my new tank thread! can i create a utopia? (gunna be long)

[dadstank]

today i took the necessary first step.....

this sunday i will take delivery of a brand new in the box glass cages 48x24x25 120 gallon. it is reef ready, it already had the starphire glass, i got a 40 gallon tank for a sump, a canopy, and after a long discussion, I agreed to allow them to make the stand for me. i decided to go with the full 40" height on the stand. i was a little nervous about the total height, but we looked at the photo of where this tank will stand, and i feel good about it....

i am attaching this photo of where the tank will be. some think it should be centered, i think i would prefer it all the way off to the right with the back of the tank even with the front of the cut out. this way i can create a small work space behind the tank, and also attach all electrical to the wall above the water line. (all the shelves on the wall have since been removed)

side note- now that i am looking at the photo, i notice the wall has quite a bit of direct sunlight. there are four skylights in the peak of the ceiling... i wonder if this could be end up being a placement issue..... i'll have to look into that....


hoooo yah!!!
:wink:

 

[Anonymous]

groovy, think you might like the 40" tall stand, I've seen others with tanks on tall stands and they make the tanks look that much bigger.

 

[dadstank]

So I brought the “monster” home last night. For the last two weeks I have been talking like this fishtank is SOOOOO big. Then yesterday I went to pick it up off the truck. I had the smallest tank to come off… I had tank envy of a few of these guys…

But, not to discount, I made a fantastic purchase and I am ready to roll…

Since the truck was 4 hours late, I was the last one to load up, and I had a decent ride ahead of me in an great big ol' truck, I didn’t have time to get any photos or measurements. I was purely focused on “must get home”. So needless to say, this is just an update to say, “I’ve got it!”

--more to come…
:wink:

 

[dadstank]

so.... it has been a loooooong two weeks. alas, the movers have still not arrived...........

however, some stuff had to make it. it took two roundtrips with delta, a big craftsman case, a hundred bucks in ACE hot bandages (2 thumbs up, the microwave ones), 1 pissed off TSA guy, a really cute little girl who LOVED my tang, and 338.5lbs of gear over two trips and 6 packages (with receipts to boot)....

sfsuphysics came through in flying colors offering shelter for my beloveds. currently swimming happily along is my sailfin, and my damsel. i picked up a HUGE turbo snail who has been cleaning the house since the live rock went in a week and half ago. i needed some 2x4s for another project when i get out, so ferian and i put up an easy structure to support the 250 pendant. my leather is still quite peeved with me for the transport, its bag had a hemorrhage mid trip.

a few of my less developed pieces are not going to make it. the water flow is all wrong, and i feel the position i had to put them is going to aid in the decline... only time will tell.

since nearly all my equipment is on a truck, or supposedly on a truck, i had some needs and was most graciously helped out at Lucky Ocean in San Fran. great place, great guy. checked my water for me. everything water quality wise was the same as it was when we left, so it made me smile.

all in all, i say it was alright a next time i'll do it better (and secure my own shipping for the tank itself )
it took 15 hours to move the tank from new jersey to new york. it took 11 hours to move the tank from the west wall to the east wall. so to take about 30 hours breakdown to basic wet setup, with travel time........


sorry no photos.
but guess why?
:roll:

 

[dadstank]

i exaggerated... the times i said for how long it took to move the tank each time... i was called out on it... sorry...

but that being said - all our stuff arrived.....

finally.

my tanks, stand, and all assorted pieces arrived safely. now all i need to do is get out of new york and start building....... hopefully should be just before the end of the month!

i wish i could say the same for the computer or tv.

at last report, all reef members seem to be happy. the leather is starting to regain its composer and is looking forward to getting into a larger home. isabelle (the sailfin) is enjoying the constant blast of the mag 7, but is getting a little restless. the damsel was thought lost and has since returned. he is a mutant.

the convict blenny. well. he has been looking to make a jail break. he is in a 20 all by himself with bunch o'rock. whenever someone walks near the tank he goes nuts and has at least once got sucked up by the powerhead. apparently, no harm no foul.

