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A New Dawn


madweazl

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OK, it has been quite a while but I made a little progress the last couple of days :)
 
Bought the lumber to start bracing the floor for the tank; I dont think it would have been an issue but I didnt want a spongy floor regardless.
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A few hours later and I was basically done with that project.
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Everything from the front of the couch, back, is the "fish room." More than enough space for anything I want to do (most of it will likely go unused).
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With the floor supported, it was time to test fill the aquarium (I've had it over a year and a half and never tested it...).
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A few people mentioned concerns over the stand not having a center brace so I snapped a picture of the gap between the door and the top of the stand.
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A hundred and some gallons later, it's doing just fine... now I just need to clean up that big ol paint booger.
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It holds water!
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Tomorrow I'll try to knock out some more plumbing and get started on the mixing station and sump stand while I wait for said sump (about three more weeks out if there aren't any delays from Elite).
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Those cross beams are 8"x1.25" ash with cross bracing and a vertical support in the back. You should have no issues, but if you ever do, let me know and I can fix it. 

 

Looking good. 

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Looks good! Best of luck with this setup.

 

You'll have no issues with sagging given that lumber. My tank's back is open, spanning six feet, using 3/4" plywood atop a 2x6 yellow pine beam undergirded with 2x4's set crosswise to resist bowing. The effect is similar to a 2x8 SYP beam which my calculations shows would bow less than 1/20" under point load (which it's not). Ash should give you even more strength. 

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On 5/25/2019 at 9:56 PM, Ben A said:

Those cross beams are 8"x1.25" ash with cross bracing and a vertical support in the back. You should have no issues, but if you ever do, let me know and I can fix it. 

 

Looking good. 

 

Thought we went with 5/4" rough cut maple for this but regardless, it is extremely stout! Actual measurements worked out to 1.25"x7" and the deflection was less than 1/32" over 4' after the tank was filled. 

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The least permanent option to run the plumbing into the basement was to run it down the stairwell to the basement (easily patched should we sell the house down the road). Couple of measurements and a leap of faith later, everything was in the right spot :)

 

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I wanted to make everything as user friendly as possible so I went with threaded bulkheads; in the event of failure, I can simple un-couple the main PVC and unscrew the rest from the bulkhead for removal/replacement. I need to find some trim rings to tidy up the drywall or box it in after I'm done; not sure which way I'm going yet.

 

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Framed the first wall of the fish room; the stand and mixing station will sit along this wall. Hopefully I can knock out the stand today. 
 
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Made a little more progress on the stand today.

 

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Started cooking some rock too; 15 minute acid bath and now its in bleach for the next week. 

 

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(edited)
Rough outline of the aquascape; the idea is to make it look like the right section fell from a ledge above. It will be raised off the sand about 5" and I'll cut the rocks under it to sit flat on the glass and poke up through the sand about an inch (sand should be about 2" deep). Two or three rocks will be littered about in the sand to look like the broke off. 
 
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Highest point will be right around 12", the rest will fill in from the corals. 
Edited by madweazl
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(edited)
OK, the 95% solution now that the mortar has just about completely cured. This leaves a minimum of 2.5" inches between the rock and the glass on all sides (inside of the tape).
 
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I'll use the live rock from the 75g to create the structures on the left side along with the pieces that are laying on the sand. 
Edited by madweazl
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Day 1! Phosphates read 200+ on the ULR; it will be interesting to see how much GFO or lanthanum chloride it takes to get the levels back down. Once I get that in line, I'll start moving some live rock over; I may skip using rock from the 75g and order some new stuff from Tampa Bay. Whichever direction I go, it will be placed on top of the section that wraps around the pillar on the left and wont require much as want it lower than the pillar up front. Oh, I only used three of the four bags of sand so it currently has 120lbs in it (80lbs of special grade and 40lbs of Fiji pink).
 
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It has certainly taken longer than I expected but moving never makes things easy. We still have a number of boxes in the basement that we haven't unpacked. I was hoping to make some more progress in the basement this week but the truck has been in the shop for a week now. 

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Love the rockscaping! Are you going to keep the left side low like that or add more height later?

Sent from my BND-L34 using Tapatalk

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25 minutes ago, Reefoholic said:

Love the rockscaping! Are you going to keep the left side low like that or add more height later?

Sent from my BND-L34 using Tapatalk
 

 

It will stay low (lower than the pillar up front anyways). I look at the rock like the skeleton of the body; it is just the foundation and the corals will fill in and add the body as they grow out. 

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Not a real productive day but I did get some fans installed in the canopy today. They can be powered via USB or a wall-wart and have three speed settings; I'm currently running them on medium speed and they are audible but not annoying in our living room and they're moving quite a bit of air. I'll take some temperature comparisons in the canopy after an hour or two (Kessils are currently at 100% to generate as much heat as possible). Installation was super simple; they come with a template so you just have to lay it out, grab a jib saw, cut the hole, and screw them in (four screws each). 
 
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