Slick's Tank Journal(s)

[Slick Fork]

Hi there,

The wife and I were sitting around yacking, we've been in the house just over a year now and that means that the 1 year anniversary for the tank is coming up in a few weeks. So I got looking at some shots as the tank progressed and decided to share. Mostly out of a desire for suggestions and constructive criticsm... but if you see something you like feel free to comment on that as well!

This tank has been a bit of a struggle for me, mostly because I tend to learn best the hard way, partly because of changing priorities! Progress has been fairly slow since the funds haven't been available to add everything at once, it's spend a little and wait, spend a little and wait... Some ups and downs but overall I'm fairly happy with the tank today.

My Sw experience began in June of 06 as a reward to myself for quitting smoking (of course, now the expenses are just barely keeping under a pack a day habit!) I started out with a little 10 gallon tank a DIY light fixture and a seio 620. Throw in a couple of clowns and a toadstool and away I went

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/latesttank001.jpg

During that summer we happened to come across a used 100gallon and the 55 gallon. The original plan was to mothball the 100 (The place we were in didn't inspire enough confidence to put 100gallons of water on the floor!) and use the 55 as a new home for the SW guys.

With that plan in mind, I started accumulating parts for the new set-up. I grabbed a 4x39watt teklight, another Seio pump and started building a nice stand. Seems like no sooner had I got the stand built when our luck changed and we bought an acreage. Once we settled in a little, we decided the best place for the 100 gallon was in the basement, of course than we had to decide what to put in it. The original plan was to use the 100gallon as a fw tank but it turns out we have iron bacteria in the water here which made us decide to limit those guys to the existing 33 (It's not dangerous or harmful, just coats everything in a black slime, thrives in light or darkness... only massive amounts of chlorine seem to kill it). That being said, we'd already purchased a 36" t5 and neither of us were real keen on having 3 tanks up and running and we didn't have the cash for another light fixture, so we made do and put the 36"light on a 60" tank.

Here are some of the construction shots... taken about mid-november 06

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/inwall003.jpg

How about that lovely green shade the previous owners had...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/inwall004.jpg

Tank in place

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/inwall013.jpg

The tank is running on its own 15amp breaker, all nearby outlets have been converted to GFCI for safety. RO water is plumbed into the Kitchen above and slightly to the side so it was a simple matter to just bring a line through the furnace room beside the tank.

[Slick Fork]

Here's a back view of the tank (sumpless at this time) and the tek light!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/inwall016.jpg

You'll notice that the tank came drilled, but with no overflows. Being quite Naive to plumbing issues (and as I mentioned earlier, I have a particularly hard head) I thought that installing a sump was going to be as simple as running a hose from the hole to a rubbermaid and pumping it back in. So, I ran out bought a pump and threw it all together... unfortunately I don't have a picture of that mickey mouse setup or my wifes face at the noises that that ungainly contraption made! The water would rise until it covered the bulkhead completely and then siphon right out with an awesome toilet flushing sound, then start all over again. It was a complete disaster and only now, almost a year later do I feel comfortable writing anonymously about it!

Here's a half decent shot of the finished front side of the tank and accompanying living room

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/inwall022.jpg

At this point, my livestock waiting in the 10 gallon consisted of 2 false perc's, a toadstool, a frag of zoa's and a green star polyp frag. All sitting there with about 20lbs of LR. I had an additional 15 or so pounds curing in a rubbermaid. So, with the tank in the wall, a light hanging above it, it was time to start thinking about moving everything over.

The picture quality is terrible in this next one, it's not really the water or glass... it's the camera and photographer. But it gives an idea of how barren and empty the tank was when I started out. 35lbs of rock and I was down to 1 clown (had a jumper). When I put them in, they didn't quite know what to do with all the space!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/inwall023.jpg

The brown stuff all over the rocks was some wierd filimantous algae, never did find out what it was but it went away.

A few weeks went by and I got a little more rock and a better picture!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607003.jpg

Had one heck of a bryopsis problem starting here, I should've nipped it in the butt right then and there but... didn't. Still no sump or skimmer at this point, but the idea was starting to gnaw on me... Christmas vacation, we left for a couple of weeks leaving the tank in hands even less capable than my own. Came back to green water and the clown I had bought to replace suicide pete was floating around on the top. Not a good way to end the holidays.

