To Build or Not to Build? That is the question!
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OP
OP
Working on glueing the reinforcements for my stand but I’m missing 90% of my clamps because I loaned them out and having trouble retrieving them.
its really slow going. Waiting for wood glue to set up is testing my patients. Hint.. hint. Wait 24hours
While board I’m playing around with new parts.
The new wet side looks so good compared to my old dusty ones.
turns out that the fleece roller actually fits perfectly on the existing ledges of the sump and falls perfectly within the water height requirements.
Doing a little shopping today and I found these waterproof micro actuators that I would like to use to move my hood up and down for better access.
www.progressiveautomations.com
I’m thinking of ordering a clear acrylic hood to match my tank, and show off this bad boy.
Such a beautiful fixture!!!! Looks like a floating MacBook pro.
It’s probably way too big for my needs but I’m a bit of an ATI fan boy so buying theses site unseen was a gamble but I’m now confident one or two more and the lighting will be set.
All this thought of showing off equipment kind of got me thinking that maybe a completely exposed everything might be really amazing if done right.
Wouldn’t it be cool to buy 6 or so of these floating support braces and hav a big narly floating counter top holding up a reef with zero visible support.
You would want to be able to support at least a few thousand pounds. You get 1500 out of 3.
www.federalbrace.com
I’m thinking super long term now. My current man cave will hopefully become my future fish room in 18 years so maybe I should just go wall to wall and support enough for 500 gallon of future reef. Not sure about that, so back to the crappy wood stand for now.
started working on the under tank board and foam pad. Getting the placement of the VorTech’s was critical because this seems like it’s a bare bottom tank and the 1/2 inch thick exercise mat that I cut to size will be what I’m looking at until the coralline can cover it. My love for sand will need to wait for another set up.
its really slow going. Waiting for wood glue to set up is testing my patients. Hint.. hint. Wait 24hours
While board I’m playing around with new parts.
The new wet side looks so good compared to my old dusty ones.
turns out that the fleece roller actually fits perfectly on the existing ledges of the sump and falls perfectly within the water height requirements.
Doing a little shopping today and I found these waterproof micro actuators that I would like to use to move my hood up and down for better access.
Waterproof Linear Actuator IP68M
Progressive Automations waterproof electric linear actuator has a weather protection rating of IP68M and IP69K. It also comes in a salt spray rated version.
www.progressiveautomations.com
I’m thinking of ordering a clear acrylic hood to match my tank, and show off this bad boy.
Such a beautiful fixture!!!! Looks like a floating MacBook pro.
It’s probably way too big for my needs but I’m a bit of an ATI fan boy so buying theses site unseen was a gamble but I’m now confident one or two more and the lighting will be set.
All this thought of showing off equipment kind of got me thinking that maybe a completely exposed everything might be really amazing if done right.
Wouldn’t it be cool to buy 6 or so of these floating support braces and hav a big narly floating counter top holding up a reef with zero visible support.
You would want to be able to support at least a few thousand pounds. You get 1500 out of 3.
Countertop & Floating Shelf Brackets, Wood Corbels | Federal Brace
Don’t trust a cheaply-made bracket to support your granite countertop or floating shelves. Federal Brace’s support brackets are all made in America. Shop now!
I’m thinking super long term now. My current man cave will hopefully become my future fish room in 18 years so maybe I should just go wall to wall and support enough for 500 gallon of future reef. Not sure about that, so back to the crappy wood stand for now.
started working on the under tank board and foam pad. Getting the placement of the VorTech’s was critical because this seems like it’s a bare bottom tank and the 1/2 inch thick exercise mat that I cut to size will be what I’m looking at until the coralline can cover it. My love for sand will need to wait for another set up.
OP
OP
Doing a fit test to see what I’m working with and it’s not good.
As seen here the sump that holds the fleece roller and skimmer takes up over half the available space. Add in two 10 gallon chambers for ATO and auto water change and we are down to 4 inches of space. We haven’t even ordered the media reactors, the dosing chambers, the controllers, the UV unit or the refugium. I was hoping to add a calcium reactor and co2 scrubber if needed as well. I feel like I need two stands for the one tank. I already miss my fish room.
OP
OP
Mocked up the light and I think it looks so good that I might forgo the hood all together. I might need to reconsider after I see the light spillage. But that will need to wait because apparently I need to hook up the light to windows to run it. This is annoying honestly.
I would imagine this light is better suited for a 24~30 inch wide tank but I’m going to run with it.
