430gal., L-shaped display

["Umm fish?"]

Friday night photos. Starting on the closed-loop. There are two of these pumps:

One runs the water motion at through all of the holes in the bottom of the tank. The other pushes water up and over top of the tank.

So, about 10,000gph will be running through the closed-loop system and another 3,000gph will be coming up from the fish room in the basement.

Access to the crawl space:

More photos:

http://www.ummfish.com/remodel.html

The last photo is a 4 second exposure of the fiber optic lights in my kiddo's room. Pretty cool!

 

[spear reef]

wont the tank ruin the privacy in the bathroom?
sorry if i missed this explanation, i didn't read the whole thing

 

["Umm fish?"]

Well, I'm hoping that coral growth will eventually enhance the privacy of the bathroom while making it a magical experience (whatever you have to do in there ). I also think that, with creative rock work, I can disrupt most of the lines of sight to the toilet. The tank is fairly high off the floor, too, so it's be really hard to see someone in the tub from the living room side. But, I am planning to have a set of curtains on the bathroom side to take care of privacy concerns.

I really do hope that coral growth will eventually take care of the problem, though.

 

[klondike4001]

Slightly off topic... Are you planning on re-doing the kitchen cabinets? Or leaving them as is?

 

["Umm fish?"]

Are you planning on re-doing the kitchen cabinets? Or leaving them as is?

Well ... those are all new. Are they that ugly?

 

[lovetoreef]

actually, the kitchen cabinets are very cool - is that a distressed finish?? what back splash are you guys going to go with?? very cool!

 

[klondike4001]

I was wondering because of the sticky on them that said "Leave me here".

 

["Umm fish?"]

actually, the kitchen cabinets are very cool - is that a distressed finish?? what back splash are you guys going to go with?? very cool!

Thanks. We're actually doing the cabinets in two different finishes--the distressed black on about half and a cherry finish on the other half. We saw a kitchen we liked in one of the architectural magazines early on in the process and decided to try to come up with something similar. It kind of drives my lovely bride crazy if too many things match.

The backsplash in most of the kitchen is black marble with colorful "Arts & Crafts-ish" accent tiles, like this:

I was wondering because of the sticky on them that said "Leave me here".

That's funny. I didn't even notice the sign. I actually have no clue. I actually assume that's a note from the cabinet installer to himself. He's a fantastic carpenter, but kind of quirky. But I do know that things have been a little tense between him and the people who have been building the cabinets (including some things showing up with the wrong finish, sigh), so it may have been to let the builders know that that one door is fine.

I've really been impressed with the installer. On the cabinets that are next to brick, he actually had the builders make the frame that is against the brick a little oversized, scribed the lines of the brick, including the mortar joints, and cut the frame so that the cabinets conform to the lines of the brick. Crazy cool carpentry. Here's a photo:

 

[rEd86]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13763044#post13763044 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by "Umm, fish?"
I've really been impressed with the installer. On the cabinets that are next to brick, he actually had the builders make the frame that is against the brick a little oversized, scribed the lines of the brick, including the mortar joints, and cut the frame so that the cabinets conform to the lines of the brick. Crazy cool carpentry. Here's a photo:

Very nice installation. Much better than the thick bead of caulk I've seen on other jobs!

--Ed

 

[EnglishRebel]

That's IMPRESSIVE

 

["Umm fish?"]

Yes, they rock. In fact, the real selling point of these builders is their carpentry skills. I can't say I disagree after seeing some of the finished product. I'm not sure they've used any caulk at all in the whole house, honestly.

 

[rob1991]

looking good! cant wait to see it filled with some water!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Thanks, Rob. See below!

Not a big photo update tonight because I didn't get over there with the camera in time to get some shots. The masons are just about done, though, so I should have some nice shots of that at some point.

The tank is "done." Except for the cleanup. The builder says that we can do a FW test on Dec. 1. Woohoo!

In the meantime, the backup generator is here!

 

[brodden]

That is so sweet... I would love to have one of those someday.

 

["Umm fish?"]

It should be good. I've never been completely comfortable around here with a tank and the prospect of two-foot-per-day snowfall. As long as the house was torn up anyway the generator seemed like fairly cheap tank insurance.

Nothing new on the tank front but lots of new stuff going on in the house. If you are interested despite the lack of tank updates, here are the photos:

http://www.ummfish.com/remodel.html

 

[Kensmith201]

Andy,
Where the heck did you get the Dr. Seuss looking bookshelves?
What is the green building behind your house? I've worked on some
pretty $$$ houses that didn't have nearly as many details as yours
shows already. What "style" would you say your abode is?

Ken

 

[falesdk]

That bookshelf is awesome! (along with everything else of course)

 

["Umm fish?"]

Sorry if I can't type this morning. I'm doing an all-day brisket cook on the BBQ and burned the heck out of my thumb.

Where the heck did you get the Dr. Seuss looking bookshelves?

My lovely bride found that somewhere online a while back. But, I was at the local arts co-op the other day and saw one for sale, so they shouldn't be too hard to find. Gos pretty well with the room?

I've worked on some pretty $$$ houses that didn't have nearly as many details as yours shows already.

I think we got lucky with the builder. WE're spending some money on this, but we're nowhere near lots of the houses around here. Boulder's a pretty pricey city. And remember, we're in the building orbit of places like Aspen. We are certainly not in that league. Some metalworking friends of mine got lodged in Aspen for a few months a while back while they were installing and creating patinas on copper walls inside a humongous house. Crazy stuff. What do you do with copper walls?

What "style" would you say your abode is?

It's original Victorian. Though now the inside is "crazy eclectic."

What is the green building behind your house?

Boulder decided at some point to completely surround itself with green space and bought up all the land around the city and turned it into parks. It's pretty amazing, but it severely limited the potential for city growth. So, instead of building out, the city just got more dense. As part of that, the city started allowing people to subdivide their lots. The previous owners of the house built a small (~700 sq ft) house in the backyard. Actually, we're pretty fortunate to not have a neighbor back there, as most of the subdivided properties were sold off. In fact, we had a neighbor back there for a while until he moved to San Francisco. I've used that as an office space for my business, at least until we filled it ful of storage stuff when we started the remodel. It's now full of boxes and really cute tangs.

I guess if we ever decide to sell that building we're going to have to do some serious negotiations on use of the patio.

Thanks, y'all!

 

["Umm fish?"]

Howdy! I had a busy afternoon, so I didn't document most of the house, but here are a couple of new tank photos. This one is a self-portrait:

If you look closely, you'll see that the dursos are built, the top manifold is glued, and there are strainers for the closed-loop intakes, like this:

As a complete aside, all of the work on the staircase is really looking good. Hundred-year-old heart pine. Gotta love it!

Thanks!

 

[Untamed12]

I started out using those same strainers, but they drove me crazy how quickly they clogged. They also have potentially deadly suction if you have a decent pump behind them (like my Dart, for example).

I changed them out to these:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=usplastic&category_name=53&product_id=2457

...and I would recommend that you consider that. They don't clog up, and the greater surface area eliminates dangerous suction. I cut down the threads needed to screw them in so that they required a lot less effort to replace.