rdmpe
New member
Well, I finally decided to ditch the freshwater tanks and get one good sized saltwater tank. I started out planning to do FOWLR while buying equipment with a reef tank in mind. However, I'm now planning to just work slowly (oh so slowly) toward a reef tank without getting loaded up on fish to start.
I bought a used 180g tank, but then decided that it was just too beat up and scratched to live with. So I decided on a new 180g. You can read all about my experience with www.GlassCages.com and see lots of detailed pictures of the tank here http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=627299 . Or in summary, a very positive experience and an excellent value IMO.
So I finally got this tank home. I think it must weigh 300 lbs. It seemed like the van was leaning toward the side that the tank was on.
The tank was built on 7/2/05 and I had it in my garage on 7/9/05. So I have to wait another two weeks or so before I can put water in it. I think it will be longer than that before I am ready for water...
My father is pretty good at woodworking and built me a nice rock solid stand. It is made from 3/4" oak veneer plywood, all nailed and glued. The top is a nice piece of 11-ply hardwood plywood that I picked up at Lowes for $30. They gave it to me cheap because it had some cosmetic damage that I didn't care about. That 11-ply is really nice and stiff. I also bought the required 3/4" styrofoam for under the tank.
So now I am figuring out where I need to cut holes in the top of the stand for the plumbing. What I have found is that a couple of my holes that are very close to the tank edge are going to also be very close to the inside surface of the stand wall. I think I MIGHT be able to get the bulkheads installed without too bad of a conflict, but it may end up being sort of a PITA.
Another thing I'm wondering about is how the heck I'm going to get the bulkheads on when the bulkhead nuts are way up inside a hole through all of that plywood and styrofoam. I don't want to cut the holes in the stand top too large, but I'm going to need to get hold of the bulkhead nut with a wrench or something right? What do people use to tighten the bulkheads up? I assume hand tight is not sufficient! So here's what I'm looking at for the holes...
There are six holes total. Two are at the far end opposite the overflow. They will be for 1.5" bulkheads to run a closed loop. Here is the overflow area with the bulkhead nuts sitting at the hole locations. The large ones are for 1.5" bulkheads, the smaller ones are for 1" bulkheads.
Here is a picture of the size if the bulkhead nuts, and the larger size showing the minimum space I think I need around the bulkheads. At this point I'm thinking I'll probably cut this whole area out in a trapezoidal shape, but haven't decided for sure yet. There just isn't really enough space for any wood to be left between the holes... I don't really like having that weak spot in the stand, but I think it will be OK. The tank is heavily reinforced around the overflow area, so that also makes me feel better about it. If you look closely, you can see that there is a line along the end of the stand at about 3/4" in. The smaller bulkhead nut circle is just hitting that line. That is showing that the bulkhead nuts are going to be slightly conflicting with the wall of the tank stand. I'm probably going to have to do some careful "adjusting" with the sawzall hehe...
I've also been working on collecting other equipment that I'll need. I picked up a used AquaC EV-180 with a Mag 7 for a great price. Also picked up a pinpoint salinity monitor and a milwaukee ph monitor. I have a couple of eheim 2213 canister filters that I'm going to make into a calcium reactor. I already have the co2 equipment from my homebrewing days. My next purchase will probably be an RO/DI unit, and eventually lights. I'm currently torn between the Maristar 250w mh w/T5 and the Tek fixtures (two of the 839w fixtures)... Still lots of research to do there.
So that's where I'm at right now. Next step is to get the top of the stand cut, get the tank on the stand with the bulkheads in and plugged, and get some water in this puppy. I'll be doing the first water test in the garage, hopefully there will not be any problems!!
I bought a used 180g tank, but then decided that it was just too beat up and scratched to live with. So I decided on a new 180g. You can read all about my experience with www.GlassCages.com and see lots of detailed pictures of the tank here http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=627299 . Or in summary, a very positive experience and an excellent value IMO.
So I finally got this tank home. I think it must weigh 300 lbs. It seemed like the van was leaning toward the side that the tank was on.
The tank was built on 7/2/05 and I had it in my garage on 7/9/05. So I have to wait another two weeks or so before I can put water in it. I think it will be longer than that before I am ready for water...
My father is pretty good at woodworking and built me a nice rock solid stand. It is made from 3/4" oak veneer plywood, all nailed and glued. The top is a nice piece of 11-ply hardwood plywood that I picked up at Lowes for $30. They gave it to me cheap because it had some cosmetic damage that I didn't care about. That 11-ply is really nice and stiff. I also bought the required 3/4" styrofoam for under the tank.
So now I am figuring out where I need to cut holes in the top of the stand for the plumbing. What I have found is that a couple of my holes that are very close to the tank edge are going to also be very close to the inside surface of the stand wall. I think I MIGHT be able to get the bulkheads installed without too bad of a conflict, but it may end up being sort of a PITA.
Another thing I'm wondering about is how the heck I'm going to get the bulkheads on when the bulkhead nuts are way up inside a hole through all of that plywood and styrofoam. I don't want to cut the holes in the stand top too large, but I'm going to need to get hold of the bulkhead nut with a wrench or something right? What do people use to tighten the bulkheads up? I assume hand tight is not sufficient! So here's what I'm looking at for the holes...
There are six holes total. Two are at the far end opposite the overflow. They will be for 1.5" bulkheads to run a closed loop. Here is the overflow area with the bulkhead nuts sitting at the hole locations. The large ones are for 1.5" bulkheads, the smaller ones are for 1" bulkheads.
Here is a picture of the size if the bulkhead nuts, and the larger size showing the minimum space I think I need around the bulkheads. At this point I'm thinking I'll probably cut this whole area out in a trapezoidal shape, but haven't decided for sure yet. There just isn't really enough space for any wood to be left between the holes... I don't really like having that weak spot in the stand, but I think it will be OK. The tank is heavily reinforced around the overflow area, so that also makes me feel better about it. If you look closely, you can see that there is a line along the end of the stand at about 3/4" in. The smaller bulkhead nut circle is just hitting that line. That is showing that the bulkhead nuts are going to be slightly conflicting with the wall of the tank stand. I'm probably going to have to do some careful "adjusting" with the sawzall hehe...
I've also been working on collecting other equipment that I'll need. I picked up a used AquaC EV-180 with a Mag 7 for a great price. Also picked up a pinpoint salinity monitor and a milwaukee ph monitor. I have a couple of eheim 2213 canister filters that I'm going to make into a calcium reactor. I already have the co2 equipment from my homebrewing days. My next purchase will probably be an RO/DI unit, and eventually lights. I'm currently torn between the Maristar 250w mh w/T5 and the Tek fixtures (two of the 839w fixtures)... Still lots of research to do there.
So that's where I'm at right now. Next step is to get the top of the stand cut, get the tank on the stand with the bulkheads in and plugged, and get some water in this puppy. I'll be doing the first water test in the garage, hopefully there will not be any problems!!
