A Capital Dream - 400g SPS build
- Thread starter rockworm
- Start date
I agree, it was a good community. Always fun to reminisce.
I will be looking for some light lovers, for sure. SPS obsession, here we come.
Thank you for joining in the ride. It is nice to share the progress with others.
I am an engineer, and I am impressed with your lifting machine! Very cool.
Did I read somewhere else that this tank was built by Concept Aquariums? There isn't much on the various reef forums about this builder. Are you happy with the build? How do the joints look (bubbles, messy silicone, etc)? Rather than paint the back, they put some kind of vinyl on it? Does it seem like it will last?
I am considering a 230g build from them, but have reservations because they aren't as common as Miracles, Reef Savvy, Coast to Coast, Planet Aquarium, etc. And they price at the low end of the scale, which makes you wonder ...
but then again, you have what looks like a nice tank sitting there, so maybe you can do a little review?
Did I read somewhere else that this tank was built by Concept Aquariums? There isn't much on the various reef forums about this builder. Are you happy with the build? How do the joints look (bubbles, messy silicone, etc)? Rather than paint the back, they put some kind of vinyl on it? Does it seem like it will last?
I am considering a 230g build from them, but have reservations because they aren't as common as Miracles, Reef Savvy, Coast to Coast, Planet Aquarium, etc. And they price at the low end of the scale, which makes you wonder ...
but then again, you have what looks like a nice tank sitting there, so maybe you can do a little review?
Thanks for the comment on my lifting machine. Without trying to brag, I feel that was one of my better ideas in quite a while. I am just happy it worked.
With regards to the tank, the following comments are based on limited use as it has only just got filled. I did have Concept Aquariums build it for me. All tank panes and Eurobrace are made of 19 ml glass. In addition, all exposed edges have been polished and beveled. There are some small bubbles in the silicone but there are not very many. However, the silicone has been laid down very well and there are no silicone "jaggies" anywhere. The silicone has been smoothed out throughout the tank with only a couple mils extension on each pane.
Overall, I am satisified with the look of the tank. I will be skinning the stand and plan to have the wood extend anove the base of the tank to the sand level. I don't want the sand bed visible on the front, so I am not concerned about the few bubbles that are there. Those would be the only thing that some may consider an issue. If there were a lot of them, I would have a concern.
The back does have vinyl on it. I would say it is a hravy gauge based on the tactile feel of it. My only concern with it is mounting my Tunzes. I do not have much room between the wall and tank and setting the exterior magnet may expose some problems. e.g. will the vinyl hold if the magnet slides. Only time will tell. I know of others who have used vinyl on their tanks and are happy with it.
It is too early to tell about the durability when it is full of water, sand and rock but it looks to be a solid build.
I hope this helps in your search for a builder.
With regards to the tank, the following comments are based on limited use as it has only just got filled. I did have Concept Aquariums build it for me. All tank panes and Eurobrace are made of 19 ml glass. In addition, all exposed edges have been polished and beveled. There are some small bubbles in the silicone but there are not very many. However, the silicone has been laid down very well and there are no silicone "jaggies" anywhere. The silicone has been smoothed out throughout the tank with only a couple mils extension on each pane.
Overall, I am satisified with the look of the tank. I will be skinning the stand and plan to have the wood extend anove the base of the tank to the sand level. I don't want the sand bed visible on the front, so I am not concerned about the few bubbles that are there. Those would be the only thing that some may consider an issue. If there were a lot of them, I would have a concern.
The back does have vinyl on it. I would say it is a hravy gauge based on the tactile feel of it. My only concern with it is mounting my Tunzes. I do not have much room between the wall and tank and setting the exterior magnet may expose some problems. e.g. will the vinyl hold if the magnet slides. Only time will tell. I know of others who have used vinyl on their tanks and are happy with it.
It is too early to tell about the durability when it is full of water, sand and rock but it looks to be a solid build.
I hope this helps in your search for a builder.
You ae very welcome. There is a lot of decision making in the build process and understand fully the research. I agree on the fixing of the vinyl. I have the tunzes in my 220g so wont see what happens until I transfer them. The 220 I painted black and can slide the magnets some without scraping paint. I will have to make a conscious effort not to slide them.
percula99
New member
I have not received a notification of new posts on this thread since June 12th, so I decided to check it out and found I have been missing out. Hopefully I will get them from now on.
Ward, even though you rinsed your sand there was still lots of cloudiness in the water, How long did it take to settle out? I have to replace my sand bed and just rinsed 200 pounds with R.O. water. I did so because several months ago I added a single 40 pound bag of Ocean Direct Live Sand, The bag said no rinsing required so I slowly added it to the tank. The water became very milky. It did not bother most of my fish, except with 10 inch Desjardini who died. I was shocked. As I said I rinsed my new sand but am trying to decide if I should remove my fish to a QT system until the water clears and I rescape my tank.
