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DurocShark's Bubble Algae Farm (RETIRED)


DurocShark

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Retiring this tank this weekend.

 

I've been battling bubble algae for way too long. I'm done. It's time for a full reboot. Since the glass tank was slated to be replaced with acrylic anyway, I'm starting over. Not sure what I want to do, but SharkWife is encouraging me to go with FW angels. A nice planted tank will scratch the nerd itch while making her happy.

 

We'll see, but this is the last we'll see of this tank as it stands.

 

 

 

Grrr:

 

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FTS:

 

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FTS 6/6/15:

 

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_____________________________________________________________________

 

As this often starts, the glass tank was free. As we all know, that's the CHEAPEST part of the whole darn thing. I got it because the brace was broken.

 

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The dimensions are:

 

36" x 30" x 15". A darn near square face. This is gonna make for an interesting reef.

 

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It's been a lot of years since I had anything to do with tank repair, so I'd forgotten how the braces were installed. Thinking I was super smart, I got a piece of glass that was thicker and wider. DOH! But I made it work with lots of epoxy. It's uglier than I like, but at this point I'm going to let it go.

 

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I'm posting this now because I finally got to fill it and test the brace and seams this weekend. Holding just fine. Woot!

 

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That piece of wood on the left is some of the most stunning mahogany I've ever worked with. They had it on sale at my local Rockler a few weeks ago and I bought a whole bunch. I just jointed the edges on the boards you see. They will be skinning the stand, and making up the face frame and doors. The canopy as well, if I decide to do one (I may just because of the ugly epoxy on the brace.)

 

The stand is simply 2x4's. I still need to do the diagonal bracing to keep it from racking in an earthquake, then install a bottom shelf with a tight enough fit that I can seal it and make it hold water in case of a leak.

 

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I'm excited to finally get this going. My daughter and I can't wait. My wife is kinda ... Meh. She remembers when I ran an aquarium maintenance biz, and was breeding and raising fish back in the 90's and is afraid I'll turn the house into one big fish room. :lol: :lol: :lol:


Oh, and the water is filthy because that tank had sat outside for who knows how long before I got it. I swept it and vacuumed it before filling with water, but there was plenty of uck in there. I stuck my HOT Magnum on there to keep the water moving and filter out the easy crap, then I'm coming back with scrubbers to clean the glass.

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For $160 I couldn't pass this up. The Current USA Orbit Marine LED light.

 

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That's at 100% both channels in a dark garage. I doubt it's anything like enough for the tank. But I think it'll make good general lighting, and I'll still make two spotlights from my 10w LEDs. And I can use the controls of the Orbit to ramp up and down, saving me from having to create that from scratch for my big lights.

 

Plus this has super cool stuff like storm mode. Beware, my phone kept trying to refocus when the lights were in blue mode.

 

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Nice man. Interesting tank dimensions. Could really stack a lot of rock up in that. All reviews I have seen on that Orbit light have been good. Just don't drop anything down into the tank...may never get it back out. =) Can't wait to see what you do.

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Nice man. Interesting tank dimensions. Could really stack a lot of rock up in that. All reviews I have seen on that Orbit light have been good. Just don't drop anything down into the tank...may never get it back out. =) Can't wait to see what you do.

 

 

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting some of those grabber things old people use. ;)

 

As for stacking... I dunno. I'm going all live rock, no dry rock. Something like 100lbs mix of coralline and premium rock from Gulf Live Rock. Basically I'm going to scape it like a short 40g tank, leaving lots of open space above. Swimming room for fish and growing room for what I ultimately hope to have... Lots of SPS.

 

I finally got the bracing done on the stand. Started cutting the mahogany and SharkWife came in, "SharkDaughter's going to her grandmother's for a few hours. Wanna have a date?" So I'm just chilling until she's ready to go. :D

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Yeah, I'm thinking about getting some of those grabber things old people use. ;)

 

As for stacking... I dunno. I'm going all live rock, no dry rock. Something like 100lbs mix of coralline and premium rock from Gulf Live Rock. Basically I'm going to scape it like a short 40g tank, leaving lots of open space above. Swimming room for fish and growing room for what I ultimately hope to have... Lots of SPS.

