PIPS Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 BTW, just an update. I finally got around to working on the rocks. I have about 1/3 of the wall structure that I will be puting in front of the overflow box. I have been slowly working on it since yesterday. Boy is it alot of hard work planning and drilling. I'm getting there though. Nobody cares what you have to say. Just hurry up with the pictures Link to comment
guia x Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 Okay PIPS, I got a couple pictures... July 26 - New ASM G3 Protein Skimmer purchased July 27 - New ASM G3 Protein Skimmer installed I figured I would clean the water up so the tank will be ready for the time I start moving my livestock over. I had originally planned on getting the skimmer later on but I have been feeding the heck out of my sun corals and I am sure there will be alot of gunk that will be kicked up when I start adding the rocks. I'm not quite sure how to work it very well. There were no instructions. If anyone has experience with them, please don't hesistate to chime in. I'm just letting it break-in for next couple of days then I'll start fiddling with it. Anyway, not quite a big update. I finished mounting the rocks last night and just have to add the finishing touches to the pvc structure and I should have the rock wall in the tank within a few days. Hopefully I can work on it tonight and add it tomorrow. We shall see. Link to comment
guia x Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Awesome tank and shots. Thank you. Link to comment
got2envy Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Hello! I have the G2 and had to raise it up so that it is only 8" under water and it started to work alot better then you just need to find the sweet spot for the best skimming Link to comment
guia x Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Thanks Maria. I will try to lower my water level. Did you ever do any mods to your skimmer? I've read that you have to do them to get the skimmer working its best. I'm not really up for doing mods right now. lol. Link to comment
got2envy Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 I think mine works great without the mods...I read a long arse thread on RC about modding the ASM and some say it's not worth it just find the sweet spot Link to comment
guia x Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Yeah I just read some of that too yesterday but no way was I going thru that whole thread. That is good to know. The people I have talked to said that they are great skimmers but after reading a few threads like the on RC, I started wondering how good can they be if you need to mod them. I guess I'll see after my skimmer passes the breakin period. Link to comment
hooligan_78 Posted July 29, 2009 Share Posted July 29, 2009 Could you explain the rock framing process? How you mounted the rocks and pvc together? Link to comment
guia x Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Could you explain the rock framing process? How you mounted the rocks and pvc together? Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to take some pics so I can show you instead. Explaining with words alone would be too difficult. Better to show you. So here's how I mount them... So basically you drill a hole in the rock large enough to put the pvc thru and then you putty it in. It helps to drill holes in the pvc for the putty to go thru and hold. Drilling smaller holes off to the sides of the big hole helps give the putty a stronger hold as well. Use super glue gel as well. Now drill a hole in the pvc and square out the bottom part of the hole. Trim out the pvc that is attached to the rock to create a hook just big enough to hook on to the hole you just created on the pvc frame. Just like the picture. You just want to trim just enough to hold the rock to the frame. You don't want to trim too much or it will fall off unless the rock holds itself up. It's fairly simple in concept but drilling the rocks and aligning the hole is not so simple. I could not seem to find the right drill bit big enough to bore out a hole for the pvc to go thru. I was using the biggest drill bit I have which I think was 1/2" and using a dremel to open up the hole. Which took forever. I tried a 1" drill bit but it was just vibrating too much and breaking off the rock instead of making a clean hole. That is it. Hope I explained it well enough. Let me know if you have any more questions. Link to comment
dpnano Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 looks amazing i love the rock work and u did a great job explaining lol. idk u could make another rock pillar like that with a nice overhang? idk thats just IMO i love overhangs haha Link to comment
guia x Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Okay finally...update time! July 30 - Wall structure finished July 31 - Wall structure added to the tank After 30 minutes... All cleared up after a couple of hours I am not quite finished and I am not quite satisfied with it right now. So far it has not turned out as I had planned but I think a few tweaks and it will be okay. Anyway, it is getting there. I don't plan on building any more large structures. The rest will all be small additions. July 31 - New equipment arrived. Phosban Reactor 150, Vortech MP40w and Neptune System IO Breakout Box. I have not openned them yet. I probably won't get a chance to install them until tomorrow. In caseyou guys are wondering why a IO Breakout Box, I have placed an order for an Aquacontroller Apex from Marine Depot. They don't have it in stock so I have to wait. The IO Breakout Box is for top off. I also have an MP10 on order as well for the Sun Coral tank. That's it for now... looks amazing i love the rock work and u did a great job explaining lol. idk u could make another rock pillar like that with a nice overhang? idk thats just IMO i love overhangs haha Thank you. I'm with you. I love them too. I tried adding some overhangs in the wall but I could not find longer pieces. I don't know if you could see the one in the middle. I really wanted a long one there. I plan on adding another small pillar with overhangs. I will try to add bridges as well. Stay tuned... Link to comment
guia x Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 August 1, 2009 - Added more rocks Link to comment
got2envy Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Looks freakin' Awesome!!!1 Link to comment
Quick Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 That rockscape is sweet.. Thats one nice set up. Link to comment
Marteen Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 I love the dimensions of the 120 it just looks like there is so much room to play with! I'm loving how you are doing the rock scape very nice indeed. Are you thinking of putting in seperate islands to break up the rear back wall with the front? Or are you leaving it open for swimming space? Link to comment
guia x Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 Looks freakin' Awesome!!!1 Thanks as always. That rockscape is sweet.. Thats one nice set up. Thank you. Interesting method. Yeah, I read it on a magazine and I thought I would give it a try. I don't know yet if all the work was worth it but atleast I will not have to worry about rock slides when I add corals or mess around in the tank. The set up is kinda semi permanent but I am pretty happy with the results. There are a few rocks I can still move around if I'm bored with the look. I love the dimensions of the 120 it just looks like there is so much room to play with! I'm loving how you are doing the rock scape very nice indeed. Are you thinking of putting in seperate islands to break up the rear back wall with the front? Or are you leaving it open for swimming space? Yeah I didn't plan on having such a huge back wall but with the rocks that I got and not really measuring things out accurately, things just ended up being larger than I had planned. I wanted a mix of swimming area and alot of caves and pillars. I don't think I quite achieved that but in the end I think I'm happy with how it turned out. Anyway, the last pic I posted is not final setup. Below is what I think is the final scaping. So updated time. August 3 - Final Aquascaping As you can see, I installed the Vortech as well. It blew up some fine sand that were on the rocks at first when I first turned it on to align the head. It was at full power and now that I lowered it down a bit, no more sand storms. I am quite impressed at how much water it moves. It was blowing particles from one end of the tank all the way to the other side. Other than the initial sand storm, there is really nothing in there so I cannot see what kind of effect it will have on corals just yet. That's it for now. I'm going to test my water and see what kind of damage I caused putting the rocks in. I'll probably let it cycle for a week or two before adding my cleanup crew. BTW, does anyone know how to get rid of those pineapple/q-tip sponges? I have so much on my back wall and sump. I know I can just probably just scrape it off but I don't want to cause a really big cycle. Are there any natural predators for them? I am hoping a few days of getting hit with MH that they will just slowly die off since I think they don't like too much light. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking... Link to comment
tyty22 Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 wow amazing setup. that aquascaping method is amazing and pure genius! Link to comment
guia x Posted August 8, 2009 Author Share Posted August 8, 2009 wow amazing setup. that aquascaping method is amazing and pure genius! Thank you. I wish I could take credit for it but I can't. All credit goes to Marine and Reef USA Annual 2008 magazine. That's where I got the idea from. I don't even know if they came up with it. lol. Link to comment
PIPS Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I absolutely loved how the rockwork came out in the end. Goes to show you how patience DOES pay off in the end. Link to comment
guia x Posted August 9, 2009 Author Share Posted August 9, 2009 looks perfect Thank you. Not yet, hopefully when it's fully stocked. I absolutely loved how the rockwork came out in the end. Goes to show you how patience DOES pay off in the end. Thank you. I know it just might be me, but at first I was not quite satisfied with how it turned out but it is starting to warm up to me. I am not one to be fully satisfied with the first try anyway. I think I have messed around with it a little so, I think I have it to the point where I am happy with it. I will never really know until I start putting things in there. Anyway, I will be slowly moving my livestock from my nano probably within this coming week or the next. Link to comment
JonathanS Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 lol, i think ur rock work is good enough u might not need coral. : ) Link to comment
guia x Posted August 9, 2009 Author Share Posted August 9, 2009 lol, i think ur rock work is good enough u might not need coral. : ) Haha. All that money spent just to have a bunch of rocks. Though, those rocks are pretty expensive themselves. Yeah after I move all my livestock from my nano, I will have to chill out for a little while. Give my wallet and my wife some time to rest. Link to comment
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