boognish

Argh!!!!! Must. Fight. The. Voices.

The cleanup crew arrived last week. As usual, ReefCleaners.org http://www.austinree...-reef-cleaners/ came through with a healthy order of several types of snails and hermits in 100+ heat. There were plenty of empty shells for the larger ones to move into - they did and were fun to watch as they fought over the shiny white shells. Of course some didn't make it (100+ Temp before 11am... ), but I put a lot of them in just to test the tank stability and give the survivors some nourishment. There were no measurable changes in tank parameters, so I think it's ready for a bio-load. I saw one tiny aiptasia appear on the glass the first week after adding all of the fiji live rock, so I bought a filefish from RCA. I haven't seen another aiptasia, but I've seen him investigating all of the rock pretty closely and nipping occasionally. Since the tank managed the dead members of the clean up crew without a hitch, I've been throwing in a little cyclopeze and phyto when I feed my 75. The file fish is like a cat when he sees the smaller hermits scramble for food... I may need to trade him in soon or I'll need a replacement clean-up-crew. I think he is culling the pod population, too. I want a goby or 2, so he will have to go soon. Anyone have an aiptasia problem (or want to prevent one, like I did), and want a filefish? The tunze wavebox 6206 is producing about a 3/4" wave that I'm 'OK' with until a good deal on a full size wavebox comes along. I have a couple Koralia 4s for flow, but it's still probably not enough. I REALLY HATE powerheads in the tank. After spending so much time on a fairly minimal setup and getting the pillars and aquascaping how I like, powerheads just stick out like sore thumbs even when I cram them in a corner. I am not going to fork out the $$ for MP40s because I am not in the mood for a divorce and ugly custody battle. The Apex controller is hooked up, but I'm not done programming it yet. I am starting off minimally with the 3 T5s and variable speed canopy fans on first, then the 3 400W MHs (possibly one at a time over a few hours) + cooling fan. The chiller/heater has an integrated thermostat, so I am only using the apex to cut power to it and send/sound alarms at extreme high or low temps beyond what its thermostat is set to control. I will eventually move moon lights to it, but I don't see a reason to use it for any pumps other than the Reeflo. I think I've been patient enough... time for coral. I'll be moving some of the easy stuff from my 75 over the next couple of weeks and monitoring. I'm starting with the pulsing xenia. It's hearty and only helps clean the water. **note to self: Do NOT let the xenia touch any rock I want to keep.** Here's a few shots with the 3 T5s on. Pay no mind to those powerheads... they are either gone, soon to be gone, or have been moved...

Thanks, Jeremy. I am pretty happy with it so far. I'll be here this weekend - just call and swing by. I Just ordered a cleanup crew from reef-cleaners and a new float valve from reefs-2-go for the gravity fed auto-topoff. Today's specials form these two sponsors couldn't have come at a better time! Current params in the tank: ph: 8.0 Alk: 9.5 Calcium: 420 Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 0 Phosphates: 0 I used API tests, so there may be some of those last 4, but I'm not worried since there's nothing but live rock, a few snails, some limpets, and some teeny tiny brittle stars.

