Hung the frag tank light last night - Hamilton 2 X 250W MH + 2 X 54W T5's. Just received my two brand new radium bulbs (not installed yet). Everything fit together nicely. I have lots of room to raise and lower the fixture, and the ballast fit perfectly under the fuge tanks on the floor.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psi4xl0wfz.jpg

And this is kinda gross.... When I tested my water change system, I just used tap water. I let the last remaining bit dry out/evaporate. Well here is what is in our Calgary tap water... This is the collection after razorblading the brand new tank bottom last night.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psemu7dxdb.jpg

And thanks to Denny @ Concept, here is my new 10 Gallon ATO container. Instead of having the ATO tank to the right of the sump, it now resides behind the sump, leaving a perfect amount of room beside the sump for the CO2 tank for my calcium reactor. I was getting worried about where to put it, so things just worked out! It's a good thing that the ATO didn't fit/got broken.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psij0tqqqn.jpg

ATO tank is now fully plumbed into the water change system's RO/DI tank for quick fills.

Next thing to do, is get a new 50 gallon fuge built after smashing the old one... and then I can do a final water test!

I need a bigger house...lol Nice and clean, awesome!

I need to start saving money for when i move sometime 5 years down the road i can have an epic set up,, good job man looks awesome so far

Thanks!

I think thats why this is taking me so long... I didn't save any $$$ lol.

I should have saved up instead of just buying things whenever the $$$ is available.

Well.... It's running!!!! I decided to use this tank that I picked up to use as a brackish water archerfish tank. It's 79" X 18" X 18". I will cycle the tank with this until I can afford to get a brand new one built.

All the plumbing is finished, with exception of the fuge/frag setup because of the tank I smashed.

Return and drains through the wall:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps3tsa8zw1.jpg

Main and emergency drain

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psdkqy7pnb.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psxpnxd5gz.jpg

Here is the tank. I have to skin the stand. Going to use the cabinet panels from ikea I think.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pskxn8bbfk.jpg

Filling her up!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pssbtptrqs.jpg

Testing the manifold

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pscus3tba4.jpg

And the used equipment woes continue to bite me in the a$$.

The one DC return pump that I bought off a member dosn't work. It's the power supply. Works with the known good power supply. So now I have to find a new power supply. Does anyone know where I should start to find one? I'm in no rush, as the fuge and frag tanks aren't ready to get wet anyways.

Also one of the WP40's I purchased from a member dosn't work either.... lol. I guess that will teach me. Should have just bought new.

But.. With this smaller tank, one WP40 puts out a mad wave!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psgwcpimox.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pstasztulu.jpg

All running and tuned

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psyl3xzjon.jpg

Just did a bleach and acid bath for all my dry rock i've had sitting around. It worked fantastic!! All the rock is now super clean and nice and white. I put bulkheads and valves forndrains in the bottom of two garbage cans for this process.

1st was the bleach soak. I used genaric bleach from walmart. These garbage cans are 34 gallons. Filled about 3/4 with rock. I added 2 gallons of bleach to each can. Mixed it up and let sit for 6 hours (until it stopped bubbling)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pscvotq4jw.jpg.

After the bleach, I drained it and filled/ rinsed the rock 3 times (until the bleach smell was minimal).

Then filled again and added the muriatic acid (got it from oasis pool and spa). Added .5 gallons to each can, then waited until the reaction stopped, and added another .5 gallons to each can. I then let it sit for 4 hours.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pshsrq32uf.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pspatpo06e.jpg

I nuetralized the acid with massive amounts of baking soda. Rinsed and drained the cans 3 times each. Then did an RO/DI dip and shake. Now everything is lying out drying! I will leave it to air/sun dry for 2 weeks. I came out with great looking rock and tonnes of sweet rubble for my fuges.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pse6n96w9h.jpg

Active Tech in Calgary sells regulated power supplies, just pick the right wattage for the amount of pumps you want to run on one supply. 24V 150W link below.
http://www.active123.com/PSF15024-AC...-Prodview.html

If the power supply that failed is from me let me know, I'll help you out on replacement cost.

Would the 150W be enough? The power supplies say "100-240Vac 1.8A, 50-60 Hz)

I'll totally admit, when it comes to electricity....I know absolutely nothing lol.

If the pump is a waveline, contact them. They replaced mine with the new style power supply. See my thread on the product review page for the pics of the differences.

That's the input, read the output specs. Should be 24VDC @ X amount of amps. I believe the 2640 pumps are rated at 85W or 3.5Amps so to run one pump you'd want a 100W supply, for two pumps a 200W supply. You can always go bigger as well, just not smaller as you'll burn it out.

Here is a pic on the back of the power supply.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psr6daqsyi.jpg

Ok so you need a 24VDC with at least 5.0A to match the existing. So you could either run one off the 150W I linked previously or run two off a 240W like this
http://www.active123.com/PSF24024-AC...-Prodview.html

After the acid bath, I let the rock dry out for a couple weeks. Now on to aquascaping!

I like this final layout but keep in mind that I didn't have any fijicrete, so the arches are temporary. They are just holding things together. I am going for three islands. Mind you, the arches are starting to grow on me. The way it sits, it's about 70" long. Should fit well in the temporary 79" long tank.

