The Rebuild Begins!!!

[gitsumpottery]

the question is Geoff, how eloquent are you? did you kiss it?
(knowing that several of Ireland's finest have peed on that very spot in the past)

[three90s&125sump]

Originally Posted by gitsumpottery

the question is Geoff, how eloquent are you? did you kiss it?
(knowing that several of Ireland's finest have peed on that very spot in the past)

That IS why he kissed it.

[VWD]

I have been just checking in a watching all Your work, looks nice,

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by gitsumpottery

the question is Geoff, how eloquent are you? did you kiss it?
(knowing that several of Ireland's finest have peed on that very spot in the past)

that is one of those things you just have to do, regardless of its past. if you are there it has to be done. that is the first thing everybody asks you. i am not one to say, no, because i heard a while ago people pee'd on it. besides it rains there constantly so i am sure it was clean when i kissed it.

G~

[Geoff]

Zac- you should have been taking pics of your system as you were putting it up. i may bring my camera tonight so that there will be some pics of your system.

G~

[gitsumpottery]

if i would've been taking pictures last night, I think I would've looked a bit tired and depressed at the outcome before you came over... but i have a better feeling about filling it up with water the 8th time around (tonight).



Zac

[Geoff]

a lot is going on now.

i have pics of Zac's tank that i will get up here later. great looking custom 30g cube. this is what we have been working on this week. Wed. and Thurs. nights anyway.

as for the rebuild. lets see. today i got a 50g rubbermaid sump. now i have to decide where to put it. i will also post pics on this of the two options. really hard to tell which is better. i am definately going to be wanted second opinions here. i also got the styrofoam for under the tanks so that i can start working on the template for the tank holes. i also grabbed over a gallon of two part epoxy for the faux sand bed. which brings me to the next great brain storm i had. epoxying the LR together using this stuff.

right now i have several mixes curing on the kitchen counter, pics later ) . trying to find the perfect mix of sand and epoxy for the bottom. i am also looking to see if this epoxy is strong enough to hold LR together. i have tried mixes with both sand and finely crushed LR. hoping to find a good match so that you can not tell that the LR was cemented together. i hope to use the epoxy stuff instead of the concrete. i will only have to let it cure for 72 hours instead of months!!! i also got some acrylic to make my coast to coast overflow.

i hope to also have several pics of possible LR arrangements. with what i am thinking i have one shot at my aquascaping. it will be permanent. i plan on epoxying the LR itself into the SB to make sure it is solid. no way a turbo snail is knocking any rocks over in my tank. i need to get the aquascaping nailed down before i drill the tank. i want the returns from the Ampmaster to be hidden behind the LR. i plan on having at least 1000gph blowing out from behind these mound. i want to make sure now detritus can find a safe haven in these mounds. i am hoping the epoxy will allow me to make caves without any internal supports. leaving all open spaces under the mounds. this openness should keep the returns blowing at their most efficient. keeping all detritus blowing out from under there.

that is about it for now. i hope to have a lot of pics up tomorrow of the progress. i am really looking forward to seeing the result of the epoxy LR experiments.

G~

[tdwyatt]

4" deep epoxy...


...will you have rubber bristle worms??? I might be able to find you a plastic mandarin...

[TimmyG]

Originally Posted by tdwyatt

4" deep expxy...


...will you have rubber bristle worms??? I might be able to find you a plastic mandarin...

[Geoff]

here are a couple of pics of Zac's custom 30g cube. we spend a fair amount of time Wednesday and Thursday night getting this up and running. nothing i would consider major problems (Zac may think otherwise. ) just the things that just did not line up like they do in your head.

this is the system empty. after nearly 24hr curing of the silly cone needed to reseal the overflow. it just needed to be lowered a touch.



the system up and running. just a little cloudy, not bad at all considering it was literally just setup an hour before the pic was taken. the move went quite smoothly. i was pretty much just the critter catcher.



feel free to threadjack this thread.

G~

[Casey]

Wow G looks good I love a cube Im fighting red bugs.

[Geoff]

this is the epoxy experiment. i did a couple of batches of sand filled epoxy to figure out what it will not stick to. it looks like the epoxy does not want to stick to wax paper. i plan on covering the tank bottom with the wax paper. i hope that this will keep any possible cracking problems i the glass to an absolute minimum. i also plan on using wax paper dividers in the epoxy SB so that i can remove it later if i want to. it looks like a mix of 2 parts Southdown to 1 part epoxy worked quite well. it gives a very realistic looking sand bed. i also tried 1 part crushed LR and 1 part epoxy. the colouring was not near as nice as the Southdown. i was hoping to use this for the LR cementing part of the build. in the pic the darker coloured blotches are the LR filled epoxy. initial impression is that the LR epoxied together using the 2 part southdown mix is holding the pieces together very firmly. i plan on making some complex caves and wanted this to work.



OK, audience participation time. where would you put the sump if you had this choice. the next pic is the water heater area. this is at floor level. it is located below the basement stairs. very limited room because of the water heater (have not totally ruled out replacing it with a shorty that will go up on the concrete shelf). pros are that it is on the floor and the headroom is taller (leads to a taller skimmer). cons are it is another 5' lower, so higher head pressure for the return pump. harder to light the sump if i wanted to use it as a frag growout system, and limited room.



this is a shot of the concrete shelf area. it is located about 5' up off of the floor. that little step later actually lets me reach everything fairly easily. pros- there is a lot more room for equipment, putting a light over the sump will be easy. it is not enclosed so that it should remain cooler. it is not on the basement floor so that i save 5' of head pressure for the return pump. cons it is 5' off of the ground. headroom is limited to 31". shorter skimmer needed. maintenance may be annoying since it is sitting room only.



so what which area would you all choose? does anybody have a left over shorty water heater laying around they would like to trade. plumbing to either is easy so that is not really a consideration.

i hope to play around with LR placement today, so i can finalize what needs to be epoxied where. will prolly need some input on this also from you all.

G~

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by Casey

Wow G looks good I love a cube Im fighting red bugs.

the thing i hate most about battleing red bugs is that you loose all of your acro crabs. these are the only crabs i actually like to keep in my systems.

G~

[three90s&125sump]

Geoff Put it On the shelf. You can have 2 or 3 skimmers with 12 inch diameter reaction chambers in the sump if you need more skimming. The head you lose, the access and cooling on the shelf are all I would need to concider. You really don't gain anything by putting it under the stairs.

[three90s&125sump]

Oh, that cube dows look sweet, too.