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NGaHB's 34 gallon... major rescape and a nem split


NorthGaHillbilly

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Heres a insight into the hillbilly life some of yall might find interesting.

 

Back from the time of the revolution till the huge increase in beat sugar production around the turn of the century, sorghum cane was the main source of sweetener in the South. It looks similar to sugar cane, but is from West Africa and is still grown for use as cattle feed in the mid west, tho a different strain than syrup sorghum.

 

My family grew and processed sorghum for a LONG time, but recently started it back up. This weekend was the annual family reunion like event. In the video we were replacing the horse with a golfcart :huh: , now were big time and have a different mill driven by an electric motor, much simpler.

 

 

Ready to be pressed

 

15278446708_11dc712e90_c.jpgIMG_00000386 by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

New Mill

 

15278372830_415d9aa04e_c.jpgIMG_00000387 by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

Gatta smoke a few butts

 

15465085565_c672df9671_c.jpgIMG_00000389 by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

Good lookin Q buddy.

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NorthGaHillbilly

Tank is looking great, that overflow is really neat. omgomgomg

Thanks!

 

Good lookin Q buddy.

Thanks man, there was a brisket and a coops worth of chickens, but those butts just turned out prettier than normal, so I had to get a picture.

 

You should start selling these, no seriously. How did you get nice edges on the acrylic?

Thanks man, I enjoyed the process, and feel confident if I had spent more time gluing it up I could have gotten a better look, but im happy with it. I used a sawblade made for melamine, full kerf blade so its resistant to vibrating and also has hi-abt teeth, so a really knife like cut. I took a torch to it after that.

 

7601070910_e6d7b4151a_z.jpg

I dont have near the ink he does.

 

A buddy has a apex jr, but it has the 8 plug powerstrip, im ignorant on apex controllers as Ive only looked into reefkeepers due to price, but Im going to play around with it and see what I think

 

Oh yea, and my clown goby ended up down in the sump, Its so tight I couldnt get him out today, going to try again tomorrow.

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NorthGaHillbilly

Dude the apex is superior to rkl, I had rkl and upgraded to an apex, best move yet, plus I think you will love the break,out box!

I didnt end up geting it today, but Im going to get it and play with it this weekend, I expect Ill end up buying it off him

 

You should put sand in this one.

Im tellin ya man, there is no chance I will ever have sand in my main tank unless I drastically change my tank habits. I OVERFEED, to an obscene degree, do a WC ever 3 weeks or so, and maintain nitrates and phosphates near undetectable these days.

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NorthGaHillbilly

Few updates, got the sump put together, ended up notching the main baffle so I dodnt have to do something weird to make it work like I wanted it to. This picture explains it pretty well

 

15305192078_28fecf5f70_c.jpgIMG_00000403 by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

I also got the dorso break/ siphon start worked out on the bean animal, I wanted something hard plumbed to it couldnt flop around, so heres what I came up with

 

https://flic.kr/p/pAFAWZ'>15488693461_419119d544_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pAFAWZ'>IMG_00000408 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

15305277897_f193b46607_c.jpgIMG_00000409 by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

Just add more sand, and you can do all that stuff.
:)

 

sand is a litter pan <_<

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NorthGaHillbilly

baby steps, but its getting there.

 

Im going to figgure out how Im going to plumb it tomorrow and might get some work done on it. But after the stress of drillin those holes I need these beers and a while to de-stress

 

https://flic.kr/p/pkdkDB'>15313626529_bec097e250_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pkdkDB'>IMG_00000416 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

https://flic.kr/p/pkdkpt'>15313625709_e529b3d7dd_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pkdkpt'>IMG_00000418 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

This really shows how little room it takes up in the tank.

 

https://flic.kr/p/pBs9HB'>15497385261_8b581cc1bd_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pBs9HB'>IMG_00000420 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

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NorthGaHillbilly

yeh that overflow looks amazing on tank.

