About all paint spraying equipment requires the paint be thinned. Many come with a viscometer to get the best results easier. It would be a good idea if you can find the viscosity that works best for the sprayer and paint you are using to get a viscometer. You will be able to get more consistent results that way.
Whiskey's 300 Gallon Glass Cages Dream Reef build
I know I've made mention a time or two recently that I was interested in setting up a dream reef, the kind of reef that I've wanted ever since the early 2000's but I've never been able to do for one reason or another. Something in the neighborhood of 300 gallons that I can have for 20 years and really grow SPS out to full showstopping colony size while still having room here and there for the newest frag (if I keep things trimmed well enough that is).
Well! I wasn't in any real rush because my 135 growing along well, but I was pricing various vendors, checking facebook, and going through large build threads around the size I'm looking at searching for ideas, and I came across a fantastic build by Hydrored which was right up my alley. I got to the end of the thread, and he said that he's moving, and this tank size doesn't work well in the new house, so he's building something better for the house and it's for sale. Turns out he's only 3 hours away by car, and I couldn't be happier!!! I'm picking it up in a few weeks, but in the meantime here are the details:
Glass Cages 300 Gallon, 7 foot long, 33 inches wide, and 25 inches tall. It is all starfire glass (even the eurobrace) and it is trimness on the top. The seams are armored, where they put plastic over the silicone so they can't get damaged. It has a shadow box Ghost overflow which doesn't take up excessive in tank space, and it's drilled for 3 1.5" drains, and 2 3/4" returns. The tank really is a gem, it's been kept in immaculate condition, and it is absolutely Dream Reef material.
The Stand is Extruded Aluminum, with all high end stainless hardware, and the aluminum is strong enough that it only needs one center support over the 7 foot span. The stand is also easy to break down and reassemble, like an erector set. Right now the underside is open, but it comes with little button clips to attach wooden panels. At first I was going to make drawers and doors, which I might still do, but the clips are cool enough that I could make shaker style doors and just pop them on and off. I'm undecided for now. I haven't used a stand like this before, but I'm really intrigued, it has allot of benefit, strong, doesn't corrode, doesn't warp, light,... I'll let you know more once I take it apart and put it back together.
And!! I'm lucky enough to have the sump coming along with it!! Honestly I wouldn't have gone this nice if I wasn't getting it used. This picture is from the Manufacturer's website, and mine has a couple different holes, but it's more or less the same. This Sump is 5 foot, by 2 foot, by 16 inches. That should be plenty! For the first time in a very long time I'm actually considering not doing a refugium. My 25 doesn't have one and I've had less trouble keeping Po4 and NO3 in balance in that tank. I have room in this sump if I need it, but I think I'm going to start without and see.
![Rectangle Gadget Gas Machine Office equipment]()
Finally, there is the coral! There are countless amazing pieces in this collection, but that's the thing I'm most nervous about moving. It's only 3 hours, and I've taken individual corals much, much further, but never this much coral at one time. I have a good plan in place, and I've already setup a holding 100G stock tank to get them right in water when they arrive, but we will have more on that later.
For now I want to close off the first post with pictures of my current reef that will be merged into the new tank, this is the 135 cube that I've been running for the last 2 ish years.
Front:
![Water Purple Natural environment Plant Organism]()
Sides:
![Water Nature Purple Underwater Organism]()
![Water Vertebrate Blue Plant Natural environment]()
Thanks for following along! And I'll have updates on the coral move plan soon!
Whiskey
Well! I wasn't in any real rush because my 135 growing along well, but I was pricing various vendors, checking facebook, and going through large build threads around the size I'm looking at searching for ideas, and I came across a fantastic build by Hydrored which was right up my alley. I got to the end of the thread, and he said that he's moving, and this tank size doesn't work well in the new house, so he's building something better for the house and it's for sale. Turns out he's only 3 hours away by car, and I couldn't be happier!!! I'm picking it up in a few weeks, but in the meantime here are the details:
Glass Cages 300 Gallon, 7 foot long, 33 inches wide, and 25 inches tall. It is all starfire glass (even the eurobrace) and it is trimness on the top. The seams are armored, where they put plastic over the silicone so they can't get damaged. It has a shadow box Ghost overflow which doesn't take up excessive in tank space, and it's drilled for 3 1.5" drains, and 2 3/4" returns. The tank really is a gem, it's been kept in immaculate condition, and it is absolutely Dream Reef material.
The Stand is Extruded Aluminum, with all high end stainless hardware, and the aluminum is strong enough that it only needs one center support over the 7 foot span. The stand is also easy to break down and reassemble, like an erector set. Right now the underside is open, but it comes with little button clips to attach wooden panels. At first I was going to make drawers and doors, which I might still do, but the clips are cool enough that I could make shaker style doors and just pop them on and off. I'm undecided for now. I haven't used a stand like this before, but I'm really intrigued, it has allot of benefit, strong, doesn't corrode, doesn't warp, light,... I'll let you know more once I take it apart and put it back together.
