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Unread 07/02/2017, 08:15 PM   #76
asonitez
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GQuinn View Post
Nice job on the stand. What are you using for a finish coat and how are you applying it?


I'm rolling it with a foam brush, sanding in between coats. I just finished it yesterday.


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Unread 07/03/2017, 11:16 PM   #77
asonitez
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What a busy Monday!
My doors arrived unexpectedly



The tank made it into the stand after me and the guys moved the stand inside.



Then the doors got mounted up



But it was back to the garage to fabricate the center doorstop because the 3rd door from the door manufacturer wouldn't fit!! I plan to engrave and do a really nice raised emblem of the family crest.





Then it was off to my remote controlled waterproof led lighting









I have infinite and DIY colors as well. Very bright and easy to see what I'm doing inside. Tomorrow I'll be painting the doors and maybe test fit some plumbing.










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Unread 07/05/2017, 07:49 AM   #78
pepino
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Awesome progress o n the build , where did u order your leds for the stand look great


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Unread 07/05/2017, 07:58 AM   #79
asonitez
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I ordered my leds from Amazon. Basic waterproof led kit from wentop. They come with a controller. (1) 8ft strip was enough to light the stand like a Christmas tree lol.


I kind of did a hack job on cutting the foam for the stand. I'm using 1/2" thick foam from lowes. I'm afraid of it buckling at edge or something. I have never used foam before but with this tank I figured I'm taking every precaution possible to ensure success. What you guys think ? Should I have left a overhang past the edge of the tank?



This is my fave color for under the stand lol.







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Unread 07/19/2017, 08:07 AM   #80
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Massive update almost time for water!

So I have been having terrible luck with some aspects of this tank. Let's start with drains!


The SC Aquariums come drilled with 3 1" holes. This is great but traditional overflow plumbing won't work. It comes packaged with a. 1" Durso and a 1" return that gets reduced to 1/2" at the top.

We all know 1" Durso sucks because the tricks won't work with it to make it quiet 1 1/4" is needed.

So I built 2 and found out that they won't fit for shiet in the overflow. The eurobrace makes things very difficult to get my bear arms inside.



I went with the herbie! 2 cracked bulkheads later and it's plumbed.

During this plumbing and during a blackout my friends and I were able to fix the pad under the tank and give me some peace of mind that an edge of the pad won't buckle and destroy my house.

That blackout also taught me that charlotte
Has frequent blackouts and they typically last a few hours. During that blackout I started pricing out a generator for the house and although that's a next year project I was able to pickup 2 used ecotech battery backups.

They arrived like this!







They were packed well and it's no fault of the shipper usps sucks hard. These were obviously heavy and obviously thrown.

I worked it out with the seller and got to work since one battery was ratttling inside which meant possibly plates were broken or the battery was internally damaged I decided to replace both batteries and keep the other 2 as backups. I got out my hammer, grinder and Sandee and got to work salvaging the cases.







New batteries



All done



Prime day hit and I used points and the discount to grab one of these to run my apex and monitor the tank




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Unread 07/19/2017, 08:14 AM   #81
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Remember those cracked bulkheads? Well a quick overflow water test revealed that 2 more cracked and you guessed it. I had to disassemble the overflow replace the 2 bulkheads and re assemble.

Since I was up there I decided might as well hang the light.

My ceiling drywall is 5/8" thick which meant handing my light from the drywall using the anchors was needed since of course not a single stud lined up with my tank.





Hung the lights and tested for deflection and saw none. I'll install the bulbs later on but right now it's time to get my stuff plugged in.




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Unread 07/19/2017, 06:35 PM   #82
Lizard333
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Watching the build. That homemade stand looks awesome!!! Well done!!


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Unread 07/21/2017, 11:54 PM   #83
asonitez
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Update time !


Got my herbie installed. Waiting on a gate valve. Light is up and I've been playing with settings. This light is amazing!!!!










