No bowing at all. I used 1.5" angle iron on the frame so it is very rigid. I used aluminum where I could to help reduce the weight. I think the 80/20 should be quite rigid as well because of its design.
Ivan's terribly slow 225 build
- Thread starter IvanTheTerrible
- Start date
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
Glad to hear you aren't seeing any bowing. I'm sure the angle iron is stiffer, but you also have more weight pushing on it.
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
Some craziness tonight, and I'm not talking about the election. First, I walked into the fish room and found my new clowns pale, with bright red gills, and they seemed to be jumping out of the water. That's when I realized that the powerhead in their tank wasn't moving any water at the surface. I quickly adjusted things to give them some oxygen, and they recovered. I don't know how close it was, but I almost lost my new fish.
Next, I decided to make some RODI in preparations for the next few tank transfers. I set an alarm on my phone and sat down to watch some election results. A little while later, I realized that the alarm hadn't gone off. So I ran downstairs to find water all over the floor. Good news - the painted concrete held up very well and most of the water went down the drain. The bad news is that a small amount of water went under the threshold of my door and got some of the carpet wet. So, I'll have to seal that up with some silicone tomorrow. Hopefully, things will be calmer tomorrow.
- Ivan
Next, I decided to make some RODI in preparations for the next few tank transfers. I set an alarm on my phone and sat down to watch some election results. A little while later, I realized that the alarm hadn't gone off. So I ran downstairs to find water all over the floor. Good news - the painted concrete held up very well and most of the water went down the drain. The bad news is that a small amount of water went under the threshold of my door and got some of the carpet wet. So, I'll have to seal that up with some silicone tomorrow. Hopefully, things will be calmer tomorrow.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
I've been thinking about how I wanted to mount the Sea Swirls. I bought them from a forum member and they did not come with the mounting bracket. Initially, I was planning to build a bracket using some acrylic that was left over from a previous project. After thinking about this some more, I decided to just mount them to the rim of the tank using velcro. The plumbing actually holds them in place, the velcro just the makes sure that things don't shift around.
Also, my lights and 80/20 arrived. First, I cut the garage door track to length, cleaned it, and screwed it to the ceiling. Knowing height could be a problem, I mounted the track as close to the ceiling as possible.
With the rails in place, I could make the light rack using the 80/20. To cut the aluminum, I used my miter saw and the finish blade that I've been using for my wood trim/molding. This blade has been through a few projects, so I was going to buy a new one for my next project (whatever/whenever that may be), so I wasn't worried about it being dull after this. The blade did great cutting the aluminum and made a nice clean edge.
I bought some replacement garage door rollers at Lowe's for the light rack. Initially, I planned to just drill out the center hole of the 80/20 and slide the shaft of the roller into it. Unfortunately for me, the shaft of the roller is larger than the center web of the channel. Thus, drilling it out would eliminate all support and wouldn't work. That plan would have worked if I bought a larger size of 80/20, but returning this stuff wasn't an option. So, I drilled through the shaft and used some small screws to mount the rollers to the aluminum.
This ultimately worked a little nicer because it lets the channel sit closer to the ceiling. Once I had the rollers installed, it was time to mount the lights. The lights come with small cables that can be used to hang them. Unfortunately, for me they allowed my lights to hang too low. So, it was off to the local hardware store where I spent $35 on cable, ferrules, etc. I made up my first cable and gave it a trial fit. It worked, but I wasn't very happy with the results. The cable didn't bend as nice as I would like. Also, it was going to be very difficult to make eight cables that were exactly the same length. I tried a couple of different configurations, but couldn't find anything I really liked. So, I ditched the cable and used wire ties. It certainly doesn't look as nice as cables would but it does the job. I mounted the lights as high as possible. They actually touch the bottom of the garage door track.
You can see from the pictures that the light rack is bigger than was necessary. Knowing that these lights will be replaced or supplemented with others in the future, I chose to make the rack as big as I could with the materials on hand. I can always cut it down later, if needed. While I was working above the tank, I mounted an EB8 and plugged the lights in. Eventually, I'll plug the Sea Swirls and gyres into it as well. I'll have another EB8 below the tank to run that equipment.
