Slick's Tank Journal(s)

[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!







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??



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



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! 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!!!





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...




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.

[sharuq1]

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

[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!!