nekomi Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 Well, I fiddled with the second piece too much while it was curing (realized it was not quite square and tried to fix it, BAD idea), and it became loose, so I had to do it over again. Thankfully, that was a simple matter of scraping off the old silicone with a sharp blade, rubbing it down with acetone, and reapplying. I remembered to use the T-square this time to make the glass perfectly square. It's all good now... Link to comment
nekomi Posted January 12, 2006 Author Share Posted January 12, 2006 Aww, I see my thread got moved to the new "Large Reefs" section. Kinda sucks that here at NR, a 2' x 1.5' x 1.5' tank is considered a "large reef"! Oh well... hopefully people will continue to follow this thread. In any case, I went out to Savko today and picked up the pipe and fittings I needed. The guy working there was extremely friendly and helped me get all the pieces I would need... he was VERY patient, considering that I know absolutely nothing about plumbing! I also added the baffles to my sump, as well as finished the overflow box. No pictures yet, but as soon as my camera is available, I'll snap a few. Next, I've gotta finish making the durso standpipes, do the plumbing, and then wait 48 hours to do my first FW test (gotta let that silicone dry!). Link to comment
nekomi Posted January 13, 2006 Author Share Posted January 13, 2006 Here's the pictures of the completed overflow box that I promised, complete with a pair of Durso standpipes I made this afternoon! The standpipes are an extremely tight fit - there's no wiggle room in there! They literally touch the glass on both sides. I'm just really glad that I didn't decide to go 1/2" smaller on the width, or they wouldn't have fit. The sump baffles are nearly complete as well. I won't start the plumbing until the tank and sump are in place on the stand, but I'm looking forward to having that finished too. Next step is one I'm dreading... time to cut a hole in the sump with a diamond bit to accomodate the chiller... Link to comment
gjones Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Nice work on the overflow box, it looks good. Link to comment
NaughtyCashew Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Awesome setup! I wish someone would have told me about the "Magnetic Hands" thing before I did mine. I had to precariously balance my glass pieces on edge while they dried. Link to comment
nekomi Posted January 14, 2006 Author Share Posted January 14, 2006 Thanks, guys!! Cashew, yep... I was at a loss about how to do the overflow box until I brought the question up to my dad. After thinking about it a minute, he brought me a pair of the magnetic hands. He has been such a great help throughout this whole project. It's cool because I feel like we worked on it together (even though I live 2 hours away!). He said that the magnetic hands were about $2 a pair at Harbor Freight, so if you have one near you, you might want to check it out. In any case, finished the plumbing today... so on Sunday I'm going to have my first FW test. Whew... can't wait! Link to comment
Haagenize Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 This is going to turn out very nice, all your effort is definetly going to pay off. And the light is a gift from god, it's made for your tank i will be looking forward to the result =D choose for fish carefully =P oh and how much is this costing you so far and about how much will it cost at the end? Link to comment
nekomi Posted January 15, 2006 Author Share Posted January 15, 2006 Semi_xAsian, thanks for the compliments~! I sure hope all the effort won't be wasted... it's been a tremendous project so far, and definitely the most difficult DIY project I've ever done. Seeing the water running through the system this evening, though, made it all worth it!! I did the FW test of the plumbing tonight - took me several hours to get everything straightened out, but it's all good now! Turns out that running both pumps will NOT work - the overflow can't handle the high flow. But in all honesty, that's perfectly fine with me. Running both pumps would have given me 1100gph (30x tank turnover per hour), and because I'm not really planning to focus on SPS, that would really be overkill anyway. When I first calculated head loss, I was calculating it using rigid PVC pipe and 90-degree elbows instead of the flex PVC and loc-line I ended up using, so the flow rate now is much better. Using one pump, I get about 550gph, which is roughly 15x tank turnover. I think that should be just fine for LPS, softies, and a few SPS like monti cap, correct? Plus, now that I have one pump and an unused return line running from the other pump, I think I'm going to plumb the returns for an SWCD wavemaker. Alternating the flow between the two return nozzles would be a great benefit to eliminate the dead spots that exist now that only one return is being used. As far as how much this has cost... too much. Let's just say I'm booking lots of art shows this year. (I'm an art major) Link to comment