I like the idea of adding a mounting board beside your tank. I have done this also. I labeled all the components to make it easier to identify which plug to pull, or in my case which switch to flip. See the picture below for what I have done. I was going to suggest this to you but the DJ power strips I have are rated for 15 amps and you have added 20 amps to your set up. I ran the wires behind the power strip and flip a switch in front to turn it ON or OFF.
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Ward, even though you rinsed your sand there was still lots of cloudiness in the water, How long did it take to settle out? I have to replace my sand bed and just rinsed 200 pounds with R.O. water. I did so because several months ago I added a single 40 pound bag of Ocean Direct Live Sand, The bag said no rinsing required so I slowly added it to the tank. The water became very milky. It did not bother most of my fish, except with 10 inch Desjardini who died. I was shocked. As I said I rinsed my new sand but am trying to decide if I should remove my fish to a QT system until the water clears and I rescape my tank.
I like the idea of adding a mounting board beside your tank. I have done this also. I labeled all the components to make it easier to identify which plug to pull, or in my case which switch to flip. See the picture below for what I have done. I was going to suggest this to you but the DJ power strips I have are rated for 15 amps and you have added 20 amps to your set up. I ran the wires behind the power strip and flip a switch in front to turn it ON or OFF.
I don't get notifications either, at least through my PC browser. I use Tapatalk most of the time and get my notifications through it.
I did two full tank rinses of the new sand, then drained it and filled with RODI. I can't say for sure how long it tool to settle, because I never gave it the full time. I did use unrinsed sand when I set up my 75 and it settled within 24 hours. I filled that tank with RODI, added the salt then added the sand.
Sorry to hear about the Desjardini loss. They are a nice looking tang.
I thought about the DJ board, but decided against it. I have everything tied into the Profilux bars, except for the power heads. The Tunze are controlled by the Profilux, but they are plugged in independently. If I have to shut everything down, I can just pull the plug. If I want to temporarily shut down a piece of equipment, I can manually do it through the Profilux software.
I did two full tank rinses of the new sand, then drained it and filled with RODI. I can't say for sure how long it tool to settle, because I never gave it the full time. I did use unrinsed sand when I set up my 75 and it settled within 24 hours. I filled that tank with RODI, added the salt then added the sand.
Sorry to hear about the Desjardini loss. They are a nice looking tang.
I thought about the DJ board, but decided against it. I have everything tied into the Profilux bars, except for the power heads. The Tunze are controlled by the Profilux, but they are plugged in independently. If I have to shut everything down, I can just pull the plug. If I want to temporarily shut down a piece of equipment, I can manually do it through the Profilux software.
Life is interfering lately. I got the 250lbs of shelf rock today and am just storing it inside the stand at the moment. I think it will be another week or so before I can get back at it. And yes, I am getting anxious. I need a block of time to work on the aquascape so I can take advantage of the large pieces that came in. I will try to get some pictures later this week.Hi Ward,
Just checking in on you to see how things are progressing. I'm anxious to see it running (but probably not as anxious as you
In the meantime I had to pay a little attention to the 220. I had not followed it as closely as I should have and lost a medium size colony, except for a 1" frag I took. The alk had dropped to 5.6 dkh. The calcium reactor drip line got plugged and did not notice it until the coral rtn'd. I consider myself very lucky that I did not lose more.
If nothing else, this hobby has taught me patience.
I have not updated this thread because I was waiting to find a resolution to a problem that I have. About two weeks ago I woke up to the following:
A closeup:
I estimate that 250g had already drained from the tank, by the time I discovered it. My wife and I jumped into action. She grabbed the mop and started pushing the water outside through the "barn doors". I Grabbed one of the pumps I had lying around and hooked up a flex line to discharge the rest of the water in the tank. We also placed a bucket under the stream and emptied that every 5 to 10 minutes.
It took about three hours to finish draining the water and clean up. The floor was dried using the mop and a heavy duty shop vac. There is a silver lining to this. The display room is a converted garage and the laminate flooring is the original glue type. This floor is practically waterproof, so the leaked water ran to two edges and then drained down to the garage floor, which has a drain. This explains to me why we only had to clean up about 50g tops of the water. I had assessor over to look for water damage and there is basically none. I am very glad, and very fortunate, that I used the garage room, and not one of the main house rooms. The water damage to the house would have been very high.
Once we were done the cleanup, I sent an email to the builder and the company owner called me first thing that morning. We discussed the situation and I sent him a number of photos. I removed most of the sand and found the floor pane had cracked from one end of the tank to the other.
