Well I can't go now!

Here's a couple pics of what I've been breaking my back on...literally. I have bad knees as well. You guys with fishrooms are onto something!

The pics show the two American DJ power centers I installed and all the gear in place. Ranco, Osmolator, Tunze powerheads and my light timers. The little shelf up top holds the transformers for the powerheads. The white bundled extension cord next to the Ranco is for a chiller if I ever need one (fingers crossed).

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/wires1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/wires2.jpg

The return pump and skimmer pump are not tie-wrapped like everything else so I can remove them easily. Hypothetically though, if anything Tunze ever dies on me I'm in for a nightmare of a time removing it lol. All the slack for the powerheads currently hangs behind the tank. I have more than enough length to move them and place them in a bucket of vinegar on the floor without disconnection.

Next up is aquascaping and getting my ro/di up and going once my BRS order arrives in a couple weeks!

man thats a dream setup!!!!!! btw where do you get those slider rails for your doors, im sick of velcroing my doors on and off, how much clearance do you need for those rails?

Looks good. What model are those timers?

Thanks guys.

The sliders are just the longest ones I could find at HD. They are 1/2" thick which didn't matter much to me since my doors have the lip on the top so you see no gaps.

The timers are Intermatic. Says they are safe for outdoor use which seemed like a plus to me. $20 each at HD. HB800 series. What appealed to me was that they had a 24" cord on them which meant they could each reach to my power strip.

I think it looks good the way it is. No need to put water or salt in it, it will just get dirty and ruin the look.

I'm so impatient (even after a year and a half or whatever it's been!). I almost dumped the sand into the display to check it out but backed out last second. Told my wife I didn't wanna get in there and lay rocks out in the sand lol.

Voided a few warranties I'm sure doing all this. My light, power strips and osmolator pump all needed their power cables spliced and extended. One other extension I need to do is the osmolator return. I need it to feed into my display overflow because the reservoir is pretty high in the other room. Did a test last night and it siphons into my sump after the pump is shut off.

One other thing I haven't done yet is sort out my overflow. I need something to keep fish from going over. Right now I'm thinking of one of these:

- leave the weir as is (quiet). Just put a strainer on my pipe ends and fish out the odd fish etc that goes in.
- rig something using fishing line stretched tight across the overflow opening. Would not alter flow since it's so thin (quiet) but I'd need to be creative to mount it.

I used eggcrate on mine, but I'm thinking it might be better if the fish entered the overflow instead of possibly getting stuck on top of it and cooking under the lighting or flopping the the wrong way and ending up behind the tank.

Is it possible for you to get in there with a small drill bit? If possible you could just drill matching holes on either side of the acrylic and tie on your fishing line. It would be easy to snug up horizontally... not sure about if you want to go vertical or not.

Additionally, forgive me if I'm picturing your overflow problem in the wrong idea. Perhaps if you were to post a pic of what you're trying to solve it might give the great minds on the board some visual cues :)

I use gutter guard over the eggcrate on my overflows to keep small fish out of the overflows. Bigger fish it's not a worry. I find my FW tank some fish at first are small enough to still fit through, but it's better than nothing.

Problem with adding stuff water flows through (eggcrate, gutter guard or anything for that matter) is that it becomes a place algae can grow where grazers can't get at it. In my 110g cube I have to pour boiling water over the overflow eggcrate once every 2-3 months or so just to keep them clear.

Parker has a good point, something I sort of learned the hard way with my first eel - sometimes it's better to let them get into the overflow instead of somewhere else. I had had my eel tank locked down so that there was no way he could get into the overflow - so instead he ended up getting out of the tank some other way. Had he just gone into the overflow or sump, it would have been .. possibly less fatal for him. :neutral:

So there could be something to the idea of just putting strainers on the pipes and "just deal with it" when a fish inevitably finds his way in there. FWIW, that is my plan for my 280g - just eggcrate for the overflow, and strainers for the standpipes, and a net nearby. :lol: