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HM's last upgrade ever.


HM3105

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Well here we go!

 

I really thought when I got my 40b that would be enough for me. Well it wasn't. I hope this will be the last one (read as I don't have room for anything else).

 

Ok so first thing, the tank. Its 48x30x18 on a steel stand. I purchased from a local who's part of my fish club so I don't know who made it. There are things about it that make me think maybe it wasn't a professional but it seems to be someone who knew what they were doing. The seams look good, the silicone is still soft and the holes aren't a chipped up mess. The glass is all 1/2" all around.

 

2016-09-24_06-23-34_zpsmuqznwfz.jpg

 

The only scaryish things I've seen are those below. I'm not really worried a ton about it but like I said it does seem like the builder knew what they were doing but I doubt it was a professional builder at this point. This is probably the only seam with issues.

 

20161102_214653_zpsecde2vsb.jpg

(yes I know its not sitting on the foam all the way)

 

Planned equipment:

Lights: 250w 20k Hamilton metal halides with Cozumel Sun reflectors.

Return pump: DCT 8000

Flow pumps: PP8 x4

Sump: DIY using a 40b breeder

Skimmer: Reef Octopus 200 INT

Reactors: TLF 150's for carbon, I may not use GFO.

 

 

Livestock:

Live rock: ~40lbs of Pukani with ~15lbs Tonga branch from BRS

Sand: Tropic Eden Reef Flakes, 80 lbs

2 Clowns

1 Coris Wrasse

1 Six Line

1 Yellow Tang

1 Chromis

3-5 Anthias (TBD, but I'd really like these)

 

Pretty sure the Anthias are going put me at the limit for this tank, everything but the Anthias I already have.

 

I am planning to take down my old tank the week after Christmas and get this tank into its new position. In the mean time Ill be building everything and getting it ready so I can fill it with water and salt once it is into its new position.

 

More to follow...

 

Oh and if anyone (Harold) doesn't like slow builds probably don't follow...

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Looks like a pretty sweet early christmas present. I've had similar looking "sketchy" seams on manufactured tanks but you're right I'm not sure I would expect that from a professional/custom build.

 

That being said it's probably fine. 1/2" glass is plenty given it's only 18" deep.

 

Like the equipment - but 4x PP8 pumps? That seems like overkill to me...

 

Also like the fish selection. Looking forward to it!

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Looks like a pretty sweet early christmas present. I've had similar looking "sketchy" seams on manufactured tanks but you're right I'm not sure I would expect that from a professional/custom build.

 

That being said it's probably fine. 1/2" glass is plenty given it's only 18" deep.

 

Like the equipment - but 4x PP8 pumps? That seems like overkill to me...

 

Also like the fish selection. Looking forward to it!

 

Thanks! I'm looking forward to having it running. My philosophy on flow is fairly straight forward, when you can control it, always have more. Throttling down the PP8s just means I have room to grow.

 

Where's the sexy plumbing?

 

Burned it. Stupid RC calc. said I should have 800 GPH, I was getting roughly half assuming I did the math right. removing half of the 90 degree elbows and moving up to 1" pipes.

 

Incase you didn't know but the tank isn't all the way on the foam.

 

Without you this build would be ruined. You need to start growing out a braaapora for me.

 

Your last upgrade......OK.

:rolleyes:

 

I signed a contract with my wife that says its the last one..

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blizzardscout2

The title of this thread is really ominous sounding.

 

 

It should sound ominous, that is the death of fun. :D

 

It looks awesome, lots of room for your imagination to run wild!

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The title of this thread is really ominous sounding.

i said the same thing 10 years ago when I bought my Solana. I had down sized for years and thought the 34 was the end all after having a 200 gallon :lol: now I have an 8 gallon, a 90 (that's still unfinished) the Solana and now a newish 20. It's a damn sickness we have. Just ask Stella :lol:
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Thanks! I'm looking forward to having it running. My philosophy on flow is fairly straight forward, when you can control it, always have more. Throttling down the PP8s just means I have room to grow.

 

 

Burned it. Stupid RC calc. said I should have 800 GPH, I was getting roughly half assuming I did the math right. removing half of the 90 degree elbows and moving up to 1" pipes.

 

 

Without you this build would be ruined. You need to start growing out a braaapora for me.

 

 

I signed a contract with my wife that says its the last one..

Theres always a clause in that contract.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

....................or a new wife may be the loophole :happydance:

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i said the same thing 10 years ago when I bought my Solana. I had down sized for years and thought the 34 was the end all after having a 200 gallon :lol: now I have an 8 gallon, a 90 (that's still unfinished) the Solana and now a newish 20. It's a damn sickness we have. Just ask Stella :lol:

MTS is a real illness :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

I've tentatively finished my plumbing for the new build. While its nothing particularly difficult or unique it was the most complex plumbing I've personally done.

 

My tank is drilled in the right corner with 3/4" and 1" holes. After having a tank that utilized a full siphon and hearing how super quiet it was I was dead set on using that for this tank. Of course, the issue was I only had two holes in the tank and I wasn't going to not have an emergency drain line. My solution was to run the return line over the back of the tank without drilling a new hole, which was similar to how my friend's 400 gallon is plumbed and I personally like the overall look.

 

I bought most of supplies from supplyhouse.com, the rest from Home Depot. In total the return line is 3 pieces including the manifold with each piece connected via unions. Each return on the manifold is also a single union with valve.

 

Naturally, I decided I did not want to have just plain PVC and for some reason I didn't realize it until I had bought everything. So Krylon Fusion it is.

 

20161120_141237_zpslinbeuk8.jpg

 

20161112_161015_zpsw46qly7a.jpg

 

After it had a few days to set and cure, I set it up on my patio for leak testing. I set it up the same way it would be run on the tank on my patio using some string and a bucket. I measured how long it took to drain the bucket (42 seconds) to determine what my return GPH was going back to the tank

 

20161113_150739_zpsj6wigdoz.jpg

 

I did it all out of 3/4" and used around 7 90 degree elbows (fail #1). I had originally used the RC calculator to estimate the return flow and it was somewhere around 1,000 GPH. However, while leak testing and assuming I did the math correctly I ended up with around 400 GPH.

 

Also, I messed up the manifold, it's totally going the wrong way and won't fit under the stand as shown in the picture (fail #2).

 

So after those two fails, I rebuilt it using 1" and traded half of the 90 degree elbows for 45 degree elbows. After making those adjustments I ended up around 800 GPH going back into the tank which should be more then sufficient. I actually couldn't wait to get it connected so the night before Thanksgiving I went ahead and installed the return plumbing. Overall I'm pretty happy with the end result.

 

20161122_235033_zps9voqi2cj.jpg

 

Well that's the end of this update. Next on the list is an acid bath for the rock work. Here's a quick preview, this is my current favorite aquascape (you can also see the return in this picture). I am still trying to maximize available surface area for the corals so it might change again.

 

20161122_235015_zpslxsohytk.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I like the scape. The acid bath with make that stuff super porous. I probably reduced my rock by 50%.... but love the result.

 

Seriously? That would be bad..

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  • 1 month later...

So, on my last day of freedom before going back to work I thought I would move my old tank across the room to make space for my new tank. The whole thing was pretty straight forward but I was super nervous throughout the process.

 

First, I drained about half of the water out of the tank and took out some of the livestock that was easy to move. I have a spare 20l sitting around so I used that to hold a good portion of my coral frags.

 

20170102_120715_zps8s2pkmlw.jpg

 

20170102_123258_zpsmp8qavbz.jpg

 

 

After getting out most of the livestock, I finished draining the tank until there was maybe 3 inches of water left. Then using those furniture moving things from Home Depot and some help from my lovely wife, we scooted the tank into its new temporary home.

 

20170102_182714_zpsgjo6zmjp.jpg

 

The tank mostly empty in its new spot with my temporary light hanger.

 

20170102_140517_zpsxwkdzupr.jpg

 

And here we go all back together in its new spot.

 

20170102_182242_zpsvbq5iv8b.jpg

 

Here are a couple of other things I've done since the last update.

 

I built my Spectra approved electrical cabinet. I'm going to mount 2 DJ power strips in the little shelf area. The remainder will hold the controllers for my pumps and doser.

 

20170102_182339_zpswuguekhw.jpg

 

Also, picked these up this weekend. More on that to come.

 

20161231_194916_zpsdq5xfobq.jpg

 

That's it for now. Slowly but surely..

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  • 2 weeks later...

So this weekend I finished one thing and started another. Well technically, I finished one thing so I can start the other thing so I guess I started two things but whatever.

First, the light. I removed all the old screws, went to a local hardware store grabbed some new black screws and it looked great. I had 3 or 4 screws which were stripped which was concerning because these screws are what holds the mounting plate for the entire fixture. For the stripped screws, which were #8, I replaced them with #10 sheet metal screws which did a fantastic job. I also added some larger washers to hold the mounting nut in place. As a result, I ended up with a 1/8" gap between the mounting plate and the fixture. Since heat rises, I am hoping this will simply allow better airflow and help dissipate some of the heat. I know this is all boring so here is the finished lights waiting to be mounted.

 

20170114_220941_zpszoss9gjk.jpg

 

Next, my rock. I had purchased some Pukani and Tonga branch from BRS a few months back. Well after researching how to cure it I settled on RO/DI and phosphate remover.

 

To start off, I soaked my rock for 24 hours to hydrate all the crap on it. Then, I took my rock to the local carwash. I should've taken a better picture, just imagine high pressure water gun and rock moving about. On the way to the carwash, the rock smelled pretty not great, on the way back it smelled much better.

 

20170114_191127_zpsjsceoshr.jpg

 

Next, into the bin with a WP 25 for circulation.

 

20170113_184212_zpsrphxunqo.jpg

 

This is the phosphate remover I purchased. Wal-Mart carries it for $9 per bottle. It removes 1 ppb per 10,000 gallons. It must be a relatively new product because I couldn't find a lot about it however the label stated it contained lanthanum chloride.

 

20170113_184256_zpsd8tjkieb.jpg

 

20170113_184308_zpsmnraflms.jpg

 

Well that's it for now. Slowly but surely.


starting over on that last post :lol:

 

Yup, stupid links to PB didn't work, I grabbed the wrong ones.


Oh I forgot, I need help thinking of how to mount the MH ballasts. Thoughts?

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