let's give this a shot

[alonglongtime]

I am setting up what will probably be my last system. The tank is 60X36X24. I am pushing 70 and I have enjoyed the fish keeping hobby since my neighbor asked my mom if he could give me something. It was a one gallon mason jar with a minnow and a male Trinidad guppy in it. I was five years old and I was hooked. You will have to take my word for it, the guppies of yesteryear don't hold a candle to the ones around today, but to the little boy who's mom said it was okay, that Trinidad guppy was one beautiful fish. I maintained tanks all the way through high school. Then came the draft. Two tours in Vietnam did not stop my interest in fish. Every chance I got I would crouch by a pond or a river and try to identify what was in the water. No, it wasn't too smart, but I did get home and continued up until today to have at least one tank running. Right now I have an 8 footer, a 45 gallon, and the new one. The 8 footer and the small one are coming down over the course of the next few months. Anyone interested? Let me know. Anyway, I am going to try to attach a photo or two. The stand is made of 8X8X16 construction blocks that are then surrounded by spar varnished pine. I love wood that shines. The span is supported by four homemade glue lams. Each lam consists of three 2X6's and two pieces of 3/4" exterior ply. All glued and screwed together then run through the planer to get them to equal sizes. I am using a Reef Octopus 3000 skimmer, two CoralVue 300 watt titanium heaters with external controllers (more on those if anyone requests) approximately 130#'s of live rock, (not dry live rock...tried that once and it is still a disaster in my mind) four Hydor powerheads for more movement in the tank. All added together the pumps and powerheads will be moving over 4000 gallons an hour. More than I have ever needed so I am not concerned at present. Right now, the lights are still a project and the final idea is not complete, but I did lay a couple of LED strip lights over the tank to take the tank pics here. By the way, the tank was made by Jason Gregory of Clear Fabrications Inc (not Custom as I inadvertently posted earlier). I hope you enjoy the pics so far. Better than that, I hope I got them on here. LOL

 

[rfgonzo]

Looks good, and thanks for your service.

 

[alonglongtime]

Thanks gonzo. I will try to post some more pics as it grows. Testing daily for nitrites and nitrates this past week or so. The past three days the nitrites have been unreadable with my test kit. Nope, not high, low. The nitrates seemed to have spiked as well and are on their way down. I will give it another few days to a week then put some macro in the refugium and one light. See how that goes for a while. This hobby will teach you patience. That or it will empty your wallet really fast.

 

[muttley000]

Tagging along. I learned a long time ago when someone older than me was willing to talk, I better listen. Thank you for your service.

 

[Fishmommy]

awesome build!

 

[alonglongtime]

Thank you for your kind comments Muttley and Fishmommy. I look forward to posting more pics soon. The past few days have been a bit busier than normal around here. We are finally getting some decent weather and I put in some of the garden veggies and cleaned up some of the yard, plus there is that pesky group of horses and chickens outside that think they should get fed at least twice a day. No, I won't forget to tell you about the cats either. They can be a real pain. But the good news is that the nitrites have been unreadable for a few days now and the nitrates have hit their high and are on their way back down to safe levels. Using an Elos kit they measured 5 this morning. UPS is supposed to deliver the strip light for the refugium on Tuesday. If the nitrates are still down, I may just lay that small light over the top and put in some clove polyps or maybe some of those zoanthids that no one wanted. I did have a lot of takers and got rid of a bunch, but not all that I wanted to trade, sale, give away or offer to an orphan tank. I am posting a pic in this thread to show you how beautiful zoas can be under the moonlight. You have to love these little critters.