sheac12

Man I wish I could be at the BRK social, but I have to fly home to chicago for a wedding, which my wife is in. If it was up to me I would be at BRK. I have been down to John's store and fell in love, the place clean, organized and the people working there are excellent, and well worth the drive! I am going to skip the solenoid altogether. I was going to use it between the lifter and the kalk stirrer, but the siphon break works so well I am skipping the solenoid.

See now why can't you have a store in Maryland John? Good advise likes this makes me want to drive the 1.5 hr to your store! I tried the tee at the apex of the line and it worked perfectly for me ( configured like below) pipe to air | | lifter ===> tee ===> to tank Where would the check valve go in this case?

Check valve wouldn't stop the flow once the lifter turns off, as the siphon just continues to pull the water out of the reserve, thought about it and tried it. That solenoid would work. I didn't know about autotopoff.com. I check BRS and they didnt have anything. I will also check air water ice, thanks for the suggestion! Wow, autotopoff is really expensive on their shipping. $10 for a solenoid????

After setting up my auto top off system I found I had a "small" problem. The original system had the lift plump under the main tank and at a higher elevation then the kalk stirrer. This doesn't work. Turns out that while the lifter can pull the water from the reserve tank, 10 ft vertically away and four feet higher, it cannot stop the water flow once started. The problem is the lifter starts a siphon due to the length of pipe. I tried moving the lifter to onto top of the water reserve, thinking that that this would stop the, siphoning effect, but that was faulty logic, as the total length of the pipe is still the same. The best solution I can think of is using a solenoid on either the input or output of the lifter to shut off the once once the lifter turns off. The problem is I cannot seem to find a solenoid that isnt brass and is affordable. I did find a solenoid on recommendation for Manhattan reefers, http://www.stcvalve.com/Direct_Acting_Solenoid_valve_specifiaction-2P.htm, but I am worried as the armature tube is brass and the plunger and spring are stainless steel. Does any know if this is going to be a bad thing, since brass is a combination of copper and zinc? If so anyone know of a lifter pump that has a shut off on the output, or an other solenoid that would work?

The exterior skin is built using a combination of different board widths. My design is based on Harley-J

(Be advised this is a photo heavy thread) Here are a few more images of the base. In these you can see the triple 2"x4" I used in the corners. (Yes that is me mixing the rubber grip material with a diluting agent. With the tile done and the base frame ready it was time to purchase the cherry. I have read on different forums and here on WAMAS that most people skin their frames with particle board/plywood and then use a veneer of their choice on the outside. Personally, I didn't care for this option, so I am building my skin and doors out of actual cherry planks and cherry plywood. Well actually, it was my friend, who is an experience wood craftsman that convinced me to use solid wood. Of course to get back at him, I have gotten him hooked on saltwater and he will be starting his 30Gal nano as soon as we finish the hood. He has already agreed he will be upgrading to a 90gal corner tank and has join WAMAS (twinke). I wish I still had the photos of the stack of cherry I purchase from a store in Annapolis, but I don't. Getting down there and back with well over 700lbs of cherry and mahogany (not for me) was an experience. I had to rent a UHAL trunk to carry everything. There was no way I was going to stuff all the cherry stock, most pieces 12ft long and 10" wide, the mahogany and cherry plywood sheets, into my Honda Accord coupe! I can tell you it wasn't cheap, even though I purchase raw non-planed wood stock to save money. The most expensive pieces per ft were the trim and the cherry plywood used for panels in the sides and the doors. UPDATE( I was able find some pictures of the cherry!) This was the "major" purchase of cherry. I ended up having to return park of it due to person whom I purchased it from did a crap job milling the wood and later claimed it was due to his blades being dull. I was able to exchange the milled stuff for raw cherry planks.

