Lightsluvr's 340G Upgrade

[Lightsluvr]

With the exception of seahorses, I always purchased livestock locally. My favorite LFS QT's new arrivals for a week to assure they are eating and recovered from shipping. That's a good thing. Plus I always felt better with WYSIWYG when it comes to livestock.

Unfortunately my favorite store has been having major problems with their suppliers, and couldn't get the fish they ordered, week after week. This caused me to venture into an online purchase...

great addition, and good luck with it!

Thanks!

Very Nice. I have also been impressed with the guys over at Blue zoo.

That's my experience, Mark. I had heard consistently good things about Blue Zoo, so thought I would give them a try...

So far so good. The new boy just has to catch on to eating meaty food with his tankmates.

Beautiful fish,

Last pic really shows the colors. Congrats.

Thanks, Lynn. I reduced the lighting intensity when I shrunk the pic for photobucket, but didn't doctor the hue at all...that's his real color.

LL

 

[MrineLfRlz]

great looking fish i love the colors!

 

[Lightsluvr]

Update on the Blond Naso

Update on the Blond Naso

He is eating algae from the rocks and aquarium wall. He hasn't figured out feeding time yet, but that will come with time...In the meantime, he is grazing, just like he would have done in the sea...

The moderate agrression from the Foxface and Sailfin seemed to have abated before lights out last night...

LL

 

[Oldude]

Great score! You've gotta love nasos, they have so much personality.

 

[pwhitby]

Very Nice George,

The blonde naso I have is my all time favorite.
Heres mine, besides the tang-tainer. He is about 10-11 inches right now.

P.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Very Nice George,

The blonde naso I have is my all time favorite.
Heres mine, besides the tang-tainer. He is about 10-11 inches right now.

P.

Your blond naso is one of the several reasons we have wanted one... He is a beauty.

LL

 

[IBASSFSH]

Won't be too long and he will develop his streamers too.

Here is a picture of my blonde

 

[Lightsluvr]

Won't be too long and he will develop his streamers too.

Here is a picture of my blonde

How long is yours? Killer streamers... Another beauty!

LL

 

[IBASSFSH]

He is about 11"-12" I would say. They are far more beautiful than the normal Naso's in my opinion.

 

[Hookup]

Wonderful photos everyone... very nice fish!

Congrats on such a showpiece!

 

[jennmac415]

Congrats on your new beautiful fish!!! I have always thought blonde nasos are one of the most beautiful fish there is, their faces are like a painting.

Great to hear about Blue Zoo also and their obvious great care for these animals.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Congrats on your new beautiful fish!!! I have always thought blonde nasos are one of the most beautiful fish there is, their faces are like a painting.

Great to hear about Blue Zoo also and their obvious great care for these animals.

Thanks Jenni. It's best to observe fish eating prepared food (which ours is not). Howver, he is obviously healthy, because he's busily grazing on the LR and aquarium walls. We put some smaller nori pieces in the water last night and he grabbed some. I am confident he is catching on by watching the other tangs eat...

LL

 

[strout]

I bought both my Yellow and Hippo Tang from Blue Zoo, couldn't be happier and both fish have been doing great. I wanted to get them from the LFS but he never could seem to get both of them in the store at the same time and as I wanted to put them in the tank at the same time I ordered from Blue Zoo. Your new fish looks really nice, they are pretty fish.

 

[Lightsluvr]

PHOTO RECAP - Introduction MAY 2009

PHOTO RECAP - Introduction MAY 2009

Inspired by a recap on another large tank build thread, I thought I would go back through the 60+ pages of the thread and sumamrize the brief 6 month history of our system.

The next posts are a time capsule of a very busy time at the Lightsluvr house...

In the beginning, we had a 120G seahorse tank and a 180G SPS tank. We began to experience serious SPS loss in our tank, due to alkalinity skews attributed to a ALK test kit with completely inaccurate instructions...

Our previous tanks:

We were aware of a beautiful tank that had been sitting empty at our LFS for almost a year.

