DerrickH Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Well I tore my 40g tank down in early Dec last year and been reefless ever since... Prior to tearing down the 40, I aquired a 72g bowfront with a tore up stand so I decided to build a stand myself. Took me a while and with moving and all but finally making some progress. Plan on mixed reef 50/50 LPS/SPS and minimal fish. Thinking a mandarin, pair of ORA clowns, sailfin or powder blue. Maybe a dwarf lion but not sure about that one yet. Dang sure aint going to do any damsels, flame angel, yellow tangs, or hippo! Anyways here is some photos. The stand started out pretty rough but I think it turned out pretty decent considering only tools I had were a jigsaw, circular saw, corded drill, and a belt sander. All built with cabinet grade plywood, std pine trim, and 2x4s. Thinking I may go LED since I was able to aquire some trick sink/fan combo fixtures with SS mounting encosures and standoffs for the acrylic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubasteve92 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Sweet setup! Stand looks awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClarkiiCircus Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 That stand is super nice. Good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 looking good...bring on the water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) Well still waiting for my son to pop out so tinkered around in the garage a little with the plumbing. My sump was originally an all glass model 2 equipped with bio-balls ect. I hate those things and my skimmer takes up all the room in the "refuge" area so Ive modded it a bit. Now I can have better control over my skimmer level and incorporate an area for macro. Also have a chamber full of rock rubble as well. It didnt have a filter sock to start with but now It will. Edited January 23, 2012 by DerrickH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) Well its all assembled an in my Dining room. Fit well and no leaks. Sump mods worked out perfect. Not too much siphon back when I kill the power. Awaiting my apex so I can tune in the lights. Picked up the DIY LED kit from olaggie01 and tinkered with it a bit. Blues and whites are now independent so I can get the "pop" from the corals. Couple photos of my progress. Hoping to have rock and sand in it by the weekend. RB running at 50% All led @ 20% RB only Also, had a busy last few days. Welcome my new lil reefer! Jaxon born 11:33am Tuesday morning, 7lb 8oz, 19 3/4" Edited February 2, 2012 by DerrickH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeferMadness Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Congratulations!! Build is also looking awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 90lbs of rock from prof is in the tank along with 20lbs of crushed argonite(1-1 1/2"). Threw in some raw bait shrimp to seed the tank. Let the cycle begin. Here is my rockscape. Its pretty basic. Lots of caves and overhangs and lots of places to shove coral plugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 really like the aquascape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Very nice, like the way that you have it aquascaped! You will have plenty of places to mount frags once everything is cycles and ready to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 You totally snuck that baby in there. Way to keep it quiet!.Congratulations on both him and a great looking tank. I'm sure Mark Callahan can educate you on the benefits of a great looking tank with a baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 lookn good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Thinking about picking up a bottle of stability for the tank today or tomorrow. The ammonia is up to 3ppm right now but would prefer it hit around 5-6ppm so I get a good solid transition to nitrites. Last time I cycled my 40g, it took about 10 days and was ready for fish. At the rate im going, this will be a 6week cycle. Should be able to cut that in half with stability. Does anyone local stock the Dr Tims? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasrob Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Does that Tim's work? Would u get saltwater or reef ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Talk to Mark. He has a lot of experience with this stuff. Does anyone around here stock it? Ive used stability but didnt this time. I just threw in some large dead bait shrimp and let them fester a bit. Seems to have worked, ammonia is falling fast and nitrites are climbing quick. Its only been about a week and a half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I used TLC from Fishy Business. Alot more for the same price as Dr. Tims. Get's the job done faster too, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 (edited) Cycle is complete. dkh is a little low. My ph is kinda high though but isnt swinging. Going to do a pretty good water change soon though so not too stressed about it. I took a chance since all the params have leveled out, threw in a tang since I know Im going to have the "puberty" of the tank coming (GHA). Hes been in there for a couple days and eating like a pig. Hes been quite a bully to my orange spotted goby though....punk. Well here is some shots. After a good water change, Im going to go on a frag hunt... Im waiting for an order to come in for some 48" sticks of 8020 kits so I can change the light mounting. I picked up some thick aluminum angle stick and combined with the sticks I ordered, should yield a clean light mount. Im liking this not having a canopy biz....Also going to use some of the angle sticks to make mounting brackets for the driver box. I tried some industrial velcro....well the heat from the box made the adhesive all gooey and the box wouldnt stay put. Overall Im pretty happy so far. May build a canopy later though to hide the heat sinks for the LED's. Edited February 17, 2012 by DerrickH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Diatoms....yuk....They showed up, then were gone. Then came back...hate gold sand Added a large leather, some xenia, and a frag of green milli. Everthing seems to be happy. Not sure about placement of the milli yet though, its about 2/3 the way up the tank in the center and I have the whites on the center sink disabled for now. Figure I'll enable them tonight but keep them turned all the way down for now, dont want to bleach out my first SPS frag..How do you guys aclimate your sps frags in a dimmable system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Lookin good. I've got a Jackson myself. They're trouble makers i tell ya! Tank looks like it is progressing nicely. WRT to LED dimming, are you using a standalone controller or an apex? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Uh....adjustable wall warts for now LMAO! Finally got a number today on my bonus so will be pulling the trigger on a full basket at marine depot...APEX will handle all of my daunting tasks in the next couple weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Well ordered a laundry list of things from MD and just my luck the last apex sold an hour before I placed my order......d**n the luck. Ordered and MP40, apex, dimming cables, wireless module, some lab grade probes, salt, dosing chems, and some other goodies. Hoping the bulk of the order will be here by tuesday...fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 FYI their dimmin cable is an over glorified ethernet cord. And the wireless module can be compensated with a linksys dongle for $15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 After doing they cable myself , I probably would have paid for it the first time around. It was not a whole lot of fun to troubleshoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 FYI their dimmin cable is an over glorified ethernet cord. And the wireless module can be compensated with a linksys dongle for $15 Yeah I seen that but didnt feel like goofing around with a multi-meter figuring out which wire was what....they are cheap enough so just snagged two of them. As for the dongle, didnt know that but no worries, at least there wont be any kind of compatibility problems in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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