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spit.fire
03-25-2013, 07:50 AM
So after putting some though into it I decided to shut down my 8' salty as I wanted to move to a higher end reef tank without breaking the bank by outfitting my 8' with higher end equipment

So I sold my tank, most of my larger fish and now I just need to sell the skimmer


Today (technically yesterday) I picked up a scratched up 6' 120ish gallon tank stand and canopy with the intention of re finishing the stand and canopy and replacing the front pane of glass, the reason I bought a scratched tank is because I wanted to keep the hight closer to 18" and couldn't justify passing up the deal I found

So the fun begins, started stripping the tank down the second I got it in my garage and looking at the tank without trim I've decided to go rimless and ditch the canopy

The tank is 72x19x20 which puts it at 118g which I'm alot happier with than I would be a standard 125 and has 12mm glass all around

I'm still unsure if I'm going to remodel the stand (bit of belt sander work and some new stain) or build one out of steel tube (doesn't cost me anything)

If I build a new one I get a nice work bench for in my garage from the old stand which I desperately need

but then I need to go find my keys for my friends fab shop and go build one

As much as I love eurobraced tanks this one is going to have either 1 center brace or 2 braces spaced out

Sump will be custom size (probably built out of the piece I'm removing from the tank but size will depend on which stand option I go with

As far as equipment goes I'm not set on anything yet but I'm thinking:

Diy led
Swc cone skimmer
Vertex reactor for biopellets
Vertex reactor with hydroton
Hc powerheads (eventually will upgrade to tunze)
Return pump will be either mag12 or Laguna 1500gph not sure which one to go with yet


Livestock will be all the leftovers from my 8':
Lieutenant tang
Purple tang
Tomini tang
Hippo tang
Cleaner wrasse
Blue throat trigger
Hawk fish
3 damsels (wife likes them cuz they're pink)

Corals:

Random sps
Acans
Blastos
Zoas
Favia



So tomorrow I get to order some glass and start cutting seams

Tank is getting cut apart 100% so I can get rid of the clear silicone and go to black

Skimmerking
03-25-2013, 09:30 AM
Spit sounds great man

spit.fire
03-25-2013, 06:31 PM
Here's my starting point

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/tyty_220/4D5200E6-E43B-416B-8578-A97FE07442CB-2306-0000039429DC667C_zps11ec3974.jpg

viperfish
03-25-2013, 07:14 PM
You're going to be busy!

spit.fire
03-25-2013, 08:46 PM
Yup

Ran out of carbide grit for drilling so I should have 10lbs of it by the weekend, that stuff is hard to get....

ordered the new panel and some new drill bits which should be here by Thursday


Now that the tank is at a standstill I need to figure out what to do about the stand

Ill probably start tearing it down tomorrow morning before work to see how much work it's really going to be

And just to keep my a.d.d in check ill start building my sump at the same time. I'm going to try and maximize the size of the sump so ill be going 32x18x16 which will leave me just enough room to get the skimmer in and out

I won't need to run any baffles as ill be running a jbj ATo and herbie overflow

After getting a price on dc pumps I might be going that way for my return pump

spit.fire
03-27-2013, 07:35 PM
Hard part is done

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/tyty_220/22359CC9-F94E-47EE-B51F-5421B49A2264-180-0000003252E437F4_zps0ac77f34.jpg

Skimmerking
03-27-2013, 07:46 PM
Cool

lastlight
03-27-2013, 07:53 PM
don't envy you there that's a lot of work!

i see you're looking into the laguna pumps. i'd recommend looking into the new speedwave dc pumps. they use less power and have adjustable speed. they also allow you to connect to rigid pvc fittings much more easily than with the lagunas.

spit.fire
03-27-2013, 08:33 PM
don't envy you there that's a lot of work!

i see you're looking into the laguna pumps. i'd recommend looking into the new speedwave dc pumps. they use less power and have adjustable speed. they also allow you to connect to rigid pvc fittings much more easily than with the lagunas.

I enjoy the work, just not looking forward to cleaning all the old silicone off but my wife always helps with that so it's not bad

I was thinking the Laguna pumps mainly because I have them laying around and I know they're reliable and quiet

I've got a 1500gph and a 2900gph(way to big for this tank)

I think I'm gonna run the Laguna to start
They're going to be setting some speed waves up at oceanic corals so ill see how they are there before I buy one

Might just buy one for my skimmer tho

Now to find a few tubes of ge scs1200 as I thought I had more laying around but I only have 1 tube of black left

lastlight
03-27-2013, 08:39 PM
didn't realize you had the pumps already otherwise i'd have kept my trap shut =)

i had the 4200. a lot of pump to trust without a threaded connection. it never really sat well with me! you're right about the noise they're good for that.

