kgoldy Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Got the tank today! I'll be working in the shop half the night to paint and finish my light hanger. Lots of crappy cellphone pics to follow- When you don't have a second person to help lift a tank, just back your lift gate right onto your workbench! I used a hair dryer to warm the glass, since it's freezing from being in the back of the truck. This will help the krylon adhere- Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 I screwed the light hanger down to my work table, and twisted in every which way in order to torque the pipes nice and tight. Final straightening was done with some channel lock wrenches- though I forgot my big ones at home to make this job a lot easier. Prepping for paint, I'm using some bad ass paint stripper to remove the barcode stickers and any grease and dirt with a mineral spirits bath. I HIGHLY recommend wearing protective equipment when doing this type of crap. Long sleeves help prevent inevitable chemical burns. Going to run a coarse wire brush to scuff up the pipe to give the paint more to grab onto. This is probably unnecessary, but I don't mind being extra careful to prevent chipping and corrosion over the salt water. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Taped everything off nicely... tank gets plastic rim and ends carefully edged to prevent any bleeds and drip marks. "Clean Metal" Rustoleum primer. One coat, the stuff dries pretty quickly. First coat- Krylon dries to touch in 15 minutes- then I can manipulate the overflow pieces to paint the other sides. I'm going to wait 15 minutes between very light coats on the glass. Last time I did this I had runs from being impatient. No one will ever see them- but I know they're there, and it drives me nuts. (<---See OCD reefer) Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 The Rustoeum I'm using is "Any Angle Spray" - so it's particularly easy to coat the undersides of the pipes, and every nook and cranny of the pipe threads. The Oil Rubbed Bronze is slightly textured because of the metallic flecks- so I may coat it with the clear enamel to give it a more polished, wet look. Second coat of Krylon- Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 All done painting. I'll let it all dry here tonight, and begin working on the install tomorrow. Link to comment
BoostLED Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Dang you've got some skillz! Can't wait to see this whole thing come together! Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Spent literally all day on the tank... rock scape will never look as good as the first time around. =( Link to comment
ajmckay Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Hey what are you doing in the Ladies room?! Wow! I just caught up on your thread KG and looks like a lot has happened, most of it crap too! That sucks you have to replace your tank. Hopefully DBP refunded you... As I recall the overflow was ridiculously $$ too. Anyways, I like the light fixture you made. I ended up with 3/4 copper, but I also slid wood dowels into it as well to prevent bowing in anticipation of future lighting upgrades. The pipe looks awesome though in bronze. You've also got an interesting shape going on, so pic when it's above the tank. Yo AJ, the wrasse man... if you're still lurking out there- got any wrasse recommendations? I'd like a peaceful community of small species. I'm liking the looks of this: As for the wrasses, a harem of 3 or 5 fairy wrasses would be awesome! Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Alright, so I spent about 12 hours working on the tank yesterday... I didn't document with pictures the way I usually do because my hands were wet most of the time. Here's what went on yesterday- Took two 44 gallon Rubbermaids and a bunch of 5 gallon buckets, and drained the tank. Removed the rock, kept it wet the whole time in the garbage cans. As I removed the sand, I used a spaghetti strainer to separate the 1-2mm sand from the oolite. Lengthy process, but worked out really well. In the end, I was left with 15 gallons of really murky, cloudy water, that I just dumped out in the street. Lesson learned: always rinse dry sand. Next I cut the vinyl tubing from the drain and return pipes, and I'm tossing that crap in the garbage. Removed the tank and put it outside so I can return it to the LFS today. Used a few pry bars to carefully remove the cabinet top that's to the left of the display tank (where the 10 gallon future hospital tank has been). Put together the plumbing for the AGA tank... it's a world of difference from the Chinese born Deep Blue crap. Tank made in Wisconsin- and I'm buying American or German equipment for my tank from this point forward. (Except maybe LEDs, since for some silly reason our country respects their patents.) The all black plumbing looks really stealth compared to the white PVC I had in there last time. This time I went a little heavier on the teflon tape, and used silicone grease wherever possible to prevent those leaks I had last time around. Put the AGA tank into the cabinet... and realized that the plumbing is placed a little closer to the corner of the tank than the DBP... So I took the tank back off and used a saw to trim the hell out of my cabinet. Put the tank back on and reconnected the return tube using the hot-water trick to get the vinyl tube to fit over the bulkhead nicely. Used a wire tie to add a little peace of mind, since while removing the plumbing from the other tank, I found the other return tube to be a little loose. Assembled a new drain splitter. Used 5 minute quick set epoxy instead of PVC glue because I'm lazy, and it's clear, so it looks nice. With the new drain assembly I split and reduced the two outlets (one for fuge, one for skimmer chamber) into 3/4 ID tubing to improve the control I have over the flow from each one. Added about half of the oolite back to the tank, spread one inch evenly on the bottom of the tank. Because the oolite is wet and so fine, the base rocks settled to the bottom of the glass without any real manipulation. Piled the rest of the rocks in. Could not in any way make the rockscape what it was the first time around. I'll probably play with it a little more today. It seems like now I have 30% more rock than when I emptied the tank, because I had a hard time locking the pieces together the same way. Filled the tank with the old water, just below the overflow strainer... I'm letting the plumbing paint and epoxy cure another day or so before subjecting them to salt water. Little to no clouding this time around. Put the vortechs back on, but this time on the back of the tank. Against the black background, with everything still being so clean of algae, they're very hard to spot. I may keep them both on the back of the tank, because it makes the viewing from every direction a whole lot nicer. My biggest problem will be getting the water to flow to and from the right side of the tank. This may be alleviated once I fill the tank all the way and get the returns pumping in that direction. I made the rock structure a little more three dimensional so it's more pleasing to the eye when viewed from the sides. It takes up a lot more swimming space... But I like the idea. Placed the light stand above the tank... It's half an inch too low on the right side- which I think seems to be because the threading on one of the pipes was a little off. I may be able to shim up the right side to even it out. Hung the BoostLED Mu fixtures, turned them on, and left them on overnight. I need to try to trigger an algae outbreak so I can get a CUC in there and begin to stock the tank. I'm still feeling out my detrivore options... Right now it looks like I'll be ordering some GARF Grunge for the refugium, and some kits from Inland Aquatics to get things going. Cleanup crew will come from ReefCleaners, since they seem to be the #1 option on Nano-Reef. I'm going to go for ZERO hermit crabs in order to keep the predation down of sandbed fauna. I may add one or two special hermits somewhere down the line... like electric blue legs or something, but that's a big maybe. Today I'm going to add one or two pieces of LR from my biocube to get things moving along biologically. I haven't decided how I want to finish the sandbed. I'm going to stick with about 2 inches, because with all the rock I have in there, a DSB is bound to fail. I'm going to pick up another 40 lbs of Nature's Ocean Figi Pink gravel #2... and stare at the bags at home for a while to figure out if I want to use them or not. With the oolite under the heavier grade stuff, I should get a decent amount of denitrification going on from a shallow bed. The heavier stuff will be more friendly for the pistol shrimp and other burrowers. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Added more oolitic sand, so I'm running about 2 inches across the tank now. There's a very small amount of Figi Pink #2 in there, just to break things up a little bit. At the moment, I'm back to a cloud of dust. I took three fist sized rocks out of my biocube which are covered in coraline, and added them to seed this tank with some good stuff. Pictures of rockscape and stuff will come when the tank clears. Link to comment
bitts Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 can't wait to see this when the waters had time to clear. Link to comment
gutterguy Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 looking good K. Seems like just a week or two ago I was reading a similar build here? Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 looking good K. Seems like just a week or two ago I was reading a similar build here? Wise guy. So, it's all topped off, and water is circulating. Floor are dry, no leaks so far. RKL is all plugged in, lights are working as they should. Put a 100 watt CFL and a 150 watt MH over the fuge to try to force an algae outbreak so I can get my CUC. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Just bought a wireless adapter for my RKL NET. And... it works. Freakin sweet. Link to comment
