Electrobes' K.I.S.S. 40Br Thread

[Electrobes]

Skimmer Update

Skimmer Update

Well today I was home cleaning out the garage (I threw out a truck load of stuff, and still have one more smaller load but I am DONE!) when I got a call from Mike (Reef Specialty). He wanted to personally let me know that unfortunately their supplier did not get the BH-100F's in (again) and that he apologizes like crazy for it.

He did offer me to either wait till the end of this month and he'll ship out to me for free, or to cancel the order. Though it does bring me close to the line of when I wanted to set up my tank, I told him I'd wait for it and appreciated him calling me. It's cool that he's calling everyone on that order but it's got to suck as I can already guess some people might get irate over the situation.

I swear God must have something in mind with all these delays appearing to keep me without a set up till the beg. of June. I was already joking with a couple people that I'm going to end up with a stock tank from tractor supply, and now I may have to have a DIY airstone skimmer that jnarowe has!

Lesson of the thread people? Doing things the right way is more painfully slow than your worst case scenario timeline. :lol:

 

[chrismunn]

what kind of algae is it growing on your rocks? is it like hair algae or just diatoms? if its diatoms it just means that your holding tank is cycling right? that was dry base rock from marcosrocks that are in there?

things could be worse as far as the waiting aspect is concerned! you could have to wait as long as ive been waiting :lol:

 

[Electrobes]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12527250#post12527250 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrismunn
what kind of algae is it growing on your rocks? is it like hair algae or just diatoms? if its diatoms it just means that your holding tank is cycling right? that was dry base rock from marcosrocks that are in there?

things could be worse as far as the waiting aspect is concerned! you could have to wait as long as ive been waiting :lol:

Heh it was both. I had the diatom bloom first but now the phosphates from the die-off and rock that remained is finishing leeching out into the water in the form of hair algae. The good news is that after the 10G water change and a minor wall scrub down most of the algae died off.

Only two more days till I should get my new 40Br.. here's hoping. I should also get my Foster Smith order on the same day, granted they isn't much to talk about what coming.

 

[Electrobes]

The Garage

The Garage

So I've been doing quite a bit of chores lately... earning the brownie points. I'm owed so much but my wife often makes the currency worthless when she feels like it (Or when I try to call it in) but none the less I sometimes get my way.

I cleaned out the garage... talk about a project! I got it to look like this...

... by throwing out this:

That trash pile took up two full loads in my TWO SEATER van (The entire back)! Thank goodness I live by a local dump site

For my efforts I got to have this:

Yep! It's my very own brute trash can used for keeping mixed NSW on hand for my regular water changes and/or if disaster strikes. As of right now I have a decent sized air pump with two air stones in it and it's definitely moving the water around so I'm happy. As I type this I am filling up more buckets with RO/DI to mix up some more NSW (Want to have about 25G-30G ready when I need it, I have 10 so far).

Anyway hopefully my tank shows up tomorrow and it's okay. I reached an agreement with the wife to not go with a look down tank should I get fed up with my 40Br endeavors. If this tank fails I am going to have a custom one made (Most likely by Glasscages) with a Starphire front pane. I'm being led to believe that as long as you keep it simple with Glasscages, they tend to do a decent job on the tanks they build.

We'll see

 

[chrismunn]

:thumbsup: i wish i could keep my garage clean! most of the usable space is taken up by a 75g tank w/ ALL of my fish stuff, and a dryer.

i eventually want to get a nice trash can for water storage myself. you should talk your wife into 2 cans. one for a fresh water resivior, and one for salt mixing

 

[chrismunn]

thats all fish stuff

 

[Electrobes]

Man Chris, you've got all sorts of cool goodies there! I'm diggin' the cross bow Speaking of I need to take my pellet gun out shotting since the mods were done

 

[Electrobes]

I forgot to mention that my Foster and Smith order came in, and I could stick the old heater in the NSW bin (The two stealths are in the rock bin), and the maxijet was finally installed to the PVC Rock Support

Now if I had a tank to put all this awesomness into...