Aquascaping Update The 50 lbs of premium Fiji live rock I ordered cycled with the 60 lbs of Marco man-made/dead rock. While that cycled, I filled the tank with approximately 1" of fine aragonite crushed coral as a substrate/sandbed and saltwater, and dropped in 70 lbs of fully cured, purple coralline covered rock. Since the tank had fully cured rock, I didn't see much of a cycle other than Nitrates slightly elevated for a few days during the 2nd week. I left the live and marco rock for about a month until it completed the Nitrogen cycle and I tested no Ammonia, Nitrites, or Nitrates. Once all the rock was cured, I started combining it and building the pillars. To build the support for the pillars, I cut several ~2" square pieces of 1/8" acrylic, stacked 8 of them, covered them in #16 acrylic glue, and clamped them to make a cube... three times. I got a good deal on 1/8" acrylic, so I used it, but if you get thicker acrylic, you can save time. I left them overnight to fully cure. I drilled holes in each block using a 5/8" masonry bit and glued them to the center of a 12" x 12" square of 1/8" acrylic. Once bonded (~10 mins), I glued an 18" tall 5/8" acrylic rod and allowed to bond overnight. I mixed and matched pieces of the marco rock to create the towers. I just eyeballed the shape, drilled holes, stacked, unstacked, added different rocks, etc. until I had shapes and shelves I liked. Any acrylic rod over the top rock was cut off with a Drimmel tool. First pillar In the tank: There are a few live rock pieces in each tower, but the shape and texture of the marco rock stacked much better. I used the reef safe mortar that came with the marco rock to fill in the less natural areas between rocks and to hide any spots where the rod was visible. I mixed small pieces of live rock rubble and aragonite with the mortar to hopefully accelerate coralline growth. I exposed some areas on the bottom, dropped them in, covered the base-plates, then stacked the remaining live rock around them. I was going for as much surface area at all levels as I could without stacking up piles of rock and creating some dead spots. I also plan on having as much exposed sand areas for a zoa garden and my giant clam that is currently outgrowing my 75 gallon. (Fingers crossed it makes it's 2nd move). One of my favorite aquascaping jobs out there is Steve Weast's at OregonReef.com. Particularly the center canyon. I didn't have quite the room as he did, but I tried for a canyon on the left side between the center and right towers. I extended my breaker box as far as I could without running a new line from where it comes into the house to add a socket with a dedicated 20amp fuse. Otherwise, most of the tank would run on the same fuse as EVERYTHING in the garage and both the front and back outside sockets which trip the fuse all the time. This week/weekend I am going to hook up the apex and lights and get this thing lit up! Ordering a cleanup crew this week. I still need a wavebox, calcium reactor, and in-tank pumps for flow... and I'm sure as soon as I get all of that, I'll need something else... I am resolved to the fact that I will never finish this tank.

Chiming in late on this one... Did you find the problem yet? If not, what are your parameters? Specifically alk, calcium, and magnesium. Before using a calcium reactor, I was dosing turbo calcium and buffering my topoff water. I could never get my calc over 300. At one point, the calcium precipitated into the water column making the tank pretty cloudy. Through research, I found this article which details the relationship between alk, calcium, and mg. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php I started dosing magnesium and the water column cleared up and my calcium began to rise to over 400. Added bonus... I used Kent mg and it cleared up some bryopsis I had growing.

Yup... been at it a while. When I got the tank and old water-damaged stand, I didn't plan to rush it, but it has taken a bit longer than I expected. Running a business, an entire family that plays hockey, and life in general kinda slows things down. I have the 75 gallon running so my fix is somewhat satisfied while I get this going. The good thing is... I'm getting close!!

Thanks! Really, that is the only way it's going to get the boss's (wife) approval since I'm drilliing several holes through the wall to the garage and takiing over essentially 1/4 of the living room. That is onlty compounded by the fact that the other living room has been turned into a gameroom with arcade, foosball, airhockey, darts and is temporary storage for my 75 gallon, all its refill equip and bucket, chiller, and calc reactor. Ultimately, I owe quite a bit to her understanding and acceptance of my 'hobbies'.

Actual progress! Canopy is skinned, painted, and stained, and lights are finished. I made an air intake box so that fresh air was pulled through the lights/ducts. I filled the tank with fresh water again to test out the Reeflo Dart and I was getting too much noise at the sump, so I re-did all of the drain plumbing except the dursos. - That story here. Tonight i drained it and no wI need to clean it, put a sandbed in, and fill er up with saltwater. I got half of my live rock order in today. I set up "The Cycler" made from an old 55gal aquarium and 27gal tub, a couple pumps and a skimmer. I put the live rock in with the marco rock and a few old pieces I either collected from members or pulled from my other tank and dried out for a year or so. Once I get the rest of my order in, it will be about 1/2 live rock and 1/2 dry rock. I have pretty good flow across all of it and I'm setting up powerheads tomorrow. The skimmer has already started to produce. As the live rock cycles, the plan is for the life to spread to the dry/dead rock. The maro rock is nice. Very good range of shapes and sizes. Live and marco rocks starting their liffe together. Hopefully I'll be posting some pics of the pillar building process soon. I have started re-thinking it and need to test out some stands of PVC and some bases of Acrylic plates to support the acrylic rods. I want to make sure the pillers aren't going to topple and break the tank...

