45 Galllon Cube. My dream tank...only smaller!

[chrishayes]

So sorry I didnt update when I was supposed to but this got in the way!

ANy of you dads out there know how few and precious these times are so I NEVER pass on the opportunity to snuggle with my son, ever.

Anyhow, the tank had a setback with the stupid filthy snail eating worm. After trying to make a positive id and going back and forth with ideas on a better trapping method than id used on the one in my nc, I just said NO, im catching this thing no matter what. Proceeded to destroy the rockwork in order to get to the one he was in. I made sure before doing this to place the raw shrimp very close the the place I saw him so that he would grab it and pull it back to his hole. That would garuntee me that he was in that rock. He grabbed it and pulled it along with the skewer I used right into his layer and bam I was on it.

Smacked the rock with a chisel and hammer until I made sure I had the right worm as there were tons of very large worms in this particular rock. once I saw him I used a piece of wire made into a hook to grab him out. As I did this he regurgitated the shrimp and spewed this dark reddish liquid that I was sure not to touch. I have found that this is a narcotizing agent that can cause parayisis. So I got him.

Hes in the garage in 1/8" of water dying a slow miserable death like all the snails he suffocated in his devil slime. Treehuggers leave me alone. Dont want to hear it. Do you allow cockroaches and lions to live in your home? No.

After that was out of the way I was able to get some macro algaes from a local reefer. He gave me some live sand out of his display and a ball of cheato along with a chunk of ulva. I also stopped at phishy buisness to sell my old tunze 9002 and while there grabbed a few scoops of their live sand and together with the stuff I got from Alan, my sterile fug is now completely covered in pods! The glass is nearly covered in skampering bugs! I have also see a few amphipods and mini brittle stars. Not a bad score!

I am trying to decide on a light for the fuge as I just dont know about the 70watt mh. Itsmounting arm gets in the way of my trap door and it will put more uneeded heat in the tank. My reason for wanting to use it is for a fuge/frag tank. Ill try it and see how it goes I guess. My temp has stablized finally after a bunch of tweaking to the heater. Im spoiled by the rkl, forgot how hard that was using the stupid dial on the heater. I can keep a constant 77.5 degrees even with the 250w halide on using only low on the main fan and the azoo dual fan on the sump. I dont see myself having heating issues once the rkl is controlling it. As of now I am using a dual 9w lamp coralife mini fixture over egg crate but have thought of using a hanging clamp light. Not sure yet. Hers some pics.

 

[chrishayes]

I also threw a shoot of halimeda in there from my old tank. I HATE this thing in the display but I think itll be nice down here.

Another issue im having is the fuge overflow. I have tried just about everything to get it to stop making so many bubbles in the return but the only thing I have found that works is reducing the flow to nearly nothing. Thats not an option so I had to extend the pipe over to the skimmer section to allow the bubbles to go through the bubble trap. This is not what I want. Theres no reason to have a pod farm if all they do is end up in the skimmer.

Anyone have a thought on what I can do to get rid of the bubbles but keep the flow? I have a 1" bulkhead that falls about 3" to the return level. The only thing I havent tried is making the outlet of the pipe above the water line. WOuld this help? I could cut the pipe to 45degrees in the hope that the water would stick to the pipe and enter the water in a single stream to keep the bubbles down. Would that work?

 

[chrishayes]

Oh this 2.5gal ato resevoir is just not gonna cut it! I have to topoff the topoff daily now...a 5 gal wont fit so I think im going to have to buy some 1/4" acrylic and weldon to make my own...dang it. Ill try a head scratcher in the tupperware ailse first though. My bread containers were a great find for my two part!

 

[REEF SMAC]

Man great build thread. Well done!

Super clean job too.

Will be looking forward to seeing the rest.:thumbsup:

 

[Quercus]

I always appreciate someone who puts effort into their aquascaping. Looks fantastic man

 

[chrishayes]

Man great build thread. Well done!

Super clean job too.

Will be looking forward to seeing the rest.:thumbsup:

Thank you very much!

I always appreciate someone who puts effort into their aquascaping. Looks fantastic man

Yeah, I agree. Why spend so much time on perfecting the "build" then just lumpin a pile of rocks in for the "design". I mean this is what I gotta look at everyday!

