TwinkE October 4, 2010 Share October 4, 2010 Picked up the tank from gwweber in August, for now it's exactly what I want. Here's the puffer checking it out after we got it home. Only had a towel to keep the catfish out. I also picked up a light from him so I was testing it out to see what it'd look like. I'm probably going for a lower K on the MH. I decided to get some more Mahogany, for the stand, but the pieces I got were to inconsistent in color and not very straight after I planed them, I need to get a jointer. I ended up using some other Mahogany that I had from a yet to be started project. The base is 2x4's with plywood top and bottom. Here's a shot of test fitting the pieces. The all-in-one nature of the tank is great, but there are still little spots to clean that I can get to by hand. So I just taped on a paper towel to a stick and it worked pretty well. A shot of the tank on the assembled base It was a pain trying to decide which boards to use. I didn't have enough for the top and bottom skins, so I just decided to start on the bottom with the old mahogany. The two boards on top will be the panels for the doors, I'm happy with the color and figure of the wood, it should be a nice looking door. The two boards below it are what I'm using for the base, the others will be used for another project. Assembling a quick face frame to test the clearances on the stand A shot of the planed wood for the bottom, theres some Jatoba for the door frames, figured Mahogany for the door panels and Sapelli Mahogany for the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE October 4, 2010 Author Share October 4, 2010 I got some rock from BRS, I'm excited about the pieces, they should turn out pretty well. I picked up some cooked Poplar for the frame for the hood. It's got all the sugars and stuff cooked out of the wood so it's supposed to be pretty water resistant. I took the pieces I was test fitting out to the garage and came back 10 minutes later to a catfish infestation Test fitting the top, fits pretty darn well Gluing up the front face for the bottom Test fitting the assembly for the sides, mahogany plywood for the inner panel That's all for now, waiting on seeing how I'm going to fill the grain on the pieces before putting on the lacquer before I do much more. I still have to cut something close to a 45 on the ends of 2 of the long boards for joining to the front. The bottom is slightly out of square so I'm waiting on seeing how the front will fit before filling the tank with water and starting the cycle. sheac12 has about 20 more pounds of rock in his sump waiting on my tank to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind October 4, 2010 Share October 4, 2010 Looking good so far. I wish I had some cabinet making skills. What kind of lights are you going to put in the hood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad October 4, 2010 Share October 4, 2010 Looks like you are well on your way to having a really nice setup! NIce work space, by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE October 4, 2010 Author Share October 4, 2010 (edited) I have a 150watt Odyssea MH with 2 actinic's in the housing. Probably going to change to a different ballast eventually. I'll have to see what happens when I get it all set up. I'm steadily taking over both sides of the garage, I need to cut it out b/c the wife will get mad soon:) Gotta get my stuff out of her side before it snows. Edited October 4, 2010 by TwinkE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE October 15, 2010 Author Share October 15, 2010 I sealed up the frame for the top and drilled the hole in the stand for the cable pass-through and glued the pvc for the output of my mag 9 return. I got the water, salt and sand added. I rinsed out the sand but there's still plenty of dust in it, it's almost cleared up now. I added the live rock yesterday and dumped in the rest of my Fiji dry rock. My current problem is that my mag pump is making a ton of noise. The output of it goes up about 8 inches in a 1.25" tube, into a 1.25"->1" 90 into a 1" Tee out 2 ends. It sounds like it's sucking air, but I can't seem to figure out why. The water level is above the input, does anyone know what kind of clearance I need around the input to the pump to get it to quiet down? Or does anyone know of a way to prime the pump so it won't make this noise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE October 15, 2010 Author Share October 15, 2010 Oh yeah, Woodcraft had Sapelli on sale for $4.50/lbf so I got some more wood for the top. I'm pretty happy with the color and grain of the pieces it should work well for the top. I need to hurry up and get the top done so I can keep the catfish out the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE October 20, 2010 Author Share October 20, 2010 Tested the nitrates today, I'm at 1-2ppm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE November 11, 2010 Author Share November 11, 2010 Cycle is going, getting some algae growing, nitrates are still low. I think I have the rockwork figured out. The 2 rocks on the left are going, to be replaced by a vertical rock and a shelf to sit on top of it. There are plenty of arches to swim through when the cycle is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind November 11, 2010 Share November 11, 2010 Nice cave you made there. Did you ever get the pump noise issue fixed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE November 11, 2010 Author Share November 11, 2010 I switched to an eheim 1262 and it's pretty quiet. When I was removing the tubes that went off the output of the mag, I noticed what looked like a flow reducer in the output. I'm not sure if that was making the noise(just restricts flow on the output) but it's gone now with the eheim running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind November 11, 2010 Share November 11, 2010 The eheim is a good choice. What kind of fish are you planning to keep in the tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE November 11, 2010 Author Share November 11, 2010 I'll be getting 2 clowns to start with, maybe a yellow tang too. I like the goby's and maybe a blenny, haven't planned it out yet:) I do have plenty of coral to go in once the cycle is finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanH November 12, 2010 Share November 12, 2010 I'll be getting 2 clowns to start with, maybe a yellow tang too. I like the goby's and maybe a blenny, haven't planned it out yet:) I do have plenty of coral to go in once the cycle is finished. I thought you already had a cat-fish in the tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE November 19, 2010 Author Share November 19, 2010 The catfish eyes up the tank every day. I'm not sure what's going to happen when I actually put fish and coral in there. The algae's growing pretty fast now, haven't checked the nitrates in a couple days, but the orange/brown of the algae under the MH looks great. The picture is an ok approximation of it, I was trying not to wash out the sand completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE February 9, 2011 Author Share February 9, 2011 Tank seems to be doing ok. I got my coral from sheac12's tank and just put them in after dipping, looking forward to see how they open up tomorrow. There's another to the right to keep it from stinging the others Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinkE February 9, 2011 Author Share February 9, 2011 More pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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