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OscarMeyer
01-13-2017, 02:55 AM
Well what can i say.... I have a problem and reefing is it.

i have been reefing for about 5-6Yrs now and keeping freshwater tanks for almost 10-12yrs, this is my first adventure into a larger build, the largest tank I kept was/is a 65g tank that I'm keeping my Wife's 7yr old blood parrot (Natty) The reason for the upgrade is because after many years of saving I was finally able to buy a house and was able to coax the wife into letting me turn one of the basement rooms into my own fish room, plus we are going to be here for quite a while and i wont need to worry about moving the tank at a later date. My initial plan was to try and stuff all my freshwater and salt water tanks into this one room but after doing my layouts over the last few days I'm thinking that it will just be the 280g room, this allows me room for expansion later and also just allows more ease of movement in the room, its not going to be as fancy as some of the other builds here but I'm going to do my best to bring forth what i have learned over the 16-17 yrs I've been keeping tanks.

alittle about my previous tank/current tank. after keeping freshwater, like so many other's I got the itch to start reefing, so i went down to JLAquatics, spent some time talking with Jeff, and ended up purchasing myself a RedSea Max130D, and like many reefers i just modded as i went along, but the entire time i was kicking myself for not getting a tank with a sump, but i did enjoy the all in one tank, and never having a sump before and not really knowing to much before really diving into it made it and easy choice.

my old build thread:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72686&page=3

Unfortunately i had the unthinkable happen to the tank, i cant remember the type of ATO i was using, but it failed and dumped about 10-15gal of fresh RO water into the tank, I came home to a very wet basement and a very cloudy tank, my Midas Blenny went carpet surfing, the Yasha Goby and Pistol Shrimp just disappeared along with the Mandarin Goby, and the corals just looked terrible, clam was completely disintegrated..... Everything that was still in good shape I gave to a friend and decided to take a little step back on the tank and convert it to a FOWLR setup as i knew in the coming year i was going to have to move the tank multiple times, this system has stayed wet for the entire time I've owned it, but for a solid year it didn't really get the maintenance it deserved. This was a very important lesson for me, i learned never to skimp on the cheap stuff and always try to have redundancy to system that these issues cannot happen.

Alittle about the new system, i saw a FS thread pop up in the buy/sell location, and decided to jump at it as it was almost the exact dimensions i wanted.

Tank dimension's:
60''x36''x20'' Euro braced, with starphire front and left and right, it has an internal coast to coast overflow and I believe a herbie style overflow installed, but I'm going to convert it to a Beananimal setup. I have no pictures of the tank because ill be picking it up this coming saturday morning. ( super excited )

here is where I'm at currently and hoping looking for alittle input from fellow reefers on how i should lay the system out. The room is 10'1"x9'7" with a small cutout that after the doorway makes the length on that side 10'x4" I'm wanting to install a sink and small work bench in the little cutout to get some of the stuff out of the bathroom in the basement, which the wife really wanted.

little cutout inside the doorway, which will be turned into a sink area and workbench.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/636/31900737340_774eac4ba3_b.jpg

Option 1:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/257/32277079685_9c33100f00_b.jpg

Option 2:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/399/32157617661_e7a9382409_b.jpg

Option 3:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/723/31900749240_8ebb9fda06_b.jpg

what are your thought's? I'm leaning towards option 1, as it allows the most space around the tank, although i do like the fact that option 3 allows the RSM to be added to the room, just sucks losing a viewing panel on the big tank.


will update more later!!

Bblinks
01-13-2017, 07:06 PM
Option 1!

OscarMeyer
01-13-2017, 07:18 PM
Uhaul truck is booked, suction cups have been rented, pickup time is 10am tomorrow, I am getting pretty excited!
Option 1!
That's where I initially was leaning although option 3 has grown on me, I can then take the RS equipment and make a frag tank in the other corner, and have it all in the same room. Today I'm going to be racking my brain hard to figure this out before tomorrow!

OscarMeyer
01-15-2017, 03:40 AM
I don't think my arm's have ever been this tired... Tank is in, and I have a group of really amazing friends to thank for that, I definitely would not have been able to do this without them. Late last night I decided to have a bright idea and paint the room with some mold and mildew resistant paint, I do plan on adding a dehumidifier to the room, and having it exhaust through the wall, but thought a fresh coat of paint would have been a good idea... Needless to say Im coming up on 48hrs of no sleep and I'm having a hard time finding out why this was a good idea.

OscarMeyer
01-15-2017, 03:48 AM
Not sure why my photo's didn't upload but here they are.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170115/82bfc6f2df80d8c18c542428e5cd4411.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170115/a6c209ebdedaa89104b2df5a0240a784.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170115/7201ec1a2188fbfbbd4905a1dced2559.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170115/baefa9df4d4b7479be4302c1090cb3b6.jpg

The overflow has a few small issues that will need to be tackled a few broken teeth.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170115/bbf19f08743fc57bdf5892989a08c14a.jpg

And also I just noticed an odd deformity in the middle of the piece.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170115/a84c514c20ef17ad4b79b653b6aa5ed3.jpg

Hard to see, but it has two medium sized bumps in the acrylic, need to see if I can remove this piece and have a new one fitted. Any suggestions?

Next post I'll update on my lighting, skimmer and the coral care program I intend to use with this tank. Now I just need to sort out what rock I would. Like to use in this system, again any suggestions? I'm thinking Marco rocks, as it seems Fijireefrock.ca has closed it's door's?

Scythanith
01-15-2017, 07:10 AM
That happens when the piece of acrylic is either too large and expands in the tank, but its edges are pushing against the glass so it buckles in the middle OR the material just warps lol.

Nothing you can do about it. I'd say pull it out, make new teeth that mount higher up and just use tint on the back of the tank (outside). It will be much easier to keep clear of coralline algae.

tang daddy
01-16-2017, 12:43 AM
Plus one to comment above!
adding a weir and tinting is your best option. A weird story but true... a friend had a piece of acrylic that was silicones to the back wall, they probably skimped when siliconing the back acrylic and as a result it started bowing the water that was trapped in the back between the glass and acrylic overflow went stale because of no air and water movement. Needless to say he lost corals and I think a few fish. It's a simple thing that is overlooked but I'd either remove the acrylic and flatten it out using a heat gun to bend it back flat and cut abit off the side so it fits better or just paint/tint and install teeth.

OscarMeyer
01-17-2017, 02:12 AM
Funny thing is I started looking over the acrylic and it's definitely an area where I can see it already has build up of detritus trapped behind it, if I tint the back pane of glass I'll still be able to see the pvc through the middle glass, as the overflow is internal to the tank, I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to go about this issue. I'd like to get some glass cut to fit on the top part of the divider, but not even sure that's an option, I may pull it off and do my aquascape so it covers the back glass and the scape comes forward, but we will see.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170117/f0096be8dd6848be85ee858c999981b6.jpg

Pretty stoked on this, not bad for $100! I've had a RKL for ever so I'm excited to use this.

I also got a line on two brand new Gen4 radions for almost 600 off retail pricing, but I know the wife is going to put me in the dog house for spending so much in the last month.

I also need to go down to JL and put an order in for a Vertex alpha cone 200, but after looking at the website I might luck out cause it seems its in stock!

OscarMeyer
01-17-2017, 05:38 AM
http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/d-d-ultraflow-weir-comb

Think I may have found my solution for the weir, now to figure out if I should just let the Coraline cover the back glass or have the back wall covered in flat slice cuts of rock.

DKoKoMan
01-17-2017, 10:22 AM
Following this tank build... looking good so far!

zhasan
01-18-2017, 12:47 AM
Nice setup! Looking forward to see the final product.

I think I've seen this setup in person. Did you happen to pick it up from a reefer by VGH?

SoloSK71
01-18-2017, 01:55 AM
http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/d-d-ultraflow-weir-comb

Think I may have found my solution for the weir, now to figure out if I should just let the Coraline cover the back glass or have the back wall covered in flat slice cuts of rock.

