92 on wheels

keithp · Sep 24, 2015

This is my first reef tank and it is coming along well but slowly. The tank is a 92 gallon corner with a 40b sump and a 13 behind the porthole. The wheels are stage casters. As you can see i am still working on it but at least it is wet.

steelheader.262 · Sep 24, 2015

Looks great!!!

Ahruk · Sep 24, 2015

Love the porthole idea. Totally cool :D Great way to show off a refugium.

Helenareefer · Sep 24, 2015

How's that treating the wood floor?

Looks good BTW.

keithp · Sep 24, 2015

Ahruk, I have an ugly fuge full of equipment on the right. I want to set up a seagrass tank behind the porthole but will probably use it for quarantine for the next year. There is a glass art jellyfish lamp in there now.

Helenareefer,
I had a spill when the waste RODI flow jumped out of a bucket so some minor damage which has gotten better as it dries again. The stand and tank were easy to move until I filled the fuge. It seems to be a little heavy for the floor surface and is compressing the fibers a little. It is yellow birch flooring. I put it on wheels because I lost 3 tanks in the '89 quake when a 55 rolled off its stand. Another benefit is I can get to the back for easy access to the skimmer, hidden electrical area and tank andmaintenance.

Ahruk · Sep 24, 2015

Oh so the porthole tank isn't connected to the main system?

keithp · Sep 25, 2015

The plan is to connect it eventually but I want less clutter. It will run separately until I have stocked the main tank so I don't need quarantine tanks scattered throughout the house.

keithp · Sep 25, 2015

I have mounted the porthole to a drawer which will make access easier. I have books where the tank goes. There is some extra space that could be used for reactors but I have no immediate plans for using it.

This space is enclosed so I have added a fan to draw air from the floor up into the box and then past another fan to the sump area which is partly open in the back.

I will need to be careful and not use the same rag cleaning the porthole and tanks since it is bronze which is mostly copper.

keithp · Sep 26, 2015

I wanted the stand to be stable so I glued 2 sheets of 1-1/8 plywood together I cut holes in the lower sheet so the stand would have more room inside.

The wheels are stage casters which actually have 6 wheels at each supporting point. These casters are capable of supporting 1100 lb each. They have a center swivel surrounded by 3 wheel pairs that also swivel. The extra swivel point makes it easy to change direction and to start moving. I chose to have three casters instead of 4 because the floor is not perfectly flat and they would either not all touch the floor or cause flexing of the stand.

keithp · Sep 26, 2015

I didn't want to carry buckets so I created a sewer connection. This is a picture of the vent connection. I also extended a cat5 to the fish corner. There was already water because the fridge is on the other side of the wall.

keithp · Sep 26, 2015

The space I had was about 40 x 48 inches. I chose a standard 92 gallon corner even though I could have gone bigger with a custom tank because it left space for equipment.

This picture shows a space I left for electrical supplies. I decided to put an Avast kalk reactor and media reactor in the space as well. The apex modules are threaded onto a heavy galvanized wire to save space. I can still move them to see if the lights are on but they occupy less space than when mounted to a board. I bought retracting USB wires to reduce clutter. This picture was taken before most of the equipment was connected. I bought a pack of wire extenders so I can plug in transformer plugs. Most of them will probably be removed but it is going to be dense wires for sure.

I notched the shelf so that the skimmer and future neck wiper can be raised or maintained. The dual reactor will be mounted higher but I am waiting to make sure I know the required skimmer height and placement of other electric equipment. My plan had been to mount the Radion transformers and Ecotech battery in the space but they got pushed on top instead.

keithp · Dec 13, 2015

Here is rhe current status. Quarantineis behind the porthole.

I like the two butterflies but they are not reef safe at all and will have to be traded in at some point.

I think it looks cool with doors open.

keithp · Dec 14, 2015

I have had a tough time with coral beauties. Two died in quarantine after only 2 days. They didn't show many symptoms. One had white lips. The other had fin rot but it looked fine the morning it died so it may have happened after death. Both swam fine but did not show interest in food. With the third, I dosed Maracyn 2 on the first day and it seems to have kept it alive. I didn't realize there would be such a learning curve.

I believe I have just found a parasite on one of my clowns which was tank raised. I havent looked it up but it is a small white projection from the gill area. I am not looking forward to building a trap to catch it. I had hoped that the quarantine medications would take care of it but it seems one got through.

southernreefer · Dec 14, 2015

Awesome!

southernreefer · Dec 14, 2015

southernreefer said:
Awesome!

Tank I mean...

keithp · Dec 14, 2015

Thanks. It has been fun putting it together.

It is amazing, I have had some of the rock for close to 2 years and still find new things growing on it.

keithp · Feb 4, 2016

I had a small overflow last weekend. It was actually the ATO. Since the tank is new and I have been working on it, I bumped the kalk reactor output into the sump. Without an air gap, the water slowly overflowed even though the reactor is over 2 feet above the sump. I need to be careful until I cut the tube and anchor it in the final position. I may just drill through the tube above the sump rim.

I am in the process of reorganizing equipment in the sump and want to try the chaeto light grid sandwich idea because mine floats without spinning and my attempts at using pumps have not worked well. I was also considering building a motorized rotisserie skewer style turner but not sure how to make it safe yet.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chaeto-egg-crate-sandwich-idea.144659/

Reeflogic · Feb 4, 2016

Love that porthole! Cool system!! Sorry about your fish losses :(

keithp · Feb 4, 2016

Thanks Doug.

I have made and installed a few drawers. They are all made from cheap scrap which makes them uglier and more work but they stay hidden so it works for me. I still need to make a divider insert for the Hanna testers for the color blind. I am going to install the apex display and an iPod touch on the top drawer. There is still a missing drawer at the bottom which will eventually be a sink with kitchen disopsal style button switch to dispense RODI water. My 1 year old is consuming all of my time so it may take a while.

keithp · Mar 16, 2016

I have been trying to reorganize cables and it is better but I will need to find a treasure chest to hide the transformers.

I am having nutrient problems so I made a magnetic rack that will hold my chaeto sandwich and direct the water through it. Currently there is only a lower half of the light grid and chaeto sitting on it. It is already growing better in the down draft side. I ordered a better light which should make it all work better.

I also hung an old ships wheel on the wall.

I had a scare last week when my mp40 stopped. A snail crawled in the front and jammed it but I couldn't see it through the cover. It restarted fine once the snail was removed and both power plugs pulled.