Definitely no one else we'd want for this, however while Doug patiently awaits I'm going to get a stick and poke him :boink::boink::boink: :razz:

will tell him the wait is almost over:mrgreen:

made room last week to start he's tank:wink:

Me - :pop2:
Little Mrs - :pop2:

Awaiting the arrival........its so exciting!

tagging along to your exciting journey! Planning to brew your own beer with that bubble king?

Let's see more...:biggrin:

Nice skimmer bro! Love the packing job they did that's awesome lol. Drive slow with that tank when you get it... we're all too impatient to deal with a repair ;)

You're going radions right? Thought that was the original plan.

thanks Brad......Im waiting and excited to see your "little" project up and running:wink:......are you gonna start a tank journal for it?

well I hope it brews something a little nastier than beer:biggrin:.....we could ask Lance's Mrs. how it tastes:lol:


thanks Brett.....I loved the packing job too.....until I unpacked it and all that crap ended up all over mi casa :mrgreen:

yup....decided on the Radions.....gonna try four and see if that is enough.....Im not planning on the rock work being from the back glass all the way to the front (like Levi's amazing tank), so Im hoping that I will get the coverage that I need......Im gonna keep my T5s just in case I feel that the Radions are not gonna cut it.....in which case it will be LED up front and T5 in the back.....

So it has two different sized pumps Doug?

and would you like me to correct the "low e"...:D

Inspiration, soley by seeing your new build started....I am starting my tank journal today.

ya, that would appear to be the case:noidea:.....my best guess is, maybe before the "Deluxe" line came out the next size up from my skimmer in the "SM" line probably had the same body dimensions but used two 2000 pumps instead of the 1500/2000 combo that the 300 has......I dont know tho.....that was just a sot in the dark

I'd rather be able to do it for myself but:wink:......thanks for the offer Doug but sometimes there is no use in attempting to hide the obvious:mrgreen:


Its funny this place(canreef) has a motivating quality about it sometimes....other times it makes you feel like your soooo not doing enough:mrgreen:......Im sure that a week in the sun re-chargeing your batteries helped motivate you too:wink:

here's a bit of an update....got the sump ordered from Steve at RCE..I figured there was little point in having the sump done here by Gary when A) he is soooo backed up and B) I would then have to move it to E-town....anyway, the sump will be 60"L x 25"W x 16" high making it 103g with probably about 60-70g of water in it at running depth.....


I also picked up a couple more goodies.....a tunze 6025 for either the sump or the water mixin bin/tank (undecided on that detail as of now) and another 6055 for the display.....

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6187.jpg

Goin bigger eh? Sounds like lots of work! :lol: Sweet ass skimmer! Why such small powerheads for that big tank?

yup gone and gone bigger.....I have no life so I should have lots of time to budget for this:lol:.....ya the skimmer is a beast, I just wish they weren't so dang pricey.....

I like the 6055s because they are small.....this makes them super easy to hide in and behind the aquascaping ....I do have a 6065 and a couple MPs that will be going there as well

Yeah, the 6055 are a nice size, but the 6105 aren't too much bigger, and twice the flow! :D

Little late on the uptake here as I just caught the pic of your skimmer
Holee that thing is a monster
I'll stick with my 75g for now ( seeing as it's not even running yet )
Although I do see me needing something that size when I retire

You wont be able to afford it when you retire.

Monster skimmer and nano powerheads... seems like a weird combo but to each their own.

FYI in my experience having used both the SM300 and SM250 the 250 works significantly better. I swear that 300 was originally intended to be used with a single pump but when tested it was discovered it wasn't enough so they added some dinky little extra pump just to get it working. At least that's my theory, I never really got it working on a good steady pace, the small pump seemed too inconsistent and required constant attention. The 250 is not much smaller and virtually never requires adjustment or attention.

Ya I'm quite shocked at the price of the larger BKs
And I'm not retiring if I can't afford to play :smile:

jeeze it all about the size huh?......:redface:......I know they are not that much bigger in size...but its more to do with what I need for the application.....3000 gph behinds or through the rocks may be a bit too much ...


its not really all that tall (which is one of the reasons I chose this skimmer), it's the girth that is impressive:mrgreen:

well after buying the skimmer and my lighting, the nanostreams are all I can afford:mrgreen:

I spent a couple hours going through the "BK owners club" thread on RC and the KZ forum before making the decision.....any complaints about the 300 (there werent many) were diagnosed as user error (skimmer chamber was too deep)....Im not too worried about the wee tiny handful of people that had trouble tuning this model....it impresses me more, the overwhelming majority of good reviews:wink:

Just came from creepin V2 and I'm pretty excited to see how you lay the new aquascape out. I know it's a little early but you have any ideas on how you want to put everything in?

Very cool, Doug ! The only disconcerting bit that caught my eye was the bit about moving to <cough> Edmonton <cough>.

