stratos21ss July 12, 2008 Author Share July 12, 2008 Delayed the startup of the tank until I finished some travel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver July 12, 2008 Share July 12, 2008 very nice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnguyen4007 July 13, 2008 Share July 13, 2008 Matt, I've been wondering of what became of your project. I didn't realize that you've been traveling all this time. Have you moved to your new location yet or are you still at the same place I saw you last time? Now that I see your tank, stand and sump in place, I like the look of the steel stand frame more and more. Looks really cool. Can't wait to see the finish product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YBeNormal July 13, 2008 Share July 13, 2008 Very nice! I'm not real keen on using valves on overflow lines though as they can clog and cause a flood. Hopefully you have considered this and built in some safeguards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss July 13, 2008 Author Share July 13, 2008 James - Yeah, it is still the discus fish room. Since it is the fishroom I can get away with messing a little with an industrial look..just trying to take a road a little less traveled..the whole setup is planned that way as you'll be able to hopefully see as it pieces together. Bob - Thank you for the compliment. I will only be using one of the gate valves to control the overflow's level. The other drain and its gate valve will always be left wide open - its opening in the overflow will sit higher than the primary drain - so if the primary clogs and the water comes up it will find exit through this backup drain. I am only moving about 550gph and the backup drain is a 1.5 which gets pulled to an even higher rating because of the downdraft pressure so I know it will handle anything that might happen. Famous last words right? heheh. My tests today made me glad I bought high quality gate valves because it takes some fine tuning to get things rock solid stable in the overflow. Once i had it tuned it worked perfect. I am guessing water replacement for evap will have to be pretty exact to keep it running without having to tune it here and there. Was headed in that direction anyway. Next step is the light fixture. anyone know where I can find snap toggles locally? http://www.toggler.com/products_hwh_installation.html _Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss July 13, 2008 Author Share July 13, 2008 Filled it up and tested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen July 13, 2008 Share July 13, 2008 that is awesome. can't wait to see this thing filled up with livestock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnguyen4007 July 14, 2008 Share July 14, 2008 matt, let me know when I can come by again and take a closer look at this tank of yours in action. From what I'm seeing so far, it is very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss July 15, 2008 Author Share July 15, 2008 Took the freshwater out and put up the light - It is a Fauna Marin Ultra Solaris 6x54 T5. It's a little bright lol: More representative pics to follow once I raise it up a bit and get some water back in.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss July 16, 2008 Author Share July 16, 2008 ..more pics I took of my light and the hanging kit: _Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandy7200 July 16, 2008 Share July 16, 2008 LOVE IT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss July 16, 2008 Author Share July 16, 2008 (edited) Thanks Dan! It's getting pretty exciting to finally get this going. Somehow I need to figure out how to stage the stuff out of my holding tank so I can get my live rock out and work on it some (doing some cement and epoxy work on it) before putting it to the real tank, but leave the corals behind safely (they are on egg crate sitting on the liverock). Still trying to figure out how to do this..I think I need another holding tank to do it right. - I need to keep the live rock coralline / inhabitants intact and alive as well... Edited July 16, 2008 by stratos21ss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar July 19, 2008 Share July 19, 2008 Thanks Dan! It's getting pretty exciting to finally get this going. Somehow I need to figure out how to stage the stuff out of my holding tank so I can get my live rock out and work on it some (doing some cement and epoxy work on it) before putting it to the real tank, but leave the corals behind safely (they are on egg crate sitting on the liverock). Still trying to figure out how to do this..I think I need another holding tank to do it right. - I need to keep the live rock coralline / inhabitants intact and alive as well... Buy an inexpensive rubbermade storage tub at WalMart for $15. We have bunches of them for holiday decorations, but I've used them successfully for live rock curing and fish quarantine tanks. Empty salt buckets also work well for holding fish and corals while you redecorate. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss July 19, 2008 Author Share July 19, 2008 Buy an inexpensive rubbermade storage tub at WalMart for $15. We have bunches of them for holiday decorations, but I've used them successfully for live rock curing and fish quarantine tanks. Empty salt buckets also work well for holding fish and corals while you redecorate. Jon Thanks Jon - Yeah, that is what I have done.. I bought two of the biggest ones.. I have this one show piece type of live rock that looks like a tree stump..my project is to modify the base of stump to make it free standing..I am looking for a material like Thorite that sets up fast or I might layer up epoxy or something to make the base level. To do this work on it I plan to invert it upside down in one of these containers with the base exposed enough to mold up to how I want it...I still think Thorite would be best, but I can't find it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAGA July 26, 2008 Share July 26, 2008 Looks fantastic. Love the neatness of it all. I liked your design of the tank as well. Can't wait to see the progression of livestock working into the equation. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOT August 6, 2008 Share August 6, 2008 That is beautiful! but aren't you afraid of fish easily getting over an overflow like that one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROBZ August 6, 2008 Share August 6, 2008 sweet tank!