boognish

I filled everything with hose-water and turned the mag-24 on. One of the return PVCs has a crack, so I need to do some patching. It seems like there is enough flow through the sump, but not enough in the display tank from the returns. I think the chiller/heater is restricting too much when combined with the split off to each side of the returns. After hockey tonight, I am going to put the chiller on it's own closed loop and see if I can get better flow into the tank. Also... the mag-24 is a bit noisy. Pump recommendations? Ones I need to avoid?

I'm not quite done with the plumbing, but I thought I'd post an update and see if anyone has any feedback before it all gets glued. The staff at the Lowes and HD by my house are getting pretty sick of me coming up a couple times a day. I should get stock and get some of this back. I also have a nice collection of PVC parts, now. It was pretty nice when I changed my mind during the process to have what I needed already as this nears the end... Forgive the blurry pixellated iphone pics. Underneath the tank: I'm sure glad I built the stand with doors that come completely off and open on the ends. It makes working underneath a breeze and working on the sump easy since it comes right out. I have a mag24 that I have never used. I know it would would be too much for the overflow to handle, so I am going to try to run the entire system off of it: Through the wall to refugium, calc reactor, UV filter (when/if needed), and chiller/heater then back to return. The Fishroom (garage behind the tank): Here's the fun part... V1 controls flow to the refugium. V2 and V3 will control flow to the calc reactor and UV filter when/if needed. V4 closed with V5 open sends water through chiller/heater and returns thru wall to tank return lines. V4 open with V1 and V5 closed = Dumps water from the sump to the curb via garden hose for water changes I had an old 20 gallon long sitting around, so I went to Fishy Business and got it drilled to use as a refugium - thanks Shane!. Just need to add a baffle/guard to prevent anything from creeping down the return line. I picked the 4 month old chiller/heater and controller up from an ARC member last month for a great deal that I can't believe no one else got before I did. Mixing Station 25 gallon resevoir I make RO/DI into that will gravity feed the sump for ATO. I manually turn the RO/DI on and off, but have a float switch connected to the RO/DI shutoff valve in case I forget to turn it off. When I need to make saltwater, I'll dump 30 - 35 gallons into the mixing barrel via the black valve, dump salt in, and turn on the pump. There is a pump at the bottom of the right PVC tube that pumps up. To mix salt, I close V1 and open V2. To finish a water change, once I have pumped enough out of the sump, I open V1 and close V2 to send new saltwater to the sump. A concern is that I will either not have enough flow with the head-pressure from the Mag24 or too much power, and have to send too much through the refugium. If so, I'll need to make some adjustments and remove/add some pumps. Possibly breaking the refugium off onto its own pump. Guess we'll see... Any recommendations or input?

Happy polyps everywhere you look!

working on it... working on it... darn CO2 regulator went out and having elec issues that cut all power to my 75 today. I 'Fonzied' the wall right above an outlet and it all came back on... that can't be good. Always something to suck the $$ out of my wallet and prevent the new tank from getting done. I have an electrician friend coming out this week to put in a new box with a few new breakers exclusively for the new tank. My current one has no room for any more breakers. I'm punching a bigger hole through the wall tonight to run the return line out to the garage, to the chiller and back in. Hockey tomorrow night, so hopefully I'll be leak testing Wednesday. I have a feeling this mag24 might be too much... SHOW ME YOUR CUSTOM CANOPIES!!! HERE

Combination of the holidays and a crazy New Years deadline for a work project has slowed me down again... The good news is, the tank is in the house and on the stand. This is the first time I put it up there and it fit perfectly into the curved molding I made with absolutely no wiggle-room... whew! Measure twice, cut once. I have ordered a couple buckets of salt and started setting up the water ATO and mixing station in the garage, but I ran into some water issues and need to have someone check it out. In the past, when I ran the hot water for a shower, occasionally a spurt of gray water would fly out... It only happened when I ran the hot and I assumed it was something collecting in my water heater so I flushed the water heater. It still happened occasionally. When I hooked up my RO/DI system, I discovered the source of the 'gray' water... There is what appears to be something like bearing grease coating the line going INTO the water heater which is where I tapped in for my RO/DI. I do not want to use the water for fear that it will not all get filtered out and kill everything in the tank. My questions are: Has anyone seen anything like this before? Can anyone recommend someone to check it out? I was thinking city water, but would prefer someone who likes their job and cares... Would an RO/DI system effectively filter out what appears to be petroleum based? If it would filter it out, I'm sure I'd be burning through filters and membranes and having to constantly monitor TDS, so I'd prefer to resolve the situation instead of working around it.

