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Teenyreef's Deep Blue 30g - Massive Reorg


teenyreef

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So when will this thing be wet? Tonight or tomorrow? :D

Tonight? Maybe? Depends on how late I stay up B)

 

I did pick up the reducing fitting for the Deep Blue Triton 4 pump today. That pump is a beast - I got it to pump water from the rubbermaid trash can in the garage to the 90g freshwater tank in the house, which means pumping the water a good five or six feet up. So it's way too much for a 30g tank.

 

Hopefully I can get the right flow with the gate valve and use the pump temporarily until I get the Jebao pump.

 

I also just finished drilling the hole and mounting the exhaust fan. Next up: mounting the cabinet lights and running all the electrical cords.

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That looks outstanding!

Thanks Dawn! I owe it to you because I don't think I would have thought of doing either the bottom or the back if your tank hadn't turned out so beautifully :wub:

I was skeptical when you said frosted glass back panel, but this looks fantastic! Nice work.

 

I say buck the police (within reason, not trolling). I don't find anything unreasonable about a smaller or juve tang in the 24x24 since people put them in 60g cubes all the time where the only difference is vertical real estate. As long as the reefer knows that the fish will move out in time.

 

I'm afraid to tempt the dwarf angel gods. I want one so bad but havent done it.

 

And yeah, I don't know much about the cleaner wrasses, just saw one for the first time and was impressed by the look.

Thanks, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

 

It's funny, I've had such good luck with my angel that I'm really encouraged to try another one. They had about six coral beauties at the lfs today, and if this tank was already wet I might have come home with one. Except I already have one and I'd really like to do something different in this tank. Sigh...

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RIP Sebastian

Thanks Dawn! I owe it to you because I don't think I would have thought of doing either the bottom or the back if your tank hadn't turned out so beautifully :wub:

Thanks, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

 

It's funny, I've had such good luck with my angel that I'm really encouraged to try another one. They had about six coral beauties at the lfs today, and if this tank was already wet I might have come home with one. Except I already have one and I'd really like to do something different in this tank. Sigh...

 

Hey John,

 

My mother has been pestering me about adding a fish that is out in the open all of the time. Both of my cardinals lurk and I want to get rid of them, but she won't let me return them. Is your Coral Beauty a good citizen?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

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Hey John,

 

My mother has been pestering me about adding a fish that is out in the open all of the time. Both of my cardinals lurk and I want to get rid of them, but she won't let me return them. Is your Coral Beauty a good citizen?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

He's great! He's out and about all the time, and he only picks at little pieces of algae on frag plugs, not on the corals themselves. I got him because he was on Stinkybunny's short list of angels that don't eat coral.

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RIP Sebastian

He's great! He's out and about all the time, and he only picks at little pieces of algae on frag plugs, not on the corals themselves. I got him because he was on Stinkybunny's short list of angels that don't eat coral.

 

Wonderful! Thanks. I'll have to look into that.

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So tired...but it's all wired and plumbed! My goal is to get everything in place needed to start cycling the tank. So manual on/off for pump and lights is fine, and all I need beside a filter sock is the heater.

 

The cabinet lights from Amazon are the bees knees! There are four led strips that mount around the top perimeter, and a motion sensor you can mount wherever you like. When the doors open, the lights come on. Four minutes after all motion stops, they turn off. You can't see the lights themselves unless you get down near the floor. I took this picture from lower down just to show the lights.

 

31771905983_d4b7269745_b.jpg20170129_024010.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

The powerstrip is mounted where the previous owner put it. I'm not sure I want it to be inside the cabinet, though, it's kind of close to water with the sump right there. Am I just being overly sensitive since I've never had a sump before?

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Leak test tomorrow!

 

New salt water is mixing and heating in the 32g Rubbermaid tub, and I've got three five gallon buckets of salt water already made up and heated. Tomorrow I'll do water changes in the other tank, and use ten of fifteen gallons of the old water together with the new water to fill the tank. Assuming it passes the leak test and I can get the pump and the durso drain all working right :)

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So tired...but it's all wired and plumbed! My goal is to get everything in place needed to start cycling the tank. So manual on/off for pump and lights is fine, and all I need beside a filter sock is the heater.