after rereading my first post, i can say that there is no sure way to do something like this move. someone has the tag, "if plan b were that good it would be plan a" or something of the sort. so true. except most of this move i was working with plan d or even g. for example, a 24 gallon jug tank stand...... oh yea. i did.

had a moment. just wanted to say hey. all is moving along, albeit at a slower pace......
:wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Hey glad to hear your tank finally made it. Wondered if it got swallowed up in the mississippi on the drive over or something

 

[dadstank]

and now the update....
everything is swimming along slowly.........

the furnature is sanded, stained, and sealed. the tank now sits atop its perch. and let me tell you, a 40" stand is TALL. really tall.

here is what i have so far. i want to put piping around the bottom of the tank for a bottom circulating closed loop. i will fit a intake (shown to the left of the overflow) with the return coming in over the top and down to the 5 outlets spread over the bottom of the tank. i feel this will give me the option to have a gentle flow of water hidden beneath the rock structure. now all i need is a pump to run it.

the return will be nothing more than flex hose coming off a Mag 9 in the outlet seen in the upper corner of tank.
--there is a split for easy pump outs to do water changes....

the tank was drilled with two holes in the overflow. i am going to use the 1" as the main overflow, and the 1 3/4 for the emergency overflow. safe than sorry i guess!!

lighting will be along the lines of the following. i have a 250 MH that i will suspend over the right side of the tank. over the left, i thought to get another MH, but that is going to be cost prohibitive, so i think i want to look into getting a 24" Current Nova Extreme 4x24W (2 10,000, 2 act). it seems to me this is a good value for the money.

current will be provided by 2 maxi jet 900s, 1 powerhead 802 on a wavemaker pro. and i also want to add koralia 3 that will run constantly.

CURRENT ISSUES:
1. how do i get the PVC part of the return to stay where i want it on the glass? (when i connect to the flex hose it goes where it wants)

2. how big of a pump do i need to put a flow through my idea of a closed loop?

3. are the 3 powerheads and the 1 koralia enough flow?

4. the cover to the over flow doesn't fit flush. i called the manufacturer and they said don't worry about it. my fear is that it will be a great place for algae to grow and prosper..... real fear or over-reacting?
in the last photo you can see the gap in the front corner. this is the same all the way around.....

 

[dadstank]

hi ya.
i turned on the return pump today.
yep.
y'all know what that means, she is filled....
:wink:
its not the saltiest of waters, but there is a crap ton of it in there.......

needless to say, i need to re do my overflow "set-up". the mag 9 sucked all the water out of its side of the sump in no time flat. i had a pvc cut in a fashion that i thought would be good. n'uh uh.

so i took it out. nope. even with water flushing out of the 1 1/2 hole at an alarming rate, and noise, the mag 9 was pulled back to almost off to keep a balance.

it's just not over flowing fast enough.

i am going to try a mag 5 and then a mag 7 tomrw. i would rather use a smaller pump on the return than throttle back a huge one. if i need water movement in the sump i'll figure that out later.

BUT!!!
all the water is staying exactly where it's supposed to be....

 

[dadstank]

and i have answered my own questions,
1. you make it fit and screw it to the stand silly...
2. what ever fits the budget i guess!!
3. koralia 3 will not be strong enough. i picked one up from a local generic "chinese knock-off" place that did have some "real" stuff for a good price. (for example a #3 for 32.99)
4. silicone the hell out of it and hope for the best.....

 

[dadstank]

oh yeah,
and the best part.
i turned a 2nd pump in the tank yesterday just to stir the water with the salt i had just added. walked away for about 10 min or so. i realized it was quiet.
to quiet.
walk into the room, everything is off.
everything.
all the tanks that have been up, and both pumps in the new tank.

the "landlord" isn't available until tomrw afternoon, so no big deal, but now the entire north side of the apartment has no power.

there seems to be only one fuse for this apartment in the basement. i am sure there is more, but i am not one to go messin with all that....

just made me laugh.

one more little thing to deal with.

i love my tank.
honest, i really do.

i just need a friggin couch.
8O

 

[Ben1]

I used to pop my circuit breaker at my old apartment all the time, since I was overloading the circuit. I would have to go down to my neighbors place, have them take me to the basement and re flip it. She hated me...that and the leaks through her ceiling did it lol.

