Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
That woodwork looks fabulous.
400 Gallon In wall Central TX
- Thread starter WaterSkiier
- Start date
WaterSkiier
New member
Yeah it's really nice, it was made by the same cabinet maker who did the custom cabinets and stained by the same painter, and all for a very reasonable price. It is Smooth Alder to match the cabinets too.
TripsterAK
New member
Cant wait to see this badboy up and running!
WaterSkiier
New member
Picked up all the sumps and tanks from Ace tonight and will start getting that all assembled this weekend. Looks like I will need to get a boost pump for my RODI since my water pressure is only 33 psi. Always more money! Pics of the sumps tonight maybe but they look good!
WaterSkiier
New member
Here are some pictures from tonight.
Here is the water reservoir in it's eventual living place. It was tight getting it in there! Had to take the door off to get in turned in place.
Here is the sump and refugium and dosing storage out in the garage.
Here is the sunset from the dock
And here is a picture of the tank with some lights just sitting on top.
Here is the water reservoir in it's eventual living place. It was tight getting it in there! Had to take the door off to get in turned in place.
Here is the sump and refugium and dosing storage out in the garage.
Here is the sunset from the dock
And here is a picture of the tank with some lights just sitting on top.
WaterSkiier
New member
Lots done on the plumbing this weekend, but silly me didn't take pics. I got the closed loop plumbed all together and ran the pump for a while, nice and quiet so the wife is happy! It turns out that I was not careful enough lining up the T's so I could run plumbing between them so I had to get some spa flex... That stuff is not that flexible though so the plumbing for the closed loop is not really pretty 
Another thing that I decided is that I will not use threaded bulkheads again, I have had all of them leak repeatedly now. I wish I had got slip x thread! So hopefully someone will learn from this mistake and use slip. The big problem is that even when the bulkhead is tight it isn't THAT tight so there isn't much to turn against when you are tightening the pipe into the bottom of it, so someone has to be in the tank to hold against it
Has anyone ever used irrigation valves for controlling flow on and off? Is there one that is 100% pvc or other reef safe material inside?
Another thing that I decided is that I will not use threaded bulkheads again, I have had all of them leak repeatedly now. I wish I had got slip x thread! So hopefully someone will learn from this mistake and use slip. The big problem is that even when the bulkhead is tight it isn't THAT tight so there isn't much to turn against when you are tightening the pipe into the bottom of it, so someone has to be in the tank to hold against it
Has anyone ever used irrigation valves for controlling flow on and off? Is there one that is 100% pvc or other reef safe material inside?
skimeister56
New member
Your cabinet guy does some amazing work. Nice picture of the slalom course, is there a dock or something at the end of the course?
WaterSkiier
New member
There are docks all along both sides, that picture is actually from my dock.
What you are seeing however is a guys dock that he started 3! years ago and won't finish. I dont know what the damn HOA's problem is but they are not doing a good job enforcing the rules there. I had a dented culvert installed temporarily for construction and they were calling me in 30 minutes, but 3 years for a dock? Surerrrerrreeeeeeee. Jerks. Now you got me mad!
What you are seeing however is a guys dock that he started 3! years ago and won't finish. I dont know what the damn HOA's problem is but they are not doing a good job enforcing the rules there. I had a dented culvert installed temporarily for construction and they were calling me in 30 minutes, but 3 years for a dock? Surerrrerrreeeeeeee. Jerks. Now you got me mad!
WaterSkiier
New member
And here are some pics from the front with the granite in and the frame in and mostly done, just have to stain the bottom. I think I will need a little more light then this still.
I also finished all the important plumbing, and the RODI which now has a line running to the QT tank. The tank drains to the septic now if needed, and the closed loop is plumbed up. I am just missing one bulkhead to start it actually running.
I did suffere a pretty annoying setback here, in that I seem to have lost/had stolen? my skimmer. It seems to be about the only thing missing after moving two times. I don't know what gives, so I had to get a new one this weekend.
This brought me to measuring the space to get a skimmer in and I see now that there is only 11.5" to get a skimmer in because they used a 2x8 on the back of the stand. I was therefore limited to 10 and 11" skimmer bodies, so I went with the Super Reef Octupus 5000 in sump. Hopefully it does a good job, I know one of the major retailers personal 500g tank is running on one.
I also finished all the important plumbing, and the RODI which now has a line running to the QT tank. The tank drains to the septic now if needed, and the closed loop is plumbed up. I am just missing one bulkhead to start it actually running.
I did suffere a pretty annoying setback here, in that I seem to have lost/had stolen? my skimmer. It seems to be about the only thing missing after moving two times. I don't know what gives, so I had to get a new one this weekend.
This brought me to measuring the space to get a skimmer in and I see now that there is only 11.5" to get a skimmer in because they used a 2x8 on the back of the stand. I was therefore limited to 10 and 11" skimmer bodies, so I went with the Super Reef Octupus 5000 in sump. Hopefully it does a good job, I know one of the major retailers personal 500g tank is running on one.
WaterSkiier
New member
I turned on the circulation pumps last night, the tank is pretty quiet at full blast, quieter then the HVAC system when the door to the fish room is closed, and I think I will be able to fine tune the flow a little bit more to get some noise down.
I had to valve back the flow a little, with a dart running wide open the water level in the tank was coming up almost an inch above the overflow, as a result it was hitting the top crossmembers which looked really bad from the front. Slowed it down by maybe 1/4 and brought it down.
So I think I will get the plumbing 100% done tomorrow, then install things like the skimmer and heaters and controllers over the rest of the week while the tank sits running full of water with vinegar in it.
That brings me to a question, I was planning on running it with say 10g of vinegar in it, would bleach be better? Is there an advantage to either?
Lastly I did some PAR testing with a high end meter that I borrowed from www.buildmyled. I was showing 900 at 1" 600 at 12" and 250 at the bottom, but it died off pretty fast near teh front and back of the tank, getting down to 70 all the way at the back corner. If I can get that light spread out a little more, maybe by adding one more fixture with a wide angle lens, that should be more then bright enough right?
I had to valve back the flow a little, with a dart running wide open the water level in the tank was coming up almost an inch above the overflow, as a result it was hitting the top crossmembers which looked really bad from the front. Slowed it down by maybe 1/4 and brought it down.
So I think I will get the plumbing 100% done tomorrow, then install things like the skimmer and heaters and controllers over the rest of the week while the tank sits running full of water with vinegar in it.
That brings me to a question, I was planning on running it with say 10g of vinegar in it, would bleach be better? Is there an advantage to either?
Lastly I did some PAR testing with a high end meter that I borrowed from www.buildmyled. I was showing 900 at 1" 600 at 12" and 250 at the bottom, but it died off pretty fast near teh front and back of the tank, getting down to 70 all the way at the back corner. If I can get that light spread out a little more, maybe by adding one more fixture with a wide angle lens, that should be more then bright enough right?
WaterSkiier
New member
I got the plumbing 99% done and cleaned up the room behind the tank finally to take pictures. The tilers accidently tiled back there too so that is a bonus. I used electrical wire staples with plastic clips on them for running the wires and hoses so far and it works great!
Under the tank
To the right of the tank
Looking into the room.
I went to hook up my K2 kalk reactor last night and it turns out it has a barbed fitting welded into it, so holefully they will send me a new union with nothing on it so that I can run a hard line from it to my tank, I am not a fan of vinyl lines, especially when it has to go 4-5 feet like it does.
I had a better idea for hanging my lights last night as well. I will get shelving brackets from lowes for putting the 10" shelves on your walls and a shelf that is ~ 8 ft long. I will mount one of the brackets to each 2x4 and put the wood across the top of them just like a normal shelf, then I can hang the lights on a pully system from the brackets since the wood is giving them strength side to side, and the shelf is a perfect place to put the ballasts out of the way! Just have to decide if I want to use the fake wood which is already a nice white color to match the room, or get a real piece of wood so that it doesn't degrade from the moisture, but it wont be a pretty white unless I paint it, which I wont
Under the tank
To the right of the tank
Looking into the room.
I went to hook up my K2 kalk reactor last night and it turns out it has a barbed fitting welded into it, so holefully they will send me a new union with nothing on it so that I can run a hard line from it to my tank, I am not a fan of vinyl lines, especially when it has to go 4-5 feet like it does.
I had a better idea for hanging my lights last night as well. I will get shelving brackets from lowes for putting the 10" shelves on your walls and a shelf that is ~ 8 ft long. I will mount one of the brackets to each 2x4 and put the wood across the top of them just like a normal shelf, then I can hang the lights on a pully system from the brackets since the wood is giving them strength side to side, and the shelf is a perfect place to put the ballasts out of the way! Just have to decide if I want to use the fake wood which is already a nice white color to match the room, or get a real piece of wood so that it doesn't degrade from the moisture, but it wont be a pretty white unless I paint it, which I wont
Midwestmade
New member
Looking good! Thanks for posting pictures!
WaterSkiier
New member
Pretty disappointing find today, I got the apex all mounted and hooked up, etc and I forward my ports, find out my IP blah blah blah andddddd I don't have a pubic IP with my ISP (Ranch Wireless) and a quick look at their site finds that they want $30!!!!! a month for one. That isn't cool. I can still use the app from inside the house, but I was really hoping to be able to monitor it remotely... I guess I will have to settle for email alerts until a good ISP gets out here?
:eek1:
WaterSkiier
New member
Wow, did I ever buy too much rock! I think I got 400 or 450 lbs, and I won't need nearly that much I don't think.
I started making the first structure last night, just put the first few rocks together for the base of the big arch. Going OK so far, using clothes hangers and epoxy to join the rocks together. Will connect the two base rocks together with PVC as well to add some strength so the arch doesn't try to pull apart at the base by sliding.
I started making the first structure last night, just put the first few rocks together for the base of the big arch. Going OK so far, using clothes hangers and epoxy to join the rocks together. Will connect the two base rocks together with PVC as well to add some strength so the arch doesn't try to pull apart at the base by sliding.
rosspulliam
New member
I read their web site, and saw the offering for a static public IP address, but why can you not use Dynamic DNS and run the Apex system off of a domain name? Does Apex not support domain names?
WaterSkiier
New member
as many people have done you are confusing the lack of a public facing IP with a dynamic DNS, my router is not exposed to the internet, there is another layer between it and the WWW that I do not control and that will not port forward. I could pay $30 a month but that is pretty high for what I get.
WaterSkiier
New member
This picture is almost done just let the epoxy set overnight before we finish the rock arch on the right. I would probably like the rocks in the left pile to go higher but I actually ran out of rocks I thought I had wayyyy too much! I have some wet rocks that I can add to the pile once there is salt in it. It is filling about 10 inches a day.
