Barely made the club but time for my 180 upgrade (Warning: Progress may be slow)

[nightOwl]

Equipment Purchased - Apex Controller, SRO 3000INT, and Tunze 6105 (2)

Sorry progress has been slow around the holidays between travel and work I have been too tired to work on my side project. I do have a small update though. I am waiting for my new toys to arrive! Black Friday was full of deals from various places. I think SaltyCritter may have had the best deal with 15% off and free shipping . Shawn from there has been great with communicating about the status of my order and making sure I was aware of the backlog they had on the skimmer. Within 30 mins or so of placing my order I received an emaill letting me know the skimmer was on back order from the manufacturer and a suggested alternative if I did not want to wait. Another thing that made me thankful I ordered from them was that he realized I might be ordering the Tunzes to be used with the Apex Controller and had not purchased the required cords. Once again an email was sent with a suggestion to purchase the cord or make my own. No pressure at all to buy from them! With that said I did purchased the SRO 3000INT, an Apex system (std pH, and ORP) , some Spectrum medicated food for my fish that be in quarantine, and two Tunze 6105s. Hopefully by mid December all my new toys will be here.

I finally got around to emailing CoralVue again about the exact dimensions of the skimmer and ideal water depth. The stand I have was not as tall as I thought so I may have to change my sump design a little. Good thing is it only needs 1/2" clearance to remove the cup.
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[nightOwl]

Framing - New

So with the holidays things have been pretty busy, but I have managed to make a little progress. Last Wed (12/1) I started to frame a new wall for the fish room. I thought I had an after picture, but looks as though I only have a before picture. I will post an after picture tomorrow. I needed to extend the wall to have something to put a few shelves on. It was just an excuse to buy some new tools.
Before

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Partial Shipment from Black Friday Sales

Today there were three boxes on the doorstep so I was excited to get home from work.

Apex Controller with Tunze control wire

One of the Tunzes, some fish food, and frag disks

This was in the third box

I am still waiting for the skimmer 12/8 (fingers crossed) and the other Tunze (no date as of yet).
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Top-off Water Reservoir - New

Last night I decided to work on my top-off water reservoir. The planned dimensions were 12"x18"x20". The box will hold around 18 gallons of water once assembled. I was able to get all the pieces cut and tapped together to see how it is going to look. I am not going to pat myself on the back just yet, but it came out just like my design. The cuts look clean and square but we will see how the gluing goes before I give myself the official pat on the back. I need to order some solvent and hinges for the top of the container. I will order those items sometime today.

For anyone cutting acrylic at home I highly recommend the blade I purchased from home depot. It was not that expensive, but the cuts are very nice. This blade made some of the smoothest cuts I have ever seen with my tablesaw. It felt like it was cutting the acrylic like a hot knife through butter. There was no melting the acrylic like in the past when I built a top down box.

Diablo Blade

Water top-off reservoir

I hope to start cutting the sump pieces next. My table saw is small so last night I built and attached an side extension so that the long piece of acrylic will have some support as I make my cuts.
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[SPotter]

awesome progress! forget about the holidays and keep working on this!!!!!

 

[muttley000]

Looking good, wish my basement was usable for a project like this. Looking forward to your progress!

 

[SPotter]

I wish my wife would let me use the basement to do a build like this....lol.

 

[60G]

nice start cant wait to see how it turns out

 

[nightOwl]

SPotter - I wish it was that easy. I still have to finish Christmas shopping...lol. And I think inventory is being taken of my new boxes as they arrive. I hope I don't get my basement privileges revoked with my slow progress...lol.

muttley000 and 60G - Welcome to the madness. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Framing - Update

Here is the after picture from last night. I may go ahead and extend the wall all the way. I am not sure how big my frag tank will be, but it will be located along the new framing.

Update

I did not get much done tonight. I had to rearrange a few things in the basement for the upcoming tank move. I am supposed to pick up glass suction cups tomorrow or Thursday night. I have lined up some help to move the tank to the stand this coming Thursday. Tonight I checked the seems and I may need to reseal them. I will post to the forum tomorrow once I get some pictures. I also have to fix one of the supports on the stand. I purchased a new 4x4 beam and need to cut it to size. The current one has too much of a gap in it for my taste. Before I removed the brace it had shims wedged in the gap. If you look closely at the picture you can see the small gap between the center brace.

I tried to cut two of the pieces of the sump tonight but for some reason I was not getting the clean cuts like last night. They were clean, but looks like I was clipping the ends. WeldOn 16 will be my friend. Bigger pieces of acrylic are more challenging even with my table extension.​

 

[nightOwl]

Partial Shipment from Black Friday Sales - Update

So yesterday I rushed home and what it was like Christmas again. The Reef Tank gnome left another package. This time it was huge red box! I have never paid this much for a skimmer so I did not really know what to expect. I have only purchased two three skimmers since joining the hobby. One new TurboFloater 1000, for my 90 gallon and two used AquaC skimmers. The used 180 I use on my 90 and a 120 model I never used. I don't really think I was prepared for the size of this monster. Once again I would like to give big props to the Shawn over at Salty Critter. The did not have any in stock so he had this drop shipped straight from CoralVue!