Next purchase for the tank was a tunze 9010 skimmer, looked at all sorts of skimmers at all sorts of prices and decided the tunze was the way to go. I'm still happy with that particular decision. The tank never looked as bad in person as it does in all these picks, or maybe I was less picky...

[Slick Fork]

So fast forward a few months into feb of 07. I picked up a foxface and started work on a horizontal overflow and sump...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607008.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607011.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607016.jpg

Here's a view from the side of the tank... look at all that bryopsis, it was something to see... waving in the current, choking out everything!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607020.jpg

Some more shots of various things in the tank

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607019.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607018.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607009.jpg

[Slick Fork]

So... Now it was time to install the horizontal overflow. Of course, in my infinite wisdom I decided to just remove half the water in the tank and install it "without stressing the fish by removing them"... I think at this point they would all gather in a cave at night and plot my death. Here's some pic's of the instal job

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607021.jpg

I supported the overflow from the bottom by putting lengths of pvc pipe underneath, then clamped it to the sides. Way more awkward to do then it is to talk about. My dog learned a few new words that day!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/feb2607022.jpg

Now, with a proper overflow, I set the 55 gallon up as a sump behind the tank. I've struggled finding an affordable return pump that is quiet and doesn't use too much energy and have finally settled on a hydor selz.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/march1407001.jpg

The eggcrate structure in the sump raises the Chaeto up closer so I can get away with a cf light. It is also supposed to be part of a benthic zone, but so far that idea hasn't taken flight. Looking at this picture, I can't believe how clean it is!

[Slick Fork]

The next few months have me scanning the for sale section relentlessly looking for live rock to buy. It seemed like someone would post it and it would disappear in an hour so it took some doing but I finally found all the liverock I needed.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Salttankapril180004.jpg

I resisted putting my heater in the sump for the longest time, no idea why. Just the way it worked out.

Next big addition to the tank was FINALLY a proper light. Bought a used Geisemann, 2x250watt MH with 2x54watt t5's.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/ap24nwlight0011.jpg

The colour change took some getting used too. I still think it's a little yellow some days (bulbs are 13000k mh's and actinic + t5's) Maybe I'll try a 14k next time.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/ap24nwlight0012.jpg

About this time, I finally started to get some frags in slowly as time and money allowed.

Devils hand

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/ap24nwlight0014.jpg

So now we're into June and I start reading about this miracle cure for bryopsis with magnesium. Here is a small corner of the tank before the magnesuim...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/100gallonJuly0701.jpg

This stuff was everywhere, after the magnesium I had almost none left. Fortunately I had 2 kinds of bryopsis and 1 wasn't affected by the magnesium. Lots of days with boiling water seems to have been the end of that.

[Slick Fork]

In June, my coralife powerbars gave up the ghost so I got my birthday present a little early...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct36.jpg

Absolutely love the controller... need more things to control now!

The next big event for the tank was this summers frag swap in Calgary. Met some great people and got some awesome frags... even won a door prize!

Here are some of the corals I got at the swap

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/7_17_07SW01.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/7_17_07SW03.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/7_17_07SW04.jpg

Also got a green digitata, but didn't have a picture of it from back then

Door Prize courtesy of Gold's:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/7_17_07SW02.jpg

At this point, flow in the tank was the Koralia 3, a 6045 and the sump return.

[Slick Fork]

Grabbed this beautiful purple tang from Golds in June, he left Quarantine and went into the display just after the frag swap

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWAquarium10.jpg

Since then, haven't done too much new with the tank until this week, picked up this deal from Gold's...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct16.jpg

That was just an hour after acclimatization, I figured he'd be shy and stay "clammed" up for a few days but was pleasantly surprised!

Here's some growth shots... I don't think it's too bad for about 3 months on these guys but I'm not sure.

Frogspawn hasn't really branched out but is definately "bushier" very colourful and happy

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct10.jpg

Birdsnest is growing like a weed, much thicker and a whole lot branchier

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct19.jpg

CandyCane has a few more heads

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct46.jpg

Here are a few shots of the digitata, I mounted it on it's side because I remember reading that you'll get growth at both ends and so you do! This one has probably grown by 50% in mass since July

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct29.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct22.jpg

And just for fun a full tank shot from tonight...
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/SWOct30.jpg

[Delphinus]

Wow, nice work. :)

[mark]

Nice honest narrative, and shows patience pays off.

About your horizontal overflow, what's the size of bulkhead and how much flow? I'm trying one here (http://216.187.96.54/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=36553) with not a lot of flow.

[Slick Fork]

Thanks for the kind words. It's fun to look back, even on some of the mistakes, and see how far the tank and my knowledge have come! Hopefully by showcasing my mistakes as well as my successes someone else can avoid them!

Mark:

The overflow I've got in there right now stretches the whole length of the tank, with a single 1.5" bulkhead in the back corner. I had tried using a cannister filter as a return because I originally had a spare one lying around and it seemed like a good spot to run carbon and rowaphos, but after burning out the second one last week I decided to put a Hydor Seltz on. I went with the L45 model which is rated for 900gph at 0 head. The climb up to the tank is through 1/2" flexible vinyl tubing so I'm imagining the final output is about 650-700gph. I don't think I'd want to go any more than that.

I looked at your thread, and that's exactly what my original rubbermaid sump attempt sounded like. If you take a look at the picture where I'm talking about the new MH light you'll see my plumbing solution, I simply ran spa flex all the way into the sump. Maybe that's the difference, not necessarily in the bulkhead but in the pipe?

[Slick Fork]

Update time.

Since my last post I've been busy. I accepted a whole bunch of Corals to "baby-sit" because her tank crashed. Some beautiful stuff in there, Ricordia's, Acan's, frogspawn and hammer as well as some montiporas. Everything I like is leaning up against the rockwork in case it "decides" to frag itself!!! It was all in fairly rough shape when I got it, but is coming along nicely.

I got a nice birdsnest and monti cap from Fishytime and they're both doing really well. I'll try and get some livestock pic's up tommorow.

On Sunday, ran down to Golds and bought a nice little target mandarin. She's quite pleased in the new diggs and very sociable. My wifes already in love with her! I also grabbed a zeovit starter package.

After doing a bunch of fence sitting and reading about the zeovit system I decided to give it a 6 month trial. My reasoning is that it isn't a whole lot more expensive then running rowaphos and swapping it out every month. In fact it may be a little bit cheaper and it provides some extra benefits that I like. I'm really hoping it helps my zoanthids. For some reason the things will not thrive in my tank. I've got Monti's and 2 birdsnest that are growing like crazy, my lps' have great colour and look happy, but softies and zoanthids do not thrive in my tank. I'm not sure what the problem is, but zoanthids in particular just seem to barely stay alive sometimes.

My mental blocks that have kept me away from it up until now... I was afraid of the time commitment and the cost. Now that I've rationalized the cost all I had to get over was the time commitment, and really it only takes seconds out of my day.

Because I didn't buy a proper zeovit reactor I just put the zeolith rocks in a filter bag in my sump. I don't think this was really doing anything but I wanted them in there even for just a minor effect. So they went in Sunday night, as well I started the full dosing regime that evening. I'm just going with the basic 4 ingredients (zeoliths, zeobac, zeostart and zeofood7). Since then I've noticed my water is clearer, the skimmer is pulling more stuff and the sand-bed looks SLIGHTLY cleaner. I'm getting some nice colour from the one birdsnest frag that I wasn't getting before. The only negative I can see so far is that the LPS are a little "pouty" at night. During the day they're loving life and look great though so I'm not really concerned... probably just an adjustment phase.

Not wanting to spend the hundreds of dollars they seem to want for a "professionally made" zeovit reactor, I decided to make my own for as cheap as possible (just to spite the manufacturers) Quite often, inspiration for DIY aquarium projects comes from my wifes kitchen (much to her dismay) and this time was no exception. After poking around a bit, I found what I needed in the Kitchen section of Canadian Tire. For the reactor body, I found a 1.9 litre juice mixing jug. Cost... $8.65, throw in some plumbing bits and I'm probably up to $18 or $19... not too shabby!

Here are some pics of the construction....

