Gobie74's wide peninsula 200

[MikeG]

Beautiful job! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

If I may, I would suggest adding some type of circulation to the tank to ensure the uniform oxygenation within the water column and proper seeding of the tank.

Good luck

 

[Gobie74]

I have a MaxiJet 1200 in there, the skimmer output, and the output of the canister filter, so there's a bit of current. Nothing like the Vortechs will make, but the water is moving.

Beautiful job! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

If I may, I would suggest adding some type of circulation to the tank to ensure the uniform oxygenation within the water column and proper seeding of the tank.

Good luck

 

[NVTE]

Look great. can't wait to see it in full operation.

 

[Gobie74]

Sump is now under construction, 48" long by 20" wide by 16" tall. There are 2 12" long partitions, one for a refugium and one for return water to be pulled from. The rest is the skimmer area and baffles. They'll be adding a probe holder with space for 5 probes, Temp and pH initially, conductivity and redox eventually, and a spare for something in the distant future.

 

[TheSurgeon]

That's a great looking tank and stand.

 

[Gobie74]

So a few more pieces of equipment came in.

This is another PAB power bar for the Profilux, a 4.0 pH meter calibration solution, a combo redox/conductivity module, and the all important Profilux to AI cable.

The cable is too short, so I'll have to see if I can extend that somehow. And I neglected to include the control cable for the PAB, so looks like I have to make another order from GHL-Direct. Time to order a doser and go Balling method? Maybe...

Some mechanical parts came today, the Pan World 50 PX-X pump and a bunch of bulkhead fittings. Now that the bulkheads are here, I can start putting together some plumbing.

Much earlier in the thread I said I would expand on the stand a bit, well here's a picture of the insides looking down the length of it through the removable bookcase that makes up the end.

I want to start painting it soon too, but damn doing it by hand is going to suck and spray cans will require tons, was thinking of renting some sort of power painter and doing it that way after masking everything.

 

[Bigjoe2531]

Looks like your progressing quite nicely. The profilux is a really nice controller. What's the diameter of the drain bulkheads vs. return? Can't remember if you mentioned that. When you use the Balling method, do you need a calcium/kalk reactor or do you dose Ca++ directly?

 

[Gobie74]

Well I was trying to update the firmware in my Profilux tonight so that I could use the newer features required for the iPhone app, and the firmware update failed leaving me with a brick.

There are instructions to fix it on the Profilux site, but they require a RS232 port and non of the computers in my house have one. I'm going to bring my new pet brick to work tomorrow to see if my work pc ( read ancient pc ) has an RS232 port so I can get this thing fixed.

 

[Gobie74]

What's the diameter of the drain bulkheads vs. return?

Outlets to the sump are 1", inlets from the sump are 3/4".

When you use the Balling method, do you need a calcium/kalk reactor or do you dose Ca++ directly?

No, the balling method was designed partially to remove the need for any other devices like a Calcium or Kalk reactors.


Fortunately my work PC had a serial port so I was able to flash my Profilux back to a working state. Looking forward to getting home and testing it out. From what I've been reading, looks like you have to disconnect the PAB power bars from the controller before flashing because when it switches the power bar off, it causes a voltage spike which can interupt USB communication. Supposedly the 5.00p firmware fixes that.

 

[Bigjoe2531]

Sounds really sophisticated. Balling seems like a better option when you have space limitations. Cal/Kalk reactors take up a lot of real estate as opposed to dosing pump and reservoirs.

 

[Bigjoe2531]

Is that pan world pump quiet?

 

[Gobie74]

Is that pan world pump quiet?

Don't know yet, haven't hooked it up since I don't have the sump yet.

So I moved the lights that I had resting on the tank and just went with the bluish light hanging from my ceiling mounts. Was pretty easy to get it up there. Obviously that silly little light doesn't weigh near what the AquaIllumination lights do, but it was fun to get an idea of how it will work.

So for a few days now the ammonia quickly decreased to zero after adding small amounts, so I decided I could start building a clean up crew. So far I'm up to 10 astreas, 1 cerith, and 9 hermits ( one from PC was DOA )

And a few days after that decided to mess with the rock work a bit to try to make something that may last. Because it offered a lot of hiding places, I decided to add 3 small yellow tailed damsels. As of now they seem to be doing fine. I'll post an updated pic tomorrow when there's better light.

I went to Lowe's and picked up a whole bunch of fittings to start working on the plumbing, I'll still need some more, but it gets me started fitting it together. Since I have a full scale cardboard model of the sump, I can plumb it exactly like I'll need it when the real sump gets here, which I just heard could be by the end of this week, but no later than 4/23. So that's good news.

Since I had the time, I decided to paint the interior of the sump. I have a coat of primer in so far. Tomorrow maybe a coat of actual paint. I tried to take a picture of it, but for some reason the camera wouldn't take the pic ( not a camera expert ). I'll have to take a picture tomorrow when there is better light.

 

[Gobie74]

So here's a picture of what the inside of the stand is looking like after the primer.

And how I rearranged the rock work a little bit.

 

[Gobie74]

So I've heard the sump would be done by next Friday so since today was a nasty Saturday weather wise, I spent most of the day working on plumbing the tank. Nothing was glued, just cut and fitted together with the mockup sump, but the bulk of the work is done.

So first I installed some bulkheads.

And then, like I said, spent most of the afternoon fitting together the plumbing.

After the sump arrives I'll actually glue it all together and use some brackets I bought to mount the 1" lines to the wall. But this helped give me an idea how much space I had and how I'd be operating the equipment. The two outside lines are return lines, the inner line to the left is the main return with one valve for controlling flow via the herbie method, the other valve for diverting some water to the fuge. The inner line to the right is the emergency return line just in case the main return line gets clogged up. ( herbie method )

 

[Bigjoe2531]

Looking good Gobie, I probably am going to use herbie on my build. I heard its dead silent. Question? How did you install the bulkheads with a full tank of water?....Joe

 

[Giga]

really sweet tank

 

[Gobie74]

Looking good Gobie, I probably am going to use herbie on my build. I heard its dead silent. Question? How did you install the bulkheads with a full tank of water?....Joe

The overflow doesn't have any water in it because the water level in the tank is about an inch below the teeth of the overflow.

 

[Gobie74]

Word is the sump will be done today, if so, I'll have pictures tomorrow morning. I, unfortunately, probably won't get much time to work on it this weekend due to the CTARS conference.

 

[Sardaukar]

Looking good so far.

 

[gooyferret]

Is there any vents in the sump area? Just curious how your going to control the moisture inside the stand? Looks awesome so far will be tagging along!