Janci
Staghorns will prevail
Exactly... problem of time differences.
But as from now, one more person subscribed so please do not give up.
I love what you did with the stand and the main panel. That is amazing workmanship!
Stubbs Elos 120XL Build in Malaysia
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But as from now, one more person subscribed so please do not give up.
I love what you did with the stand and the main panel. That is amazing workmanship!
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markstubb
Well-Known Member
Thanks Janci. Appreciate the nice comment. The funny thing is when I moved to Malaysia, I packed a whole bunch of woodworking tools - all of which "disappeared" during the move, so I had to make those panels with what I'd call primitive tools 
I promise I won't give up. Just need to figure out where to continue from at this point.
I promise I won't give up. Just need to figure out where to continue from at this point.
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markstubb
Well-Known Member
So was sitting on the couch, thinking about going to bed and decided I needed to start doing an update, so just going to continue on where we left off, although the tank has been wet since December.
So I started with a whole pile of stuff and had to figure out where to put it
First thing I needed to do was mount the light bars for my Mitras LX7206 lights. I just got 2, and considering the dimensions of this tank, I wanted to mount them parallel to the front of the tank to disperse the light more evenly. I contacted Scott (@slief ) @ aquariumledmounts.com and asked to see what could be done. Scott was awesome, totally went out of his way to get me a solution that worked and provided me with a lot of options as to what I could do.
There is very little information out on the ol' interwebs about the GHL Mitras Flex Mount, so going to post some shots for folks to see how they go together
This hardware is how the rear post is mounted to the cabinet under the tank. There's essentially two all-thread bolts, a sprung square nut, and a knob.
The mount itself is basically some 80/20 aluminum extrusion that has a channel in the middle for the captive sprung square nut
Here is how I would recommend you insert it to allow it to move easily in either direction in the channel
Drilled 2 holes on each side of my stand to allow the bolts to penetrate
Then I mocked up one of the lights. I had to drill an extra hole in the acrylic extension arm that allows you to adjust forward and rearward positioning in order to mount the adjustable arms, but that's not shown in this photo
Next are the two ballasts for the lights. I honestly didn't expect these, considering I came from a run-of-the-mill power supply radion set up in a previous tank. These things actually get some heat piling off of them during the day.
Once I got the lights settled, I put the skimmer together with a Varios6 pump.
This is the final configuration of my sump. The berlin sump is on the left, far back right is the ATO container from @melev and front right is the fuge
Next post will be around all of the Apex gear, which is a doozy
So I started with a whole pile of stuff and had to figure out where to put it
First thing I needed to do was mount the light bars for my Mitras LX7206 lights. I just got 2, and considering the dimensions of this tank, I wanted to mount them parallel to the front of the tank to disperse the light more evenly. I contacted Scott (@slief ) @ aquariumledmounts.com and asked to see what could be done. Scott was awesome, totally went out of his way to get me a solution that worked and provided me with a lot of options as to what I could do.
There is very little information out on the ol' interwebs about the GHL Mitras Flex Mount, so going to post some shots for folks to see how they go together
This hardware is how the rear post is mounted to the cabinet under the tank. There's essentially two all-thread bolts, a sprung square nut, and a knob.
The mount itself is basically some 80/20 aluminum extrusion that has a channel in the middle for the captive sprung square nut
Here is how I would recommend you insert it to allow it to move easily in either direction in the channel
Drilled 2 holes on each side of my stand to allow the bolts to penetrate
Then I mocked up one of the lights. I had to drill an extra hole in the acrylic extension arm that allows you to adjust forward and rearward positioning in order to mount the adjustable arms, but that's not shown in this photo
Next are the two ballasts for the lights. I honestly didn't expect these, considering I came from a run-of-the-mill power supply radion set up in a previous tank. These things actually get some heat piling off of them during the day.
Once I got the lights settled, I put the skimmer together with a Varios6 pump.
This is the final configuration of my sump. The berlin sump is on the left, far back right is the ATO container from @melev and front right is the fuge
Next post will be around all of the Apex gear, which is a doozy
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Looking good!
Janci
Staghorns will prevail
That is the skimmer? I am interested to see that work. What make is this again?Once I got the lights settled, I put the skimmer together with a Varios6 pump.
Nice tutorial on the light stands.
Curious to see more.
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markstubb
Well-Known Member
Thanks Rev! Hope all is well in Atlanta, miss being there sometimes!
It sure is. It’s a LifeReef SVS3-24. It’s been pretty awesome so far. Obviously the pic doesn’t have the cup on it. Jeff at LifeReef is very opinionated on skimmers, but this thing definitely gets the job done after you dial it in. It’s crazy what it pulls out of the water.
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markstubb
Well-Known Member
So we left off with the sump partially installed, but glowing, which is cool. Now I got started on wiring.