bitts Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 looking good K. Seems like just a week or two ago I was reading a similar build here? So I'm not the only one with a sense of deja vu. Link to comment
bitts Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Oh & I have to say that the where money goes to die thing so makes it sound like you talking about my audi. thought that things where suppose to live in a tank. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 thought that things where suppose to live in a tank. I'll let you know I have one hitchiker hermit in there, good sir! And I saw a pod today somewhere in the refugium... Hahaha. I'm letting the hermit stay until I get my fauna kits in. Then he's banned to the biocube with the rest of em. I have been taking pictures with the real camera, but I'll save uploading for another day. Here's some crappy cellphone pics for now. I gotta say... I think my refugium looks freakin awesome. Not sure if the cell pics really do it justice. Also, did my first water test in... 6 months or so. It's been long enough that I had to read the directions for every single test. Temp 79F pH 7.5 (according to my RKL) 7.8 (according to test kit) Ammonia .25 Nitrite .25 Nitrate 40 Phosphate .25 Calcium 560 Carbonate 7dKh Right now I have a golf ball sized wad of chaeto in the fuge under a ton of 24 hour light... I wonder if I should throw some more in there to suck up those nitrates, or if I should just wait for the algae outbreak so I have food for my CUC when I order it. Link to comment
bitts Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 HOLY SH!T it doesn't mater if the cellphone pics do it justice or not when it looks like that. Damn that fuge Is spectacular. You'll need to start a thread for it in the macro forum, seriously one of the best examples I've seen yet, on the display fuge. If you don't I may have to do it for you. Link to comment
reef-luva Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 ...where does the money go? Lofty projects usually come with matching price tags my friend!!! ...hahahaha... WOW, this is comin' along sweeeetly, like tea with honey on a hot summa' day! Sorry for not reading every word, what kinda critters ya gonna put in the front half of the sump?.....mantis! mantis! mantis!....hahahaha Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 HOLY SH!T it doesn't mater if the cellphone pics do it justice or not when it looks like that. Damn that fuge Is spectacular. You'll need to start a thread for it in the macro forum, seriously one of the best examples I've seen yet, on the display fuge. If you don't I may have to do it for you. Maybe I'll start a macro thread once I get something other than chaeto in there. Wait til you see pictures from the real camera... Flora Starter Kit? The Rufugium Flora Starter Kit includes small starts of four macroalgae species, depending on availabiliy. Although we have some Caulerpa species that are desirable in refugia, we do not include Caulerpa sp., unless requested. Currently, we are regularly selecting from the following: Green and/or Red Gracillaria, Agardhellia, Chaetomorpha, Ulva, and Flat, Red Gracillaria. If you prefer, we can put together a nutrient-uptake Flora Kit with Chaeto, Caulerpa, etc. What four macros would you choose, bitts? (edit: Keep in mind, I already have a little chaeto. This Inland Aquatics flora kit is $40. Should I wait until I'm ready for my CUC and just get macros from ReefCleaners? Seems like that would be cheaper.) Originally I was going to put mangroves in there, but now realize I have zero room inside the cabinet... Now I'm thinking mangroves might look good in the display instead... Or in a HOB fuge on the back of the display. I keep seeing CPR HOB fuges for sale on this and the Manhattan Reefs forums for pretty cheap- so maybe I'll pick one up. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Hmmm... Been looking arount IPSF.com... Can't decide if I should get my detrivore kit from them instead... Not sure where my dollar goes further- IPSF or Inland Aquatics... Link to comment
bitts Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 this would be one of my favorit macro tanks along with a couple of the others like envy's, & suck that you can find linked in the members macro thread. (Sticky) for looks blue ochtodes, nemastoma, gracilaria, halimeda, Halymenia then for uptake cheto & ulva http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=244891 Link to comment
bitts Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Oh & for the most part there are 2 types of bugs the ones that eat the stuff between the grains & the ones that eat stuff off the grains. so a combo of these is what your looking for. although its more likely to be the ones that feed off the grain that are going to be the climax community in the tank. thats what most detivores do is they feed off the bacteria. Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Hate to say it, but I like your fuge rockscape more than your main tank But the main tank is still amazing! Link to comment
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