nekomi Posted January 15, 2006 Author Share Posted January 15, 2006 OK... these pictures were taken before water was in the tank, and they're not the best, but I figured you all might like to see the plumbing installed. I'm going to take pics of the tank and sump, running with water, tomorrow when I get back from church. The entire tank and stand, plumbed and ready to go... Closeup of the overflow teeth and return lines... doesn't it look foreboding in this shot? And the sump... ah, messy, messy sump... didn't worry about making a nice presentation with the silicone here. And since Semi_xAsian mentioned my stocking list, here's a rough idea of what I'm thinking. Pair of percula or occelaris clowns (c'mon, EVERY tank needs clownfish!!) 1x Purple Firefish 1x Yasha Goby 1x Six-line Wrasse 1x Coral Beauty Angel (I know, taking a slight risk with this one, but I'm willing to chance it... this is one of my all-time favorite fish!) I'm running an Urchin skimmer and a refugium, and my total water volume is roughly 45g (including sump), so I don't think this bioload should be troublesome, but I'm willing to hear any and all opinions on the topic. This would definitely be the entire fish load, though. Want to make sure I do this right. I'm just hoping that the six-line won't be too aggressive for the other fish. As for inverts... basically your typical cleanup crew, plus a skunk cleaner shrimp. I love those guys! And for corals... mostly softies and LPS with a couple of my favorite easy SPS towards the top - namely, montipora cap. Ricordea florida are also very high on my wish list, as are fox coral and neon green polyp toadstool leather. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 OK... these pictures were taken before water was in the tank, and they're not the best, but I figured you all might like to see the plumbing installed. I'm going to take pics of the tank and sump, running with water, tomorrow when I get back from church. The entire tank and stand, plumbed and ready to go... Closeup of the overflow teeth and return lines... doesn't it look foreboding in this shot? And the sump... ah, messy, messy sump... didn't worry about making a nice presentation with the silicone here. And since Semi_xAsian mentioned my stocking list, here's a rough idea of what I'm thinking. Pair of percula or occelaris clowns (c'mon, EVERY tank needs clownfish!!) 1x Purple Firefish 1x Yasha Goby 1x Six-line Wrasse 1x Coral Beauty Angel (I know, taking a slight risk with this one, but I'm willing to chance it... this is one of my all-time favorite fish!) I'm running an Urchin skimmer and a refugium, and my total water volume is roughly 45g (including sump), so I don't think this bioload should be troublesome, but I'm willing to hear any and all opinions on the topic. This would definitely be the entire fish load, though. Want to make sure I do this right. I'm just hoping that the six-line won't be too aggressive for the other fish. As for inverts... basically your typical cleanup crew, plus a skunk cleaner shrimp. I love those guys! And for corals... mostly softies and LPS with a couple of my favorite easy SPS towards the top - namely, montipora cap. Ricordea florida are also very high on my wish list, as are fox coral and neon green polyp toadstool leather. Where DID you get that light ? =D Link to comment
mdt178 Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 Firefish and 6-line wrasse are notorious jumpers. So you have a plan for a cover? Sweet tank, btw. A local reefer has a RR 37G from Oceanic, I don't think they make those any more. Link to comment
gjones Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 If you need a lid, just cut some eggcrate to sit on the inner lip of the tank. Thats what I have as a lid. Link to comment
nekomi Posted January 17, 2006 Author Share Posted January 17, 2006 Semi, I got the light from an online store called Pet Solutions, through an overstock listing they placed on eBay. It is a CurrentUSA Outer Orbit 24" x 15" model (150watt HQI + 2x65watt actinics). It really is cool that it fit so perfectly! As for the cover, yep, I have eggcrate cut and ready to go on top of the tank. Thanks for reminding me, though... I still have to cut holes in the eggcrate to accomodate the returns. In other news, I'm having a huge microbubble issue at the moment. Driving me crazy. I may have to build a drain chamber in the sump to catch the bubbles from the drain line before they make it to the pumps. However, progress on the reef has kinda been pushed to the backburner for a bit, because a stray cat showed up at our apartment complex last night, and we've taken her in. She was wearing a collar, so I'm going to try to track down her owner first, but she is taking up most of my time right now. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 hey! donde estas tu? where have you been.. update Link to comment
danskim Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Did you make the sump with glass or acrylic baffles? Link to comment
nekomi Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 Whew!! Sorry for being away for so long Things have been absolutely crazy around here. We ended up keeping the stray cat, that's all been good... but we found out about a month ago that our apartment complex is closing to be renovated into condos. Our apartment is in Phase 1 of the renovations, so all my time has been eaten up looking for a house. And of course, now that we're moving soon... means I don't want to set up the tank with any livestock until we move into our new place. Kinda sucks. As for the baffles, they are acrylic. I may have to re-silicone parts of them, as one of them is a little loose on one side. And I'll definitely have to build a bubble chamber - the microbubbles are such a pain. I hate that this project has to sit on the back burner for a few months, but I know it'll all be worth it when I move and get it all set up. Can't wait... it's been a year in the planning!! Link to comment