Here's the jug, I drilled a hole in the bottom and just siliconed a barbed fitting in there. The eggcrate you see in there is to support the tray holding the rock.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/zeo01.jpg

Here's the "Juice Mixing lid and attachment" All I did was glue some plastic mesh to it. I found out that I did have to pull it apart and re-enforce the handle/rod where it joins with the mesh.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/zeo06.jpg

Cut off the bottom of the jug handle and it clips right to the baffles. In this shot I've got the rocks in and carbon is sitting in a bag on top.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/zeo09.jpg

I'm running about 60-65gph (240 litres per hour) through the reactor, I'll increase that gradually up to ~100gph over the next month. Overall, I'm already not quite happy with this reactor but for ~$20 how can a guy go wrong. My biggest beef is I'm thinking I should've gone with a little bigger container. If the zeovit works out and I decide to stay with it I'll build something really fancy.

Keep an eye out for livestock pictures coming up!

[Doug]

:D I like it.

[Snappy]

Looks good with a ton of potential.

[Slick Fork]

So, a month into the zeovit I'm noticing slightly a little better colour in some of the corals and I'm still happy with water clarity. BUT, I'm still blasting some of that darned bryopsis a couple of times a week with boiling water and still a few patches of hair algae that are hanging on relentlessly. Also, coral colouration wasn't a problem at all for me before.

However, my sand bed looks cleaner and chaeto growth has slowed down to a standstill almost so I think it's doing something and I wasn't expecting miracles overnight, especially considering bryopsis is a mighty tenacious little bugger. Glass stays a little cleaner too, So I'm going to keep it up for a 6 month trial before I make any conclusions.

In other news, Santa brought me a new DSLR camera so I've been playing with that quite a bit here are some of the results...

First, the obligatory FTS
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Fulltank.jpg

Now for some of my favourites, mine and the babysat ones!

This birdsnest has actually grown tremendously towards the camera, but I can't seem to get a decent picture of growth in that direction so you'll have to take my word for it!!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Birdsnest.jpg

This little Candycane is always so happy!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/CandyCane-1.jpg

Happy as a Clam
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Crocea.jpg

I'm just babysitting this Riccorida but I think my wife is starting to become attached
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Riccordia.jpg

And the Devils hand, I just like the detail I could get in this pic
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/DevilsHand.jpg

[Skimmerking]

nice little reactor, how much did the Zeo cost you to start up and How much to run it for your size of the tank.

SO what does the Zeo reactor do for the tank? Can you just run the reactor? Is there any thing special that you have to do to the reactor, or so you just run water through the rocks

[Slick Fork]

I spent about $150 to start the zeovit system, plus say $15-$20 for my home made reactor. That got me... a 2 month supply of zeolith rocks, a 2 month supply of high quality carbon, and probably a 6 month supply of the basic 3 chemical additions (zeofood7, zeobak, and zeostart2). However, being a month into the system I'm not too sure how long the chem's will last. It may be 8 months, it may be 4.

The reactor is basically another fluidized system to force flow through the zeolith rocks, target flow is 100gph per litre of zeolith product. The only thing special about the reactor is the "stirrer" which you use to agitate the rocks twice daily.

[Slick Fork]

Almost a year since I updated this... I feel a little guilty

The bad news is, the old tank is gone. We decided that we were ready to spend the money to upgrade to a new tank with a starfire front so AndyL came up and took the old one off of our hands. The new one is being built through Gold's in Calgary and should be ready any day now.

So here's some shots of the prep work we've been doing... the basement got a new coat of paint, unfortunately I didn't think to grab any pictures of the tear down process, but set ups are always more fun anyways. The new tank will be going in roughly the same spot but will be presented a little differently. We're getting the same size in terms of gallons (110 us gallons) but instead of a 60x18 foot print this one will be a 48x24. I wanted the extra depth for the aquascaping possibilities but I think I'll miss the length a little. What we're planning on instead of a recessed in the wall tank, this one will be sort of sticking out halfway.

Here's where we are so far...

