A Customdusty Rimless Build

[customdusty]

Re: A Customdusty Rimless Build

move the tank i wanna see the car! lol nice!

Haha... That's my only hobby that dwarfs reefing in terms of cost. I'll put a picture up sometime for you.

 

[TriNewbie24]

Very sweet setup! Love that new fixture.

 

[reefsahoy]

Haha... That's my only hobby that dwarfs reefing in terms of cost. I'll put a picture up sometime for you.

my other hobby is traveling which also dwarfs reefing in terms of cost. but i'm seriously considering getting a Porsche Cayman now that my 2nd and last daughter is about to leave for college . When i get it i will travel the northeast coast stopping at bed and breakfast along the way. Don't know if it's a mid life crises or what but that car rocks!

 

[customdusty]

Re: A Customdusty Rimless Build

Very sweet setup! Love that new fixture.

Thanks! I'm going to do a photoshoot soon as my corals are just showing positive signs of growth and coloring up after the near crash.

Unfortunately I did have an ich outbreak from replacing a fish that had jumped out, which resulted in me losing most of my fish since I got caught without a qt setup at the time. Lesson learned there. This was the first time I ever lost a fish (let alone 10) from anything other than jumping in the fed years I've been in the hobby. Luckily, the Lfs where I get my fish accepted responsibility and offered me 50% off all fish to restock my tank.

The intent now for my new Mini is to be the observation tank for all new additions before they make their way to the DT.

Fun times lately, but everything will be for the better with the lessons learned.

 

[customdusty]

Re: A Customdusty Rimless Build

my other hobby is traveling which also dwarfs reefing in terms of cost. but i'm seriously considering getting a Porsche Cayman now that my 2nd and last daughter is about to leave for college . When i get it i will travel the northeast coast stopping at bed and breakfast along the way. Don't know if it's a mid life crises or what but that car rocks!

I love travel also, which happens to be my wife's favorite thing to do. So by association, it is also my hobby because I get to go with (or rather pay). We are big on the Europe thing, but also are good for Vegas and tropical stuff a few times a year. The Cayman is a sweet ride, I test drove one before buying the Mercedes, but it wasn't a good fit for the Midwest. I wish I could use the midlife crisis excuse to do something radical, but I'm 28 so I don't think anybody will buy it

 

[reefsahoy]

europe? we've been traveling like crazy recently. I think we are averaging europe like 2 to 3 time a year. We love going to europe. here's a link of some of our travels that i started recently after a trip to Prague. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1720448. we are going to budapest the end of may . maybe one of these days we can link up with the wives and hit europe. they go shopping and we go reef store hunting!lol

 

[customdusty]

europe? we've been traveling like crazy recently. I think we are averaging europe like 2 to 3 time a year. We love going to europe. here's a link of some of our travels that i started recently after a trip to Prague. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1720448. we are going to budapest the end of may . maybe one of these days we can link up with the wives and hit europe. they go shopping and we go reef store hunting!lol

Amazing trips you have taken! Great photography too. A lot of the same places I have been recently.... This past year I hit Amsterdam, London, Ibiza, Barcelona, and Frankfurt. I'll post a few of my architecture shots on your photo thread.

 

[customdusty]

The beginning of the Elos Mini..... I like this spot, it will got a lot of attention in the loft where spend a lot of time - especially while bouncing around RC.

 

[customdusty]

A few new pictures of after the installation of the new Sfilgoi fixture. I am going to choose one of these to send in to AquaticsElite to have posted on their Sfiligoi website. Which one should I send?

 

[reefsahoy]

i would choose the frist pic.

 

[Taqpol]

+1 The first pic looks amazing.

 

[customdusty]

I thought so too, but the other ones I think featured the light fixture more. I figured since the site is selling these fixtures they might want that to be an exaggerated part of the picture.

 

[epleeds]

I would go with the first picture. But I would try to take another one but kneel down a little and do a straight on shot. look at the difference..and see what you like better..

 

[cthedaytrader]

I love the setup custom,

Do you find that glass overflow is enough flow though? What return pump are you using and how much flow is going through?

 

[customdusty]

I love the setup custom,

Do you find that glass overflow is enough flow though? What return pump are you using and how much flow is going through?

I am pretty pleased with the glass holes overflow, it is much quieter than a durso standpipe set-up and obviously takes up much less space. I am running a 900 gph return pump at full throttle, which through a couple of turns and up a few feet is probably running right at 700 gph. I find that at this flow rate, the water line is higher than where I want it, and it goes all the way up the teeth on the overflow box. It seems that the plumbing has a higher capacity than the box itself does, so should I do it over again I'd have Gl*******s make me a custom box about 30% bigger so my water line isn't as high.

 

[cthedaytrader]

It is nice how little space that overflow take sup in yoru tank, especially compared with a corner of center one, would you used the same design overflow box, or traditional through the bottom?

 

[customdusty]

It is nice how little space that overflow take sup in yoru tank, especially compared with a corner of center one, would you used the same design overflow box, or traditional through the bottom?

I would use the exact same design as I have now, I would just lengthen the box another 1.5-2.0 inches or so to add a few more teeth to maximize the overflow capability and bring my water level down a half inch or so.

My other option is to slow down the return pump, which accomplishes the same thing (lower water line), but I prefer the higher turnover rate to my sump for the skimmer.

 

[silentscream]

I've really enjoyed your build, I'm currently piecing together the items for a tank very similar to yours. One of the things I've been debating is 36" vs 48" lighting. I would have to agree with you that the 36" is better looking, but worried about having enough light on the ends. I guess it might be too early to get your full take on the lighting since you just set it up, but I'm curious to see how you like it over the next weeks.

 

[customdusty]

I've really enjoyed your build, I'm currently piecing together the items for a tank very similar to yours. One of the things I've been debating is 36" vs 48" lighting. I would have to agree with you that the 36" is better looking, but worried about having enough light on the ends. I guess it might be too early to get your full take on the lighting since you just set it up, but I'm curious to see how you like it over the next weeks.

I really like the look and function of the 36" fixture over the 48" tank at this point. There were several reasons I chose to try the shorter fixture: 1) Feature the rimless nature of the tank better by opening up the top more; 2) Not waste money on the fixture and electricity to light areas of the tank that do not have photosynthetic needs; 3) To have areas of both high and low light intensity, rather than just all high intensity. So far all of these things have worked out just as I planned, and in fact have exceeded my expectations such that I don't think I will own a fixture that is the full length of a tank ever again.

Obviously, you can see in my pictures that there is coverage throughout the tank - but the end space offers a less direct lighting that my lower light stuff has really responded well to. I have some zoos and mushrooms on the left side of the tank that are really enjoying it, and the brain, duncans, plates, LPS, and softies on the right hand side have never looked better. Also, since I had to frag up my larger SPS and ended up with a significant number of frags from the same parent colonies, I have placed frags in the low light areas, high light areas, and under the different bulb combos to test the effects on growth and coloration. In all reality, there isn't anything within several inches of the glass anywhere in my tank (front, sides, or back - except the huge toadstool) so lighting the sand bed just didn't seem to make much sense to me.

All in all, I am really happy with how it turned out and encourage others to try it as well.

 

[graysmurf]

Very nice setup for those hanging lights, I'll have to try something like that.