Joe's Tank Raising and Ultimate Fishroom Thread

[joefitz]

One last pic...this shows where the glass sump will fit, on the left, just above the return pump.

Well, I guess that is about it for now.

I'm hoping to start the moving the rock from the 300g to the display tank tomorrow at around noon or so. Not sure how long it will take to get it all moved but I'm guessing quite a while as I haven't even thought much about aquascaping yet.

And then the hardest task of all...stocking! You'd think with all the effort I put into this system that I'd be some hardcore reefer with tons of great stuff...instead I may as well be a newb!!

 

[Jill & Brian]

Joe, the glass tank is a sump... why not just silicone in a patch where the crack is instead of replacing the entire pane. Go real thick on the glass if you are worried about leakage, and just slap it in there with a ton of goop. It is in a sump, so function is more important than looks.

Oh, and nice job so far!!!

-Brian

 

[joefitz]

That was actually the plan, but the pane that broke has a hole in it for a 2" bulkhead and because space is so tight, I decided I'd rather regain that extra 1" or so of space and just replace the whole pane (with one that doesn't have the hole that would need to be plugged).

If I had it all to do over again now, I'd probably just have stuck with the plug concept because I think I could have made due with the space issue...but alas, I already started taking that pane off and now I'm stuck going in that direction anyway.

That is the one thing I think really could have been a big benefit to this whole project...someone to talk me down off the cliff when I take the planning too far. Plugging that sump would have been soooo much easier than replacing the whole pane (not to mention probably $70 bucks cheaper). Instead, I over-think it and try to squeeze that extra inch of width for working room...bad decision. Oh well. It wasn't the only one I made!

 

[joefitz]

Well, everything is moved out of the 300g stock tank that served as a temporary home for all my livestock and whatnot the past few months. The 300g is now outside after being rinsed out a few times. I'm going to hold off setting it back up for a little while and see how much I really need another 300g of water in the basement. If I set it up it will really limit entry/exit via the back door in the basement...not a door we use much but I have a feeling it would be a pain from time to time.

I put a lot more rock in the two 150g tanks than I expected. I'm not completely satisfied with the aquascaping but it is a start! Moving the fish couldn't have worked out better. The only thing left in tub were a few pieces of large diameter PVC, the fish, and the water.

The fish thought it was a good idea to hide in the PVC so I just used two large nets to cover either end then used the nets to pick the PVC up and put it in a salt bucket filled with water... I put my hippo in the corner 150g/QT tank for the time being -- I think he may have broken a bone toward his tail after the last move because he's crooked now and hasn't been looking very good. He was getting picked on by all the other tangs so hopefully he'll fare better here. The only 'mistake' was that when I captured the hippo, the yellow tang was also in the PVC so they both ended up in the corner 150. I think they'll be fine though.

I hooked up both skimmers and they are chugging away. The water was pretty cloudy -- I didn't take the time to wash the rock or anything during the move; I just took it out of the tub in the basement, walked it upstairs in a salt bucket and put it in the display tank. I just didn't have the time to really do it right today.

I'm exhausted but boy does it feel good to have my display tank up again!!! I'll take some pics of the updated set up soon.

 

[joefitz]

I set up the aquacontroller and the lights over the display tank...the water is much better this morning. I'm growing a little more fond of the aquascaping, it should really give me plenty of places to attach corals and also highlights the fish pretty well. I also connected a few heaters and later today I will hopefully connect a few fans to the aquacontroller so it can manage the temperature.

The temporary lighting structure seems to be holding up ok; I need to get some 19" glass squares to put under my lumenarc reflectors...right now I have a sheet of fiberglass resting over the top of the tank to prevent spray from hitting the inside of the reflectors but that isn't a great solution.

The corals seem to be responding well to the light. The clam is starting to come out a bit but I still don't have high hopes for him. He was really pissed off the last week or so in the temporary setup and I'm not very confident he is going to make it. We'll see.

Next steps are to get a light over the corner 150g/QT tank downstairs where I put the rest of the coral and two of the tangs. I also plan on turning the UV on later today, we'll see if that helps at all with water quality. I also want to put up some cloth or something to cover the ~5" between the bottom of the reflectors and the top of the tank so that light doesn't seep out into the room. I think that will make viewing while sitting in the room easier.

Oh yeah, and I need to quiet the darn tank...somehow. I think that is going to be a challenge with all the flow.

Next week I'll start building the stand framing and canopy. The actuator should show up next week so hopefully I can start building the mechanism to raise and lower the canopy next weekend.

I'll post a few pics later.

 

[vinny]

Any pic.s yet this is killing me, if you need help i'm off of rt.28 North Reading

 

[joefitz]

I wasn't happy with any of the photos so I made a video and uploaded it to YouTube. It was the first video I made with my SD700 IS...I'm shocked at how good the video is! Well, the camera work is horrifically bad, but the picture quality is fantastic...and at 640x480 and the ability to capture nearly an hour of video with a 4GB card, it is insane.