Pieces out the box

All put togehter - notice the HTC Evo for size reference

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Tank Stand Repair

So like I mentioned the stand's center brace had a gap that was really bothering me. The gap was over an quarter of an inch. Last night I repaired the center support in preparation for putting the tank on the stand later today. I stopped by the rental place yesterday before work and I am glad I did. They only had one suction cup to rent which would have been of little use. I will stop by before work today and pick up a few for tonight's move.

Gap between support

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Missellaneous

I ordered some hinges, an edge scraper, and a couple of Plasticators With 25 Gauge Needles today. When that arrives in I can start to assemble the top-off water reservoir.

I also took some pictures of the tank seams. I think I may need to reseal them based on how much of the silicone is missing. Any thoughts?

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[SPotter]

Come on man.....get some water in that tank!!!

 

[nightOwl]

SPotter - After seeing the size of the skimmer I am starting to get excited about getting water in the tank! This thing should skim like there is no tomorrow. The collection cup is massive! My only concern is the seams. I am going to post a note shortly on whether or not I should reseal.

 

[nightOwl]

Tank Stank Repair - Update

My center brace repair

Tank - Update

Today I had my neighbor and a co-worker come over and help me lift the tank to the stand. I rented the suction cups but as it turns out I did not need them and they were not rated for more than 120lbs. Rather than risk the cups releasing while we had the tank in the air we just lifted the tank up and got it on the stand. Once on the stand it was easy to slide into place. Once in place I found out my nice pretty viewing area is not completely square . You have to be right up on it to see that it is slightly skewed but its looking good none the less. I took some pictures of the seams and posted then in the DIY Forum and it was recommended that I reseal the seams. So its off to home depot this weekend to pick up Acetone and some RTV-108 Momentive silicone.

Tank in place

 

[SPotter]

And here I was all set to take a road trip to help you move that beast...lol.

 

[jpsika08]

Tank is coming along great! congrats

 

[nightOwl]

SPotter - You should have seen how nervous I was last night when we first lifted the tank off the floor. Your brain immediately says "This thing is heavy! Put it down now!"...LOL. Once on the stand it was smooth sailing.

jpsika08 - Thanks!

Home Depot does not carry RTV-108 Momentive silicone so it looks like I have to find a Grainger branch and pick up a few this evening. Depending on how the weekend goes I hope to start priming the room now the tank is off the floor. If I can get some silicone I will begin to clean the tank and cut away the old silicone.

 

[Bamm Bamm]

looking good I wish I had a basement!!!

 

[nightOwl]

Bamm Bamm - Well come to the madness.

Partial Shipment from Black Friday Sales - Update

My second Tunze arrived from my Black Friday sales. I was finally able to put all the items together for a family picture. Thanks again to Shawn over at Salty Critter!

Second Tunze - This one has the Tunze Stream 2 Silence Clamp Holder. I have to talk to Shawn about when the other clamp will arrive.

The twins!

The Family - Tunze's , Apex, SRO3000INT, and miscellaneous

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Tank Reseal Underway

I made a trip Grainger on last Friday (12/10) and picked up some silicone for my tank resealing. This stuff is not cheap but based on all the threads I have read is the best stuff out there. I also made a trip to WallyWorld aka Walmart for Acetone, #0000 fine wool, lent free cloths, and razors. I have removed all four corners and now feel I should do the whole inside since I have read old silicone does not stick to new silicone, so I want to be safer than sorry. Resealing a tank is a pain in the a#$ if you have not done that before! It takes a long time to remove all the silicone and get it nice and clean. YouTube is full of some good videos so if anyone is looking for good vids check out YouTube.
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Top-off Water Reservoir - Update

I have just about finished the the assembly of the container. The only thing left is the top of the container. Which I have gluing as I type this. Once that is done I will attach my hinges and the rest of the lid. Hopefully tomorrow I will complete that task.

Top of reservoir

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[SPotter]

The Family - Tunze's , Apex, SRO3000INT, and miscellaneous

[/INDENT]

I can see the family resemblance! It looks like you have a very happy and well adjusted family :lmao:

 

[Dwerbs]

I always like doubling tank size. Problem is it is never quite BIG enough.

 

[nightOwl]

SPotter - I can't wait till I see how everyone works together with their "assigned chores" then we will really see how happy the family is...LOL.

Dwerbs - Welcome to my build. This is my third upgrade so I am hoping this is it for a while. First was the 55g, then the 90g + 20g frag tank plus a standalone 65g, and now the 180g. Doubling in size is such a great thing!

Progress - Minimal

Not to much progress to report on tonight. I finished the top off reservoir with the exception of needing to router around the sides with trim bit. I also removed some more old silicone from the tank. Removing silicone is like telling a kid to eat vegetables, they don't want to do it and neither do I. It's a long and tedious process and I have not even gotten to the acetone or fine steel wool part.

I looked at my current tank for a while today and realized I have really been neglecting it. I performed a water change, refilled the top off water, changed out the carbon and GFO, trimmed back the cheto, and gave the skimmer a vinegar bath.​

 

[SPotter]

This is your tank speaking

This is your tank speaking

Where have you gone? I wish you would do more work on me so I can get filled with water and cost you more money