 

The cabinet lights from Amazon are the bees knees! There are four led strips that mount around the top perimeter, and a motion sensor you can mount wherever you like. When the doors open, the lights come on. Four minutes after all motion stops, they turn off. You can't see the lights themselves unless you get down near the floor. I took this picture from lower down just to show the lights.

 

31771905983_d4b7269745_b.jpg20170129_024010.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

The powerstrip is mounted where the previous owner put it. I'm not sure I want it to be inside the cabinet, though, it's kind of close to water with the sump right there. Am I just being overly sensitive since I've never had a sump before?

I wouldn't say that's in a water free zone but I've seen people have them in a worse area and nothing happens. Its opposite of your filter sock and that's where most of the water splashing occurs. Did you plumb the return into your sock? Looks like it could be hard to change. What fan is that in your cabinet? My icecap one is on its death bed.

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So tired...but it's all wired and plumbed! My goal is to get everything in place needed to start cycling the tank. So manual on/off for pump and lights is fine, and all I need beside a filter sock is the heater.

 

The cabinet lights from Amazon are the bees knees! There are four led strips that mount around the top perimeter, and a motion sensor you can mount wherever you like. When the doors open, the lights come on. Four minutes after all motion stops, they turn off. You can't see the lights themselves unless you get down near the floor. I took this picture from lower down just to show the lights.

 

31771905983_d4b7269745_b.jpg20170129_024010.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

The powerstrip is mounted where the previous owner put it. I'm not sure I want it to be inside the cabinet, though, it's kind of close to water with the sump right there. Am I just being overly sensitive since I've never had a sump before?

I'm with you on the powerstrip. Seems too sketchy for me, even with just salt creep, but what do i know--being a non-sumper myself. That sump design is really neat btw. I'm looking forward to seeing how you like it! Get some water in that thing already ;)

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I wouldn't say that's in a water free zone but I've seen people have them in a worse area and nothing happens. Its opposite of your filter sock and that's where most of the water splashing occurs. Did you plumb the return into your sock? Looks like it could be hard to change. What fan is that in your cabinet? My icecap one is on its death bed.

That's a good point about it being on the dry side of the cabinet. I'm not as concerned as I was last night. But I still have to work out where all the Apex stuff will go, along with the various controllers and possibly a reactor. So it might end up being easier to just mount everything on the back of the cabinet in the long run.

 

The drain pipe is actually just a friction fit between the gate valve and the upper portion of the pipe, so when it's time to change the sock I just slip the drain pipe off and out of the way. I can't take credit for the idea, the guy I bought it from had it set up that way.

 

The fan is nice, although the one I got was made to just sit on top of a receiver or game box. I just pulled out the original screws and used some deck screws instead. Here's the link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G05A2MU/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm with you on the powerstrip. Seems too sketchy for me, even with just salt creep, but what do i know--being a non-sumper myself. That sump design is really neat btw. I'm looking forward to seeing how you like it! Get some water in that thing already ;)

The final configuration for power is definitely still up in the air. I'm going to go with it as is for now, but I'll probably redo it all at some point in the future once I've settled on all the equipment.

 

The sump is pretty cool and is it's really compact. I admit I never would have bought it on my own, I probably would have done a DIY sump, because of the cost, but since all I had to do was buy about $100 worth of modules it was worth it.

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Oops, I just realized that if I ever want to mount the Apex on the back of the cabinet, I need to pull the cabinet back away from the wall. And I probably should do that before I put almost 40 gallons of water in the tank and sump. :rolleyes:

 

And that means moving and mounting the dosers and everything else that I'm going to reuse from the 4g tank.

 

It's just as well, I'd probably procrastinate getting the Apex moved over from the 4g tank for months otherwise.

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So tired...but it's all wired and plumbed! My goal is to get everything in place needed to start cycling the tank. So manual on/off for pump and lights is fine, and all I need beside a filter sock is the heater.

 

The cabinet lights from Amazon are the bees knees! There are four led strips that mount around the top perimeter, and a motion sensor you can mount wherever you like. When the doors open, the lights come on. Four minutes after all motion stops, they turn off. You can't see the lights themselves unless you get down near the floor. I took this picture from lower down just to show the lights.

