New 265g from Portugal

[rmgaspar]

Done. So now the challenge is to level this.

I will use a special resin (auto leveling) used in parking lots to create a smooth surface for the aquarium. That will happen in three weeks time frame I hope.

Meanwhile at night in the hotels I saw tons of images of layouts to decide what I was going to do and finally I came to a layout I really like.

And that's it for now. At least two or three weeks doing nothing.

If I am lucky I want to have the tank in place by the end of February.

Meanwhile I ordered three Radion Gen3 to light the tank ... :bounce1::bounce1:

All the best,
Rui

 

[reefjunkie86]

It's coming along really nice so far. I really like that layout. Where in Portugal are you from?

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello Everyone !!!

It's coming along really nice so far. I really like that layout. Where in Portugal are you from?

I am from Torres Vedras. A little town 50km away from Lisbon to the North.

Anyway, I was able to take 3 day vacation and prepared the fish room to receive the tank that is going to arrive hopefully by the end of next week.

I got in the meanwhile the lightning for the aquarium. three Radion XR30 Pro with 120º lenses.

Also got my quarantine system.
three 100x30x40cm aquariums. The top one for Corals and the two bottom ones for fishes. They are going to be completely independent of each other.

Next thing was to wash all the equipment. Everything into 1:10 muriathic acid bath.

Also the quarantine aquariums to check for leaks as these were bought 2nd hand.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Continuing ...

I bought also the Rock. All death rock that is going to be treated with leach, muriathic acid and agent green (almost like sea Klear but from ATM)

And finally the work is done inside the fish room. Almost ready do receive the aquarium :bounce3::bounce3::bounce3:

This is just a small system to control Osmose and Quarantine

And the final looks ... I am very happy with the result.

Hope you like it.
It's almost finished a construction work journey that started August 5th last year.

All the best,
Rui

 

[dave.m]

Beautiful work!

Dave.M

 

[worm5406]

Very nice. So next week will be D-Day.

Looks like you are ready to go.

 

[pelphrey]

Never would have thought to lay brick for a monster tank. Great idea and it turned out welL!

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello everyone.

Long since I posted here. The "real" work is consuming all my time. I have one day per week at home for a long time now! :uhoh2:

Beautiful work!

Dave.M

Thanks!

Very nice. So next week will be D-Day.

Looks like you are ready to go.

It was the D-Day. A Terrible D-Day. I will explain why

Never would have thought to lay brick for a monster tank. Great idea and it turned out welL!

Be careful when you plan this. Always be sure that your structure is leveled.


So back to point ...

I had a lot of work just removing all the paint from the Quarantine stand:

Painted.

I leveraged the time to change the lenses to the Radions. Now with 120º lenses

And I made a replica of the hanging kit.

They do not stay straight and I hated. So later you will see that I changed it.

I finished the frame also.

Nice ambient ...

Next post ...

 

[rmgaspar]

Continuing ...

I bought this to make a new support for the Radion

And with a simple contraption

Here a small video of the effect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx8RSmN4tJw

Also I started the Cable Management. One of the things I always hated in my reefs and that I think I managed to tackle it properly now.

Before

After:

Next was time to treat the Pukani Rock!

Continues ...

 

[rmgaspar]

Continuing ...



Step #1 - Pressure wash
Step #2 - Bleach for 24h

Step #3 - Pressure wash again
Step #4 - Muriathic Acid in the ration of 1:10 for 15m

After 1m:

After 5m:

After 10m:

After 15m:

Step #5: Back to RO + Sodium Bicarbonate to eliminate the acid.

Step #6: NSW with circulation pump and Lanthanium.

Still in NSW as I haven't filled the display tank since March 9.

The values I read initially was: 1.41

Now with Water Change I manage the values between 0.02 and 0.03

Continues

 

[rmgaspar]

Continuing ...

So this brings us to March 11.

I went to pay the aquarium and arrange for transportation.

After seeing it ... I was a happy man ... too bad the happiness did not last.

The Delivery:

I had to give a help ...

Continues ...

 

[rmgaspar]

Continuing ...

Supervising ...

And started to fill with TAP water to check for leaks ...

And then my hapiness .... CRASHED !!!!

With the aquarium full I heard a huge crack ...

The eurobrace broke: :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:

This resulted in removing the aquarium (two weeks delay), level the stand and repair the aquarium

 

[rmgaspar]

Continuing ...

Meanwhile a friend of mine took is aquarium apart and gave me one of his fish that does not fit in his new tank!

I moved it into quarentine.

So April 20th the aquarium got repaired:

I made also 4 aditional holes in the lateral glass to compensate the strength of the tunzes.

I had to took a little part of the ceiling to put water in the fish room

I made the holes to the stand and level it ...

 

[rmgaspar]

Aquarium silicone cured.

And the side glass with the protections.

So this brings me to today ...

So today ... I am moving out of the country again ... Moving to sunny LONDON :lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:

I will try to put the aquarium in place next weekend but since is a big one due to workers day I don't know if I can find the people to do it.

Let's see ... SLOW PROGRESS ... I am getting MAD :blown:

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello ,

Since I had sometime without getting help to put the aquarium in place, I managed to finish the construction work inside.

Meanwhile four volunteers came and we put the tank in place.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

It was May 14th ...

I filled the aquarium with tap water to check for leaks and to see if the support we put in middle of the tank solved the problem. Everything was ok after a few days so I started the plumbing part.

This is just one of the side as I have to overflow boxes.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

After what happened to my last tank (a family member spilled water over the electrical part) I decided to post some warnings.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

May 25th I finished all the construction work and painting was the only thing missing.

And during that week I completed the plumbing and the manifold.

By May 28th I have finished the plumbing.

Video of the aquarium full of water.
youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPX11LpzQD0


As you can see in my next picture ... I have fully achieved my goal for this tank construction wise. Not to see any pump, not to see any return, not to see any wire inside and not to see the water line or silicone.

I am very happy!

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

June 12th I finish the painting ... and finally I started to fill the tank.

I pickup by hand 1000l of NSW lifting almost 3 tons by my self in one day ...

The weekend after a friend helped me to get 700l more to keep as backup for water changes.

Filling ...

Still dirty from the construction dust

Finally I went on vacations with my family. I configured the remote access to APEX and started configure remotely.

I added the WXM module to control the Radion.

I created this profile that I have then replicated in profiles to put the light to follow the season table from APEX. I have everything following the season table!

I also put the rock inside the tank to start the cycle and just left it there.

At this stage the APEX dashboard is just funny! not real usefull.

All the best,
Rui

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello again,

And the photo that was missing ...

Testing the moon-light with the Radions. Even at 1% white, blue and royal blue it seems to me lots of light.

Last monday I started to work again. So the progress from now will be slow again.

Today I took a picture from my home desk ...

Meanwhile my SUMP is leaking. So I emptied everything and the SUMP is drying to put silicone inside around all the joints.

By now as two friend of mine either quit or moved to a smaller tank I keep two fishes that are going to be in the display three of four months after the cycle ends. I want to start first with CUC and Corals before I introduce fish.

But they are beautifull and happy in a 100l tank ... (one of the three I have for quarentine)

The gold flake and the Olivaceus.

I also did today the cables to connect the tunze pumps to APEX and tested the profiles.

Next step ... glue the SUMP, let it cure and assemble everything.
I also want to try to do the scape this week.

And that's it by now. I AM ALMOST THERE ....

All the best,
Rui