I had to redo my rockwork and I felt that it needed to be more tailored to the two sides of view that I will have. So I made it more like the tip of a reef edge with the far left being higher tapering to the right and front. I tried to get it to the 2:3 ratio but a square is tough. I like it very much though.

What do you all think?

 

[chrishayes]

This was suggested to me on another site so I thought I would share it here for anyone in a similar situation where overflow bubbles are a concern. Now I dont have the room to run this exact setup but I am able to use the tee on the outlet of the BH with a cap on top and a 90 just below water level. THis did reduce the amount of bubbles quite a bit but did not eleminate them. Im not sure if after the pvc has some slime coating it that this might work better but time will tell. At least I can now run the fuge drain directly to the return section. Ive already noticed that overnight I now have pods covering the glass in the main tank! Im amaxed at the amount of them from just a small clump of cheato, ulva and a few scoops of live sand.

While viewing the fuge last night I also have spaghetti worms that have burrowed in the sand already! Unfortunately, I also saw a few pieces of the coral sand had valonia on them. I spent the time carefully tweezing them out. I doubt I have much chance of keeping this pest out of the tank as my corals in the temp bucket have it on them as well. I will however continue to take every precaution I can to avoid it. Once its time for the move over I will likely dremel the curals further to try to eleminate carrying algaes over. yeah right!

Oh I have one other issue that isnt going away. My swc 120 is still burping large air bubbles that changes the head height on the neck. Im not sure whats going on. I saw a similar post in the club page where the guy was able to break the skimmer down and clean the mesh wheel to eleminate the issue. I tried that last night and it did decrease the size but not the problem. Its like the pump is surging. Theres a distinct pressure change every few seconds where the output pipe will be releasing no bubbles then you can see the bubble column inside the skimmer drop down an inch then the output blows microbubbles and the large bubbles areound the bubble plate surge upwards.

Any ideas? I know the skimmer came with a pinwheel along with the mesh wheel so im not sure why. The 160 only comes with the meshwheel...

 

[CW from the OC]

Thank you very much!


Yeah, I agree. Why spend so much time on perfecting the "build" then just lumpin a pile of rocks in for the "design". I mean this is what I gotta look at everyday!

I had to redo my rockwork and I felt that it needed to be more tailored to the two sides of view that I will have. So I made it more like the tip of a reef edge with the far left being higher tapering to the right and front. I tried to get it to the 2:3 ratio but a square is tough. I like it very much though.

What do you all think?

I really realy like your rock work. Very well done!

One thing to consider - to my eye, your scape looks finished, and perhaps has just a bit too much rock. If you put much coral in there at all, it might quickly look too crowded, too full, and maybe the dreaded "wall of rock".

It it were my tank, I'd do one of two things:
1. Leave it as-is, and make it a Zoa tank, and only zoas. tons fo Zoas covering everything. It would be stunnning.
2. Try to see if I could achieve a look that is as good, but with less rock, allowing room for a lot of SPS that might grow to baseball and softball size over the next 12-18 months.

But in any event, it looks great!

 

[chrishayes]

I really realy like your rock work. Very well done!

One thing to consider - to my eye, your scape looks finished, and perhaps has just a bit too much rock. If you put much coral in there at all, it might quickly look too crowded, too full, and maybe the dreaded "wall of rock".

It it were my tank, I'd do one of two things:
1. Leave it as-is, and make it a Zoa tank, and only zoas. tons fo Zoas covering everything. It would be stunnning.
2. Try to see if I could achieve a look that is as good, but with less rock, allowing room for a lot of SPS that might grow to baseball and softball size over the next 12-18 months.

But in any event, it looks great!

Thank you for the comment. Yeah, no. Didnt go through all this work and money for a zoa tank! lol

I respect your oppinion and there are a few places that will need to be scaled down when corals go in thats why I didnt cement anything yet but truly there is a bit of camera trickery in the fact that there is MUCH more room than pictures show. I actually think there may need to be more rock to elevate the center of the rock mass. Theres about a 20 gal tall tank worth of room between the top of the rocks to the water surface and from front to back!

I like how it looks and am willing to change things as issues come up but for now id like all this rock to seed and cure so that I can subtract and add with all same tank cycled rock.

