dgilpin22 Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Hi. My name is Devin and I am an addict. This is my first AA (Aquarium Anonymous) meeting..... I wish I would have started doing this from the very beginning. Instead, I am doing this at 1 am because I can't get fish and coral off the brain. I've decided to document my journey. This is the point of view: Never once owning or having any interest in anything aquatic, waking up one day saying "I want a saltwater aquarium", and diving in head first. No pun intended. I have been researching since January of 2015. After many long nights of reading and realizing that I have been sitting at my desk for the past six hours, I decided to join a few forums. This was also after spending nearly $100 in reading material. I've enjoyed this process and this hobby more than any of my other hobbies combined. I have a lot of hobbies. From the time I started and all the way up until now, I have slowly made purchases. First purchase was a 75 gallon aquarium, sump, protein skimmer, and a canister for the protein skimmer. Everything was used and I spent about $260 on the package. Mind you, I only was going to buy the tank from the guy. He drove a hard bargain. I spent a lot of time also researching local fish stores. I knew I couldn't rely on the big chain stores. I'm not going to mention names, but they rhyme with shmetco and shmetsmart. I have experience with their live stock and it has never been all that great. I found one that was up on the north side of Indianapolis. For me, that is an hour drive one way. Not bad, but it tends to make a few things difficult. I then came across Premium Aquatics and found out they were in my backyard. I squealed with joy (literally) and immediately got in the car and drove there. I arrived on their first day of being open in the new warehouse and watched as they set up there frag tanks, fish tanks, and live rock tanks. I also made my next purchase. My return pump. More research. I spend lots of time deciding on powerheads. Mind you, this hobby was completely new to me. No clue what a powerhead was or what it was for. Flow was an entirely new concept and I can honestly say that I have spent a majority of my research on this topic alone. I decided on two Ecotech Vortech MP10. Newest quiet drive models with wireless capabilities. I'm a tech guy so this was huge for me. Next came the heaters. I went back and forth between glass and titanium. Glass and titanium. Titanium and glass. I also wrestled with the idea over one 300 watt or two 150 watt. The idea to get two stemmed the thought of having a backup and my OCD. It was like 50/50. More like 75/25. I settled for two glass 150 watt from jager. Along the way, I also picked up a few necessities. I bought several cleaning supplies, gravel vacuum, refractometer, thermometers, etc. I still have plenty of things to buy, but I just pick them up along the way or when I see good deals on stuff. Even now, I'm still a long way off from being ready. I then started thinking about water. I figured that I would just buy my water and call it done. I really started to think about what that would cost and how much of a pain it would be. Initially, I'm going to need close to 75 gallons of water. The thought of lugging that two and from the car changed my mind almost immediately. After my initial fill, I will be doing 25% water changes quite frequently over the first several months to get my tank cycled and ready for live stock. Then I will still be doing 25% monthly water changes. For those of you doing the math at home, that is roughly 300 gallons of water in the first 6 months. And that is being quite generous with no room for errors. I calculated that cost of water, time, effort, and storage space to equal nearly 1.35 million dollars. I bout an RODI system for $125. Throughout this whole process, I also decided to build a stand. I am quite handy and knew I could build one that would have the functionality and aesthetics that I wanted for 1/3 the price of buying one. This is the almost end product of that build. The center beam is removable for easy access. I will be doing some finishing touches to the paint, doing a little waterproofing, and adding in some storage capabilities. I sat back admiring my handy work and puffing on my newly purchased e cig (Kangertech protech 3 mini with an itaste vv 3 mod for anyone that is interested) when I had a thought. "I spent so much time and effort on building this beautiful stand and I'm going to put this ugly, framed, generic tank on top. I couldn't stand by and let myself do that. After browsing around and researching, I decided that I wanted my tank like I want my women: topless. I found a good price on a rimless 75 gallon from deep blue professional. Thank you, Premium Aquatics. This tank is on order and should arrive this weekend or early next week. I wet myself every time I think about it. If only Premium Aquatics sold pants... I'll update this post with an unboxing of my new tank as soon as I get it. I will also be periodically updating this post as I continue my saltwater aquarium extravaganza! This is the current view from my desk. The girlfriend said I had to organize. This is the best I could do. I also just picked up my 20 gallon QT utilizing the $1 a gallon sale at Petco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer82 Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 That stand is ridiculously nice. Might need to get you to freelance over here when you're done with your tank. Mine has a tank on it though Sounds like you have a decent plan going so far. I do like the true cost of water, you probably aren't far off considering what some retailers charge for bottle deposits and ready to use