1200 pounds of fun
 

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I had no choice is time for a upgrade . Yes that is duct tape holding my tank together I have a steal brace now but the tape worked in a pinch. The centre brace broke on my tank about a month ago I did try to re silicone but I have no faith in my repair and neither did my wife but that's a good thing:mrgreen:

This means new bigger tank for me and it should be here in about a week or so .The only problem is if I get a new tank my wife wants new carpet and the current tank sits on the old carpet so it should be a few long days to do the switch over. Lucky I won't be installing the carpet I leave that one to the pros . The current tank is 84 gallons the new one will be about 150 the dimensions are 56.5L 24w 26 h . The finishing touches are just about done at Conccept Aquatics.
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Time to start making water:razz:


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Woohoo upgrade :smile:
We replaced our carpet a year ago before I started our current tank
If you haven't thought about it already, I'd suggest you put a couple thousand screws into your floors before the new carpet goes in
Our floors were very dry and squeaky, but now all is quiet

Nice tank bud, one day I'll have a tank from concept! :smile: keep those pictures coming.

I am going to need to add a molding around the top of my stand to cover the plywood the aquarium is built on . Does any one know where I can get maple moldings ? I checked Home Depot all they have is pine and oak . I built my stand out of maple plywood and I want it to match as closely as I can get it .

Now the starfish gonna chill even more! :mrgreen:

Not sure if there's one near ya, but Windsor plywood usually has an ok selection.

Thanks I will check out Windsor plywood and yes my starfish is going to be pimping !

I am considering moving my tank to another location . Where my tank sits now is great for viewing and structurally its not going anywhere. The new tank will limit access to the basement and from a style point of view its all wrong the tank is siting rite in front of a window.

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Every outside wall in my home has large windows the only other location has less reinforced structure the joist are running with width the tank providing less support. There is a large manufactured support beam to the side of the tank that I think should provide enough support . The total weight of the tank and stand should be about 1500 lbs . The basement is finished so there is no adding extra support . What do you guys think am I over thinking this ? http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1f66d66a.jpg

Congrats on the upgrade...you'll love it!

As for positioning...I think you be looking at more than 1500lbs but I think that the spot should be okay. I'm not an engineer though.

You've got that large beam and the entire back of the tank is up against the load-bearing exterior wall. I suspect you're fine but keep an eye on that cat :twised:

Yeah, I'm sure it will be fine. However, you might want to clean your floor before you put in the tank, someone has written all over it with blue and green paint. Probably one of your kids. :mrgreen:

Sound like the only thing I need to worry about is the creepy cat and my photobucket skills . I think I'm going to move it .:lol::

Welcome to the Concept Club :razz:.

Subscribed and excited to see where this goes, I do have to say you have stones filling that mixing tank on hardwood though!

Thanks bud :) now if I can only have one forth the number of zoa's as you I will fulfilled

I haven't had a lot to post but I have done a few thing. I upgraded to a GFIC outlet so I don't fry myself . I have never used one before and it always felt like I was playing Russian roulette.

I also had to extend my laminate floor out one board so the stand won't be sitting on the carpet at one end .

She arrived today packed in a huge crate via purolator ever thing went well all in one piece . The hard part was from my pickup into the house. The crate was in the back of my truck all day in the pouring rain. It was a lot heavier than in need to be it had at least five gallons of water in the tank. I think my back will feal better in the morning. So there she is look a lot bigger in person:mrgreen:

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Is it me, or do those dogs NOT looked impressed :D

Either that, or they look reeeaaal guilty lol

You gonna patch those holes around your outlets? :twised:

Yeah you certainly butchered that :razz:
If you haven't already you should probably check how many receptacles are on that circuit now, you limited to something like 12 (don't remember exact number) by code and lights count as well. So when you add one usually a good idea to check you're not adding one too many :)

Ya that was the first thing my wife said lol . It's already fill sanded and painted.
As for the load to the circuit breaker there is only six so I think I am fine .

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Every time I move a tank I say to myself last time and some how it happens again. I have transferred all my corals and fish to the new tank temporarily . I removed all the sand from the old tank so I could take it off the stand and move it to the new location I think this spot will work great until my next big upgrade. Tomorrow I am planing on working on the new pluming and will do my best to redo all my wiring I will try to keep it nice and clean

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On my iPhone it looked like your son was peeing in your tank :lol:

iPhone? :razz:

I've got to agree with the dog pic
They either look guilty, or they are saying something to you about your build :razz:

Coming along nicely - good work

About your electrical;
Yes, 12 'sources' per breaker is the limit. They all count ... lights, outlets ...
This is code for a 15A circuit ( basically )

Would be best if you could find a way to run 1 or 2 new dedicated breakers for your tank
I have one 15A for my sump, and another for my tank
The pumps/heaters/controllers all run on one breaker, and the lights/vortechs run on the other

So this is what I have accomplished today :mrgreen: I will plumb all the 1" pvc drain to the sump . I am going to run flexible 1"3/4 vinyl tubing from my two Eheim so if I ever have to work in the sump it will be easy to move them around
I spent $100 on fittings more than I need so I don't have to keep running back and forth to Home Depot . I am trying to organize the stand better so it doesn't look like a rats nest of wires. I am hoping to get the new tank up on the stand tomorrow if I can get a few guy together to lift it up Lots of fun. The fish seam happy and the tank look good half empty or half full however you want to look at it.
Fortunately I didn't have to much of a ammonia spike after my son urinated in the tank:lol: Time to hit a bottle of red .

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Here is a few updated pictures all the pluming is done all fish a corals are in there new home :) I am planing to do a water test tonight fingers crossed if there is any leaks in will be a pita to fix . All and all I am very happy with the tank I just have to do some finishing on the stand .

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Looks good, love the tank.

How much would a tank like that cost? just out of curiosity for my next upgrade.

Thanks Ginu it's been a lot of work my fish are happy but some of my corals are stressed. The tank is running but I haven't done any aquascaping and I have lots of fine tuning. :)

This is awesome progress! Great looking tank and stand!

Looks great... If I could make a friendly suggestion. Your powerbars worry me with possible splashing over or salt creep. You may want to make an umbrella or cover so you don't gave electrical issues/fire a simple acrylic or something to be sure water doesn't touch the power bars.

Thanks lockrookie I am planing on making some kind of cover for the apex just not sure on how or what material I am going to use . :biggrin:

I haven't done a update on my tank journal for some time I have just been so busy with work summer as I'am sure you can all relate.
In case your wondering the new upgrade tank was doing great ! All the corals sps were responding well and encrusting and growing nicely .
But it happened to me I have been dealing with a huge tank crash I think I have lost around twenty or so corals. It started with a little bleaching and than it just went out of control from there .
What I have left is a few zoanthids and a green and red monti cap . I have had a salt water tank for the last five years . I started with a 33 gal and than a 90 gal and just last march I got my custom 152 gal so this is not new to me but the crash was .
Since I have a lot of room I thought I would post some pictures of the new aquascaping . It give the tangs lots of room to swim around . There is lots of sweet new spots for new sps frags !!!!

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Sorry for the crappy iphone photos . The little man has been a big help withe the crash he is allways up for a water change
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Sorry to hear about your coral losses

Is it possible you suffered the same issues I'm going through ... too low nutrients ?

I've been trying to cram food into my tank as I don't have enough fish yet to keep my corals fed

I think it went down hill after I left my tank with a friend who likes to feed A LOT . My nitrate no3 got a little high so I went water change crazy . Than I may have got some bad salt because my magnesium dropped to 800 in a matter of two weeks after some big water changes. So I think from this point on , I am going to just wait and see how things unfold . The few corals I have left still look a little rattled but my prams are looking better my nitrate seams to be stuck at about 15ppm tho . I am thinking about running bio-pellets .

I neglected my tank for awhile like 6 to 8 months, I can't remember.... Anyhow I am not proud to admit but my alk was at 4.5 ca 900 and mg800. Corals were definately not happy. Since then it's been a total 180 and the tank is looking fantastic.

Which salt are you using? You should do a test after your new first batch of saltwater is made up, from there you will be able to determine how much to adjust up your major 3. For me I use IO and the batches are pretty consistent, I only have to bump the mg up 200 and the other 2 are acceptable.

You'll have your tank running optimal in no time. We all have been through the bad times in this hobby, it's part of learning and gaining experience.

If you have a higher load of fish it's good to run BP, that will allow you to feed more. I noticed corals react well to heavy broadcast feeding that I have started to do it 2 times a week. I usually leave the return off for 3-5 hrs add some lps amino and gut load the fish, the amino triggers a crazy feeding response and gives me a chance to feed my Lps without fish snatching it. I love that frozen cyclopeze product at JL. The red square pack, noticed my sps polyps grabbing those aswell.

The salt I am using was reef crystals . From now on I will always check my water change water especially when doing large water changes like I was.
I also picked up this today, I hope this will help with keep the sps happy . I am Just not sure how much bio pellets to start with I don't need another horror story . My tank is I think about 150-155gal sump is a about 40 gal so total system is around 190 ish .
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If you want to accurately I mean really accurately measure use water dissipation, if not do the cross multiply of 250mls = 1 cup


Or I'm sure there is an online calculator I think I used 1/3rd of what what the max recommended dose I wouldn't expect you seeing any change in your nitrates for 5-8 weeks due to it needs to culture the bacteria!

Franken Light
 

So I really wanted a Giesemann 250w t5 led fixture but since they are $3300 bones I got thinking how can I make my old aqualight Pro 250w better. Well for starters I can pull out those stupid pc lights I mean do they even do anything ?

I added a led strip for a nice actinic look for sun rise and sun set . The real problem is I just have to many dark spots with just the two 250 w lights so why not add two 150w lights to my 48" aqualight so I did and it looks sweet.

I bought a old 72 " aqualight pro for sale on canreef and spent the day puling the old light apart and re-fitting the new lights in. I put the two 150w on the ends and the 250w in the centre. The outer lights are 1200k and the inner are 1400k .

I really like being able to have both the 1200k look and the 1400 k look. Its so cool . Some times in the evening 250 w at 1400 k can be a little bright and having the option of runing 150w at 1200k is really nice its much warmer and very natural looking

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700w of awesomeness and a little bit of red neck innovation:twised:

Those are some sleek DIYs right there! Awesome MHing :mrgreen:

Thanks Raied !! Oh ya 250+250+150+150 =800 dugh :redface:

You are welcome :D LEDs users gonna be soooooo jealous :lol: