180 gallon LPS reef build

[hobogato]

well, it is pretty much impossible to get to the back, so we are stuck with semitransparent (the silicone i spread on is still there) until the back coralines over. better pics once all the corals are placed....

 

[EnderG60]

Sorry the foam turned out so bad, but may I suggest that you try again but this time use egg crate as a base and rock for the bulk and then use the foam just to fill in the open area's. Then you can use the eggcrate to secure the structure into the tank and the rock will help hold it down. And doing it in a few sections will make things easyer as well.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

I'm sorry the foam didn't work out and I wish I had chimed in a little sooner. I recently saw some pictures from a company that uses foam to cover overflow boxes and plumbing as well as creating rock work and I saw that before they attached the foam the took some 1" by 4-6" strips of acrylic and siliconed them onto little 1/4"-1/2" thick risers and then glued the risers to the tank walls and components the foam was to stick to. This gave the foam something to hold onto rather then just a think silicone bead on the wall. I'll try to find the pictures for you if you wanted to give it another try.

 

[hobogato]

thanks, but nope, moving forward with the tank. already bought liverock to replace the foam and we are now placing corals where they will stay.

 

[thor32766]

wow love the foam look in tank.

 

[mpoletti]

Very nice Ace. Can you you me a shot of your canopy and how it opens. I am looking to see the ease of access of different 24" deep tanks. Thanks

 

[hobogato]

dp

 

[hobogato]

thor - yeah, it looked pretty nice. too bad it didnt stay attached.

here ya go mark:

partially open

completely open

 

[mpoletti]

Sweet. Thanks for helping me out. How much room do you have between the lights and the tank? Is it pretty easy to acces the back of the tank, lets say for adding frags and such.

 

[hobogato]

the t5 lights are about 5" above the top of the tank, but the front set are on a liftable bracket to give about 9" of space. the back set and the halides are all mounted solid in the canopy.

 

[hobogato]

well, yet another eventful weekend with this tank....

seam let go on the back directly under where we added the center brace, and we ended up with some more water on the floor before we could get the tank drained. managed to get all the corals and fish moved over to our sps/clam setup, so we didnt lose anything.

thank goodness we were home when it started leaking, because by the time we got it drained, the middle third of the seam had come loose and the water was coming out pretty fast.

disassembled the tank, and just finished cleaning all the silicone off of all the pieces. noticed that it was pretty easy to get off of the glass - well, at least the black silicone was. the clear silicone that was on the back for the foam was much more difficult to remove.

so.... will be reassembling the tank tomorrow with clear silicone and lots of clamps that will stay on the tank for several days to make sure it is secure until it hardens. i think the previous mistake of not having a center brace also contributed to the separation.

we will probably still use the black silicone for the inside corner seals.

 

[Lundy24]

If I were you I would look into a specialty silicon used specifically for aquariums. There is a big difference between the strength of diff. silicon types. On a tank this size i wouldn't want to risk it.

 

[Brandan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11664746#post11664746 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobogato
well, yet another eventful weekend with this tank....

seam let go on the back directly under where we added the center brace, and we ended up with some more water on the floor before we could get the tank drained. managed to get all the corals and fish moved over to our sps/clam setup, so we didnt lose anything.

thank goodness we were home when it started leaking, because by the time we got it drained, the middle third of the seam had come loose and the water was coming out pretty fast.

disassembled the tank, and just finished cleaning all the silicone off of all the pieces. noticed that it was pretty easy to get off of the glass - well, at least the black silicone was. the clear silicone that was on the back for the foam was much more difficult to remove.

so.... will be reassembling the tank tomorrow with clear silicone and lots of clamps that will stay on the tank for several days to make sure it is secure until it hardens. i think the previous mistake of not having a center brace also contributed to the separation.

we will probably still use the black silicone for the inside corner seals.

That really sucks. Sorry to hear you have had some many problems with the tank. I finally got my tank setup and running, and guess what!!! My foam floated to the top also. I have came to the conclusion that foam is not meant to be put in water. . . lol. Keep us updated on the repair.

 

[Elliott]

I foamed the back wall using 1/4" acrylic sheets, cut to fit through the top lid. I foamed each piece of acrylic then spot glued them in place on the back wall, leaving about an inch all the way around the perimeter, then foamed the perimeter when they were all in place to secure them snug, hasn't moved at all. When I sell it the panels should come out easily.

 

[hobogato]

yeah, i think the back wall would have been fine by itself, it just couldnt stay attached with the shelf structure pulling on it when it broke loose from the bottom.

 

[hobogato]

well, we reassembled the tank using only clear silicone, and it has now been running for a couple of weeks without incident. we still dont have everything placed where we want it, but everything is in the tank and happy as can be. here are a few coral pics from today.

fts - remember, lots of arranging left to do

random sections

some corals

 

[hobogato]

some more corals

 

[ReefingBuddha]

nice collection you have there... looking forward to seeing it mature

 

[hobogato]

last batch

 

[hobogato]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11889513#post11889513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thirschmann
nice collection you have there... looking forward to seeing it mature

thanks tom, yeah we really like getting frags and watching them grow in. did that with the sps tank, and now i have some 8" colonies that came from 1" sticks - pretty cool to watch.