This is a shot of the old system when it was freshly installed (just for contrast)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/inwall022.jpg

Here's the new stand sitting in it's spot... you can see the old stand and part of the wall in the background. Ripping it out was almost more work then putting it in there was!!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/HeathersCamera023.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/HeathersCamera039.jpg

Here's a closeup of the stand. Took a couple of suggestions off of the stand template at reef-central. Way overbuilt but I'll sleep pretty good at night!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/HeathersCamera024.jpg

[Slick Fork]

You may be panicking... thinking "SLICK, Where are your critters???" but don't worry, I talked the horses into giving up a water trough

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/HeathersCamera026.jpg

They're all fairly happy in there, only exception is the 2 clown's are upstairs in the 33 gallon with all the coral because they wouldn't leave their stupid rock with mushrooms.

Got the profilux running the water trough and the sump!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/HeathersCamera027.jpg

Now the sump isn't actually connected to any other water. I've got some rocks and the sand-bed in there as well as a new toy, I just acquired a vertex IN-180 skimmer. The Tunze should be somewhere in the Okanagan by now! Just had the skimmer running for a day and a half but so far so good. Here's a gratuitous FSS (full sump shot) for all you junkies out there!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/HeathersCamera028.jpg

I can't wait to get the new tank, I've got too many critters spread into too many places. I've got the corals and clowns in a 33 gallon upstairs and none of them are happy up there, I've got all the other fish in the water trough, the sump running and a couple of buckets of LR cooking. Get back to one system to take care of and all will be well.

Heading to town this weekend to see if I can figure out how I want to skin the stand and frame the top canopy. We had been thinking about that ceramic artificial stone you can get at Home Depot but at $100/10sqft, that's a lot of money to do the stand. Maybe a nice hardwood panel.

Cheers

[fishytime]

Looking good man. One thing though...If you ordered your tank through Golds it will be xmas before you get it. Shudda ordered it through us :mrgreen: j/k. So what is the gallonage of your new box?

[Slick Fork]

Gonna be 110 gallons total, so same volume as the old one. It'll be 48Lx24Wx22T. I guess I could've gone 2 inches higher and gotten 120 gallons but I've got short arms and found that 24" was just a hair too tall for me to reach the bottom on the last one.

I hope it'll be here soon. They told me 2-3 weeks, Monday will be 3 weeks. I'll buy the next one from you guys just to spread it around a little, how's that sound! I almost never buy hardware locally though, the trouble for me is we have no serious suppliers in Central Alberta so we have to make a trip to the city and HOPE that someone has what we're looking for. Whereas if I order from J&L on Monday they usually have it on my front porch by Wednesday morning. 3 days earlier then I could hope to get to the city. Nowadays even paying for shipping is cheaper then the fuel it takes me to get to Calgary and back. Even warranty stuff gets back to me faster and cheaper then my fuel costs. I'm telling you, the Calgary stores are missing out by not having proper websites that we can order stuff from.

[mseepman]

Setup is looking good. Always glad to see someone documenting their tank build...gives me more opportunity to figure stuff out before I try it.

Have you stopped the Zeo? You originally were doing a 6 month trial but didn't post for a year.

[Slick Fork]

I have been having real mixed results with the zeo. In part I think because my Tunze 9010 skimmer wasn't really designed to work with that kind of system. I do like the system and think once I get this set up up and running with the new more aggressive skimmer I will try the zeo out once more.

[fishytime]

I'm telling you, the Calgary stores are missing out by not having proper websites that we can order stuff from.

Patience....I think its in the works. :wink:

[Slick Fork]

I think you might've been right about that Christmas comment Doug, tank is a week and a half later then their most pessimistic estimate (so far) Hopefully it'll be here by this weekend. Good thing I have that 90 gallon horse water trough for the fish. My frag tank however is not looking good at all. I never anticipated It would have to be up and running this long, lost one of my clowns the other day :sad: It sucked cause she was my oldest. She started in the 10 gallon nano with me back in 2006. I guess 3 moves was just too much for her.

On a tank related note, should I be concerned about driving the tank an hour and a half in the back of a pickup in the freezing cold?

I got the stand done, just haven't gotten around to pictures of that yet. It's all Birch and Maple construction and I'm actually quite proud of my first real attempt at Cabinet Carpentry!!

