Jackie and Glenns 180g Reef Build

[prsnlty]

Sounds like a good plan. Just remember go slow and all will work out.

Will do, thanks

 

[prsnlty]

Congrats on the progress..and good luck on the glass drilling. I was pretty nervous when drilling for the first time...but I started on a 20g long that has very thin glass...once I drilled that without breaking it...everything else has seemed like pie!

Thank you! Lol, Glenn will be doing this job since he has the long arms lol. He will be drilling from the inside since it is too heavy to turn over. We haven't capped the old holes yet so the cooling water will drain from them.

Jackie

 

[prsnlty]

Test hole was a success! Putting up an umbrella for shade and then onto the 180

 

[fishroomlady]

good luck!!

 

[prsnlty]

1 down and 1 to go! Overheating my drill is making this so slooooow too.

 

[prsnlty]

3/4 of the way through drilling the 2nd hole thunderstorms literally blew in, and knocked out our power :mad: It just came back on but still raining. We have 30 minutes of daylight left and hoping to finish it before dark.

Glenn leaves to go back on the road foe 2 weeks at 3am so we're pushing to get this done.

 

[prsnlty]

:whoo: The tank is drilled!!!!!!! :whoo:

 

[prsnlty]

We have been doing some thinking about the canopy and keeping it cool while drilling the tank. (Had lots of time to do so)

The new canopy will eventually house 4 60" T5s and 3 AI Sol Blue LEDs (maybe a 3rd will be added we will see if we need to). It will also have 4 fans, 2 at each end blowing across the T5s. We then were considering ways to vent the heat without always having the doors open and spilling the light into the room. The solution we like the most will be to cut out a 10"x 18" rectangle in the top center of the canopy, put riser legs on it about 1.5" tall and place it back where we cut it from. This way we will still have a solid top but with a good vent. And if we still want to add the 3rd LED we can hang it from this piece.

Fans are simply ugly! So since we have a colonial design we thought we would grill and trim them to look old in some way... still thinking on the design for that.

Now that the tank is drilled my next 3 projects come 1st though since they require time before use:
1/ reseal the inside bottom and add sealant to the upper inside frame so wave splash doesn't get through.
2/ finish rounded overflow skimmer boxes. Cut teeth in and coat with LR cement to look like colums and place with the rest of the rock to cure.
3/ make 1 return LR column and add to cure tank.

Then
Cap the unnecessary holes
Vinegar clean the glass
Build stand frame
Move tank inside and on top of frame.

The frame will be skinned and trimmed inside and after setup. Why, you ask? Because it will be easier to add everything under it this way and room to work if needed.

 

[revhtree]

Cool looking forward to it!

 

[Chetrod]

:whoo: The tank is drilled!!!!!!! :whoo:

Big sigh of relief and not as bad as you originally thought...

 

[prsnlty]

Big sigh of relief and not as bad as you originally thought...

No it really wasn't bad at all! It just took a long time. We drilled the test tank and 1/2 of the first hole super slow and realized this seemed to be taking much longer than we felt it should. So we raised the rpms a little bit at a time to get a good speed without going too fast. Stopping often to cool the drill also used up a lot of time. But now it's drilled and we're happy we did it ourselves

 

[pscott99]

Yeh !! Following.

 

[prsnlty]

We made the skimmer box columns a little tall so today I'm trimming them down 3/4" and routing the teeth.

Next, taping edges that will go against the glass then rocking the exterior sides. I hope the plan works and the cement holds. I think that if I wipe the surface with purple pvc cleaner it will give it something to grab on to.

I think monti caps and maybe chalices would look nice plating out from them. What do you think?

Jackie

 

[prsnlty]

Turns out our router is a palm router. Found a good one for the table on CL, went to go get it and my durango won't start!

And if my favorite nephew doesn't get here soon it's going to thunder storm and won't get fixed today. (Sigh) Eh, it's the way my luck goes...

 

[prsnlty]

Well my durango is fixed, yay. It was the coil. My daughter moved to Texas on Sunday Now back to work on the tank!

 

[prsnlty]

About 4 days ago the ph was at 8.4. Well since it's an api test I blew it off cuz it seemed a little early to reach 8.4. Still changing water almost daily. Tested it today. I have green (algae) glass now too btw. Readings are 7.8. Which is my normal well water ph. I changed the water last night but it has been raining. I'm going to leave the water as it is without changing it and cover the tank and check it tomorrow. If the ph doesn't rise I'm going to believe my test that it was reading correctly 4 days ago and pull the rock. It has only been 3 weeks since the last piece went into the tank. Maybe the natural rain water has been helping cure the rock?

 

[prsnlty]

I found a plant growing on one of the rocks too! Amazing! Lol. I was thinking, after my dt wc im going to make up some ro water to replace the well water in the curing tank (I don't trust the algae) and add some hydrogen peroxide to soak the rock for a day. Better safe than sorry. Then after I pull the rock I'll let it dry out outside in the sun.

I have more pieces I need to make like the return column and to rock cover the overflow skimmer columns. Plus I'm still deciding on how to cover the other piping that will be between the skimmer columns. I kind of want that area stair stepped from top to bottom as a coral grow out area. The problem will be that there will also be a powerhead there as well and I'm going to need access to it from time to time for cleaning.

 

[prsnlty]

Pulled the DIY rock frome cure tank! Oh yeah!!

 

[prsnlty]

So tomorrow (today), I will be covering the skim columns, making part 1 of the return column and a few more rocks. Then if it isn't too hot and rain stays away I will be stripping silicone from the bottom seam of the 180. I don't think 1 tube of sealant will be enough and will order more with my 200g box of RC from Drs.F&S. I'll also be ordering the 4" fans for the canopy build coming up. That will be the last of the equipment needed other than sump baffles. I got them but they're too small :/ so I need to get more. I'll be using the acrylic that I got to build a riser for the skimmer. Other items needed will be silencers for the OF standpipes and plumbing. All of that I can get locally. What acrylic glue do I use for the acrylic?

Looks like no more ordering stuff (still need sand and plywood) for 3-4 weeks. My truck needs a fuel pump and it's going to be costly. Hopefully it hangs in there just a few more weeks until the bills are paid.... :banghead:

 

[revhtree]

Rock is looking good!!