Maroun 150g Build Thread

[michika]

I second the comment on Krylon paint. I've used it before as well and it held up really well.

I'm glad your move went well and I'm really pleased to hear that everything survived and is doing well. I'd never before had issues moving tanks up until my last two tank moves, which were both disasters. I always hold my breath for people when they're moving.

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks for the info will paint it for sure next time I move.

Catherine it was your tank move that gave me the freaks (hose drained temporary tank if I remember correctly?) i made extra safe all tubing used on temp basis was fixed really well and double zip tied....
Luckily everything went well. Unfortunately I have to travel for 6 days now which I hate to do with the risk of tank going trough a cycle or whatever...
Might make use of flight time to process pics and upload them shortly....

 

[melev]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14584653#post14584653 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maroun.c
also found some peppermint shrimps which I shared with a friend with some aiptasia in his tank.

they looked a bit pale after shipping stress but colored up nicely afterwards.

Just catching up on your thread now...

Those are Camel Back shrimp, not peppermint shrimp. They are not a good choice for a reef tank, because they are to aggressive and will devour coral meat. The Zeovit forum suggests keeping these shrimp in their own tank, and if you have any AEFW-infested SPS, put the coral in the tank for no more than 30 minutes so the shrimp can devour the pests. Remove the coral before they damage the tissue itself.

 

[melev]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14587852#post14587852 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maroun.c
I had preordered load of stuff before I flied thinking they would arrive while i'm there. to my surprise everything was there while i was checking in. the hotel receptionist was shocked with the amount of packages I received.

Guess the most important stuff from what I got was the DI as I can't find it around here. Ordered it from Marc with 2 replacement units and ws happily surprised to find 3 delivered as the unit came with one in it guess I'm Ok with DI for 1-2 years now.
A full batch of Salifert tests to compliment what I have with spare for Ca Alk and MG. A Vortech MP40 which proved to be a great add on Thanks for Recommending it Marc. Unfortunately I couldn't get a battery for it as theyre not allowed on planes... Fraggin equipment is to frag whatever SPS corals I get in case I lose some for whatever reason. and plumbing and glass holding devices are for a coming project.
I also ordered a new skimmer and some other stuff that I will be picking up on my next trip to cleveland which is this week.

I bet she was shocked. That's a lot of gear! I wonder how you were able to get it home intact, like that eggcrate. The additional luggage fees must have been hefty too.

 

[melev]

All caught up now. Lots of great pictures. You and your lens work well together. :thumbsup:

Sounds like your move went well, and hopefully you'll be in your new apartment before too long. I know you said a year, but we can hope it is less, right? How often do you visit your parents now that your tank is there?

 

[maroun.c]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14846146#post14846146 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
I bet she was shocked. That's a lot of gear! I wonder how you were able to get it home intact, like that eggcrate. The additional luggage fees must have been hefty too.

Hi Marc Nice to have you back here Everything went back in perfect shape as packing was really good. Comparing this to what I got in the second trip is nothing as I had double that amount easily. to mention only a few things:
Hurricone Cat 1 skimmer
Laguna pump for the skimmer.
2 boxes with frags and ORA corals....
and yes everything arrived great excpet for a little soaking of my cloth with some water that excaped the bags.
Additional luggage fees was minimal as you get double the wieght allowance on all flght sectors as it's a transatlantic flight, then an additinoal 10 KGs for being a gold member and a few more if you know your way with the check in personel

 

[maroun.c]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14846203#post14846203 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
All caught up now. Lots of great pictures. You and your lens work well together. :thumbsup:

Sounds like your move went well, and hopefully you'll be in your new apartment before too long. I know you said a year, but we can hope it is less, right? How often do you visit your parents now that your tank is there?

move was really stressful but went great.
Unfortunately don't see myself in the new appartment before at least 1 year+ as when they say 1 year around here it easily take 18 months....Still I'm hoping and following up on things daily.
Planning to get a fishroom, as well as to get plumbing from tank to drains and also to fishroom incorporated in walls and underground... and hopefully a tank upgrade instead of a tank move if I can still afford it...
As to visiting my parents whell it'll be on daily basis when I'm not traveling as I'll be living there with my wife and children till we get our appt.

 

[SunnyX]

Your system is looking great!

You make us Lebanese reefers look good! :thumbsup:

 

[maroun.c]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14849768#post14849768 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SunnyX
Your system is looking great!