[Slick Fork]

Ok, I've gotta vent a little. Just talked to Gold's and it's not going to be ready for this weekend. I was told 2-3 weeks, Monday will be 5 weeks. My corals look like sh@t because they weren't supposed to be in the 33 gallon tank with mediocre lighting and filtration this long (I'm actually thankful most of them are still alive) I've lost a clownfish and a Chromis so far but otherwise my fish are stressed but alive in a bright blue water trough.

I don't mind a few days late but this is getting ridiculous. If I had known I was going to have a month and a half to wait for the dang thing... I could've done a few things rather different.

[JDigital]

That sucks to hear man...

Seems like the tank builders are getting slower and slower in calgary. I want a nice tank so I expect some time for a clean, well built tank, but if a shop can't perform the work in the time that I would like, let me know your too busy to take on more work, and I will find a builder that can do it for me.

[Slick Fork]

That sucks to hear man...

Seems like the tank builders are getting slower and slower in calgary. I want a nice tank so I expect some time for a clean, well built tank, but if a shop can't perform the work in the time that I would like, let me know your too busy to take on more work, and I will find a builder that can do it for me.

Exactly. I wasn't in a rush and if they had told me it would be a month-month and a half I would've been fine with that, but as it was I rushed to get my old tank out of the way anticipating only having 2 or 3 weeks to repaint the basement, and get all the preparation/stand building done for the new tank. So now it's all been done for 2 weeks except for some odds and ends finishing that I've been picking away at. Nevermind all the extra work keeping several systems up and running for this long

Frustrating

[fishytime]

Also sorry to hear. Its too bad that there is really only two or three options for custom tanks in town right now. Im not bashing at all but BVG supplies the big boys with their tanks so I imagine that the small orders from the small shops get put on the back burner when things get busy. We have about a two week turn around with our tank guy. I think I would have lost patience by now, given the circumstances with your livestock atm. I hope you get things worked out.

[sharuq1]

Wow, just read your thread. Hopefully your new tank arrives soon. And a BIG public thank you for babysitting my corals last year! I think almost everything would have died otherwise. Let me know if I can help you out with anything.

[Slick Fork]

Thanks for the kind words guys, to be fair to the guys at Golds once they send the order out they're as powerless as I am to do anything about it. That being said, I have a feeling that this week is the week! So, we'll see.

Thanks for the offer Kelly, I think moving anything now would be much worse. The fish in the water trough actually seem fairly content, and I've only lost frags of some of my corals and I made lots of frags just in case (not all frags created intentionally!!!)

[Slick Fork]

Tank arrived Wednesday night at Gold's but I couldn't get down until last night. Grabbed the tank and some Peters drive in onion rings (+milkshake) and had it up on the stand by 10pm!! After that scratchy old tank, I almost have to squint to see this one!!!!

Here are some pic's also note the fine craftsmanship on the stand... Maple and Birch!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank001.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank004.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank017.jpg

Overflow has 1.5" bulkheads which I am planning a herbie style silencing system for. Does anyone know if you HAVE to use a gate valve or if a regular pvc ball valve will be OK??

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank006.jpg

Almost Level Is this worth Shimming??? Front to back is 100% Level

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank002.jpg

Now, my sinking suspicion all along has been confirmed. the overflow on this is too low for my sump which I had on a 30" tall stand. Unfortunately I'm going to have to knock the sump down at least a foot. :( Which is really too bad, I really really liked having everything up at "working level" Oh well, can't have everything!

[JDigital]

I'd HIGHLY recommend a Gate valve if your running a Herbie... I would never try it without, I love knowing I can tweak it to get it just right.

Tank looks great!

[fishytime]

A round of applause for the arrival of the tank!:biggrin: Looks good mang. Gate valves are infinitely adjustable, allowing the fine tuning that you will need to run a herbie. The water level inside your overflow will fluctuate with the changing conditions in your tank(like when you put your hands in the tank, algae build up, etc). Most of the time all it takes is a 1/16 of a turn of the gate valve to balance things again. You can do it with a ball valve, but spending the extra $20ish now will save you alot of fartin around.

[Slick Fork]

Yeah, I suppose if I've spent so much already it doesn't make a lot of sense to cheap out on something as minor as a valve. Is there anyone in Calgary that stocks them, I already know gold's doesn't, or will this be a J&L order item?

Didn't get anything done at all tonight. Got home from work just beat and had a big nap instead. Oh well, bright and early tomorrow morning!!

Also, for anyone wondering I changed the name of the thread as it's no longer a 100 gallon in wall!!

[fishytime]

We have gates in stock.

[Slick Fork]

Well, Just sitting here waiting for the dust from the sand bed to settle enough so I can finish putting the rock in. After that, the fish go in and I'm hoping to have the sump online by mid to late week. Once I have the sump and skimmer up and running I can put my corals in!!

So I'm sitting here thinking about the back glass and what to do there. On the last tank it was painted black. I've already decided what I don't want. I don't want black or blue for colour and I definitely don't want to paint it, I hated not being able to see behind the rocks if I needed to on the old tank.

I'm considering some of that artificial window frosting that you can buy at HD but it's not really solid and still lets light through the back. Can a guy get some sort of plastic film in a solid colour that will stick to the back?

[Slick Fork]

Stopped in yesterday and picked up my gate valve from Red Coral so I've got my herbie standpipes and plumbing dry fit so I was hoping someone could confirm that it looks right. I know... it's a pretty simple concept but I always get nervous right before I do something permanent!!!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Newtankbuild005.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Newtankbuild006.jpg

Also, wanted to throw in a couple of shots of the critters while I was at it. Everyone is there except for Leroy the lonely clownfish who is still upstairs babysitting the corals in the 33 gallon. They'll all go in once I get the sump online.

This is maybe a 3rd to 40% of my rock, I've got some cooking in a rubbermaid, some sitting in the sump so this is by no means a final rock arrangement. I have a really cool tower waiting to go in but one thing at a time! Only light right now is a screw in type CF spiral bulb in clip on lamp. I won't put the halides up until it's time for the corals

Here she is so far...
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Newtankbuild003.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Newtankbuild004.jpg

Cheers

[Skimmerking]

looks great man love the over flow box, now get that plumbing going and get those heaters out of the tank . shame on you.:mrgreen:

[sharuq1]

Nice tank! Can't wait to see the pics with all the corals in. :smile:

[Slick Fork]

Finally!!

After much sawing swearing and spilling of water (mostly on myself) The plumbing has been completed, the sump is full of water and all the coral is back in the tank. Mind you, it's all in temporary spots including a frag rack for the time being but... It's BACK!!

So, still to do is figure out where I want all the coral and start epoxying it down, zeo system starts back up tomorrow evening, halides will go back up tomorrow evening as well and then I've gotta figure out what I want to do with all the rock. I've got a little less then half of it in the display right now with the rest cooking in a rubbermaid.

I think I'll use this opportunity to weed out some of the less desirable pieces, maybe keep them in the sump and start keeping my eyes peeled for "cherry picks" at the LFS's

I'll throw some pic's up tomorrow but for now it's time for bed!!

[fishytime]

Tease!:lol:

[Slick Fork]

Well, didn't get too much done today other then to hang the halide's up and give them turn on. That went smoothly enough though so I did manage a couple of quick shots before my camera battery quit on me.

We'll start with a couple of FTS's with the actinics on.

No Flash
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank009.jpg

With Flash
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank038.jpg

Here's the back of the tank, with all the plumbing in, including a real rats nest of wires... mental note, add clean up wires to "to-do" list :)

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank015.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank017-1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank018.jpg


I'm finding the Herbie is a really finicky system, seems like I'm constantly fiddling with the thing, deadly quiet though when I've got it tuned in, even when it's not 100% tuned in, it's quite silent. Just wish it were more "set and forget" but I am REALLY happy I took everyones advice and grabbed a gate valve for it. I think if I had cheaped out and gone with a ball valve I would be pulling my hair out already.

Had a bit of a surprise tonight when I turned off the feeding pump. This set-up with the herbie sends quite a bit more water back into the sump. The sump handled it fine as I designed it to absorb a lot of water. It did raise the water level in the sump by a good couple of inches which was all the encouragement the skimmer needed to send a big column of super wet foam to the top of the collection cup. Fortunately I was there to unplug the skimmer before any real mess was made. Now the profilux is set to turn the skimmer off when I hit the feed button!!

