Sounds great. I would be surprised if those K2's could give you the flow you need though. I assume you are mostly sticking to softies?

Oh those K2s are definitely getting swapped out. They are barely enough for my 90 gallon. I have a few SPS' :-) They will have to tough it out until I replace the K2s with at least one Vortech MP40. I thought about getting K4s but I know that I want the Vortechs eventually so I'm just going to save up and go straight to the Vortechs and try to live with the K2s until then. I might have to stick my hand in the tank and stir it vigorously every day for a bit.. :lol:

Haha...At least you're willing to do the work.:lol:

I recently purchased a MP40W but I haven't installed it in my 70 yet. I might do so on Sunday and see how it goes.

Yow, Mark you have an MP40W in your hot little hands but are able to wait until Sunday to install it? Talk about patience! They're so relatively simple to slap on, although take care with the alignment & spacer setting for glass thickness. I recently added a second MP40W to my 75 and it's great. I previously ran the single one at long pulse, full power and with a quiet room, it was quite audible ramping up to full speed. Now with the two, I'm able to run them around 75% power, making things noticeably quieter. Flow is much better at the previously 'other' end of the tank as well. When you get yours going, I'm sure you will see a lot of stuff getting kicked up that you didn't know was in there!

Sweet! I'm really looking forward to picking up an MP40 now. Too bad I just dropped $500+ on a protein skimmer. Next paycheque maybe :-) Speaking of protein simmers.. I need to go pick that up. I got a call yesterday that it was in and ready for me. Its the Hydor 700. I will be picking up my QuietOne 6000 and a 55 gallon tank today as well in preparation for the sump build this friday/weekend.

I'm Baffled!
 

It was quite a debate.. black stand or white stand. In the end I ended up going with a white stand. Our living room has white leather couches and the stand being as large as it is would probably look like a huge black hole in the middle of the room if I went black.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075159

While the paint on the stand dried I decided that it was time to tackle the sump. Fortunately all my sump equipment was on hand (very important when you are building a sump!). I picked up the skimmer first. I haven't even fired this thing up yet and I'm already in love with it. Hopefully it does not let me down.

Hydor Performer 700

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075320

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075422

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075467

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075494

Originally I was going to go with a QuietOnes 6000 but ended up walking out with a Mag18. I'm such a sucker for an upsell. This thing is heavy!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075560

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075592

Now we just need some baffles. I decided to go with acrylic panels. They are easy to obtain and to work with. All you have to do is measure up your panels. Score your lines with a straight edge of some sort and a scoring knife. I like to run 5 scores on either side of the panel. Then, snap! If you're like me and not quite strong enough (or too chicken) to snap the panel (where you scored it) by hand, just wedge it in between two pieces of 2x4s and step on it.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075805

It all went pretty smooth. Here they are, the baffles!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075967

There's Sump'in going on..
 

Okay, so everything for the sump is read to go. At first I was going to go with a 55g. After getting it home and shoving into the stand I decided that I wasn't really happy with it. Even though I have tonnes of room under the stand I still found the 55g a tad tall for my liking. A quick google pointed me to the 45g. It is only 2 inches shorter than the 55g but those two inches made a difference. That's 2 more inches of easy skimmer cup cleaning!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076313

Time for a dry fit.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076479

From left to right we have the 'fuge, bubble trap, return section, bubble trap, the skimmer/overflow drain section. And here's all the equipment in their respective compartments.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076529

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076555

Okay, looks good. Time to commit with some silicone.

*** DISCLAIMER: This will be the ugliest siliconing job you will ever see. Please don't judge me by the aesthetics of the result ***

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076585

Okay, so it is ugly but it gets the job done!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076777

Overflow grill for the 'fuge.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076816

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076874

But... will it hold water???

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076923

Fuge holds water!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076965

So far so good.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077010

Tanks for all the fish!
 

Back to the stand. Now that the paint has dried it is time to move it into the house. Originally I had a sheet of 1/2 inch plywood which I was going to use for the top but decided I wanted something a little nicer. I was at Ikea looking for ideas for skinning the stand when I came across some counter tops. A nice one and a half inch slab of MDF, awesome. I went with one of the Numerar counter tops that happened to be just the right size at 73" by 25". No cutting required. While I was there I also found some cabinet door panels that I will use for the stand as well. More on that later.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077860

This is always a good sign!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077886

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077911

Now that the stand is (somewhat) ready let's get that tank in here. Let me just say, damn that thing is heavy! It took 4 of us to get it in and out of my car and onto the stand and it wasn't all that much fun, but my crew and I pulled it off.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077989

A 1/2" sheet of pink styrofoam sits between the tank and the top of the stand for cushioning. The edge of the styrofoam was spray painted silver to match the trim and the top of the stand.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078184

It sure is a lot bigger in person than it is on paper.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078239

To recap, it is 72" long by 24" wide by 20" deep/high. Here's the external overflow box.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078281

Two of the four 1" overflow holes. My plan is to have 1 drain straight into the 'fuge, merge two of them into a 1.5" pipe to drain into the skimmer section with a gate valve, and then the 4th hole will be the emergency drain.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078313

And here are the two 1" returns drilled into the eurobrace at the opposite end from the overflow.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078699

I put in a special request to move these holes far enough away from the glass panel so that I could easily maneuver a magfloat around the glass without interference.

looks good i love my divider tank. Are you going to continue the stand up the back wall conceiling your overflow and return. hidden pipes is the way to go

I might, if I can be bothered :-) The exposed plumbing never bothered me when I had my 90 gallon there, and the 90 gallon was 2 feet away from the wall! :lol: But ya.. I will add that to my "to-do" list and see if I get around to that finishing detail towards the end (pun intended!).