World's slowest custom 85g system. ...and there was coral. (p.18)

[Rollermonkey]

No way. Narrow would have cooked your corals.

 

Do you see how the rim of your tank is shadowed inside the circle of light from the Kessil? Personal preference here, but I hate that.

If'n that were my tank, that light would be moving down again. Since it's completely dimmable, that's doable.

 

.

.

.

 

So, I finished all of the plumbing except the flex-PVC.

 

I will never use this stuff again. (maybe) It's such a pain in the @$$ to get the length right. From my first estimate, I've trimmed it five times, 3 inches each time, and I'm still too long. Since it's a double curve from the pump to the bulkhead, I couldn't just measure it straight, PLUS since it was stored, packed and shipped in a coil, it wants to hold that curve even though I want it to curve both ways.

 

Once I get the length to where I want it, I'm ready to glue the ends into the slip couplings, then I'll be able to use pipe hangers to hold it in place until it relaxes into the shape I want.

[Rollermonkey]

OK. The flex-PVC is cemented to the slip fittings on either side. One end goes to a true union check valve, the other to a standard true union fitting. I'll let that cure overnight-24 hours before putting it in line and screwing in the hangers. I'm going to use one extended pipe hanger and one U-bracket to hold the S-curve in place. I'll take pictures of the plumbing tomorrow once everything's together.

 

Now I have nothing to do except build the scape until the skimmer, reactors and lights get here.

 

ugh.

[FlowerMama]

I've decided, I'm lowering the lights another 3.5" after I saw someone's on a YouTube video. That should make it under the rim. I don't mind some DIY but I don't like doing it over a 3rd time. So it should then be 7 inches above the tank. That just seems so different from their recommendations.

 

[Rollermonkey]

When you mounted it the first time, before moving it down, I'd have tied a string to the light and lowered it slowly, tying off and stepping back, over and over until I found the spot I liked, then measured the string to see how far down the mounting bracket needed to move.

 

It's like the old carpenter saying: measure twice, cut once.

 

(Not that I followed that today, what with cutting that stupid flex-PVC six times.)

[FlowerMama]

My husband would've said measure 3x and cut once but issue is I didn't know where I wanted these lights to be - the recommendations say higher but then you have overflow. He'd also be laughing at the same time and telling me I was so Polish- background truly is, both parents came over on the boat. And I do take the harder route instead of the smart or practical route when it comes to DIY. That's why I don't do it but I'm forced to, I have no choice. And that part sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least I'm still deciding to do it myself.

[Rollermonkey]

Look out. I've got a jigsaw, and I'm not afraid to use it.

[FlowerMama]

Yeah, well....I have tons of jigsaw puzzles I DIY!! BUT Hah- I have one of these!!!! And I DON'T KNOW how to use it!!. So mostly everyone should be afraid.

 

[FlowerMama]

And just because I like the ride. Thank you Intamin for your DIY.

 

[Rollermonkey]

I put in the flex-PVC and two clamps to hold it in place. I wish I could do a couple more, but there's no way it can be done easily. Right now, I've got a piece of twine holding it in one place, as it's still got that shape memory in it that's making it twist. It should relax into this new shape with time.

 

Diablo --> Union --> Gate valve:

 

 

First bend goes through two brackets (in the direction of the natural curve, I did this backwards.):

 

 

Second bend, check valve and into the bulkhead fitting. Behind that, the two overflow pipes of the herbie. If the primary is supposed to be under the water level of the sump, then I may have to redo that pipe. I guess I cranked down on all those threads and into the slip fitting a lot further than when I measured it. Oops. The lazy solution is to throw an adapter on the bottom, and I could just pop that off when changing the filter sock...

 

[FlowerMama]

You'll have water in here in no time.

[Rollermonkey]

It all depends on the skimmer.

They are back-ordered, and supposedly will be here early November, but I don't think this is the first time the ship dates on DC pump-driven skimmers has slid.

Reactors are being made locally by the same LFS that made my tank and sump, so I'm counting on those to be ready on November 1st.

The lights are ordered from a vendor, and I'm waiting for a status soon as he should get them this week.

MP10s are easy to come by (if you have the money) so there should be no delay there.

 

So, as long as I get paid correctly on November 1st, I should be theoretically good to go for filling it around December 1st.

[Rollermonkey]

No class tomorrow, and the daughter's got preschool.

 

Sounds like a perfect day to work on the scape, maybe even cut the holes in the hood for the lights.

[Rollermonkey]

So much for that. Slept until 10:30, but I did get the holes drilled/cut. I started by trying to cut them with the hood right side up, but I there wasn't enough room to swing the saw. So, then I flipped the whole thing over and redrew the circles. Funny thing is the first one came out smoother than the second. They don't look too bad though, and they'll look better once I get some sandpaper on the edges.

[Rollermonkey]

Just got a status update (including tracking #) on my Kessils. They left AZ yesterday, will arrive at the vendor on Monday and he'll turn them around same day.

 

I guess I'd better figure out how I'm going to hang these.

[FlowerMama]

One thing I do wish was that on the Kessils there was some kind of printed notches and numbered of something. So once you turned it, you had some idea where you had it later if you'd moved it. Otherwise just guesswork. I may have to put my own w/ a piece of tape or something.

[Rollermonkey]

Ah, but I think that ceases to be a problem with the controllable ones... Turn them up at the knob, then down numerically from the Apex.

[FlowerMama]

Ah, but I think that ceases to be a problem with the controllable ones... Turn them up at the knob, then down numerically from the Apex.

 

Yep, that'll be convenient, I just didn't want to pay more for the convenience nor get a controller. I have to draw the line somewhere since it's no one else's income but mine.

[Rollermonkey]

I'm a step ahead, as I already have the controller.

 

Then again, I just got my a360w's for the retail price of the a350w's...

 

I guess I'm two steps ahead.

 

My fixed income is about to get a bump. The housing stipend I'm supposed to get from the VA through the GI Bill didn't start on time, but I can see the pending deposit of the back-pay portion for September on my bank's online account access.

 

[Rollermonkey]

I don't think it looks too bad for my first time ever using a jigsaw.

 

http://s179.photobucket.com/user/rollermonkey/media/P1000782_zps36276f9c.jpg.html'>

[Rollermonkey]

This is getting ridiculous:

 

I ordered my skimmer on October 5th. It still hasn't left China, and nobody seems to know when they will actually leave the country.

 

I ordered my lights on October 17th. They have already moved from Kessil in AZ to the vendor FL, and will get shipped to me on Monday.

[FlowerMama]

They must be building the boat that's leaving China.

[Rollermonkey]

...and now they've said it left 3 days ago.

 

I'm so tempted to cancel my order and get a Bubble Magus Curve 7 instead.

[Rollermonkey]

I guess 8 tubes of JB Water Weld is enough to get started on the scape.

[FlowerMama]

yey a scape. have fun.

[Rollermonkey]

So, rather than stand on a stepstool and try to build my aquascape in the tank itself, I made a full scale mockup of the tank bottom, back and overflow and marked the back in thirds.

 

 

 

I got 100 pounds of ReefCleaner base rock, which came in two boxes, and is 49 pieces. So, roughly averaging 2 pounds per piece. I'm not going to use it all, maybe 65-70 pounds between the DT and sump, but I wanted to be able to choose from a variety of pieces for the DT.

 

 

 

 

...and the start of my buildup of rock on the mockup...

 

 

I'm hoping to pull off a fairly open scape, with both East/West swimming lanes and North/South sight lines. Maybe like this:

 

 

 

 

I don't like how linear the main structure is, but since it's after 3AM, I think I'll have to continue this tomorrow.