I installed some wire channel around the perimeter of the cabinet, just up very high so it's out of sight. It was 25mm x 25mm near the Apex and 45mm x 45mm around the top of the cabinet
Then I had to connect everything to the controller rack. This is just a progression of wires and trying to keep them organized..
The device at the far right is a custom Apex break out board that controls 5 optical sensors + 1 float, or any combination there of (up to 6 floats like a normal BoB). Made it way before Apex released their optical sensors, but all of my ATO container and NSW/RO storage containers use optical sensors already, so I continue to use it. The spare space next to it was thought about for an extra PM1 module for the Calcium Reactor, but I just never got around to buying it yet. (Spoiler: I recently installed 2 more PM1's - we will get back to that at some point)
Now we tried a water test. I just hooked up the garden hose and turned on the faucet. This is the *FIRST* time I have ever put water into this tank, and remember, it's used and has some age on it, so I was a bit nervous. My son wasn't nervous at all, though. He was thrilled to finally see water in the tank.
Next up was rock work. I made the decision quite a while ago that I never wanted to deal with live rock again, and was willing to put the time into dead rock to make it work. I had some hitchhikers before that drove me batty and just don't want to deal with it at this point, especially in a new environment. I also decided that I didn't want to deal with cooking dead rock, so I decided to get some Caribsea Liferock. I had a small chunk in the past and really liked it. It's not 100% white right off the bat, and looks pretty cool in a new tank. Plus you don't have to cook it. So I looked and looked, and looked some around here and realized that it mostly doesn't exist in Malaysia. I found a guy way south in Johor that sold it, but he was out of stock and wouldn't get more for a few months (pretty typical here, honestly). So, being as determined as I was, I did what any sane individual would do. I ordered 120lbs of it off the internet. From a USA based company. To ship internationally. I paid good money to ship 120lbs of rock over the ocean.
OK, I'm not tooootally sane, but that's what I did. I got some of the normal rock as well as some of the "shapes" variant. It showed up, a bit worse for wear, but the folks I ordered it from actually unpacked the boxes, wrapped the rocks in bubble wrap, and repacked it. The place I ordered from went above and beyond, but some of the rock didn't fare so well. The "shapes" especially had some issues, but it was pretty easy to reassemble them, or just use the broken chunks like a normal build.
I also ordered some rocks from a placed called DE Aquatic in Singapore. They're super nice guys down there and have some really cool homegrown dead rock that matches quite well with the Caribsea stuff. It's more "painted" but it looks like it has sponges all over it, has some shinier paint, etc., but once it's under water, it all looks quite similar, just a different texture.
So what does everyone need when doing rock? Glue, right? I also ordered an alarmingly large amount of super glue from the same place in the USA I ordered the rock from. Here's a pic of a few of the bottles:
ARGH! THEY'RE ALL DRIED UP. I tried to contact Two Little Fishies but they didn't really give a crap. When I say they didn't give a crap, I mean they didn't even bother to reply to any of my messages. I'll never understand companies that don't try to help their end users. I'm not sure if the glue didn't like the plane time or what, but they are all super thick and gelled up. If I squeeze the crap out of the bottle, I can get a tiny amount out but that's it. So I ended up having to find some locally which was the normal BSI stuff I've used in the past. I also ordered some of that purple 2 part epoxy stick stuff and used that to make most of the rockwork.
Here's my first swing at the rockwork:
Then I moved some things around, and by that I mean I got the wife involved. I think it looks better. Yes, you were right, honey.
Now what's next? Water? SALT WATER? You're correct! I threw in 100lbs of Caribsea Special Grade sand (I got that from the guy in Johor, so I wasn't stupid and shipped it across the globe) which I really like for the particle size and it doesn't come with a bunch of large rocks and shells. It's not "ocean" natural, but I prefer it. It's big enough grain to stay put, but sand sifters can still work on it.
TAA DAH. December 12, 2017, she got wet!
That's all for now!
Then I had to connect everything to the controller rack. This is just a progression of wires and trying to keep them organized..
The device at the far right is a custom Apex break out board that controls 5 optical sensors + 1 float, or any combination there of (up to 6 floats like a normal BoB). Made it way before Apex released their optical sensors, but all of my ATO container and NSW/RO storage containers use optical sensors already, so I continue to use it. The spare space next to it was thought about for an extra PM1 module for the Calcium Reactor, but I just never got around to buying it yet. (Spoiler: I recently installed 2 more PM1's - we will get back to that at some point)
Now we tried a water test. I just hooked up the garden hose and turned on the faucet. This is the *FIRST* time I have ever put water into this tank, and remember, it's used and has some age on it, so I was a bit nervous. My son wasn't nervous at all, though. He was thrilled to finally see water in the tank.