You make us Lebanese reefers look good! :thumbsup:

Thanks
Still not as much as you do I'm so far away from TOTM

 

[maher osta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14835664#post14835664 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maroun.c
Thanks for the info Maher.
Any specific type of paint you use or will they all stick to glass? and any special preferrence to blue or black?

hi maroun. i use spray paint & it works great. If u decide to go for it I can get u 2 cans of the same brand I use (tried & tested) , as for the color, the best results I had were by painting dark blue from down gradually turning to lighter blue as u go up, this gives the impression of depth. I added my first pic on my gallery recently, it is of a refugium I built for a friend a few years ago. pls check it and tell me what u think. keep up the good work.

 

[maroun.c]

Hi Maher,
that refugium looks to be going great. What type of macroalga do you have in there? and what lighting? I wish someone would get some chematomorpha to use instead of Caulerpa, wish I thought of that when I was in the states as it's less prone to go sexual...
thanks for the paint info will do it for sure in next tank move next year.
Please do call me when in the region and we'll fix it so you could come see my tank. Should be back in lebanon this Thursday and leaving back Friday afternoon.

 

[maher osta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14867402#post14867402 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maroun.c
Hi Maher,
that refugium looks to be going great. What type of macroalga do you have in there? and what lighting? I wish someone would get some chematomorpha to use instead of Caulerpa, wish I thought of that when I was in the states as it's less prone to go sexual...
thanks for the paint info will do it for sure in next tank move next year.
Please do call me when in the region and we'll fix it so you could come see my tank. Should be back in lebanon this Thursday and leaving back Friday afternoon.

hi maroun. two kinds of caulerpa are in this refugium : c.taxifolia & an unidentified kind, note that all this growth came from a couple of strands under two ordinary daylight tubes. I cant wait to see you & ur tank, I dont have ur number but u can get mine from Joe H. , waiting for ur call. take care.

 

[maroun.c]

Mobile number PMd Maher.

 

[maroun.c]

Time to catchup with the updates on this thread.

Withthe delays in tank move I expected especially that I was planing to change my plumbing and do some changes on the sump and frag tank...
I decided to move all tank inhabitants to a holding tank move tank sump stand and canopy, install everything and rund it then move inhabitants after filtering the water and doing water change...

Decided to make my own small tank
27 G with external overflow.

Had glued a couple of Q tanks in the past and my frag tank but I never had the glass pannels align well and the silicon always sucked so here are the keys to success:

Don't really know what this clamp is called but it made things very easy:

 

[maroun.c]

Also this small silicon spreader that I foundat home depot made for much better seams than I expected:

checkout this (disregard the dirty glass)

Also had my old 80 G reopened and resiliconed professionally (can't say the silicon work was as good as what I did on the 27 G)

all corals and fish were taken out. SPS and LPS and clams went to 27 G and all softies and some live rock with the fish went to the 80 G (the two twin spot wrass went elsewhere finally)



Connected my turbofloater 1000 skimmer for filtration and vortech and seio pump for water motion and a T5 for lighting on the 27 G. also added bioballs cycled in the sump in the overflow acting as wetdry...
Visijet pump taking water from 80 G to 27 and a cheapo pump for circulation in the 80

The flow I got in the 27 g was just crazy. Had to turn down the vortech to minimum. played a bit with different modes and saw the real wave motion it should make. the 2 inch above water level I kep and which I thought was too much tunred out to be just enough to not have water overflow with the smallest wave.

 

[SunnyX]

Very nice work. I would never even know how to build a tank myself.

 

[melev]

I may be way out of line here, but in America we use bulbs that fit. I guess this is a Lebanese thing? :lol:

Great job. Building tanks out of glass - I don't know if I'll ever attempt it.

 

[maroun.c]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14895305#post14895305 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
I may be way out of line here, but in America we use bulbs that fit. I guess this is a Lebanese thing? :lol:

Great job. Building tanks out of glass - I don't know if I'll ever attempt it.

Marc isn't it the bigger the better?
Seriously this tank was only made to be used during the move which as I expected ended up taking 5-6 days instead of the 2 anticipated.
so it was not worth buying a bulb for it. Reason 2: we only get 34 and 45 inch Long T5s around here anyway. and their either 14 K or actinics. Wish I did bring back a selection of short T5s for a small in wall tank on my last trip to the states but was sure these will be broken on the way back...


Wouldn't risk building a bigger tank myself anyway. Its weird though I don't trust Acrylic and find mysleff using glass instead all the time. the nice thing is that the glass cost me only 23 usd so overall the whole thing didn't exceed 35-40. it turned out good enough and I believe I might use it or maybe build a slightly bigger one and place it in wall in the future...

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14895305#post14895305 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
I may be way out of line here, but in America we use bulbs that fit. I guess this is a Lebanese thing? :lol:

Great job. Building tanks out of glass - I don't know if I'll ever attempt it.

Not all of us Lebanese are backward. Lol, you can probably see the apartment lit up from down the road.

 

[melev]

Stay classy, maroun.c