320g build/journey/experiment :-)

[Greenmaster]

I started this thread on another forum and had to sign up here so I could talk to Acroholic about some clear mesh for the top of my tank. I thought hey it's not that hard to just cut and paste so most of this thread will be a duplicate until I get to where I am today. Hope you enjoy!

So here I go, I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have to re-enforce the floor, build the stand, build the tank and then connect it all together. Aqua-scape, making some of my own rock. Then cycle the tank and slowly overpopulate my tank. I plan on having a reef setup with a 72"W x 30"L x 39"H with a bottom tank of 100g 60"x18"x24"
Edit*** Lots of lighting 3 x 250w MH for the bottom tank 2x400w MH +2x175w MH + 3x20w LED with a possible moonlight if I can find the kind I'm looking for. (One that turns on every night slightly brighter for 14 days then darker till it's off) ***
-I'm going with an all LED DIY setup now.
Still not sure on the pumps I'm going to use... but there will be 2. No wave makers, power heads, reactors, or protein skimmers. (the 2 pumps will be split into 2 pipes each so it will be like having 4 power heads) I plan on overpopulating my tank to the edge of collapse to see if I can find a way to have a dense population of fish. I will be using aragonite oolite sand. I will be posting pictures at least once a month and be updating once or twice a week (maybe more in the beginning) I have amassed a large list of fish... 25 spices 126 total fish (I plan on having schools and I know that the total number of fish will probably be smaller that's what this test is for)
Edit *** I'm ordering my glass today ***
-The glass shops couldn't guarantee me the sizes I needed so I got the tank custom made.
and pouring cement for the foundation of my floor for the tank (will weigh around 6000lbs when finally set-up). I hope this perks your interest and it's something that you will enjoy at least a little, cause I know I will :D

 

[Greenmaster]

This is where my tank is going to go

This is looking from the outside

This is some of the mess I made while making a foundation for the approximate 6000lbs that is going to sit in the bay window.

It took me about 8 hours to jack the addition up 1" put the 6"x6" beams in drop it back down (fell 1/2" so still 1/2" higher then before to allow for some sinking) mix 1 yard of concrete and pour it into a 1.5" by 10" hole. Now it's done and ***Edit*** I'm going to order my glass just waiting on a quote*** (couldn't get the glass had to get it custom made). I also got my 110g tank ready for pickup I found it in the "Buy and Sell" for $150 but I need to re-silicone it I think. More photos in 3-7 days

 

[Greenmaster]

This is the supplies for my stand... but you need to add 3 more 8' 2"x8" boards.

This is the start of my build with my small tank approximately where it is going to stay... I have taken the silicone out of the inside and am going to re-silicone it.

Stand almost completed... still needs some braces on the legs and the 3/4" plywood on the top.

This is another picture of the same state but with my 4 year old helper in the picture to give you an idea of size.

 

[Greenmaster]

some more pictures of my stand in the stage where I am ready to build my tank on it... The tape measure is the height of my tank.

My daughter really likes to help... but most of all she wants to be in the pictures.

 

[Greenmaster]

This is some rock I made a couple of days ago

***Edit*** (I didn't end up using these rocks they were not what I wanted)
So I went to a couple of glass places in town... a few times... and none of them wanted to sell me the glass... Every time I talked to them they would need to get back to me on something so I would wait for a call back... no call ever came... I went back to both stores and more crap. So I decided to go with a pre-built tank rather then building it myself. I ordered it today and they say I can pick it up in 4-6weeks :-D. I also got some more oolite aragonite. The stupid stores in my area can't order it in for me and they only get 2-4 bags in at a time... so I go in and clean them out when their truck comes every 2 weeks... got 12 30lbs bags so far.
Making more DIY rock today this time with the white portland cement.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to R2R and thanks for sharing!

 

[Greenmaster]

I've finally perfected my recipe and made a bunch of rocks

Small kiddie pool filled with DIY rock.

My daughter pointing to the one she made... all I did was tell her the amounts to mix she did the rest.

Finished rock will be posted in a couple of days.
Finally here are some pictures of my DIY rocks

I like lots of hiding places... this isn't necessarily how I'm going to set it up in my tank. The size of the rock pile is approximately 2'6" wide, 2' deep, and 2' high.

 

[Greenmaster]

Welcome to R2R and thanks for sharing!

You bet... I'm about half way done to getting caught up.

 

[CookieJar]

Nice pics and I love your little helper- so cute! Nice job with everything, the only thing that doesn't seem to make sense is it appears there is hardly any room in between the top of tank and the ceiling. Are you comfortable with the amount of available space for lighting and access?

 

[Greenmaster]

This is a DIY rock tutorial I made...

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/hboNJHlgOvc&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/wndkovV8DpU&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/cgI3aiMCJyk&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/We95IFct7R8&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/OXxyvNZJOaY&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/video]



Some things of note.

