Our 375 Gallon project

[sidewinder770]

Here are a few more of the top down shot of the Purple coral you liked. I still have to get better at taking pictures. I also added one of a cleaner shrimp I was able to get a closeup of. It is a very cool lens and yes- it does pick up things you can't see with the naked eye.

 

[chetm2]

Looks great! Looks even better in person, the foam rockwork looks great in person, can't tell between the real rock and the manmade. Very, very cool setup. Congrats!

 

[Roll221]

Scott,

I may need to make time to come by and see the tank before or after the next meeting. Those are just amazing pics!!

Ed

 

[sidewinder770]

Thanks Chet- The foam is coming along nicely- it's really getting covered in coraline now and it is getting harder and harder to tell the difference between the foam and the rock.

Ed- you are more than welcome to stop by after one of the meetings if you can find time. I'm sure you try to get back on the road quickly after them since you have so far to drive. I've also enjoyed the progress pics of your tank and can't wait to see some of our coral as large as some of yours.

The next step is to get the stand skinned with wood- we are probably doing this ourselves after all- our cabinet guy completely flaked out on us (as well as other local reefers) and has very poor business ethics so rather than deal with something like that again we are getting the plans and everything ready to do it ourselves. Probably going with cherry wood with a mohogany type finish but not quite as dark. I'll try to post some pics of that once we get started on it.

We also ordered a Icecap T5 kit for the frag tank that should be in today. It will be nice to have that up and running and if all goes well and we like the T5 we will be adding some to the main display as well. We ended up getting 4- 24" bulbs run off a Icecap 660 ballast and from what I've heard it should work great. Of course I have to build a light rack to hold the fixtures but I think it is something we can have up and running by the end of this coming weekend. I'll try to post some pics of that as well.

 

[Desert Reef Inc]

I had the pleasure of seeing this beast in person the other day. I think I am going to have to pay to have his carpets cleaned as I could not stop drooling. The tank itself is great but I loved seeing the magic behind the curtain. Scott has this set up in such a way it just about runs itself.

Scott ,
Maybe you could host a show, something along the lines of "Pimp my Aquarium"

Incredible job Scott and Erin and thank you for sharing.
:smokin:

 

[JOSHUAB]

can't wait to see updates in the future!!

 

[JOSHUAB]

can't wait to see updates in the future!!

 

[rpeeples]

Sidewinder, could you provide some pics of your lighting scema? I am interested how you have the lights fixed on the canopy as well as where your ballast are stored. Thanks much and keep the inspiration coming

 

[levon15]

What a great tank and thread.

I cant believe a year long project was summed up in 16 pages. Where are the pics of that canopy and its lift system?

 

[sidewinder770]

Desert Reef Inc- No worries on the carpet- our dogs drool on it all the time . I love the "pimp my aquarium" comment- that would be a good show huh? Your welcome to see it anytime and hopefully I will have some of the "behind the scenes" pics up once we get the frag tank up and running as well as the calcium reactor. Thanks for the nice comments.

JOSHUAB & rpeeples - I'll try to keep the pics coming. I still need to take some pics of the canopy/light system but I was kind of trying to wait on that till the stand construction was finished and the T5 lighting was added so I could actually be the first one to finish one of my ideas . I think it's great that people are borrowing so much of my design but they all seem to finish it before I can

levon15- WOW- you're right- it's almost a year to the day since we started this thread- guess I'll have to put up a whole bunch of "Anniversary" pictures. And you're right- seems like there would be more than 16 pages to cover the whole year but at least those 16 pages contain a lot of pics huh?

I'll try to post more pics when I get a chance. I'm kind of in the "macro" mode- I just love the pictures with that lens so much I haven't taken many "normal" pictures of everything else.

 

[Poppy828]

Hey Scott.

Great tank. Looks nice.

How has the pond foam held up in the salt environment?

I am considering using it for my 120g to hide the closed loop inlets and outlets.

Thanks for your time,

Todd

 

[sidewinder770]

Todd- The foam has worked out great so far. It takes a while to get covered in coraline (just like base rock does) but have no problems yet. We used it in our tank previous to this one and it worked fine for well over 2 years (tore the tank down once this one was complete).

