my turn - 525
- Thread starter porthios
- Start date
hey brandon!
yep, tx5 is great. that 40b really digs those lights.
i seriously considered t5's for the big tank (and i may still use them for supplemental as needed) but i'm still hoping for an open top look and i couldn't make them work. if i'd found an easily obtainable 8' fixture i'd have gone t5 for sure.
i'm a little curious to see how the 4 lumen brights perform in my case. i don't mind darker sides (might prefer it a bit actually - less wiping, scraping of the acrylic, etc.) but i don't just want a strip of light down the center either. i can mount the bulbs as high as 25" above the water so i should be able to get a good spread.
i have an apogee par meter so i'll play with it a bit and see how i do.
i remember you recommending a specific magnet for tanks this thick but i can't remember which you liked..
yep, tx5 is great. that 40b really digs those lights.
i seriously considered t5's for the big tank (and i may still use them for supplemental as needed) but i'm still hoping for an open top look and i couldn't make them work. if i'd found an easily obtainable 8' fixture i'd have gone t5 for sure.
i'm a little curious to see how the 4 lumen brights perform in my case. i don't mind darker sides (might prefer it a bit actually - less wiping, scraping of the acrylic, etc.) but i don't just want a strip of light down the center either. i can mount the bulbs as high as 25" above the water so i should be able to get a good spread.
i have an apogee par meter so i'll play with it a bit and see how i do.
i remember you recommending a specific magnet for tanks this thick but i can't remember which you liked..
bmwardo
New member
Sounds good. As far as magnets go, we seem to have better luck with adding a dobie pad on the inside rather than using a specific magnet. I don't know if you have seen the thread or not but we go over out basic cleaning method with our magfloat 1000 pro. I would give you the link but we have already hit our max bandwidth for the month. Just like any "acrylic safe" magnet I would never use it straight on the acrylic.
We use those blue shop towels (paper towels) that you can buy at Home Depot, and probably even Auto care shops, between the acrylic and the magnet when we need to get a light dusting of algae off. For diatoms we add in the Dobie pads, which works wonders, the only Kent scrapper work we do is just above the sandbed. You might like going with one of those larger magfloats over a magnavore simply because you will have so much surface area to cover.
We use those blue shop towels (paper towels) that you can buy at Home Depot, and probably even Auto care shops, between the acrylic and the magnet when we need to get a light dusting of algae off. For diatoms we add in the Dobie pads, which works wonders, the only Kent scrapper work we do is just above the sandbed. You might like going with one of those larger magfloats over a magnavore simply because you will have so much surface area to cover.
tgfrench - good idea. i'll make sure that's not the case.
tanya - ty. now you need to come aquascape it for me.
the tank builder has come by to tweak the tank for me a bit. they added a .5" round over to the outer edge of the top and installed the weir i mentioned earlier. here's a pic of the weir installed at its lowest positiion.
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i've also cleaned, etched, crack sealed and epoxied the new fish room floor.
i plan to get started on the plumbing, reinforce the floor joists, and hang my temporary light rack this weekend. when the remainder of my plumbing arrives from savko (next week hopefully), i'll get her wet..
tanya - ty. now you need to come aquascape it for me.
the tank builder has come by to tweak the tank for me a bit. they added a .5" round over to the outer edge of the top and installed the weir i mentioned earlier. here's a pic of the weir installed at its lowest positiion.
i've also cleaned, etched, crack sealed and epoxied the new fish room floor.
i plan to get started on the plumbing, reinforce the floor joists, and hang my temporary light rack this weekend. when the remainder of my plumbing arrives from savko (next week hopefully), i'll get her wet..
looking good so far
NanoReefWanabe
Active member
looks awesome...how did yo support the underside of the tank? i mean the top of the stand under the plywood?
did you run beams under it as well? just curious as the tank sitting 8" inside the perimeter beams seems like an awful lot of weight for the plywood to hold up...
your planning and design is impeccable and i am sure you have thought of this i would just like to see how you treated the situation...
did you run beams under it as well? just curious as the tank sitting 8" inside the perimeter beams seems like an awful lot of weight for the plywood to hold up...
your planning and design is impeccable and i am sure you have thought of this i would just like to see how you treated the situation...
thanks all. please keep the questions and suggestions coming. i'm positive i haven't thought of everything..
