Holy Crap talk about feedback!!!



Yeah, too much snow... Took me 4 hours of shoveling this morning just to get my car to the street, where it was then stuck for a few more hours. AWD is great but only if the snow isn't too deep...

Thanks for the feed back!



No, I really don't want too... Too much heat, too much intensity, and too many lights would be required for 48 inches... I thought about T-5's but what it came down to is that I already have the ballast and endcaps for VHO's so I'm not going to spend the money.




Thanks!



Sure rub it in... Oh well we had a blizzard on Thursday, and it was in the 50's today and the 60's tomorrow. I love it here! Here's the view from my house 350 days a year...





Yeah, we haven't had this kind of snow in a while... Although last time we did we didn't go anywhere for a week.



Stay tuned...



Thanks! That would be sweet to see!!!



Me too, but it gets too hot so it's nice to vacation and just keep the fish at home.

Okay, so here's an update...
The second pump works great but one small hind sight... I forgot to pick up bolts to mount the brackets to the wall. Oh well tomorrow is another day so I'll pick some up on the way home after the football game.

Well I figured since I didn't get anything really done tonight, I'll just post the second pump and what the powder coated brackets look like...

Could you say a little bit about what you plan to have in your sump? I can see a couple of "filters" in the last picture there, but what kind of filtration have you been thinking about when this baby is up and running?

wow, that back area is just too cool

Thought I already did... ??? The overflows are at either end of the sump box, the water will spill into chamber 1 and 5 where it will then travel through a mechanical/chemical filter pad into chambers 2 and 4 where I will have cheato growing in each... The water will lastly travel under the dividers into chamber 3 where each pump will return the water to the opposite side of the tank.



Thanks bro!

sorry about that Thanks for explaining it again though!

No problem.

Alright, it took longer than I wanted but things came up... It's quite sloppy for now, but it's cycling. I'll work on cleaning things up in the days/weeks ahead...

Awesome! Nice work.

d@mn that looks nice

Thanks, you too!



Thanks!

nice man. haha, now when you watch the little mermaid from that couch, and sebastian sings "under the sea" it totally has new meaning... LOL.

so BB for you?

that's sooo cool.

LOL!!!!

I wasn't planning on BB but who knows... For now I'm just trying to get the tank ready for corals. I might add sand later...

Thanks!

Dammit CYCLE already!

LOL! Tell me about it! I've got all kinds of corals lined up just waiting to join the fun.

Ya know, I already hate the BB look and I haven't even looked at it since I took the pics last night. LOL! I'll be adding sand asap.

And like that... Sand is in the tank.

thank you for adding sand to the tank! I was going to be slightly dissapointed if you went BB on such an awesome tank

LOL! Yeah I was planning on sand but it look cool BB at first (I didn't have the sand so I didn't add it to begin with). That cool factor lasted about 12 hours and I hit the LFS on the way home for some aragonite. Poured it in (no I didn't rinse it) but the tank was clear in about 2 hours and this morning it was crystal clear!

The rock I put in was cooking for months and came from an established tank so I'm not sure what kind of cycle I'll have, if any... I figure I'll give it a week and test and if they are still 0 I'll start stocking it.

Alright, I think the lights might be a while to come... Design is giving me issues. Here's some pics with the sand.

Why not use the 48" 2x65W Current USA Satellite or the 48" 2x65W Coralife Aqualight? I doubt you'll find a better solution for lighting. Plus your zoos and ricordeas will love the light in that depth of water. I'd go for the Satellite as mine does a great job and the little legs are not a problem at all. Water on the acrylic spray shield from my penguin is a pita, but otherwise great lighting and fairly inexpensive.

Do you have any particular reason why VHOs would suit you better?

Good looking tank, Calvin. Is that store built in an old garage just west of Nevada on Fillmore still in business? I think it's called Mr. Aqua. Ring a bell? How about Neptune or Seascape Aquatics? I liked Mr. Aqua's big reef tank they had--but this was a few years ago so it may have changed. I look forward to seeing what you do with this thing.

Did u see the AFA/Army game?... hahah

Was planning on VHO's since I already have them, but right now all options are on the table. We'll see what I end up going with... Thanks for the recommend!

Yep, Mr Aqua, Neptunes and Seascape are all still in business and Fishy Business is under new ownership along with Exotic Tropicals. They are all doing well but Mr Aqua had a pipe burst and flood all their tanks almost a year ago now and lost everything. All night long the store was sprayed with fresh water. They are back up and running though and wouldn't know the difference.

Too bad for Army huh? LOL!!!!! I was just disappointed AFA couldn't move the ball in the 2nd half. Oh well I guess 43 points in the first half is enough.

Thanks for the feedback and the chat!

Okay so you have an amazing tank! It is beautiful.

