SUPPOReefer's 280g Starphire Build (AKA: The Home Wrecker)
- Thread starter SUPPOReefer
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SUPPOReefer
New member
Thanks, Dan. Yes, I learned my lessons about the need for true union ball valves after having to completely empty my 90 when I had to replace an impeller on the closed loop pump. :debi:
SUPPOReefer
New member
Well, yesterday was a busy one. After waking up at 5:30 on the ship, I rushed home and got to work finishing up the rock scape.
I didn't take many shots of the actual process (only have two hands) but it was fairly simple. I created a scale footprint of the tank on my back deck. I played around with structures until I found rocks that fit well together. I would then drill holes in both rocks with a masonry bit, insert a piece of 1/4" fiberglass rod ($1.99 for 4' at Lowes) and apply mortar to the two pieces. If I wanted rocks to come off at crazy angles or create shelves coming off of a main structure, I would support the other end with anything that was handy (algae scraper, 5 gallon bucket, drill, another rock...)
Here is a shot of the right structure taking form on the back porch.
After curing overnight, it was time to bring them in and place then in the tank.
The center structure fell and seperated into two pieces once in the tank
I didn't know until I had them in the tank how I was going to place them. The plan was never for three pilars (right, left, center) I knew that i wanted one larger structure and one smaller. I decided to make the left structure larger, by placing the small "center piece" forward and to the right of the right structure.
FTS with the updated scape.
SHot from above showing the depth of the scape.
I am very happy with it. Not quite to chingchai standards, but being my first attempt at anything besides a wall of rock, I like it. Despite having close to 200 pounds of rock in the display, there is ver little touching the bottom. Should make detritus removal a breeze.
ON another note, I have asked my wife for a DSLR for Christmas. For those of you still tagging along, I should have much better pictures in a few months.
I didn't take many shots of the actual process (only have two hands) but it was fairly simple. I created a scale footprint of the tank on my back deck. I played around with structures until I found rocks that fit well together. I would then drill holes in both rocks with a masonry bit, insert a piece of 1/4" fiberglass rod ($1.99 for 4' at Lowes) and apply mortar to the two pieces. If I wanted rocks to come off at crazy angles or create shelves coming off of a main structure, I would support the other end with anything that was handy (algae scraper, 5 gallon bucket, drill, another rock...)
Here is a shot of the right structure taking form on the back porch.
After curing overnight, it was time to bring them in and place then in the tank.
The center structure fell and seperated into two pieces once in the tank
I didn't know until I had them in the tank how I was going to place them. The plan was never for three pilars (right, left, center) I knew that i wanted one larger structure and one smaller. I decided to make the left structure larger, by placing the small "center piece" forward and to the right of the right structure.
FTS with the updated scape.
SHot from above showing the depth of the scape.
I am very happy with it. Not quite to chingchai standards, but being my first attempt at anything besides a wall of rock, I like it. Despite having close to 200 pounds of rock in the display, there is ver little touching the bottom. Should make detritus removal a breeze.
ON another note, I have asked my wife for a DSLR for Christmas. For those of you still tagging along, I should have much better pictures in a few months.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Nice job on the scaping. Even the rescape looks good.
SUPPOReefer
New member
Thanks! Looking forward to seeing your scape. You have challenges that I didn't have to worry about with a center overflow. I am sure that you will take your time and it will turn out amazing. I think I spent around 20 hours total working on my scape. I plumbed the tank in well under half that time.
SUPPOReefer
New member
Last night I conducted another leak test. Good thing too! The leaking bulkhead from before was fixed, but one of the closed loop return lines started leaking. I gues I torqued it while changing out pumps. On a positive note. Although the 100 is not any qiter than the 70rlt, the wife said that she is fine with the noise. I think she just wants me to be done with the project (and she doesn't want me to spend an additional $3k on mp60s and mp40s). 
Headed down to Miami for the week, so no updates until after Thanksgiving. Early Happy Turkeyday to everyone.
Headed down to Miami for the week, so no updates until after Thanksgiving. Early Happy Turkeyday to everyone.
SUPPOReefer
New member
Wavy sea return pushing 1000 gph and an Iwaki 100rlt closed loop pump pushing 3 edutors on each side.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
20 hours? :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm: Well thanks. My aquascape just went to another level. Yes mine will be a challenge but I will have to see when its all said and done.
