Professor Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 I call it motivation. Way to word-smith it Lani! I guess I need to go start cutting PVC. -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 Well I pretty much finished up my plumbing tonight. Just have a few more pieces to cement together than I can run a leak test. Came out looking pretty good I think except for I can't do PVC work without getting that damn purple primer all over the place. I may end up painting all the plumbing black with Krylon Fusion. So far I am still tracking to have saltwater, sand and rock in this thing by the end of this weekend. -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted June 27, 2009 Author Share Posted June 27, 2009 Okay! Getting ready to leak test this bad boy. Will hopefully post pics of it wet in about an hour or two. I am so excited! -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted June 28, 2009 Author Share Posted June 28, 2009 It works but it is louder than I like. Need to fiddle with it to see if I can quiet it down some. -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Like many I lost some posts during the forum crash so I am going to give a brief summary and share some pics. I was not happy with my original sump design so I re-did the sump to this configuration Here you can see the filter sock holder inside the bubbletower and the lid I turned from acrylic. So after i got all that up and running and transfered all of my livestock I have this to show for it. I am pretty happy to finally have it set up and everything in. Things are still acclimating to the new T-5 lighting but I am already seeing great improvment in coloration. I got rid of a lot of stuff in this transfer and only kept my favorites. Nothing is permantly attached yet until I get all the BTA's I want to keep settled in. Some stuff is still a little P.O.'d from the move and new lights but overall I think it looks pretty good. Let me know what you guys think! -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Looks great. Thanks Lani. I told you I would get it done!!!! Link to comment
Professor Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 A few more pictures because I am so excited. Hope you like! -Prof Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Looks like a great start! What lights are you using? Is that a Sundial? Link to comment
Clavius85 Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Looks awesome! One of my favorite tanks. Link to comment
Professor Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Looks like a great start! What lights are you using? Is that a Sundial? Thanks! It is a Sundial. I have been really happy with it so far. Looks awesome! One of my favorite tanks. Wow! Thanks for the compliment. I am glad you like it. Wait till I fill it with BTA's!!! Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 I like! Are you planning on having the BTA's the focus of this tank? Are you using stock Sundial bulbs? What kind of lighting did you everything under before? What's your favorite color? Do you like beer? Dog person or cat person? Link to comment
Professor Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 I like!Are you planning on having the BTA's the focus of this tank? Are you using stock Sundial bulbs? What kind of lighting did you everything under before? What's your favorite color? Do you like beer? Dog person or cat person? Thanks! 1) BTA's and clowns are the primary focus. 2) Stock Sundial Bulbs for now. When it is time to change I plan to put better bulbs in. 3) Previously everything was under PC's. My monti browned overtime but continued to grow. It is already starting to color up under the T-5s. Hopefully it will regain it's bright green color. The GBTA I have did so-so but split right before the move so they are kinda puny now while they are recovering. My RBTA pictured earlier in the thread I lost due to a malfunctioning heater. The GBTA survived though. 4) Favorite color is green 5) I love beer 6) Cat person -Prof Link to comment
Deleted User 6 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Prof - just read through - great build! Did you say what type of wood you used for the stand? Where did you pick it up? I'm in NYC and unfortunately my lumber supply choices are limited. Link to comment
Professor Posted July 26, 2009 Author Share Posted July 26, 2009 Prof - just read through - great build! Did you say what type of wood you used for the stand? Where did you pick it up? I'm in NYC and unfortunately my lumber supply choices are limited. Thanks for the compliment! I really appreciate it. The lumber was nothing exotic. I used Red Oak that I got from Lowes. My bride wanted something that looked like rosewood and Red Oak has a similiar grain. It took me forever to get the color to match rosewood though. It took 6 applications of three different stains over the course of a week! You should be able to find some oak in the NYC area. I personally don't like working with oak but it fit the bill for this project pretty well. BTW, I picked up a new RBTA this week. Pics to follow later!!!! -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 I finally have my Vortech installed into the tank. That thing is simple amazing. Still need to do some cable management and mount the controller though. I am starting off on Lagoon mode at about 50% power and will slowly move the power up. On another note my new RBTA is settling in well and the GBTA from my other tank that split right before the move is doing great too, although one of the splits doesn't seem to be healing quite as fast as the other. When it split it wasn't 50/50, it was more like 70/30 and the more puny split is taking a longer time to heal. I will post up new pics later once the lights come on. -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 Just did a water change and snapped a couple top down shots of a few pieces plus some pics of my new RBTA and a new FTS. I need to seriously start thinking about where I am going to permantly mount the Monti at. I would like it lower in the tank - Anyone have any suggestions? Anyway, on to the pics: Top down GSP: Top down zoas: Some shrooms: New RBTA with clowns feeling some love: New FTS sporting the Vortech! Unfortunately I am not a real good photographer and am challenged with using a camera so I never seem to capture the great colors that are really present in my tank. I need to read the directions I guess . Hope you enjoy! -Prof Link to comment
Professor Posted August 10, 2009 Author Share Posted August 10, 2009 I got bored this weekend and my bride was working a 12 at the hospital so I packed up my kids and went on a reefin' roadtrip. I live in the boonies and I only have 1 LFS that carries saltwater. His stuff is usually healthy and reasonably priced but he does not have a lot of variety. So I rolled up to Glen Burnie to House of Tropicals and was wicked disappointed in that store. Livestock variety was so/so, prices were large and all the fish looked on the verge of death. Disappointed but not discouraged I loaded my grubs back up in the car and rolled to a place called Roozens that I had been to once before. The place is a bit weird and funky, and smells to high heaven but they had awesome stuff. It is actually a nursery that is also a SW fish and invert importer. My kids especially liked the pond in the green house that had emporer angels and naso tangs swimming in it. So I ended up picking up some Pep Shrimp for my sump to eat aipstasia off of a couple frags I have down from the old tank, a pair of Skunk cleaners for the Display and a new Purple Tipped GBTA that is still acclimating towards the bottom of the display. So it took 6 hours on the road, a trip to McDonalds, three movies and 4 pee stops, and I burned up a whole prehistoric forest in my big-azz truck, but it was worth it. Kids and I had a great day and got some cool stuff for the tank (kids picked the Skunks and named them - Stinky and Smelly). Pics to follow shortly. -Prof Link to comment
Lalani Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Tank is looking good, Prof! Link to comment
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