lizbeth Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Well here she is holding water. So far so good. 40 Gallon Set Up Stats Tank, stand, canopy, and bare 20 gallon for sump and CPR skimmer - $135.00 Paint for stand, canopy and back of tank - $30.00 Repair kit for skimmer - $4.00 - needed one stinking O ring PVC fittings, pipe, 1 bulkhead, gaskets, hose wye, flexible tubes - approx. $30.00 Hinges - $7.00 Heater, 250 watt Ebo - $18.50 Stand work light/refuge light – gift ($24.99) Pump borrowed from my pond till I decide what I want. Lights – 3 NO lights I had…till I save my pennies and decide what I’m going to do. The Story Tank, stand, canopy, bare 20 gallon for sump and CPR skimmer were purchased together used. The stand was white washed. Here’s the first intro of the tank http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...=&threadid=6750. I replaced the bottom of the stand with exterior grade plywood that I already had. My first intention was to paint the stand matte black but I wasn’t happy with the finished results. So I sprayed it with black granite textured paint and put clear coat over that. Overall, I’m happy with the look. The inside of the canopy and stand are painted with Bear exterior paint. The hinges on the doors and canopy were rusty and needed replacing. I made the stand center cabinet face removeable so if the sump ever needs work I can take it out from the front. That’s much better than having to drain the main tank to move the stand away from the wall to get it out. The tank glass turned out to have a few scratches after I got it cleaned up. At first, I was very disappointed, but what the heck…now I don’t have to worry about doing the first scratches myself. I decided to paint the back of the tank and choose True Blue from Krylon. The plastic trim on the tank is “woodgrain” so the bottom rim that shows was painted black. Thanks to some great advice against using check valves, I’ve plumbed the returns to the top of the tank. The return bulkheads were reworked, they had adjustable angle balls in them that were removed and they were refitted with reducers and elbows. I formed the return spray nozzles from heated PVC (yes I have a heat gun too). I’m going to paint them black if they work and then tune the adjusment after placing the landscaping. The standpipe had to be offset and placed at an angle to fit in the overflow. The sump/refuge was put together with partitions made from acrylic I already had. The left section is where the water drains from the tank and there is a place to put media. The middle section is going to be a refugium. The skimmer will hang on the sump/fuge behind the left cabinet door. I had to move the door cleats so it would fit. The lighting is a 2x13 that doubles as a work light. There's still a lot that has to be done but at least so far there's not water all over the livingroom. Link to comment
glazer Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Awwww, NICE JOB Liz! Soooo glad to see it coming together. Well, it has finally, FINALLY happened... I have indeed SEEN your sump :love: hehehehe It would seem from the looks of it you appear to have some really good water movement going on.... what size is the pond pump you have on there now? Link to comment
Kalanianaole Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Looks nice. Mad props to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles blanket on the floor. I'm jealous. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 hey "momma reefer", doesn't one of your crum-snatchers sleep with that thing? that's wrong, i mean, i'll wipe up splashes with my girlfriend's shower towel but never do an installation on her favorite sheets! j/k of course! looking good liz! tg Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Very cool Liz! The plumbing looks like it will work great Link to comment
Crakeur Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 first off, it looks like a towel and not a blanket. Second, even madder props go out for the rotary phone. for you younger reefers out there, this was how we dialed our phones prior to push button phones and voice activated systems. some time in the mid to late 70's people started making the switch over to the easier to use button style phones. Most important, the tank looks great. Can't wait to see the final set-up, complete with livestock. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Looks great liz! I love doing the first water test, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside! 2 questions though.... 1. Have you thought about using the SCWD for the two returns? From the picture it looks like it will be simple to accommodate. 2. Why no check valves? Ive had one plumbed to my return for almost a year with no problems to the pump and impeller. Im just wondering why its not a good idea. Keep us updated!! Link to comment
lizbeth Posted January 30, 2003 Author Share Posted January 30, 2003 Thanks glazer, I'm sure you will be seeing more pictures of my sump soon. The pump is only a Mag 5. I'm trying to decide what pump/s to go with. I'm going to mess with the flow today and see if splitting the lines and adding anothe Mag 5 would work. Kalan and Twin, the boy outgrew the the Ninja Turtles several years ago but we still have a whole collection of the things. Crakeurs right it's a towel from the collection. Thanks Chris. so far the plumbing rocks! I've been turning it off and on. No floods! Crak, I kind of collect old things. You might get to see some more "strange" stuff in other pictures. The phone has "Signal Corps U.S. Army" stamped on the back. Underneath it has a metal plate with the wiring diagram on it. The boingy cord is only about two feet long. Best of all it works! Link to comment
lizbeth Posted January 30, 2003 Author Share Posted January 30, 2003 Desk, The water test has been fun! The only bad part so far is the water smells like a pool. I wonder if the city treated the wells in the last couple of days. Phew! I've been thinking about a SCWD. I want to see if they hold up ok. This is a ghetto tank and if they don't last that 40is bucks would serve me better spend elsewhere. I was told check valves can get crap in them and fail. With the returns so low in the tank I didn't want to risk 15 gallon of water on the hardwood floor. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 liz- It may have looked ghetto when you first got the tank but now that is pretty far from ghetto. If you had used a lawn hose for return line, hefty trash bag ties for hose clamps, and bubble gum for silicone than yeah it would be ghetto. =) Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 looks great! only suggestion i would have is to put a float in the sump so you don't have to worry about top off! oh, one more thing...can i suggest a 400w 20K on there LOL Lunchbucket Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 lookin' sharp! a far cry from that 'doggie hydrant' stand that guy gave you. i love the open expanse in the middle. shows off the sump as well as the main tank. have you tested for rolling blackouts yet? X) watch the water volume for the sump versus the overflow box. have you decided any special kind of biotope or traditional reef? btw make lunch jealous and get a 1000w radium for that puppy. lunch is feeling inadequate, nyeah nyeah! Link to comment
lizbeth Posted January 30, 2003 Author Share Posted January 30, 2003 Thanks lunch, I have a kitty litter bucket, a float switch, and some powerheads. I'm well on the way to having a top off system. The bucket fits in there great. Tiny, yeah it's lookin' better for sure. That open expanse will be covered with the center cabinet frame and doors as soon as I'm done sticking my hands in there every 5 minutes! Tested every way I can think of......turning th pump off and on, and letting the tank system drain into the sump.....clogging the standpipe and pumping the pump section of the sump into the tank. It seems to be ok. Right now I'm just trying to get it set up for the clarkii clowns I have and I'll go from there! Three dollars fish...hundreds of dollars later......kind of the the carnival goldfish. Yeah I'm open to suggestions on the lighting. I'd love to go with a big kickin' system but remember So Cal Edison has me by the short hairs. I don't want to have to stand on street corners to pay the bill. Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 hmm, tiny reef you just gave me a good idea!!! 1000w on a 20H. should work out ok Lunchbucket Link to comment
Cam barr Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 lookin sweet i to am setting up a simalar 40 gal i have my over flow in the corner and i also ahve my return come up out of the over flow box ill post some pics i got a sugestion for ya too since the overflow box is clear u should get some sort of incrusting coral like some gsp of a red cap or montipora and have it incrust the overflow box then u wont see teh plumbing cam b Link to comment
lizbeth Posted January 31, 2003 Author Share Posted January 31, 2003 Thanks Cam. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the overflow other than painting the standpipe blue to help it blend in. Planting something on the overflow sounds like a good idea. Link to comment
Djm9288 Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 WOW!!!! that looks wonderful! What kind of fish r u gona keep? Link to comment
lizbeth Posted February 1, 2003 Author Share Posted February 1, 2003 Thanks Djm. Well so far I have two clarkiis that will call it home. Other than that I'm not sure what else I'll get. I guess I have some fish research to do. It now has saltwater in it along with 70ish pounds of southdown and some rubble to start a cycle. Jeff's was low on rock so maybe next week when/if he get a shipment I'll pick up some up. Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS I WANT PICS TANG IT! Lunchbucket Link to comment
lizbeth Posted February 1, 2003 Author Share Posted February 1, 2003 Originally posted by Lunchbucket PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS PICS I WANT PICS TANG IT! Lunchbucket WHAT? You want pictures of my tang? The tangpohleeze will come get me! i really don' t have a tang hahaha Right now there's not much to see except a sandstorm. Tomorrow, tomorrow it's only a day away........I might have something real cool to show you all. Momma might have scored! Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 oops i mean dang it Link to comment
lizbeth Posted February 6, 2003 Author Share Posted February 6, 2003 Well let me see....Last Friday I went to Jeff's. They were cleaning out the holding tanks of dying coral/sick coral and dumping them in the $1.50 a pound rubble tank. So I dug through the bin and got some sick corals. Three rocks with a few zoos, two with red mushrooms, one with a tunicate and some kind of almost not there hard coral, one with some really stinky riccordias, and one with a couple of sponges. They are all recovering nicely after the initial die off except the riccordias, only one left and I'm not sure it's going to make it. Not to bad for $7.50. Here's the sump/hospital tank with the diatom bloom. Link to comment
lizbeth Posted February 6, 2003 Author Share Posted February 6, 2003 The NO ballasts I had were a bust so I went to HD and picked up an Advance ballast. It's overdriving 2 NO T12 36" Sun*Day (whatever that is) bulbs. I've installed the standpipe and the bleu water returns. Um....it's all very BLEU. Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 what are the 2 bulkheads in the back of your tank running? why do they go up to the top of the water?? looks nice Lunchbucket Link to comment
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