Drama's 125 build progress (build progress)

[Dramad1]

The plumbing

 

[Dramad1]

So I'm calling it a night, I did a lil mock up of the standpipes and returns so I could mount some hardware to secure the pipes to the stand. Wish I could have gotten further but kids wouldn't have it lol.

 

Cells pics of progress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is all dry fitted and will be glued before final, I still plan to add a few unions and ball valves as well as some flex pvc for the sump.

The hardware I used can be found at lowes home improvement. I was turned onto using them by a member over on rc. They work great and couldnt be happier, I recommend getting a size 1/4" larger than you need so that you can go around coupled fittings.

Calling it a night for now. I will update things as they happen.

Still need to do a few things with the sump, figure out my return lines and dual reactor set up, pick up a few more fittings and order some acrylic sheets to complete sump.

[charnelhouse]

Besides the obvious answer that drilling glass is challenging and risky is there any reason you are running the returns over the top?

 

If you were to drill the returns and have them lower than the drains does this put you at risk for a back siphon if you have a pump failure/power outage? Just asking for my future reference, One of these years I'm going to do a build in the same size range I hope.

 

Do you plan to build your scape so that it hides most of the piping?

 

I like the smoke overflow vs. opaque black, you can see if something is in there that shouldn't be

[Dramad1]

Besides the obvious answer that drilling glass is challenging and risky is there any reason you are running the returns over the top?

 

If you were to drill the returns and have them lower than the drains does this put you at risk for a back siphon if you have a pump failure/power outage? Just asking for my future reference, One of these years I'm going to do a build in the same size range I hope.

 

Do you plan to build your scape so that it hides most of the piping?

 

I like the smoke overflow vs. opaque black, you can see if something is in there that shouldn't be

There is no reason I went over the top with the returns. I had been talking with a fellow reefer on rc who just went through putting together a 125g build and I liked his set up overall and asked if he minded if I copied his design. I went ahead and ordered my glass for an almost c2c set up so I could run the returns over the top instead of drilling them.

With the overflow being so high (so I elimate seeing the water line in the display), my holes for 2 of the stand pipes are 3 1/2" to center from the bottom of the trim and one of them 1/4"-3/8th higher. So already pretty close to minimum distant from the top of tank for drilling. Drilling the returns would have to be higher than the drains to prevent back syphoning during power outage unless you have enough room in your sump to handle the tank water.

As far as hiding the piping, I plan to paint the back of the tank. I have talked to the wife and she says no more blk and no blk background which I was kinda leaning towards. Blue would be the nxt option but we can not decide on the right shade. We have also tossed the idea of having frosted glass and or a spray tint for like headlights. I think the tint would be different but not sure if it would look that great and lastly we talked about cling to glass backgrounds. Def going to be painted with something though.

I plan to work on the tank some more tomorrow if I can get away with it.

[charnelhouse]

Paint the back a nice splotchy coralline purple.... haha. You'll have a head start that way.

[Dramad1]

So this weekends update.

 

I had planned to work on the plumbing some more as well as finish up the sump and do my weekly wc's and maintenence on my other tanks.

I didnt get as far along as I would have liked but still made some progress. I finished up the sump and managed to get it in the stand.

I had a lil mishap with the weldon and the application bottle. I finished welding the baffles in and left the applicator bottle in the sump. Went out for a smoke and came back to the bottle tipped over and weldon leaking all over the sump. I let it dry but the damage is done. I no longer have that perfectly clear clean sump, ... it's okay, live and learn, going to just go with it and continue to get this build going.

Pics

 

 

 

 

and a few pics of a bench/stand I built this weekend for my wifes moms future build.

 

 

 

more nxt week if time permits

[Dramad1]

So I got home from work today to see this in the back of the wifes truck....

party over here

 

I messed with the plumbing a lil more today. I cut the stand pipes down shorter and installed a few unions and a few gate valves. Nothing is glued yet, I'm still playing around with it. Unions are not necessary but I'd rather put a few in just in case I need to disconnect anything in the future.

