Lookin' good! I did one of my tanks black and one blue and I personally prefer the blue. A lighter blue though, like the background colour on this forum. To me, the lighter colour seems to give the tank more depth than darker ones.

The overflow is so cool. Thanks for the pic of it in use!

For sure a black background made my tank seem it's actual depth vs the more blue look. In the end tho things looked and photographed so much nicer on the black that I had to go back.

Go to a fabric store get some blu fabric and black fabric or whatever color you desire even try zebra lol but them drape it at the back and see which you like better this way you only paint once

Good point! Thanks.

I was actually going to try and do some research on vinyl sheets as it can be readily found for a pretty reasonable price even if I'd have to ship it to me. I've seen quite a few tanks on RC use this method, but never really paid close attention as to the specific products, techniques, risks, etc.

'Tis what I did
$6 for waterproof nylon stuff, and some industrial velcro attached to 4 corners
Mind you, the velcro roll isn't cheap, and my wife sewed all the edges and velcro for me :wink:

Cons - splash water down the back and you have to clean the glass
Pros - you can pull a corner off and use a magfloat

Looks like you'd have some planning and sewing to do with all your bulkheads - and I guess you'd have to do the whole outside of your overflow
If you're a good sewer (fabric, not black water :lol:) I can picture a nice covering with velcro'd flaps and such
One in blue and one in black, WTH right

I need to go find some pictures of these back glass covers!

Video of air being injected into the pump and watching the interplay between the 4-way on the end of the tank and the 90 on the return.

catherine i can cut you some vinyl and if you and kevin want to swing by the shop i can give you the 5 min course on putting it on its very easy to do and removable down the road if you need to.

i have black and blue vinyl:)

Catherine, what's the link you tried to post ?

I think we just might!

Photobucket link to a video because YouTube won't let me upload.

Here is the direct link:

http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...CAEADFDE08.mp4

Beautiful tank my dear....

Really good lookin' flow

Thanks everyone.

Got in on that BRS group order this week and broke the proverbial bank. That sobbing you hear is my wallet crying in the corner.

Note how I STILL had to buy more plumbing parts.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/brs.jpg


Algae! But only on one side because someone forgot to turn on ALL the lights one day.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...78790AD1D6.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...787EBFAB52.jpg

You doing the Zeo thing yet?

Yet! :lol:

Nah, looked into a few of the dosing regiments and had to pass for now. Too expensive to dose on such a big system long term. Maybe in the future I'll go back to using some of their additives for SPS, but for now its not really in the long term budget.

Big Tank...long term bud...? what? :)

Update???

Ah updates...

We got our skimmer. This thing has just about made me sick so many times already. The skimmate that comes out of it is just plain old gag-worthy nasty.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psba14887d.jpg


I've added some Yellow tangs. Although yesterday when I came home I found two dead on the sand. :( They have been an excellent addition to the tank and have done an amazing job at helping clean up the algae blooms I've had since starting the system up.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psb167902b.jpg


Currently the RKE controls most of the system. I'm still working on getting the moonlights and the dosing system set up, but it coming along bit by bit.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...pse8b89732.jpg

Wow, 9 yellows...that must have looked pretty cool. Any idea why 2 were dead?

That skimmer body and cup are massive!

Are the yellows grazing together?

Was it 11 and now 9? or 9 and now 7?

Either way.. that looks awesome!

The yellows are amazing together. They graze independently in a particular corner/side of the tank and then as a group they swim to the other side and begin grazing again. These fish were eating as they were acclimating and a few started eating as soon as they were dumped in the tank. They add a really nice splash of colour to the tank and it seems to liven it up some more.

There were 9 originally, then 2 went missing, bodies never to be found, and then yesterday the two on the sand. There are 5 left. I don't think they are picking each other off, there is/was no physical damage or evidence of any external problems.

The skimmer gets emptied every other day, usually every day. By day 3 it is overflowing and foam is coming up out of the air vents in the collection cup lid. This thing is amazing.

Which skimmer is that again...tried to find in your thread but no luck.

+1 :lol:

The skimmer is the Reef Octopus Diablo 350 DCS. Can't hear this skimmer at all

Updated FTS from last night.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps9a382431.jpg

Skimmer in question 3 hours AFTER cleaning:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psa0822253.jpg

Skimmer in question from tonight, about 24 hours:
The skimmate is actually black, not dark brown, or some variation on a shade of green, but nasty gag-me-I-can-taste-it black.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps408f1cf7.jpg


Frogspawn split in progress;
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps999bc60d.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps585f3012.jpg

Looks great.. Look forward to seeing it fill in.

YEAH! Glad to this beast up & running. :biggrin:

I'm in the process of adjusting the rockwork and getting a better feel for dosing. I've always previously used reactors, and typically only ever hand dosed magnesium, and way back in the day, some powdered additives.

There has been much discussion on organization for the actual fishroom itself. I have made it a rule that all fish stuff must find a home in the fishroom. I'm tired of boxes of fish stuff in the garage, the workroom, the fishroom, etc. I am very excited to have it all in one place. Part of this final clean-up push also includes re-homing my 180g grow out tank and Tony's old 90g cube. I want them out of my house.

