troylee's one of a kind diy, drop off tank....

[Troylee]

here is the new pics...i also got my xm 10ks today so i put one in to check the color...20k on the left 10k on the right..they are amazingly brighter....lol.it dont look to bad imo. not as yellow as i expected...once i get the vho's hooked up i think it is gonna look really nice...

 

[Troylee]

anyways my vho's just showed up finally...:smile:
and man those thing's will blind you!!!! i just need a canopy now so i can install them....payday tomorrow so i should be able to get the wood and get it going..:smile:

im using the fullham work horse 7 one ballast per bulb..
you can get away with one ballst for two 36" bulbs...try hd. there cheap like 40 bucks..
updated pics....and stocked!!!! dori is one happy camper now...the solana was just cruel for her althou she is small like 1.5" but i see a whole new fish now swimming threw rocks and racing around and swimming upstream of the flow...pretty cool!!!!:smile:
btw. those dang 10k lights are so bright i cant really get pics the screen rolls....
pics in a moment...

 

[Troylee]

i had to take the pics as the lights warmed up so its really yellow...lol..

well the stocklist for fish is as follows....
2 regal tangs now a 1.5" and a 3"
3" naso tang
sixline
5 chromis
blue devil damsel i have had for years...cool little dude..
a big diamond goby....and the biggest pita. i have ever had!!!!! my tank has been a sand storm since suckerfish gave him to me....hopefully he calms down once he has his burrow...
corals i don't even know off the top of my head...i will make a list and post them...

 

[Troylee]

also yesterday i picked up the cherry wood for the stand and canopy....woke up very angry!!!!!:angry:i left it in the back of my truck and it rained last night!!!!!! it never rains in vegas!!!!!!! now i got some soggy wood!!!!!!arrrrrrrrr....... hopefully it don't warp.....im off now to try and get the canopy started so i can get the vho's going......
also got 3 other projects going so it's a busy couple days....i will be popping off and on.. i got a 8ft invert tank to build, a 4x8 rimless frag tank, and a couple condoms to make for a couple tanks....
if your wandering what a tank condom is?????:lol:
i came up with a design where i overlay tanks with 1/8" acrylic to protect them from scratches etc....a couple years down the road you just pop the double sided tape off the top and you still got a brand new acrylic tank underneath it....there way cool and worth the investment imo....i will post pics when i go do it..."its a 500 gal shark tank":smile:
ok guys been a very busy day!!!!!reason i have'nt been on...
i went and picked up some more raw cherry lumber...Ouch!!!! im into this wood for 400$ now and i already have a stand...dang it!!!! also they don't stock any moulding in cherry...rrrrrrrr... so i had to by some way expensive crap boards and straighten them all out and make my own trim....so here we go with the pics....
first off i wanted all the grain up and down so i had to seam the hard wood since it only comes 48wide....here is a rabbit joint for the seam...

then i routed out the holes for the doors and decided since i have to seal the inside of the canopy with a poly or epoxy why not kill 2 birds with one stone.....i rolled all the inside with weldwood contact cement to seal it and make the double stick tape stick to it better and then laminated the whole inside of the canopy with polished aluminum so there is no waisted light off the walls or anything and it is sealed perfectly...never warp now it's aluminum inside...

 

[Troylee]

then i routed out some nice profiles and some edges for the doors....

and thats were she sits for today....
tomorrow i hope to finish it so i can hook the vho's up....
ok got the canopy done and the vho's hooked up.....could'nt be happier with the results of the xm 10k with vho super actinic...look's very insane!!!!
here is some pics of the diy lumenarcs "large" i just notched them and slid the vho's into place and wired it all up...

 

[Troylee]

ok here is a couple quick ones..more to come..
i would say it looks really close to xm15k...it's somewhere in the 14 to 16k range look i believe...nice crisp white with a blue touch....not quiet a xm20k color like i normally run but im pleased with the color i must say and can't wait to see the growth with the 10k bulbs..:smile:

Every single piece of coral I got is from keeperz.....joe is a good friend.

 

[revhtree]

Dang Troy why can't you live near me??

 

[Troylee]

some updated photos with all the new sps...
not good with names at all...i really need a good camera to get the real colors and nice pics these corals are insane!!!!!
this is unkown coral period chalice maybe???

here is a fuzzy baby blue acro my favorite thus far..

rainbow tip acro...

large purple with blue tip mili...

 

[Troylee]

and some random shots of the tank...
i got 45 different sps now so i think im pretty much full...lol only got room for the gotta have pieces now!!!!!"keeperz" lol...

 

[Troylee]

Dang Troy why can't you live near me??

because im not ready to go to heaven..having to much fun..lol
more pics in a bit...gotta get back to work..

 

[roscoe]

Man this is an amazing tank! I love that drop off!

 

[Troylee]

thank you for the kind words...

 

[Troylee]

okay here we go the rest...the diy atb 1050 v1.5 internal duluxe skimmer...
here is some pics of it...
i got 45 pics but don't really know what to post but here they go...
the double plate all drilled by hand 1/4" holes with a 30* countersink...
the center hole of each is drilled and tapped to 5/16th which i ran a nylon rod threw all the way to where it screws in the base and holds the bubble plate in place...

here i am making the twist lock flange for quick and easy removal of the cup....

putting the taper on the neck flange to lock in place...

and the part that glues to the cone completed...

 

[Troylee]

here i am making the monster cup...5" neck with a 10" o.d. cup...

and since i was feeling a little coney :lol: i even made a cone for the lid which i think will help the foam head travel down better in the cup instead of a dead end with just a ring...

ok here is some more...
my laguna pumps had arrived and i test fitted the airstar volute from atb..:smile:

this was just a random shot that started the whole deluxe thing... i had a cone i made for a transtion from a tube skimmer to the neck so i threw it under and the wheels starting spinning...

 

[Troylee]

the volute got painted white to match the skimmer..good ole "krylon fusion" everyones favorite..:lol:

here i started test fitting the bottom cone and got it drilled for the drain and inlet plumbing..

here i masked it off all real nice to attach the pvc to the acrylic cone body with weldon 40..

here i am routing the little wing for the neck which holds the drain plumbing..."mdf template with double stick tape"...

making the o-ring for where the 2 bodies attach..

 

[Troylee]

and a couple random shots of the skimmer dissambled after i finished it....this thing comes completely apart for easy cleaning and service...

and this is where she sits.....when i get home i got to cut a couple pieces of pvc and she is ready to go...oh ya and snap some good photos in the sun before action!!!!

 

[Troylee]

ok here we go!!!!!
all done and fired up!!!!

and a couple action shots with the meters hooked up for testing and dialing it in...
as of rite now with the break in it is doing trememndously well...running at 60 watts and pulling 30lpm of air...

 

[Troylee]

well here is a quick update...
10hrs into action...

 

[Murfman]

Very nice, what is going in the deep part of the tank? Where did you get your fish eyes from?

 

[Troylee]

and now we are current...
this is where the tank sits.....
the original sump has been replaced with a 70 gal sump and the stand still needs to be skinned with the cherry wood when i get a chance....prolly wont be for 2 weeks since i just got put on over time working 12hr days 7 days a week.... sucks but i gotts get the money while it's here....