They are based off a big rock at the bottom, with a 3/4" PVC support that I drilled into the rock. This allowed me to brace most of the pieces so that they are stand-alone structures. There's a couple pieces that will need to be fijicreted or zip tied into place.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps8ivmpvtm.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps7mwjyyur.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psentm1h5c.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psbmwlfwdr.jpg

Looks good Mike.

Thanks steve!

Hey since you're here...i got that power supply...how the heck do I wire this thing???

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psfgbbmp3w.jpg


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps6jwn2lng.jpg

Easy,

Find a power cord and cut the end off
http://sewelldirect.com/images/forar...e/img_0381.jpg

Strip the wires
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zjBY2mxujx...183636_966.jpg

Connect green to ground http://www.geinnovations.net/images/...und-symbol.png

Black to Load L

White to Neutral N


Then cut the cord from the old adaptor(s), the one that plugs into the controller(s). Strip wires same as above.

Red to V+
Black to V-
If colors are different let me know.


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TqQuTuwhY1...130_135347.jpg

Hahaha thats probably the best explanation anyone could have given! Pics and everything! Thanks a bunch mang, I wouldn't have had a clue.

Yup, I have different colors. Blue, Red and green/yellow stripe and then white and red on the plug side.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psdgpkcuub.jpg

The return manifold on top of the tank in post#86 looks familiar. I was going to do that too. Are you also on Reef Addicts?

No, I havent posted on reef addicts. But its a great idea. Really easy to run lots of different equipment at different flow rates.

Brown is your load (L)
Blue is your Neutral (N)
Green is your Ground

Red is +V
White is -V

Aquascape all done! Used fijicrete, silicone, zip ties and pvc pipe.

Its in the tank now with some live rock to start the curing process.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psubj489xy.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psdnlcwrab.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psnledxxpr.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psh2nglnvo.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psmy3zrgcl.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psdy4lxnjz.jpg

You have a lot of prime spots for corals there. Good work

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Thanks a bunch !!! I'll wire it up right now.

Great skimmate already with only 1 of the 2 sicce psk2500 pumps running in my SWC skimmer. This is less than two days!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psgy2hjw5q.jpg

Updates?

Not too much to report at this time. Just cycling away!! Just started to get diatoms yesterday. So im sure it will be a brown mess in the next couple of days.

Here is an updated FTS:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psaoe3vrng.jpg

And here is the sump area. I cleaned up some electrical on the left side of the closet using panduit.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pscsxapere.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psiexgq0q9.jpg

Next I have to get the other side of the system up and running with the fuges and frag tank. Still looking for a 4 foot tank to replace the one I smashed. Lol.

Looks good to me!

So, here is a color progression. Im now just passed the diatom phase. Im only using 4 of the 12 bulbs in this fixture during the cycle, so that I have a minimal amount of algae growth. But it seems to be going well.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psubj489xy.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psaoe3vrng.jpg

Last night:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps46jb5bz9.jpg

My settling tank idea is also working amazing. Barely any detritus is making it into the return sump. It will be perfect to just stir that up and drain the tank for water changes.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pszfw9hxxl.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psrdyxw1tx.jpg

Im getting some great ideas for my fish room/tank build.

So another cycle update. Nitrates are getting lower and lower every day. I'm starting to see some life!

Last night I changed all the bulbs to a more blue look. Keep in mind that all the previous shots of the tank were on dusk/dawn channels with only two blues and two pinks.

Heres the new bulb arrangement:

Front
KZ Superblue
WP Blue wave 460
WP Reef wave
WP Sun wave
WP Coral Wave
KZ New Gen
Back

It looks a lot less blue in person, but its almost identical to a 14K look. The couple fish I have in there look outragously colorful already.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psabelir53.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psozzhn6of.jpg

Coraline is already starting to grow everywhere. This is on the bare bottom.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps95x57qsm.jpg

And my first little spirorbid worm!! Things are starting to look lively! Got little critters everywhere on the glass.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psx5x49j3f.jpg

Skimmer pulling out sick black crap already... The smell is absolutely alarming.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psuzn1edcn.jpg

NEXT: clean up crew to get working on the tiny bits of hair algae.

Ooh! Looking great. Are you going to scrape the bottom or just let the coraline take it over?

You know, I was just having this conversation with a buddy while looking at the tank. And I have no idea!!!!! The thing about coraline is that it will look more patchy than fully covered...but on the other hand scraping it often will be a nuisance.

Things are looking great.

If it were me, and for no reason in particular, but I'd probably let the coraline be on the bottom.

Thats what im thinking..... and mainly from a pure laziness perspective. lol.

I just think if coraline spreads as fast as it has in all my other setups, i'd be razor-blading it every day trying to keep it clean. I think i'll leave it and just keep it as debris free as possible. Which so far is working great. With 2 WP40's situated on opposing ends, i'm getting a gyre like flow in the tank which only has two tiny noticeable dead spots where everything is accumulating. That happens to be in between the rock structures which is nice and accessible.

+1 for the lazy method.