 

 

I was also able to drill and tap one of the pvc caps for my jg fitting. Turned out nice and flush and threaded right in no problem. I used an automotive tap that had the correct thread spacing.

 

 

also was messing with the dual return lines. Got it pretty much mocked up the way it is going to be, now I just need to figure out how I'm going to plumb in my dual reactors on the same return line. I have 4 ball valves I might use, still undecided. Hmmm

 

 

 

Thats all for now, kids are complaining they are hungry..., plan to work on it some more this weekend. I picked up some royal blue paint for the background, still not sure if I like the shade or not. I want blk but the wife said enough of the blk

[Dramad1]

I messed with the plumbing some more today. Still not final but close to what I'm thinking about going with.

Before, I had a 45 at the end of my standpipes, I switched this to 90's. This gives me more room in the stand and keeps the plumbing out of the way. Anyone have any thoughts or comments about me switching to 90's. Its my first time plumbing a tank and running a sump so I have no idea if there is a better method or if I'll be okay with what I have done.

Few pics

 

 

as you can see, the gate valves are huge. I plan to throw some flex pvc at the end of the standpipes and after the gate valves and into the first chamber of the sump. Flex pvc will be submersed about an inch under the water.

 

I also made a lil return distribution line (not sure what to call it) to hook up my dual reactors and anything else I may want to hook up in the future. Turned out okay and I think this will be close to the final design. I may remove one of the ball valves and just run 3 instead of 4. Or I may just run 4 just in case I want to run something inline, (shrug, not sure)

And a pic of this^^^^

 

plans for the rest of the night are to remove all the plumbing and prep the back of tank for paint tomorrow. We are going with a royal blue instead of black. Hope it turns out okay.

Well time to clean up the mess I made.

[Dramad1]

Painted the back today. Need to get one more small can and do another coat tomorrow.

 

[Dramad1]

Had the day off work today so I decided to work on something for the tank. Mesh top! Got the frame cut, came out very nice and clean, very happy with cuts.

 

 

Right after I finished cutting the frame out, I get a knock at the door; package! Sweet. Open it up and heres what we got.

 

 

 

 

wooh hooo!!! It couldn't have arrived at a better time because I forgot that the mesh top will run into the light mount, I had to re cut the width of the frame to accommodate for the light mount.

After seeing the mount I had to test fit it onto the rimmed tank to be sure it would fit......

like a glove!!!!

 

Saweeeeettt!! So now I have a predicament. I plan on running 3x xr30's, I currently have 2 which will be mounted on either side of the tank using the rms mounts. Now the center of my tank has the glass cross brace in the way for the rms mount. Should I just hang the middle fixture or pick up some kind of rail kit and connect the middle radion to the radions on either side and just have it floating in the center using only the 2 rms mounts on either side to support all three lights. (Did that make sense?) Like have the 2 radions on either side hanging from the rms mounts and use some kind of bracket to connect the third light in the middle being supported by the lights on either side mounted using the rms mounts?

Looking for advice on what I should do here.

 

Well after adjusting the width of the frame I was able to screen in the frames fairly easy and for under 20$

 

 

 

 

 

Now to browse around for dry sand, dry rock and salt....stay tuned

[Dramad1]

Great..... another day off...

 

Decided to step it up on the build.

 

mounting rms arms

 

 

Radion installed using the medium size track.

 

 

Top front

 

and another....

 

 

plan is to have another radion in between the 2 and possibly turn them front to back. The two out side lights will have the wide angle lenses and I'm thinking of doing the xr30 pro, (stock lenes) in the middle or run the standard tir lenes. Still need to figure out how I'm going to mount the middle light....hang it from wires or run backets to the lights on either side and have the fixture floating in the middle being supports by the two outer lights.

 

Also glued all the plumbing up, install return pump, plumb reactor, start routing some wiring.