Next up was rock work. I made the decision quite a while ago that I never wanted to deal with live rock again, and was willing to put the time into dead rock to make it work. I had some hitchhikers before that drove me batty and just don't want to deal with it at this point, especially in a new environment. I also decided that I didn't want to deal with cooking dead rock, so I decided to get some Caribsea Liferock. I had a small chunk in the past and really liked it. It's not 100% white right off the bat, and looks pretty cool in a new tank. Plus you don't have to cook it. So I looked and looked, and looked some around here and realized that it mostly doesn't exist in Malaysia. I found a guy way south in Johor that sold it, but he was out of stock and wouldn't get more for a few months (pretty typical here, honestly). So, being as determined as I was, I did what any sane individual would do. I ordered 120lbs of it off the internet. From a USA based company. To ship internationally. I paid good money to ship 120lbs of rock over the ocean.
OK, I'm not tooootally sane, but that's what I did. I got some of the normal rock as well as some of the "shapes" variant. It showed up, a bit worse for wear, but the folks I ordered it from actually unpacked the boxes, wrapped the rocks in bubble wrap, and repacked it. The place I ordered from went above and beyond, but some of the rock didn't fare so well. The "shapes" especially had some issues, but it was pretty easy to reassemble them, or just use the broken chunks like a normal build.
I also ordered some rocks from a placed called DE Aquatic in Singapore. They're super nice guys down there and have some really cool homegrown dead rock that matches quite well with the Caribsea stuff. It's more "painted" but it looks like it has sponges all over it, has some shinier paint, etc., but once it's under water, it all looks quite similar, just a different texture.
So what does everyone need when doing rock? Glue, right? I also ordered an alarmingly large amount of super glue from the same place in the USA I ordered the rock from. Here's a pic of a few of the bottles:
ARGH! THEY'RE ALL DRIED UP. I tried to contact Two Little Fishies but they didn't really give a crap. When I say they didn't give a crap, I mean they didn't even bother to reply to any of my messages. I'll never understand companies that don't try to help their end users. I'm not sure if the glue didn't like the plane time or what, but they are all super thick and gelled up. If I squeeze the crap out of the bottle, I can get a tiny amount out but that's it. So I ended up having to find some locally which was the normal BSI stuff I've used in the past. I also ordered some of that purple 2 part epoxy stick stuff and used that to make most of the rockwork.
Here's my first swing at the rockwork:
Then I moved some things around, and by that I mean I got the wife involved. I think it looks better. Yes, you were right, honey.
Now what's next? Water? SALT WATER? You're correct! I threw in 100lbs of Caribsea Special Grade sand (I got that from the guy in Johor, so I wasn't stupid and shipped it across the globe) which I really like for the particle size and it doesn't come with a bunch of large rocks and shells. It's not "ocean" natural, but I prefer it. It's big enough grain to stay put, but sand sifters can still work on it.
TAA DAH. December 12, 2017, she got wet!
That's all for now!
Sea MunnKey
Valuable Member
So how do you like KL so far? You should visit Sabah (formerly North Borneo) when you get the chance .... my hometown
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markstubb
Well-Known Member
KL is interesting, definitely different than the States. Everyone is super friendly though. It's refreshing! My wife has been over to Sabah, Brunei, and Sarawak many times, but I have yet to go to East Malaysia. What should I do when I go over there?
Sea MunnKey
Valuable Member
If you're into Nature and Diving ... climb Mt Kinabalu & Sipadan Island among the many different diving sites around Sabah. It's basically ocean all around ...
Sea MunnKey
Valuable Member
In regards to your comment ... "everyone is super friendly ..." Especially the locals treat "Orang asing"or simply foreigner especially Caucasians like VIP's
Sea MunnKey
Valuable Member
I've got buddies who's in the Extreme Tour & deep sea diving business ...
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markstubb
Well-Known Member
Haha yeah, I've heard the stories. Well, I may be a orang asing but the people and the food have all been pretty good. Western food here isn't the greatest, but all the Asian food is awesome. I'm trying to learn Malay while I'm here too. Saya Mark dari United States!In regards to your comment ... "everyone is super friendly ..." Especially the locals treat "Orang asing"or simply foreigner especially Caucasians like VIP's
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markstubb
Well-Known Member
I've never dived before but considering where I am, I am going to start diving lessons somewhere, and soon. We went to Bali and Koh Samui the past few months and I couldn't dive unless it was one of those super touristy "bucket on your head and walk under water" things.
Sea MunnKey
Valuable Member
Haha yeah, I've heard the stories. Well, I may be a orang asing but the people and the food have all been pretty good. Western food here isn't the greatest, but all the Asian food is awesome. I'm trying to learn Malay while I'm here too. Saya Mark dari United States!
Let me correct ... "Nama saya Mark ... dari Amerika Syarikat"
Sea MunnKey
Valuable Member
Nasi Lemak either from Madam Kwan (Petronas Twin Towers) or Uncle Lee's. There's lots of delicious dishes to try out while there.
Have you tried durian yet?
Have you tried durian yet?
Sea MunnKey
Valuable Member
Actually you could omit "Nama" but then "Saya Mark" could be mistaken for "Alamak" ... get my drift bro
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