

big boxes - hopefully well protected structures...

let's get these things open!

so really well packaged, it actually was a bit of a pain to get the structures out but thankfully the foam was within plastic bags to keep it from adhering to the structures. only way to get the ceramic pieces out was to remove the box sides and remove the bags of foam carefully.



glad this came freight as i'm sure UPS/FedEx would have found a way to destroy them one way or another. i ended up with only one broken piece about six inches long that was an overhang that i found where it situates and will stick back on with some epoxy. really impressed it was as minimal damage as that. the frag holes were intelligently located and not just randomly drilled all over the place, too, which i was worried about losing a lot of the aesthetic to over drilling. and the purple color looks fine, too. nothing incredibly awesome about it but looks natural and is easier on the eye than the alternative.



going to see about getting these situated in the tank and complete my aquascape today!

 

[monkiboy]

before:

this stuff is awesome:

ten minutes later - rock solid:

 

[monkiboy]

 

[monkiboy]

ps - getting those structures in my tank by myself was NOT fun. even with the ceiling take out above the tank, because of how wide/deep the structures are it proved stressful and tiresome to grab hold of solid parts of the structures over the tank and slowly into position between the two braces. BUT they are in and boy oh boy did i make a smart move working with these folks. it looks phenomenal if i do say so myself ;)



now, i learned i definitely need some sand, haha.



it just looks silly without anything done there.



might get to that as well tonight!

 

[monkiboy]

'm trying to get it done but ran out of water even though i prepped and had both my 40g containers full. i topped off the tank and saw water rush down the overflow and boy that was exciting and it drained nicely and evenly into the sump. i have the sump about 1/3 full and have the RO running to top it off so hopefully i can have this thing moving water tonight!!



so i got the skimmer going for kicks with one of the dc5500 skimmer pumps and wowzers micro air bubbles batman!

yes that is me chuckling because it was ridiculous.



so of course i had to try two, both of the reef octopus dc5500 skimmer pumps and holy moses i had a solid skimmer body of air bubbles like i've never seen before. and the soft start and stop is so sweet. i'm really digging them and hope the different design keeps it away from the troubles others have had with the waveline gen 1 pumps.



here's with the two skimmer pumps dc5500s going:

 

[monkiboy]

got her done, mostly. water is moving! still need to tune the bean and need more water for the skimmer but won't be running the skimmer for the first week at least anyway so i'm feeling pretty good. will adjust salinity tomorrow and tune bean for silence. then add sand. enjoy!

 

[monkiboy]

rock is in, sand is in, and in goes the doctor...we are officially cycling!

 

[monkiboy]

 

[monkiboy]

probably going to get another 20lbs of hawaiian black. then gotta mix or not or get in places that i want.



then i have some extra long flat pieces of cermeco via rock that look incredible that i might use horizontally to bridge the main structures or place at a slant against one of the main structures. not sure yet. just excited to get the tank clear and cycling. it's honestly just so awesome to look at the clean plumbing and watch it work without fail and no issues with start up after fail or power down. it's just fun and nothing is in the tank yet!

 

[monkiboy]

just testing out one of the wp40s from the GB that ERC put together. i don't think i'll be using any of the jebaos on this tank as i really don't like the cord being seen but that didn't stop me from playing around with my new toy, haha!

oh, and i took a suggestion from a fellow reefer and moved one structure over and i do like it better that way. i mixed the sand a bit and i think it looks very different and unique the black and fiji pink and am really glad i went with a sand bed. i'm horrible at maintaining a sand bed so i will make sure that i get a lot of the right CUC members to do that job for me ;)

 

[monkiboy]

i have no idea how if not in the carib-sea "live" sand or maybe some freak water splash accident while working on the other sump of the existing clown/nem tank and it landed in the 265?!

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

Lol! LIFE! YAAAAAAAY :)

 

[Marinne13]

nice, always amazes me how stuff just appears!!

 

[monkiboy]

a true sunset over the tank this evening, how cool is that?!

 

[rrbigdog]

This build is awesome..... I would love to see first hand....I think you are only about 15 mins away from me.

 

[d2mini]

WOW, this thread is epic. Well done, sir... well done. :cool:

These two pics gave me wood. :X3:

 

[monkiboy]

i got diatoms - score!

 

[Civicdemon]

LOL Sweet it has begun !!!!!

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

WOW, this thread is epic. Well done, sir... well done. :cool:

These two pics gave me wood. :X3:

That was pretty funny :)

 

[Sidekick41]

just the blue LEDs on...and this at 15% - the lights are redunkuliss bright. yes that bright at just 25%. it's just silly.

needless to say, i am NOT worried at all about coverage. can't wait to test PAR on the unit in comparison to my other fixtures especially with the extra depth this 30" tank provides.

The lights looks awesome. Where did you get your LEDs and T-5 parts from?