mFrame Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Preliminary upgrade occurred this past Friday. Still a lot to be done, but here are some teaser shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I think instead of sunflowers in the background, you need to have sea stars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 I think instead of sunflowers in the background, you need to have sea stars! LOL, when we built the house my wife and I divied up rooms to decorate. She got the kitchen/breakfast nook and opted for blue walls and somewhere to put all of her sunflower-themed items. A few months in I snuck the original 90g tank in as a room divider between the nook and living room. Now that has expanded into the 226g room divider. My mom (love her!) found a bunch of fish-themed items like throw pillows and stuff and gave them to us a few months ago to use in the living room. You can see one in the middle photo. Surprisingly the wife said she liked them and they tie it all together. I'm slowly and surely encroaching and by 2014 I hope to have completely overtaken the nook, with future plans for the kitchen as well. Mwah-ha-ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 this is not going to end well for you mike. are you totally prepared to have to give up another room her purse/shoe racks? because it's coming. just you wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 this is not going to end well for you mike. are you totally prepared to have to give up another room her purse/shoe racks? because it's coming. just you wait. As long as it's an upstairs room, I'll call it a fair trade. I did catch her trying to encroach on my 1/32nd of the master closet and insisted I be able to keep my 4 hangers and a pair of shoes there. Now that our son has left for college I keep telling her that his room AND closet are available. I love seeing the conflict between her mother and shopper sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 notice how there is absolutely no qualm about taking away your space. in addition, your closet has been relocated to your sump cabinet. "MIke you smell kind of weird today, what is the cologne you're wearing?" "salt spray...." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I hear you Mike. I have been downgraded to one closet rack since my fiance moved in. She's got the other 3/4 of the closet to herself, as well as all the shelves, and then all the closet space in the other two rooms. Half my shoes are in the garage! But I own the fish room.... better start planting some flags before she tries to overtake that area too! -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I like it! But, I'd probably want the couch facing the tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Lookin good!! Is that pillar hiding ph? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SChrisEV Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I like it! But, I'd probably want the couch facing the tank! +1 on couch direction! This looks awesome! Maybe it's time for me to upgrade my 92g... oh wait I guess I should get it going BEFORE thinking thoughts like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Lookin good!! Is that pillar hiding ph? There will be additional changes to the rock work, but yes, the overflow (against the wall) has a full size Tunze wavebox built into it as well as two powerheads hidden in the rock. Additionally there will be a custom rock column near the empty end of the tank that will hide multiple power heads providing additional flow for that side. My ultimate goal is to not have any visible wires or powerheads but still have lots of flow. The white PVC pipe sticking up from the overflow is a dry tube down through a bulkhead and into the stand which will be used to run all wiring through the tank rather than external. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 How about a pic of the top of the tank, showing the bracing specifically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko's Reef Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 Nice.... Awesome build. Can't wait to see it when it's completed. Wow, I feel bad reading about everyone's closet space. I'm the opposite. I'm materialistic and take up all of the walk in closet in the master bedroom and a closet in another bedroom. Luckily I got addicted to reefing, b4 I took up another closet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard L Posted February 3, 2013 Share Posted February 3, 2013 Found 3 pak of Super Glue Gel 0.07 oz. tubes for $1 at Dollar Tree today. I've been paying $1.97 at Home Depot for just 2 of tubes. The small tubes are great because you always have a clean nozel and you can use them underwater without worrying about saltwater getting in the tube. I also got one of those plastic grabber-tong-thingies for a dollar. It's a little over 3 feet long. We'll see how long it lasts but for a dollar it doesn't have to last that long! What other reef keeping bargains have you guys found out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 4, 2013 Author Share Posted February 4, 2013 Time for a quick update. After long consideration and planning, I've decided to use BuildMyLED fixtures on the new tank. My 90g had a 48" Odyssea fixture with (2)250w MH and (4)54w T5s. It's obviously not large enough for the 7' tank so I've spent the last 6-8 months designing and trying DIY LED