 

31771905983_d4b7269745_b.jpg20170129_024010.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

The powerstrip is mounted where the previous owner put it. I'm not sure I want it to be inside the cabinet, though, it's kind of close to water with the sump right there. Am I just being overly sensitive since I've never had a sump before?

 

Looks like there's room on the upper right side to mount the power strip horizontally. That should be enough away from splashes and salt creep.

 

I like how clean-looking it is (granted it's not wet yet).

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Tank is looking good Teeny!

 

I would not be so worried about the power strip. I have had a few in cabinets with no issues. I also ran my drain the same way for years but now use a union instead and get no salt creep on the pipe. The 40 in the garage is the same way and gets coated with salt creep even though its a snug fit.

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Thanks Dawn! I owe it to you because I don't think I would have thought of doing either the bottom or the back if your tank hadn't turned out so beautifully :wub:

 

Cool, I am excited that my tank gave you the idea to do your own version of amazing.
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He's great! He's out and about all the time, and he only picks at little pieces of algae on frag plugs, not on the corals themselves. I got him because he was on Stinkybunny's short list of angels that don't eat coral.

You could also try a cherub angel as a smaller alternative. Mine has been a model citizen and takes no crap from the sixline or velvet damsel which can both be notorious bullies.

 

Wonderful! Thanks. I'll have to look into that.

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The drain pipe is actually just a friction fit between the gate valve and the upper portion of the pipe, so when it's time to change the sock I just slip the drain pipe off and out of the way. I can't take credit for the idea, the guy I bought it from had it set up that way.

I did something similar and it resulted in the bulkhead of my 65g leaking from the torsional stress of repeatedly adding / removing the drain lines to change the sock. Granted it was with unions but you're still putting stress on that seal with every twist of the drain line. It also made changing the sock a PITA, so I wasn't doing it as frequently as I should have.

 

Just something to keep in mind so you don't end up with drip drip drip.

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RIP Sebastian

You could also try a cherub angel as a smaller alternative. Mine has been a model citizen and takes no crap from the sixline or velvet damsel which can both be notorious bullies.

 

Perhaps. I hear they're skittish, though.

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Dang. So good looking. Deep blue's new shallow tank (36x18x12? I think) I super cool looking too.

 

Dang 40 breeder dimensions I think..................now I am thinking new frag tank maybe :wacko:

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Dang 40 breeder dimensions I think..................now I am thinking new frag tank maybe :wacko:

That is a sweet size. They also make a shallow 80g that is standard 90g dimensions. I've got my eye on that one for when I eventually upgrade by 90g from FW to SW.

 

 

 

So the tank is wet! And no major flooding disasters. So far.

 

But as I listen to the durso gurgle away, I now know it doesn't make sense for the previous owner to have a gate valve on the drain pipe. After doing some crash research on durso standpipes, it's time to go drill out the little hole that's currently in the top of the durso, and put in an air line that will go down to the water line in the pipe, and put an air valve on it.

 

I'm also having a problem with the gate valve I put on the return line. I think I may have let some pvc cement drip on to it because I can't close it. :blush: So I've got some clamps on the return line to restrict the flow until I can get a new gate valve.

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That is a sweet size. They also make a shallow 80g that is standard 90g dimensions. I've got my eye on that one for when I eventually upgrade by 90g from FW to SW.

 

 

 

So the tank is wet! And no major flooding disasters. So far.

 

But as I listen to the durso gurgle away, I now know it doesn't make sense for the previous owner to have a gate valve on the drain pipe. After doing some crash research on durso standpipes, it's time to go drill out the little hole that's currently in the top of the durso, and put in an air line that will go down to the water line in the pipe, and put an air valve on it.

 

I'm also having a problem with the gate valve I put on the return line. I think I may have let some pvc cement drip on to it because I can't close it. :blush: So I've got some clamps on the return line to restrict the flow until I can get a new gate valve.

 

Ok first that is not a gate valve on your return :P its a ball valve..........you know better I know it :lol: and as far as the durso well I will not go that rout after having one. My cad tank I never set up I drilled a return and put an emergency drain where the return was supposed to be........Herbie style.......works good if you cant do a bean style......I love silent tanks.......

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