it's finally begun...
- Thread starter manderx
- Start date
Steve Seymour
Premium Member
Wow Matt, it looks awesome, cant wait to see it.
Michael R
Charlie Davidson
New member
manderx
New member
nope, got sand for this time, but i don't want to add that till i'm farther along filling it, to make sure the stand is good and the tank won't leak. i did notice late last night that the plywood isn't sitting flush on each of the block stacks, so i'm going to drain what i've filled already to a brute and cram some foam between the plywood and blocks.
i'm currently blaming my previous slow growth and general blah-ness on the barebottom. i think everyone else in bburg who did barebottom noticed the same thing in their tanks.
manderx
New member
i made this one a bit smaller just to see if it could keepup. it's only 12" around the bend vs the ~16" i've done in most others i've made. if it's not big enough, i'll just make another.
i have a cherry strip to go around the top. though now that i think about it, i don't think it will add much support. it won't stop it from bowing (if it's a problem), but it would stop it from popping out a whole panel. it'll take me a few more days to finish sanding/oil/poly so i'm just going to go ahead and run without it for now. i have to keep reminding myself that it should be ok to run braceless since that's how it was designed, but looking at the details and craftmanship, it's kinda scary.
so far it's 1/2 full of fresh DI and i have another 45 gallons in a brute ready to go. so i already have more than enough water made since i have enough old water, and i want to use every drop of that. so i'm going to put the sand in tonight, let it sit a while then drain out 45g of milkshake (though it has already been rinsed) then add in the fresh di from the brute. let that sit for a few hours so as much of the milkshake will dissolve in the freshwater, then add salt. then tomorrow is it i think.
i have a cherry strip to go around the top. though now that i think about it, i don't think it will add much support. it won't stop it from bowing (if it's a problem), but it would stop it from popping out a whole panel. it'll take me a few more days to finish sanding/oil/poly so i'm just going to go ahead and run without it for now. i have to keep reminding myself that it should be ok to run braceless since that's how it was designed, but looking at the details and craftmanship, it's kinda scary.
so far it's 1/2 full of fresh DI and i have another 45 gallons in a brute ready to go. so i already have more than enough water made since i have enough old water, and i want to use every drop of that. so i'm going to put the sand in tonight, let it sit a while then drain out 45g of milkshake (though it has already been rinsed) then add in the fresh di from the brute. let that sit for a few hours so as much of the milkshake will dissolve in the freshwater, then add salt. then tomorrow is it i think.
manderx
New member
got the sand in, soaked for a few hours then dumped that water. put in new water, soaked a while then i added salt. then to get it to clear faster i put my skimmer in. skimmed a while then turned it off, then pumped some water back and forth between this new tank and the old tank to get some life into the new and start acclimating the critters in the old.
Yep, I've only changed two things in my tank since setting up a year ago at the new house .. sand and added actinics, and everything has really perked up since adding both items. Within a month of adding sand I noticed drastic improvements, and the tank was set up for 9 months before adding sand.
Matt .. let me know if you need any help...
Matt .. let me know if you need any help...
manderx
New member
well, got called in to work for most of last night, but i did push through the night and got the 50g moved over into the 3x3. still have the rubbermaid full of stuff from the 30cube to move over tonight or tomorrow night.
one thing i do miss about the old barebottom was not having to work in a milkshake. the skimmer did well enough at clearing things up, but when i pulled it out (don't have anything plumbed yet so skimmer was just sitting inside the tank), it went right back to milkshake. though it did clear up by morning even without the skimmer.
one thing i do miss about the old barebottom was not having to work in a milkshake. the skimmer did well enough at clearing things up, but when i pulled it out (don't have anything plumbed yet so skimmer was just sitting inside the tank), it went right back to milkshake. though it did clear up by morning even without the skimmer.
CeaHorseMaShell
New member
wow, tank looks great, can't wait to show Wes (gomd) when he gets home.
manderx
New member
actually i noticed last night that fish that normally hid (firefish,bar goby) have been out and about 24/7 and aren't nearly as twitchy.
i put the old lights from the 50 over on it till i can get around to deciding how i want to make the new canopy. glad i decided to go with 4, 2 luminarcs don't come close to covering the whole thing. i really like the open look, especially since it's so low and easy to look down into, but i want to stack it out with jumpy wrasses, so it's gonna have to be totally enclosed.