SUPPOReefer
New member
After a few weeks away from home, I conducted another leak test before filling with salt water. I found a leak in the supply side of my closed loop. So frustrating. If I don't get it fixed tomorrow, I am leaving town and I will have to wait another two weeks to fill with salt. I guess I should just be thankful that I discovered before filling it with salt water, but it is hard to be thankful for a setback.
B1N4RY
New member
Well just think of it this way. Be glad you found it now because it would probably set you back even further if you were gone for two weeks and didn't know about the leak. That would probably set you back even further. Better to double check and do it right.
petere1989
New member
nice tank. cant wait to see updates!
SUPPOReefer
New member
I know. It is just frustrating. I took my time and planned this thing for months. I had a professional plumber help and this is the second leak I have found.
I had all of the plumbing done over a month ago. My work schedule has been nuts the last month. I have only been home for a few days this month and leave for ten more days on Wednesday. If I don't get the leak fixed tomorrow, I won't be able to start the livestock transfer until after the new year. :headwallblue:
B1N4RY
New member
I know what you mean. My 10 gallon freshwater resevior tank just sprung a leak from a hairline crack. I have no clue how the crack got their and I just changed my eshopps skimmer to a super reef octopus 1000int and I am wishing I had not from issues.
SUPPOReefer
New member
Well, yesterday was a day of up and downs.
The day started off fantastic. I had posted locally to trade an android tablet that I picked up for some coral. A local reefer just moved houses and is in the process of breaking down his old tank to move to the new one. He told me to bring some 5g buckets and that I would leave happy. He was right. I was smiling ear to ear on the way home.
Spent the next few hours acclimating and placing coral in the tank. And then began work on replacing the leaking bulkhead. This is where my day took a turn for the worse. If you had told me a few days ago that I would look back with disdain on a day that I recieve large beautiful colonies of coral, I would have called you a liar. It happened.
When installing the bulkhead, I only placed enough PVC into the slip (bottom side) to ensure a good seal. I did not plan for having to remove the bulkhead in the future. Because of where the bulkhead sits (right next to a corner of 2" steel frame) there was no way for me to get a PVC cutter near the bulkhead. So, I thought I would just dremel through the elbow. After running through a dozen cheap cutting disks trying to cut through the elbow and pvc and only making it a quarter though the elbow, unfortunately, I had a bright idea.
After 34 years of being alive and seeing the chaos that results from my bright ideas, for some reason, I still act on them. My bright idea ( mistake #1) was to dremel through the bulkhead since it will be much thinner than an elbow and PVC pipe. In order to dremel the plastic, I had to pull the water change tank out, lie on my back, extend my arm all of the way up, get the dremel in position and then turn my head so that I avoided getting the burning plastic/ dremel disk shrapnel that was being spewed in every direction (mistake #2).
Needless to say, I made a bloody mess. I did get through the bulkhead eventually (after only 5 cutting disks), but the bottom of the bulkhead now looked like someone had taken an acetylene torch to it. In order to ensure that I only cut through the bulkhead and avoided the PVC, I cut as close to bulkhead tensioner as possible (mistake #3). Now, I had no way to remove the tensioner. :furious:
I was able to move the tensioner down approximately 1/4" and dremel it off. But the bottom of the bulkhead looked like a plastic factory located too close to Chernobyl. What I failed to recall, until after the tensioner was removed, was that the center hole had about .05" of clearance to fit the bulkhead. There was no way to pull the bulkhead out from above. This is about 2 hours into the process for those of you still reading.
Since I couldn't tackle the problem from below, I tried to tackle it from above. Problem with this is that my two drain pipes are located in the overflow box (obviously) in close proximity to the bulkhead that I was working on. By standing on a stool and reaching my arm between the two overflows, I was able to hold the dremel and move my hand a few inches in any direction. To ensure that the dremel didn't come in contact with the glass, I cut a 2x4 and raised the bulkhead as high as it would go from the bottom (about 1/4"). It was around this point that I seriously considered starting smoking again. :smokin:
I talked myself out of the drive to the gas station for cigarettes and started to work on cutting away the top of the bulkhead. After quickly burning through the last of my cutting disks (3) removing half of the top, I resorted to installing a thin masonry bit in the dremel and essentially melting away the top of the bulkhead. The bit moved much slower than the disks, but when you factor in not having to stop every min to spend 2 minutes changing out a disk, it was probably much faster.