[Slick Fork]

So, here's a couple of real quick livestock pic's, mostly just for my own record as everything had browned out really bad while in the small tank upstairs. But first here is the tower I built with PVC. I'm really happy with how it turned out, pictures just don't capture it though...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank026.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank029.jpg

And now a few misc livestock shots (only got a couple and the battery died)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank001-1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank003-1.jpg

Most of my coral was turned into frags during the move, some of this was intentional but a lot of it wasn't. Oh well, nothing like starting really fresh!!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank004-1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank034.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank033.jpg

[fishytime]

For the most part the herbie will be set and forget. Chances are you are having to fiddle with because you have been in the tank lots??? Looking really good tho.

[JDigital]

For the most part the herbie will be set and forget. Chances are you are having to fiddle with because you have been in the tank lots??? Looking really good tho.


Definitely!! He has strainers...shouldn't have to worry about stupid snails falling into the main drain.. :lol:

BTW, great looking Display tank... quite the mess behind it..hahaha, that's alot of power cords.

[Slick Fork]

Not a whole lot done in the last little bit as Christmas stuff has kept me pretty busy. I did get the zeovit running again, got all that wiring cleaned up and managed to snap a few shots with the daylights running!

Still gotta get my corals situated and the rest of the live rock in, but one thing at a time I guess!

Here's a few pic's to keep you all happy, we'll start with some fts' from various angles!!
Left side from above the frag rack
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewTank006-1.jpg
Front view from slightly left
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewTank007.jpg
Right Side
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewTank009-1.jpg
Happy as a Clam
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/NewTank002-1.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank036-1.jpg

Frag's
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank046.jpg
I put this digitata frag a little too close to one of the acro's... Here's the result
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank050.jpg
I just love this guy
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank062.jpg
Blue Polyp Acro
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank074.jpg
Pink/Purple Birdsnest colouring back up nicely
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank080.jpg
Red and Yellow Zoanthids
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/newtank084.jpg

[fishytime]

Christmas smishmas....work on the tank man!:lol:

[Slick Fork]

Well, it's been a couple of months without any updates. In my defense though we've been busy with some winter stuff.

During Boxing week I stopped in at Red Coral and took advantage of their two for one deal! Here are a couple of shots from shortly after we got them home. The yellow acro has stayed fairly happy throughout it's darkened up a little bit. The other (not sure what it is) was a beautiful blue at the store and browned right out in my tank. It has recently though started to show some signs of regaining it's colour.

Unknown Previously Blue Coral
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Christmas2008043.jpg

Yellow Acro
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Christmas2008040.jpg

I just like taking pic's of these zoanthids for some reason
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Christmas2008055.jpg

Here's a neat timed exposure of that yellow acro in the moonlights
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/Christmas2008082.jpg

I changed the flow in the tank around last night and am much happier, hopefully the corals will be as well. I'll try to snap some new shots this weekend maybe

[sharuq1]

Tank sure is looking good! Can you post some more pictures?

[Slick Fork]

Here's some more shots I snapped tonight,

I've put backing on half the tank, it's that stick on frosted window stuff you can get at home depot, I'll try it out on half and probably try something else on the other half. I don't want to paint the back as it's nice to be able to peel away a backing and actually see what's going on behind the rocks, and I want something that's going to be thin enough that I can use magnets through it so I'm open to suggestions.

FTS
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March001.jpg

Now some Close ups
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March003.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March002.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March004.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March007.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March008.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March009.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March011.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March013.jpg

[Slick Fork]

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March014.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March015.jpg

Under Actinics
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March019.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March020.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e244/chrisandheather/misc%20stuff/March021.jpg

[fishytime]

How are the finishing touches coming along on the fishroom and tank facade?

[Slick Fork]

The area behind the tank is all put together, as far as the front and top go... we seem to change our mind everytime it comes up as to how we want it to look. I'm finding I really like the convenience of the open top and the Geisseman light fixture looks pretty sharp up there as well. At the same time, blocking it all off would provide me with a spot for the profilux Simu-Stick and block out some of the noise from the sump (not a whole lot of noise at all, but closing it all in would make it deadly quiet)