Dan H Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Robert started on the Walnut today! The stand is starting to look very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12_egg_omelette Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Sweet looking build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SChrisEV Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Look'n good. Walnut is a great choice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Wow. This is annoying. Nothing like waking up to find out you're about to lose a bunch of money due to other people's stupidity. So I set up the shipping for the aquarium through uShip. I very explicitly noted that I need lift-gates. Echo Logistics had a good bid, and I chose them over another bidder because they had a higher rating. I just got an email this morning and Echo is cancelling on me. Why? Because they can't accommodate the lift-gates! Really?! I even explicitly asked them if they saw I needed lift-gates before accepting the bid, and they acknowledged it! So now I'm having to scramble to find a new shipper and get this thing going. So far no bids, and all the standard LTL carriers prices went way up. Anyone feel like driving from Sacramento? I'll pay. What a pain in the butt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Guess you don't watch Shipping Wars. It's always Jarrett bidding the absolute lowest then trying to figure out how to ship stuff since he doesn't have the equipment. Good luck with getting it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Build is looking like its getting exciting. Just a couple things I would check into before you select another shipper. I'm sure your a smart guy and have already thought of these things but, 1). Insurance for full value of the tank. 2). The day that the tank arrives I would uncrate it to look for any obvious damage before you sign for it and not let the driver leave before you have thoughly inspected it. Many times shippers will use the signed receipt of delivery slip to dispute any insurance claims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Build is looking like its getting exciting. Just a couple things I would check into before you select another shipper. I'm sure your a smart guy and have already thought of these things but, 1). Insurance for full value of the tank. 2). The day that the tank arrives I would uncrate it to look for any obvious damage before you sign for it and not let the driver leave before you have thoughly inspected it. Many times shippers will use the signed receipt of delivery slip to dispute any insurance claims. I appreciate your false assumption about me being a smart guy. Yes, I had insured it for $4k, and will do the same with the new shipper. And yes, you bet your bottom I won't be signing the release until I inspect every inch of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 13, 2015 Author Share Posted March 13, 2015 Got a new shipper scheduled. Lance referred me to them and has used then before so I'm a bit more confident they won't bail on us. Scheduled to pick up on Monday the 16th, and deliver on the 23rd. Cost more but screw it, I just want it done and done right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Lots of progress today, not to mention just a busy day. Had to take advantage of the perfect weather. I swung by Robert's to check on the stand progress. The walnut facade has been cut and the doors made. Now he has to treat the walnut and then it will be ready to install. Then I mounted the pipe heater to about 30ft of flex pvc and RO line. Then I wrapped the entire thing in weather proof duct tape to make it easier to install. To install the pipes, I cut a hole in the wall in the kitchen where the RO is installed and where the salt mixing station will go. I pushed through some 1" flex pvc and 2 RO lines - 1 for RO, 1 for waste water so I can use it to water the garden/lawn. Then I put a bunch of silicone caulk to make it air tight. Then I repeated this process on the wall where the tank will go. The only difference is 1 RO instead of 2. After those pipes were installed in the walls, I had to crawl under the deck to run my pipe/heater bundle. I ended up using a bunch of rope and a pole saw to pull the bundle under most of the deck as it is really really nasty under there. So this will let me do easy water changes by simply opening valves and pumping the water from the mixing station to the tank. Plus the RO water will be fed to ATO tank which will use a Tunze osmolator to keep the tank topped off. Finally, I installed the exhaust fan for the canopy. I wired it with a regular plug so I can connect it to the apex and have it automatically turn into while the lights are on or when the tank gets hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Robert was able to finish one of the doors today. It's looking great! I also decided I didn't like the plug for the exhaust fan hanging from the wall so I bought a wire puller and ran it down to where the pipes come in. Looks much cleaner. Also tested the water change system to make sure the pump had enough balls to push the water and it had plenty of power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Woohoo! Tank shipped out today! [emoji2] Talked to Marc (Melev's Reef) last night and the sump will hopefully be ready to pick up on the 29th. I also had him build a custom ATO tank to squeeze in behind the sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 And stand progress. We have doors! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 The stand is sure looking good! Can't wait to see the final product! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Robert is a workhorse. If you're looking to get someone to build furniture quality stuff, he's your man. The almost 500lbs of sand are supposed to arrive tomorrow. That will be fun to unload off a truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Wow, that stand is turning out great. Can you send me Robert's info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Wow, that stand is turning out great. Can you send me Robert's info?Absolutely. [email protected]He is the nicest guy you'll meet. Not to mention he has been sending constant communication about the progress, or design changes or whatever. Plus he has come up with some ideas that are great and now in the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Wow you are certainly on your way! The stand is looking great. I'm jealous of you plumbing your house for easy maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Wow you are certainly on your way! The stand is looking great. I'm jealous of you plumbing your house for easy maintenance. Meg was nervous about me cutting holes in the house, but that's more a function of me sucking at things like that. Our plan is to make it easy to maintain so we spend more time enjoying the tank than messing with it.Well, a minor disappointment today. I had to refuse delivery of the sand. Every single box of sand arrived damaged, wet, and missing most of the sand. I'm trying to get a new delivery set up. Bah! My apologies for the potato quality... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Sorry about the sand, what is potato quality lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=potato+quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Well, in positive news - along with the nice weather, most of the remaining hardware arrived today! [emoji41] SRO CR-3000 CaRX, Maxspect Gyre 150, and Reef Octopus Elite 220. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 And the obligatory stand updates. It's on to being sanded and polished up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 I forgot to mention... Marc at Marco Rocks was great today. He returned my call and was very apologetic about the sand debacle. I appreciated it even though it was not his fault and he had no need to apologize. We chatted for quite a while and rescheduled shipping the sand, not to mention we talked at length about live rock. Needless to say, I'll be buying a lot of live rock from them. Also, we are going to try shipping the sand as they normally do - through USPS! However we're going to stagger it and only ship out a few boxes each day so we don't completely piss them off. Which brings me to ask: Where did everyone get their live rock? I would like to source it from 2-4 different places. Aquaculture is preferred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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