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN August 6, 2008 Share August 6, 2008 Nice set-up. I designed a similar frag tank that I'm hoping NAGA will get to one day. Any thoughts on the overflow? (sound, effectiveness, issues)... Can't wait to see it stocked! --Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak August 6, 2008 Share August 6, 2008 Looks great, is it eventually going in wall or staying out in the open and getting skinned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss August 6, 2008 Author Share August 6, 2008 (edited) Can't wait to see the progression of livestock working into the equation. Jeff Thanks Jeff..It is finally getting close to having something in it..I am curing a cement pedestal that will hold up a big piece of live rock and I also have mounted a pvc pipe into the live rock piece to allow attachment to the base. It was a challenge because I wanted not to harm the live rock's coralline etc - it too is basically curred and ready..I will put up some pics of the process soon.. That is beautiful! but aren't you afraid of fish easily getting over an overflow like that one? Thank you MOT!! I think I already stated at the start of this thread.. but I will again preface that I am new and a big dummy to all this so please keep that in mind as I go along with the build..I can read all I want, but am learning by doing as well so some of the process might go astray here and there - I think I have the overflow and fish issue covered though - The way the cap of the tank rests 1/2" above each end of the overflow allows me to pressure fit a full length piece of egg crate along to top back edge of the overflow (pics are needed to demo this - but it is pretty cool)..I will only place this in if I find it is an issue with stuff getting into the overflow often..I would prefer to keep the look of the endless edge of the overflow because it looks mesmerizingly cool in action..We will see how things work out.. sweet tank!!!! Thank you.. Your tank's healthy and colorful sps are exactly what I am trying to achieve..! Nice set-up. I designed a similar frag tank that I'm hoping NAGA will get to one day. Any thoughts on the overflow? (sound, effectiveness, issues)... Can't wait to see it stocked! --Rob Hey Rob - Sounds like an awesome frag tank (frag tank is next on my list). I know when I ran the various tests it was extremely quiet with the exception of where the water hits the restricted gate valve in the drain - sounds a little turbulent in there..you can only hear it when very close to it..otherwise not noticeable. Still have some other equipment that will be running on the tank (2 Vortechs, Fauna Marin UltraLith reactor) that I haven't run yet - I am sure they will be louder than any of the sounds from the overflow - I will let you know once things get rolling as far effectiveness and any other issues with the overflow. _Matt Looks great, is it eventually going in wall or staying out in the open and getting skinned? Hi Jason..thanks! It will stay out in the room - This is in a fish room in my basement - don't really need to skin it... plus I like seeing everything working..only concern is humidity control..i am not used to uncovered tanks.. _Matt Edited August 6, 2008 by stratos21ss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss August 6, 2008 Author Share August 6, 2008 The best update - which I will post a lot more about soon will detail my controller choice - A HUGE shout out to Sean at The Aquarium Company in Reston (a cutting edge store for sure) for the huge assist he has provided in obtaining for me my Profilux controller, Profilux automated doser and a Profilux lighting effects LED SIMU stick (besides red dawn and blue dusk fades my tank will also be lightning effect capable lol) - The freshwater discus that share the room with the tank will think that they are back in the amazon's rainy season. Sean - Thank you so much for all the time you spent on helping me get my controller! You are the Man. Stay posted to this thread because it should get interesting soon.. _Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN August 6, 2008 Share August 6, 2008 ...The way the cap of the tank rests 1/2" above each end of the overflow allows me to pressure fit a full length piece of egg crate along to top back edge of the overflow (pics are needed to demo this - but it is pretty cool)..I will only place this in if I find it is an issue with stuff getting into the overflow often..I would prefer to keep the look of the endless edge of the overflow because it looks mesmerizingly cool in action..We will see how things work out... I agree 100% and this was the premise for my concept as well... of course you're limited to medium to large fish that are strong enough to swim back up... Also, snails will constantly go over the edge - so this may be the only consideration for using egg-crate. Here are my designs I presented to Jeff: (keep in mind that this will be a frag-tank with little or no fish nor snails) --Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss August 6, 2008 Author Share August 6, 2008 Rob - Very nice design..and a lot easier to build than mine. If you place the drains at the bottom it might help with reducing the footprint and allow internal standpipes etc..though you would need to widen the overflow somewhat. The way it is though looks great and i am sure you have reasons for the drains on the back! You can throw various media bags in that long overflow - that's what I am going to do for carbon etc. Don't be afraid to put the overflow top edge closer to the surface. The thickness of the water coming over that weir edge will not be more than 1/4" max..though for a frag tank you might want some dispersion space for when your hands are in there. best of luck on it... _Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN August 6, 2008 Share August 6, 2008 Rob - Very nice design..and a lot easier to build than mine. If you place the drains at the bottom it might help with reducing the footprint and allow internal standpipes etc..though you would need to widen the overflow somewhat. The way it is though looks great and i am sure you have reasons for the drains on the back! You can throw various media bags in that long overflow - that's what I am going to do for carbon etc. Don't be afraid to put the overflow top edge closer to the surface. The thickness of the water coming over that weir edge will not be more than 1/4" max..though for a frag tank you might want some dispersion space for when your hands are in there. best of luck on it... _Matt Thanks for the tips. I have thought about making the top edge closer. Ithink I'd like to be at around 0.5"... I'm not going with stand pipes as I'm trying to keep it simple. This tank will be in my basement/laundry room just to grow some frags for my future main display tank. --Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratos21ss August 6, 2008 Author Share August 6, 2008 Thanks for the tips. I have thought about making the top edge closer. Ithink I'd like to be at around 0.5"... I'm not going with stand pipes as I'm trying to keep it simple. This tank will be in my basement/laundry room just to grow some frags for my future main display tank. --Rob For frag tank not that important, but for display it matters if you want the tank to look full from the front...you will be fine either way Rob. I think Jeff and I got the weir about as high as possible on mine with it still being able to contain wave action. I will find out more once my vortechs kick it up lol..I am counting on the top cap to squish the waves down along the front and sides so they get directed and pushed over the overflow before overflowing the cap and onto the floor...seems to be a lot of unkowns on all the parts of this build...makes it fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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