I vote coraline, but then I am old school. :)

Another thing on the weir is if the edges are smoothed, either when made or after, say with a very small roundover bit (1/16" or so) it will increase the flow and decrease the noise by quite a bit.

Charles

OscarMeyer
01-18-2017, 04:04 AM
Nice setup! Looking forward to see the final product.

I think I've seen this setup in person. Did you happen to pick it up from a reefer by VGH?
I did yes!

I vote coraline, but then I am old school. :)

Another thing on the weir is if the edges are smoothed, either when made or after, say with a very small roundover bit (1/16" or so) it will increase the flow and decrease the noise by quite a bit.

Charles

I'm leaning towards coraline as well, I'm going to order a bunch of flat rock so I will atleast have the ability to give my idea of covering the overflow with rock, nothing is set in stone just yet!

That's also very interesting information about the weir, and very much appreciated!

Myka
01-18-2017, 01:28 PM
Do you have water in the tank yet? If not, you could install a piece of black glass on the inside of the tank, and then that weir comb can be installed on top of it. The sweet thing about black glass is that you can scrape it, unless acrylic. If you can't find black glass (it will be 6 mm), send Concept Aquariums (in Calgary) an email/call, and Dave may be able to help you locate some.

OscarMeyer
01-18-2017, 06:22 PM
Tank is still dry, I need to raise the stand about 4" and add a solid bottom for the Sump. Glass would be the best option, but I'm weary about having two piece's of glass that close together, I'd have to make sure I silicone the edges extremely well so I didn't have water get in between the glass, like what happened to the acrylic. I found a company in Richmond that can do water just cutting, if I can find a piece of glass I might just get them to water jet the weir ontop for me.

Still looking through options.

Myka
01-19-2017, 02:28 AM
You can "float" the silicone between the pieces...spread it evenly across the whole pane. I think that's how Concept does it, but don't quote me on that. :lol:

OscarMeyer
01-24-2017, 08:12 PM
Well spent the last week cleaning the tank, still more to do but I'm happy it's starting to look brand new almost, only downside is I found two imperfections that are going to bug me, but in reality are just superficial and I know I will forget about them at some point, now I'm not sure if they were on the tank when I bought it or if they happened during me moving the tank either way it's not a big deal, and I'm glad they aren't worse then they are.

Upper left hand corner on the eurobracing;
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170124/aaf329b5920d0c0a1386670fdb80ddc6.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170124/fc49baeef7bd791f66335ac6a98f6377.jpg

Bottom right hand corner on the front panel;
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170124/4e56fd8f49e84f755af4044f4d3dbc18.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170124/5cf5d67ce71aa335a26328c5087a9b98.jpg

These are tiny, I should have held something close to compare.

On the bright side I scored quite a deal on the skimmer I wanted and that gets shipped out tomorrow from a member on the island! Love new toy's!

Now Becuase I've had so much time thinking about my overflow with the acrylic, another thought has crossed my mind, I'm now thinking about cutting the middle section out, covering the hole's in the bottom of the tank and drilling the back panel for two 20" synergy reef ghost overflows plus two hole's for the returns, would allow way more space in the tank 6" to be exact! Which would be nice for aquascaping. The part that scares me would be cutting the silicone from around the internal overflow, edges wouldn't bother me it's just at the base were it meets the silicon for the side panels, and then drilling glass that is 3/4" thick is nerve racking, but the extra space is so appealing! Ahhh decisions decisions!

DKoKoMan
01-24-2017, 08:15 PM
I love how the dogs are just as excited for the tank as you are :smile:

OscarMeyer
01-25-2017, 05:49 AM
Haha, they love the fish tanks! I've caught them staring at my other tank with the clown's swimming around, quite funny watching them trying to figure it out

OscarMeyer
02-01-2017, 06:28 PM
So I've made the decision to bite the bullet and remove the internal overflow, plug the holes in the back section and drill the back glass for a synergy shadow overflow and 2 returns.

Needles to say I'm nervous about drilling 4 holes in a 3/4" starphire panel, but 6" of extra display room is to appealing not to try. I'm also hoping that the internal overflow is notched near the bottom inside joints, but I can't tell from looking so fingers crossed.