Not yet, I'll get official measurements once it arrives. Maybe it's just more fun to leave it anyway. :p

Really? Something's fishy here:biggrin:
How come you were chosen as one of the three in Concepts build of the month and you don't even have possession of this tank?:lol: and whatcaneyedo was left out. Shame on Dave:lol:

And an eerie hush fell over the crowd.......

There were several nice tanks and great threads left out, that's the nature of the beast. In regards to my tank, lots of people start builds before they have the tank. In the end, I didn't win anyway... :cry:

With me around? :eek: Uh, yeah I don't think so!

I didn't make as much progress today as I had hoped. I spent half the day running around doing other stuff that I mostly didn't want to do! I did manage to go pick up the steel and the glass though and got a start on the sump. I have some sketchy looking silicone seams though, so I think I'll have some repairs to do tomorrow. I never claimed to be a tank builder. :o

The piece of Lexan I used as a table was warped so I had to put some planters in there to hold it down.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...mp%20build.jpg


I got the baffles in and realized I have to drill the hole in the side wall of the baffle section for the uniseal. I don't have as much space there as I thought I would, though I kind of expected that because my 3D drawing was done without glass thickness.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%203.jpg



I'll get it finished up tomorrow and water test it on Sunday. I should get a good start on the stand tomorrow too.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%202.jpg

Lookin great!! And I'm just razzing you, hence the smilies.

Oh I know you're razzing. :D

Well this morning I saw I had a couple really bad seams on one pane of the sump, so I cut, and pried, and cursed, and chipped a little and finally got the freaking thing off. I resiliconed it, and left it dry for today.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%204.jpg


In the meantime, I got to work on the stand. Luckily for me, hubby has Fridays off work and he volunteered to weld it for me. I cut all the steel, and prepped it all.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%203.jpg


Then hubby got to work. He did a great job, all lines up nicely.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...nd%20build.jpg

Tank looks great Mindy

Glad to hear he welded the stand for you
Hope you closed your eyes for that pic :surprise:

You could have done it, but it takes practice to weld stuff that thin without melting it, or getting cold lap (not bonded)

A question; only a top and legs on the stand ?

He's not a welder, but he's done a ton of bodywork on his 1965 Ford F100. That sheet steel is THIN. His welder isn't anything fancy, it's old, but it does the trick. It just has high, low, and wire feed speed. Watching him do it, I think I would have had a tough time. I did some grinding though. :D

I focused the camera when he wasn't welding, looked away, then snapped it when I saw the weld flash. SMRT.

The sump looked a lot better on my first attempt, now I have a silicone mess. :neutral: I'll get it finished up tomorrow. I guess the water test will have to wait for Monday.

I know how you feel about a silicone mess.
I just built a new salt mixing tank and forgot to tape off the inside :surprise:
Oh well, it's just for me ...

Cool. Any pics? There's a car pic thread on here that needs to be bumped

I'm usually pretty good with silicone, but when I end up having to move things it gets messy real quick. You should see the mess I created today!!! It will take me some time to clean it up tomorrow. :o

He has a 1966 and a 1965 Ford F100, and actually, my bad, it's the '66 that he's done all the body work to. I'll see if I can sneak some pics. The '66 has the engine pulled for the last year as he's been doing all the bodywork. Then he bought the '65 which is in much shape, and got all distracted. :lol:

The stand is coming along. Hubby isn't the quickest, but he's doing a great job! He just has to install the bracing and then I can paint it - maybe tomorrow?

Sump has been completed. I just need to clean up my messy silicone job. Nothing a blade and some rubbing alcohol can't fix. Good thing for clear silicone. :o
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0Build%205.jpg

The sump holds water! I'm just waiting for trim for the sump (so I can partially cover it) which will arrive with the tank. I wish I left the divider between the RO chamber and the sump 1/2" lower than the sump sides to allow room for the trim. When I designed the sump I wasn't planning to put trim on it. I think this is the only detail that I overlooked.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%207.jpg



Done welding and grinding!
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%209.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%208.jpg



(Almost) Finished product! It has 3 coats of paint on it, but I'm going to put another 3 coats on. I'm also going to fill the inside corners of the braces where the welder couldn't get in. I still need to install the tray for the filter pad and get the Uniseal figured out (my drill bit was a tad too big for the Uniseal so it is not a snug fit). Maybe I will use a bulkhead instead (which fits well).

I will install some plywood on the bottom of the stand to go between the stand and the floor to protect the floor. I will also install some plywood under the sump side of the stand (on the top of the stand framing) to help support the sump.

I'm also considering building an acrylic "tray" that the sump will sit in to catch any drips, leaks, or spills (I'm paranoid about damaging the new flooring). I might even build it tall enough to help protect the back of the stand area from salt spray from skimmer overflow as that area will be tough to clean - even with the removable panels. The sump will be easily removable for cleaning it as well as the inside the stand. The sump will slide out the left side of the stand.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%207.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%206.jpg


I'm not real excited about how the Red Dragon pump attaches to the skimmer body - the inlet to the pump is SO close to the outlet of the skimmer. Considering the basic sump runs from one direction to the other (mine has a circular flow), you would think they would design the skimmer to have the inlet of the pump as far from the outlet as possible. All they had to do was change the pinwheel cover so that the inlet goes into the left side of the pump instead of the right. I'm not sure why it is designed the way it is. It doesn't matter in my sump too much because the flow of the sump is less than the flow of the skimmer pump, so the skimmer will be sucking in already skimmed water no matter what.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...0build%205.jpg

Nice looking stand, great work!

Thanks! It's coming along, and lots more to do!