Thanks - It has definitely proven to be a pretty big undertaking and turned into quite the piece of functional furniture. I always end up over-building. So far this looks good in the living room, which keeps the wife happy... At least until I punch more holes through to the garage. I painted the 2 steel supports from the lift with Rustoleum. As an added measure, I am probably going to coat them with oil-based white Killz. Not sure if that is going to be enough to completely prevent rusting or not. The only metal from the lift are the 2 horizontal supports that stick through the back of the canopy. Other than that, the only other metal is the shelf rack and the hardware used to mount it. I'm not sure that I am keeping that yet, but the hardware is stainless steel. If the rack rusts too much too quickly, I will find a way to mount the lights directly to the wood. By then, I'll know exactly where I want them and thus, not have a need to adjust height and position forward or back inside the canopy. Any recommendations to prevent rusting are greatly appreciated.

Your stand looks great. The bowfront has definitely been a hurdle in this build. Lighting, lift, and canopy update: Jeremy (offroad) and I brainstormed a way to squeeze 3 t5's in for supplemental light. Mounting 2 in the canopy door and 1 across the back between the overflows. I ended up going with a lift system using pulleys and a hand-wench instead of hydraulic lifts. I was unsure what the final weight would be, so I didn't want to guess which to buy. I probably won't be getting hired on as a welder anywhere, but it's definitely going to hold. I can always replace the hand-wench with an electric wench if I come across the right one. Once I got the lift figured out, I was able to skin the beast. Here are some pics of the progress so far. No trim, stain, or paint yet, but I'm getting closer... Hinged bowfront door open. I'm using a stick to prop it open here, but will end up with gas springs eventually. This will do for now... I only have about 12 inches of clearance when lifted to the ceiling. I would have liked more clearance, but I prefer the taller stand and needed the canopy height for the 400w MHs. This will get the lights up for changing and out of the way when I need to lean in to get deeper into the tank for any reason. I've never said "That's what she said..." more often in one weekend than this past one. Every time my wife or friends saw it the first reaction was "thats so big" or "that's huge"... What else would one say? This week, I'll be coating the inside with Killz, staining the oak panels, painting and putting on the black trim. Unfortunately, I don't have a compound miter saw... Once that's done, I need to get the lights and fans installed, holes cut in the back for wiring and ventilation, then the main airflow for the MHs figured out. so close, yet so far away.

Thanks! I wanted to make it as lightweight and small as possible, but I think I've maxed out both of those parameters. I need the height to get the lights more than 6" off the water. I used Poplar so isn't really that heavy, but is sturdy enough to handle it's own weight and that of the lights, etc going into it. As far as venting it... I am planning on daisy-chaining the MH lights with 6" duct with an exhaust fan in the garage pulling air from one end of the canopy in the house, past each light, then to the garage. I don't think I will need *too* much flow, so I am going to experiment with the different fan strengths. I don't want a windstorm or tornado sound. Hydro? Any input as to what fan I should start with? The total distance will be the length of tank (6') plus about another 4 - 6 feet to the fan. Total of 12' max. Ideally, I'd like to be able to redirect the exhaust into the garage OR the house if I wanted heat, but that would require either a fan in the house or another hole back into the house from the fan in the garage.... I am considering pulling air from the garage and through, but not sure the wife will be happy with duct and holes on each side of the tank. Not sure I would either, but sending all my AC to the garage might not be a good idea either. I am going to extend the canopy on the exhaust end to hide the duct coming out the side. That side is closer to a wall on the far side of the room and shouldn't really be noticeable. Here's a 'not-to-scale' mockup I made: I am designing a pulley system to raise it. I don't want to afford the actuators that will lift this beast. Two anchored on each end and one at the bottom of the stand. I will be able to slide it off the front of the lift system for maintenance, light changing, etc. I'll diagram that soon. I need to get all the lights figured out first so I know what I have to work with.

Canopy and lighting update... I couldn't have asked for a better New Year. My dad was able to come up after Christmas and help me architect and start to build the canopy. He's a master woodworker & wood artist who loves a challenge and I value the time and woodworking knowledge I get out of it. Between my work and his 'Grand-dad time' with the kids, we managed to make some good progress. Reminder: The main functional features of this canopy are: Hold a lot of light: (3 400W MH + as much supplementary light as I can stuff in) Ventilate to the garage behind via 6" air duct Ability to easily maintain tank on a daily basis (feeding, etc so front should open). Also, the entire canopy needs to lift out of the way when I really need to dive in. Match the custom design of the stand: three faced front instead of curved like the bow-front of the tank. Much appreciation to my neighbor, Jeremy for letting us invade his home and inspect his awesome build setup and lift system, as well as doing the leg-work in Austin to find the metal suppliers. There's very little out there on custom canopies for bow-front aquariums so I'll post some pictures in hopes they help others looking for some ideas/direction in their build. Sorry I don't have 'plans'... My dad and I just don't work that way. We build using the agile method. We know where it needs to end up and get there in sprints. Sorry for the grainy/blurry iphone photos. My wife the photographer is a bit busy: This is the molding that rests on the top of the tank. The template I used to cut the tank impression out of the stand's molding is clamped to it. I used it as a guide to router out the bevel that would overlap the front of the tank. Molding cut and joined to the front 'door'. Front of the canopy propped open. I plan to attach a couple T5's in the front hinged door. The beginnings of the lift system behind the tank - We welded these steel tubes for the lift system. More on that later... I need to get the lights figured out first... Canopy upside-down with the rack system I will hang the 3 400W MH lights from. I used a 6' closet shelf and cut out the part I needed. Using chains, I'll be able to raise and lower the lights within a range of about 5 - 10 inches above the water. You hit the nail on the head, Hydro! Air cooled reflectors hung to see how much room I have for T5s. This is about the lowest they might ever be. They're just hung for horizontal spacing in this picture. I can only fit 3 of the long t5s with reflectors. Two in the front door and one behind. these reflectors are designed to be air cooled via the 6" duct flanges. I'll pull air from the house or garage and pump it into the garage or house depending on the time of year. Lights hung and front open. I'm hoping to have time to work on the lift system and to skin this canopy soon. With the workload, it wont be this week or next week...

Funny you should ask... Growing and expanding my company this year has left me barely enough time to maintain the 75 gallon, so the 175 was put on hold. Gotta love an empty tank in the living room reminding me every day that I could have a bigger, better tank... Well the company made money this year and we don't want to pay taxes on profits, so... BONUSES!! That means I get a tank controller, reflectors, and to build a canopy finally! I got the the 3 reflectors yesterday from a local hydroponics supply warehouse here in Austin and I'm planning to start canopy construction soon. (If you are looking for great lighting or hydro equipment, contact me. These guys went WAY down on price to match an online price I found without my asking. I was happy to be able to support the local economy.) Measure twice, cut once... The biggest challenge was getting the curve exactly right. I have an image on the first page of the template I created to cut the bow into the trim. I set the tank on plywood, bent a slat across the front and superglued/nailed it to the plywood in the curve. I kept it to use on the canopy. No that is not necessary. The stand build was not done with any plans and I always tend to over-build. That is something I am trying to avoid on the canopy since it needs to be as light and streamlined as possible so it is easily lifted with the lift system. Magnets - I used fairly small magnets and so far that is the only thing I think I am going to change. We have a new puppy and he got rambunctious and knocked off a door playing. I added approximately 6 inches of depth to the stand in anticipation of creating a lift system and possibly a shadowbox type of backlit area behind the tank instead of painting it black. I'll let you know if that comes to fruition... I will definitely document the canopy build here. I cannot find any info online about a custom bowfront canopy, so I hope it turns out good and helps anyone looking to build something similar. Hoping to incorporate a lift system, hinged bow area, and a way to easily replace bulbs. So far all of those plans are only in my head...

Rome (RIP) and Barkley

Brokeback Reefclub... Ang Lee's touching romantic drama of two reef enthusiasts... This is a sequel I think I'll have to miss!

ttt

Bump - Still looking for some shelves.

I am looking for dry rock to work into the marco rock I have for the aquascape in my new tank. I am specifically looking for pieces that have flat surfaces to create plateaus/shelves at different levels in the tank.

I'm glad the lights are OK... That box looks like Ace Ventura delivered it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V64r3q4FuA

PM Sent about Reeflo Dart

I have a towel under the pump, but it is still noisy. I am starting to think something is wrong with the pump if a Mag 9.5 was too much for you. I took the heater/chiller out of the loop and still don't seem to get much pressure out of the return lines in the tank. Barely enough to ripple the surface of the water. There seems to be a lot returning into the sump, but not enough to create a visible flow through it and make use of the baffles, even. There certainly isn't enough to overflow the tank. I am going to check out the other 2 Mags I have and see what they do. I think they are 9 and 12.