Thanks, the process isn't too hard, but you need something to stretch the carpet and FYI, take your time with it. I did the z-bar installation and carpet securing before I set the title. I did this so I could come up with straight reference line, chalk line, to work the edge against without having to worry about tile. I used a rubber mallet to secure (pound) the carpet under the zbar. As for a reference I found and used this: http://www.thetiledoctor.com/howto/Tile-Interior-Floors If you have any question drop me a line. Big updates coming, very picture intensive!

Really its about your personal preference, do you like the slightly blue look? Personally, I am going with Front ATI Blue Plus UVL Actinic White ATI Blue Plus ATI Blue Plus Blue Plus GE 6500K Daylight Blue Plus I spent a crap load of time on this thread looking at recommendations - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706461&page=2

For questions like this I always refer to reefcentral's head loss online calculator (http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/head-loss-calculator). This will give you an idea of what your pump is actually pushing into the tank. The part I really like is you can see how the flow changes depending on the inner diameter of the pipe you use. A draw back of this system is it hasn't been updated with the Ehiem 1262. What size tank do you have? Personally I like to have been 5-8x tank volume turn over per hour on the return pump. So if you had a 90, and went by my guide lines you would need a pump that actually pushed between 450-720 GPH. One thing to add, be careful on how many things to attempt to branch off the Ehiem. There isn't that much more flow on Ehiem then the MAG 7.

NM.

To everyone with the reeflo pumps, how many of you have the pump in your main room and not in a different one? I ask because the tank sits off to one side of the family room and due to the tanks location I cannot put the pump anywhere else, but in the stand, at least not easily. Does anyone have experience with the BlueLine series?

Hey NAGA, Yeah I know you told me to go with the Eheim, but at 5' we are looking at 700GPH according to their charts. Which means that 1.5" drain I had you drill would be over kill. Oh and you dead on about the Tunze 6080 not being enough for the tank....I should have listened

Thanks for in insight Bob. I thought about the Eheim 1262. The only thing I have against the Eheim is its outputs 700GPH at 5 ft, which I personally don't think is enough turn over per hour. Anyone had experience with the BlueLine Velocity pumps or BlueLine 70 HD?

I am starting up my 180 and just finished my plumbing. The main return is a mag 24 with a mag 36 propeller with a 1.5" drain and a 1.5" return to dual 1" outlets. First problem I notice was the 1.5" drain is having a heck of a time keeping up with the return. Next problem, after running the system for about 10 minutes, the noise was so bad my wife told me to get something else to make it quiet. One to never question a direct order from the boss that ends with me getting something new for the tank, I am looking for a quiet return pump. Does any have a suggestion? I don't care if it is external or submersible. It does need to push say 4-5' of vertical return. Above all it must be quiet. Next project, quiet power heads! Thanks! Colin

Back in December I purchased one of Jeff (NAGA) custom 180 tanks he was running a special on. Not only did he get it to me in less time then he said he would, but he came back multiple times to make things perfect. This is by far the best customer service I have had. Anyone looking for a custom/semi-custom build I would definitely direct and recommend to Jeff. Now if I can get my wife to release more funds that custom sump I wanted will be next!

