Modernizing my 12 year old 150G

[smedlin]

Background:

2002

I bought my 150G tank in 2002. Give or take a year. Don't really remember.

Back then, I could buy freshly made salt water from my LFS for 40 cents a gallon, so didn't need a skimmer or an RO/DI unit. Those things were really expensive way back then (and not as good as they are now), and water changes were cheap.

I had about 10 fish and some various easy corals.

People "oood and ahhhhed" when they came over to my house. The tank was good.. life was good.

Disaster

I live just south of Houston, right on the coast. In Sept of 2009, the eye of Hurricane Ike went right over me.

While my house itself had very minimum damage (fences down, tree limbs knocking off gutters..) the killer is that I lost power for 13 days straight.

I had a generator that I could run a few hours a day, and I would plug the tank's two pumps into it, circulating the water as much as I could.

But I think what did it in, is the 13 days of it getting to 100 degrees outside.. without power for air conditioning.

I ended up losing almost everything.

Post Ike:

After Ike, I pretty much lost the "drive" I once had for it.

The "bi-weekly" water changes slipped to every 3 weeks. Then once a month. Then once every 6 weeks.

Water no longer cost 40 cents a gallon. Now it's $1.50 a gallon.

I really thought about selling it.

Here is a pic of the tank from a couple weeks ago.

Year 2015

I was talking to a friend of mine, who recently got into reefing (he's a member here), about how I was tired of the tank.. didn't give it the proper care anymore.. yada yada.

He said I needed to do some research into "today's" equipment. And I did. And Holy crap!

RO/DI Unit

A decade ago, it would have cost me well over a grand to build a decent RO/DI unit. Why bother, when salt water was 40 cents a gallon.

A few months ago, I bought a used stage five and a decent pump, all for $120 bucks. It cost almost that much just for the Brute cans.

I think I spent less than $250 for the entire project.

Water changes are no longer a hassle. Not FUN, but not a hassle anymore.

My water quality has really gone up.


Skimmer:

Next step was a skimmer.

I got a RO 150 Regal SSS. I really like it.

I also put new flooring into the stand. Twelve years of salt creep and small spills had eating the bottom up pretty good.

yes.. yes, I've already been told to remove the bio-balls. I've started doing that a little at a time..

Soooo... next came upgrading the lights. Which caused a dilemma :hmm5:

 

[smedlin]

Lights:

As you can see from the first picture in the thread.. my lights are OLD stuff. They are actually made for T-12's. I run two 10k's and two blue's. So I have had to really be careful of what coral I get and what level I put them. Most stuff I can't even attempt to have..

Soo.. next steps has been lights.

I did a lot of research. T5's? Halogen? LED's?

I think halogen, for a 6 foot long tank, would really pump out some heat.

I look REALLY hard at some of the T-5 (and 8) setups. Some are really nifty.

But I decided on some Euphotica LED's.

Yes.. yes..the are chinese LED's. But they seem pretty good.

I ordered 2 of the 32 inch units.

They have a decent par. And compared to my 12 year old units...

But then came the dilemma. How the hell do I hang these????? :facepalm:

 

[jbvdhp]

I'm glad you didn't give up. We all go thru our ups and downs with our hobby. I think the revival will provide you with years of enjoyment.

 

[smedlin]

Enter the Canopy:

Sooo.. I have these two LED units on their way. They are each almost three feet long!

Most people seem to suspend them from the ceiling or from brackets hanging over the tank.

My tank is in my living room. Almost like a central display thingy. Everybody that walks in stares at it.

If I hang these lights up, right there.. I already know the wife is going to turn all evil and complain every single freaking day about how bright it is.

And she will go on..and on.. and on... :debi:

Soo.. I looked into getting a canopy.

I could NOT find a wood colored canopy that fit my tank. They were all black plastic things.

And kind of expensive for what I would get.

And black would not go with the fish tank anyways.

Building A Canopy:

There are like a thousand build threads here, showing how people make tanks, stands, and canopy's.

I have almost NO wood working skills and what some of y'all have built... Some of those made me wanna turn in my "man card" and go cry in shame.

But.. I figured a basic no frills canopy can't be to hard.. right?? I mean.. I have tons of examples here to study and learn from.

Ugh... right. I don't think I get my man card back anytime soon..

 

[smedlin]

I'm glad you didn't give up. We all go thru our ups and downs with our hobby. I think the revival will provide you with years of enjoyment.

thanks.. I hope so also.

Although, this canopy is going on like 2 weeks now. It really is...

Pictures coming..

 

[smedlin]

Building the Canopy

Building the Canopy

Below is the "frame" foundation.

This was the third one. The other two I ditched. yea.. no man card.

Glue was dripping on the floor. Tossed a tee-shirt down to catch it.

Wife is *****ing already.

Making the "back side"

In the picture below, I have the "back" of the canopy in place. A small bottom lip to keep it from sliding foward.

The LED's have already come in! Sweet! I'll have those baby's up in no time!

The LED's have already come in! Sweet! I'll have those baby's up in no time!

yea.. that was two weeks ago....


.

