The Begining! 300DD build in-wall and basement fish room.

[DeepSeaBeauti]

So here it is finally full of water!!!!! Took a bit to get the over flows ballanced but they are quiet as can be. The one problem I must address is modify the over flows to get a bit more flow into them. More pictures to come, but here is one of it full of water after a week of filling with RO/DI. lol

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Updates:

Updates:

Since getting the tank filled with water I have found some places that needed to be addressed. For instance, since I now have two 1.5" drains in each overflow instead of one in each as designed from the factory, I needed to modify the overflow teeth. What I did was cut every other tooth out.

Here is a picture of the sump. I know its a mess but I just needed to get it set up quick to cycle the tank. As soon as the 125 is broken down I'm going to have the refugium from it connected to the system.

Here is what the tank looked like after adding 200lbs of sand, Even after rinsing the sand several times.

Here is a picture from this morning

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Started putting together my other MH fixture. This time I sprayed the inside with high temp clear and the out side with high temp flat black. Maybe this will keep the mirror finish shiny longer and easier to maintain.

Here's a shot of the 125, Half the aqua-scape is now removed. I'm doing it very slow so that I don't shock everyone too much or stir up the bottom too much.

Here's a shot of it moved to the 300. I may tweak it a bit more, I want to get the rest in first. I'm glad I was able to get the rock wall to work in here still.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Great pics and congrats on getting the tank filled.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Great pics and congrats on getting the tank filled.

Thanks,
This is a long time coming. I'm so happy to finally see my dream come together and to work properly. Good planing goes a long way with large systems. I hope to get the rest of the rock work in within a few days. Tonight I think I'm going to catch all the fish and move them over. Its a lot of work to keep two tanks going. That's over 500gal of water to keep clean. lol

 

[dave.m]

This time I sprayed the inside with high temp clear

Could you expand on this: name? brand? where found? Do you have any previous experience with this product to know whether it works or not?

Thx

Dave.M

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Could you expand on this: name? brand? where found? Do you have any previous experience with this product to know whether it works or not?

Thx

Dave.M

Hey Dave,
So Its just a high temp Clear Coat used for engine's. Ive used it plenty of times on cars I have built. Works great and is very durable. Its good to over 500deg F. You can buy it just about anywhere now a days ( auto parts store home depot, Lowes).
I don't know if it is going to last forever, but I do know that my other fixture was over the tank and was very badly corroded. I cleaned it up and replaced some of the panels and then cleared it. The other fixture I just assembled as you can see from the pictures.
The whole idea is to keep the metal sealed from the evaporation of the water. Sure once the bulb turns on it will dry it up and leave a salt residue, but it should be very easy to just wipe clean with mild soap during regular maintenance.

Ill take a few pictures of the two fixtures when I get home this evening so you can see the difference.

 

[dave.m]

"Automotive stuff" - okay, I don't know Automotive, so I will have to look into further. Thx

Dave.M

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

"Automotive stuff" - okay, I don't know Automotive, so I will have to look into further. Thx

Dave.M

lol, Ok So think shinny "BBQ" You know BBQ's right? As a matter of fact the black I used was called BBQ black. Has a picture of a Weber grill on the can.

Here's a link to the clear http://www.tcpglobal.com/SprayPaint...No=VHT+SP145&gclid=CPvf8bqi2LwCFY1QOgodXCUAYw

Here's a similar can for the black http://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-81601/Detail?gclid=COOgmoSj2LwCFURnOgodYX4AXg

Well as promised here are some pictures of the old light fixture that has been on my tank for about 2 years. was getting so bad I replaced 3 of the corner pieces, then scrubbed it down and cleared the inside and flat black painted the outside. They were un protected for those two years and as you can see it shows. its still not perfect but its much much better then it was (sorry I did not take a before picture.

Now these pictures show the fixture I just assembled. It is brand new, never used. I clear painted the inside and the same black to the outside. I'm hoping that this will keep it from looking like the other. And now that it has a nice coat on it that I will be able to wipe it clean once in a while to get the salt off from evaporation.

Here's a quick shot of the tank this morning. I was able to get all the fish moved last night without any problems, and I was able to get all the rock except for the other half of the rock wall. Maybe after Bio class tonight Ill move it. I don't have the halides over the tank yet because I need to move the ballast still. Currently there's only a t5 fixture with 10K and blue atinic's. Should have the halides in a day or two.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

After looking at the new fixture compared to the old one I decided to make another. Two others actually, One I may use to try some different light set ups. Ill post more pictures as it progresses. I'm also using a thicker material. The other fixtures were made from solar tubes that I uncoiled and laid out flat. These are made from one side polished sheets of aluminum 1/16th thick.

Here's the printed template ready to be cut out.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Are those fixtures supposed to have a glass shield?
I had the minis and they had a channel for glass.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Are those fixtures supposed to have a glass shield?
I had the minis and they had a channel for glass.

I'm not too sure, Ive never actually seen a real set in person. I built mine from scratch with the use of CAD software to make a print. I imagine if I was to use plate glass so it did not have any Uv filters it would work fine.

My main problem was the one that is heavily corroded was sitting right on top of the Light diffuser (egg crate) panels and the return from the refugium would splash on it constantly. The new tank does not have this problem because the fixtures are going to be hung. Sure I should still get condensation, but that's where the clear paint should help.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

sump leak

sump leak

So i noticed my tank seams to need a lot of top off water. As i was filling it from the sump in the basement i noticed the lower trim was all wet. I dried it off and checked again later and it was wet again. This was two days ago (been busy with midterms). This morning i checked and found water on the floor, i hope it holds together until i get a chance to get my 30gal online and break down the 55 sump to either reseal it or replace it.

 

[Pife]

Great idea on the lights. I'm interested in how well the clear holds up. Let us know how it looks in a month. I'm going to paint my back of mine now too.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Great idea on the lights. I'm interested in how well the clear holds up. Let us know how it looks in a month. I'm going to paint my back of mine now too.

So far there holding up great. I tell you, I can really see the difference in the two lights. The corroded one is much more defused and dull looking.

I'm currently working on two more fixtures I made out of a much thicker polished aluminum. Ill post pictures of them tomorrow.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

some updates

some updates

So after a far too long school semester I was finally able to get my 55 sump back in order( new silicone and moved the baffles for better bubble trap). Now have my sump room in a much better state and now can probably start to tidy up a bit better.

I also was able to get my 30gal refugium tank plumbed in and return to the 55 all being fed from the manifold off of the display. The biggest issue I had with this was the event of a power failure. The 30 gal would not have enough overflow room . So my solution, use a float valve to shut the the drain from the manifold therefore preventing the flood.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Got a chance to do my water test today seams everything is a bit low. Only thing spot on was my mag levels.
Alk 1.9
Ca 340
Mag 1350
Ph 8.2
temp 76F
PO .03ppm

I'm going to do a big water change tonight and retest in the morning after things have stabilized. I know somethings were stirred up after swapping the tanks in the basement. I'm thinking my PO levels are far larger then my test kit are showing.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

So everything is running well with my sump room back in order. Now I want to tackle the return lines going into the tank. I used the stock returns of the DD just had them come over the back of the tank instead of the overflow boxes. The problem is I get a vortex at times and then a slurping sound.
I was wondering what everyone else is doing for there returns on large tanks. I have two mp 40s for circulation but figured it maybe good to randomize the returns from the sump. Also how I should maybe try to return them.

 

[DeepSeaBeauti]

Took a couple pictures of the reflectors after a year being over my tank. As you can see the Clear coat heat paint has stood up very well!

 

[worm5406]

Very good. It has been a while, do you have a new FTS? Full tank shot.