Urbanek's ADA Trio

[J-Ranko]

Wood looks great!  This system is coming together very nicely. I wonder, though, if those white flakes of paint have lead, given the time period the paint was originally made in?  Probably not a big risk, but it'd be good to confirm.

[urbaneks]

14 hours ago, Moolelo said:

Are these the plumbed together? Interesting if so. Do you plan to have compatible or even complimentary livestock ? It would be neat to have one tank benefit the next in some way...

The tanks are plumbed together into a single sump.  I detailed the plumbing out a few posts ago.  Coralwise, the tanks will be pretty similar, I'm planning to use the separate systems to allow me to keep some fish and inverts that otherwise would not be able to be in the same system.  (from and aggression/food chain perspective)

 

10 minutes ago, J-Ranko said:

Wood looks great!  This system is coming together very nicely. I wonder, though, if those white flakes of paint have lead, given the time period the paint was originally made in?  Probably not a big risk, but it'd be good to confirm.

Yea, it's lead free.  Porter doesn't sell any wood that has lead paint. 

[jstuver]

Wow that is beautiful! I love reclaimed wood. My husband laughs at me because we have a pile of fence boards that have sat out and weathered for 10 years or so and I try to use them for everything lol.

[Christopher Marks]

3 hours ago, urbaneks said:

The reclaimed wood turned out incredible, impressive precision! Isn't Porter Barn Wood the best? I've worked with them on some local restaurant projects recently.

 

I might need to come see this whole setup in person of these days  

[joshky]

Absolutely beautiful man, makes me want to do something similar in the future. I've been itching to downsize from my 80g, stubbornness is the only thing keeping me from doing it. Maybe in a year I'll be able to down size without feeling like I'm "giving up" haha.

[Militant Jurist]

That turned out great! It really gives it the feel of it being one system. Looking forward to see it fill up and out!

[urbaneks]

Aquascaping

My goal for the aquascape is to transition from one tank to the next with both the rock work and sand.  Rather than looking like 3 separate system, I'd like for the tanks to look as if they use to be one and were split by the wood work.  I hope to be able to achieve something close to my vision.  All of the rock and sand are being reused from my 250g build.  The rock sat dry for about 4 months during our move and transition to the new house.  I reserved my favorite branchy pieces of rock with the remainder being traded in at the LFS.  The sand sat in buckets until I was ready to use it, at that time I rinsed it aggressively and allowed it to dry in the back yard.  Before I get into the details of the aquascape, I want to put a plug in for AquaMaxx Reef Welder.  I used this product to create the aquascape and I'd never do another aquascape without it.  It's as simple as adding the beads to water, heating in the microwave for 1.5-2 minutes and then sculpting it in and around the joints.  It hardens quickly and leaves very strong bonds.

 

Each aquascape was accomplished with 3 or 4 smaller rocks combined with the Reef Welder to form larger individual rock forms.  I used the Reef Welder on the back edges and sides of the scape which allowed me to butt the rocks up to the glass while having a perfectly flat side that matches up to the glass.  This will allow me clean the glass right down to the rock work and create some deeper pockets for the sand to sit in.  This provides some level changes in the aquascape with deeper sand in the back and shallow sand in the front.  I also used the Reef Welder on the bottom of the rock structures to create nice flat surfaces for the rock to sit against the tanks.  You can really see this best in the photo below of the left tank. 

Left

Center

Right

 

Here are a few photos of how the rock work turned out from a few angles. 

View from left of room

 

View from right of room

 

View from center of room

 

Tighter shot of left tank with some of the reclaimed wood displayed

 

Here are some tighter shots that show the detail on the reef weld and rock.  You will also notice that I used a coral saw to flatten out platforms on the top of each branch.  This may look a bit unnatural right now but it will provide a nice flat area for SPS to encrust. 

 

 

[bofo]

I couldn't help myself and looked at the pictures before I read your text, and I thought "Wow! It looks like all the tanks transition to each other!" So I'd say you achieved what you were going after IMO

 

[RIP Sebastian]

Your tanks look better empty than mine do full!

[flatlandreefer]

Looks awesome! Love the rock!

