Chris! Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Cool hanger! And I like the white trim. I was looking at mine just the other night....wishing I had done the same. My stand is also done with the trim and painted white. Damn. Thanks man! Its hard to tell in the pic it kinda looks grey, but the hanger is actually a metallic black. Yeah I really like the white trim, it just gives it a nice clean finished look. If nothing else I would even just put a nice black gloss coat on if I was going to leave it black. Stock always just seems to have scratches or weird light spots etc Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Opened up my bucket of sand that I was planning on rinsing and reusing like I have always done in the past (except I normally rinse it and move it right into the next tank, this time it sat in a 5g bucket with the lid on for a few months), holy #### it stunk like rotten eggs, rinsed it for an hr and it still rinses black and smells a little. I don't want to wait for a big cycle or risk my fish if I add them soon so I will just get some new sand..... Of course anywhere to get sand is closed now so hopefully I will get a chance to get out tomorrow to the side of town that should have sand..... Works out I guess as it will give the silicone longer to fully cure. The package said 24hrs to full cure 48 for aquarium use so guess I will go closer to the 48. On a good note, the SCA-302 from Battle should be here by Thursday I am about 80% sure I am going to run that on this system.... I know my current one can handle both of my other 40s if I want it to where I don't really know the capabilities of the SCA Link to comment
jack1978 Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Ha ha ha, I found a 5 gal bucket with a lid on it. Popped it open to find "live rock" , sand and a little water......from almost two years ago.....holy shat! At least your sillycone will be cured. Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Yeah I spun the lid off and was like wow there is still water in here and it looks good/clear I will just give this stuff a nice little rinse and be good to go. Grabbed my little pal I was going to rinse it out in scooped some up and was like whooooooooooooooooooooooaaaa this isn't going to go so smooth If I was going to go with the dry rock I would of just rinsed it some more and ran with it but I think I am going to use the live stuff and hope for a short cycle. Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Went to three places looking for sand and no one had the stuff I wanted and don't really feel like doing black.... the only place that had it was 30 min away from where I was and closed in 5 minutes............... so getting sand tomorrow. Skimmer appears to be on track to show up Thursday, petco claims they are special ordering the other extra 40B now (should of ####ing did this nearly 3 weeks ago....) and "will be here friday morning". I've got 30g of water in the tank now... waiting to get the sand and rock in before adding anymore because I know it will put me fairly close to filling the tank with that in place. Tomorrow should have it pretty much up and running..... minus skimmer lol Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Skimmer should be here tomorrow..... picked up the sand a little while ago...hooked up the mp40 and got it runnin on the tank..... added some salt before I ran out in that bucket..... lettin it brew a lil before I add the rest and the sand......but I found somethin I wanted to share with ya'll. Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 dafuq yeah I know right.... but it was nice to watch at the same time lol Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Sand is in and cloudy as hell I think theres about 45-50lbs should give me the coverage I want. The tank is pretty much full up to the overflows with water, I am waiting on the skimmer to show tomorrow to finish filling everything so I can get my precise levels and not have to mess with it more then once..... plus its so damn cloudy I don't really want to run all those micro-sand particles needlessly through the return pump. Then everything should be able to go online and be running. I will slowly start adding rock over the next few days then bring the light over and fish probably mid-late next week...... if I can be patient enough to wait that long lol I will likely start the new thread tomorrow tho once it is fully flowing water through the entire system, and it clears up so there is atleast a little to show... Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Just went through my tote of dry rock, theres some pretty nice little/ medium size rocks in there so I tossed em in a bucket of RO/DI to rinse any dust off and will likely do something with a few pieces as well..... I have a good idea in my head but we will see............. Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Skimmer arrived, got it sitting in the sump will fill it and get everything else all hooked up later tonight when I get some more time Thanks again Hugo!. As for the skimmer itself.... Holy shit it is much smaller then I thought no wonder everyone says it is really for like a 40-60g. For the price quality was as expected (sloppy with the bonds, and rough cuts/ chipped edges on the acrylic) Despite claiming to be rated for 180g it looks like a toy in comparison to my Bubble Magus BM180A that is rated for 130-210, that I really wouldn't have much of a problem putting on a tank atleast at the lower end of that range moderate to heavily stocked. Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Turned out to be a decent day, got the skimmer for the 40B.... Just came home after doing some runnin and theres a small envelope from hydor..... the 3 magnets for my evo1400s that I've requested numerous times over the last 2 years finally showed up with no warning or indication they even were going to do anything..... that gives me 3 extra powerheads I didn't plan on ever being able to even use again (yet for some reason kept sitting around in my fish room LOL). Going to go out to dinner in a bit, then come home and finish putting the 40B together... should have pics and a new thread tonight Link to comment
Chadf Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I wasn't impressed whatsoever with the quality of my sca, I even sent the eBay seller a message for a return. I decided to give it a chance though. Seems pretty decent, the bubbles should be a lot smaller than what mine's making though. Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Yeah I'm not to worried about it, worse case I will just delegate it to the fish room as an extra incase I ever need it kinda thing like I originally planned. The only thing I really like is the size of the bubble plate. I will fire it up tonight and see how it goes.... Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 The new system is fully flowing water, skimmer is pulling something out, and everything is pretty quiet other then the drains need to skim over......After spending 2 hours tearing the house apart thinking the 3 yr old found and hid my pvc cement I remembered it was in the basement.... fixed the pinhole leak I had. Tomorrow I will hang the light, put the light on the fuge, and toss some rock in this bitch. Since its 2:30 I'm not going to rush throwing the new thread together tonight, but it is wet and I said I would get a pic once it was wet........... Forgive the cloudiness I wiped the film/sand residue off the glass not long before taking the pic.... Moonlight actually does a bit better then this but.... And lastly, the little toy soldier LOL.... For comparison, this is my BM180A in the same sump (just flipped around).... Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 I wasn't impressed whatsoever with the quality of my sca, I even sent the eBay seller a message for a return. I decided to give it a chance though. Seems pretty decent, the bubbles should be a lot smaller than what mine's making though. Now that it is hooked up and fully running, I agree, bubbles are way bigger then I am used to, although it does seem to be functioning decently. I am no skimmer expert, but I think the problem is to much pump for such a small (narrow and short) neck. My BM180 runs the same brand pump (just bigger version), and it has much better bubbles but it also has a way wider neck and 3-4" height wise as well. The BM180A actually uses an ATB designed body (they got the rights to use it from ATB even...). Will I eventually run that skimmer on this system... probably. But for now I am going to give the SCA a shot and see what it can do. Link to comment
Chadf Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Yea don't get me wrong, for the price these skimmers seem to be worth every penny. While I haven't been running mine that long, I'd say they perform a lot better than the price tag suggests. Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Yea don't get me wrong, for the price these skimmers seem to be worth every penny. While I haven't been running mine that long, I'd say they perform a lot better than the price tag suggests. Yeah for sure. As long as it performs good I don't care about the appearance issues, it sits in the sump and often isn't even looked like + in the water I can't see them. I do see some design flaws (like the small neck) but it seems to perform decently so far. That said, the BM-180A cost about 200 so new (~200) vs new (~150-160) (I bouight the SCA off the board NIB at a discounted price) I would have went with the BM knowing its performance and everything, but for the slightly lower cost it was justifiable to give the SCA a try at the price I picked it up for and since my intentions originally was as a back up/extra skimmer anyway. Link to comment
jack1978 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Congrats on getting her wet! That skimmer should do well for you. I have the previous model and run it a little on the dry side. Pulls a think nasty mess out of the tank. Mines been running about a year and a half.....always consistant . When are you hanging the light? Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Congrats on getting her wet! That skimmer should do well for you. I have the previous model and run it a little on the dry side. Pulls a think nasty mess out of the tank. Mines been running about a year and a half.....always consistant . When are you hanging the light? I will hang the light probably in the next few days. Not really in a rush until I put the fish in since the radion is over the tub they are in now anyway. Hoping to figure out the scape later today Link to comment
jack1978 Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I will hang the light probably in the next few days. Not really in a rush until I put the fish in since the radion is over the tub they are in now anyway. Hoping to figure out the scape later today Oh ya, right. Forgot it was over the tub. Carry on! Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 The water is still kinda cloudy today, doesn't really look like the normal "sand" cloudiness I am used to, thinking there is some kinda bloom going on so I am making up a bunch more water and going to do WC's until it goes away.... irritating because it is going to cut into my scape planning time tonight but hopefully I will be able to do both On a side note there is 46g of water in the entire system. Oh ya, right. Forgot it was over the tub. Carry on! No prob, the tub is easily forgettable lol Link to comment
Chris! Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 I have the previous model and run it a little on the dry side. Pulls a think nasty mess out of the tank. Mines been running about a year and a half.....always consistant . How long did it take you to get it dialed in? This thing is runnin nutty, anywhere from 1-4 and it will overflow the cup within seconds whenever it wants too lol I am thinking it is because of whatever is causing my cloudy water but not 100% its not the skimmer is just mad at me LOL The cloudy water was seeming to do a little better, I decided to hold off on the WC until morning but I will be ready to do atleast a 50-75% WC if needed. I ended up finding a bag of carbon in the fish room and decided to make up a quick old school gatorade carbon reactor, I am running the flow through at a notch above stagnant and it does seem to be improving even if just slightly. I got one section of rock scaped (in dry rock), not sure if its placement will stay or get moved around yet will know more on that in the following days as I start to move liverock over from the tub to the tank after the cloudiness is gone..... hopefully tomorrow Link to comment
jack1978 Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 It's been over a year.... I don't remember it taking long at all. I bet you start seeing a difference by tomorrow. For whatever reason, after running the GFO, it has been running wetter... Link to comment
BattleAthletics Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Im following this build and NR isnt allowing me to receive updates. WTF MARKS?! Link to comment
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