The stand is looking very nice. Great build so far.

I didn't do too much with the project this last week/weekend. Needed to do yard work and had MIL 60th bday.

I did get the last few coats of paint on the stand and got the media rack silconed into the sump. I bought the plywood for the stand skinning and a new blade for the saw, so I'm all ready. :)

On the other hand, I have a vat of dirty rock that had half dried and sat in the shed for the winter. I bleached it a few weeks ago and refilled with RO water then kinda forgot about it. This morning I tested PO4 at 0.49 ppm (Hanna) and NO3 >100 ppm (maxed out Salifert kit). So I drained the water and refilled it with used saltwater from my 50-gallon. I might need to acid wash it...we'll see how it tests in a few days.

Let there be light! (thanks to riceboy)

It's an ATI Sunpower 6x39w dimmable T5 fixture. I plan to mount a couple of Reefbrite blue LED strips on either side. Not sure if I'll be wanting the XHOs or the if the Techs will do the trick. Maybe XHOs on a dimmer? This way I can run some high PAR T5 bulbs and have the LEDs for the blue supplementation. I'll be running a combo of ATI Aquablue Special and Coral Plus.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...PS/ATI%202.jpg

Wow! Nice fixture

Wow that was quick. Good to see it made it there in one piece.

From Calgary to Saskatoon that freight would have moved by truck overnight and arrived at about 6:30 am. :) All the bulbs are even working, bonus!

Should all work. i shoved styrofoam all around it lol

Well, I got to finishing the inside of the stand, and glued plywood to the steel. I used PL Premium and clamped it, but this morning when I released the clamps the glue came apart - still very wet. I looked at the label and it says to apply mechanical pressure for 24 hours. Holy crap. I didn't know it took that long to dry! :mmph: I'm going to go get some Sikaflex EBT. That will cure faster.



Cell pic:
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...c43347e991.jpg

I got a couple coats of paint on it. I noticed the glue popped on the bottom, so I have to re-glue that.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...build%2013.jpg


The dry side. I have a shelf that I'm going to install on this side too.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...build%2014.jpg

Starting to come together, I likey! :pop2:

Lookin' fantastic Mindy !!

Thanks guys! I'm not quite done the inside, but I wanted to get some paint on it so it can dry well before the tank gets here. I won't be working in it again until Thursday.

Just to keep this thread going while I wait for the tank, here are a couple pics of where the old frag tank is sitting. I plan to position the new tank a little further to the right so that it is fully in the livingroom and is more in line with the recliner for excellent viewing. :D The new tank will have 3" taller viewing panes, and the stand is also 3 1/2" taller, so the entire system will stand 6 1/2" taller. It will fit the wall better.

I put some rock into the frag tank (it was all acrylic racks) to help mature the rock.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...202015%203.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...202015%202.jpg

http://www.reef2reef.com/blog/wp-con...ign-S-7190.gif

So I decided to acid wash the old formerly live, then dried dead rock. The latest reading was still over 100 ppm nitrate and 0.5 ppm phosphate after two 100% water changes (no change noted). I made some strong acid! :eek: I managed not to burn myself though, so that's a bonus.

I donned goggles, beautiful yellow rubber gloves, and shorts, tank, and sandals (ha!). I bought two 900 mL bottles of muriatic acid and poured them into 1 1/2 gallons of tap water. I dipped the rocks one at a time, and overdid the first one in about 12 minutes - that's some powerful mix! The rest of the rocks got about a 5-8 minutes dip, tap water rinse, tap water plus baking soda rinse (1 1/2 containers baking soda and about 3 gallons of water), then back into the rock tub filled with RO. A couple hours later I test the RO at pH 7.8 so I guess the rinse was sufficient. I will test nitrate and phosphate in a few days and see if there was any progress.



Here's the first rock getting half dissolved (lol):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...206%202015.jpg

:thumb:


Braver than I

It's not that bad Doug. I've acid washed rocks before in much lower dilution for a much longer time (hours rather than minutes), but I found that some rocks require more time, and others require less. So I decided to dip them one at a time. I didn't want to spend all day doing it, so I made the acid strong. I didn't realize it would be that strong! It took me less than an hour to do it all include setup and cleanup, and cost me $12 for the acid and 40 gallons of RO. Pretty straight forward as long as you're careful about splashing.

My journal is 10 pages and no tank yet! Haha. This changes on Thursday! :happydance:

Tank arrival! It's a thing of beauty! Dave's crew built an outstanding tank - they really did a great job. The tank even came in under the quoted price. There is a mistake though, a missing detail, which is why it was under quote. :lol: I talked with Dave about it, and he took responsibility for the mistake like a true businessman, he even offered to replace the tank. I said I didn't want to do that to him, I didn't get charged for the missing detail anyway. I doubt anyone would notice if I didn't mention it. Let's see if you guys can figure out what it is.

I'll get some better pictures when there is better light in the house. The reflection on the glass was killing me! Oh, and sorry about the ghetto light stand - I don't have the light hanger installed yet.

Here you can see the size difference with my 50-gallon beside it.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...S/Tank%202.jpg


Eurobracing detail.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...S/Tank%205.jpg


Vinyl covering on the overflow box and weir overflow detail.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...S/Tank%203.jpg


Perdy bevel and polish on all edges.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...20SPS/Tank.jpg

No teeth on the overflow?

I love the eurobrace! I think they are hella cool.

Regular glass, not starfire?

no return holes or wrong color silicone? Either way that 1 piece bracing + polished edges = sexy

Nice one piece euro! Should have got it done in starphire ;)