After discussing with Ms. LL, I approached the owner and learned that they had just decided (that day) to place the tank for sale! We would be able to acquire a dream tank manufactured by AGE (Acrylic & Glass Exhibits) without the customary wait period!

A bonus to the tank and stand was the large amount of high end PVC fittings, double unions and valves that the previous had already gathered:

A deal was negotiated and down payment was made. We were on the way! It was May 17, 2009.

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

THE Fish Room Plan - May 2009

THE Fish Room Plan - May 2009

After observing Paul Whitby's beautiful tank during a COMAS tank tour, Ms. LL had always wanted to have an in-wall installation. In fact, she fussed (a little)when I added a second large tank to our living area. More pumps and fans equaled more noise, making it very difficult to watch a movie or listen to music on our living room.

Taking her idea as a cue, we decided we could put all the equipment for the new tank in a former office that adjoined our living room. Iniitally the room had been a covered porch for the house. A previous owner had enclosed the porch - a pretty crappy remodel, with 7 foot ceilings. The room had been used for junk storage for the past few years...but it was about to take on renewed importance!

Here is what the exterior looked like:

The wall where the tank would go:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff125/lightsluvr/340G10.jpg[/I

The exterior wall - hidden behind this wall was brick veneer which was the former outside wall of the residence:
[IMG]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff125/lightsluvr/340G11.jpg

We knew that two bookcases, a door and a whole lot of sheetrock would have to go.

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

PHOTO RECAP - The demolition MAY 25, 2009

PHOTO RECAP - The demolition MAY 25, 2009

The beginning of demolition began with one of those "Oh Crap!" moments when we discovered that brick veneer wall behind the bookcase and sheetrock:

This is as far as I got in removing brick one at a time from the top courses:

Enter Chris the contractor - I learned that a 16 pound sledge hammer is a beautiful thing!

Good bye to the seven foot high ceilings:

Bare bones -beginning of day two:

 

[Lightsluvr]

THE REMODEL - Fish Room - MAY 2009

THE REMODEL - Fish Room - MAY 2009

It paid to hire a contractor with extensive framing experience...how to raise a seven foot ceiling - first you add new ceiling joists to 8' 6" high; sister the new joists to rafters and joists from the main residence:

Then you support the entire structure with temporary 2x4 studs:

Apply layers of plastic tarp to keep construction dust and debris out of the living area:

Install a 12' header comprised of (2) 2x12's laminated with 3/4" plywood:

Result: a nice big opening for a new door and a 96.5" opening for the new tank:

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

A SLAB for good measure - MAY 30, 2009

A SLAB for good measure - MAY 30, 2009

We calculated that the total water of the tank and sump would exceed 2 tons. Add to that the 750 pound weight of the tank and 300 pounds for the steel stand. The front of the tank would be resting on the stem wall of the house. We had no clue how substantial a slab or footing had been placed under the former covered porch. Chris the contractor recommended a complete new slab to support the rear of the tank.

We mixed and poured (30) 90 pound bags of high tensile strength concrete to make new footings and slab for the aquarium:

Jay Jay the fish cat enters the picture... yes, there are cat paw prints in that slab...

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

WE HAVE A ROOM June 1, 2009

WE HAVE A ROOM June 1, 2009

Chris' initial job here was done, and we put several coats of paint over the sheet rock, followed by a coat of flat polyurethane sealant:

The electrician arrived to install the (2) 100 cfm exhaust fans and the (3) GFCI circuits dedicated to the aquarium system. We also planned for a waterproof work light above the tank:

The RECAP, to be continued...

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

The LIGHT RACK - June 2009

The LIGHT RACK - June 2009

I designed a T5 light rack that would be completely movable away from the top of the tank. This would facilitate maintenance of both tank and lights... I borrowed the basic idea from a frame built locally by Eddybabyhd as well as the systems discussed here on RC from EdandSandy and GlassReef.

Here are the "bones":

and the initial assemby of the 36" x 96" framework:

(credits to the LL fish cats)

detail of the track system:

...and the rollers (designed for pocket doors weighing in excess of 75 pounds each):

LL