For the frame of the base stand I used a combination of 3/4" ply and 2x4. This base frame took forever to complete, between the crap 2x4's at lowes, having to go back multiple times and dig through their "premeire 2x4" due to the need to have an extremely level and square design for the frame. I should have just purchased nicer 2x4's to begin with. I went through the majority of the first 2x4's getting my top and bottom rectangles square and level. These are skinned with 3/4" plywood and are connected to one and other using the vertical supports. My design called for at least 2 2x4's in the corners. I ended up using 3 2x4 per corner, where each overlaps each other. The "center" runs from the inside of the top of the frame into the inside of the bottom of the frame. Each vertical 2x4 is then connected to the "center" adjoining 2x4 with at least 8 2.5" screws. I wanted to make sure that the vertical supports wouldn't bow or separate under the weight of the tank. The resulting frame is extremely strong and completely level and weights about 150lbs. I wanted to protect the floor of the stand, where I will be keeping my sump and other equipment from rotting. I decided to use plastic dip to achieve this. I had used it previously on my 90 for the bottom of my lighting hood that was always in contact with salt spray and found it held up very nicely. Once the basic frame was complete, I needed to prepare my new house(less then 3 months since we move in) and i decided to tear up part of the carpet in our lower level. I wanted to place the tank somewhere I could run hard line water lines for waste, water replacement and top off without having it look unsightly. I was able to achieve this by tucking the tank into the near end of the lower level when you first walk down stairs from the door. The lower level is pored concrete so leaks and water problems were less likely to cause me problems. I began by pulling up the carpet and cleaning the area of all dust and debris. What I found was a very smooth concrete finish that was ready of tiling. I must admit that this took me over 2 months to do. Mostly because I was doing other things around the house and lets face it who really like to tile? The end product turned out very nicely. I when I was working on this project I wanted a way to have a seamless transition between the floor tiles and the carpet. I really hate those metallic transitions you find usually between these two materials. I went surfing and was able to find a couple of DIY articles on using Z-Bars to accomplish the finished look I was going for. The tiles where laied using the center of the room as a starting place and run under the base boards on the edges. Any gap between the tile and the base board is sealed using a water resistant caulk. The end result was so nice that my wife has decided we are going to, read I am going to, finish off the 1/2 bath in the lower level. NOTE : Yes the grout is pinkish in color, it was NOT that way when i stired it up nor was that the look I was going for!

Based on my own requirements I wanted a tank that was about three feet off the floor, even though I am only 5' 3" on a good day. I wanted a tank that was elevated enough so that people wouldn't need to bend over. Yes, this requires me to get a step stool to clean the thing and as my wife loves to point out, "well you might as well just get some scuba gear and jump in there, it would be easier," oh she knows me too well ! The base stand was designed using only 2x4 and was to be skinned in cherry. The hood, which is still not complete, is designed to open up in the front to allow for easy access to the bottom of the tank and removal of the lighting for bulb changes. . In each of the google sketch up drawings I have not included the trim or taken into account the hinged feature of the hood. I only used the sketch up drawings to visualize the design and create a cutlist of required materials.

Back in '08 I purchased discretekarma's 180, which was actually jamesbuf's old 180 AGA, when discretekarma was forced to sell it. Getting it out of Scott's backyard was a task and a half. I wish I had photos of the backyard and the lovely fun my friend and I had getting that 500lb moster out of there. The tank sat for over 10 months collecting dust while my wife and attempted to purchase our first home. The one thing I required in the house was a place for the fish tank. Some place where I could hide all the plumbing and stop "cluttering" up the living room for a week, like my wife always claimed, which might have been true, when I did water changes. I decided that with this new tank(I previosuly had a 90G AGA), I wanted it to be a beautiful piece of furniture in my new home's living room. I went web surfing and spent a crap load of time on reef central looking at other people's stands. I found one I actually liked which was reefcentral's harleyj's stand. See his photo gallary on reefcentral for photos (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=775). I spoke with harleyj and with his brother and was able to estimate his design parameters. I took the estimated dimensions and design elements I liked, and with the help of sketch up, cutlist and my friend who is an experienced wood worker I was able to come up with a design and lumber needs.

Which type did you order?

I was way off on my rock weight, it is all dried out and weights only 85lbs. So I am in need of getting more rock. I am already signed up for the BRK group buy and will be purchasing a bunch of other things I need for 180 build. Does anyone have experience with the ECO and/or the Figi rock? Thanks!

I recieved a 303 from one of my friends, well back from one of my friends really, and i was thinking about running carbon and phosban through it. Anyone else do this or heard of anyone doing it? There will be nothing in there except for the media baskets and the media.

See there is the key, 8 foot long piece of glass and if its sapphire too, then yeah I could see that.

I am still waiting for mine.

Where did you go? - That is a crazy amount of money for a piece of glass.

That's why I pulled up the carpet under the tank and replaced it with tile! Way too many water issues with the tank on carpet. I was going to pm NAGA any way and see what he had to say. Thank you for the input!