Kryptic4L
03-27-2013, 09:10 PM
Can't wait to see this resurrection. These almost always turn out to be phenomenal builds.

I think the Laguna will be a awesome start, I wouldn't trust the speedwaves based solely on the box they come in. What an ugly box, looks like it was manufactured to gather dust which would vastly improve there appearance

Cubeman
03-30-2013, 02:59 AM
I like a build with some sweat equity!

daplatapus
03-30-2013, 02:40 PM
i had the 4200. a lot of pump to trust without a threaded connection. it never really sat well with me! you're right about the noise they're good for that.

I ran a Laguna 2900 for almost a year on my tank with no issues. I have 12' of head pressure so the flow wasn't outrageous. Probably in the neighbourhood of 1200-1400 gph. So I wasn't thrilled with the lack of a threaded connection either. WHat I did was cut the barbed adapter down to the largest size possible (1 1/4" I think) and PVC glued it right to a piece of spa flex that I had to warm up a bit to get it on. Worked like a charm You still have that quick connect with that little "O" ring to worry about, but I was running it internal, never had any problems with it at all.

spit.fire
03-30-2013, 06:47 PM
I ran a Laguna 2900 for almost a year on my tank with no issues. I have 12' of head pressure so the flow wasn't outrageous. Probably in the neighbourhood of 1200-1400 gph. So I wasn't thrilled with the lack of a threaded connection either. WHat I did was cut the barbed adapter down to the largest size possible (1 1/4" I think) and PVC glued it right to a piece of spa flex that I had to warm up a bit to get it on. Worked like a charm You still have that quick connect with that little "O" ring to worry about, but I was running it internal, never had any problems with it at all.

Only problem I ever had with my 2900 was the one time I bumped it when I was working in my sump and ended up with 2900gph shooting at my face.... And my mouth was open...


Other than that one time I've never had any issues

spit.fire
03-30-2013, 06:50 PM
Can't wait to see this resurrection. These almost always turn out to be phenomenal builds.

I think the Laguna will be a awesome start, I wouldn't trust the speedwaves based solely on the box they come in. What an ugly box, looks like it was manufactured to gather dust which would vastly improve there appearance

Haha ill have to agree about the box

We set one up in my friends store so we'll see how it performs there, so far were pretty happy with it tho

spit.fire
03-30-2013, 06:54 PM
So today looks like its gonna involve alot of sanding, some painting (air sprayer) and hopefully some gluing of glass

Got some new bottom trim in the other day and top will be trim less

spit.fire
03-31-2013, 08:02 PM
Picture time

Sanded the stand
Painted the inside
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/tyty_220/317D8BFC-BFC5-42BB-89E2-7F5180CEE131-311-000001078F811DEF_zps8aae3445.jpg

Ran out of glue
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/tyty_220/CE9F6372-0E15-4CCA-9F27-241DCC182A54-311-00000107984D27B5_zps3c7bd9db.jpg


Some new "frags"
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/tyty_220/67AB1677-2300-45F8-9B97-096FCAC8EDA8-311-00000107AF9BA901_zpsf8bb25d7.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/tyty_220/C74729B6-B135-4F48-B410-F85324543899-311-00000107A5790CBD_zpsb9306df2.jpg

Skimmerking
03-31-2013, 08:45 PM
coming together dude looking good

spit.fire
04-15-2013, 07:00 PM
Add strikes again... Turned my mangrove tank into a stand alone non-photosynthetic + acan tank


Gonna run a 54w custom led fixture over it once my parts arrive

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/tyty_220/80441251-413D-4E5C-A7DB-F9D5A33550F0-397-000001278695A5B8_zps8b5f0f3e.jpg

msjboy
04-15-2013, 07:24 PM
you should put in a tinted glass door on that and that should be sleek design seeing the sump and refugium lights


msjboy

spit.fire
04-15-2013, 07:47 PM
you should put in a tinted glass door on that and that should be sleek design seeing the sump and refugium lights


msjboy

No room or need for a refugium

I have to pack an swc 150 skimmer in there as well as 2 vertex reactors, return pump, heater, ATo system, and more

Sump is only 17x17"

spit.fire
04-29-2013, 08:25 PM
So this tank build has been scrapped due to the fact that well.. It wasn't what I wanted as far as tank size so I figured I'd bite the bullet and just get my tank built, I finished redoing the tank to I'm just gonna finish the stand and sell it off for cheap when its done

The tank I'm ordering has a 6'x30" footprint and its getting a coast to coast overflow on the 30" side

Plan is to be a very shallow reef/frag tank at 12" tall with minimal rock going straight down the center approx 1/3 of the tank length with all sps on the rock work and zoa, pally and lps frags spread throughout the rest of the bottom of the tank.