AJ`s Build Thread

Easy boy...I'll see what I can do.

 

OK...so I didn't get the pics up last night...I was busy drilling the floor, only to have my wife say that I have to move the tank closer to the wall...#$(*&#(&*$(#&*@(. Now I have to drill the stand and new holes in the floor. Not cool. On a slightly better note, my bulbs are in.

--AJ

 

Hey Ryan...your tank was great!  But 3 jobs will certainly cut into the maintenance.  It doesn't take long for things to get out of control.  I almost lost my duncans a while back due to letting my water changes slide too long without a skimmer.  It looks like much of the corals are going to be able to be saved and the purple and yellow tangs are doing well due to Troy's watchful eye.  Had this been any other week, the tank would have been up, but with Fall Fest and the group buy, I have not had the time to work on it.  Next week. 
--AJ

 

And the pics I promised...

Down the top of the skimmer after a light cleaning...


After some more cleaning...


The skimmer in a stock tank...


New bulbs!!!


--AJ

 

That skimmer has a massive footprint. It also was leaking quite a bit when it was set up at Ryan's. Now, I found that it was missing an O ring and replaced that so maybe that will fix the leak...but I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to run it. I've been pondering a few different configurations. Some include a stock tank, some don't. I may run it in the stock tank for a while just to get it up and running and plan a more permanent configuration later.

--AJ

 

I got the tank cleaned out tonight and the cutting board removed. It was soaking in vinegar water for a few days. I had to heat the water in order to bend the cutting board enough to get it out. I also had to use an nylon ratchet band to get it to bend. What a pain! Now everything looks nice and clean. As for the cutting board, I'm resizing it to fit down inside the area at the bottom of the tank to remove the dead space that was there before. This tank is not like most....it has these 2" glass strips that run along the inside of the tank to give the silicone a little more to grab onto. It's fine (and structurally, I think it's a benefit), but when Ryan had it set up, there was a pocket of stagnant water underneath the cutting board since it was sized to cover most/all of the bottom. I didn't want to take the chance of that becoming a nitrate factory, so I decided to fill it in and the cutting board is what I'm filling it in with. When I post the pics tomorrow, you'll see what I mean. Once I get that installed, then I'm going to attach some acrylic on top of that and that will serve as the bottom of my tank. I snapped a few pics, but too tired to upload them tonight. Maybe tomorrow. I need to get the acrylic ordered for the bottom panels.

Going to Ottumwa this weekend to pick up the glass to fix my glass sump. Once I take the glass to Iowa Glass, it will be a couple of weeks before it's done so that's still a ways out. Post turkey day.. Speaking of which, the weekend after Thanksgiving is a great goal date for getting this filled up with water. We'll see how that goes.

--AJ

 

I found a material for the bottom called expanded PVC. It's a fraction of the price of acrylic and I know that PVC is aquarium safe. I'm willing to take a gamble and see what it looks like. A black sheet 2'x4' is under $30. The same thing in acrylic would have been nearly $75. For use as a tank bottom, it should be just fine. I guess I'll see when I get it. It should be here late next week. I ordered it from USPlastics.com

--AJ

 

OK...so here's some pics. Got the tank all cleaned up last night. Looks almost like new.   Notice the glass overflow in the back...kind of unusual.  Also, I like the fact that the bulkheads are threaded.  Easier to put threaded caps into the holes and plug the overflow for cleaning.

Finally, a clean tank!


Notice the glass along the inside edge


Cutting board, cleaned and ready to cut on table saw


Lines on tape so they're easier to see


Acrylic shroud for glass overflow - dirty


Acrylic shroud for glass overflow - clean


Acrylic shroud for glass overflow - clean

 

Yes, you should. ha ha

 

A few updates.  I tested my family room to see if it could handle the lights without me running a new circuit and I think I'm going to be fine.  I used a portable space heater and a Kill-a-Watt wattage meter to test.  The space heater was pulling 1500 watts (give or take 20 watts) and with everything else that we normally have on in that room, we were fine.  That's a few hundred watts more than the new lights and powerheads will be pulling.  The rest will be attached to the circuit downstairs.
I added some jacks under the floor near where the aquarium will be.  Structurally, they were totally unnecessary.  In the mind of my wife...totally necessary, so in went the jacks.  Anyway, two jacks, a 4x4 and a few cement blocks and my wife feels much better about the 1200 lbs of water and gear that will be in our family room.  Good thing that room is over a crawl space so it was easy to add.
I'm finishing up the overflow stand pipe and return line this afternoon.  I'm using some telescoping PVC repair kit couplings on each the stand pipe and the return pipe to give me a little flexibiltiy on the height.  If I decide to change things a little, this should let me move things up 1.5" up and 1.5" down from what I'm assuming is going to be the right water level.  I'm making the connections threaded so if it turns out to be a bad idea, I can remove them later.  Here's what they look like:

I just ordered a couple of PC Extension cables that I'm going to use for my 400 watt halides. Right now, the lights are connected to the ballasts using wire nuts. This makes me a little nervous...I just want something that's a little easier to connect and disconnect as needed. I ordered two of these PC power extension cables. I liked the PC power extension cables as they are more of a socket type design than a standard extension cord plug would be.  I figure that should help a little in keeping stuff out and making them safer.  I'm going to cut them and leave about 1 foot of cord on each end of the plug, solder, tape and shrink wrap the connections. Anyway, I just hope that when they get here, the wires are color coded inside the cord. If they are not, they may be unusable. We'll see. They were cheap enough (just over $10 shipped for 2) so I won't loose sleep either way. Is it common to just use wire nuts? Should I be using something different than what I'm planning to use?

If I can arrange for some help later tonight, I'm going to move the
tank into the family room on the stand.  Then I can start the plumbing.

--AJ

 

About the startup power surge, you make a very good point.  I'll keep an eye on this.  It may be cause to have my halides come on a few minutes apart if I start tripping the breaker.  I never would have thought of that.
The ballasts that I have (IceCap 400W Electronic) don't have a quick disconnect at the ballast.  Everything is wired directly into the ballast...that's why I'm looking into a plug option.  Had there been a plug at the ballast, I wouldn't have minded it.  My VHOs are like that..everything wired to a large plug that goes into the ballast (IceCap 660)...that works just fine for me.  One thing that is kind of weird is that the power and lights are all connected to the same plug.  I'm sure it's set up correctly and actually, it's a smart way to do it considering that you just have one plug that controls everything, but it's just a little different than I'm used to.  I'm used to power in one end and lights in the other.
I may have some time before I can get some help over to get the tank onto the stand.  If that's the case, I'll have some time to work on mounting the ballasts inside the stand and getting the wiring hooked up.  Lots of stuff going inside the stand...3 ballasts, Tunze powerhead controller units, AquaSurf module, Lunar Sim Module,  and HD 4 controllable outlet....and that's all in addition to the stand modifications (cringe) that I need to make for the plumbing.  I'll need to get it all mounted and labeled.  I'll snap a few pics when it's all done.
--AJ