I'm thinking the next livestock purchase I make should include a couple SPS frags to test the system. Probably something easy; birdsnest or digi?

Looks great, glad to see life in it :biggrin:

April FTS
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...psa3edb37c.jpg

End shot
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps62f22630.jpg

Billy Bob, King of All
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps47ca4bd8.jpg

Squamosa clam I got
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps99f94b9c.jpg

It came with a bonus commensal shrimp inside!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps0fede551.jpg

Unfortunately I only had an iphone with me to snap a shot.

Right now I'm working on dialing in my dosing regime and getting all my parameters where I want them via automation and less hands on daily dosing.

Off the top of my head;
Ca 430ppm
dKH 8.1
Magnesium 1100ppm

I've been working my way through the end of some different salt types here lately and its been playing a bit with the parameters. Its a bit funny to do a WC once and have your dKH increase with one brand of salt and have it decrease with another.

It looks great!

Did you intend for your photo captions to sound like a poem? :lol:

"April FTS, End shot
Billy Bob, King of All
Squamosa clam I got
It came with a bonus commensal shrimp inside!
Unfortunately I only had an iphone with me to snap a shot.
"

One of my old big squammies had a commensal shrimp. It is so cool to catch a glimpse of those! (Unfortunately that clam is no longer with us :( ).

Thanks!

No, my poetry was unintentional. :lol:

Awe, poor squammie.

TIBET looks sooo good. Nice to see it going!

Thank you! :redface:

Yesterday the pump for the 4-way on the left side of the tank got swapped out from a Reeflo Hammerhead to a Waveline 2650 DC pump. The Ocean Motions is running the version of the drums where you have two outputs active at once, like 1,3, then 2, 4. The flow is not bad, good for this stage of the tank and the 2" inlet is now now longer sporting such a strong an undertow.

Also added on the moonlights last night, a combination of red and blue RKE LED moonlights. The balance is probably 75% blue and 25% red. I'd like to add more red I think.

Unfortunately it doesn't photograph well. You can somewhat make out the galaxy and the Pachyseris corals.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...pscd0afc07.jpg

With the DC pump, did you reduce the 2" intake at the pump, or closer to the inlet?

Wow, a Hammerhead to a waveline? I assuming the Hammerhead was really throttled back because those two pumps don't really compare for flow.

Tank is looking great!

Although you probably don't have a lot of uptake at the moment, I would imagine this would be a ridiculously large volume to be dosing. Have you figured out feasibility of dosing vs a reactor for your volume?

On the pump side actually. The inlet was left alone. It will be getting a screen as I've been looking at smaller and smaller fish.

Hahahah yes. The hammerhead was TOO powerfu. Even dialed way back the suction on the 2" inlet was deadly. The flow was ridiculous too. I do expect to go back to the hammerhead though in the future when things start to grow in and I need the extra flow to overcome the growth.

Thanks!

I did look at reactors, and I've always typically used CA reactors and then had a kalk reactor for dKH. This time I'm trying the BRS two-part dosing method. The only reason I didn't stay with reactors is finding media consistently.

I did some back of the envelope calculations on the big three and what it would cost me to do dosing vs reactors and it really comes down to the prices and accessibility of media. Reactor dosing has somewhat fallen out of favour and so I'm not seeing things like ARM media or its equivalent around regularly, stores aren't really carrying it (that I've seen). Equipment for dosing is cheaper, media is more expensive. Equipment for reactors are more expensive, and media is cheaper, but hard to find consistently.

I've just started (last week) automating my dosing using the BRS peristaltic pumps and their 2-part instructions. Using the assumption that the total current water volumne is 550gal I'm already dosing nearly 1g of CA, dKH, and MG respectfully over a 24 hour period. This leaves me with two possible solutions; a) bigger dosing containers (ugh) b) stronger more concentrated doses.

I get a feeling that I'm going to end up with a fraken-dosing solution; half reactors, half dosing. But I plan to disguise it well with Pheasent balls.

Right now I go through about 30-40ppm Ca/day, everything else, is pretty flat.

Pheasant balls to the rescue!! 550g to dose seems mind boggling to me. I'm dosing on 150g and finding that just barely manageable. Good point about the lack of media though. I don't see it around as often. I don't know about reactors falling out of favour though. I still often read suggestions that on larger volumes reactors are more economical. I suppose it will be a bit of trial and error but you'll find your groove :-)

ps. Pics of pheasant balls once you bring them online.

You almost have to change the way you think about dosing to wrap your head around it.

For example, to raise Ca by 1ppm I have to dose 56.2mL. Which means to catch up from a 30ppm drop I have to dose 1686mL, or 1.686L. And it takes a little over 4 cups of Calcium Chloride to make up that batch. Its a little bit of a mind-blowing moment actually.

I know myself and my sanity will not hold out for daily re-mixing of additives, so the 1g jugs for dosing aren't really sufficient, but like you said...the optimal solution and all...