Hart's 120 3/4" starfire expansion!

[hart24601]

Starting on the plumbing. There will be 3 drains from the overflow. I am going to try a herbie style - full siphon gate valved line with the next being the trickle and 3rd is backup. Not quite a bean animal as I won't have the Ts, will see how it works, I don't mind a little noise but I can modify it as needed/desired. The drain I have going into a Y so it uses both filter socks. Waiting on the tank for the other drains. The return is 3/4 with 2 holes farther outside the overflow. So I have from the pump into spa flex, coupling, a T split - flex and clamp, - ridged to the other side under and outside the primary drain and clamped. I think it's pretty good so far. Black PVC, black fittings, coupling and gate valve painted black with fusion.

 

[hart24601]

Couple of better shots. The returns are loc-line and have ball valves to dial flow to each one so I don't need a ball earlier in the return system. I hope.

 

[hart24601]

I have to say I feel good about Miracles construction... I was browsing safety factors for rimless tanks. I guess 7.6 is the happy number for a good rimless tank. Well being 3/4" all the way around this particular combination comes out to around 10, plus the back glass is tempered which gives it greatly increased strength and the calculators don't factor that in (that I know how to input at least). It is starfire (3 sides) so it's not quite as strong, but I still seems like it's very overbuilt and I want this tank to last decades so that is very good news! In other exciting news Miracles said the back just came back from tempering so construction will start late this week or early next!!

 

[luxauterna]

It's pretty surprising how those stands are built with the lack of 2x4s or anything that substantial. I did a quick search and while I didn't spend a ton of time on it, I didn't find any reports of the stands failing, a few tanks, but I was expecting to see a few more reports on the stands considering how badly people abuse them. They sell stands for tanks a lot taller than 24" and I would expect to hear more reports on them failing if they did so regularly. With the bit of reinforcement and considering how many stands they must sell and don't fail, I think this should be plenty strong with the new top. I don't have to tools to build my own, but I am pretty happy with how this turned out with the little bit we did. But if I had the tools I would rather try building it!

Oh ya, I am sure your addition will allow it to hold up nicely. I too am surprised to not hear many horror stories about store bought stands. You would think with that amount of water weight on top of 1x's that something would go split, crack, boom in a hurry. BUT no news is good news! I can't wait to see this tank get wet!

 

[hart24601]

It's that time of year, happy birthday pups! Both turn 4 this week.

 

[hart24601]

No big updates, most the stuff is already here with the exception of the tank. I have to say I am really impressed with the vertex. The tank is near the bathroom and I got a whiff of a nasty smell. My 1st thought was the septic tank is having issues... Nope, it was the collection cup in the skimmer!! It had pulled so much nasty I could smell it outside the stand several feet away. Never experienced that before. I guess I have to clean the cup more to keep the smell down, but that is a good thing!

 

[Bingo]

very nice set up sir. and that car whew.

 

[hart24601]

I was pretty disappointed to see BRS Black Friday deals on vertex skimmers. Amazing deals though. The $500 skimmer I just bought is $320... Sent them an email and amazingly enough they gave me store credit for the difference. Happy day! Great service from you BRS, and ensured a happy long term fan.

But anyone looking for a new skimmer check out those deals. I can easily say for $300 this skimmer is amazing.

 

[hart24601]

I went a little overboard with AquaSD Black Friday sale... But I did get some inexpensive frags so I will find room until the new tank is ready.

In other news this orange digi really has some cool growth. Crappy pics, someday I will borrow a real camera, it's hard to tell, but it looks really interesting in person. Side and top down shot. The new growth is white/green.

 

[hart24601]

Switched up the gyre. Put it vertically and switched rotors for alternating flow. I know people complain about the reverse flow, but that isn't really how it's suppose to be run. Reverse flow is when you change the configuration and make the other side point opposite or wherever you want the alternating gyre. I didn't really figure that out until recently.

 

[hart24601]

Anyone know of a good camera for fish shots? Or just a point and shoot but with a tripod? Does it need to take RAW to get the white balance corrected?

 

[Outlaw]

Stunning tank (and 'vette!).

 

[hart24601]

Thanks! Hope everything will transfer ok to the new tank. I am undecided if I am going to just leave the glass bare or put down white starboard...

 

[hart24601]

Working on picture taking. I ordered a used g15 canon, but am trying out my g7, never tried it with reef tanks, there is some learning there... the manual white balance does a fantastic job of capturing the colors! But my hand isn't steady and need to play with fstops, shutter and iso more...

Here is the ORA shortcake with top-down:

 

[ASHWIN]

Wow! That's digi is wicked

 

[hart24601]

Thanks! Ok, last pic attempt of the night. The lower left tiny frag is "Doctor fosters and smith true Oregon tort", the middle one I am trying to capture is a cali tort that I grew from 1/4" frag, the upper one I don't know. The cali tort is really purple in person, not sure why it's not as accurate as the ORA shortcake pic above colorwise.

Sigh... it looks blurrier once I uploaded it. I need to figure out how to do this better...

 

[hart24601]

Not many are following the grow out competition, so figured I would post here too. This is 6 weeks growth under "cheap Chinese LEDs". I am pleased with the growth and color.

 

[ethridge78]

Cant wait to see the tank thinking about ordering one from them too.

 

[hart24601]

I can't wait either! I hope it lives up to their good reputation. Just found out they eurobrace the inside bottom too. Thing is going to be a tank. Well a tank of a tank? Hmmmmm

I also called them and they recommend the homedepot or lowes pink/blue foam under it. 1/2 is fine so he told me. Just fyi.

 

[ethridge78]

Yea I was going to order a 72x24x17