150 Redux

[Ah64av8tor]

Rich,
Yes the wood will get stained and several coats of Semi Gloss Polyurethane on the out side, the inside will get several coats of white floor Urethane Enamel..

There will be 1 more 2 X 4 going in the back center of the stand with a brace to the front for support of the prop tank.

I have a bum knee so the whole setup will be handicap accessible. The front corner of the stand by the sump will be removable and the doors will swing away to allow full access to the sump from two sides with an unobstructed corner.

I can take the collection cup off the skimmer with out bending over from the side and the front if I remove the stand pipe from the waste gate.

All the plumbing is only for mock up I needed to see where every thing was going and check for clearances. It will look a lot neater and more secure at the time of final installation.

1 ½” bulkheads and stand pipes are what I thought it would take to handle the flow. I have 1” spa flex but I guess Ill need to look for some 1 ½” and 1 ¼” spa flex. I plan to use spa flex wherever I can.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Yesterday, I got a little work done on the stand, and had a small set back I knocked over one of the doors in the shop and knocked out 2 of the louvers. Luckily it was a right-hand door and I needed another left hand door and that I still had 2 louvers left over from the upper doors. I had to completely disassemble the frame and drill out the pivots on the 24 ½” louvers then cut them down ½” on each side, swap the rails so that the hinge is on the left now then reassemble them. After the second louver door it is still a royal pain, and to think I still have a 25 ½” door to convert a left hand to a right hand door.

I finished the panel insert and frame for the left side bottom. After installing the supports for the prop tank, I decided that it would prevent any fore and aft racking of the stand. So I decided not to glue and screw the furniture grade plywood to the frame and just glue up the panel and install it all at once.

Here are a few shots of the progress

Well its time to get to work on the case for the hood.

 

[sleevasteve]

Looks very nice. Beautiful work.

BTW where did you get the red valve in this pic? I've seen them on metal pipes, but never on pvc. Thanks.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8486281#post8486281 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ah64av8tor

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Steve,

Thanks

Its a KBI sch 80 1 1/2" gate valve that came with the ER 12-1.

 

[sleevasteve]

Ah thank you. Wish my ER came with that..its a cs80 Thanks again.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Well it’s a strange course of events; my 65gal has been running for a month now after a complete teardown / cleaning. I cleaned the 100lbs of old Southdown sand, the rock had been cooking for 2 months. I set it all back up with 1 large piece of live rock and a bottle of TLC live bacteria, except for the usual Southdown cloud every thing tested fine. At about 7 days I had the normal diatom bloom but the water was still cloudy and yellowing, everything still tested fine. Things were getting worse the water was turning green, a large phyto bloom. I borrowed a HOT Magnum and after 3 days it was worse. I bought a Magnum 350 and installed a 1 micron cartridge. The 2 magnums ran for 3 more days and still no change last Friday I installed a Phos-Ban reactor and installed a 1 micron cartridge on the HOT. On Monday still no improvement, so I pulled out the stops and went all out full mortal combat. I borrowed a 9 watt UV sterilizer, put 4 large clams in the sump and added a quart of Rotifers. I fully expected to get up in the morning to a semi clear tank. Yesterday morning I got up to pea soup again. I called Marine Dreams the LFS down the street looking for an Ozone generator. The owner Jamey couldn’t believe it was that bad and offered to come by and look at it. After they closed the shop Jamey came by, it was around 8:30, he said it was worse than I described and worse than he thought it could be. He had brought some magic dust called Algone “The water clarifier and nitrate remover” it says it is all natural and safe for reefs and the list of claims is to good to be true.

Algone® in Your Aquarium
All Natural and Chemical Free
Use Algone in fresh- and saltwater aquariums, reef tanks,
planted aquariums, brackish water, turtle tanks, and small ponds
Restores the chemical & biological balance. Protects and enhances bio-availability of trace elements. Corrects nutrient imbalances. Assimilates organic & inorganic pollutants and toxins. Breaks down carbohydrate, protein, fat, and other water pollutants. Energizes microbial activity.
For Crystal Clear and Balanced Aquariums
• Inhibits Algae Growth
• Removes Nitrates
• Reduces Ammonia and Nitrites
• Clears Cloudy and Green Water
• Produces Crystal Clear Water
• Balances the Water Column


Jamey took a water sample back to the shop to run a full battery of tests, and left me with the magic dust. He called me back around 9:30 and said that everything was great.
NO3-0
PO4-0
Ca- 450
Ph-8.4

I wasn’t going to use it and dont go for Snake oils but just before going to bed as I emptied the skimmer cup, I thought what do I have to loose? I looked at the box for the instructions and tossed a small packet in the filter.