And!! I'm lucky enough to have the sump coming along with it!! Honestly I wouldn't have gone this nice if I wasn't getting it used. This picture is from the Manufacturer's website, and mine has a couple different holes, but it's more or less the same. This Sump is 5 foot, by 2 foot, by 16 inches. That should be plenty! For the first time in a very long time I'm actually considering not doing a refugium. My 25 doesn't have one and I've had less trouble keeping Po4 and NO3 in balance in that tank. I have room in this sump if I need it, but I think I'm going to start without and see.
Finally, there is the coral! There are countless amazing pieces in this collection, but that's the thing I'm most nervous about moving. It's only 3 hours, and I've taken individual corals much, much further, but never this much coral at one time. I have a good plan in place, and I've already setup a holding 100G stock tank to get them right in water when they arrive, but we will have more on that later.
For now I want to close off the first post with pictures of my current reef that will be merged into the new tank, this is the 135 cube that I've been running for the last 2 ish years.
Front:
Sides:
Thanks for following along! And I'll have updates on the coral move plan soon!
Whiskey
101 - 120 of 148 Posts
Okay! I have a project that I've really been dreading, but I got myself together today and did it!! The next major step in this project is to replace my existing sump that's made with a 50 gallon tank with the new much nicer sump that I bought with this tank. The new sump is about 5 foot long by 2 foot wide by about 16 inches tall. It's probably actually bigger than my current display tank, but more water volume never hurts!
The problem is that when I installed this stock tank I made it very temporary and it was never intended to run for more than a couple weeks, so I just kindof slapped it right next to the tank and ran plumbing straight over. Now I need better access to the sump so I need to swing it around and out of the way.
![Purple Wood Electric blue Engineering Hardwood]()
This is what the Sump Room looked like, you can see that I have no room to work on or replace the sump.
This is after I slid the stock tank into a better position:
![Blue Purple Wood Electric blue Entertainment]()
Much better! Now I have a new problem, The new tank sump won't fit by about 4 inches. It's not a perfect solution but I think I can slide the frag tank over during the transition, I can't do it now because all the drain plumbing doesn't have that room to move.
Speaking of plumbing, this is the sump I will be using, but I need to make a couple changes to make it work with my system.
![Wheel Dog Tire Dog breed Carnivore]()
This is setup perfectly for the tank, but not for my Frag tank.
The Blue Dots will be 2 additional 1" drains to support the Frag Tank.
The Red Dot will be a 3/4 return to go up to the Frag Tank
The Pink Dot will be a 3/8 Jhon Guest fitting to support the Kalk reactor. I don't want that going into the skimmer compartment because it tends to have a lot of precipitation.
I might add a CA reactor effluent line to the drain section just to give it more time to off gas the CO2, but at the same time I usually like to put my PH probe there to get accurate readings, so I'm on the fence about that.
Whiskey
The problem is that when I installed this stock tank I made it very temporary and it was never intended to run for more than a couple weeks, so I just kindof slapped it right next to the tank and ran plumbing straight over. Now I need better access to the sump so I need to swing it around and out of the way.
This is what the Sump Room looked like, you can see that I have no room to work on or replace the sump.
This is after I slid the stock tank into a better position:
Much better! Now I have a new problem, The new tank sump won't fit by about 4 inches. It's not a perfect solution but I think I can slide the frag tank over during the transition, I can't do it now because all the drain plumbing doesn't have that room to move.
Speaking of plumbing, this is the sump I will be using, but I need to make a couple changes to make it work with my system.
This is setup perfectly for the tank, but not for my Frag tank.
The Blue Dots will be 2 additional 1" drains to support the Frag Tank.
The Red Dot will be a 3/4 return to go up to the Frag Tank
The Pink Dot will be a 3/8 Jhon Guest fitting to support the Kalk reactor. I don't want that going into the skimmer compartment because it tends to have a lot of precipitation.
I might add a CA reactor effluent line to the drain section just to give it more time to off gas the CO2, but at the same time I usually like to put my PH probe there to get accurate readings, so I'm on the fence about that.
Whiskey
Well! Just a quick update, but hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have a HUGE one. I have the sump prepped with the additional bulkheads I needed, and I got it outside to wash it all out. This design has the drawback that it's harder to clean than an all glass tank, but I LOVED the fact that I didn't have to be nearly as careful with it, and the fact that it was SO LIGHT for it's size. I was easily able to move this around completely by myself using a furniture dolly, and it's sitting in the sump room now.
