ReeferChris's In-Wall Thread

Looks great! Great choice on the overflow box...I almost went with the glass holes before I chose to go external...good choice on the placement too.

Edit and LOL....RC starred out the brand name "glass holes" when spelled together because well, look what comes after the gl....haha.
 
Lol, I was trying to figure out why glass holes came out that way. Yea the overflow was actually Felix's idea which I am glad I went with as well as the placement, when you look through the front you barely see it.

I am going to put the rock in today and start making water, to let this tank start cycling. Not a lot is going to be going on during the next month or so when its cycling since I am broke right now, lol.
 
Ok got the rocks in. I have a few more pieces I might add, just don't know yet. I like the open look so will see. Also started to add water, already had my first overflow (forgot that I left the RO/DI on and it filled up the 100 gallon stock tank, lol). I still need to get salt, does anybody recommend one brand over another? and also does anybody know where to get some salt at a good price? Well let me know what you guys think IMGP0195.jpg

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I like the open look. It gives room for corals to grow and you can always add more in the future if you decide to.
Looks good though.
 
Added the sand the other night and threw in a few raw shrimps to start the cycle. Can't see anything now but will once it all clears up.
 
Ok got the the skimmer stand made, and also installed some bubble towers to eliminate micro bubbles in the sump so that not as many get into the display. Although i must say before i added the sand and the water got cloudy i could not see any. Also threw a few raw shrimp to start the cycle off since I'm using marco rocks. Turned on the skimmer to break it in since its been sitting around about 6 months or so, give or take. This is what it started producing in as little as an hour. And as you can see the water is still cloudy, lol. Oh and excuse me for the bad cell pics, i couldn't find the camera, lol.
 

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Ok so my next step will be looking into lighting. Im going to go with MH retro system but I've never had a MH system. So if anyone could let me know which ones would be good and which ones i should stay away from that would be great. Thanks in advance for any help.

-Chris
 
Ok its been a while since I've updated the build thread, but not a lot has happened. Cycled the tank for about a month/month and half. Added some fish but taking it real slow. So far I added 4 blue/green chromis, and then a small snowflake eel (I know some people may not agree with adding a eel in a reef tank, but I've always wanted an eel and never have bought one do to not having the correct size to keep them in. So far it been real nice and not attacked any of the chromis, they actually sleep in the same rock. And I've also been making sure the eel is feed well so as for it not to need to feed on the chromis or any other fish i add later on.) Still haven't added the lights, so no coral yet. For now I'm just using the lights that are in the fish room to light up the aquarium, but as soon as I get the money I will be adding the lights and start to transfer some of the coral i have in my current set up, and also start looking around for some cool frags to add. Here are a couple of pictures of the fish room. Added a shelving unit to hold the refugium and the quarantine tank. It's actually stronger than what i though it would be and actually got up there with some buckets of water to make sure that it could hold the weight i need it to hold which is actually less than what the unit says it can hold. Sorry for the crappy pics, i have no idea were I left my camera after coming back from Key West, so i used my camera phone.
 

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Ok been a while since an update. So far i have slowly added 1 Blue Tang, 1 Naso Tang, 3 Blue/Green Chromis, and a snowflake eel. Everybody is getting along great, they are all healthy and eating. Got the lights in the other day and hopefully will be setting them up soon, and then start adding some coral. The outside aquarium frame was also just put in yesterday. It's taken a while but everything is coming along great. Here are some pictures of the frame, let me know what you all think.

-Chris
 

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Thanks everyone for the compliments, yea this is all in the family room which is open to the kitchen so it's nice that everyone can enjoy it while being in that area. The pool table is not as close as close to the aquarium as it seems in the picture i'd say about 5 feet. And snakeman2198 I still live at home with my parents so the only kids are me and my sister which although im 23 and she's 21 we can act like kids sometimes, lol. But yea when we have people over i do get a little nervous. My friends know not to hit hard or jump the ball in that direction. But when we have more people over i usually tell them to be careful and so far they do listen, but if they do start to do stupid things i will loose their privileges, and the next time there wont be any cue sticks, lol.

Hey reefsahoy hows it going? Yea it does look like a dog a little, lol. The structure on the left im not really happy with, looks to much man made so i will be thinking of things to do to it to change it up a bit. No i haven't had a chance to make the plugs yet for the lights. I ended up going to ft. lauderdale on saturday after picking up the plugs and didn't make it down until tonight. Thanks again for the plugs, and if you ever need a hand or something just let me know.

-Chris
 
I would hope one of the pool balls doesn't hop off the table into that tank. I don't think its a good idea to have them both in the same room. imo. ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE KIDS LIKE MINE. :eek1:

AGREE !100% I've actually seen this happen and it was not pretty.:hammer:
 
thanks everyone for the concern about the pool ball flying out. Believe me I am very nervous about that too. Hopefully this never happens (knock on wood).

reefsahoy I hooked up the lights the other day and it went perfect and a clean job. Thanks again for the connectors.

Next step is setting up the lights on the aquarium. Have some ideas in my head (which can be quite scary, and most of the time expensive, lol) so probably head over to HD tomorrow and see about getting some type of aluminum "L" shaped tubing and making a square for the lights to rest on. Then having each square hanging with chains to some type of roller system that way i can just slide the lights out of the way independently to work on the aquarium. But this is all up in the air and who knows what crazy idea i get at HD. Will post pics as i go along.
 
Ok so i got the lamps hung the other day. I went to home depot and found the sliding closet door rails. Each hanger is rated for 60 lbs (so the box says), it's actually very study. Ran into a problem when I went to put on the second ballast. They sent me the wrong one (they sent a 400w 220v instead a 120v) but icecap is sending me the right one and it should all be ready for next week. Here are some pics of the light rail, will put some up of the display side once i get the other ballast installed. Let me know what you guys think of it.

-Chris
 

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ok so i got a few pictures of the viewing side. The picture shows there being a spotlight effect but in person its not as bad. hopefully with the other light this will not be an issue. Also got some pictures of the fish i have in there. At the moment I have 2 blue/green chromis, 1 blue tang, 1 naso tang, 1 snowflake eel. Also i have a coral beauty and a fox face in quarantine, I've had them in there for a day and they are looking very good, active and feeding a lot. Didn't take a picture of them so as to not stress them out. Well here are some pictures.
-Chris
 

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