Gofor's 60"L X 30"W X 24"T LeeMar Upgrade

[D' kingfisher]

nice build man.how high off the water is ur lumenmax elite? i have thesame lighting im gonna use.thanks

 

[gofor100]

nice build man.how high off the water is ur lumenmax elite? i have thesame lighting im gonna use.thanks

Thanks bro'!

My MH are about 10 to 10.5 inches off the water. I've had these about 12 inches off the water on my prior tank with good results. I think the sweet spot with these are between 10-12 inches or so depending on your coverage needs. Good luck with your tank!

Thanks,

Chad

 

[gofor100]

Time for the "pre-weekend" update and my plan-of-attack...

So, the CUC is definitely doing their job and the sand and rock seem to be clearing up of the very small algae bloom (there wasn't really ever a huge bloom, just a little brown algae film). 'Course, as I mentioned before, this was the main reason I wasn't running my lights for the first two weeks of the cycle (where the Nitrates had reached 50ppm at one point). Last night I checked the Ammonia (which read '0' or undetectable) and the Nitrates (which were 5ppm) using Salifert tests, so I'll officially be adding my sole surviving fish to the tank.

Long story short, before I actually started treating my QT (because I was waiting to get the new tank until I started treatment since I knew treatment would last approximately 4 weeks and this would force me to be patient and not introduce fish earlier), one of the fish came down with ich without me noticing since I was so busy preparing for the upgrade... well, this led to its demise and then one-by-one each of the fish were dropping like flies .

The sole-survivor is my bullet-proof yellow wrasse that survives pretty much anything that a fish can face... one time he jumped out of my old tank, was out of the water who-knows-how-long, and when I found him, he looked dead, but when I picked him up he squirmed a little so I placed him back in the tank. After stiffly floating for a couple of seconds, he went into the sand and came back out a week later no worse for the wear.

Other than adding him to the tank, emptying and refilling the QT tank for my next set of fish, I've scheduled some time to work on the stand/canopy skinning. I'm kind of at the mercy of my friend's schedule, so we'll see how much we can get done.

I'll get some pictures posted if anything ends up getting accomplished (you never know)...

Thanks,

Chad

 

[CHSUB]

great start...i'm building a similar tank, planning my plumbing and wanted to know how tall your stand pipes are..not the emergency pipe but the one underwater and how many inches the water is above the pipe....also waiting the see your stand skin because i'm doing the same thing.

 

[gofor100]

great start...i'm building a similar tank, planning my plumbing and wanted to know how tall your stand pipes are..not the emergency pipe but the one underwater and how many inches the water is above the pipe....also waiting the see your stand skin because i'm doing the same thing.

Hello,

I'm not sure exactly how tall they are but I do know that I made them go up about halfway up my overflow. I've had great results with that measurement.

I'll try to make sure to document the skin build closely so you can follow along.

Thanks!

Chad

 

[Rotknee]

Nice work Chad!:thumbsup: I really like the plumbing and light canopy. You should have no limits to what you can add to the tank with that combination.

I have the same skimmer you do and sometimes wonder if it is enough. Once your bioload is established I will be curious to see what you think.

 

[DevilishDukie]

Very nice.

 

[gofor100]

Nice work Chad!:thumbsup: I really like the plumbing and light canopy. You should have no limits to what you can add to the tank with that combination.

I have the same skimmer you do and sometimes wonder if it is enough. Once your bioload is established I will be curious to see what you think.

Thanks bro! We will see about the skimmer but I hope it will be enough or else I'll have explain yet another large purchase to the wife.

Chad

 

[gofor100]

Very nice.

Thanks dude.

 

[gofor100]

So I actually ended up getting a good amount of stuff done over the weekend...

First, as I'd hoped, I was able to transfer over my fish from QT and he definitely seems to be in awe of his new surroundings... checking out all of the new space he has available to him. And he's already eating, so it seems like he's pretty happy.

I then broke down the 60 gallon QT tank, scrubbed it down and rinsed it out, then moved it to the garage (it was in the dining room- which my wife LOVED- insert sarcasm) where I set it back up with some fresh SW so that it'll be ready for my next round of fish (will probably get 3 or 4 to quarantine in the next week or so). So that was my Saturday...