 

 

 

 

I got a lot done, at this point I'm fairly close to being wet.

Things left to do:

-Need to find container for ato , preferably larger than 2.5 gal. 5-7gal would be sweet.

-Find a good location for dosing pump and mount

-diy dosing containers (no idea what to do, order or make my own)

-hook up doser and ato

-glue/caulk some netting on interior overflow top lip to prevent fish from water falling into overflow and getting sucked into sump.

-glue stand pipes into bulkheads

-silicone bulkheads? If they are leaky

-power dj power strip (still need to order)or apex??

-Sand and rock (ordered today)

-Heater (ordered today)

-Install power heads and run power

-Water test, leak test, fine tune drains and return, test reactor/dosers/ato

-drain

-make awesome rock scape

-make and mix water

-add sand

-add rock

-cycle

 

Future wants:

Reef link

Apex gold

Fuge

Ca reactor

 

As you can see there is not much left to do. I'm getting excited. Rock has been ordered and when it arrives I plan working up some scape ideas. Ill be working with lots of shelf rock, looking for a tablely look. Floating table would be sweet, still undecided. Other than that it is a few lil things and the final leak test and fine adjustments. The third radion will have to wait until February. I think thw 2 should be okay for a few months.

Open to feed back fellas, am I missing something, did I do something wrong, lmk I'm moving so fast here, I don't want to miss something or forget anything and run into issues later. Where do I put all these empty boxes? Happy reefing!!!

[Spiderguardnano]

This is starting to look amazing drama

Go with a clean look like this

http://www.christopherkriens.com/share/elos/fts/large/3.jpg

 

Can't wait to see it wet. What

Rock and sand did you decide on?

[Dramad1]

This is starting to look amazing drama

Go with a clean look like this

http://www.christopherkriens.com/share/elos/fts/large/3.jpg

 

Can't wait to see it wet. What

Rock and sand did you decide on?

thanks... if I hang the lights I will have to sell the rms mounts. Looks really clean being hung though.

 

I went with carib sea special grade dry sand and aquamaxx dry shelf rock. Same rock I have in my cad tank.. colors up quick and hasn't shown signs of leaching yet in my tank. We will see.. plan to seed this with the cad tanks set up, everything will move over to this tank sand in all.

[Spiderguardnano]

I'll take one mount off of you if you decide that route

 

I'll be starting my tank soon would you sell like a small amount of rock to seed my tank?

[Dramad1]

Sure on the rock.

No go on the mounts, keeping them for now but if I do get rid of them, your first on the list.

[Spiderguardnano]

Awesome thanks drama I'll shoot you a pm when I get my rock

I'm stuck on the aquamaxx dry Rock and the macro rock

 

You have good experience with the rock and look of it?

[Dramad1]

I have about 25#'s of the aquamaxx rock in my cad tank. I soaked it for a few days because I epoxied a bunch of smaller pieces together. With in a week after cycle I had color starting to change on rock, lil hair algae started to show, picked up a cuc and havent seen any since. It colored up with coraline within a month or so, seems very porous, blow off with a baster 1-2× a week and all is good.

The macro rock or vida rock looks nice and many have had great results with it. I like the bonsai, pillars and rings they make but pricey.

I chose dry rock because I want to know whats going in my tank. I don't want to have to battle this and that pest wise. I figured I can seed it all with the contents from the cad tank as that will now be a quarantine tank. All of the cad tanks contents are cured and pest free lr and sand with the bonus of several corals growing all over.

I will start cycle with dry rock and a lil chunck of cured rock out of the cad tank and a few scoops of sand as well and just let it cycle. When its done cycling, I will add the rest of the rock and more sand from the cad tank, do a few water changes a few days apart, if all looks well then I'll introduce my bandit ocellaris from the cad tank.