 

[Poppy828]

So the salt is not a factor in the break down of the foam? I talked to a pond supply store and they suggested I not use it.

However, looking at yours and your feedback makes me wonder if they did not know what they were recommending.

Looks great by the way and will do a nice job hiding the bulkheads.

Thanks,

Todd

 

[sidewinder770]

I really don't think the salt affects it. I wouldn't have used it ( or even considered it) in this tank if we ddin't use it in the previous tank with success for over 2 years. The pond supply store was probably giving you the "better safe than sorry" answer to something they haven't tried or know about. I suppose they could be right but I know the salt doesn't effect the foam for at least 2+ years and have no knowledge of it beyond that time frame but I would think if salt was going to do something bad to the foam it would take far less than 2 years to become apparent. But, of course, I could be wrong .

 

[Poppy828]

I agree with you. I guess you could always spray more over the affected part if it did happen.

I think I am going to make the investment in it and try it out. I really like the look it gives on the back wall. My wife does also which is key of course.

Thanks for the help. Tank is awesome by the way. Keep the pics coming.

Thanks,

Todd

 

[sidewinder770]

I also used it for the "rock supporting structures" which most people don't realize. If you look a few pages back you will see the full tank shots that show the whole rock structure and you really can't tell the difference between the rock and the foam but I used it to hide all the PVC that makes up the rock structures for the OM 4 way returns. In person most people can't tell that there is even foam holding the rocks up because it's almost completely covered in coraline now and looks just like rock- the back takes a little longer to get covered in coraline but I think that's just because the rock structures have the live rock on top of it and it spread quickly becuse it was touching it- I think I only have 1 piece of rock that touches the back wall.

 

[clkwrk]

Looking great Scott and Erin

BTW you can bring your camera to my house and take some of those amazing shots you can get with that macro .

 

[Poppy828]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6650516#post6650516 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sidewinder770
I also used it for the "rock supporting structures" which most people don't realize. If you look a few pages back you will see the full tank shots that show the whole rock structure and you really can't tell the difference between the rock and the foam but I used it to hide all the PVC that makes up the rock structures for the OM 4 way returns. In person most people can't tell that there is even foam holding the rocks up because it's almost completely covered in coraline now and looks just like rock- the back takes a little longer to get covered in coraline but I think that's just because the rock structures have the live rock on top of it and it spread quickly becuse it was touching it- I think I only have 1 piece of rock that touches the back wall.

Thanks for the help Scott. I plan to add a 4 Way OC to this tank also. Is on order as we speak. I am goign to run that off a Dart pump (closed loop) I drilled (1) 2" hole in the back for the intake of the pump and (4) 1" holes for the output of the 4 way. I chose to get the version 3 and version 2 drums. I plan to change them monthly so the tank has a varied flow each month. How do you like your 4 way so far?

The foam will come in handy covering these holes (bulkheads) and allowing me to put some rocks in it to make some ledges around the holes to conceal them. Just hope mine turns out as nice as yours. Does this stuff come off once it is cured?

Thanks,

Todd

 

[sidewinder770]

clkwrk- I'd be happy to bring the camera over to take some pics of your tank. I've been wanting to come over and see your tank (tanks ) for quite some time now- you have some very cool corals and your tank always look great- can't wait.

Poppy828- Sounds like you got a good plan. And yes, the foam can come off but not very easlily- I think if you wanted to take it off you could probably use a plastic putty knife or similar to get it off. It does "tear" off by hand but it does require some effort and won't come off by itself.

We spent a good part of the day working on the lighting for the frag tank and I think it's turned out pretty good so far. Here's a few pics of the "light rack" that I have made and I have a feeling the 4- 39w T5's driven by the Icecap 660 ballast will produce a lot of light and good color.

 

[melev]

Very nice. You know, maybe I should just put some T-5's over my prop section. I've been trying to make up my mind what I was to use down there. The section is 36 x 18, but it seems any light fixture I look at is so large it will be in my way. T-5's would give me a little space.

Where did you end up buying the endcaps, reflectors and bulbs? Which ballast did you use? I've got a few IceCap 430s over here, and a 660.