 

I finally got the bracing done on the stand. Started cutting the mahogany and SharkWife came in, "SharkDaughter's going to her grandmother's for a few hours. Wanna have a date?" So I'm just chilling until she's ready to go. :D

 

HA HA! Yes, I was thinking of those grabber things too. My grandpa had one. =) Can't wait to see the stand finished. I am not that handy...I wish I was.

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Looking good so far. Nice to see a build with a lil bit different than the orm dimensions. Tanks deep, you might have issues getting the right parts down at the bottom but looking forward to seeing what you do with the light. Nice job!

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Didn't get as much done this past weekend as I wanted (isn't that always the case?) but I did paint the back glass black and started trimming the stand.

 

For some reason lately, I haven't been able to cut a miter to save my life. I wrecked I don't know how much wood just trying to make some picture frames for Christmas. So I decided not to risk this beautiful mahogany. End grain is exposed! (You may gasp in shock.) But since I'm not staining, it's not really that big of a deal. Some router work to pretty up the edges and call it good.

 

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Finally got to do some work on this...

 

1/4" Lauan plywood for the sides for more racking protection. 4 coats of anti-mildew white paint on the inside. Mostly just to make it easier to see inside.

 

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And skinning the sides with mahogany. I love the chatoyance on this wood.

 

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Found the problem with my miters. Grrr.... My Wixie digital angle meter is off by 3 degrees. :furious: :furious:

 

Oh, well. Too late now.

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Nobody told me I missed a spot!!!

 

:furious:

 

Second coat went on this morning. Or, first coat on that bit I missed. Must have been the fumes. ;)

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Hmmmm. We must be talking about different things. I am familiar with duroc as in the Russian card game where there are no winners but 1 loser (the duroc). BBS= Baby brine shrimp?

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:lol:

 

My Duroc came from Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books. One of the words of power.

Then I discovered that Duroc is a breed of pig. :facepalm:

 

BBS: Bulletin Board System... Predates the intarweb.

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3rd coat of Varathane Spar Urethane applied Sunday night. As of last night it was hard and smooth. Waiting for the floor in the house to be replaced (burst pipe, cheap laminate flooring... it's a rental so IDGAF) before I bring it in.

 

Once it's in the house, the tank goes on and I start filling.

WOOT!


Oh, I changed plans on the lighting... I think I'd be challenged to get enough light through 30" of water for the corals I want to keep using just LEDs. Even with the 10w chips I have. So I ordered a 250w MH light to go with my Orbit LEDs. Have to figure out a way to hang it now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

:)

 

I'm still waiting for the owner to fix the floors before I can start setting this up. It's killing me because it's all in my one car garage, keeping me from using it. :(

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  • 1 month later...

No. Still dealing with the stupid landlord and the floor. They finally retiled my kitchen, but the underlayment in the dining room is rotting too. So they came out 2 weeks ago and said, "Oh, yeah. You need to have this replaced!" DOH!

 

Driving me nuts because I have all the equipment and just wanna SET THE DAMN THING UP!!!

 

I did get a metal halide/T5 combo light to go on it. I'll still use the Orbit LED for 10 hrs, then the t5 for 6, then the MH for 4 as my baseline. Should be good enough to put anything I want in there.

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After waffling on whether to buy gulf aquacultured live rock, make my own from foam or concrete, or go dry, I finally pulled the trigger on dry. I bought it from Reefcleaners. :)https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/florida-reef-rock-50lbs-free-shipping

 

I ordered 80lbs to see how it stacks and looks. (I got some barnacles too.) I still plan on a live sand bed from Floridaliverock.com. But the dry will let me make the pillar scape I want for this ridiculously tall tank.

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  • 2 weeks later...
DurocShark

OMG OMG OMG

 

Stand is in the living room!

The tank was waaaay too heavy for me to lift up by myself. Need to have my son come visit so he and my wife can lift one end while I lift the other.

 

How the hell I got that thing into and out of my covnertible by myself is beyond me.

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