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Looking good - as far as "drunk monkey" whatever works right? :biggthumpup:
Zoolan's 135 Oceanic Build (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter zoolan70
- Start date
OP
OP
Almost there!
Full water test running now. Knock on wood...no leaks at this point. I'll let it run for 24 hours and drain it again. I did discover one thing...my basement tips to the left. The left overflow is taking 75% of the water, I'd guess. I don't know if that is a problem or not, but it seems fine.
In the pictures, notice that I only did 2 baffles for my bubble trap. Do you think I need to add a third? I've seen it done both ways. If I need to add one, I'd rather do it now before it is finalized and filled for real.
Full tank shot
Gated output into 'fuge. Water enters at the water surface, flowing away from the baffle.
Main drain underwater in the skimmer chamber. It can take the entire drain volume even if I shut off the 'fuge flow.
Detail of the bubble trap.
Full water test running now. Knock on wood...no leaks at this point. I'll let it run for 24 hours and drain it again. I did discover one thing...my basement tips to the left. The left overflow is taking 75% of the water, I'd guess. I don't know if that is a problem or not, but it seems fine.
In the pictures, notice that I only did 2 baffles for my bubble trap. Do you think I need to add a third? I've seen it done both ways. If I need to add one, I'd rather do it now before it is finalized and filled for real.
Full tank shot
Gated output into 'fuge. Water enters at the water surface, flowing away from the baffle.
Main drain underwater in the skimmer chamber. It can take the entire drain volume even if I shut off the 'fuge flow.
Detail of the bubble trap.
Very nice craftsmanship
OP
OP
Woot! Electrical is done, and we are looking at the green light to move forward. Now, I only have 3 hockey games over 3 days to deal with, and I can get rock and water in there.
Updated pictures coming soon...
Updated pictures coming soon...
OP
OP
I bought the Sch80 (gray) from BulkReefSupply. I had to use some sch40 (white) because I needed some parts, and didn't want to wait. Based on the number of trips I've made for 3-4 parts, and the amount of extra parts I have left over from the original order, I may never have finished it if I waited 2 days each time I needed something!
In hind sight, the only things I really 'needed' to get from BRS were the valves. They are head-and-shoulders above the stuff at Home Depot.
I'm hoping the skimmer is big enough. It was on the tank when I bought it, and has a Sedra 5000 pump with needlewheel impeller on it. I guess time will tell...
Excellent progress! Everything looks great.
What do you have planned for in tank flow?
What do you have planned for in tank flow?
OP
OP
I'm hoping to use two Tunze Turbelle stream 6105 pumps attached to a reef controller (Leaning toward the Apex) in the long run, but may just use some Koralia pumps during the first six months or so while it cycles and matures. I may need to buy the Tunze pumps one at a time as I have funds...
Good plan. That's essentially what I did, except I used the maximod pumps, then got the non-controllable tunzes(6025s) and then the controllable pumps.
I have the Apex and love it.
I have the Apex and love it.
OP
OP
Is it as sweet as the reviews make it out to be? Do you have their moonlight modules? I haven't bought a moonlight yet, but will hold off if they are decent. It sounds like they work awesome, but I'm worried that they won't put off enough light for a 135.
Yes, I have there 4 or 5(can't recall) lunar module and it work well over my 4' 120g.
The Apex works as well as claimed, as did my AC3 Pro and AC Jr before it. Neptune makes great products. My only issue with them was their temp probes failing a few years ago, but that's since been corrected with the new probes.
Chris
OP
OP
Ta Da!
We have a fishtank!
Lots of progress over the past few days.
Got 2 new circuits put in (20 amps dedicated for the tank, 20 amps for the fishroom), put the sump and tank plumbing back together, and rounded up my old heaters and powerheads.
Mixed up 70 gallons of salt water, picked up the rock from OD where it was stored, and dumped 20 gallons of water down the drain to make room for the rock in the holding tanks (while kicking myself for not realizing rock displaces water, somehow).
Finally, on Friday AM I rounded up the kids and we got to work:
I had about one 5-gallon bucket of rock left over, but that's not bad starting with this:
I'm sorry about the pics. I only had the blue lights on and it sort of washed out the camera sensor. I put egg-crate down under the base rocks to help stabilize the rocks and spread out the weight loads:
I used the drilled rod method to build up the towers and create the ledges. I did not permanently attach anything at this point. I have some rod joints to fill in but wanted to wait until I knew I liked the design. I used different rods than last time, and they worked way better. Instead of the orange fiberglass rods I found some thicker white ones (they had a 4-sided reflector thing on the end of them) and they fit PERFECTLY with a 3/8 inch hole. Just a few light taps with a hammer and they slipped right in, and didn't move at all:
Next the sand went in. 1-2 inch sand bed, which had to be slowly dumped in, then spread by hand under and behind the rocks:
Oh yeah, I'll be saving this picture to show my son's kids how stupid their Dad looked when he was 16 and wore his pants half-down and his boxer shorts showing...
Let the filling begin!
The tank is full, and the new Tunze 6105 is running:
Same shot today, after a day of filtering:
We have a fishtank!
Lots of progress over the past few days.
Got 2 new circuits put in (20 amps dedicated for the tank, 20 amps for the fishroom), put the sump and tank plumbing back together, and rounded up my old heaters and powerheads.
Mixed up 70 gallons of salt water, picked up the rock from OD where it was stored, and dumped 20 gallons of water down the drain to make room for the rock in the holding tanks (while kicking myself for not realizing rock displaces water, somehow).
Finally, on Friday AM I rounded up the kids and we got to work:
I had about one 5-gallon bucket of rock left over, but that's not bad starting with this:
I'm sorry about the pics. I only had the blue lights on and it sort of washed out the camera sensor. I put egg-crate down under the base rocks to help stabilize the rocks and spread out the weight loads:
I used the drilled rod method to build up the towers and create the ledges. I did not permanently attach anything at this point. I have some rod joints to fill in but wanted to wait until I knew I liked the design. I used different rods than last time, and they worked way better. Instead of the orange fiberglass rods I found some thicker white ones (they had a 4-sided reflector thing on the end of them) and they fit PERFECTLY with a 3/8 inch hole. Just a few light taps with a hammer and they slipped right in, and didn't move at all:
Next the sand went in. 1-2 inch sand bed, which had to be slowly dumped in, then spread by hand under and behind the rocks:
Oh yeah, I'll be saving this picture to show my son's kids how stupid their Dad looked when he was 16 and wore his pants half-down and his boxer shorts showing...
Let the filling begin!
The tank is full, and the new Tunze 6105 is running:
Same shot today, after a day of filtering:
cubetankguy
its hip to be square
tell him to hike up his pants:beerchug:
cubetankguy
its hip to be square
i see that u already adressed that nm:biggthumpup:
OP
OP
Other tidbits
The skimmer is cranking along pretty good...nice brown skimmate already. I need to rig up an skimmate holding container with auto-shutoff, but that can wait for a few weeks while the tank cycles.
I found 2 aptasias tonight...Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I nuked them with boiling water, so we shall see if it killed them. I'll grab some Aptasia X tomorrow at work and have it on hand if I need to kill more. Does anyone know if there is a good way to kill them now, before I add anything else to the tank?
I built my Durso overflows. Way simpler than I expected. I started with 1/16th inch for the air hole, and slowly expanded to 1/8 inch to get the flow running smoothly.
Is anyone willing to share a cup of sand from their sand bed to help me seed mine? My sand was stored in the garage after I washed it, so it as dead as can be. Or does it makes more sense to just order a few pounds of Garf Grunge to seed it?
The skimmer is cranking along pretty good...nice brown skimmate already. I need to rig up an skimmate holding container with auto-shutoff, but that can wait for a few weeks while the tank cycles.
I found 2 aptasias tonight...Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I nuked them with boiling water, so we shall see if it killed them. I'll grab some Aptasia X tomorrow at work and have it on hand if I need to kill more. Does anyone know if there is a good way to kill them now, before I add anything else to the tank?
I built my Durso overflows. Way simpler than I expected. I started with 1/16th inch for the air hole, and slowly expanded to 1/8 inch to get the flow running smoothly.
Is anyone willing to share a cup of sand from their sand bed to help me seed mine? My sand was stored in the garage after I washed it, so it as dead as can be. Or does it makes more sense to just order a few pounds of Garf Grunge to seed it?
OP
OP
I have, but as anyone with teenagers can tell you, there are battles worth winning, and battles that are worth giving up. This is one I've decided to let run its course as fashion changes!
Plus I know he isn't doing anything that will require running away from the police!
OP
OP
I'm not sure. The pieces of egg crate are not much bigger than the rocks sitting on them, so hopefully if it does, it won't show too badly. Plus, if the egg crate 'holes' gets filled with sand I hope that will help any exposure blend in too.