Unfortunately you can't upload a big, high quality video like that to YouTube so I downloaded a free converter tool and uploaded it as a scaled down mpeg4 video. It isn't too bad, you can still get a feel for the aquascaping which is why I did it in the first place, but it pales in comparison to the original video.

I'll link it in here when it has been approved by YouTube.

In the meantime, I'll post my crappy pics...

 

[joefitz]

This first pic is basically from the end of the couch where the tank meets the wall. You can see some of the many arches in the aquascaping. I did not use much of my liverock in the display and I think I'm going to stick with that tactic. The fish like the extra room and I think I have plenty of space to mount corals. It also lets me see virtually everything in the tank from at least one viewing position if not multiple ones.

In case I didn't mention in my last post, the video does a million times better job at conveying the aquascaping. Pictures -- at least MY pictures -- can't really provide a sense of the size/depth to get a good feel for it.

 

[joefitz]

This is more of a straight on view...

 

[joefitz]

This pic shows helps put some scale to the tank because you can see the depth... The tank is 6' x 3' (x 2.5' tall).

 

[joefitz]

This one is straight down the length of the tank...so, 3' wide looking down 6' of tank even though you can't tell by looking at this photo!

 

[joefitz]

And lastly, this is the 'other' side of the tank.

I really have to learn how to photograph my tank. Someday...

The video does a better job at showing it's current state.

 

[joefitz]

I have the actuator and power supply/control unit so I can now begin to mock-up my canopy. Unfortunately I have a bunch of stuff I have to do this weekend so I probably won't have time to start until next week, especially if I end up making it down for a bit of the meeting tomorrow.

I've reconnected the calc reactor, hooked up the UV, set up the kalk reactor and top-off pump...both skimmers are going too. I was even able to fix my broken Tunze 6100 pump so both of them are now back in the display and seem to be going strong.

The electrical cords in the basement are already out of control because of all the equipment. I need to figure out where I'm going to permanently keep it all and then I'll find a way to fix the 'cord mania'.

Overall though, I'm pretty happy with where it stands. A million more things to do as always, but it seems to be working pretty well so far.

Oh, I also mesh-modded one of the Sedra pumps feeding my CS12-2 Euroreef. The video tutorial produced by a few of our club members was fantastic and it was a really easy modification. I mod the other pump on that skimmer too. I may hold off on mod'ing the two pumps on my RS12-1 until I have a better feel for the reliability of the mod.

The stand and canopy are the next big priorities though. After that, it will be on to fixing the broken sump, building the surge devices, and getting the 95g surgugium up and running.

 

[Behrmon]

Looks good, how's the Hippo?

 

[joefitz]

The hippo does not appear to be doing well. It hides constantly. I have seen it out once (two days ago) taking a spin around the tub it is in (150g). As soon as it notices movement outside the tank it wedges itself back under some rocks.

Prior to this last move, I saw it out regularly for a spin or two around the big 300g tub before it returned back to where it hid in that tank. The hiding place it had in that tub was also much more convenient in that I could put a nori clip right outside one of the entrances which I think helped him stay fed.

Now, there isn't a good way for me to do that... I will probably try to rearrange the rock a bit and see if I can improve the situation but I don't have much hope at this point. The only encouraging thing is that the hippo was getting more social prior to this move so maybe over time it will gain strength and confidence again (especially with fewer tankmates to bully it).

The teardrop maxima is still unhappy. I was concerned I may have had it under too much light so I gradually started moving it away from light but that hasn't helped. Brendan was over the other day and suggested I try the opposite but I don't have high hopes for it either. It hasn't been open more than a crack for nearly two weeks now; I'm sure it is extremely weak at this point.

Other than that, things seem to be doing very well. Since getting that 2nd Tunze up and running the big fish seem to be really enjoying the new tank; they love playing in the flow and swimming through the arches. It has been fun getting to see it all from the side again! I do miss the 'top-down' perspective a bit -- if I ever hit the lottery I'm going to find a way to get the best of both worlds.

 

[vinny]

Well if you do hit the lottery you can put the tank in the basment and let it go thru your first floor at about 4' so you can look down on it.

 

[vinny]

Not sure how to use YouTube how do I find your video.

 

[joefitz]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_0y7BB3pWAA

That is the link to the youtube vid...

 

[joefitz]

Actually, I just found a way to improve the quality of the video substantially and am re-uploading it to Youtube. I'll post the updated link when it is approved.

 

[joefitz]

Well, Youtube appears to have reduced the quality of the new video and it looks pretty much the same as the old one. I'll have to do some research to see if I can make it appear better on YouTube.

To make things a little easier:

[youtube]_0y7BB3pWAA[/youtube]