- Ivan
Also, my lights and 80/20 arrived. First, I cut the garage door track to length, cleaned it, and screwed it to the ceiling. Knowing height could be a problem, I mounted the track as close to the ceiling as possible.
With the rails in place, I could make the light rack using the 80/20. To cut the aluminum, I used my miter saw and the finish blade that I've been using for my wood trim/molding. This blade has been through a few projects, so I was going to buy a new one for my next project (whatever/whenever that may be), so I wasn't worried about it being dull after this. The blade did great cutting the aluminum and made a nice clean edge.
I bought some replacement garage door rollers at Lowe's for the light rack. Initially, I planned to just drill out the center hole of the 80/20 and slide the shaft of the roller into it. Unfortunately for me, the shaft of the roller is larger than the center web of the channel. Thus, drilling it out would eliminate all support and wouldn't work. That plan would have worked if I bought a larger size of 80/20, but returning this stuff wasn't an option. So, I drilled through the shaft and used some small screws to mount the rollers to the aluminum.
This ultimately worked a little nicer because it lets the channel sit closer to the ceiling. Once I had the rollers installed, it was time to mount the lights. The lights come with small cables that can be used to hang them. Unfortunately, for me they allowed my lights to hang too low. So, it was off to the local hardware store where I spent $35 on cable, ferrules, etc. I made up my first cable and gave it a trial fit. It worked, but I wasn't very happy with the results. The cable didn't bend as nice as I would like. Also, it was going to be very difficult to make eight cables that were exactly the same length. I tried a couple of different configurations, but couldn't find anything I really liked. So, I ditched the cable and used wire ties. It certainly doesn't look as nice as cables would but it does the job. I mounted the lights as high as possible. They actually touch the bottom of the garage door track.
You can see from the pictures that the light rack is bigger than was necessary. Knowing that these lights will be replaced or supplemented with others in the future, I chose to make the rack as big as I could with the materials on hand. I can always cut it down later, if needed. While I was working above the tank, I mounted an EB8 and plugged the lights in. Eventually, I'll plug the Sea Swirls and gyres into it as well. I'll have another EB8 below the tank to run that equipment.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
So, the UPS guy stops by my house everyday. So, far it's just been little things. I doubt he liked that box of sand, but he's definitely going to hate the 100 lb box of rocks that will be coming next week. The skimmer and return pump are ordered, so I should have everything I need (for now) late next week.
- Ivan
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
So, the UPS guy showed up with my rocks last week.
I haven't done a leak check on anything yet, so I didn't want to start aquascaping yet. I didn't have any phosphate problems when I used this same rock for my nano tank, but decided to do a test. I had about 6 gallons of RODI in a 10 gallon Brute container, so I put as much rock in the container as I could fit and added a heater & pump. The next day, I checked for phosphate using my Hanna checkers and both read zero. I let them soak until tonight (about a week) and checked again for phosphate. It read zero again. Not a definitive test by any means, but I'm happy.
The UPS guy came by again yesterday. This time he dropped off some pumps.
The Vecra will be used for the return. The Mag 24 will be used for the skimmer, which should arrive tomorrow. With that, I'll finally have all of the major equipment and be able to finish plumbing my sump. In preparation, I started to make RODI and fill my mixing containers. I ran the waste line into the tank, so I'll use that to check for plumbing leaks. This will also be a good chance to determine my actual RODI production rate.
I started to aquascape, but can't find anything I really like. Once I get something I don't totally hate, I'll post some pictures and get your opinions.
- Ivan
I haven't done a leak check on anything yet, so I didn't want to start aquascaping yet. I didn't have any phosphate problems when I used this same rock for my nano tank, but decided to do a test. I had about 6 gallons of RODI in a 10 gallon Brute container, so I put as much rock in the container as I could fit and added a heater & pump. The next day, I checked for phosphate using my Hanna checkers and both read zero. I let them soak until tonight (about a week) and checked again for phosphate. It read zero again. Not a definitive test by any means, but I'm happy.
