40gal long sump build

and yes i obviously strayed from the initial drawing that i posted in this thread

 

nice job

 

Its always easier and faster to just drill a tank then it is to read a how to posted on the net anywhere . Good Glad you got it drilled o.k Motor or 3&1 oil all work great I just always use vegetable or mineral oil as its in side and the garage is cold in the winter . I see guys using plain water and I cringe plus water cuts the bits life to nothing .

 

the bit stayed cool to the touch the entire time even after it was done. i used mobile-1 synthetic 5w-30 heh

 

finished up the plumbing to the future external return pump. i also got 60lbs of sand and placed that in the fuge chamber. now have 4" depth of sand there. ill use that for now and later add some mud when i have more money, or if it works well ill just leave the 4" sand bed as is. going to get mangroves to plant next week.

 

Save you money with the Magic Mud just get some wal mart or any brand that is cheap simple old Ga. grey clay cat litter . The Litter has all the carbonates in that and are just as good and the magic mud and will do the same thing . Ran kitty litter mud for yrs . Thats where the idea for magic mud came from .

 

i tried to look for that. i couldnt come up with any non-scented kind in my area. ill try a organic pet store i know of that doesnt sell anything that contains chemicals etc, maybe they have some.

 

found that special kitty litter at wallmart. was so cheap i picked up two 25lb bags (way too much cat liter for this project good thing i have a cat to use the rest on).

put in the cat liter and the 60lbs of aragonite sand. added pre-mixed saltwater to the chamber. ran a HOB spare filter i had on the compartment with some floss in it to catch all the crap in the water. let it sit for 12 hours, the HOB filter collected all the dust, waters crystal clear.

did my water change, and started water flow through the fuge today. SG still at 1.024 throughout the tank (yay i calculated correctly).

got the damsels out of the DT and put them in the skimmer section to hold onto them till i take them back to the LFS later today for some in-store credit. i had to use this chamber to hold alot of the rock from the DT to be able to catch the damsels. one of the yellow-tail blues, little baby one about 1/2" long, hitchhiked back into the DT through one of the rocks. so now i have to catch that guy again.

i added in about 25lbs more of rock that i recently got from a friend tearing down his tank. i nuked the rock (2 week process) and added it to the scape. ill post pics later today. cameras charging. very exciting stuff

 

sounds like progress, does this mean there will be a full system check soon?

 

full system check? as in a parameter check? i did do that, just didnt post the numbers.

Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 5ppm
Alk - 10dkh
Phos - 0ppm
Ca - 420ppm

edit: dont have a full test kit yet