How are the teeth on that overflow cover. I was thinking about a custom tank from GC's around xmas time but when I look at those overflow covers they look very restricting. Most I see use a wider cut slot with more slots. Are you getting enough water to flow through the teeth?

 

[dadstank]

i don't feel i am getting a ton of flow through the teeth. the silicone job i did must'a had a gap in it somewhere as the water filled the area between the glass overflow and the acrylic cover anyway..... :roll:

i changed out the Mag 9 for a Mag 7. its still throttled way back, but at least its almost half way, if not just halfway open.

i cut another piece of PVC to fill the overflow until i have time to do something better. i cut it on an angle, (not the prettiest cutting job) and stuffed it with a filter end cover thing i found in the box of "dave-a-part-a-kus". seems to be doing well. its at least quiet to where when the t.v. is on, or the rest of the pumps are in, and the lights are humming, it will not be offensive.

i think it might have been the microwave that sent it over the edge. it seems that there are six outlets spread along the north wall (2 in the living room, 1 hallway, 2 bedroom, 1 kitchen) that are not working. however, i have a "medussa" set-up currently running off another outlet, until i can get with the man who owns the house to show me what's where. hopefully they will be back tomrw....

kinda typical of me.
workin off a half-cocked idea, and just makin a mess.....

 

[bleedingthought]

Looking forward to this! Nice room too, by the way!

 

[Anonymous]

Another idea for your teeth is remove the acrylic, and simply silicone a strip of glass around your overflow to the same height as the teeth (since you mentioned the light shining through the crack). The glass doesn't even need to be cut the exact width either, just enough to make the water get higher.

 

[dadstank]

i cleaned out the teeth a little better than i did the first time. flow is better, but it is still not outstanding....

and the circuit is back on!

 

[Ben1]

IMO I would widen the teeth with a dremel, and possible add a few more to make the flow much easier. I have used a mag 9 on my returns full throttle with 1.5" durso drain with no problems.

If the pump was running dry to fast either not enough water is getting throught the overflowm, which would cause a overflow in the tank or it isnt moving through the sump fast enough, maybe a baffle issue. In anycase seems like you got it working to your liking which is all that matters and I perfer a slower flow through my sumps anyhow.

By the way I love the tank! 24" deep gives so many aquascape possibilitys. What are your plans for the scape?

 

[dadstank]

i am thinking low in the front and the left side. i will cover as much of the closed loop as i can (pump comes today!). the right side i am going to pretty much just have my leather, and my cabbage coral. my leather is hopefully going to regain its shape and open back up once its out of the holding tank. i am going to try and keep the rock scape as what it is, background.....

but reality will seldom match your thoughts while rockscaping!


my immediate plan is to make sure i can clean the glass the whole way around the tank should i want to......

i actually think with this last round of cleaning out the silicone, i might be able to go back to the Mag 9. the 7 is doing a fine job wide open, so i don't know. i am going to build (read: attempt) myself a Durso today...

 

[dadstank]

i got the pump today...
spent much time fitting the pieces together, blagh, blagh, blagh...

friggin thing leaked from so many places i don't even know where to start.
not the pump.
my work.

and when it was running, the "closed-loop idea" didn't put out much in the way of current. well, one outlet did. but three out of 5 didn't blow anything.

i need to re-think this.....
the goal is to have as little showing as possible....

 

[dadstank]

and the goal has not yet been met.
i wish i had had the tank drilled.......

next time it's empty (about 2 years) i will have it drilled for a proper closed loop....

i am not happy with this. i thought i was. i glued it all up....
and now i am going to cut it down...... well before i cut the whole thing down, i am going to plug the two outlets that flank the overflow.

if i had a dollar for every time i did something twice i would not be looking for a job right now.....

(the black background is just a towel hung across the back)

i'll let ya know....
:?

 

[dadstank]

that last shot does not exist any more...

third times a charm?

we'll see....

i'll put up a photo tomrw once all the glue has dried and i put the pieces together and mount it up!

till then.....