fixtures with Timfish. For the cost, effort, and final product specs I just couldn't beat BML, so I spent the weekend building the tank surround to hold the (9) 2' fixtures I'm purchasing. I don't call it a canopy because it will be open-topped. The idea is to have a frame that surrounds the tank, supports the fixtures in place, and provides cable management for all power cords. Here's the surround as of yesterday. This week I'll be adding some L-channel aluminum for support and to provide a lip to rest on the top of the tank. I'll also be adding crown molding around the top to finish it off, then painting it all black. More pics as it progresses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Awesome. Make sure you take some before and after shots as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SChrisEV Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Looks great, can't wait to see more pics of your progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Looks great, can't wait to see more pics of your progress! I'm using one of my wife's old tricks, set a deadline for your project by inviting company over. The goal is to have the LEDs up and running for the meeting at my place this month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 wow 9 fixtures?! can I borrow your amex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 wow 9 fixtures?! can I borrow your amex? At the moment it would be useless to you. Here are some updated pics from when the lights went up this weekend. First up is a construction shot of the tank surround (open top canopy). The notches are to hold each end of the (9) 2' BML fixtures. I'm running (5) Custom Reef Spectrum fixtures - 75 degree lens and (4) DIY fixtures - 90 degree lens. The lights are alternated to get a good spread and mix between them. The custom DIY LED pattern. BML lets you customize 12" and then clones that pattern for each additional foot of fixture. I wanted to make sure that with 2' that the light distributed on the kitchen side of the tank matched the light on the living room side of the tank. This pattern came the closest to achieving that while incorporating the red, green, and UV LEDs. The UV really makes the actinic corals pop even in daytime. The power supplies for the fixtures are mounted on the wall end of the peninsula tank. The wood trim on the aluminum plate hides everything from view as the power supplies are nestled between the end of the aquarium and the wall behind it. Nick and Randy at BML were great about helping me customize the fixtures so that the power cords were the right length for my design. Here is the 24"x18" aluminum plate that I attached the fixture power supplies to. Originally I was worried about heat and the configuration, so I put all the supplies on the aluminum, placed a towel over them and turned the lights on. 45 mins later neither the plate or towels were warm at all so I knew that heat accumulation would not be an issue. Here the holes have been drilled, power supplies zip-tied in place, and the black wood trim added to the aluminum. The zip-tied side ends up facing the tank overflow. The power supplies are on the opposite side facing the wall. It's not shown here, but I added two hooks to the top of the plate to hang this power supply rack from the aquarium lip at the top. A view from the front with everything in place. Custom plugs were added to the power supplies so that all will fit into the two power strips. The original plugs were much too bulky to fit side by side. Power strips added, attached to the trimwork, and power supplies plugged in. The surround in place on top of the tank (painted, light fixtures in place, power cables clipped to the surround and zip-tied together. View in a darkened room with all lights on. Notice the minimal shadows on the rock work. Running the lights perpendicular to the length of the tank allows the light to hit everything from the bottom of the tank to the top. Close ups of the livestock Things left on the project list: Adding magnets to the cabinet doors (currently using velcro) Dealing with running all power cables through the white pvc pipe you see sticking up in the overflow. This will be cut shorter and all electric from the tank will run through this dry pipe into the sump. Adding the custom built live rock tower for the anemones to live on. The tower will have two power heads inside of it with power cords running out the top and along the tank surround. The end result should be a tank with no visible plumbing or wires (other than the two black return spigots). Post sketches of the overflow (drains, returns, and hidden full Tunze wavebox), sump design, and dry section of the stand. Take final PAR readings of the setup. Initial readings are showing around 110 PAR at the sand level. In person the tank is lit in a cool white, slightly bluish color. The tank glows, and the UV LEDs cause the colors on the zoas, anemones, and palau to really pop. I'm incredibly happy with the whole setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Loved your tank Mike. Wish i could do a peninsula style tank. Maybe someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Looks really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 The lights look awesome. That rack is pretty nice. Tank looks great too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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