So much wiring cleanup! Waiting for my cable organizers.


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Unread 07/24/2017, 07:33 AM   #84
asonitez
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[USER=73044]@Husker[/USER] I actually went with the Nanoboxreef hybrid. It's frickin awesome !!!!!!

I bought a leak froggie!



She's fillin Boys n girls!!!








She's setup my new rodi filters and did the necessary plumbing in the laundry room






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Unread 07/24/2017, 07:52 AM   #85
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Almost there!!! Will def be full by tonight. And I can turn on the pumps and test out my herbie. Or spend the evening ****ed off because it didn't work at which point I'll make 2 Durso's and say fcukit





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Unread 07/28/2017, 12:22 PM   #86
asonitez
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Update time:


So I swear I have not been idle lol.

So I was able to get the tank full of RODI and salt



3 40lb bags of caribsea ocean direct later and I have a completely cloudy mess






So I figured I would put my skimmer in and crank that summabish up. Remember my sump area?




Not good. My skimmer could not fit due to the elbow!!! Earlier in my build thread I found out the 200sss was unavailable for weeks from my retailer and instead got the 250sss. Well it's to big.

85lb braided Fishing line later and I was able to cut out the first baffle.

Look ma it fits!!!



Finally set this bad boy up.



Threw a bunch of this in


About ready for rock I say !




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Unread 07/28/2017, 12:25 PM   #87
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Afternoon Update:


So I have the next week off which will be great for building and designing my aquascape and generally getting the tank really dialed in. I have a few issues I still need to solve one of which is my return pump. Its of course a Vectra L1 and something tell me its not working correctly.

[MEDIA=youtube]mVyHwvXjQ1w[/MEDIA]


[MEDIA=youtube]MRbSR8_VWzU[/MEDIA]


I have heard a few L1's and they don't sound like this. A call to EcoTech this morning resulted in a very nice gentleman telling me to give it another week to "break in" and see how that works.

I have a different theory.

Notice to the left of the return section is a completely empty 20GAL reservoir for my Tunze 3155 ATO? Well I'm thinking maybe its amplifying the vibrations from the return section and making a little water speaker. So its currently being filled up with RODI. If that does not result in a nice HUM from my L1 then the nice guy from EcoTech told me to give them a call and they will replace it with a new one.


Lets take a vote. How many of you think that its vibrations from the pump into the empty ATO section that's causing the noise. How many of you think that my Vectra is Shot lol


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Unread 07/28/2017, 12:25 PM   #88
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The gifts keeps on giving:

So this one time I legit spent like 100 dollars on a cleaning magnet. I know right dumb. Just grab a magfloat and keep it moving amirite? Lol

Today I opened my box of goodness and pulled out ye' olde' magnet - goin on a few years old now and naturally it has a lump.




So being the good little reefer that I am I figure maintenance!! And pulled off the Velcro to replace it


Da FUQ?!!?!?



Oh right I forgot EVERY SiNGLe thing must challenge me for this project cuz why not fuq me right lol.



So I shot off an email to the manufacturer algaefree and after apologizing for the wet side failure he will be sending me a nEw replacement wetside for free and that my fellow Reefers is why I spent 100 bucks on a f*!&@:!& magnet.


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Unread 07/29/2017, 05:48 PM   #89
asonitez
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My back hurts a lot. It took us 4 hours lots of wet floors lots of buckets and 3 tubes of epoxy.

The tanks too cloudy to show you pics of the final scape but there in some more clarity and hoping for the best.

Skimmer went crazy of course considering it's not broken in yet and temperamental...










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Unread 07/29/2017, 11:33 PM   #90
asonitez
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Alright you scurvy reef pirates I got a pic of the scape

My inspiration is Chingchai

My thought process was to go slightly less than 3/4's to the height of the tank.

I'll be using 4 MP40's with random flow .
















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Unread 07/30/2017, 01:46 PM   #91
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Looks good. How many pounds of Real Reef rocks is that?