[Christopher Marks]

The effect works well, I particularly like the rockscape in the left tank!

[urbaneks]

On 3/4/2017 at 2:09 PM, jstuver said:

Wow that is beautiful! I love reclaimed wood. My husband laughs at me because we have a pile of fence boards that have sat out and weathered for 10 years or so and I try to use them for everything lol.

jstuver - Thanks for the reply.  Thankfully, my wife has learned to love the old barn wood and tolerates me holding on to stacks of old lumber.  I'm currently working on a bar/table top that's being made from Hemlock barn floor threshing. The wood came to me with who knows how old of cow crap packed into all the wood's beautiful imperfections. I spent most of today getting the wood planed, strait lined and joined. Sanding next weekend, staining the weekend after. Hopefully I will be rewarded with an amazing bar top in the office where the aquariums are. 

 

On 3/4/2017 at 3:35 PM, Christopher Marks said:

The reclaimed wood turned out incredible, impressive precision! Isn't Porter Barn Wood the best? I've worked with them on some local restaurant projects recently.

 

I might need to come see this whole setup in person of these days  

Christopher - You are welcome anytime.  I'm in Chandler right off of the 202 and Dobson Road.  If you find yourself headed this way let me know.  As for Porter, Barn Wood I love the place.  I'm extremely jealous of the owner.  I purchased wood from him about 4 years ago when he had a dirt lot with stacks of lumber.  His place over there in Phx is amazing now days.  I would love to have a similar setup in Montana, Colorado or Idaho.  (Somewhere with Mountains:))  As the post above mentioned I just bought some Hemlock Floor Threshing from them yesterday.

 

On 3/4/2017 at 4:04 PM, joshky said:

Absolutely beautiful man, makes me want to do something similar in the future. I've been itching to downsize from my 80g, stubbornness is the only thing keeping me from doing it. Maybe in a year I'll be able to down size without feeling like I'm "giving up" haha.

joshky - It's funny how you phrased that.  I had not thought about having to give something up from my old 250 to this new build.  I absolutely miss the Tangs and my Copper Banded Butter Fly but otherwise don't feel like I had to compromise.  I hope you find it in you to downsize/upgrade.  Feel free to ping me, I'm always happy to give an opinion. 

 

On 3/4/2017 at 4:16 PM, Militant Jurist said:

That turned out great! It really gives it the feel of it being one system. Looking forward to see it fill up and out!

Love the comment.  That's been my goal along.  I want the 3 tanks to feel like one. 

 

8 hours ago, bofo said:

I couldn't help myself and looked at the pictures before I read your text, and I thought "Wow! It looks like all the tanks transition to each other!" So I'd say you achieved what you were going after IMO

Like the comment above, this makes me happy.  I've had this idea for some time now so I've been thinking about for a while.  I'm excited to see it come together and hear comments like yours. 

 

7 hours ago, RIP Sebastian said:

Your tanks look better empty than mine do full!

That's funny but I'm sure it's not true.  I'm looking forward to getting water, fish and coral in the tank.  It's hard to be patient when you get to this point. 

 

7 hours ago, flatlandreefer said:

Looks awesome! Love the rock!

Thanks so much.  When I scaped my last tank, I ran out of coral spots so I started buying small branches to attach to my rock work.  Most of my new scape are those branches that I bought after the fact. 

 

6 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

The effect works well, I particularly like the rockscape in the left tank!

Thanks!  I too like the rock in the left tank.  I think if you were to see the tanks in person, you'd learn to like the one on the right even more.  I think it's my favorite. 

 

[J-Ranko]

Nice work on the aquascape!  I also like how you created varying depths of substrate around them.  Can't wait to see this wet! 

[RIP Sebastian]

Don't be modest about it. It's true!

[TJ_Burton]

Solid scape! 

[joshky]

I've had multiple issues over the duration of my 80g being wet, just beat bryopsis after reaching near-plague proportions and things are finally looking like I might be able to enjoy my tank more than stress over it. I guess in my situation I can't bring myself to downsize since I've finally got the tank back on track and have no foreseeable issues holding it back for now.