So at the end of the day, it took approximately 15 cutting disks, 1 2x4, four painful hours, and one sore back, but I finally got the darn thing out. I was too frustrated to put the new one in. It was right at this point that my wife got home from work and asked what I did all day. :headwally:
The day started off fantastic. I had posted locally to trade an android tablet that I picked up for some coral. A local reefer just moved houses and is in the process of breaking down his old tank to move to the new one. He told me to bring some 5g buckets and that I would leave happy. He was right. I was smiling ear to ear on the way home.
Spent the next few hours acclimating and placing coral in the tank. And then began work on replacing the leaking bulkhead. This is where my day took a turn for the worse. If you had told me a few days ago that I would look back with disdain on a day that I recieve large beautiful colonies of coral, I would have called you a liar. It happened.
When installing the bulkhead, I only placed enough PVC into the slip (bottom side) to ensure a good seal. I did not plan for having to remove the bulkhead in the future. Because of where the bulkhead sits (right next to a corner of 2" steel frame) there was no way for me to get a PVC cutter near the bulkhead. So, I thought I would just dremel through the elbow. After running through a dozen cheap cutting disks trying to cut through the elbow and pvc and only making it a quarter though the elbow, unfortunately, I had a bright idea.
After 34 years of being alive and seeing the chaos that results from my bright ideas, for some reason, I still act on them. My bright idea ( mistake #1) was to dremel through the bulkhead since it will be much thinner than an elbow and PVC pipe. In order to dremel the plastic, I had to pull the water change tank out, lie on my back, extend my arm all of the way up, get the dremel in position and then turn my head so that I avoided getting the burning plastic/ dremel disk shrapnel that was being spewed in every direction (mistake #2).
Needless to say, I made a bloody mess. I did get through the bulkhead eventually (after only 5 cutting disks), but the bottom of the bulkhead now looked like someone had taken an acetylene torch to it. In order to ensure that I only cut through the bulkhead and avoided the PVC, I cut as close to bulkhead tensioner as possible (mistake #3). Now, I had no way to remove the tensioner. :furious:
I was able to move the tensioner down approximately 1/4" and dremel it off. But the bottom of the bulkhead looked like a plastic factory located too close to Chernobyl. What I failed to recall, until after the tensioner was removed, was that the center hole had about .05" of clearance to fit the bulkhead. There was no way to pull the bulkhead out from above. This is about 2 hours into the process for those of you still reading.
Since I couldn't tackle the problem from below, I tried to tackle it from above. Problem with this is that my two drain pipes are located in the overflow box (obviously) in close proximity to the bulkhead that I was working on. By standing on a stool and reaching my arm between the two overflows, I was able to hold the dremel and move my hand a few inches in any direction. To ensure that the dremel didn't come in contact with the glass, I cut a 2x4 and raised the bulkhead as high as it would go from the bottom (about 1/4"). It was around this point that I seriously considered starting smoking again. :smokin:
I talked myself out of the drive to the gas station for cigarettes and started to work on cutting away the top of the bulkhead. After quickly burning through the last of my cutting disks (3) removing half of the top, I resorted to installing a thin masonry bit in the dremel and essentially melting away the top of the bulkhead. The bit moved much slower than the disks, but when you factor in not having to stop every min to spend 2 minutes changing out a disk, it was probably much faster.
So at the end of the day, it took approximately 15 cutting disks, 1 2x4, four painful hours, and one sore back, but I finally got the darn thing out. I was too frustrated to put the new one in. It was right at this point that my wife got home from work and asked what I did all day. :headwally:
SUPPOReefer
New member
Feeling better after a day away from the tank. My back is still too sore to work on plumbing. Here are a few pics of a few of the coral I picked up the other day. I can't wait until Santa brings me a real camera for Christmas. Taking quality pics with my camera phone is beyond me.
Red Cap and birdsnest:
Green Cap:
Red Cap and birdsnest:
Green Cap:
SUPPOReefer
New member
Thanks, loser. They make everything else in the tank look small. I had gotten used to looking at my mini colonies (2-4"). These caps dwarf everything else and make them look like little frags again. Oh well. I guess it is a good problem to have.
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