Sorry, been rather busy at work lately but I have managed to make decent progress on the aquascaping. I spent numerous hours washing (10) 5 gallon buckets of Marco Rock sand. Ended up using a piece of pvc pipe on the end of my hose and let it run for several minutes while mixing periodically. Hopefully this will reduce the cloudiness after filling the tanks as I have a decent amount of silt to sweep up on my driveway still.
I decided to place 1/4" thick PVC sheets on the bottom of each tank. These were 24" x 24" so they don't cover the entire bottom but do help protect the areas where the majority of rock has been placed. I also used the PVC sheet to glue pipe standoffs to support the base live rock pieces. After glueing these pieces, I filled each piece with Marco cement and placed the rock on top. This should help keep the rock in place along with keeping it slightly elevated off the sand bed.
It's hard to make out but that large flat rock above is nearly 30" in length. I had to make these from numerous pieces of shelf rock cemented together. To date, I've gone through 45 lbs of E-Marco cement and 40 sticks of epoxy. For the critical joints, I used epoxy followed by cement. With the exception of the Tonga rock which I used Titanium threaded rod for reinforcement. Not sure this was needed as the epoxy alone seemed to be stronger than the rock itself. I found this out the hard way while trying to disassemble the rock to change out the 316 stainless threaded rid I had installed first. I ended up breaking mist pieces everywhere other than the old joint .
Here is a picture of the 250DD sps tank as of last week. I've nearly finished as if now but cannot decide if I like all of the tonga rock I've glued together. Essentially the left most 2/3's of the tank rock is cantilevered from the other side. I had to add a few pieces every day to slowly build my way out.
Below is a picture of the middle 30oDD which will be my LPS dominate mixed reef. I'm pretty much done with the aquascaping for it other than a little more cement on the bridge perhaps.
The side 300DD will be another mixed reef along with aggressive fish and my epaulette. I tried to leave as much open space as possible for the shark to swim/walk around. I've still got to add an 8" PVC pipe to the back of the tank for it to hide in during the day.
I should have all the live rock completed this week and plan on starting to plumb the 1 1/4" drains this weekend. I'll dry fit all drain and return lines first before glueing in place.
I have made one change in plans in regards to refugiums. I've been concerned that there will only be around 500 lbs of live rock for the 1,000 or so gallons. With that said, I'm going to put a 60 gallon tank in both corners for additional biological filtration. I can then fill with another 300-400 lbs of rubble with cheato growing on top.
Also on my to do list this week is to install the 1/2" thick white starboard underneath each tank on the back along with wire duct. The starboard will allow for easy mounting of various devices and modules along with covering up the electrical wires.
I decided to place 1/4" thick PVC sheets on the bottom of each tank. These were 24" x 24" so they don't cover the entire bottom but do help protect the areas where the majority of rock has been placed. I also used the PVC sheet to glue pipe standoffs to support the base live rock pieces. After glueing these pieces, I filled each piece with Marco cement and placed the rock on top. This should help keep the rock in place along with keeping it slightly elevated off the sand bed.
It's hard to make out but that large flat rock above is nearly 30" in length. I had to make these from numerous pieces of shelf rock cemented together. To date, I've gone through 45 lbs of E-Marco cement and 40 sticks of epoxy. For the critical joints, I used epoxy followed by cement. With the exception of the Tonga rock which I used Titanium threaded rod for reinforcement. Not sure this was needed as the epoxy alone seemed to be stronger than the rock itself. I found this out the hard way while trying to disassemble the rock to change out the 316 stainless threaded rid I had installed first. I ended up breaking mist pieces everywhere other than the old joint .
Here is a picture of the 250DD sps tank as of last week. I've nearly finished as if now but cannot decide if I like all of the tonga rock I've glued together. Essentially the left most 2/3's of the tank rock is cantilevered from the other side. I had to add a few pieces every day to slowly build my way out.
Below is a picture of the middle 30oDD which will be my LPS dominate mixed reef. I'm pretty much done with the aquascaping for it other than a little more cement on the bridge perhaps.
The side 300DD will be another mixed reef along with aggressive fish and my epaulette. I tried to leave as much open space as possible for the shark to swim/walk around. I've still got to add an 8" PVC pipe to the back of the tank for it to hide in during the day.
I should have all the live rock completed this week and plan on starting to plumb the 1 1/4" drains this weekend. I'll dry fit all drain and return lines first before glueing in place.
I have made one change in plans in regards to refugiums. I've been concerned that there will only be around 500 lbs of live rock for the 1,000 or so gallons. With that said, I'm going to put a 60 gallon tank in both corners for additional biological filtration. I can then fill with another 300-400 lbs of rubble with cheato growing on top.
Also on my to do list this week is to install the 1/2" thick white starboard underneath each tank on the back along with wire duct. The starboard will allow for easy mounting of various devices and modules along with covering up the electrical wires.