Jacob's 360 Gallon Build

[Jacob D]

Updated the blog today. What does this have to do with skimming?

click here to find out

 

[Bdimas]

Hey Jake cool blog and very nice skimmer. Its so nice and clean right now.

 

[Jacob D]

Thanks.

This is the only time it'll ever be that clean, hopefully it'll be nice n nasty real soon....

By the way, I went through Kalypso for the skimmer. They gave me a decent price (better than I could find online). At first we had a couple of communication issues but after talking with Elliott about it he made sure he was always on top of the order status. Kalypso is still making their way up, but they're already showing signs of excellent customer service that will set them apart from the run of the mill fish stores.

So far both Kalypso and Twins have been very helpful in this project.

 

[Jacob D]

Well, I *think* I made the final decision on my lighting today. I'm going to go with 8x39w Icecap T5 retro. 4 bulbs front to back, on 6" centers, over each half of the tank. The Icecap ballasts overdrive the lamps to 60w each for 480w in total. This comes with the Icecap reflectors too, which are among the best available.

I was all set to go with 3x 175w Iwasaki 15k bulbs in Lumenarc reflectors, but changed my mind. Those particluar bulbs put out a ton of PAR (more than 250w Phoenix 14k), but are very white and I would have needed to supplement them. I really couldn't see having the halides plus a bunch of supplements.

I have a used but in good condition Lumenarc III that I don't need now...

 

[plankton]

So, when do we fill the tank full of water? :jester:

Scott

 

[Jacob D]

Haha! What's up lurker! Lots to do still.... I've been working on programming the PLC lately, between that finishing the bathroom remodel (ya, I know...) and painting the house... All I can promise is that it will have water and fishes in it before Christmas! "Look Isabelle, Santa got you an 8x60w T5 setup for Christmas!!"


So, what's your story? I've seen a lot of NICE smaller tanks FS lately...

 

[plankton]

If you find a 30G Elos nano save it for me!!

Scott

 

[lanxang]

Scott, I knew you wanted to come back.

 

[Jacob D]

That's the spirit Scott! I don't know if Elos makes a 30g, but they make a SWEET 55g (a.k.a. "system 70"). It's pretty much a 22" rimless cube. Very, very nice! I believe one of the Fresno area LFS is an authorized dealer (hint hint).

In the mean time... new blog post is up
http://dinardiengineering.com/blog/

Image teaser

 

[lanxang]

Jake,

So you're going T-5 only?

LS

 

[Jacob D]

Yep. Keeping it simple.

 

[Jacob D]

New blog post finally... here's a teaser pic

 

[plankton]

So, can we add water yet?

PS Just ordered a 'Fat Tire Clone' kit. Ahhhh.......

Scott

 

[Jacob D]

No water yet. I need to break down the 75g and move it to Evelyn and Richard's place, then I'll be just about ready to move the 360 into the house!

 

[Bdimas]

Jake that equipment room looks great.

 

[Jacob D]

The 75g is gone! I started the breakdown early today, Richard and Evelyn came by and helped finish taking it apart, cleaning, and loading it up. Feels good to know it went to a good home and also opens the door on getting the 360 set up.


...now anyone have some advice on getting a the flat spot in my carpet to come up?

 

[Jesus]

How about shampoing the the carpet.



jesus

 

[Jacob D]

I'm going to try that, we have a carpet shampoo machine. They have something called a rug rake too that I'm going to try. It's pretty smashed where the stand was.

 

[Jesus]

That's what I did were my old tank use to be.


jesus

 

[Jacob D]

Started polishing the tank today. Lots of work but the one end that I did came out nice! I figure it'll take me a couple of days to do the front and half a day to do the other end. It will look almost new when I'm done. There are a few small (less than 1/2" long) but deep scratches that I'm not going to pursue.

I'm using the Micromesh acrylic restoration kit and doing it by hand, wet sanding. I tried to take some pics but our camera broke, time for a new one of those too...