System Upgrade

[flowerseller]

You know you and anyone else is welcome anytime. It is hard to get people out here because we live out in the sticks. Just want you to know we have paved roads out here now.

I think if you had indoor plumbing as well, more of us would come visit.

 

 

 

Looks great L & A.

[lhcorals]

I think if you had indoor plumbing as well, more of us would come visit.

 

 

 

Looks great L & A.

 

I make Anna clean the outhouse once a month. She is down at the creek now washing clothes. Later we are going to go out and find some road kill for dinner.

[treesprite]

Is there anything better in real estate than a reef-ready house? Congrats on all that work getting done - you owe your helpers some very nice frags.

[lhcorals]

We made a little more progress today. We built one set of the tank racks today. I think we beefed it up a little to much, but i know it is not going anywhere. We used 4"x6" as the support post on the main rack and 2"x6" for everything else. The main table will be where the 90 gal. sump, Tiger Shark, and Dart pump will be housed. The upper rack ( not yet completed ) will house the 75 Gal RDSB, 10 gal. Xenia tank , 20 and 30 Gal Refugium's. On the opposite and back wall will be the other tank racks. Here's a few pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lhcorals]

Is there anything better in real estate than a reef-ready house? Congrats on all that work getting done - you owe your helpers some very nice frags.

 

 

Yes i do owe them. Some have already been taken care of. There are a few others i have started some frags for. Plus they got dinner.

[lhcorals]

Watch out for the dehumidifier, it pumps out a lot of hot air and in a small enclosed space it can cause a lot more evaporation in my experience. I ended up taking my dehumidifier out and went with the exhaust fan instead because it caused more problems than it solved.

 

 

O.k., you and chubakah have talked me out of the dehumidifier. I am going to go with the fan vent. Now i need to figure out what size vent to go with. Someone told me go with a 6" fan. They sai it is the only one that works good. Any input on this would be appreciated. I hope getting the hole for the vent is not to big of a pain.

[OldReefer]

6" is probably better, but that is a big hole to drill. I used to ventilate a pretty good sized room with something like this:

 

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=AEFCF04HO&eq=&Tp=

 

You can rent the drill and core bit to drill a 4" hole for less than $100. I'd be pretty scared of doing a 6" myself. While you are at it, remember to drill a hole for !/2" or 3/4" pvc pipe to bring outside air to the skimmer. It really helps the pH.

[lhcorals]

We made a little more progress to day. We built the second tank stand that will house 2 of the 3 frag tanks. One more tank rack/stand to go.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the beast that will be pumping the water upstairs to the 265 and Anna's 60 gal cube.

 

Hopefully i can get the last rack built tomorrow night. Then we can dp the last of the painting.

[lhcorals]

6" is probably better, but that is a big hole to drill. I used to ventilate a pretty good sized room with something like this:

 

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=AEFCF04HO&eq=&Tp=

 

You can rent the drill and core bit to drill a 4" hole for less than $100. I'd be pretty scared of doing a 6" myself. While you are at it, remember to drill a hole for !/2" or 3/4" pvc pipe to bring outside air to the skimmer. It really helps the pH.

 

 

Thanks for the advise. I found a 6" fan today in my basement. It is amazing what you can find just going through some of your junk. I an truely thinking of running PVC to the outside since you said something. Does it really help that much with the PH?

[OldReefer]

Most people seem to get about a .1 to .2 improvement. It helps during these hot months when the house is shut up with A/C on.

[flowerseller]

Coming along nicely.

 

Somethings I noticed was that as over built as you might think the stands are, you might need more wood between the top rails and the bottom rails. Like you have in the corners of the tall stands. Or at least lag or carriage bolts.

Is that the postion the Tiger Shark pump will be in? In one of the pics, the rear vent fan was right up against an 2x6 and will likely block air flow to cool it.

[lhcorals]

Coming along nicely.

 

Somethings I noticed was that as over built as you might think the stands are, you might need more wood between the top rails and the bottom rails. Like you have in the corners of the tall stands. Or at least lag or carriage bolts.

