tpallas

Wow, looks great!!! And....heavy.....!!

Finalizing my list for the rest of the corals - let me know if you have frags!!! - Purple monster - Rainbow delight - Strawberry shortcake - Tricolor valida - Purple plasma - Something yellow? Cheers! Tom

Wow, this tank looks really good for running since Feb!

Looks great!

Got the Osmolator and Prodibio in the mail today from Marine Depot: Bad attempt at an FTS. Still need to get a better camera. These frags were moved from my 40g cube which I haven't been able to give much attention over the past couple of months and is close to being shut down: Here's a green slimer frag I picked up from the Marine Scene yesterday: I got this shaggy green mille from Graham who has a great tank. Unfortunately it lost most of its shagginess and greenness in my 40g. Hopefully will return to its former glory in this tank: This was, I believe, a purple or pink mille. Recovered from brown and now into green....hopefully the next few months will see its return to true colors: Also got this piece from Graham, I believe it's a purple tort. It RTN'd a little bit when I first moved it in, but I think it has slowed or stopped. I really like this piece, quick grower and very hardy, hope it stays. Second pic is with flash to show receding flesh: Overall the colors leave a lot to be desired but I hope they recover well in this tank. Next up is installing the ATO with the topoff water bucket hidden. Cheers Tom

Thanks! I stopped by the Marine Scene today and picked up the MP10: Also picked up a pair of black clowns and a piece of green slimer. I moved some SPS from my old tank, lost a few pieces which I think is due to alk shock (alk must be much lower on the old tank), but stil have some good pieces. Once I get a decent camera up I'll post pics of the livestock. Cheers Tom

Also REALLY looking forward to CPR Aquatic's nano biopellet reactor: http://www.youtube.com/user/cprusa95521#p/u/3/zmU9wpx-8QE

I mounted the AI fixture on the included legs. I'll be making a light tree from bent conduit, but I wanted to see how it looks and get the timer working. It's a great light. Here it is (need to get a SLR): The oolite needs some time to develop cohesion and not get blown around so much, but overall I like it very much. It's very clean looking and looks great in the light. My SWC 120 keeps on overflowing each time I plug it in, but I suspect this is due to using so much epoxy earlier in the week and running no carbon. Other than that, it's just playing the waiting game.

Thanks Ron! You are right, that rock was leaning up against the side of the tank. It took me about two hours, a lot of epoxy, and a lot of curses to get the arch just how I wanted it. Here's how it came out - it's curing now: Not sure what I'll do with the little piece of seed rock in the center. My plan was to put a piece of purple table acro where the rock is upwelling from the sand, flanked by Croceas. Perhaps I'll put that rock on the upper left hand side to balance it out. Cheers Tom

Water is clear and I added the rocks. It's going to take a little more positioning to get them just right, then I'll set the arch in with epoxy. Also added a seed piece of rock I picked up from the Marine Scene this afternoon.

Can't wait to see that stand finished.

Thanks! Yours is a timely question as I have a scheduled power outage tonight for 8 hours (glad the tank isnt stocked yet). The short answer is yes. I moved the return nozzle (locline) near to the surface of the water so there is minimal return back to the sump when the power goes out.

Success! Got a new bulkhead in the mail and ran the tank leak-free. Added the salt and sand....now just waiting for it to clear. That's an ugly sump, but it will have to do for the time being. Cheers

This will be sweet. What are you doing for lighting?

Great, thanks for the input! That's a great price too. The overflow bulkhead is installed opposite the return bulkhead, which is why it looks backwards. This is per Glass-hole's instructions. Not quite sure why.

Well, put all the water in today, started it up, and discovered a leak caused by a crack in the return bulkhead. Need to order another one.

Well, it's almost impossible to believe, but this thing is about ready for water! Scratch that, it is ready, I've got the RO unit running right now. I have my sump on backorder with Lifereef, but it won't be built until January. Their sumps are certainly worth the wait, but I'm not waiting that long to get this tank running. I completed the tank plumbing: And the whole setup ready to go. Not pretty, but functional: Of course I'm missing the ATO and controller, but this shouldn't be a problem during the cycling. Tom

I also did a mock setup of the rock and lighting. The standard mounting kit that comes with the AI Sol is pretty bad. Perhaps not so bad for hanging, but the mounting legs put the fixture an inch or so above the water. Mine will be hung higher, but you get an idea of how the tank will look. Forgive the poor camera. As I live on the 17th floor of a tall building, I wondered what it would look like outside. Sure enough, on a huge building, you could see my room glowing bright blue looking as if a UFO was landing inside it. Tom

Spent some time hooking up the tank plumbing this weekend. First, I wanted the external visible plumbing to be all black, so I painted the exposed portions of the barbs. Next, glued in the barbs. The tubing goes in about this far by hand: So, with some hot water and elbow grease, managed the following: Also started organizing the sump compartment to see how the sump layout will look: I sent a note to Jeff at Lifereef to inquire about the sump. I'll need to pick up a 5.5 gallon in the meantime... Cheers Tom

Drill, baby, drill. Good luck!

Looks great! I really like the color you've got from the lighting.

Thanks Stu! Is this all at Home Depot?

Hi everyone, I'm trying to figure out how to make a bent wire tubing light tree for my AI SOL, something that I could mount with straps on the back of the stand. Does anyone have experience making these? Thanks! Tom

Thanks Roni! I'm really happy with it, worth the wait. I'll need to play around with the tubing tonight to see if it matches....

I'd rather spend it on equipment....you can't kill equipment.