Staples 46 Gal Bowfront Build

[aquawolf]

Not a problem.

I am a member of the Columbia Marine Aquarium Club, and there is now a new club called the Reef Clan of Augusta in your area. If you are want to know more about them send me a PM and will give you links to their web sites.

Where are you doing most of your shopping so far?

[fihsboy]

Hows the build going bud?

[Staplesofficewar]

Originally Posted by fihsboy

Hows the build going bud?

Thanks for the kick-start!

I have been waiting for my fittings to arrive so I can soft pipe all the way up. They showed up on Thursday and I installed them friday...along with one other mod I was contemplating.

I can barely hear any vibrations now...only the sweet sound of trickling water . All of the lines are now vinyl. I have not been able to find "cheap" mousepads to cut up. The only ones i could find were really thin at walmart and 7 dollars for the cheapest at officemax. Ill get some off ebay or just order a big roll of the raw material. For now, the pump is setting on top of a prefilter that is on its side. Here are some pics.



Goodbye shadow!




There is slight vibration where the vinyl goes through the stand...the mouse pad material will cure that.




You can see some fittings and clamps half way down on the lines...i didn't have long enough peices to make the runs...Ill replace it with a solid when it moves into its more permenent home.


Left return.


I'll post some more once I mod the canopy and test it without a shadow,

Thanks!

[fihsboy]

Awesome! Its coming along great!

[aquawolf]

You have made some good progress. I like your new center brace as well.

[fihsboy]

I wonder if you could do that centerbrace mod with water in the tank. Thats AWESOME. I really like that a lot too!

[Staplesofficewar]

Originally Posted by fihsboy

I wonder if you could do that centerbrace mod with water in the tank. Thats AWESOME. I really like that a lot too!

I did!
Get a piece of acrylic. Then lay it out, and drill holes for the nylon bolts. I used 1/4" x 20 threads per inch. I worked on the front first, and then the back, making sure that the acrylic was slid to the back as far as possible after the front bolts are installed. Leave them slightly loose when you do this. The holes I drilled were slightly larger then 1/4" cause my bit is bad. Drill the back holes - check for alignment. Remove the back two bolts and apply weld-on 16 between the acrylic and original frame. Not all the way across just around the holes and a little in front and back. Reapply the bolts - they will act like clamps to hold the plastics together while they bond. Do the front the same way.

The glue is made for acrylic to acrylic bonds; however, it does bond plastics as well. When I tightened the bolts down, some glue squeezed out. I grabbed my screwdriver and scraped it off....the glue had gone from clear to black, indicating that the plastic was being softened. I left my nylon bolts in place as a safety in case the bonds fail.

I let it cure about 24 hrs. Then I drained about 4" out of the tank, just enough to get a dremel in between the brace and the water, then carefully cut through the brace making sure not to go too deep and hit my new brace.

Here is a pic with just the 10K T5 on.



And now all the lights w/ flash:



without flash - this looks closer to in-person:



Thanks for the comments and all the help!

[Staplesofficewar]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

Not a problem.

I am a member of the Columbia Marine Aquarium Club, and there is now a new club called the Reef Clan of Augusta in your area. If you are want to know more about them send me a PM and will give you links to their web sites.

Where are you doing most of your shopping so far?

I dont know how i missed this post. Ill be sending you a PM right after I update the tread today.

So far, The bulk of my shopping, at least anything not from the internet, has been from Star Aquatics in Evans, Ga. They seem to really know what they are talking about.

[Staplesofficewar]

Well, about 2 months ago we purchased new flooring for the living room and up until about a month ago, I was too busy with work and the reef to install it. It came time to move the tank from the bedroom into the living room...sooo I had to take a break from the tank and get that floor down. The product we put down is called trafficmaster Allure from HD. It is 100% vinyl, so there can be no swelling wood from say an overflowing reef tank. Also, the dog and cat have yet to scratch it. Here are a few highlight shots

[Staplesofficewar]

Next, my RO system showed up from ebay. I purchased this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Here it is before install.



LFS TDS meter shows 2 PPM.

[Staplesofficewar]

So I ordered 40lbs rock and 60lbs sand from Marco. Nice stuff, but it was odd that my rock arrived 3 days before my sand.

Here are the rocks:

[Staplesofficewar]

After my sand arrived, I followed the little direction card that was included with the sand to rinse it with RO water 2 to 3 times. I did this and added it to my tank and go started building the rock structure.

Here is the "HELP" why is my water so cloudy thread:

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6...er-135703.html



Nice huh?

[Staplesofficewar]

So I had some time while I let the water settle....lets build some moon lights. I chose blue...Althought I have heard they are too bright for all night usage. I have a controllor controlling all my lights based on time, So the moon lights will be on from when the T5 10K shut off till about 11pm, then there will be no light till about 6am, when the moon lights will come back on. They will stay on until the T5 sunrise...

The whole moon light project required about 3 Resistors(one adjustable - aka potentiometer), 3 LEDs and a 12 V power supply. I already had an "industrial" PS powering my fans, so the 12v was no problem The 2 ceramic resistors limit the current to the LEDs when the POT is at 0 ohms. It is sized to give each LED max current, making them the brightest when the dimmer resistor (pot) is at 0. I installed the pot and added a knob to make it look pro. When the the lights are on, i can dim them all the way down if I want to. The LEDs are wired in parrellel.

If anyone wants a schematic, ill post one, just let me know.

To seal the LEDs and solder joints from the sea water, I used 5 min epoxy and some of those tea candle aluminum shells. Be careful, the epoxy gets really hot when it is undergoing its reaction.

Here is an LED all potted in epoxy with its wires hanging out.

[Staplesofficewar]

Went to the LFS on Tuesday or Wednesday and got 7 lbs of live rock. This was added to the tank the same day.

I have still not seen a cycle, it has been about 5 days....patience I suppose.

I took some water to the LFS for testing yesterday. The only parameter they were concerned with was my PH and....KH ( I think its KH). PH was 7.7 and KH was 7. They told me to shoot for 8.2-8.3 and 10 for the KH ( again, I am not so sure about KH)

I got some buffer mix that they said should correct both problems. Can some tell me more about the KH parameter?

Thanks!

[Staplesofficewar]

Here are a few shots from today.

The skimmer in action...although not much action. If there is low/no bio load, what should be expected from the skimmer?



The refug ready and waiting. I think I will do a bare bottom in there with some live rock and algea...maybe a "pod production center". If i can do that, some should make it to the return area and back to the display..



Here is the rock in the not-so-cloudy-water now. The medium size peices on the far left and far right are the ones from the LFS bought live and cured. There are also 2 smaller peices in the middle top and bottom, I am sure most people can spot them.


A full tank shot:






So....Now what? Do I just wait and correct my PH, 4 weeks from now add a clean up crew? (my LFS advice).

Do I get a raw shrimp and force a cycle? ( I personally am close to doing this, just need a nudge over the edge).

Thanks everyone!