Wife approved upgrade arrives!

[dcforester1]

It funny I felt the same way with my light. I had the room done over, so I had an electrical outlet put in the ceiling. Knowing the light was 20" the electrician put it out that far. It was way to far away from wall, so I had to have it moved to 12" away from wall. So 1 week old ceiling needed a new box cut in, and a hole patched. If that wasn't bad enough the light gets here, and the transformer, that I didnt know existed was the size of a shoe box, so plugging it into the ceiling was out of the question. So at the end of the day, box cut in ceiling, ceiling patched, and new box cut in ceiling, cannot use plug, so the second one gets patched. Now NO box cut in ceiling, and new ceiling with 2 patched holes. LOL At least with ATI they have only one cord, its about 1" thick, but only one cord. Good luck with it, everything looks great.

Derek

 

[thomb]

UGH... I surely wish that I could say I've never had anything like that happen to me. Thanks for the words of encouragement!

 

[this is me]

Tank looks good!
You're making feel bad right now. My tank is still in the crate since November of last year!

 

[thomb]

This another system?

And happy to report - the tank is now alive water circulating etc. If anyone is on the fence about Ecotech Vectra return pumps - they are AWESOME.
I expect to create a post blast soon. I have a lot of zushing to do.

 

[this is me]

Yes. This is an upgrade to the current Elos.
Which Vectra did you get? I'm planning to use an L1 for my return.

 

[thomb]

That's what I have, the L1. I am running it at 1/3rd power and that's plenty. I've got mine plumbed externally- when running it's a low hum that is very hard to hear.. First time I can ever say that about a pump - and I've had lots of supposedly "silent pumps" that hum like a drunk. Being able to control the output electronically is pretty sweet. The "fit and finish" of the pump too is top notch. Even has allen screws instead of phillips for disassembly. Oh and it's spendy.... Had to glue in a bushing though to adapt to the rest of the plumbing - why they use non standard threading is a mystery. I can get exact plumbing details in here if that's needed.

 

[thomb]

Well time for another post storm. First we begin with a muriatic acid bath for rock. Muriatic acid is nothing to sneeze at; in fact you would not want it near any mucus or other bodily membranes or surfaces. If you are prone to doing otherwise, and are not willing or able to assist in an emergency, please ask to be seated elsewhere.
Here we begin with the safety preparations. First proper ventilation - you do not want to breath this stuff. This should disperse any and all vapors quite nicely:

 

[thomb]

Next you want to prepare for the WORST. What if, while poring the acid into water - the only order in which that gets performed btw, some large animal ran into you or there was an earth quake, causing the acid to slosh precariously onto your person? That is why you need to have one of these installed and operational:

 

[thomb]

Don the appropriate PPE, fill large container with rock and water. Add acid. Watch it foam. Let sit for about 15 mins. Rinse and repeat. Don't drop you phone into the container when taking pictures! That will not go well.

It sort of looks like nasty beer.

 

[thomb]

Rinse, repeat many, many times afterwards. The rock will smell like fresh water basically and will be nearly white.

 

[thomb]

While the rock is in the process of being rinsed and repeated, take the time to work on installing components and routing their various electrical delivery cables. This series of pictures nicely sums up my level of intelligence sometimes.
In case you were wondering, a Tunze powerhead controller does not fit through a 2" desk cable escutcheon no matter how hard you try.

 

[thomb]

But the cords will slip though that cut part quite easily...

 

[thomb]

Also you can install the T-5 bulbs. And this is important. While the two blue bulbs are installed in the outer edges. The single white bulb MUST be forward most after labor day.
Here you can see that I of course followed this critical rule.

 

[thomb]

I'll document the various equipment once I have things installed and zushed properly. But here's a "in progress" shot w/ everything running.
I don't know why it looks so dark - the lighting in the stand is very bright.

 

[thomb]

Holy cords batman. UGH this disturbs me on so many levels. And I will improve it.
But... the thing is, I am fighting my desire to go overboard and hide everything. I do that, then its a nightmare to replace anything. Sure its all shiny and new now (I'm not reusing anything from my prior system) but it won't be in a year...

 

[thomb]

Here is the tank in all its post aquascape cloudyness glory. Again with the darkness camera - no idea why... The light is super bright.
Once things clear up, I'll do a better job of photography and discuss actual reef related stuff.

 

[s_kelley]

Awesome stuff! Lots of frothy nastiness goin on in that bucket.
Love the clean look of everything, all but those cords, that would drive me nuts too lol

 

[Marshall O]

I love reading your updates ☺ It's looking awesome!

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

 

[jah-hoeva]

You have an emergency shower and eye wash station at your house?! ::

 

[thomb]

You can never be too safe Plus it makes a great outdoor shower.