Or

Just throw the cad tank rock and sand in from the very start and have a mini cycle but not sure if this is possible with all the new dry sand and dry rock being introduced. A quicker cycle may b e but not sure as well as how the clown would fair. Maybe safer to let the tank cycle first and then transfer the cad tank into it. Haven't gotten to this part yet..lol soon

[Dramad1]

Big thanks to MD, you guys rock! Placed an order a day and a half ago and arrived home this afternoon to everything sitting at my door. Well packed and enough peanuts for everyone. . You guys are my favorite vendor for sure.

Sand and rock have arrived. Very nice pieces, I think I need another bag of sand. Rock is aquamaxx dry tonga shelf rock. (This rock has clearly been in someones tank before, I can see old coral skeletons) still looks very nice.

 

 

pics:

 

^^that huge plate is huge!!! Lol

 

 

Blurry pic but another nice tabling piece. Think this piece may act as an anchor for the shelf I want to create.

 

 

 

I also recieved my ato and heater today, taking a break right now but am currently setting up the ato, heater, powerheads, running all wiring and doing cable management. Zip ties and cable mounting bases are all over. I may pick up a hide a cable channel thinga ma bob. For now though, just labeling and running everything to dj powerstrip and tidying everything up. I can prob be ready for a water test on tank/sump and equip tomorrow or Sunday. We will see, I may wait until nxt weekend so I can play around with my rock scape a bit, plus relax a bit before the new work week.

End ramble........

[michaelrzachmann]

Keep this thread pic heavy! enjoying following cant wait to see wet

[charnelhouse]

If you go with the third light mounted on rails to the other two, how much of a headache does that create if you need to remove for maintenance? As compared to having it hung that is.

 

Can't wait to see this build complete.

[Dramad1]

If you go with the third light mounted on rails to the other two, how much of a headache does that create if you need to remove for maintenance? As compared to having it hung that is.

 

Can't wait to see this build complete.

You make an excellent point, I didnt really think about this. Maybe I will just hang the third light and when I'm over the rms mounts, buy the rail kits to hang all three. I would just hang the lights from the get go but I already bought the rms mounts and kinda want to get some use out of them.

 

Tank news, I have not had any spare time this week to work on The tank. I got a reef link so I can play with the lights wirelessly. <---- ha ha not even a word. I also picked up a few aqua sticks and super glue gel so I can play with the scape, I think I am going to pick up some acrylic rods as well. Trying to create a floating shelf with a wave shape??? Don't know yet, gotta play with it. Everything else is just about done and ready to go. Need some free time to work on it. Tomorrow there is a big storm that is supposed to hit, so maybe I will get sent home early and have some time to work on it.

[charnelhouse]

I think the word you were looking for was "unwiredly"...

[Dramad1]

Playing with scape

 

And another:

 

the rock on the cup is not going to go there, just used it to help hold the shelf up while I epoxy.

Still playing with it. Wife wants me to put it all away

Dj powerstrip's arrive tomorrow, I should be able to finish up the wiring and set up the reef link. I dont think I will have time to do a water test this weekend due to x mass shopping and hanging lights as well as wc's on my other 2 tanks.

[Dramad1]

Just installed the dj powerstrip's.

 

 

I have to run the tubing to the dual reactor. I already did but opted for the correct tubing and now have to switch it out. I'm debating on even running this reactor or ditching it for two individual reactors. I've read some bad reviews about this reactor so I am unsure if I should even use it. Going to go ahead and plumb it for now but if it leaks or has any issues during water test, it will be taken off line.

After I fix the plumbing for the reactor, I am going to set up the reef link and play with the lights. Assuming all that goes well without a hitch, I'm going to run a check list to be sure everything is good to go, clean out all the empty boxes and left over crap laying every where and water test this baby. Kinda excited and nervous at the same time. Wish me luck.

[Dramad1]

Well tank is on hold again! Life sucks 4 sure. Big blow out at the house. No more this week. Funny how things can take a dive for the worse so quick. Hope to get through it and resume build soon. I feel horrible atm. Ahhh need to think need some time. Sorry fellas. When life gets back in order I will return. Till then happy holidays