Drama's cad34/ Breeder down/ semi cube

[Dramad1]

Breeder still not set up yet .

Currently thinking about reconfiguring the whole set up into one line of tanks. Simplify things a bit. Good news is, I have all of the equipment and the brine/phyto station is complete. The bad news is, I have to redo all the plumbing and try to salvage my ball valves and unions

 

The 34g is temp hosting a new pair of premium black snowflakes. Got em at macna.

While there, I picked up a few new pieces.

1st up, Joe the coral. Had this piece a while back and it was awesome. Glad to have found it again.

Next up is a mystery tort, similar to a cali tort

Next up, I honestly forgot the name, but it looks awesome and was highly recommended by other hobbiest at the booth. Has a kinda reddish rainbow going on, crappie cell pic does it no justice

An finally. I got this scoly right at the closure of the exhibitors hall. While this one is nice, the hyper pink master that was next to it was the one I really wanted, just didn't want to pay what they were asking. I got this for a good last shopper deal.

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Almost forgot, I have a baby rbta that was throw in for free. Seems to be doing well. I tried to make a deal on an inferno but my offer of 750 was not accepted. But after talking with the owner, I may be able to get one down the road from him . It was bad ass. No pic of the bta.

 

Tank is doing good and soon plan to move the fish out and go mixed reef again. I need a dose. Dosing by hand sucks.

 

Weird fts, crappy cell pic

[Dramad1]

Started framing the new stand.

Framing complete, now I just need to sand it and pick a color other than black that matches tan, white or brown.

The shorter stand will be for my sump. I will have full access to it and not have to worry about crawling under the stand to clean and or perform maintenance. Plan to add a full piece magnetic panel for the front instead of making doors. Underneath will just store salt, buckets and misc tank stuff.

That's all for now

[Dramad1]

Started to paint

Ran out of paint.

Got the front panel cut and stand Drilled with recessed holes for magnetic front panel. Plan to paint the front panel with either dry erase board paint or chalk board paint, so I can write stuff down pertaining hatch, fry, food schedule etc etc.

I made a mistake building the stand and forgot to factor in my plumbing and the fall that I need for proper drainage. So I put it on skids and the front panel will hide these. Once I get the stand and front panel painted, I will start to break down the other stand and salvage what ever plumbing I can. I need to draw up a plumbing plan now so I don't get to many extra pieces.

[Dramad1]

Quick update:

Installing the magnets with epoxy

Intially was going to use light gauge metal strips but couldn't find anything local that was as light as I desired so I opted to use washers

Picked up some more paint, but it is to windy out , so another day and I will finish up painting the stand. Also, I planned to use a chalk board and or a dry erase paint on the stand cover panel but after looking into it, it's not going to happen. The paint requires a white latex primer as a base coat with a minimum of two coats dry erase paint on top. Imo it's to much work to paint and let dry and re coat times being 24hrs later not to mention the latex primer that i don't care to use on the stand. So I opted to just use the same enamel paint I used on the stand and after its all done and dry, I'm going to just buy a dry erase board and mount it on top of the cover. It will save me about 40$. As far as the chalk board paint. I choose not to go that route because of the chalk dust possibly contaminating my water and the dust getting all over the general area. Cool idea but not for this project.

After looking at the stands, I may install some trim molding to make it look a Lil less diy and help give it some pop. For the moment I'm going to skip this step and focus on completing what I have and getting the tanks set up and re plumbing the whole system. After its wet, I will look into adding some trim.

[Dramad1]

Update:

 

Few things first:

I couldn't fit all the tanks on the new stand like I envisioned. . I blame it on getting to excited and moving so quick with the new stand build. Also my magnetic door was a fail. After gluing on the washers and letting it set out in the sun all day, the panel warped/bowed and would not attach to the magnetic panel fleshly. The panel was also to heavy. Boohoo! So the new plan is the make a canvas magnetic curtain. But yeah, Onto pics

 

Breaking down the old set up.

Storing my mess through out the house, wife was at work so I had to be quick

Salvaging the old plumbing

 

Look how much dust has collected on the skimmer cup, I blame it on poor access.

Cleared area and muscled in the new stand solo, it was pretty heavy and awkward.

This pic is where I found out all my tanks wouldn't fit like I wanted. you can see I have the 2 20l on the left side and three 10gal on the right. I also have two more 10's and a 17 I wanted to throw up there. We'll the 2 other 10s are for fresh fry and will not be plumbed into the system. They are under the sump. I plan to install a shelf that I can set up when needed inside the large stand at about mid height.

 

Since I couldn't fit the tanks how I wanted, I changed the tank configuration and installed my phyto/brine station on the right. All lighting is installed and it's ready to go.

Intially this pic, I installed the plumbing rail for my return lines, salvaged from old set up. It will help prevent the lines from bowing.

 

inside the phyto/brine station.

 

Mocking up the new plumbing and Salvaging as much as I can from the old pipes.

 

That's all for now, I'm burnt out on it today....time for some brews. Enjoy and please feel free to comment. Thanks for.checking it all out

[Dramad1]

Update:

I was all ready to glue it all up and life happened! Some will be disappointed, I apologize. After all that hard work, fml. Tank and stand are all broke down and in storage. I'm referring to the breeder set up. It will happen but just not now. I have debated on selling the whole thing but I doubt anyone would be willing to pay what I think it's worth with all the man hours I have involved. To storage it went. I got it all broke down in one day. Stand moved out and space cleared................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For! This\/

 

 

Meet an awesome local reefer after he posted this beauty up fs. Luckily I hit him up quick and we quickly came to a deal.

 

The tank is a Marineland extra deep 36" corner flow reef ready semi cube. Starphire glass with dimensions 36"×36"×24" 150g.

