My 45 gallon build

[Joeb1983]

Appreciate it! I'm from Melbourne on the east coast. Just south of Cocoa beach. I miss it a ton that's for sure.

Been here in Oklahoma for going on 10 years now... Wow! lol!

The more I read about Kalk the more i want to run it. Now, I know it can crash your tank if it is not used correctly, but when it is and especially when used in conjunction with a quality ATO it seems like a no-brainer. And its cheap!

"If used properly, Kalkwasser is a safe, effective and economic supplement of both calcium and alkalinity in reef aquaria". Not to mention PH as well.

Cant hurt to give it a go. Dose small and work your way up to where you are maintaining where you want to be... or at least it sounds good. lol!

I've stained before, but it was small things that were made of the same wood. I believe the crown is pine and obviously the stand is oak. Ill do some test pieces and just take my time... At least that's the plan.

I bought a nail gun and a compound miter saw... Love it!

 

[A sea K]

Melbourne, I spent a fair amount of time working there way back when, there and Hutchinson Island, almost 30 years ago now. I'm born and raised in Palm Beach County but moved here to N. Fl about 20 years back.

Back to the kalk, read up and get a good understanding on how it works, how to properly dose it and most importantly how to interpret your test results and the effects kalk have on the system. In all honesty I still have a bit of catching up to do on the nuances of kalk but that is where I'm headed when the time comes.

As for staining, yes, different woods will present some challenges. Then again, different grain structures of the same wood will be tough to get the same outcome. Just keep in mind, the softer more pourus the wood the quicker you will want to get the stain off and the harder dense woods will require a longer soak or possibly a second application to aquire the same results overall.

 

[Joeb1983]

Happy Friday! I will be working on the canopy this weekend. Ordering some ATI bulbs for my 4 bulb T5 HO fixture and soem Kalk to try out.

2 x Blue plus
1 x Coral plus
1 x Aqua Blue Special

Also attaching 2 pics of one of my clowns that I think are pretty coo looking other than the TV reflection... lol!

 

[Joeb1983]

As stated Friday I worked on the canopy some this weekend. Took the temporary 2x4 brace out and started the framework utilizing 3/4" thick (Same thickness as stands top) by 1.5" wide pine that came in 6' lengths.

I first started by building 2 identical frames to the same dimensions of the tank.

Then moved on to support brackets for the light fixture for either side. (I looked into LED's, but couldnt justify the cost)

Finally tied it all together and threw in supports. The ones directly behind the light are just compression fit to allow removal of the fixture.

Did not have enoough crown to wrap the canopy, so I have to pick up some more. Also, picked up some oak finishing board, but have to wait until this weekend to use my friends table saw as we are on different shifts.

All in all, I think it came out pretty good.

 

[Joeb1983]

Continued pics and where Im at as of now...

The thing came out much taller than I thought. It sits at about 6' tall now and will be a tad taller with the crown. I like it though.

 

[Joeb1983]

Finished up the crown and really all that is left is to finish the sides and backs with 1/4" oak finishing board, paint inside the canopy and apply the stain and poly.

Ill be draining and removing the tank and sump for that last part.

ATI bulbs are on the way from BRS. 2x Blue Specials and 2x Coral Plus. (Thanks BigE) Along with a Magnetic probe rack/holder, PH probe, cal solution and some Kalk.

Dealing with a little red slime algae (cyano) on the rocks, so I cut down on the lighting and hopefully the new bulbs will help as well.

 

[Bosco83]

I read through your whole thread and really like your build nice and clean!

 

[Joeb1983]

^ Appreciate it. Thats is exactly what I am going for. :thumbsup:

I finished up the sides and back of the canopy and painted the inside. I still need to paint the inside of the doors and make a top cover.

Bulbs get here today so I will give an update on that. Going to pick up some felt pads for the canopy base and light fixture track.

 

[Joeb1983]

Well, the ATI bulbs came in yesterday and I installed them... These things are BRIGHT!.. I mean really bright.

Also, the 50/50 combo of the blue plus and coral plus is pretty... BLUE. All the research/images Ive seen of the combo was not that blue at all.

Hopefully just some burn in is required as they are brand new out the box or maybe because there is no color on the rocks or in the tank for that matter... At least I hope so. I was trying to avoid the "windex" look. :worried2:

The pics were taken on my wifes iPhone with no filter and is pretty dang close to what it looks like in person. The middle pic captures the brightness.

Any ideas?

 

[Big E]

You should not have a windex look. I'm a little confused by what you bought from BRS.

Post #46 says you bought two Blue Specials?

I run my Blue+ and Coral+ combo overdriven on an Ice Cap ballast so mine is a bit whiter than if the bulbs were driven by an ATI ballast............even with an ATI ballast the look should still be a crisp white with a tint of blue as I'm running an ATI ballast with the same combo on my frag tank & it's hard to tell the difference between the two tanks.

When the bulbs first turn on each day they may look more blue but after 20 minutes or so of running they should look a crisp white.