On Superbowl Sunday, my friend Jeff and I got to work on the canopy/stand skinning...

We first cut the wood...

Then laid it out and started framing the canopy...

The wood cutting took most of the time, but it looks like we'll need a few more pieces of wood to finish it all off, so I'll be making another trip to the lumber store sometime this week/weekend. We've also got to frame out the rest of the canopy and stand, but at least we made some good progress...

Thanks,

Chad

 

[gofor100]

After the wood was cut, we used some of the scraps to figure out which stain my wife and I liked... we ended up liking a combination of a stain and an oil (the largest piece in the second photo). We might go a little darker, but I definitely like the overall look of it.

Thanks for following!

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

Here's another "pre-weekend" update...

So, with the QT now moved into the garage and running for a couple of days (while dosing with Stability from SeaChem), I made a run to get a few more fish into quarantine this week.

Wednesday, I stopped by Seaside Tropical Fish and got a really nice McCosker's Flasher Wrasse and a small Starry Blenny to replace the ones that passed away before I was able to treat the QT the last go-around. This weekend, I hope to make 1 or 2 more purchases (specifically looking for a smaller Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish) and then will start the treatment after everyone is eating and settled in.

Other than that, my main goal is to get some more work done on the stand/canopy, so we'll see how that goes!

Thanks,

Chad

 

[dahenley]

im new to this thread, but what kind of wood is that your using?
it looks real dark (i like it!) or was ir standard but stained before cutting and fitting?

thanks!!!

 

[lastlight]

The wood was walnut... I agree looks awesome already without stain!

I went through your build and was relieved to read you finally got a tank that wasn't damaged. I know I'd personally have been losing it (at least in my head). When we think we're spending a weekend progressing our builds and there's a hiccup like THAT... it's brutal.

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[gofor100]

im new to this thread, but what kind of wood is that your using?
it looks real dark (i like it!) or was ir standard but stained before cutting and fitting?

thanks!!!

Glad to have you! :beer:

The actual wood is walnut and is naturally pretty dark (the natural wood colors are pictured except for the close-up of the smaller pieces... those are stained).

Thanks,

Chad

 

[gofor100]

The wood was walnut... I agree looks awesome already without stain!

I went through your build and was relieved to read you finally got a tank that wasn't damaged. I know I'd personally have been losing it (at least in my head). When we think we're spending a weekend progressing our builds and there's a hiccup like THAT... it's brutal.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Hey Brett!

Yeah, the drama of getting a tank seemed to never end... but when I did finally get it, I was very pleased with the product.

I hope to get some more progress made this weekend, so we'll see!

Thanks for following along,

Chad

 

[gofor100]

Well, the weekend was pretty successful in my eyes... I was able to pick up a few more fish and all are in the QT acclimating. Once all are eating and seem like they're in good shape, I'll slowly introduce Cupramine over several days, and begin that process.

As for the stand/canopy, here's some updates...

Jeff actually was able to frame the front of the stand skin during the week...

Also had to get a little more wood so we would have enough for my smaller "clownfish/anemone tank" that'll be plumbed into the system...

I then went over there on Saturday afternoon and we got working on the rest of the framing...

Then Sunday we started on one of the corners...

Then used these right-angle supports to make sure we got a perfect corner...

Then glued it up and used some "biscuits" before clamping it down for a perfect fit...

And here's the finished product... one corner down, three to go!

We might be finishing up the rest of the corners sometime this week, then we'll have to make the doors and stain/finish it.

Thanks for following,

Chad

 

[gofor100]

All of this done under the watchful eye of Jeff's dog... Piper.

 

[gofor100]

So I took some pictures with my iPhone last night... hopefully the last time this tank will be pictured without any corals in it (as I plan to add some sometime this week).

Here's a FTS...

A side-shot...

And then some pictures to show the intricacies of the rockwork...

Thanks for following,

Chad

 

[Bigfish93]

Looking good!