Thanks for your comploments too! critisize anytime you want. I handle it very well and welcome it.lol

 

[FiShScaLe]

You beat me to the punch lol. Thats what I was going to do to the drain for the fuge. Ill post a pic when im done. You should have enough room to fit that exact design in your fuge no?

 

[chrishayes]

After trying just about everything in the book to stop the bubbling from my fuge overflow I have figured it out! I dont know if its been posted somewhere else but I never saw it over the last several weeks of searching google. Nothing fancy but it works and doesnt produce any air bubbles at all. Plus it keeps up with the flow without creating a siphon which was happening with every other way ive tried. Either I let air in and produce bubble or I keep air out and get a siphon...

So here it is

all glued and painted!

The trick was to adapt 1" to 1/2" with a slip slip bushing then do back to back opposing 90's. making sure the outlet is below the water but not too far. All joints are glued except the cap and where it plugs into the BH. I dont know if gluing the cap would do any harm or good but it worked without it so thats how Im keepin it. THis will allow me to clean the entire thing out of the sump.

Now on the inside of the fuge I have a downturned street elbow with strainer. Im sad to lose surface skimming in there but the lack of bubbles is worth the trade.

I think that the backpressure caused by the neck down and the back to back 90's are whats allowing this to work cause I tried the same exact thing with all 1" and it still bubbled like crazy. Thank god thats outta the way!

 

[chrishayes]

I was asked for pictures of the sump so I will post them here. Organization will be done when corals are moved over so I have all equipment installed.

Fuge area:note that ive changed lights to an internal reflector daylight pc flood thats equivalent to a 120 watt incandecent. You can see im at the diatom stage of the cycle. Im lights out on the main tank til cycle is over.

left side:just a viaqua p04 rx here now but there will be two jugs on each side of it for my cal and alk solution.

Top view with plumbing

Right side view

Close up of bubble trap area

SWC doin its thang! Folks there is NOTHING alive in this tank but a few pieces of cooked rock and a table shrimp!

NO BUBBLES, this has 500gph going thru it!

 

[chrishayes]

So as time goes by watching a lightless tank go through its cycle, ive just come to dislike my light hanger. Its just not up to par with the quality of the rest of my build nor does it fit in with my home decor. So being a comercial electrician I cant believe ive never thought of using emt to make a light hanger...duh. Heres where I saw it.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/diy/index.php

So I got my well worm 3/4" bender out and did a series of bends to get around the fanand to ensure I could loosen up the minis in order to raise and lower it along with swinging out of the way to get full access to the tank. I used minis(as theyre called in the trade) attached to the back of the stand and some J hooks drilled and bolted through the pipe to mount the lumenmax's eyehooks. Painted it all black and viola, light hanging kit!

I was gonna use the sunlight supply hangers shown in the link above but I decided to just use the minis to raise or lower the fixture for acclimating and what have you. I still need to find some caps to plug the end of the conduit.

FOr anyone wanting to do this ill give you a few tips. To measure for a 90 degree bend you must subtract 6" from your measurement for the bend. So if you want a 20" from back of 90 to end of pipe, you would make a mark at 14" on the pipe then bend on the benders arrow or star depending on brand. If you need to make an offset you need to multiply the distance from whatever your trying to go around, buy 2 then bend on your first line a 22 1/2degree, flip the pipe over and bend an opposing 22 1/2degree 2x further away thanyou need. SO if you have to go 4" off the wall at 4' high, youd make a mark at 38" then another at 46". bend your first mark at 22 1/2 deg on the arrow, roll your pipe over and bend the opposite way on your 46" mark 22 1/2 deg and you have a 4" offset.

Those are the two most basic bends people need to make. If you need help with a saddle, kick 90 or 3 point, let me know and ill give you the measurements and degrees. Most benders come with an instruction book but if you need help im here. I also tend to use 22 1/2 degree bends over 30 because the math is simpler. But if you need a tighter ofset youll have to use a higher degree of bend.

 

[newbie916]

Nice tank.Your scape makes me want to rip my 45 gallon apart and start over...lol

By the way, kids are awesome.My 4 year old actually got me in the hobby 3 years ago and he still helps out with the tanks.My 2 1/2 year old likes the 95 gallon FOWLR, rather than the sps tank.It's a great hobby for the kids.