xchrisjb Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Too bad about the move. Is that black flexible pvc in your plumbing picture? It looks really nice. Link to comment
crrichey Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Can't wait for it to be done Link to comment
nekomi Posted April 23, 2006 Author Share Posted April 23, 2006 Chris, thanks for the compliment, yep, that's black PVC! Hopefully I'll be able to get started on the reef again this summer... my husband and I are hoping to close on our new house next Wednesday, and if all goes as planned, we'll be moving in June. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement, guys... I honestly can't wait to dive back into this project! Be hoping and praying that we get this new house, so I can get back to working on my reef sooner!!! Link to comment
jervismun Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 Nice mods to the tank... if u have not fill the tank with water, do you want to consider tilting the tank a bit so that you can have 3 sides of view instead of 2? Sometimes it's good to be able to see both sides, especially if u r looking for lost/dead fish. Link to comment
nekomi Posted May 24, 2006 Author Share Posted May 24, 2006 Thanks for the suggestion about tilting the tank! In my new place, the tank will be situated against a half-wall, so I'll be able to see it from all 3 sides. Our official moving day is June 10, so expect more pictures and updates as I begin getting it ready again... Link to comment
nekomi Posted September 5, 2006 Author Share Posted September 5, 2006 No, I'm not actually dead! Whew... lots of major setbacks this year, but hopefully I'll be able to get going again on this project before the end of 2006. My husband and I are now completely moved-in, and although there's some home remodeling to work on, I've been starting to feel the "reefing bug" creep back into my thoughts... Serdar opened up a storefront for his online shop Phishy Business earlier this year, and a few weeks ago, I came to the happy realization that his storefront is only 10 minutes from our new home! I've already paid the store a visit and it is truly a class-act. Easily the best aquarium store of any kind in the Columbus area! Visiting it really inspired me to get going on this project again! Anyway, keep an eye out for updates - shouldn't be too long now! Link to comment
nekomi Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 Well, I'm getting close to having this system FINALLY running with SW. I siliconed the back wall into place a couple days ago, and ran another freshwater test. I'm still having microbubbles like crazy, so I added a couple baffles to the left half of the sump. I also siliconed the joints on the plumbing to make sure that air wasn't entering from a loose bit of plumber's tape. Tomorrow I'll have another test with freshwater... and HOPEFULLY the microbubbles will be solved. If they are, then everything is go! I hope to have LR in this tank by the end of October. Link to comment
nekomi Posted October 1, 2006 Author Share Posted October 1, 2006 It's been an eventful couple of days. On Wednesday, I was running my first FW test in quite some time. As luck would have it, one of the valves/connectors on my Python vaccuum decided to crack, leaking water all over the hardwood kitchen floors. Thankfully, we caught it quickly and got it all cleaned up without any issues. But it was a bit of a setback, because I had to go run all over town trying to find a replacement connector. Turns out that Jack's Aquariums and Pets carries them, so a few bucks later, I was on my way again. Thursday night, I was running another FW test. I was filling the tank with the newly-repaired Python vaccuum, and briefly left the room to check up on something. When I came back, the sump had overflowed and spilled water ALL over the carpet. It was a HUGE mess. The carpet was swampy and soaked through for 5 feet around the tank. Lesson learned... NEVER, NEVER leave the room while filling a tank. DUH! Anyway... 24 hours and 1 carpet cleaner/repairman later, the room is again totally dry. Crisis averted... for now. On Saturday, I attended the 11th Annual Frag Swap here in Columbus, Ohio. I came home with some sweet deals on equipment... snagged a TDS meter for $13 and a 125watt Jager heater for $7. I also picked up 2 bags stuffed full of chaeto for $2 (which is currently living in a 5gal bucket of SW with a heater, pump, and my old Nano Cube lights ). When I got home from the swap, my CPR Aquafuge had arrived! I ordered it used from a member at RC for $40 shipped. It doesn't get much better than that. Hooked it up to a spare Maxijet 900, hung it over the back of my sump, and it works like a charm. It's really nice to have a piece of reef equipment truly be "plug and play" for once! I ran another FW test last night, and just can't seem to solve my huge microbubble problem. The plumbing works beautifully in all other aspects, and I'll be ready for LR as soon as I can figure out these darned bubbles. They're driving me nuts. I know they won't hurt the livestock, but aesthetically, they're terrible. I won't even be able to take any good photos of the fish at this rate. Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated... as always. My goal is to buy LR by the end of this month. Link to comment
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