Who'd you **** off to deserve THAT ?? :razz:

I didnt tick anyone one off man (except maybe my family and the guys I work for, by leaving Calgary).....I done went and fell in love with a reefer gal up there:wink:


well you've seen my tank in person right?.... Im really fond of the overhangs with the PVC substructures I have going on.....I get so many compliments on them, so Im thinking that the big tank will look fairly similar to V2...with 30" front to back Im thinking of attempting a really dramatic, massive overhang in this tank.....the overhangs in V2 were done with 1/2 PVC....the overhang Im envisioning in my head will likely need a substructure of at least 1"- 1 1/2" PVC.....I wanna try and blow peoples minds with this aquascape in this tank....



well yous guys went and made me all self conscious about my inadequacies in the powerhead department so I picked up one of these

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6264.jpg

so I got the news a day or two ago from the G-man himself that he will be doing my tank this w/e (I hope Im not jinxing it by posting that its gonna be done).......Steve, from RCE texted me today(yesterday technically) that he is picking up my sump from Niel on Sunday.......this thing finally sounds like its gonna come together!!!!:multi:.... Im soooo excited that here I sit at 3 AM with the wheels turning in my head not able to sleep....If the tank does indeed get done, it will be making the trip to E-town next w/e......I have a massive "to do" list this week that includes cutting the two plywood shelves for the stand, compiling the specialty plumbing parts, starting a "fishytime's beer/pizza/tank move get together" thread for Saturday in Etown.....gonna move the live rock I have sitting in tubs up there too......whew, this building a tank in one city while living in another is gonna be the death of me:mrgreen:

No one, he just finally decided to move on up in the world :razz:

:love:

:cheer2:

Better move up quicker then :wink:

Can hardly wait for some pics. Another monster to drool over

well no need for waiting:biggrin: Steve delivered the sump to Laurie's place today and she snapped a couple pics for me(thanks Steve and thanks Baby)


http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...e/DSC_0196.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...e/DSC_0195.jpg

Look at all that room :biggrin:

You are going to crap when you see your sump in person :surprise: seen it yesterday!! There's only 2 baffles that don't have polished edges, it looks sweet.

oh you big wussy! No will power to stand firm on your so called inadequacies :razz:

Beauty of a sump Doug. Going to have to place a beer (case) beside it for a better size reference :lol:

what, the salt bucket wasnt a good enough size reference??:razz:....but I will get working on that case:drinking:

it was, but I'm sure the beer will be more fun for you after the comparative photo. It will help the stress of moving a tank halfway across a province

what are you talking about?....it will be an empty box for the size reference pics:lol:....believe me, I've been stressing about this build/tank move for monthes:neutral:

tank is done and will be on its way to Edmonton tomorrow:becky:... Gary sent me a teaser pic.....


http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...n/IMG_0677.jpg

looking great!!

going to play around with it this weekend?

well, I'm up a 6am tomorrow, get my personal things together for the w/e in E-town, get two LR bins emptied, put in the truck, re-filled, bag up two frags for Grizz, then off to go pick up the tanks and gate valves and then the three hour drive.. then I have to get the stand shelves screwed into place, the foam for the sump cut, remove the handrail going to the basement, remove the light in the hallway where the tank will have to stand on end, then Ive got the guys coming to help hump the beast into the basement for 2pm, then I have to get an idear of what fittings I need to do the plumbing, run to the home improvement store or two, get to RCE to get my spa flex and check valve, then run the suction cups back to AI before they close at 6...... then spend the whole day Sunday trying to get the plumbing done and back to C-town Sunday evening...................so ya, I will be playing around with the tank this w/e..*sigh*...sounds like a heck of a lot of work to me:lol:

so the tanks is officially in Lauries basement.....it was a fairly smooth move.....I had 7 guys here to help me.....in no particular order.....Tim (tim the tool man), Bob (the Codfather), Jason (subman), Travis (troni), John (blacknife), Steve (Red Coral), and Abe (Abe).....a huge shout out to you guys, never could have got it done without yous....1000 thank yous:biggrin:.....the only hiccup was, the overflows hanging off the back didn't allow the tank to twist the way it needed to, to get down the second set of stairs..... so after a few minutes of head scratching and talk of hacking Lauries house apart (she was at work at the time) I made the call to cut the overflows off the tank.....this seemed to be the easiest fix, but doing so means the plumbing on the tank probably won't get done completely today...the overflows will need to set up before I can hang plumbing off them...Laurie got off work early to come and supervise and got home just as we were done....I told her I had to cut the overflows off the tank and she said "why didn't you just cut the wall open!!!".....Jasons son took a few pics of the moving so hopefully he will post them, but here are a few shots of my new baby in its home....

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0205.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0208.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0207.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0209.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0206.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0204.jpg
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0203.jpg

and the view from the couch
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/DSC_0211.jpg

Found the pic's of the tank in the truck all ready to come to Edmonton. A big thank-you to Lawrence and Mad Reno's for letting Doug borrow the work truck to bring the tank down.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/IMGP6268.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...g/IMGP6269.jpg

Tanks looking great