It's huge, it's fantastic, it's really nice. I'm excited.

 

As of now we are undecided if we should leave in the corner or center it up on the wall (wife complains it takes up to much area in the center of the wall). I agree a Lil bit that it cuts the room area down a bit being in the center, but I do like being able to view from 3 sides, ease of maintence from three side etc etc. In person it looks great in the corner and hides the overflow, needs a canopy imo, kinda hard to access the corner overflow being in the corner, but it does open up the room a bit more and looks okay. Your opinions please.

 

 

 

I will be selling the XL sump and skimmer to purchase a custom sump and skimmer to fit the stand. Both the sump and skimmer I have are way to large to fit inside this stand.

I also need to think about lighting. My wife wants me to do a Fowlr tank and skip the reef, I have to admit, I just said okay to her wants but really, I want to have a mixed reef with lots of fish. Which makes me think about lighting. Led's, t5, my, hybrid. Hmm. I have a new gen4 xr15, but I'd need at least three more for this tank. Maybe I can try one more xr15 and do 4 t5's, 2 each side. Or sell the xr15 and get an ATI fixture, or run the xr15 in the middle and run Kessel around the edges. I know wtf am I talking about. Need some help on what to do for lighting. So many options. Halides would cost me a fortune to power. Solar panels are not here yet .

 

We'll I had to share. Please help me put this build together. Tank placement, lighting, cube suggestions, stocking ideas etc etc.

As always tanks for checking out the build and sorry to those I have let down. Breeding set up will happen, just not right now.

[Sancho]

Jetli is awesome. Nice score. I would go t5 led hybrid. I love big cubes but they are hard to light.

 

I still have that nem if you want it.

[Dramad1]

Jetli is awesome. Nice score. I would go t5 led hybrid. I love big cubes but they are hard to light.

 

I still have that nem if you want it.

Awesome agree on the cube being hard to light, I've been looking at my options as far as t5's. It's to bad ati discontinued the 36" 10x39w fixture. It might have worked perfectly. I've been also browsing Hamilton's Web site for 2x250w mh 20k bulbs or possibly even a 400w. Worried about the power draw and heat though.

 

Another option is an led/t5 combo. Either a gen4 xr30pro to go with the xr15 I have,centered up and 2-4 t5's either side.

Or 4 China boxes with 2 bulbs each side.

I have also thought about doing 2x 36" 6x39w ATI'S with a possible led retro.

I can keep going, I've been reading up on what others have done with similar tanks and it seems like a 250w-400w mh is the best option all around. The tank has a large spread for sure and the 27" depth needs a Lil par if I want some stuff in the bottom.

 

You know I want that nem, just have to find the time to come and visit. I am working closer to you now. I'm over off El Camino real. For how long? Depends on my attitude. Hahahaha.

 

Thanks for checking out the build. I think I may start a new thread and revert this on back to the 34.

[gus6464]

Awesome agree on the cube being hard to light, I've been looking at my options as far as t5's. It's to bad ati discontinued the 36" 10x39w fixture. It might have worked perfectly. I've been also browsing Hamilton's Web site for 2x250w mh 20k bulbs or possibly even a 400w. Worried about the power draw and heat though.

 

Another option is an led/t5 combo. Either a gen4 xr30pro to go with the xr15 I have,centered up and 2-4 t5's either side.

Or 4 China boxes with 2 bulbs each side.

I have also thought about doing 2x 36" 6x39w ATI'S with a possible led retro.

I can keep going, I've been reading up on what others have done with similar tanks and it seems like a 250w-400w mh is the best option all around. The tank has a large spread for sure and the 27" depth needs a Lil par if I want some stuff in the bottom.

 

You know I want that nem, just have to find the time to come and visit. I am working closer to you now. I'm over off El Camino real. For how long? Depends on my attitude. Hahahaha.

 

Thanks for checking out the build. I think I may start a new thread and revert this on back to the 34.

 

http://www.sewatec.de/ati-t5-powermodule-10x39-watt.html?opt=%7B16%7D64%7B34%7D18%7B35%7D18%7B36%7D18%7B37%7D18%7B38%7D18&xploidID=bjlopcpbm1p68ng0r954n5noi0

 

It's not cheap at $940 shipped to the US but it's the best T5 light ever made. Don't forget to choose 120V when you add to cart.

[Dramad1]

 

http://www.sewatec.de/ati-t5-powermodule-10x39-watt.html?opt=%7B16%7D64%7B34%7D18%7B35%7D18%7B36%7D18%7B37%7D18%7B38%7D18&xploidID=bjlopcpbm1p68ng0r954n5noi0

 

It's not cheap at $940 shipped to the US but it's the best T5 light ever made. Don't forget to choose 120V when you add to cart.

I actually just found one but it needs a few new ballast and fans, Thanks for the link though.

If that falls through, I may have to grab one of these. In the options I only seen the 125v 60hz option or the euro 240v 50hz option

[teenyreef]

Nice score on the cube! Hopefully you don't have to spend all the money you saved on lighting - good luck with the used one

[gus6464]

I actually just found one but it needs a few new ballast and fans, Thanks for the link though.

If that falls through, I may have to grab one of these. In the options I only seen the 125v 60hz option or the euro 240v 50hz option

 

Yeah 115V/60Hz same thing. If you found a used one it's not hard to replace the guts. It is a real PITA taking the ballasts out but once you do it on one and figure out the trick the rest are easy. I got my 8x24 PM used as well for dirt dirt cheap and replaced all the ballasts in it. I went with Philips Centiums instead of the stock HEPs.

[Dramad1]

Here it is!

Needs a Lil clean up and a few parts. I can't believe it, kinda fell out of the sky when I was looking for one.