The UPS guy came by again yesterday. This time he dropped off some pumps.
The Vecra will be used for the return. The Mag 24 will be used for the skimmer, which should arrive tomorrow. With that, I'll finally have all of the major equipment and be able to finish plumbing my sump. In preparation, I started to make RODI and fill my mixing containers. I ran the waste line into the tank, so I'll use that to check for plumbing leaks. This will also be a good chance to determine my actual RODI production rate.
I started to aquascape, but can't find anything I really like. Once I get something I don't totally hate, I'll post some pictures and get your opinions.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
So, the Lifereef skimmer arrived today. My plan was to put hook everything up and put it in the sump on Saturday. But then that big box was just sitting there looking at me. It was practically begging me to dig into it. So, I really didn't have a choice, I had to open it up and put everything together.
I was a little worried because the day we received a package that was covered in foot prints. Apparently, the UPS helper was a little to short to reach the top of the truck and decided to use our Christmas gift as a step stool. Jeff did a great job packing everything and nothing was broken. I forced myself to look through the directions again to make sure I didn't screw anything up. Everything went together smoothly and I carefully carried it into the fish room.
I knew getting it into the sump was going to be a little tight, but it went about as well as I had imagined. I forgot to take the cup lid off before putting the skimmer in place, so it fell off during the process. I got things situated and sat back and admired it.
That's when I reached for the cup lid and noticed something wrong. Sadly, the concrete floor didn't have enough "give" and the lid was broken. :headwallblue:
I emailed Jeff to let him know about my stupid mistake and to order a new lid. It's not the end of the world, but it definitely put a damper on my evening. After that, I mounted my reactors so that I can get started on the return plumbing. I also worked on the aquascape a little. What a frustrating experience! I can't find a set-up that I like. I try to remind myself that most of the rock will (hopefully) be covered in corals one day, but that is of little help. Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be a better rock stacking day.
- Ivan
I was a little worried because the day we received a package that was covered in foot prints. Apparently, the UPS helper was a little to short to reach the top of the truck and decided to use our Christmas gift as a step stool. Jeff did a great job packing everything and nothing was broken. I forced myself to look through the directions again to make sure I didn't screw anything up. Everything went together smoothly and I carefully carried it into the fish room.
I knew getting it into the sump was going to be a little tight, but it went about as well as I had imagined. I forgot to take the cup lid off before putting the skimmer in place, so it fell off during the process. I got things situated and sat back and admired it.
That's when I reached for the cup lid and noticed something wrong. Sadly, the concrete floor didn't have enough "give" and the lid was broken. :headwallblue:
I emailed Jeff to let him know about my stupid mistake and to order a new lid. It's not the end of the world, but it definitely put a damper on my evening. After that, I mounted my reactors so that I can get started on the return plumbing. I also worked on the aquascape a little. What a frustrating experience! I can't find a set-up that I like. I try to remind myself that most of the rock will (hopefully) be covered in corals one day, but that is of little help. Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be a better rock stacking day.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
That was actually one of the first things that came to my mind. I feel like we're in some weird parallel universe thing. I tested my overflow box tonight and had a small leak in one of the corners. I sent David an email to see how to fix it. It's a lot farther for me to drive up there than you.
- Ivan
RedStangGA
New member
Nice build, and comforting to see someone taking as long as I am!
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
I keep reminding myself that it's a marathon and mot a sprint but it gets tough at times. I just don't want to rush and end up regretting it for years to come.
Good luck with your build.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
I fixed the overflow leak tonight. Leak is probably too strong of a word. It was a slow drip. Anyways, a little Weld-On 4 did the trick. I also finished the return portion of my plumbing. I still need to plumb the reactors/refugium into the return line, but the rest of the plumbing is done.
My water storage containers are finally filled. If the markings on the tanks are right, I have about 120 gallons of RODI. I put the waste water into the tank and it didn't quite fill it up, so I'm getting about a 2:1 ratio from the 150 gpd BRS system. Not bad considering how cold the incoming water is. I run a booster pump, so pressure is always good (or a little high).
Once the tanks filled up, I filled the tank and sump with tap water for a water test. No plumbing leaks tonight - I had a small leak on the mixing station the other night. Since the tank was full, I fired up the return pump to move things around a bit. Wow is the Vectra a quiet pump. The Sea Swirls and fans on the lights are actually louder than the pump. I played around with the gate valve on the beananimal siphon line, and did a bunch of start-ups. Everything works as expected. The Vectra actually puts out more flow than the full siphon could handle. That shouldn't be a problem, since I'll have the reactors and refugium running at some point. I also learned that I need to put some siphon breaks in the Sea Swirls. Without a siphon break, the water drains down well below the overflow. The sump has plenty of capacity, but the water ends up higher than the bubble traps, and I don't really want chaeto floating around loose in my sump.
I also tried out the skimmer. Wow is the Mag 24 loud. I'm not sure if it just needs to break in or if something is wrong. I plan to pull it out tomorrow and see if I can spot a problem. I'm also going to get a silicone pad for it to sit on. Hopefully, that will help. If it doesn't quiet down, it'll be the first thing I replace.
I'm finally satisfied (though not overjoyed) with the aquascape. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow. Once the rocks/sand are in the tank and the last little bit of plumbing is done, I'll probably take a break until after the holidays. I don't want to start things up in the midst of all of the craziness. Plus, I have at least one tank related Christmas gift coming.
- Ivan
My water storage containers are finally filled. If the markings on the tanks are right, I have about 120 gallons of RODI. I put the waste water into the tank and it didn't quite fill it up, so I'm getting about a 2:1 ratio from the 150 gpd BRS system. Not bad considering how cold the incoming water is. I run a booster pump, so pressure is always good (or a little high).
Once the tanks filled up, I filled the tank and sump with tap water for a water test. No plumbing leaks tonight - I had a small leak on the mixing station the other night. Since the tank was full, I fired up the return pump to move things around a bit. Wow is the Vectra a quiet pump. The Sea Swirls and fans on the lights are actually louder than the pump. I played around with the gate valve on the beananimal siphon line, and did a bunch of start-ups. Everything works as expected. The Vectra actually puts out more flow than the full siphon could handle. That shouldn't be a problem, since I'll have the reactors and refugium running at some point. I also learned that I need to put some siphon breaks in the Sea Swirls. Without a siphon break, the water drains down well below the overflow. The sump has plenty of capacity, but the water ends up higher than the bubble traps, and I don't really want chaeto floating around loose in my sump.
I also tried out the skimmer. Wow is the Mag 24 loud. I'm not sure if it just needs to break in or if something is wrong. I plan to pull it out tomorrow and see if I can spot a problem. I'm also going to get a silicone pad for it to sit on. Hopefully, that will help. If it doesn't quiet down, it'll be the first thing I replace.
I'm finally satisfied (though not overjoyed) with the aquascape. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow. Once the rocks/sand are in the tank and the last little bit of plumbing is done, I'll probably take a break until after the holidays. I don't want to start things up in the midst of all of the craziness. Plus, I have at least one tank related Christmas gift coming.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
Thank you for the suggestion. I don't have enough room in my fist room for anything else. I barely fit in there now. I'm actually pretty happy with the output I'm getting now.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
OK, so today didn't go as planned. I was busy all day, but didn't have a chance to look at the skimmer pump. We had a family event planned, but due to a sick kid things changed. Instead of going out, we would stay home and have visitors here. This meant I needed to clean up the fish stuff I have scattered all over the basement. That would include the fold-out table with my planned aquascape on it. I happened to have a table with the exact same dimensions as my tank, so I had it set up in front of the tank - which made things easier. I might have been able to convince the family that I needed to leave the table in place, but decided it wasn't worth the fight and just put the rocks in the tank. I only decent picture I have of the rocks before I started all of this is from above.
I don't like to put the rocks in with water in the tank. It just makes everything harder, but I certainly wasn't taking the rocks apart again. It seems no matter how many pictures I take, I never have the one I need to re-create something after I disassemble it. So, I've come up with a system that works pretty well (for me at least). First, I don't put any rocks directly on the glass. I always put a sheet of acrylic down for the rocks to sit on. This eliminates point loads on the glass, gives a little bit of protection from rock slides, and make it easier to move the rocks around. I try to use big sheets of acrylic, but sometimes have to use a small piece to cover everything. I leave the protective sheets on the acrylic when I'm initially setting things up. Once I get the rocks stacked the way I want, I use a Sharpie to trace around the rocks. I also put a small mark on the backside of each rock. This makes it easier to reassemble everything later. I'm not sure what's in Sharpie, but it probably isn't good for the tank. Since the tank is full of tap water, I'm not too worried since all of this water, and anything that leaches out of the Sharpie marks, will be dumped and replaced with fresh saltwater.
Then, I use a masonry bit and drill to put frags anywhere that I might want to put a coral later. I generally use the "more is better" approach and put a lot of plugs in. If it becomes obvious that a plug won't be needed later, you can always pull it out (or just let the coralline encrust it). When it come time to place a coral, you just pull the plug out and place your previously mounted frag in its place.
Next, I disassemble everything and rinse the rocks. There is quite a bit of dust on them when they arrive and drilling all of those holes makes it much worse. I rinse them well, but there is no way to get all of the dust. The tank will just be cloudy for a while.
Once the rocks are somewhat dry, it's time to put everything back together. At this point, I carefully pull the protective sheets off of the acrylic. The bottom sheet I throw away, but I keep the top one because it has the tracing of my rocks on it. I place it on a flat surface (markings up) and then put the acrylic sheet on top of it. Now, I can see where my rocks go but the sheet isn't stuck to the acrylic. I suppose you could just flip the acrylic over and make a mirror image of your original aquascape, but I don't go that route. The protective sheet tends to wrinkle and stick to itself a little, but it's pretty helpful and I think it's worth the effort. Between this and the alignment marks on the backside of each rock, I've been pretty successful and re-creating my aquascape.
I use putty or silicone to hold large sections of the rock structure together. I bought some small acrylic rods, but didn't end up using them today. I might put some in after I drain the tank. Next, I remove the map from the underside of the acrylic sheet, move everything to the tank, and make any necessary final adjustments. The acrylic sheets make it nice because they slide on the glass and I can move large pieces (or the whole aquascape) as needed. Despite rinsing the rocks well, the tank is very cloudy. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get a decent picture.
Before adding water to the tank, I did my best to clean everything. There is no possible way to get everything though. Since I'm not running the skimmer, I decided to do some mechanical filtration. I probably would have done this even if I were running the skimmer. Anyways, I used a rubberband to put some filter floss on the pump inlet.
Yes, restricting the flow on the input of a pump is a bad idea. It can lead to cavitation, which quickly leads to pump failure. Knowing this, I only left the floss in place to collect the gunk I could see. If didn't take long for the floss to be covered in stuff.
At this point, I pulled the floss off and shut things down so that I could replace it with a new one. I did this a couple of times - until I couldn't see any more stuff floating around in the sump. I'm glad I did it rather than let all of that junk go through my pump. I also put floss on the drain pipes. That should be catching anything that was in the tank itself, before it can get to the sump. If it wasn't obvious, I'm don't plan to run filter socks.
I decided to put the gyres into the tank to help stir up any junk in there. This also gave me an opportunity to see the flow (like one of those BRS videos). I won't know for certain until I have sand and corals in the tank, but I don't think I'm going to need any powerheads. I wasn't planning to use any, but you just never know until you get everything together. I haven't had a chance to play around with the gyres much, but they are pretty impressive right out of the box.
I'm having an issue with my Vectra. The power cable doesn't fit into the transformer well, and it randomly loses connection. Anyone else having this issue? I guess I'll have to contact Ecotech about that.