-With the formula I have you need to let the molds sit for 48 hours to cure properly. If you want it stronger (also it will be less porous and heavier) you can remove the salt from the formula or add extra cement.
-You can't make things too thin or they will brake.
-Will flake lots of stuff off (using more cement stops that)
-You can use sand as the medium for molding your rocks in.
-If you use balloons for making shapes you need to make sure you take out the balloons when done. (some times the balloons pop and you have to chisel the balloon out or just through out the rock)
-The oyster shell can be substituted by aragonite sand or crushed/pieces of coral. (It is not anywhere near as porous but is way stronger... but I would prefer to use no salt or more cement then aragonite or crushed coral)
-After being made it needs to soak for up to 2 months to make sure most of what can leach out has leached out. (with a proper set-up you could possibly do it in 1 month or less with the formula I have used as there is lots of water flow through the entire structure... a downside of that is there is much less anaerobic areas in the rock turning nitrates to nitrogen... most tanks don't try to do that process anyways, on the upside there is lots of aerobic area for turning ammonia/ammonium all the way into nitrates... and that's the most important part of the nitrogen cycle in most tanks.


Formula:

-3 Parts washed crushed oyster shell (can be picked up at almost all feed stores, very inexpensive... in a city you might have to go to the edge of town as not many people in cities keep chickens

)
-1 Part Aragonite sand (picked up at most fish stores can be substituted for pool sand or removed from the formula all together... I like to keep it in there)
***Edit*** (now I would not use less then 1.5 parts of White Portland Cement, it needs it for the strength and to prevent it from degrading as fast in the water.)
-1 part White Portland Cement type 10 or general use (can be picked up at some places where cement supplies can be purchased. You can use the gray stuff as it is cheaper and easier to find, but I have heard that it takes longer to cure and it doesn't look as good IMO, also to make your rock stronger you can add extra cement to your mix... makes it slightly less porous and slightly heavier... would also make more anaerobic areas)
- 1 part Course Rock Salt. (I used water softening salt it can be purchased at some grocery stores as well as at some appliance stores and some hardware stores... also very cheap... can be removed from formula to make rock stronger... also makes it less porous and heavier... also makes slightly more anaerobic areas)

I put my DIY rocks in the ocean on the 20th and will be pulling them out July 11th.

 

[Greenmaster]

This is my custom tank. The long awaited arrival... now I have a lot of work ahead of me! I put my kids and wife in the tank to give more of an example on dimensions.

Top View

Side View

Front View

 

[Greenmaster]

Some updates as I work on the tank...
I taped off where my tank is going to be so I could silicone without stinking up my house or affecting my young children.

My door for getting in and out of my taped off area is the window.

The acrylic overflow... I bought the 2 pieces this afternoon glued them together then added it to my tank. The two left bulkheads are in the overflow the right one isn't.

A look at the full height of the chamber.

And my little helper that has to always be in the photo :D

 

[Greenmaster]

Now I'm up to date... Let the questions fly :D... or let people observe in silence hehe

 

[Greenmaster]

Nice pics and I love your little helper- so cute! Nice job with everything, the only thing that doesn't seem to make sense is it appears there is hardly any room in between the top of tank and the ceiling. Are you comfortable with the amount of available space for lighting and access?

Thanks, the space at the top of the tank is a bit of an issue but I will be going with a slim DIY LED design so I feel it will not be a problem... but I will let you know once I finally get my tank onto the stand... at that time I will know more because I will get to try to climb in and out if it.

 

[revsgirl]

Wow! That's awesome!! Can't wait to see the finished product!! :D

 

[Greenmaster]

Wow! That's awesome!! Can't wait to see the finished product!! :D

I can't wait either... but we are both going to have to... I have lots of work ahead of me... come back in Dec-March some time and I should have some corals :tongue:

 

[Greenmaster]

I ordered my LED's and my Aluminum slab today.. expect to get the LED's by mid August and have my heat-sink ready by then.

 

[Greenmaster]

So this is the start of the heatsink... I still need to buy the thermal paste so I can attach the copper but this is what it looks like ATM.

Aluminum slab is 5'x2'x3/8"
Groves cut with a router 5/8" rounded bit... (went through 3 of them) cut about 3/16" deep
1/2" copper pipe

 

[Greenmaster]

So I was thinking (always trouble when I do that) solder is a pretty good conductor of heat... and it's a lot cheaper then thermal compound I'll just solder the pipe to the aluminum... so I attach all my pipe to the aluminum and all the corners, so I have a nice long single line... I start to solder and I solder the elbow to the small connecting piece then to the other elbow... seems a little difficult but I figure it's just cause I haven't done it in a very long time... then I try to solder the elbow to the long line... not happening... I keep trying anyways... after about 5 min of going "What the heck!" I figure it out... (most people know that to solder you need both pieces to be hot enough to melt the solder so it can "stick") Well it turns out that my aluminum heat sink works well with no solder or thermal paste as it wont let the pipe attached to it heat up enough to solder it. Now I'm going to have to take all the pipe off and solder it before re-attaching it. What a pain. oh ya and there will be no soldering the pipe to the aluminum. (live and learn... darn heat-sink works too well.)

 

[secretreefer]

nice build! can't wait to see the finished product!@