The first thing I want to say is that I have not, and will not, point fingers at anybody. There is a lot that can happen to glass from the manufacture of the panes to the final installation. I will, however, commend the the owner who immediately stepped up to remedy the situation.
We talked about a number of ways to fix it and in the end, we agreed to add a new floor pane over the existing glass base. The builder is shipping the glass to me, then will fly here and install it. The glass is currently in transit and I should have it in the next day or two. Hopefully, I will be back on the build next weekend.
That, in a nutshell, is how life sometimes happens. I was thinking that if I were 30 years younger, I would most likely still be upset. However, I know things happen, and this is one of those things. The builder responded immediately with a promise to fix it, in the least painful way, and that is currently happening.
A closeup:
I estimate that 250g had already drained from the tank, by the time I discovered it. My wife and I jumped into action. She grabbed the mop and started pushing the water outside through the "barn doors". I Grabbed one of the pumps I had lying around and hooked up a flex line to discharge the rest of the water in the tank. We also placed a bucket under the stream and emptied that every 5 to 10 minutes.
It took about three hours to finish draining the water and clean up. The floor was dried using the mop and a heavy duty shop vac. There is a silver lining to this. The display room is a converted garage and the laminate flooring is the original glue type. This floor is practically waterproof, so the leaked water ran to two edges and then drained down to the garage floor, which has a drain. This explains to me why we only had to clean up about 50g tops of the water. I had assessor over to look for water damage and there is basically none. I am very glad, and very fortunate, that I used the garage room, and not one of the main house rooms. The water damage to the house would have been very high.
Once we were done the cleanup, I sent an email to the builder and the company owner called me first thing that morning. We discussed the situation and I sent him a number of photos. I removed most of the sand and found the floor pane had cracked from one end of the tank to the other.
The first thing I want to say is that I have not, and will not, point fingers at anybody. There is a lot that can happen to glass from the manufacture of the panes to the final installation. I will, however, commend the the owner who immediately stepped up to remedy the situation.
We talked about a number of ways to fix it and in the end, we agreed to add a new floor pane over the existing glass base. The builder is shipping the glass to me, then will fly here and install it. The glass is currently in transit and I should have it in the next day or two. Hopefully, I will be back on the build next weekend.
That, in a nutshell, is how life sometimes happens. I was thinking that if I were 30 years younger, I would most likely still be upset. However, I know things happen, and this is one of those things. The builder responded immediately with a promise to fix it, in the least painful way, and that is currently happening.
On the upside, I received my dry rock last week. I am very impressed with the quality of the rock. The largest piece is around 27" x 21":
The Kleenex box is a standard size to give a perspective on the size. The other two rocks are the smallest that were received.
Here are samples of some of the others:
I now have all the rock I need. My wife and I were chuckling the other day about the rock. This is the last major expenditure item in the build and that is probably a good thing. We definitely went over the original budget but thought, what the heck, you only live once. And we are enjoying it. Ok, the timeline setbacks notwithstanding.
The Kleenex box is a standard size to give a perspective on the size. The other two rocks are the smallest that were received.
Here are samples of some of the others:
I now have all the rock I need. My wife and I were chuckling the other day about the rock. This is the last major expenditure item in the build and that is probably a good thing. We definitely went over the original budget but thought, what the heck, you only live once. And we are enjoying it. Ok, the timeline setbacks notwithstanding.
reefmutt
Active member
Wow! Crazy leak. Happy to hear it was a relatively painless cleanup.
So, just to understand, the new glass will simply be laid on top of the existing cracked one?
On the inside, I assume? I'd love to see how that baby gets laid inside the tank.. Suction cups better be good and suctioned!
Might a bottom eurobrace help as well?
So, just to understand, the new glass will simply be laid on top of the existing cracked one?
On the inside, I assume? I'd love to see how that baby gets laid inside the tank.. Suction cups better be good and suctioned!
Might a bottom eurobrace help as well?
You are correct. They will be laying the new glass on top of the old. I was remiss in not providing more detail. The glass is 15mm and is cut in two pieces (just under 4' x 3' each) I don't know the full process, but basically the new bottom will be the two pieces with be layed end to end with silicone all around, between and under to provide a permanent seal.
This is the least painfull for me. A new tank was discussed, but then I would have to go through the movers, hoist frame and everything else. The pane(s) addition only shortens the inside height a bit and there is no need for "moving" procedures.
I am putting my faith in their manufacturing abilities to fix this. I am not a build expert but floating a new bottom on the existing one makes sense to me. Any stress movement has already occured so the new panes should not move at all.
I am looking forward to seeing it done, not just to resume the build, but to see the mechanics. They asked if I had a stepladder and shop vac, both of which I have. I will make sure I have a fresh battery and memory card for my camera.
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