This is what I woke up to.

and a clear tank.

I dont know what this stuff is, but my skimmer was full to overflowing this afternoon too.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

I had to check the cup again……

I have been watching a post from a guy here locally for 150lbs of live rock for sale for $3.00 per lb he had just reduced it to $2.00 per lb. Since the tank was looking like it might make and it was a deal I didn’t want to loose out on. I shot him a PM this afternoon, and he called right back so off I went. I came home with just over 100lbs of Keys aqua cultured Live Rock. It has a good crop of Anthelia, a few aiptaisa, and fewer mushrooms. I put all the small pieces in to cook with the rest of my rock, there wasn’t enough room for the 4 20llb boulders.

Here is a shot of the 65 with about 80lbs of new rock. it is still a little cloudy and I'm still blowing detritus out of the rock.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

The 65 gal tank looks great today, I emptied another full skimmer cup, nuked a dozen aiptaisa with Joes juice and moved some frags and the sailfin tang from the 20gal QT.

I got the shelf for the prop tank finished and drilled the hole for the new drain in the overflow.

I worked for at least an hour trying to get a Durso stand pipe modified to fit the overflow box, no luck it is just to big, the old setup with the bottom drain the Durso fit diagonally in the box. Does anyone know how to make a side mount Durso type SILENT drain?

 

[jeffbrig]

instead of the elbow, try a tee with a drilled cap on top. Should be the same principle as a conventional durso, or so I would think.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

That fits. I had it here all the time I just wasn't putting it together right.
Thanks

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Here is an up-date.
I worked on the new design for my Durso stand pipe I used a T like Jeff recommended( thanks ) and cut the leg down to allow more room in the overflow box, Cut the top of the T and the cap down so that the air vent would be low the rim so that in the event of higher than normal water the water would close off the vent and create a true siphon and empty the excess water. I cut a 2 X 2 grid from some egg crate for a strainer that wouldn’t restrict the flow on the Durso.

I finished all the work on the prop tank except I still need another piece of egg crate for the rack. I installed a center partition to divide the tank so that there would be more flow laminar as it is, it will go from the main display tank drain in the right rear corner to the left rear then left front to right front to the overflow. I cut 1” braces to go all the way around the tank and center partition to support the egg crate I can put high light verities above and low light below the egg crate. I plan on placing a modified MJ 1200 at opposite ends pushing against the normal flow on a short interval timer to create some wave action.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Well I had a good weekend; I went to a combined club meeting, BBQ and auction, there were several FL reef clubs there (ACROS/Sarasota, Tampa Bay, ORCA, FMAS). We had a great time meeting others eating fantastic food and enjoying a tour of an amazing 3000gal propagation system. After lunch Brian our host auctioned off a few choice colonies for the club, and then sold frags after that. I won the bid on one of his brood stock colonies a fantastic purple Acropora with bright green polyps.

I also got a fluorescent green Nepthea, an orange Monti Cap, a green Acropora Tenuis (I think thanks Jeff) several other frags to include Cladiella, Capnella, Xenia, several Zoas and shrooms. ( thanks bgdiving, jeffbrig, coyoteseven for the frags) Ill post a pic as soon as I figure out the Macro setting and can take a decent pic of the whole tank.

I went to do water change on the 65 and found that my mixing barrels were full of sand and live rock cooking, so I set up an other talk to free up the Brutes, it was my old Berlin tank 450Liter 140cm X 50cm X 60cm (it’s a 4 ½ foot 120) now it has about 350lbs of sand and 200lbs of Rock. I just finished plumbing the skimmer, will need to add more water before I fire it up.

That was the good news; I thought this would be the last trip to the Orthopedist, but it looks like I get to go in for surgery on my knee after all. The week of Thanksgiving will be my last week of Bipedal motion for a few months. I'm going to need some heavy hitters to help finish the room and tank so close and yet so far.