[spectra]

Looks better every day!!!!!

 

 

Better post pics of that bar top when its done

[DAP]

Incredible..... just incredible !

Work of art.

How firm of a bond does the reef welder make to the glass ?  

 

[teenyreef]

Thanks for the plumbing pics, lots of good ideas there including the barb fittings. I was interested to hear the you really like the reef weld stuff. I tried it once and it didn't seem to stick well, so it went back under the cabinet. Maybe I didn't microwave it long enough or let it sit too long. I'll have to try it again next time I need it.

 

I really like the rocks - you definitely succeeded in making them flow from one tank to the next. It really does look like it's just one big tank with pieces of wood in between.

[urbaneks]

17 hours ago, J-Ranko said:

Nice work on the aquascape!  I also like how you created varying depths of substrate around them.  Can't wait to see this wet! 

Really appreciate that.  The different depths of sand was something I was really going for.  

 

17 hours ago, RIP Sebastian said:

Don't be modest about it. It's true!

 

16 hours ago, TJ_Burton said:

Solid scape! 

Thanks!

 

16 hours ago, joshky said:

I've had multiple issues over the duration of my 80g being wet, just beat bryopsis after reaching near-plague proportions and things are finally looking like I might be able to enjoy my tank more than stress over it. I guess in my situation I can't bring myself to downsize since I've finally got the tank back on track and have no foreseeable issues holding it back for now.

If you are having success, I wouldn't change.  With that said, I bet you learned a lot the last time around and would be able to prevent some of the issues you had.  

 

16 hours ago, spectra said:

Looks better every day!!!!!

 

 

Better post pics of that bar top when its done

Thanks.  I will get some bar top photos when it's done.  It's in the same room as the tanks so I'm sure it will find it's way into some photos.  

 

15 hours ago, DAP said:

Incredible..... just incredible !

Work of art.

How firm of a bond does the reef welder make to the glass ?  

Thank you.  There is no bond to the glass.  It just forms a nice flat surface for the rock to sit against the glass.  

 

15 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Thanks for the plumbing pics, lots of good ideas there including the barb fittings. I was interested to hear the you really like the reef weld stuff. I tried it once and it didn't seem to stick well, so it went back under the cabinet. Maybe I didn't microwave it long enough or let it sit too long. I'll have to try it again next time I need it.

 

I really like the rocks - you definitely succeeded in making them flow from one tank to the next. It really does look like it's just one big tank with pieces of wood in between.

I'd say you didn't get it hot enough, I was heating it up in small batches as I went which worked really well.  A couple times it cooled on me which was easily fixed by reheating it.  

 

Thanks for the comments.  

[mitten_reef]

The reclaimed look gives any interesting contrast to the fairly modern cabinet below. I like it. Do you have any concerns about 'flaking' paint, specifically on the lighting enclosure above the (open-top) tanks? 

[Ebn]

Looking fantastic as in all your other builds! Tagging along to see what you fill these tanks with. 

[urbaneks]

On 3/6/2017 at 11:25 AM, micoastreefing said:

The reclaimed look gives any interesting contrast to the fairly modern cabinet below. I like it. Do you have any concerns about 'flaking' paint, specifically on the lighting enclosure above the (open-top) tanks? 

Thanks for the comment.  I'm not concerned about the paint flaking off.  The pieces on the bottom of the shelf were sanded prior to going up so any lose pieces of paint are off. 

 

On 3/6/2017 at 2:44 PM, Ebn said:

Looking fantastic as in all your other builds! Tagging along to see what you fill these tanks with. 

Thanks for tagging along.  Glad to have you on board.

[MakoMan36]

It's already looking pretty even without livestock. It'll be cool if there's a 2" bulkhead connecting those tank together on the side so fishes can travel to all three tanks.

[Pjanssen]

Just found this this thread and all I can say is WOW! Seriously Wow! This is the exact set up I would build if you didn't beat me to it. And if I had the talent and skills (and paycheck) to pull it off . There are a lot of beautiful tank builds on this forum, but so far this is my favorite. Looking forward to seeing it grow into "our" vision.