And i look forward to the day I can provide you with that update... My 75 is in its temporary spot, the floors are acid stained, the crown moulding is up, and the walls are painted. My sacrifice to the wife to earn my new tank is finay done and I am recovering from the remodeling and almost ready to get back to the tank. In the mean-time, I am setting up the RODI/ATO/saltwater mixing setup in the garage. I am also going to start the aquascaping. I acquired some e Marco rocks and plan to build some pedestals and arch-ways to avoid a rock pile while having the surface area and levels I want. If anyone is interested in the acid stained concrete, pm me for details. It is pretty cool and a great plus in this hobby to not have to worry as much about the collateral damage from spills, leaks, etc.

You should call them back. They must have misunderstood and thought you said 'fish tank' when what you actually said was 'broken water line'.

Thanks for the input, all. Fresh air was the plan all along. I was slightly worried leaving it covered as long as I did, so as soon as the air cleared I took the cover off, turned the actinics on and left for a hockey game. I just got home and everything in the tank is open and happy. The skimmer doesn't seem to have any extra or odd looking skimmate, so I assume the plastic is doing a sufficient job. One more day of sanding, hopefully.

I have been sanding construction adhesive and concrete all day to prepare for staining the concrete in our house. There is an incredible amount of adhesive and concrete dust EVERYWHERE, so I have the tank completely covered in plastic with a towel over the sump in case any gets below. It is running, but the lights have been off all day so the plastic doesn't melt and tank temp doesn't go up too much and overwork the chiller. I'm done for today and about to uncover the tank, but most likely, we'll be doing more sanding most of tomorrow also. Which is worse/better? A. Let lights come on now and resume normal photoperiod (Halides on till 9ish, actinics on till 11ish. B. Turn lights on in a bit and let them stay on over night so that they are on for 10 hrs. Essentially flipping the photoperiod for a couple days C. Leave em off and resume normal photoperiod Monday at 11am. I am leaning towards A since it is essentially emulating a rainy day that has cleared off, but any input is greatly appreciated.

Linoleum is the devil. Between scraping that and tearing up carpet and baseboards in preparation for staining the concrete, I had some time to work on the stand last week and this weekend. Still collecting lighting equip, so I haven't started the canopy yet. Here's some progress shots. Oil based Kilz primer. Brushed one heavy coat inside, then sprayed a couple coats all over Painted black with doors on. I used extra plywood to make the door panels. They are temporary until I find some oak burl or something with an interesting grain. The doors aren't hinged. They are supported by brackets across the bottom and held on by magnets midway up. I can easily remove the stained panels to do a third coat of black and replace with better wood later. I will also be replacing the end door panels with some sort of metal or plastic grate to allow airflow. I want to plumb in a frag tank underneath since there's room with most of the equipment in the garage. I'm reading up on (and taking advice on...) the best way to plumb that in with the sump and display. I will get a shot with the tank on it once I get the space cleared in the garage. Who wants to do some lifting?

Thanks! So many scaping possibilities with this stuff...

Chiller = done. I have a 1/3 HP CurrentUSA chilling my 75 right now. Venting the canopy outside is a good idea. My 75 is against the garage wall and I am already running all water out there to the chiller and calcium reactor - ATO comes in the same hole. I plan to make bigger holes for this plumbing job (the wife is very excited!), so making more holes up top with drier vents is completely do-able and now part of the plan. A consideration is the ability to raise and lower the halides for water temp and acclimation. As we discussed, I am leaning towards hanging the halides from the ceiling down into the canopy through holes just big enough for the wires. This may free up space inside the canopy, so it's more of a shell instead of having all the mounting hardware, etc. and leaving more room for some supplemental t5s and VHOs.

Is a 175 gallon tank too heavy for the cheap(ish) wood flooring. If so, can you leave the underlay/pad off where the tank is or does that introduce more problems? Any recommendations where to buy affordable materials in town? Option 2... Painted Concrete. Any recommendations? Less maintenance and seems easier, so I might have to lean that way.

Thanks all. Any suggestions or recommendations? Any other 'features' I should try to implement as I plan and build out the rest of the stand? @offroad - re: Killz... Yup - The plan is to coat the entire stand in Killz primer then paint the outside black. The panels of the doors and trim will be stained hardwood - most likely a deep red oak. The inside 'tray' doesn't really need the killz or latex paint since it's epoxied pretty thickly, but I'm going to anyway for consistency. @burn - I'd dig going to Ireland! You'd have to fly my father to Ireland, though. I couldn't have done this next part without his woodworking and engineering expertise. I got the top trim/rail done and got the front 3 faces on and mostly sanded. I want the tank to be inset instead of looking like it was just resting on top. We used one 12" piece to cut the entire front trim. To get the curve, we created a template with a flexible lath glued to plywood base. Anyone need a 175 bowfront template? I hate to cut it up and throw it away because it took a while to figure out and make: The cardboard cutout is the rough tank template. Moving this tank around is not easy and just makes me nervous, so I haven't put it up there to make sure all my measuring was good and it actually fits within the width of the trim. There isn't much room for error there... Anyone have industrial glass suction cups? The doors are not going to be on hinges, rather just hook in at bottom and magnet at the top. I thought of what a pain in the ... it would be to work in - going back and forth with doors swinging around. Starting to think about lighting and plumbing. Lighting first, I guess. I am going for 3x400w MH, 8x48" T5, 1 VHO in the curve (good idea Jeremy...) and another VHO in the back if there's room, and 3 or 4 LED moon lights. Can fans effectively clear that heat from a wooden canopy? Any info or inks to info on the space I need to allow above, below, and around the 400w MHs? Canopy considerations... Should have 3 faces like the stand entire front should open - this part would hold the VHO a way to either lift the light rack or enough room to slide it back for tank access... or both... a way to remove the light rack without removing the entire hood I have built furniture and half-pipes, but not to hold lights with such specific requirements, so any recommendations on how to reach those goals is greatly appreciated.

I took a break from this addiction; thought I was cured; but relapsed completely about 3 months ago and realized I don't want to be cured... I am building a stand and canopy for my latest 'fix' in this addiction and I'm going to post my progress here in hopes it will keep me moving along and that I can use this great community's input and guidance. I started a company and let my 75 gallon mixed reef tank go practically wild. The tank went 2 years on literally ATO only - no testing, no additives other than Kent Coral Builder in the top-off water. The combination of no water changes and a DSB resulted in a Bryopsis and bubble-algae, GSP, and Pulsing Xenia tank. I'm not sure why, but suddenly in one week, the Coralline algae covered the glass, which got me cleaning... and cleaning... and cleaning. I started weekly water changes, manually removing bubble and bryopsis algae a few times a week, and dosing Brightwells Coral Amino, Bio-Fuel, Microbacter-7, and Kent Tech-m (known bryopsis killer). I threw masses of Xenia over the fence each time I reached in the tank, pulled rocks and scraped GSP off. Suddenly all these old corals I forgot about emerged from the algae. That did it. I was officially off the wagon. I started buying corals from ARC members and they've been doing very well. The only thing missing is room in the 75 gallon for coral growth... Enter the 175 Gallon Bowfront acquired used from an ARC member: The only issue with the tank is the stand. The factory stand is made of particle board...yah.. real smart, huh! Well one sump incident later... here's what happens to particle board when it meets saltwater. The top and other vertical boards are made of the same particle board. Instead of doing all the necessary work to replace the bottom just to have another spill ruin the top, I decided to build a custom stand. Here are my thoughts on building the new stand: My current 75 stand is the standard height, but I noticed that any time anyone looked at the tank, they needed to bend over. I want it at eye-level. When measuring and eye-balling height, I ended up at 37 inches. Since my hockey # is 38, I rounded up... The bottom of the stand will be designed like a tray to hold water. I considered plumbing it. but think the area is enough to hold *most* overflows until I can wet-dry vacuumm it out. Instead of matching the curve of the tank, I am making it 3 sided in the front with custom trim to fit the curve of the tank. The sides will also have doors or removable panels which will allow me to remove the sump, replace, it, etc. without moving the stand or removing supports. Here's the progress so far: Side-view showing opening large enough to fit a 17" deep sump in and out of: I have cut the facing panels and doors out of for the 3 front faces, but no pics yet. The last thing I did last night was silicone and epoxy the bottom to create the waterproof tray: I'm off to the hardwood company and woodcraft for an ogee bit to make the top trim... hopefully more pics tomorrow.

+1 on the combination punch of pepps and Aiptasia-X. I had 3 king size on my old rock and 2 small aiptasia on a zoa rock a friend gave me. I picked up 5 peppermints from mama and the small ones were gone in a week when the pepps finally decided to come out. I dropped Aiptasia-X on the king size ones and they immediately died. They suck it in like it's food, then just sit there and die. They don't have a chance to squirt out any of that crap (I hear it's actually it reproducing when threatened), or suck back in and hide in the cracks. I read some bad things related to the aipt-x, but they seemed like isolated cases of certain types of fish eating it and getting sick. I saw no ill effects to any coral in the vicinity, nor to my blenny. I just turned off flow/circ so it wouldn't go anywhere I didn't want it, then used another syringe to remove any excess before turning flow/circ back on. The next morning, there were hermits and emeralds hanging out around the hole one of the king size ones was in - eating the remians, I assume - and they are all still alive also.

Gone

Trade pending.

I am In Leander. Off 183A and Crystal Falls Pkwy.

This hard-working voracious algae eater is approximately 3.5 inches. My algae issues are under control enough to pass him to the next needy algae grower. Will trade for zoa, paly, sps, lps, rock... pretty much anything but gsp and and pulsing xenia. In fact, if you want, it comes with free pulsing xenia and any gsp I can pull off rock.

pm sent.

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