Im really smitten with it, glad its not just me. Im kinda worried that my water level is going to end up running too low, if so Im going to start by making an adjustable piece to cover part of the teeth, if that dosent do it Ill extend the teeth higher... worst case scenario I'll build a new skimmer box

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NorthGaHillbilly

I got the overflow plumbed today, as you can see the unions will let me take the tank off line with the plumbing. The last section of pipe, where the overflow will be draining into the sump, wont be glued, so I can pull them on and off. The union on the back will let me use pipe clamps and support the overflow box from sagging. I hope to get the return plumbed tomorrow so I can freshwater test it for a week or two just to be sure its working like I expect it to.

 

https://flic.kr/p/pnYdnS'>15344819988_9be911ec9f_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pnYdnS'>IMG_00000422 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

https://flic.kr/p/pEbpFB'>15528263301_fac470b400_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pEbpFB'>IMG_00000423 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

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NorthGaHillbilly

Looks good man! :) Are you planning on painting the back of the tank to hide the plumbing or going to just block out the plumbing with the rockwork?

Back of the tank is going to be painted black, Im going to get it painted tomorrow, and hopefully finish up the plumbing and get some tap water running through it. I wanted to wait it out tonight and make sure that I dont think of something to change before I glue it all up. Trying to decide on the manifold setup for the return, I think one 1/2" coming off the return will be enough, but Im debating a second outlet coming off... decisions decisions

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NorthGaHillbilly

Just started following along- tanks looking great- like the stand too! What type of frags are you planning on keeping?

Thanks man, hopefully itll prove entertaining if nothing else.

 

Im going to be moving everything over from my current 20 gallon, you can check it out via the link in my sig. A majority LPS, and a smattering of SPS that I dont manage to kill off.

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Thanks man, hopefully itll prove entertaining if nothing else.

 

Im going to be moving everything over from my current 20 gallon, you can check it out via the link in my sig. A majority LPS, and a smattering of SPS that I dont manage to kill off.

Cool- I'll go ck it out!

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Thanks man, hopefully itll prove entertaining if nothing else.

 

Im going to be moving everything over from my current 20 gallon, you can check it out via the link in my sig. A majority LPS, and a smattering of SPS that I dont manage to kill off.

:lol: this sounds like my tank. Zoa paly overload, some LPS, and whatever SPS survive! Hoping to change that though.

 

Excited to see this get going man

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Thanks man, hopefully itll prove entertaining if nothing else.

 

Im going to be moving everything over from my current 20 gallon, you can check it out via the link in my sig. A majority LPS, and a smattering of SPS that I dont manage to kill off.

 

I expect you to go nearly full SPS in this tank, right? :)

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NorthGaHillbilly

Lol, ive been loosing them for the past two weeks, gave away most before they could die on my. I'm still at aloss as to what was wrong, but I'm hoping the added water volume and strick diligence to parameters might make is more of an option in the future. But stuff like this keeps me hooked to LPS

 

 

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You must accept the challenge! :D

 

You will want a good macro lens for SPS issues. They might have had pests, or the water might be too clean. It's ironic but SPS prefer both low Phosphate and Nitrates AND higher levels of available food in the water. Reef Roids or a similar small food works wonders to dust up the water.

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NorthGaHillbilly

You must accept the challenge! :D

 

You will want a good macro lens for SPS issues. They might have had pests, or the water might be too clean. It's ironic but SPS prefer both low Phosphate and Nitrates AND higher levels of available food in the water. Reef Roids or a similar small food works wonders to dust up the water.

Im beginning to wonder if my salinity might be off, im going to get some calibration fluid tomorrow, I think that might be part of my problem, and the SPS are just more sensitive to it.

 

I got the overflows glued up, and the supports put on. I also go the return manifold started. It is going to end up being held off the back wall about and inch I think, but itll depend on how it lands once I get the return plumbed into the tank.

 

I hope to get it running tomorrow with fresh, but that might be a tough goal to meet.

 

https://flic.kr/p/pETMMt'>15536337241_216cfdaf38_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pETMMt'>IMG_00000429 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

 

https://flic.kr/p/pD37my'>15515327616_5fb9ac12dd_c.jpghttps://flic.kr/p/pD37my'>IMG_00000428 by https://www.flickr.com/people/125603963@N06/'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

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