Keep up the awesome build!!

 

[chrishayes]

After thats done, I figured out the spacing of my light and marked the holes.

Heres how I help the pipe so I could drill straight through it.

I drilled a small pilot hole first then used a 1/4" bit to match the hooks I used. I drilled each side seperately so that the hole didnt end up crooked. To do that I just flipped the pipe over.

Now its just time to prime and paint.

Ill post the mounting once the paint dries a few days to avoid scratching it too bad. Thats it.

 

[chrishayes]

I got some requests for a step by step on the light hanger so ill post it here. Pipe bending is a skill that takes time and practice to get really good at it but anyone can buy a bender and some extra pipe than needed for mistakes.

First ill explain how to make a 90. There are two ways to do it depending on whether you have bends in your pipe already. You can either add 6" or subtract it. Youll have to change directions for adding 6. If youre starting with a straight piece of pipe then i reccomend subtracting so that you are pulling the short end of the pip up.

Here you can see two marks. The furthest to the right is the length I want the pipe to be from front to back. I subtract 6" and make another mark. This is the mark I put my benders arrow on. I will be pulling the short end of the pipe towards the long end.

Now I need to bend another 90 at a 45 degree angle to the first. Heres a trick when measuring for a bend after a 90. I use the bender along the pipe as a straight edge to measure from.

Now I need to make an offset of 2" to get the bottom of the pipe to my mini style clamps on the back of the stand. FOr this I measure up to where I want the offset to be and make a mark about an inch down from the height I need. THen I measure 4" from that mark because to make a 2" offset I need to multiply by 2 when making a 45 degree offset. So this is the important part. Make sure that the top bend is bent first in the direction you want the offset to go. For me it was back towards the center of the tank so I bent a 22 1/2 degree on the top mark in that direction. After that roll the pip over exactly opposite the first bend or youll have whats called a dogleg. Thats when the two bends arent parallel to one antoher. Then you bend another 22 1/2 degree bend. Lay it on the floor and measure from the floor to the center of your pipe to see if you got the offset you wanted. If not either take some bend out or put some more in to make the ofset height parallel to the other. THen youll have this.

After measuring for the height of the overall pipe I wanted I used a sawzall to cut it and used a reamer tool to debur it.

Tool

result

 

[chrishayes]

Somehow I flipped the directions so post #76 is the first steps then #75 is the last. Oops

 

[Reef_Noob]

Hey Bro,

Read thru your whole thread....and amazed at your DIY skills....

thanks for posting the link on my thread and i appreciate your comments on my build thread...do keep following.

And you do have an impressive workshop there...
I can imagine your sense of pride when ya build things on your own and they turn out spectacular...

Your rock work i like that...very similar to what i like to do, a balance of Esthetics and natural....


For your tank capacity balling should be done with precise control, so do invest on a good quality dosing pump. Balling works to its best potential when fully automated.

Keep us posted...

And i welcome all your suggestions on my thread...your a veteran reefer and master DIY-er :lol2:

:beer:

 

[chrishayes]

Alright, so im at it again. I posted in the lighting forum to try and figure out why in the world the radium se 250w bulb is so much shorter than the other "standard" bulbs in this size but no one knew. Anyways, this bugged me because my fixture has an adjustable mogul socket so that you can center the bulb to get the most out of the reflector. Mine wouldnt adjust far enough...

THis is how much I need the slots to be extended by.

So, like any man should do, I went to the garage and got out my trusty dremel pro set! Heres what you need to do this for anyone running a lumenmax 2 to run a radium. Dont mind the globs of goo everywhere, this is my epoxy mixing table for fiberglass work. It was the wifes fold out buffet table til I "borrowed" it!

You can use the dremel itself but the attachment wand really is the best to use because its smaller diameter wise which allows you to cut straight down with a cut off wheel instead of at an angle.

Anyways, first use the cut off wheel to make the long horizontal cuts just shy of your mark.

 

[chrishayes]

Now use a pair of needlenose pliers to break the sliver of metal out and then use the die grinding bit to round the slot to make it look like you never touched it.

A dab of touch up paint to keep rust away and viola.