SW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgilpin22 Posted April 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 That stand is ridiculously nice. Might need to get you to freelance over here when you're done with your tank. Mine has a tank on it though Technically, there is a tank on mine too. I just can't put anything in it right now because I'm trying to cycle the excess O2 out of it. I'm open to freelance when ever. I have a lot of free time on my hands right now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnCrunch Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Looks like it's coming along well.just wait until you get your first fish and coral. Then the obsession really begins. Then the upgrade.lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke33 Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 lol, nice write up. Looks like you have made good decisions on your equipment and that will take you a long way in this hobby. Glad to see you did some research, look forward to the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBugmaster Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Looking good, can't wait to see the rest of your build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgilpin22 Posted April 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 So here is the poor man setup for my RODI system. Mounted it up on some scrap wood I had laying around. Going to put it on the wall in the utility closet. This is all temporary mind you. We plan on moving within the year so I didn't want to go all out quite yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke33 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 I think you need a few more di add ons! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgilpin22 Posted April 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Yeah well I got a killer deal on a used 7 stage. I'm at 3 ppm after all three. I'm not real sure the condition of the resin I got from the guy though. I figured I might as well use em if I got em! We will see how long that lasts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnCrunch Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Might want to shake the di up it might have a channel in it. Should be getting 0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke33 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 You should be able to get some DI from PA pretty cheap and get those three di's refilled. Only takes a few minutes, but after three DI's I'm surprised you have 3 tds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgilpin22 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 I feel the same. I just filled those with resin. I used the unopened bag that was included with the purchase of the RODI. I figured I'd give it a go. Bought some resin from that brs group buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapnCrunch Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Make sure you tamp that resin down.or you get a channel in it and di stops working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetesFolly Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Great write up! Looking forward to see how this progresses! I'm fairly new myself and am still researching and learning. Just learned that it is a good idea to turn off the flushing/cleaning mode of my RO/DI unit before leaving for vacation...:-(. Thanks to TankNovice and his wife and daughter for rescuing my basement!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgilpin22 Posted May 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Just started my QT. Its a permanent tank for the moment until I get the 75 up and going. I was jonesing and just couldn't wait anymore. Just finished cycling for the most part. Getting some inverts in it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesterisdead Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Gotta watch overflow on your bottle. I've flooded my laundry room three times. Sad thing is I have a shut assembly just haven't installed it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgilpin22 Posted May 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 I have a nice drain in the floor in my utility room where I make water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetesFolly Posted May 29, 2015 Report Share Posted May 29, 2015 I have a drain and an auto shut off valve....unfortunately, I have not installed the auto shut off and my basement drains towards the sump on the other side of the basement! I did not expect that. Apparently, the drain was installed for the water heater and where it should be (I have a tankless water heater now) the water would flow towards the drain. Because of that, water from my RO/DI will flow through the finished part of my basement... So, I may have to relocate my RO/DI unit and I also need to install the auto shut off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SantaMonicaHelp Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 Thanks for sharing your journey Please keep updates and pictures coming! ~Sandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgilpin22 Posted June 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 I'm planning on moving to a bigger house, so my 75 gallon is on hold. Would hate to get it setup and then have to tear it down two months later for a move. However, I did get a new 20 gallon nano going. I'm quite pleased with it and it is holding me over. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted June 28, 2015 Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 Nice and a good idea to hold off. Less chance of losing pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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