David's 220 basement in wall upgrade with fish room

[DH78]

Wall is up. Finished the electrical. Next steps are some caulking along seams, paint everything and install a little bit of trim. Each side of the stand also has an outlet install with a outdoor cover to give me some convenience around the fish room.

 

[DH78]

The two pieces of paneling on the floor will have thin pieces of barn wood glued to them. They will be attached to frame the tank. I will be using industrial Velcro to attach those panels so they will be easily removable for maintenance tasks.

 

[DH78]

Haven’t been able to do much of anything lately. Big audit at work has left me with no time or energy.
But, the audit is over so it is time to get back to this project. First step is to paint. Then get the removable panels made and mounted. Once that is complete, I can start plumbing the tank and hang the new lights. I will get some pics up after the paint is finished this week.

 

[DH78]

Got the wall and facing around the tank complete. The barn wood panels are removable to help with maintenance.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

Looks cool. Can't wait to see it with lights on, it should really pop against that wall.

 

[DH78]

Looks cool. Can't wait to see it with lights on, it should really pop against that wall.

I may hang the lights this weekend because I’m waiting for some plumbing parts. Probably a few weeks out from putting any water in it, but it’s finally coming along.

 

[DH78]

Lights are up. Started some plumbing. Flipped the lights on just to see what it looks like in the wall. I'll post more pictures as I do more plumbing this weekend. Also, the tank still needs to wiped out from drilling into the ceiling above it.

 

[DH78]

Plumbing just about finished. Need to go pick up some more pipe to do the emergency drain. I'm going to fill the tank up with tap water to test everything for leaks.

 

[DH78]

Got my control board layed out. Will be cutting and painting today. Little by little getting closer to getting the tank wet and transferring from the 120. board will be attached to the side of the stand and recessed. With the front panel on the wall being removable, this will give me easy access to the cords and power bricks and hopefully reduce my reliance on extension cords and cables because it will be closer than if I put it on the wall next to the tank.

 

[DH78]

Controller board installed. Power bricks will be mounted under the stand. The rest of the equipment won't be mounted until I transfer from the old tank. I should get sand delivered this week. Getting so much closer to having this up and running.

 

[DH78]

Tank is finally up and running. Got it together and transferred from the 120 with a bit of haste. So, still lots of work to finish the project, but the tank is running. Tank is a bit cloudy from the new sand. I did rinse the new dry sand and the sand I transferred from the old tank. However, I only did a short rinse on the 2 bags of Ocean Direct live sand I put in. Should have done a longer rinse.

 

[DH78]

Here's my list of things I still need to complete:
1. plumb in the UV sterilizer
2. PAR map the tank
3. Route all cords better and mount power bricks to tame the wire nest.
4. Install gyres on back wall when extension cables arrive.
5. Move fish supplies from laundry room to fish room.
6. Buy more CUC.
7. Get a few more fish!
8. GET MORE CORALS

 

[DH78]

Only thing not running now is the gyres that need extension cables on the back wall. Corals, clam and fish all seem to be loving the new tank. The fish are much more active and showing less aggression in this tank and the corals look like they are thriving. The clam hasn't moved from where I placed it so it must be a good spot.

 

[DH78]

Documenting current corals and placement to have a record as I add more...

 

[DH78]

Did a PAR Map of the tank using an Apogee SQ-420 USB PAR Sensor. This is two Kessil AP9X 13" above the water with the middle of each fixture 27.5" in from each side on a 7 foot tank. Color at 50 and intensity 100%. Really low par numbers on the far sides of the tank from middle to bottom caused by shading from the cespitularia. numbers right next to those corals are in 70-90 range. PAR numbers are great for my set-up with softies on the two edges and LPS. I am actually running at 75% max intensity since there are no sticks yet.

 

[DH78]

Going to a frag swap in Janesville, WI this weekend to start filling in some of the empty space in the aquarium.
In addition, there is also the Fox Valley Fish Fair, to benefit a local aquatic rescue, happening just down the road from me on 2/26. While the saltwater stuff is pretty limited at this one, there is usually at least 2 folks with corals to sell.