I would imagine this light is better suited for a 24~30 inch wide tank but I’m going to run with it.
sphinx15
Active Member
It's amazing how fast equipment eats up space :/Doing a fit test to see what I’m working with and it’s not good.As seen here the sump that holds the fleece roller and skimmer takes up over half the available space. Add in two 10 gallon chambers for ATO and auto water change and we are down to 4 inches of space. We haven’t even ordered the media reactors, the dosing chambers, the controllers, the UV unit or the refugium. I was hoping to add a calcium reactor and co2 scrubber if needed as well. I feel like I need two stands for the one tank. I already miss my fish room.
OP
OP
Part of me just wants to go crazy and abandon the stand all together and go exposed everything. Fill up my 14’x 9’ wall with gear and then skin some in steam punk foe covers to hide the unsightly. Add extra unused pipe to make some cool design and create confusion and intrigue.
… but then again I need to remember that this is really only a quarantine tank to my future tank. That future tank is years out though.
Anyways, I’ve purchased a bunch more equipment and it should be in shortly. It’s not everything, because I don’t want the wife to get to excited at the bills. I had to wait on the abizz and the apex with triton because the cart was just too much to look at. Should be the uv, one return pump, the reactors and the dosing chambers.
Unfortunately one of my biggest undecided issues is one of the most important to me, and that is how I’m going to easily accomplish water storage/ mixing and delivery. I have no intentions of lifting a bucket once this is up and running.
ATO .
Previously I never used anything more than a float valve directly from my RODI to my sump. Obviously there are risks and problems with that technique, that I wasn’t aware of then.
This go round the goal is not to keep my favorite coral and fish but to maintain as stable and redundant a reef ecosystem indefinitely.
OP
OP
Blast from the past
I was looking through some old photos and I discovered very few of my old set up from 2011.
this was my 250MH set up with supplemental LEDs
This was my 150 gallon stock tank sump, complete with two protein skimmers, cords everywhere
Also see the unchanged filter bag
And the direct from RO float value.
you can’t see it but there is also some poorly plumbed UV and some reactors as well.
I think I see a tiny bit of the cal reactor.
This photo is a bit embarrassing and something that I will not be repeating. ;Shamefullyembarrased
Also found some one of my favorite corals feeding
I had a growing obsession with LPS when the tank went down.
Good growth was happening with my SPS too.
Frag before and after a few months
clown pair would host my clam and actually go inside sometimes. I don’t think my clam liked it very much. But my cats couldn’t get enough.
bad photo but you get the idea.
Running down memory lane is a little therapeutic because I haven’t seen these photos in 10 years.
Hopefully I can take all my previous experiences and do a better job this time.
I was looking through some old photos and I discovered very few of my old set up from 2011.
this was my 250MH set up with supplemental LEDs
This was my 150 gallon stock tank sump, complete with two protein skimmers, cords everywhere
Also see the unchanged filter bag
And the direct from RO float value.
you can’t see it but there is also some poorly plumbed UV and some reactors as well.
I think I see a tiny bit of the cal reactor.
This photo is a bit embarrassing and something that I will not be repeating. ;Shamefullyembarrased
Also found some one of my favorite corals feeding
I had a growing obsession with LPS when the tank went down.
Good growth was happening with my SPS too.
Frag before and after a few months
clown pair would host my clam and actually go inside sometimes. I don’t think my clam liked it very much. But my cats couldn’t get enough.
bad photo but you get the idea.
Running down memory lane is a little therapeutic because I haven’t seen these photos in 10 years.
Hopefully I can take all my previous experiences and do a better job this time.
OP
OP
Got a small order in from BRS today!!!
I’m doing smaller orders as not to raise to much suspicion with my superior.
Theses chambers fit the look I’m going for and will serve my dosing needs. I grabbed a few matching reactors but I’m not set on what I’m using them for. No instructions apparently is the norm for Royal Exclusive I reached out to them regarding my skimmer’s manual as well as an upgraded DC pump and they just sent a link.
Picked up a smaller UV sterilizer and a Vectra M2 to help run it.
problem is once again no directions or manual and apparently missing parts. With no cord to plug in or socket to attach a bulb, I can only assume at least one item is missing. Sent the photo above to BRS support. Hopefully I can resolve this quickly but I’m most likely still a few months away from water in the tank. The whole reason for including it in the last order was to help with the layout planning. Same goes for those chambers.
I’m doing smaller orders as not to raise to much suspicion with my superior.
I reached out to them regarding my skimmer’s manual as well as an upgraded DC pump and they just sent a link.Picked up a smaller UV sterilizer and a Vectra M2 to help run it.
problem is once again no directions or manual and apparently missing parts. With no cord to plug in or socket to attach a bulb, I can only assume at least one item is missing. Sent the photo above to BRS support. Hopefully I can resolve this quickly but I’m most likely still a few months away from water in the tank. The whole reason for including it in the last order was to help with the layout planning. Same goes for those chambers.
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