![Blue Tire Wheel Asphalt Gas]()
This weekend I hope to switch all my plumbing over to 1.5", drill a bunch of new holes in the wall, and get this new sump installed on the old tank. When completed this will make the eventual move over to the 300 gallon much easier because all I have to do is cut the plumbing in the front room and connect it to the other overflow box and return holes, no messing with any filtration, reactors, topoffs, none of it.
Whiskey
This weekend I hope to switch all my plumbing over to 1.5", drill a bunch of new holes in the wall, and get this new sump installed on the old tank. When completed this will make the eventual move over to the 300 gallon much easier because all I have to do is cut the plumbing in the front room and connect it to the other overflow box and return holes, no messing with any filtration, reactors, topoffs, none of it.
Whiskey
Man,.. I continually underestimate how much time and effort this stuff takes. That was a completely wild weekend, but everything is up and running in the new sump!!! Still some wire management to do, and some testing and tuning, plus I need to label everything but we are rocking! This has the new Octo Int-200 skimmer installed as well! Eventually I will run the 200 and 150 together for redundancy, but right now with the 135 gallon tank and fish load it seems like overkill.
Even though the 135 is still drilled for 1 inch drains, having the 1.5 inch pipe back to the sump room actually allows me to run much higher return flow which is nice.
Here's the sump room now:
![Purple Blue Entertainment Engineering Electric blue]()
Whiskey
Even though the 135 is still drilled for 1 inch drains, having the 1.5 inch pipe back to the sump room actually allows me to run much higher return flow which is nice.
Here's the sump room now:
Whiskey
I have BIG news! I need to get some updated coral pics because I'm starting to get some good growth and colors from the new corals which is super exciting! But that's another post. This one is all about the tank and controlling aptasia.
Joe from glass cages sent me a picture of my assembled tank sitting in QA already!!!! We are a week away from the Silicone being cured, and probably about 3 weeks away from shipping. He had estimated 8-12 weeks for a tank this size and complexity, but it's looking like he will beat that by a week or two. Now,.. what we are all here for anyway, the photo 🤤
![Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring Composite material]()
And! Regarding Aptasia, I'm starting to have a bunch of them popping up here an there,.. I have tried peppermint shrimp before with limited success, I've definitely used the Aptasia X and Joe's Juice and the like, but that only gets the ones I can see, and there is some question of if it helps to spread them. This time I decided try something new and took advantage of a deal Dinkins Aquatic Gardens was doing where you order 3 berghia nudibranchs and get 2 small ones free to see if that is a better method of control. I have some concern about my Wrasse getting them, but they are nocturnal, and lots of food exists for them, so I'm hoping that it's okay.
Here's a big and little guy during acclimation:
IMG_6236 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
Cool looking guys!
Whiskey
Joe from glass cages sent me a picture of my assembled tank sitting in QA already!!!! We are a week away from the Silicone being cured, and probably about 3 weeks away from shipping. He had estimated 8-12 weeks for a tank this size and complexity, but it's looking like he will beat that by a week or two. Now,.. what we are all here for anyway, the photo 🤤
And! Regarding Aptasia, I'm starting to have a bunch of them popping up here an there,.. I have tried peppermint shrimp before with limited success, I've definitely used the Aptasia X and Joe's Juice and the like, but that only gets the ones I can see, and there is some question of if it helps to spread them. This time I decided try something new and took advantage of a deal Dinkins Aquatic Gardens was doing where you order 3 berghia nudibranchs and get 2 small ones free to see if that is a better method of control. I have some concern about my Wrasse getting them, but they are nocturnal, and lots of food exists for them, so I'm hoping that it's okay.
Here's a big and little guy during acclimation:
IMG_6236 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrCool looking guys!
Whiskey
20
Okay! I have a fun post for everyone!! There are TONS more new corals that I can't shoot because the only way I can do this is with a fixed 100MM lens which makes my range fairly limited, but I did get some awesome pictures of things settling in and coloring up!
All of these are new from Hydrored:
This is different parts of the same coral:
IMG_6311 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6310 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
The rest of these are all different corals:
IMG_6308 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6304 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6303 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6299 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6298 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6295 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6294 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6288 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6284 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6274 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6272 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6271 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6268 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6266 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6261 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6260 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6257 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
IMG_6243 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr
All of these are new from Hydrored:
This is different parts of the same coral:
IMG_6311 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6310 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrThe rest of these are all different corals:
IMG_6308 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6304 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6303 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6299 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6298 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6295 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6294 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6288 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6284 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6274 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6272 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6271 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6268 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6266 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6261 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6260 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6257 by Wiskey2727, on FlickrIMG_6243 by Wiskey2727, on Flickr101 - 120 of 148 Posts