 

[smedlin]

Putting the sides on.

Making sure everything fit.

Hmp, it all fit. Hmp.. Maybe I'll earn my man card back.


.

 

[ca1ore]

Hey, that bike on the red lift earns you at least a provisional man card. I'm an accomplished wood worker, but would be scared to death to ride that bike.

 

[smedlin]

Making the front of the canopy.

The front will have two doors for easy quick access, and the entire front will also lift up on some piano hinges.

checking to see how it all fits...

Meh, close enough. When it's trimmed out, you will not see where it's not exactly aligned.

 

[smedlin]

Hey, that bike on the red lift earns you at least a provisional man card. I'm an accomplished wood worker, but would be scared to death to ride that bike.

The bike is not currently talking to me.

It turns out that sanding makes a LOT of saw-dust. Who would have known?

I eventually covered the bike.. but it was to late. Saw Dust over everything.

Do I lose my man-card for crying cause my bike is dirty?


.

 

[smedlin]

Turns out talking about the bike makes me feel better.

125 cubic inch engine.

This bike brings out the Cromagnum in me; chest thumping, poo flinging, grab the woman and throw her over my shoulders...

By day, I'm a mild mannered software engineer; sitting in my design meetings explaining to scrubs how to do things.

On the weekends, I enjoy ridding this bike. It stops being a motorcycle. It turns into some sort of demon-spawn monster.

You can hear it yelling from a mile away. Old ladies cower in fear, thinking it's the Apocalypse and one of the four horseman. Young women start to throw undergarments at me (and some men also!).

Ok, I feel better. Back to the canopy...

 

[thejuggernaut]

I'm from Lake Jackson, that was definitely a brutal two weeks! My office got power within 24 hours, so I slept on the floor at my office for two weeks! It sucked!!!!

 

[blatchford]

Following, have a need to see if the man card is returned!

 

[smedlin]

Following, have a need to see if the man card is returned!

I had to get bailed out today..

I've spent today working on staining and making the doors for the front.

I knew that making a perfect square is hard.. but holy cow.

Below was my FINAL attempt at doing ONE of the doors. That was the best attempt btw...and I used THREE ENTIRE 8-foot pieces of trim trying to do that ONE door.

Yea.. wasn't going to happen. I admitted defeat... "Hang Head In Shame"

Sooo.. I called a friend of mine. Owns his own contractor business. Told him what I was doing and asked if he knew where I could go (locally) and have this done.

He told me to bring it to him.. which I knew he would.. which is why i called him.

BAM! He knocked those things out, without even looking at what he was having to do.

So, yea.. No man card. I had to have help.

(but.. does KNOWING you need help not earn some bonus points???)


(o..and course.. when people come over to admire.. and I say I built it, all on my own.. yea.. I'll just leave out the little help part.)


.

 

[smedlin]

Good News:

The good news, is the canopy itself is coming right along and looking good.

What do y'all think about it so far?

Bad New:

The bad new is.. did y'all know that wood glue is NOT stain-able. Not even in the slightest.

If there is even a teeny-tiny bit, it will stand out.

And heaven forbid it's so "thin" that you can't even see it, but it's spread out, like the size of a quarter. Cause then you will have a big white spot...

yea.. found that our the bad way. I wanted to just cry over my doors.

I ended up totally sanding them back down again...and re-staining them.

And that mother freaking stupid spot is still there. Sure.. its' much smaller now.. but still there.

I'm to the point I don't care.

This has been a HUGE learning experience.. never worked with wood before.

Now I just wanna be done.

Can't I just cover that white spot on the doors up with something?

Shoot, maybe I'll just put a sponge bob sticker there..blame it on the kids.

 

[Aesl1982]

This is some good stuff here. Looks great though

 

[ccscorpion200]

You might want to cut some vent holes in your canopy to let the heat out. May cut in the back so you don't see it. Those light is gonna produce some heat.

 

[smedlin]

I'm from Lake Jackson, that was definitely a brutal two weeks! My office got power within 24 hours, so I slept on the floor at my office for two weeks! It sucked!!!!

It really was. I love the springs and fall here. I also enjoy MOST of the summer. But there is usually about three weeks each year it's just brutal bad. It's usually in August.

That year, it stretched over into September... Those 13 days I didn't have power... Brutal is a good word.

This is some good stuff here. Looks great though

hey! I'm just down the road from you, here in Texas City.

You might want to cut some vent holes in your canopy to let the heat out. May cut in the back so you don't see it. Those light is gonna produce some heat.

That's the plan.

Although.. at that point, it may not matter, cause it may not have doors on it.

The doors look like POO! I mean.. you could go to a cow pasture, find a big pile of cow poo, rub the doors all in it.. and it would probably look better.

Hmp, POO Doors.

Maybe I'll nickname the Canopy "Mr Hanky's Hideout"

.

 

[ccscorpion200]

Lol ... don't he hard on yourself. Nobody build a perfect door thier first time. You can always go buy premade doors, stain it to match and your done.

 

[Hitch08]

These posts had me laughing so hard that I woke up my wife - which didn't do over well.