here are a couple pics of the stand that may explain a bit. the osb sits on a standard 2x4 frame with joists 12" on center. that frame sits on a doubled up 2x4 beam, which sits on a double capped 'wall'.
i had to cut the joist in the corner to make room for the plumbing. when i figure out what that's going to look like, i'll clean it up.
didn't get nearly as much done as i'd hoped due to holiday social events and a 3hr. noise moratorium during the bronco game. <sigh> the trials of having a sports fan for a wife..
i did manage to get the floor reinforced so i'll probly start filling the tank tomorrow if i can figure out how i'm gonna get the water up from the basement.
here are a couple pics of the stand that may explain a bit. the osb sits on a standard 2x4 frame with joists 12" on center. that frame sits on a doubled up 2x4 beam, which sits on a double capped 'wall'.
i had to cut the joist in the corner to make room for the plumbing. when i figure out what that's going to look like, i'll clean it up.
didn't get nearly as much done as i'd hoped due to holiday social events and a 3hr. noise moratorium during the bronco game. <sigh> the trials of having a sports fan for a wife..
i did manage to get the floor reinforced so i'll probly start filling the tank tomorrow if i can figure out how i'm gonna get the water up from the basement.
well, now that the holiday social gatherings are through for a bit..
tank's about 1/3 full and i have the 100lbs of new live rock in it. the rock's been curing for about 1.5mos. in a stock tank but i'm going to watch it for pests for a week or so. i'll throw a shrimp in and see what comes hunting
.
i have 990lbs of dry sand otw which i hope will arrive sometime this week. i've hung a temporary light rack and will get the pendants hung tomorrow. i want to play with their height and configuration a bit before building something more permanent.
the lumber to frame the fish room arrives on tuesday so i hope to have more to show soon.
tank's about 1/3 full and i have the 100lbs of new live rock in it. the rock's been curing for about 1.5mos. in a stock tank but i'm going to watch it for pests for a week or so. i'll throw a shrimp in and see what comes hunting
.i have 990lbs of dry sand otw which i hope will arrive sometime this week. i've hung a temporary light rack and will get the pendants hung tomorrow. i want to play with their height and configuration a bit before building something more permanent.
the lumber to frame the fish room arrives on tuesday so i hope to have more to show soon.
the pendants will sit on top of the rack, not hang from it if that's what you're thinking. that's about as high as it'll go before the pendants touch the bottom of the soffit. the bulbs should end up about 24" above the water at the highest adjustment i have available.
that should be high enough to get a decent spread no?
that should be high enough to get a decent spread no?
ok, lots has happened but hardly anything's complete to show you guys. there is sand (ended up using 900lbs.), rock and saltwater in the tank and the fish room is 80% framed. i'll get a pic of the tank asap and the fish room when the framing's done.
in the meantime, i have to be pretty comfortable with my fish room layout before i can run the electrical and drywall. here are a few pics of my proposed layout. please offer any input you can think of.
the dark blue cylinders are brute's for di and saltwater. the black one is the sump, a 100g rubbermaid stock tank. the oj cube is a work table. the green is the utility sink. the red box on the wall will be the power center and the little black box is the return pump.
the four tanks on the shelves will be a quarantine tank, chaeto tank, frag tank and possibly a seagrass tank. i have room for two 120g's on the top shelves and 18"h tanks on the lower shelves. the actual tanks i end up using may be smaller but i wanted to have enough space for (4) 4'x2' footprinted tanks.
i plan to feed the tanks with the plumbing shown, note the drawing does not include the return from any of the tanks including the display tank above the room.
thanks for watching.
in the meantime, i have to be pretty comfortable with my fish room layout before i can run the electrical and drywall. here are a few pics of my proposed layout. please offer any input you can think of.
the dark blue cylinders are brute's for di and saltwater. the black one is the sump, a 100g rubbermaid stock tank. the oj cube is a work table. the green is the utility sink. the red box on the wall will be the power center and the little black box is the return pump.
the four tanks on the shelves will be a quarantine tank, chaeto tank, frag tank and possibly a seagrass tank. i have room for two 120g's on the top shelves and 18"h tanks on the lower shelves. the actual tanks i end up using may be smaller but i wanted to have enough space for (4) 4'x2' footprinted tanks.
i plan to feed the tanks with the plumbing shown, note the drawing does not include the return from any of the tanks including the display tank above the room.
thanks for watching
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