The inwall 380 starfire reborn

[Sparkss]

The plywood top will be sealed with the 2 part epoxy paint just the same as the studs, sheetrock and header. And yea, the front of the stand is sitting on the house foundation elevation, which was 5" or so higher than that of the garage, which was part of the reason for the new pad . I did this so that the front of the tank would be close to flush with the sheetrock on the viewing side. All of the hollows between the studs is packed with insulation, but I may also still use the spray in foam to ensure a little measure of peace and quiet . As for vibration, yea, I thought about that also, but the only motors that will be in the tank will be 4 vortecs. How much vibration they set up is still left to be seen (or rather heard). The front of the stand is still an 1/8" off of the sheetrock, so it is not completely flush, I planned to seal that gap with a bead of clear silicone. Again back to the virbration, the return pum will be connected using spa-flex, and it will be fed off of the existing manifold, so there should be no vibration transmitted from that.

As for sealing the pad, I actually did seal it with concrete sealant, just not epoxy coating. I would havepreferred to epoxy coat it, but time was against me (in more ways than one.. my vacation time, that I am using to get this all done, is fast running out on me).

I did order some box track last night to put up for the lighting, so that I can roll it out of the way when I need to work on the tank. Hopefuly it will be here soned than later

Darned sheetrock mud was still wet this morning, so I guess I need to wait a bit more before I can dive back in today. I really want to get the epoxy paint down before I go to bed tonight, if I can help it at all, so that means I need alot of dry time allotted for today (for mud, primer, etc). I would really like to schedule a pallet lift rental for tomorrow to put the tank up onto the stand. I read where others have used similar devices to put their large tanks up onto their stands, without killing their backs and the backs of all of their friends .

 

[jnarowe]

Very interesting install and I am curious how the sound issue works out. Good quality sealant is all you need on the pad, and quite fankly, if you paint it, you will have to keep it clean! :lol:

Sheet rock is a total pain especially when it is Winter and you are using alot of mud. No fun there. I had to do my entire tank room and it was a major project and to me, the worst part of the whole process.

 

[Sparkss]

just a couple of hours shy of 24 hours later and the mud is still not dry yet. If I have any hopes of getting the tank on the stand next week I need to cut bait on the second round of sheetrock mud and just move right to the primer and paint (I am fast running out of vacation days). I hope that by tomorrow I can sand the mud and possibly even get the primer laid down, then I wholly expect that to take until the next day to dry (seeing how long the mud took, what with the weather and all), so Sunday to do the epoxy paint. Even though it may take less, I am blocking the whole day for that part of the project (I hate painting... call it a personality quirk ). That plus cleanup of the "construction" area leads me right into Xmas.

I figure the day after Xmas to try to rent a pallet lift to get the tank up onto the stand. That or I had some ideas about lifting one side of the tank at a time up with a car jack and blocking it and working it all the way up to the stand height (I have a ton of scrap 2x4s and 4x4s, from 2' tp 6' in length). But even building up both sides using a crossed stacking pattern is unnerving with a tank of this size. So the pallet lift will be my first and best option, I heard tell of a fellow reefer using one to "install" his 700g reef tank, so this lil 380 should be no problem at all . I will find out when I can call around on Tuesday, I just need to make sure that everything else is in place for the tank by then

 

[mrcrab]

It might help to have some fans blowing on the mud work.

 

[Sparkss]

I was thinking of fans, or an air forced heater (during the daytime hours, anyways). If it is not dry by morning, I will start to take more proactive measuers . But the elongated dry time has convinced me to forego the second mud coat.. it is going to be above and along side the back of the aquarium anyways... and who spends that much time staring at garage walls

 

[Sparkss]

Ok, against better judgement I went ahead and floated a second layer of mud on the sheetrock joints. When I finished sanding it all down there were just too many imperfections for me to leave it that way. I had a small space heater running up until I went to bed (just now *yawn*) and a fan running throughout the night. Hopefully it will be dry enough for me to continue working on it tomorrow.

I plan to cut the opening tomorrow as well as likely paint the stand top (even if the walls are not yet ready). Once I get the top painted and dry the walls won't necessarily delay my getting the tank up onto the stand.

I picked up two material lifts today and have them through until Tuesday, so my only goal is to have the tank on the stand by Tuesday afternoon at the latest (when the lifts need to go back). One other task is that we have a 180g tank inside (empty) that I want to move into the garage. It has been up for sale and it would be so much easier if it were out of the house. This is a challenge because our house is one of those that has a couple of steps leading up to the front porch and door and then a couple of steps down into the main living area inside, couple that with a 180g glass tank and you have a challenge . So I basically plan to pass it out into the garage through the opening (once I cut it and before I move the new 380g tank up onto the stand). If I can work out getting one of the lifts into the house then it shouldn't be that much of an ordeal .

So that is my plan, I will update tomorrow with how everything goes (if I can). If I get extremely lucky I will be able to post pictures of the tank, on the stand, taken from inside the house. But that is likely still a couple of days off .

 

[Avast Marine]

I can't imagine a better way to spend a holiday vacation Looks really good to this point and I will be following along.

 

[mrcrab]

Good luck with the moves. Maybe if you left some extra cookies Santa and his elves could work that magic for you! :thumbsup:

 

[Sparkss]

That would be nice MrCrab, but someohow I don't think Santa has that on his list for me .



Well, the fans really seemed to help. When I got up this morning the mud looked pretty close to being dry. I turned the space heater back on out there and will let it run with the fan for a couple of hours then go out to sand and primer the wall. If I can get to it by 4 or so then I should be able to get all coats of paint done today in time to dry overnight (well, the epoxy paint sets or cures more than it really dries . If eveything finishes earlier then I might be able to put the tank up before I go to bed . Either way I get to fill it tomorrow for the leak test (if it all works out).

 

[Sparkss]

Just came in from working on the setup today. I have the walls all prepped and the first (and only) coat of primer is done. I will hit it with the 2 part epoxy paint tomorrow morning and have high hopes of actually getting the tank onto the stand tomorrow afternoon !! (aside from the fact that I just jinxed myself by saying that ). So that is how I will be spending my Xmas... all things considered, it could be worse .

I was able to accomplish several tasks today, related to the tank setup, but not all directly involved. One thing was that I cut the hole in the wall. Murphy's Law made an appearance.. twice... during that operation. The first time the bearing came off of the router bit (still gotta patch up that errant cut it made) and then towards the end the plastic sheeting I had put up to contain the dust came loose (so I got to spend the next hour+ cleaning up the mess that spread throughout the adjacent rooms when the "dust storm" was unleashed *sigh*. I also took the opportunity to move 180g out into the garage.. that part is at least accomplished. Even more to my benefit is that I am still working solo (that 180g was a real bear also). I don't really have any new pictures since I took the top off of the stand to paint/seal both sides, and it is leaning in front of the stand/opening, so no decent photo ops. I will take some pictures tomorrow as the setup progresses

I will say this, I hate painting. I could make an arguement for myself being either the best painter in the world, or the worst, and would use the same arguement for either one. That being that I painted just about everything today, I got paint on jsut about every surface out in the garage. So I could be the best painter, since I was able to paint everything , or the worst, for the same reason . I will have to take alot more time and tape everything off tomorrow when I do the 2 part epoxy paint, since, unlike the primer, I doubt it would be so easy to wipe off the "spill spots".

Merry Christmas to everyone, and look for some updates tomorrow evening (hopefully ).

 

[orientalexpress]

wow,this tank should be up and running in no time.great job tom



lapsan

 

[rxinc]

It is CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand, in 40# bags. Has anyone had any experience with this sand


First off, Outstanding work.

I am using it in my 220 as a LSB and my fuge as a DSB, works and looks great. -got a good deal on many 40#bags from Dr. F&S.

3 days ago I put on a vortech on one side wall (72x24x30H ) about 6in. from the top and even fully cranked the sand stays put.

I really debated about Vortech vs. Tunze but now I'm hooked.

I am going to order more vortechs once I understand their latest thread about exchanges/upgrades ( on the icecap forum)

 

[xinumaster]

Hi Tom, have you ordered your mixed salt for your project yet? What salt are you planning to use? I'm thinking of ordering some salts for my tank I need at least 6 150g or 4 200g of reef crystal mix salt.

Any garage pictures of your picasso work of art?