But WTF are you thinking with that hanging unit. I mean seriously its particle board and some angle brackets. It deserves someting better to hide the wires and not stick out like a sore thumb.

I want to make a tank exactly like yours. Do you have and plans with measurements you would be willing to send my way?

Good luck with this beauty.

WOW! Pretty harsh there... LOL! Yeah I know I'm in the process of planning and building a cabinet that will mount below the tank and cover all of the ugliness. All you will see when it's finished is a white power cord out the bottom and the tank. I do have the google sketchup drawing I'll be glad to email to you if you like. Just PM me your email address.

Have you thought about adding some T-5 Retrofit kits? They come in 48".....

I have, but don't want to spend the money if I can avoid it... Won't have anything that light demanding in there and I already have the VHO ballast and endcaps. All options are still on the table, but I think I'll end up going with VHO's...

two tiny dwarf anglers would do great in there. they'd have their own territories, and be easy to find and feed

Looks Good!

I WAS meaning to be harsh!

Can't wait to see it stocked. Don't worry about the sketchup I have been playing around with it and made a cool looking tank IMO based off yours.
Good luck!

That's a pretty cool idea, I'm afraid they would get too big too quick... ???



Thanks buddy!



LOL! I'd love to see what you came up with!

oooooooooooooooo, This tank would look soooooooooooo awesome with two anglers, DAMN!

Good idea kinectic......

Please do not add anglers.
Kthx

Yeah it would be cool for about a week or two...



Don't worry, 1 would be too much of a bio load let a lone 2... Plus they would outgrow the tank in a week.

Pipefish would be much better

I dunno, with that black background a yellow clown goby sure would look nice. Maybe a bi-colored blenny would work well too. I wouldnt go too big. Six line wrasse? Thier colors are phenomenal. Endless possibilities with this tank!!!! Do you think you might even be able to have two pairs of clowns if you put anemones on opposing sides of the tank, maybe it's long enough? Still, bioload is pushing it. Make sure you let us know!!! I've been dreaming about the final product of this tank nearly every night.

- Eben

hmm... well the small ones like the tuberosis only get to 1.5". they're very hard to find, and usually require special ordering, but you'll be famous over at grimreefers dot com =)

they may dirty up the tank a bit much though w/o a skimmer, but i'm not too sure.

That's why the sheets are sticky!

lol!



Really nice calvin. The tank looks better everytime. Looking at the newer pictures, the tank looks a lot smaller than I thought it was. The designing is great though. How much have you spent total building the tank?

Haha, hate to admit it, but the tank's nearly that good! lol

Already looked into it, just like seahorses they prefer a tall tank so they are out too...



I think I'll end up going with some yellow clown gobies and call it good... Of course that's if I can find time to get the darn lighting finished.



I can't even google the species, so I doubt I'd find one in a store...



LOL!



Thanks! So far it's really just acrylic, a couple filter pads, a couple small pumps and plumbing... I'd guess around 200.00 ???



LOL!

clown gobies are very hard to feed. they usually never start eating and starve. be sure that they are eating at the store before buying them.

you can also look into a gumdrop scorpionfish, like the ones that sharkysreef dot com carries. They're only slightly larger than a clown goby, and they eat very well, and are super cool aggressive scorpions.

Any pics? Sharkys is pretty empty...

i can attest to the gumdrop goby..... they are seriously sweet fish! and kinetic is the man you want to talk to about them, casue he has one! A rainfords goby might be a cool addition to the tank.... they are pretty docile, really colorful, and filter the sand.

Loving the way the tank is coming along! Cant wait to see it with light! Some T5 lighting would look pretty dang slick over it, but if VHO's are what you have, i wont object to them

Calvin.. Any updates..

Sorry, still no updates... I've been so busy building tanks and sumps that I haven't had time to do anything. There was interest in someone buying the tank, but I haven't heard back yet... I really love this tank but time is just killing me right now. Pretty sad, I know, I have the endcaps, and ballast and just need to build a canopy to put over the tank. Sounds so simple, but it's easier said than done.

Here's some proof... LOL! 2 48x48x12 holding tanks...





A couple sumps coming up next...





And then a 48x16x16 a 60x36x24 and a 60x24x24...

Whew!

whose buying all these tanks!

LFS owners, hobbiests, family and friends...

DUDE! This is the best tank design I've seen since Tigahboy's 2.5L! I may have to build one a' these for myself! Do you have any plans with numbers for the parts? I've built two 2.5RL's, I may have to do a few of these!

BTW, I thirst for pics of some light!

Thanks bro, I don't have any plans or part numbers, just the two pumps which are Via Aqua 1300's, everything else was custom done. As soon as thing slow down a little I hope to get some lights over the tank... I just got orders for 2 more tanks and another sump to build yesterday so I'm not sure when there "will be light".