Camera phones always take bluish pictures, so that doesn't help. The pics I showed you of my ambient lighting are dead on.

I just scanned your thread so I'm not sure I caught what type of fixture or ballasts you have?

 

[Joeb1983]

I just read my post and I goofed. :facepalm: I for sure ordered 2x ATI Blue Plus and 2x Coral plus. Verified via my BRS invoice. lol!

2x 39W - 36” T5 ATI Blue Plus
2x 39W - 36” T5 ATI Coral Plus

Just to clarify; I origianlly wanted:

2 x Blue plus
1 x Coral plus
1 x Aqua Blue Special

But changed my mind after seeing your tank and others running the same combo. Believe me, Ive Google'd, YouTube'd, and surfed many, many forums.


I am just running them with my Coralife Lunar HO fixture, so just the ballast that came with it off the line. I also have a 30" Coralife lunar HO fixture on my smaller tank and the Coralife OEM bulbs are all I know as I never had anything different due to the size.

I wholeheartedly agree that is exactly what your tank looks like and it looks fantastic and I appreciate you taking the time. :beer: Even others look very similar to yours w/ the combo.

I am aware camera phones are absolutley horrible, but it does capture how really blue it is in person.

Lighting is all new to me as you all can probably tell. I understand it will be more blue during first fire, so hopefully after running for a few hours today it will be different when I get home from work... I am just shocked of how bright and blue it is. The brightness I can see being a new bulb versus the old Coralifes, but not the strong bluewash.

Order from front to back: BP, CP, BP, CP. If its still very blue after I get home, I will swap them. If that does not help I will look into swapping ballasts if at all possible. :idea:

 

[Big E]

Okay........it must be the ballasts in your fixture that are making them look more blue. I don't know what type of ballasts are in that Coralife fixture but there isn't much you can do about that

You could try 3 coral+ and one blue+ or try an AB special(whiter bulb) and swap out a blue+ or Coral+ with it. That will give you a whiter look............I don't know what effect it will have on coral colors.

 

[Joeb1983]

Copy that. I have no idea what ballast I have either... :lmao:

I will just give it time and play with it I guess. Maybe I will order a AB special along with a purple plus next order and try different combo/arrangements. Thanks again! :thumbsup:

 

[Joeb1983]

Got home from work and it was still very blue even after 5+ hours of being on, so I swapped the order of bulbs and it had little to no effect.

For some reason the Blue Plus is extremely bright and seems to just wash out the Coral Plus.

I will be ordering a AquaBlue special to replace a Coral Plus and possibly a true actinic to swap out with a Blue plus... At this point it will just be experimenting. Heck, I might even order a Purple plus as well... :lol2:

I understand I am very limited seeing how it is only a 4 bulb fixture, but I dont see the need for more light given how bright it is now.

 

[Joeb1983]

Ordered a AquaBlue special and true actinic, so we will see how that goes when they get here.

Also picked up a couple frags from my buddy who had some left over from a frag swap just to add a little color to the tank. If I see they are doing bad I will move them to my other tank, but params are good besides calcium being a tad high.

 

[Joeb1983]

Well, the blue has died down drastically and I am slowly getting used to it.

The ABS and true actininc bulbs came in today. Added the ABS and the corals lost a lot of pop, so I added the true actinic to see if it would make up for it.. Nope. That thing is so dim I barely even noticed a difference.

Live and learn. This hobby will make force me to have patience one of these days... Lol!

 

[Big E]

Lol........as long as you're happy now, that's all that counts.

 

[james30ct]

You could always add some blue led strips to give you the pop.

 

[Joeb1983]

Been busy with work, but I traded an old MTX amp for a new in the box Aqua Ultraviolet 15 watt UV with my buddy. Plumbed that in this past weekend.

I used a Stanley "snap track" utility hook to mount it. The curve in the hooks fit perfectly around the center of the unit and worked out rather nicley. I also utilized a extra pump I had and added a ball valve for flow adjustments as needed.

 

[Joeb1983]

Well, had a little issue that was 100% my fault. Sunday night I noticed my filter sock was backing up and needed to be replaced. It was splashing up a little bit, but not overflowing. I got the great idea that I would thow a dish towel next to the drain to reduce the over-spray and I would simply change the sock in the morning.

Well, over night while we slept the filter sock overflowed and the dish towel became a channel for water to flow out the back of the sump and flooded my room with about 6 gallons...

Lesson learned: Do not be lazy!

On a possitve note; I picked up a red lobo to nurse back to health. So far it seems to be making a turn for the better. It is traget feedig so thats a good sign. Only time will tell.

Seeing how its winter I threw in my Cobalt heater to reduce temp swings only to find out it was shocking me when I touched it. So I ordered a Finnex (I know...) Titanium delux heater to be run off my controller. It came yesterday and to my amazment it came with absolutely no mounting harware.

I thought it was simply left out the package, so I contacted Finnex only for them to confirm that it indeed does not come with mounting harware and only the heating element. I thought that was just odd... No big deal, heater mounts are cheap.