 

[jeffbrig]

Sorry to hear about the extra surgery, Greg. That's a real bummer, hopefully it will be smooth sailing after that. Hang in there!

Did you end up taking home the purple acro Saturday, or did you leave it with Brian for the time being? I don't know if you saw these in my other thread, but here's the colony I'm starting from the frags I got from you and Brian. The depth of the purple is just amazing under my tank lighting, now I just need it to take off and grow. The tissue loss on the leftmost frag seems to have stablilized (fingers crossed).

This is the other purple/green acro, but the "undersides" will need a little time to color up. I should probably try to get in there and take some top-down shots in the meantime.

Oh, and thanks for getting us to come over for the BBQ. We had a great time, and took home some good stuff as well!

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Jeff, It was good seeing you again we all sure had a great time.

Yes I left the purple Acro with Brian. I wanted to see how the other SPS did with the 65 being new and stability in question. I thought that with having fragged it for you it would heal better there also. The SPS I got from you are doing great; I can see growth on the Monti Cap where a corner broke off is completely healed. The RBTA didn’t make it though. It moved in to the perfect spot and in the morning it was mush.

Ill be going back to pick up the Purple Acro of mine have him frag the Purple and Green like yours get one of the large Raspberry Monti Digis and a few other goodies this weekend. I think if I dropped a thousand dollars there I would still think there was something else I should have gotten.

Now if I could only take pics like you!

 

[jeffbrig]

What do you think happened with the RBTA? Difficult acclimation / stress? Tank not ready? Did you already pull it out (dead), or was it just deflated? That's the first fatality we've heard out of all the ones we've given people.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

I pulled it out yesterday at first I thought it was just deflated, then I fanned it a little and a cloud of goop kicked up so I pulled it.

I did the cup in cup out method of acclimation for everything for an hour then floated it for 10 min to get the temp even.

I must have added 15 corals that night and they all are looking great none have ever showed any sign of stress. I swear I can watch that orange Monti Cap grow before my eyes.

I'm pretty depressed about loosing such a great specimen but here is always some other time.

 

[jeffbrig]

We'll get you another RBTA, but next time, you have to make the drive. FMAS is talking about doing a frag swap sometime in February if a group of you want to come this way.

That monti cap comes from a good line. I got it from a guy, who got a frag from a guy, who got a frag....you get the idea. Long record in captivity, deep color, grows fast.

Oh, and Christy says hi.

-Jeff

 

[Ah64av8tor]

I should be up for a road trip by then, let me know when it is.

I was planning on getting one more dive trip to the keys in this year, but I will have to wait till spring now.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Ok its time for an up date. I have not had much time for working on the 150, I have been busy getting ready for the up coming holiday and surgery.

The 65 is going through the standard new tank syndrome. I removed the magnums and the UV sterilizer now I'm getting some Cyano and hair algae popping up. I Got 10 peppermint shrimp to take care of the few remaining aiptaisa that I just couldn’t get to. I am giving a pair of Black Mollies a try to work on the algae they went through the 5 hour acclimation to salt fine and I'm waiting to see if they will really eat any thing but flake. after they take care of the alge they will find a home in the fuge and their babies should make some fine feeder fish.

I had some large pieces of cut limestone I had set aside to make a backdrop for the 150. After cutting the tiles on a wet saw arranging the pieces to fit the inside dimensions of the back and side of the tank I mixed up some cement and joined the pieces together. I used the standard 5 to1 mix of type II Portland cement and crushed coral as I use for reef plugs except I didn’t use any crushed shell in the mix. I use plastic Easter eggs for forms to make plugs so I took some eggs and made sockets in the backdrops that will allow me to just place a frag right on the wall.
I'm real happy with them so far, after a week of curing they will go in a muriatic acid bath and then soak for a month doing daily water changes until the PH is around 8, after a bout 6 weeks soaking you won’t be able to tell the difference in the color. With the sides and back finished I only have the backdrop for the overflow left to do.

This is the background for the RT Side wall with holes that will hold frag plugs.

I am reminded of the rock walls in the keys covered in deep purple rock boring urchins, I want to get a few small ones and hope that it is close to their natural habitat so they will stay off the acrylic.

 

[original-reefland]

If my son ever needs to make a model of the moon in science class.. you'll get a PM from me!!