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Unread 07/30/2017, 01:51 PM   #92
asonitez
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GQuinn View Post
Looks good. How many pounds of Real Reef rocks is that?

It's around 200lbs total of real reef rock


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Unread 07/31/2017, 07:09 AM   #93
asonitez
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Monday Funday Update!

First up is a quick video of the rockscape

https://youtu.be/QiIdIN53Bpw












Next up is manifold!




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Unread 07/31/2017, 07:15 AM   #94
asonitez
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So last night after a ru day doing rock and other tank stuff it was like midnight when I started doing the manifold.





Wife came in found me taking a nap on the job. In reality I had lay down on the floor to stretch out my back after crouching under the stand routing wires and closed my eyes. I eventually drifted off a bit lmao.

(That hose was the wrong size btw)




Woke up finished the job and my wife forced me to come to bed.










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Unread 07/31/2017, 09:19 AM   #95
BZOFIQ
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Why double valves?


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Unread 07/31/2017, 05:00 PM   #96
asonitez
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xoomer View Post
Why double valves?
Double valves! Yes I didn't think anyone would ask haha.

Years ago I built a manifold with ball valves and found controlling flow was incredibly difficult. Not to mention after a few months they were almost impossible to turn. Dialing my flow into my calcium reactor and carbon/gfo reactors was also a challenge.

I learned that ball valves are for on and off. Gate valves are to control flow. By using both I can easily shut off a reactor or flow while keeping the flow setting the same on the gate valve. So for maintenance I'm not spending hours adjusting gfo tumble or calcium reactor flow. I just shut it off completely.

The gate valve also allows me to do water changes from my sump through the manifold flushing it out.


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Unread 08/04/2017, 07:43 AM   #97
asonitez
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Update:

I have been busy the last few days!

First up I took a trip to GREENSBORO,NC to checkout Daves shop and see a few of his custom fixtures in action. I will definitely be ordering 1 or 2 for my new frag tanks soon. It is a absolutely gorgeous facility.









While there we decided to checkout the science center while Dave worked on a secret upgrade to my light fixture!







Some very cool stuff there and only 12.50 to get in!! Easily an entire family day there and well worth the trip! After a few hours we decided to check out a new fish store in the area Reef Architect run by Earnest and his family.



We must have spend about 2 hours in there checking out his livestock and dry goods. In the end I walked out with 7 corals (Softies and LPS) and a quarantine tank!


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Unread 08/04/2017, 08:41 AM   #98
asonitez
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Continued:

After the Greensboro adventure and picking up a quarantine tank my wife and I discussed a lot of my failures as a reefer and what caused them.

We considered that at any point we would have thousands of dollars in equipment, thousands in fish and corals, and yet take risks with those investments by not quarantine fish.

We realized that the reason we didn't was because we didn't have space for the tank, or the tank was on the floor where it was hard to work on or see in, or too small, and all these excuses that over time cost me hundreds of dollars in fish and frustration.

This time we decided to do it right.





Using my new tank stand building skills I whipped this up and painted it in about 2 hours.








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Unread 08/04/2017, 10:04 AM   #99
asonitez
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Moved it in and setup the quarantine. I've been thinking of whether or not to black out the sides of the quarantine but I might want to or use the tank for some other purpose so I opted not to.





For filtration I got a biowheel filter and I'm gonna grab some dr tims and marine pure media


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Unread 08/07/2017, 10:23 PM   #100
asonitez
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Update time:

So I had an eventful "vacation" and now that it's officially over I'm glad that I took it.

Over the last week I have been working on the tank daily!

Fist up I took care of my wiring




Then I turned my attention to the quarantine tank.



I mixed my salt water and also got some bioballs in my sump for when I dump in dr tims



I also painted the doors for the display







Current stocking list is
2 snowflake clowns
1 red fairy wrasse
10 hermit crabs



Corals so far have been loving the light from the leds.


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