 

[Electrobes]

Well I got my 4th tank in and sure enough, Perfecto once again screwed up. The inside trimming was once again ... wierd. Again it looks like a router had at it and butchered it. I took it none the less to give it a leak test and at first it looked promising. When the water got to about the 3/4 way mark, the stress marks started showing, but again not enough to worry me. After it got full though, I took a look at the seams hoping that the 60% mark wouldn't be passed. Unfortunately two sides did, with one just about going all the way through.

Argh... I guess Glasscages it getting a call after all. Least I get Starphire out of the wait

 

[kar93]

You must be really peeved now, I know I would be! So, you're not going to try building your own?

 

[Electrobes]

Nah I want to save that favor with my old man (My company's owner) for when I do a much larger aquarium. My company in the short upcoming years will be offering something more often to our customers, and I'd like to apply it to my aquarium should my tests confirm it's safety with livestock and water durability. So I guess I have two reasons why I'd like to wait till later to build my own tank.

 

[MeuserReef]

Perhaps the title to this thread should be changed to

"The Little Reef that simply could not"

Sorry to hear the news.

 

[Electrobes]

Ha, followed by an article "Crazy Man throwing hydroids at Aquarium Manufacturer's employees"

 

[chrismunn]

:lol: you've got bad luck!

 

[Electrobes]

chrismunn - Let's hope it stops sometime soon...

My option before Glasscages

So I came across another idea that would let me do something DIY and still give me some satisfaction about my tank. I still have my 40Br (All Glass) and the reason why I was replacing it was because of a single nasty scratch on one side, and quite a bit of mini scratches on the other.

My idea is to go to a glass shop here in town, and have them order a cut piece of starphire to match one of the panes (for the front). Tomorrow I am getting some supplies to take apart my old tank and clean it off. I am going to take one of the panes to the shop and have them cut it to do euro bracing, plus order the starphire (If I find the price is decent) pane while I am there. I figure if Glasscages wants to charge 35 bucks to have it on an aquarium they make... maybe the price would be around the same at the shop.. we'll see. For all I know they don't use the stuff much and may want way more for it.

The reason why I came across this idea is that the standard tank I want... they (Glasscages) use a cross brace on it. I don't want one, and if I mod it with something different, it would void the warranty. I could get a rimless but would like some type of brace on there, plus they charge quite a bit for the simple addition. It's not the money that stops me.. it's the fact that I am making it more complicated, and from what I understand Glasscages does not handle complicated well when it comes to tank construction.

Anyway here's hoping tomorrow goes well.

 

[Janice12]

I'm glad you have plan B in effect. The store called and said my 40B was in, I am dreading how it might look. Great thread by the way!

Good luck!!

 

[Electrobes]

So I called a glass company and after going through thwo people, found a guy who knows what I am talking about when I say Starphire. Like a moron, I didn't realize it's a brand, not a type of glass. He's looking into prices for me, and I should be getting a call back pretty soon... kinda anxious and excited

 

[Electrobes]

Don't dread Janice! I've confirmed I just have awful luck

 

[Electrobes]

Okay I got a quote for $44 + tax for a 36'' X 16'' (I know the measurements aren't right, just a guess) pane of low-iron glass. That's pretty close to what I thought it was going to be (Glasscages wanted 35 bucks for a front pane only). If I want the edges polished it'd be 21 bucks extra, but I shouldn't need that for siliconing it.

So I've decided to have it ordered once I finish taking the tank itself apart (And properly measure the front pane). I may or may not have some glass cut for a brace (I'd like some extra support_ but we'll see.

 

[Electrobes]

Well I've had some bad luck.. big surprise. I was almost done taking the tank apart when lo and behold one of the side panes was chipped, and my razorblade made a lot more chips after it. Argh. I am going to see what the price is for a duplicate side plane (reg glass). It shouldn't cost much, so the project should go as planned.

And for you pic hoes: