There has been a lot going on in my life as my wife and I prepare for the arrival of our first child. In the time spent waiting for my acrylic tanks to arrive I've been busy working on a variety of other projects around our house.
That being said, I have still found time here and there to progress a few aquarium milestones. First off, I purchased 100 lbs of Marco rock online and another ~80 lbs of dry rock from a local hobbyist, as well as some 1/2" acrylic rods to fasten some pieces together. I bathed the rock in a muriatic acid / water mixture to give it a good cleaning, hosed it down, and let it dry in the sun. This will be combined with the ~200+ lbs of live rock currently in my aquarium.
My 1.5" schedule 80 bulkheads also arrived and I got to work installing the first few of them in the display tank overflows. I will be incorporating a full "Herbie" style overflow in the one (2 drains + full emergency), and a semi-Herbie in the other (2 drains), as I felt a second full emergency would be far too conservative a design. I used a standard holesaw to drill the bulkhead openings, and have to admit I was pretty impressed with the resulting pucks. Take a look at all that epoxy! :lol:
When I had done my leak test on the display tank a while back, I did notice mild deflection of the back panel of the tank as a result of the enormous pressure of the water. Although the amount of flex wasn't an immediate concern, it didn't sit well with me over the long term and I decided to do something about it now rather than think about it ever again. So I purchased two 1" square steel rods and bolted the end of each to the back of the stand, and connected the other two ends to another steel rod which sits flat on the inner rim of the euro-brace. The intention here is to reinforce the back panel at its weakest point, the center, and better distribute this force to the stand and the strong euro-brace. I thought I had some photos of this but they don't seem to be in my folder at this time, so I'll post one soon (easier to show than explain).
My sump, refugium, and frag tank arrived all the way from California! John from Advanced Acrylics did a terrific job and I am very happy I selected them for this job. Their attention to detail is top-notch and the resulting products are superb, although this seems to be common feedback among his customers. He also threw in the extra black / clear acrylic frag tank seen in the photo below, as well as the frag racks for my own tank. A very nice gesture indeed.
They arrived via big-rig which couldn't get onto my street, so I had to drive my trailer around and help the driver unload the double-wide skid from his truck onto my trailer, so I could drive them home. Fortunately everything worked out great and there were no flaws or scratches on the tanks. :lolspin:
Next up on the list will be to skin the stand and finish off some of the detail work on both sides of the tank. I have almost completely decided on purchasing the Reeflo Hammerhead/Barracuda Hybrid Gold pump to use as my main return, after which time I will begin the process of transferring over existing vessels/hardware, and eventually, livestock!