- Ivan
I don't like to put the rocks in with water in the tank. It just makes everything harder, but I certainly wasn't taking the rocks apart again. It seems no matter how many pictures I take, I never have the one I need to re-create something after I disassemble it. So, I've come up with a system that works pretty well (for me at least). First, I don't put any rocks directly on the glass. I always put a sheet of acrylic down for the rocks to sit on. This eliminates point loads on the glass, gives a little bit of protection from rock slides, and make it easier to move the rocks around. I try to use big sheets of acrylic, but sometimes have to use a small piece to cover everything. I leave the protective sheets on the acrylic when I'm initially setting things up. Once I get the rocks stacked the way I want, I use a Sharpie to trace around the rocks. I also put a small mark on the backside of each rock. This makes it easier to reassemble everything later. I'm not sure what's in Sharpie, but it probably isn't good for the tank. Since the tank is full of tap water, I'm not too worried since all of this water, and anything that leaches out of the Sharpie marks, will be dumped and replaced with fresh saltwater.
Then, I use a masonry bit and drill to put frags anywhere that I might want to put a coral later. I generally use the "more is better" approach and put a lot of plugs in. If it becomes obvious that a plug won't be needed later, you can always pull it out (or just let the coralline encrust it). When it come time to place a coral, you just pull the plug out and place your previously mounted frag in its place.
Next, I disassemble everything and rinse the rocks. There is quite a bit of dust on them when they arrive and drilling all of those holes makes it much worse. I rinse them well, but there is no way to get all of the dust. The tank will just be cloudy for a while.
Once the rocks are somewhat dry, it's time to put everything back together. At this point, I carefully pull the protective sheets off of the acrylic. The bottom sheet I throw away, but I keep the top one because it has the tracing of my rocks on it. I place it on a flat surface (markings up) and then put the acrylic sheet on top of it. Now, I can see where my rocks go but the sheet isn't stuck to the acrylic. I suppose you could just flip the acrylic over and make a mirror image of your original aquascape, but I don't go that route. The protective sheet tends to wrinkle and stick to itself a little, but it's pretty helpful and I think it's worth the effort. Between this and the alignment marks on the backside of each rock, I've been pretty successful and re-creating my aquascape.
I use putty or silicone to hold large sections of the rock structure together. I bought some small acrylic rods, but didn't end up using them today. I might put some in after I drain the tank. Next, I remove the map from the underside of the acrylic sheet, move everything to the tank, and make any necessary final adjustments. The acrylic sheets make it nice because they slide on the glass and I can move large pieces (or the whole aquascape) as needed. Despite rinsing the rocks well, the tank is very cloudy. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get a decent picture.
Before adding water to the tank, I did my best to clean everything. There is no possible way to get everything though. Since I'm not running the skimmer, I decided to do some mechanical filtration. I probably would have done this even if I were running the skimmer. Anyways, I used a rubberband to put some filter floss on the pump inlet.
Yes, restricting the flow on the input of a pump is a bad idea. It can lead to cavitation, which quickly leads to pump failure. Knowing this, I only left the floss in place to collect the gunk I could see. If didn't take long for the floss to be covered in stuff.
At this point, I pulled the floss off and shut things down so that I could replace it with a new one. I did this a couple of times - until I couldn't see any more stuff floating around in the sump. I'm glad I did it rather than let all of that junk go through my pump. I also put floss on the drain pipes. That should be catching anything that was in the tank itself, before it can get to the sump. If it wasn't obvious, I'm don't plan to run filter socks.
I decided to put the gyres into the tank to help stir up any junk in there. This also gave me an opportunity to see the flow (like one of those BRS videos). I won't know for certain until I have sand and corals in the tank, but I don't think I'm going to need any powerheads. I wasn't planning to use any, but you just never know until you get everything together. I haven't had a chance to play around with the gyres much, but they are pretty impressive right out of the box.
I'm having an issue with my Vectra. The power cable doesn't fit into the transformer well, and it randomly loses connection. Anyone else having this issue? I guess I'll have to contact Ecotech about that.
- Ivan
IvanTheTerrible
Fish Nerd
Awesome, glad to hear you liked it. Hopefully it helps with your next build.
Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I'm trying to be very neat with the wires on this build.
- Ivan
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