 

[Sparkss]

Ok, first I want to provide an update, and more pictires, then I will go back and anyswer any questions.. but before that, Merry Christmas again to everyone. This is what my Christmas day brought us :


I got up this morning and put two coats of the 2 part epoxy on everything (and I do mean everything.. again ). I also sealaed both sides of the stand top, including the holes that I had drilled for the drains. Here is what it looked like after everything dried and I put the top back onto the stand (I also put the styro on as well)

The next task was to get the tank up onto the stand. I used the 2 material lifts to accmplish this (yes, by myself, 100%, just as it has been from the beginning ). Here it is after I checked level and started to fill it with tap water for the leak test (it is a used tank afterall, so better safe than sorry)

 

[Sparkss]

Here are a couple of picts from the inside :

I still have not decided yet on what trim I will use. As you can see I left room for front access, although with the header beam being what it was, there is only minimal front access, but it should be enough for our needs . I also have left off patching any holes and/or mudding in any screws until after it is all done and the old tank taken down, since there are 3 holes in the wall for the existing tank that I will need to repair once we finally take it down. At that time it will be likely that the entire wall will get a fresh coat.

 

[jnarowe]

Tom, you made some serious progress. Way cool!

 

[Sparkss]

We have a couple of hundred pounds of a combination of LR and base rock (BR ? ).. Here is a picture of two awesome pieces that we have that used to be LR, but now are just dead rock . Our previous tank setup got put of hold in lieu of this one, so we ended up with no place to house this rock to keep it alive , but it will be alive again soon enough

I will pick up the sand tomorrow after I drop back off the material lifts. As you can see from the pictures, the tank is still a bit dirty from when it was taken down, I will clean it properly tomorrow, after the leak test and before I fill it with RO/DI water, which I will do ahen I get back tomorrow. I will drain the tap water (so long as there were no leaks), clean the tank and then set up the RO/DI unit to filling the tank.


Question : Is there an easy way to clean coralline off of a dry tank wall ? IE: using vinegar or some other solution to soften/remove it ?

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8826570#post8826570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Tom, you made some serious progress. Way cool!

Many thanks for the suction cups Johnathan, I used them for moving the 180g into the garage yesterday and for getting the tank onto the stand today. They were most appreciated

 

[asnatlas]

Looking good man

 

[Sparkss]

lapsan
Thanks for your kind words. Hopefully the leak test will go well and there will be more pictures to come. With getting the sand tomorrow and an order of base rock coming in the second week in January (and by then the RO/DI should have it full), we should have some decent photos to share.

rxinc
Thanks for the kind words and the feedback on the sand. I will be picking it up tomorrow morning. I am sold on the vortecs also, and I think I do understand the upgrade offer, but for other reasons we are holding off on ordering the 4 that we plan to use for our circulation and wavemaking.

Perry
No, we have not settled on the salt mix yet for the initial setup, but that is something that I really need to focus on tomorrow. I will hit up the LFS to see about a deal on a couple of buckets of whatever I decide upon. So you are going with the Reef Crystals ? Where are you going to get them from ?


That brings up another point that I am still debating on. Do I run the new system completely standalone and let it cycle, etc, until I am ready to start moving stuff over to it from our current tank ? Or do I connect it to the shared sump now and hopefully minimize the cycle "growing pains" ? I already have a tap on the return manifold for feeding this tank, so it would just be a matter of connecting the spaflex to it and turning on the tap. If i decide to go standalone, I have a couple of canister filters and a HOB skimmer. The skimmer is no where near rated for this tank, but with it being empty of livestock, it should be enough to clean out whatever "garbage" there is in the water. We also have about 75 - 100 pounds of LR that has been "cooking", more or less, in a dark section of our sump/refugium. That, plus a good portion of sand from the main tank and a handful of chaeto from the 'fuge are what I planned to use to seed the new tank, and to optimistically let it run without fish for at least a month to allow the pod and other micr fauna population to really take hold.

Anyone have any thoughts on standalone versus connected ?

Bear in mind that until the sand settles and the water clears (and salt mixes completely) the tank will be standalone (with the afore mentioned canister filters and skimmer running on it). The connection to the main system would only happen after the water cleared sufficiently. I would of course need to run a couple of heaters to get the temp up to spec also.

Thoughts ?