A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build

Dustin1300 said:
Woohoo, when did RC get fast again?!?!?

I've been pre-occupied with other priorities and this build really needs to be done already, right?! My wife is happy as carpet is being installed in basement Thursday, finished painting nursery this week, and just ordered the nursery furniture. Great things, just bad for the tank build;)
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If Mama aint' happy ain't nobody happy. So we gotta do what we gotta do.

I would think Mama has been pretty supportive so she earned some of your time. Now you can get back to tank.

Enjoy :beer:
Joe
 
humaguy said:
Cool thanks Newbie!

Dustin what made you choose them? Did you consider the Mitras? I ended up wth 5 Mitras over my 120 x 36 x 32 and the Profilux 3 touch...though the lights are not up yet, I am still trying to fabricate a rail system so I can slide the lights to the side when I need to access the tank...this is probably something you could do in a few minutes, lol...
I wish I was capable of doing all the wiring and and extraordinary work you are showing in this build, I admire your knowledge and capabilities...

Best of luck and I look forward to the future of this tank build..
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From what I've seen/researched the Atlantik has better spread and PAR numbers as well as price. I don't need all the bells/whistles on some of the fixtures as they are just that, bells/whistles. The Mitra is definitely a nice fixture, don't get me wrong!

I'm with you on the rails though, have to figure that out but that's another day!
 
Made2Rock said:
If Mama aint' happy ain't nobody happy. So we gotta do what we gotta do.

I would think Mama has been pretty supportive so she earned some of your time. Now you can get back to tank.

Enjoy :beer:
Joe
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Did not see this yesterday Joe, but a happy wife, happy life. She's a great wife, just look at how much she's put up with this tank!
 
Well...As I stated earlier the tank has not had much focus outside of normal maintenance and feeding lately, water tests every 5-7 days, and water changes.

That all being said, I have been doing something the past few weeks and that is polishing........................................polishing........................polishing.................polishing...............and did I say polishing? :headwalls:

I've put somewhere in ballpark of 40-60 hours of polishing and cleaning. I did not expect it'd be that much buffing as my original goal was to rid the tank of small scratches and marks that accumulated over years of sitting in storage. It turned into 4xs as much of a project and it's really a lot of surface area on the inside/outside on a 96X48X30 inch tank. Promised the wife I'd wrap up polishing on the tank today so I could work on casing in the tank tomorrow before carpet comes Thursday and proud to say POLISHING/BUFFING IS DONE! :celeb1:

Here's a recap of process I went through:

Some tools and Novus kits.
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Deep scratches got wet sanded.
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Next was Novus 3 and this took a couple runs where I used wet sandpaper to make the clarity better. I used the Novus drill buffing kit but would not recommend as it left some swirling (Note solution later).

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Due to issues with swirling it added some delay. I ended up going with a DA polisher from Porter cable and a few different pads with an additional wax to finish it off after the Novus 2.

Polisher.
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I used polisher on setting of 3 with a polishing pad coupled with Novus 2.
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Last, I had to order nice finishing pads and used Meguiars Mirror Glaze Swirl Remover and that gave me the nice finish that I wrapped up today. Now if anyone scratches my tank, I'll point them to the process now that I've documented it!
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Dustin,

Do you remember the company that was marketing the cool Phyto Reactor at MACNA? It was a large green canister with a built in lamp and filtration...
 
Remember it but did not pay a lot of attention it. Been looking tourist for past 15 minutes and no luck. I'll let you know if I find it anywhere.
 
That's a whole lotta phyto!

Got something last weekend I snapped a photo of last night, red dragon acro! I've never kept it but heard it's a slow grower, time will tell once it settles into the tank.

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Been working on getting the tank trimmed in this morning (minus cabinetry on top as friend in INDMAS is going to build that).

Before...
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Pieces cut, primed, and waiting it to dry for coat of paint before securing it in.
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This is why I need a table saw. Had to rip the whole length of the boards for the casing.
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Painted other trim last night after nailing up the casing and just wrapped up putting the rosettes and dental molding around the tank. Now to fill so I can sand/fill again tomorrow night!

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Looking good Dustin. :) Been 3 years since my tank has gone up and I still haven't finished the trim. Seeing how yours has turned out so well is making me want to move forward on that project now. :)
 
Just finished reading the entire thread! What a journey. Looks great. Now that RC is back up to speed we expect MANY pictures!! :)

A few pages back you talked about CO2 regulators. Did you get one yet? If not, you might want to check out 'PlantedTank.net' to learn more than you ever wanted to know about regulators. :)

One of the best threads is 'How to build a co2 regulator'.

Yet another thread that has me lusting after a basement!
 
Dustin, sorry to hear about all the polishing!! I'm considering acrylic tank to and I'm worried for that exact reason!
Corey
 
I polished a tank that had major scratches, started at 400 grit and worked to about 800 or 1200 I think then went to the arbor & wheel with a regular plastic polish. Took forever. I haven't tried the Novus stuff but you don't need that anyways, just Meguiar's and a good rinse with bleach.

Now I just go to 1200 wet/dry on a Preppin Weapon then the Meguiar's Ultra-Cut compound followed by the Swirl Free Polish using the SoftBuff 2.0 Cutting Pads using a polisher I picked up at Northern Tool & Equipment.

On the outside of a large tank, I can knock out one long panel in about an hour or so from sandpaper to mirror shine. The inside is tougher because it's awkward and some spots you need to get manually or with the drill/arbor/wheel. I even did a 20g zero-edge tank once, that was significantly more difficult than a much larger tank.
 
drummereef said:
Looking good Dustin. :) Been 3 years since my tank has gone up and I still haven't finished the trim. Seeing how yours has turned out so well is making me want to move forward on that project now. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Brett. Sent something to fellow reefer to figure out when we can build the cabinet as that will make it look real nice!

I'm sure if you commit to your tank it'll put mine to shame!
 
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