looks like the cabinet turned out great

Wow wow WOW!!! Your work with the wood on that side is awesome! I dig the clean look without molding etc. Iron-on veneers? How did you build all that?

I'd like to take credit, but I paid someone to do it. For the time I would've had to take to build it, I was way farther ahead working my real job and pay someone to do it. It is solid maple and stained, then laquered. This guy had build a ton of fish tank stands. It's growing on me - looks too much like a box, but we didn't want any fancy stuff. Once decorations are put on either side of it then it might look a bit better.

I think it looks awesome!

Me too Des. Looks absolutely stunning!

Yeah "wow" is about all I can add to the list of accolades. Nice!

I think a nice big vase next to it with some of those fancy schmancy colored twig thingies would look killer.

Wow Brett, you may have a potential career as an Interior Designer. Just promise me that when you have your own cable TV show, you'll still use phrases like "schmancy coloured twig thingies." :)

I'm getting a SHOW now? Rad! I don;t have to marry my closest male friend to land that do I?

http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/b/0/0...AAAAAFoDVw.jpg

Not the greatest shot but sorta what I meant. You'll need maybe a white vase with green branches. White will pull the color of the couches over etc. Haha. That sounded legit?

I have other cool terms like PHEASANT BALLS. I had a friend who decorated his place in such a way that you really couldn't LIVE in the space. He had things like these so I needed a name:

http://www.kaboodle.com/hi/img/c/0/0...AAAAADcSXQ.jpg

Not bad for a thread derail. Anyways Dez...money well spent it looks great!

thumbs up
 

Looking good Dez, I was wondering how you where going to finish it. I must say you have done an amazing job, glad everything is working out.
Bob

Brett, i think you have been watching to much daytime TV. LOL

Ummm....too bad the couches aren't on the den side Brett.... ha ha. You guys crack me up.

Oh right you can see through the tank they weren't Ina reflection.

You'll need pheasant balls then ;)

I showed my wife the pheasant balls and she told me to tell you that she digs them.

Nowhere but in this spot in this thread could you say something like that with a straight face. Heck even here it's a stretch! Glad she digs!

Well, it's been really busy but the tank is still progressing. No pheasant balls or fancy schmancy twig thingees yet. I have set up my RO/DI holding tank now. It's a 75 gallon tank on a cheap Big Al's stand that I bought from a fellow Canreef member. I had to use a sledgehammer and a 2 x 4 to get the stand in cause my walls weren't square - nothing like some tight tolerances. I made my own glass float valve bracket for the float valve to fill my reservoir. I now siphon water directly from my reservoir to my sump (with a float valve) for my auto top off. 75 gallons will last a loooong time so I have chosen to have my RO unit shut off and once a week I can top up my reservoir. This way there will be no constant on/off action on the RO membrane which will make it last longer. I haven't taken any pics yet but they will come.

I've also picked up tons of colourful sps frags from Marine Aquaria and fellow Canreef members.

I've got cyano, but I think that's part of the new tank syndrome (I've passed the brown algae stage, and now cyano - hopefully coraline algae next).

Thanks for reading.

And Mike (Asmodeus)- I know you're gonna ask for pictures, you always do in everyone's thread :). They are coming! Later tonight after my kidlets go to bed.

Des

I 2nd the picture's! Sorry to hear the pet store thing was a bust!

Calgary is my home town and it let me down.....oh well. I'll get to see Ocean City one day when I'm back and I'll show up before 5:30pm :)

Okay, Here are the promised pictures. Soon I will inherit my wife's camera and won't have to use my cell phone camera anymore. Here is the 75 gal reservoir I added last week:

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0013.jpg

You can see the float valve at the top right. That's hooked up directly to my RO/DI. I'll probably only turn on the RO once a week when the tank is half empty. At the left of the tank is just my siphon tube going directly to my float valve in the sump. Pretty low tech auto top-off system - gravity.

Here's a closer look at my float valve mount, made it in about 5- 10 minutes with scrap glass:

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0014.jpg

Here is a FTS on the den side:

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0015.jpg

As you can see, I have a bit of cyano. I attribute it still to new tank syndrome. I have undetectable phosphates and nitrates. Calcium at 400 and Alk at 9 dkh. Tested about 10 minutes ago. Here's one from the living room side. I really do need a real camera.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0016.jpg

I am seeing growth on a lot of my frags. Some "garbage" pieces that I've picked up from friends are colouring up nicely (purple/pinks) with new growth tips. I need to order new bulbs as I have no idea of the age of the bulbs cause my lights are from 5 years ago bought used. Any suggestions on nice colour/brand of 250Watt DE bulbs? I will eventually get T5's for either sides of the halides (they are actually on order from my LFS). Thanks for viewing.

get the reef flux 12K its a nice blend Dez

And where would I order such a bulb? Thanks....

Nice to see fish/corals in it and doing well. :biggrin:

It has been a while since I've posted....but there are a couple more updates. I finally hooked up my kalk reactor. I made this reactor 6 years ago, and it still works. This picture is with it still filling, but everything is running fine, it's been running for a few days now and all my top-off water goes through it.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3139.jpg

This is the big picture of where it sits:

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3140.jpg

Also, I finally got some T5 lights on my tank. I ordered some cheap fixtures but it's really for a bit of actinic colour supplementation. Sorry, this picture is kind of dark:

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3159.jpg

There is a 2 bulb 48" fixture on either side of the halides now, all with blue actinic bulbs.

I also got new bulbs for my 250W fixtures. I decided with 14K and I love the colour and I can't believe how bright it is compared to my "who knows how these bulbs are" used bulbs from 5 years ago. I'm eventually going to change the middle 150W halide to a 250 watt halide.

Here's a full tank shot from the living room (picture frame side).

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_3187.jpg

Some more progress includes me drilling and plumbing in my 75 gallon water change tank (because a month has gone by and I'm due for a water change) and also plumbing a pump from the 75 gallon RO/DI reservoir to the water change tank. I however encountered a problem as my pump didn't have enough head pressure to pump water 8 feet up and 8 feet over (not effectively anyway). So my friend gave my a mag 9.5 which I'll try and re-plumb it later. Thanks for looking.

man that looks killer. i,ll have to drive down and have a look!

Come by anytime Ed. One brown sps you gave me has turned turquoise/blue, the staghorn I got from you has a million growth tips now and has lightened up to green, that hairy acro is growing (probably 1/4" tip all around, I can tell the new growth cause I put it on it's side and now the new growth is growing straight up), that tiny birdnest is growing too but it isn't pink anymore, greenish base. Who knows what the corals will do now with the new lights. I was running old 20k bulbs before and actually the ballast you sold me died :(, so my corals browned out on that side of the tank cause it died right before I went away for a week. Call me sometime and come by and take a look.

Another interesting to note- had my first major power outage today. Power was out for about 3 hours. Never thought through one before, but I just started my jeep, and plugged an extension cord from the car's plug in to the tank and hooked it up to 2 Koralias. Worked like a charm and made sure to have the garage door 3/4 open so that there'd be no carbon monoxide poisoning :)

That looks awesome! That gorg on the left look really sweet.

Killer idea with the car btw. My truck has a 400W outlet in the bed that I will use if I ever need it. Great idea again!

Yeah, I got the gorgonian from a fellow canreefer for $25 - Score! It's a photosynthetic one so it should be pretty hardy, the previous owner had it for over a year.

I need to stop by and appreciate this in person! I still haven't seen it since you got those new fixtures and bulbs in there! Pictures look incredible, and pictures never even come close to serving justice..

It's been about a month since my 100% water change, so I did one today. Actually it wasn't so much a water change, but added 75 gallons to my system.

Here is what I plumbed up. This is my 75 gallon reservoir that holds my RO/DI water. I plumbed up a pump to pump to the 75 gallon tank that I hooked into my system today.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0105.jpg

Here is the 75 gallon tank that I have hooked up to my system, this makes my system about 325 gallon total water volume. This tank is run inline with my whole system but it will always remain with nothing but the water running through it. There'll be no fish or rock ever in in.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0106.jpg

So here is my process for a water change now. Turn off a valve to the 75 gallon tank - shutting it off from the system. Then drain that entire tank into the toilet right beside the fish room. Then turn on the pump from my 75 gallon reservoir and pump fresh RO/DI water to the now empty 75 gallon tank. Put the approppriate amount of salt and other additives in. Let mix for a few hours. Then turn the valve on a little bit to let the water change happen overnight. The next day turn the valve back on full. I'm quite excited about this system. No buckets!

I finally hooked up my bathroom fan in the fishroom to a dehumidistat. When the humidity hits a certain level in the fish room, then the bathroom fan will vent that humid air straight outside. Here's a picture of it.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0107.jpg

I am quite pleased with this build so far. I have not yet regretted anything that I've done and I wouldn't change anything yet. So hopefully that's a good sign. Now I'm done with plumbing for a while - maybe I can start cleaning my basement and go return the unused plumbing parts...

Thanks for looking.

the setup looks great man well done can you explain the water change part thou you just turn on the 75 gal and it will slowly do a water change for ya

excellent build thread. Halfway through!

Okay Mike,

I'll try to explain it clearly.

1. Get motivated to do water change
2. Turn valve off so the 75 gallon on top is off-line from entire system
2. Drain the top most tank (which is hooked up to my tank at all times running through the same salt water as everything else). To drain it, I just stick a siphon tube on and drain it to the toilet right next door.
3. Turn on pump from 75 gallon reservoir to pump all 75 gallons of fresh RO/DI water to that tank that I just drained.
4. Add salt and magnesium to that water and turn on powerhead to mix
5. Wait a few hours - then test parameters to make sure everything is good (the only parameter that will be off is the temp, my fresh water will be cooler)
6. Turn the valve back on and that freshly mixed water will be part of the system again, I just turn it on very little so the temp doesn't drop fast.

It's only a 75 gallon water change out of 325 gallons (about a 23% water change). Last night I put the freshly mixed salt water back into the system and my temp went from 79.5 degrees to 78.7 degrees overnight. So that's not bad for temp fluctuation. Everything seems to be happy with that new 75 gallons of water last night.

So now water changes will be super easy - no buckets. Just mixing and measuring parameters. This was the part of the whole system that I wanted to be easy was the "regular maintenance - aka water changes" part. I found that in the previous years I just dreaded hauling buckets and buckets of water just to do water changes and I found that I didn't do it frequently enough.

Hope you get it now Mike. :)

Great idea Dez that's pretty much how my system works but on a smaller scale. The 20 gallon tank under my stand next to the sump always slowly circulates. I turn a valve to isolate it, throw a switch that turns the pump on that is in the tank which drains the 20 gallons into my basement drain. Other side of wall I have previously drained 20 gallons from my topoff tank into the mix tank. change a few valves up and the mix pump now pumps through the wall into the 20 gallon under the tank.

You gotta love not messing with buckets anymore I hated that!

I know - if it aint easy, you'll tend not to do it. I think that's the most important part of keeping a long term reef is regular water changes - especially with sps. With a softy lps tank it can be more forgiving.

My tanks in the wall so I'm kinda stuck with it through thick and thin. It won't be easy to quit the hobby anymore unless I move. So I might as well make the regular maintenance easy!

Good call on the drain to your basement with your system. I was too lazy to jack hammer my floor to add a drain to my sump room. I could drain it into my sump pump, but then I'd have salt water all over my lawn/garden. I don't think my wife would be too happy with that.

So the hardest part for me is sticking that u-tube on the tank, and starting the siphon :). I guess that's one regret of the build so far - lack of drain in fish room. But if I ever have a flood, it all goes down to my sump pump, so I'm safe from floods at least.

PS - Brett, you better get some updates on your build. When I started my build, I thought Tony would for sure beat me. I thought my build was slow - but I'm almost done now. One day I'll clean up all my fish garbage all over the house!

Hey If I hadn't gotten laid off man I'd maybe have salt water in that tank by now! I'm trying my best to get things back on track trust me!

When we built the house I had an extra drain roughed in (besides the one for the bathroom) for my planned fishroom but I decided against that for this build. As sick as it may seem I have rough ideas of what I want my NEXT tank to look like already and those ideas will include a fish room down there! Of course my wife never hears about these ideas =)

Forget that siphon. Toss a cheap pump in there and put it on a switch! By the way great work on that added system there. You'll have quite a few gallons more than me now. Hmmm...

I don't think my wife will like the "perma - plumbing" from the fish room to the bathroom next door into the toilet........the white pvc down the hall running on the ground and up into the toilet definitely will not go with the pheasant balls.......

I think my U-tube idea with the flexible hose to the toilet will suffice. There will be no "next tank" for me if I want to stay happily married.

My wife thinks I have too many hobbies as is.

As for salt - find it used....ha ha. My last 3 buckets that were 3/4 full were from canreef members - all for about $25 - 30 bucks each.

As for text kits - get your water tested at the LFS for now - that's what I used to do all the time. Never owned a test kit for the first couple of years of the hobby.

You need to at least have your tank running for a couple of years before your next tank. Then build another house to accomodate your "next tank"..... Man, the things our wives put up with.

Wasn't aware it was a race ... :neutral: Congratulations on yet another win Dez! :p

Aw come on Tony, I wasn't trying to give you a hard time :). I earnestly thought that my build would be super slow. It's been 6 months since I actually started and over 5 years in the planning. It is really hard to get motivated when I'd much rather be playing with my kids and hanging out with my wife than plumbing......

Maybe when I'm in Calgary I'll come give you a hand with whatever you need with your build. I wouldn't mind checking it out in person and seeing your other livestock as well. As far as I remember, you've always had the healthiest and nicest livestock - I was always jealous!

Well, today I added a moonlight to my tank. It is a single LED light. I had to put it off center a little bit so that nothing was in the way. It is an LED bulb soldered to a resister in-line and then hooked to variable voltage adaptor.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...e/IMG_0120.jpg

Thanks for looking.