Very cool! Seems a bit loud, do you plan on sound proofing the cabinet?

You know what...my wife said something like that too! I actually don't intend to do that. Once cabinet doors are on, it will get quieter. Given how often I have to raise and lower my light now, I don't think I will be doing it very often. Especially with a fish room for doing water changes, dosing, etc.

I think the honest answer is probably that my wife will have to hear it with the doors closed and then we'll see if changes need to be made. :)

After some further testing...I realized that I had some vertical pressure on the actuator arm at full extension. This contributed to both noise and I think wear if I had left it that way. Dropped the pulley's 3/4" and this has made a significant difference. Noise is less and I should have years of uninterrupted service out of this now.

got myself caught up on your build.. and wow! That's looking kick ass, man!

Thanks Kien,

I find it a real compliment when someone with your talent takes a look at my build.

It's coming along. I am hoping to water test the tank on the ground this weekend and assuming that nothing goes wrong, carry it into the house near the beginning of next week. :)

Well, today I needed to get ready for the tank to make it's big move from my current garage to the new house for installation early next week. I decided that after sitting on the tank for 1 1/2 years, I should water test it here before I put it inside my new house. Five of my friends came over to help and so with 6 sets of hands we lifted it off the dollies that I had it on and placed the crate on the garage floor.
The crate was built a bit like a stand so I felt that it could handle the weight of a full tank. Off came the top and in went some fresh water.
As expected....nothing burst. No leaks either. I made it about 3/4 full and then decided that I didn't need to further test it and waste water.
Here's some pics:

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-20152343.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-20152336.jpg

So...the not so exciting part was getting all that water out. I've been packing and only now realized that any pump with some gumption was out of reach...so a Maxijet 1200 was used to empty this thing...wow..that was painful.:redface:

Anyways, from here, hopefully the move over to the house goes well. The install should be interesting as they only left me 1/2" of clearance to put the tank in. Hopefully my next post isn't about a broken tank.

If you had used warm water you could have at least thrown some power heads in and a heater made a whirl pool tub while you waited.


Sent from my porcelain aquarium

yeah...In my new house I thought of putting hot and cold taps in the garage...but this current place doesn't have that option. That water was sooo cold I couldn't put my hands in for long.

If there's a will there's a way lol I was tempted on my 180


Sent from my porcelain aquarium

This is an awesome build! Really looking forward to see this tank full of livestock and thriving!!! I love the light going up an down automatically.

Is it normal to use generators out there or you just installed it for the purpose of keeping a back up to keep the reef going in case of a power outage?