Is that the postion the Tiger Shark pump will be in? In one of the pics, the rear vent fan was right up against an 2x6 and will likely block air flow to cool it.

 

 

Tiger Shark will be in a different position. We have already decided to add the support that you are talking about. Thanks for watching out for me though.

[Amuze]

Looks good, Lynn! The build seems to be going pretty fast. I'll have to get down there sometime after you're done.

[lhcorals]

Looks good, Lynn! The build seems to be going pretty fast. I'll have to get down there sometime after you're done.

 

 

Thanks. Anytime you want to stop by is fine.

[Chad]

Looks great!

 

A fish room like this has been one of my long time goals, one of these years I will have a house with room to do that!!

 

Congratulations

[lhcorals]

Looks great!

 

A fish room like this has been one of my long time goals, one of these years I will have a house with room to do that!!

 

Congratulations

 

 

Thanks. I have been wanting this for a year and a half. I still have a ways to go, but going. I only wish i had done it a little bigger, i can always add on.

[lhcorals]

We pretty much finished the construction part of the room today. Now we have to do another paint job. Which will be tomorrow. Then getting the tanks in their place so i can figure out the plumbing. I think i have it the way it needs to go in my head. I will be drawing it out tonight on paper. Here are a few pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna doing some caulking and filling screw holes. Getting ready for paint tomorrow.

 

The table on the left will house the 50, and 40 gal breeder. The rack on the back wall will house the other 40 gal. breeder. Up top above the 40 breeder will be (2) 20 gal. long tanks. One of them will have just Live rock, and the other will be a Refugium. The table to the right. The lower level will be where the 90 gal sump will sit. The upper level will have the 75 gal RDSB and a 30 long Refugium. You cant see the front wall, but above the 30 long is where the 10 gal. Xenia tank will be.

[truestelf]

going to be sweeetttt when you guys are done keep up with the pictures as you go.

[lhcorals]

Looking for opinions. What is the best PVC to use? Schedule 40, 80 or is there something else.

[DaveS]

Man, none of this is even the actual display tank!!!

[Coral Hind]

You want the sch 40 as sch 80 is for higher psi situations. The 40 will have a thinner wall which means more inside area and higher flow rates. The psi rating changes depending on the pipe size but for an example a 2" sch 40 is rated at 280psi and the sch 80 is rated at 400 psi.

[lhcorals]

Anna put 2 coats of paint on the tank racks today. Time to start cleaning all the tanks tomorrow after work. Here are a few pics.

 

 

Before paint

 

After paint

[jason the filter freak]

Its looking good, the slightest nick in the surface of that laminate top and its going to come apart when wet. Just a heads up, also if its not already on the agenda sealing the joins between the counter top and stands or what ever with silicone is a good idea, kind of like counter tops in kitchens and baths are done with caulk/silicone.

[lhcorals]

We got a little more done today. We cleaned the inside of all the tanks. That was real fun. We the put the tanks into their places. Had to do a little tweaking on the breeder tank on the back wall. Seems i tried to make a tight fit a little to tight. Did not take long to fix the problem. We installed the 6" exhaust fan and hooked the line to a chimney that is not in use. Works great. Also hung the door. Going to plum the Tiger shark pump in tomorrow so i can get it running. It has been sitting for a while so i want to make sure there are no leaks. Here are a few pics.

 

6" exhaust vent

 

 

 

 

All the tank need to have their heights adjusted so they gravity flow into the next tank on that line. Their is going to be 3 separate feed lines, each feeding water to a series of different tanks.

[Jon Lazar]

Lynn,

 

Your project is really moving along! It looks like one of the tanks in the corner is blocking an outlet that sits just about the countertop. If you intend to leave the tank there, I would consider moving the outlet up higher so you can reach it better. Plus, that will help keep saltwater out of the outlet in case you ever have a spill...hate to see a small overflow get into the outlet and trip the breaker, which always happens when you're away for a few days.

 

Jon