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mFrame

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Posts posted by mFrame

  1. Welcome back into the hobby, looks like you're off to a great start. 

    Don't even get me started on the aquarium leading to a new project. We literally built our house around ours, it was the first thing in before we even moved, and it STILL isn't done because of all the other projects it triggered.  We went through major heat issues until the AC register in the fish room was finally installed.  I think you're going to have much more issues with cooling than heat, I only have to turn on the heater a few times in the winter.  Your return pumps and such will help moderate the temp a lot and keep it from going too cold.

    I've had clams and love them, the biggest issue with them is not getting fish or inverts that bother them.

    Similarly the anemones and clowns have always been the highlight of my tank.

     

    There are now a few QT fish sources, I'll see if I can dig them up before someone else chimes in.  But welcome back, and keep the updates coming!

    • Like 1
  2. It is sad, but the surest way to have activity here is to post here and use the forum.  We all put a lot of time and effort into the club and building the community here, so it is disappointing to see the traffic move elsewhere.  

    The club originally started with like-minded people wanting to have a place to share and document their adventure in the hobby.  All it takes is a group to participate to start rebuilding, but it will only really happen if that is what enough people want to do.

    • Like 2
  3. That's a beautiful design Chipp!  I have transitioned to printing tank parts with PETG for durability.  Have you done any investigation about PLA and it's lifetime in saltwater?  How long are your parts lasting?  I know that several strainer feeders and other parts I have printed tend to become algae traps so I was replacing them often.  I've wondered about coating them in epoxy, the print lines seem to provide the surface area that algae loves.

  4. Past due for an update here.  With the move into the new house (and numerous items that weren't complete on move-in due to COVID supply chain issues), we've been busy finishing up other projects and doing workarounds.  The tank took a backseat since it was running and the fish were alive. :)

    So to catch up, back in August and September Tim and Jason brought the tank over and we all wrangled it into place.  I was really happy with the shape and design, man this acrylic is THICK.  There are some seams we would have to account for/hide, but figured we'd just address those as they came up.

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    So then move day happened in a blur, and Tim and Jason were kind enough to handle the livestock transfer and initial layout for me.

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    You may notice the canopy on top.  This part was very cool and took a few weekends of me and Tim tinkering and customizing it.

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    As you can see it's super light which will help when accessing the front of the tank.

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    Mounted and hinges in place.

    So much progress so fast, and then.... it sat.  I'd think about it in the off hours, order parts to pile up, and then think some more.

    Finally about two weeks ago the tank began to shift back as a priority, we got tired of seeing the unfinished cabinet and so decided to focus on it.  Laura was a big motivator and help.

    The prior month's debate had focused on how to handle the curved trim pieces, how to finish the edges to make it look built-in, and to determine just how much detail we wanted on the stand itself. Originally I had planned to make faux curved cabinet doors to match our kitchen cabinets. In the end that seemed like overkill and like it would actually distract from the aquarium.  Time will tell if we change our minds.

    To address the curved molding, the easiest path was to go with a product by Trimster (https://www.trimster.com/flexible_moldings).  They had a base mold in stock that matched the rest of the floor mold in our house, so I selected it and three other moldings to serve as the canopy top and bottom trim, the cabinet base, and the transition from the tank to the base.

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    • Like 3
  5. Hi Tony, welcome! Covid really curtailed active meetings but thinks are starting to thaw back out.  Similarly social meeting, Facebook in particular, have filled in some of the socialization gap.  As Deririck said, though, there are still definite advantages to history and documentation that the forum provide.  We really view it as a hybrid solution.

    Definitely check out FB, one of the groups has a frag swapped planned for January.  That said, it's nice seeing new members here. We're glad to have you and look forward to seeing your setup and build thread!

     

    Mike

     

  6. Feed a good mix of food and you should be fine.  I like the cubes you find in the freezer in the fish section of the pet stores.  I feed a mix of the mysis, bloodworms, and spirulina.  I also have a suction cup clip and fold over nori sheets and clip in the tank.  You shouldn't have a problem getting it to eat and it should be reef safe.  The biggest issue with powder blues is that they are very susceptible to ick, and if they get it bad enough they can spread it through your whole tank.

    • Like 2
  7. There are a few ways we plan to deal with the recurve front.  The overflow and returns are via 3" pipes near the center of each circle, with returns being smaller lines that come up through the 3" and distribute via directed loc-line near the water surface.  This should let us direct specific currents to create eddies in the curves.  Then I was thinking of adding a gyre for overall tank movement, augmented by a few powerheads.

    By WAVs you mean Neptune WAVs? Would I need just the pumps or something like the Neptune Systems WAV 2 Powerheads Starter Kit?

    I still have (2) EB8s on my system, no EB832s.  Do I need one or can I run them from the EB8s?

    Which brand gyres do you recommend?

  8. In preparation of our move and transfer to the new recurve tank we will be selling the 226 peninsula tank (build thread and extra pics here):

    I'll be transferring the majority of the livestock to our new tank between 8/15-8/25, so buyer will need to pick up from our house in south Austin no later than 8/30.  Pickup could be sooner as soon as we have things transferred.

    Included are:

    • tank - Deep Sea Aquatics, dimensions 84" x 24" x 27 1/2" tall. It has (2) 2" PVC cross braces, a PVC bottom, and the overflow is centered on the left side with (5) pre-drilled holes for drains/returns/electric. 226 gallons, 433 lbs empty.
    • stand ( 7' x 2' x 36") - interior painted with white marine epoxy, cabinet has been painted black and has a black melamine layer on the back.  The two left cabinets house the overflow/sump/ato reservoir.  right 'dry' cabinet is used for storage and equipment.
    • canopy - custom hand-made low profile 
    • includes the Tunze wavemaker build into the overflow, sump & return pump in stand, BML light fixtures in canopy, and custom auto-topoff reservoir in stand.

    No fish included, but happy to convey some of the rose anemones, leathers, and other corals (gold midas paly, rodactis, etc).  Some of the live rock will be available as well since we aren't transferring everything.

    Because of the timing and trying to simplify this for the move, I'm asking much less than I think it's all worth.

    $850  $750

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    • Like 1
  9. Made decent progress on the outer stand skin yesterday.  The bottom and top surfaces were painted with Rustoleum Appliance paint to protect against water.  We then installed some plastic mesh to the bottom to provide a little standoff for any trapped water to evaporate, and ended with a sheet of rubber attached to the stand front and sides that will redirect any water back into the fish room and drain.

    Rust-Oleum Specialty 1 qt. Appliance Epoxy Gloss White Interior Enamel Paint

    We pre-drilled (2) 3" holes through the top of the stand.  These will be used for the internal overflows and return lines, there won't be any external overflow on the system.

    After that we installed a trimmed down piece of 4' x 8' trim board as the skin's initial layer.

     

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    • Like 3
  10. Lots of progress specifically in terms of house construction, stand, and tank assembly.  We're on target for moving in on 8/15, so we really want to have the stand and tank in place and ready to stage the rock and equipment for adding water by the start of August.  The builder is being great about allowing us 'early' access to the house so that we're ready to go when we get the actual keys.

    The stand is roughed out and has been put in place in the house so that we can start working on shimming/leveling and doing some marine epoxy to seal it.  Next we'll start planning the skin that faces the living room and begin looking at the canopy.image000000_20210705_162401.jpg

     

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    Tim continues to make great progress on the tank itself and I'm incredibly happy with how it's going.  The seams where the front connects to the sides will be masked on each side with the framework and trim.

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    • Like 4
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