Looking good.
and I won't believe you when you say you don't have any woodworking skills.
I would be very happy to have that stand

lol. Let's see if it holds the weight of the full tank :) Seriously tho, it is a strong stand, and overall a successful project, but a couple of things had to undergo design changes to cover mistakes. I have to fit the doors later this week, and that will decide how much I like the design. I may switch to a different door design.
And, still stuck on mounting the light box. It may sit on 2x2s :)

Pictureless update. I hope to have water and rock in over the weekend, move livestock Tuesday. Scary stuff.

More pics!!!:mrgreen:

Here's a pic of the Zeo and Ca reactor and the skimmer, at various stages of cleaning and assembly.
Snagged on the skimmer, turns out ER plumbing is not standard and the gate valve doesn't want to fit. I need a bigger hammer!

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps97dcb2a4.jpg

Ran out of paint with just one coat needed for the doors. Arg.

LOL, any project requires at least 3 trips to home depot per day :razz:

What model ER is that?

RS180? CS180? Something 180 :)

that cardboard really sucks up the paint eh. :mrgreen:

When are you coming here? Gonna paint your head, see how much that soaks up!

Bit of progress. Here's the rock structure, I'll finish filling today and start moving stock over.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...psa25ed4b1.jpg

Looks like the next to impossible to get a sighting of, close cousin to the House Hippo, the Marine House Hippo has snuck into your tank.. He's jumping from the right island to the left, facing directly left in the middle of the tank. :lol:

Kinda looks like he got his ass stuck in the crevice! lol

I'll have to cover that with some coral :)

Ya I would say it was a bit of a failed attempt at the jump. :lol:

Nice structure. Liking the shallow look to it currently.

Thanks. I'm going to try and keep things lower this time around. LEave more room for the school of Bartletts. Only one or two stags going in, so a lower scape all around.

Ahhhhh... That new tank smell..

It's been a long two days, but finally got everything at least rigged until I can move it to it's permanent home next week.
Here's a shot of the Radiums lighting the reef.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...pscbcfe8fa.jpg

Looks great so far! Cool scape you have as well

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk

Looks like my tank...... Bare Hahaha

Ya, kinda sad :) But in just a year, it will be full again!

Paint that wall yet? ;)

No, just finished moving the 180 out about 30 minutes ago. Now the group of us decided the new tank should go against a different wall, so additional infrastructure needed :) Buying paint tomorrow, would like to move new tank into place by next weekend

No update update. Removed the 180 on Friday night and found the wall too damaged to repair behind it, so tank stuff on hold for a bit while I replace drywall.

During the move, someone decided the tank would look better on a different wall, and wife agreed. So now I have a bit more work to do, re-route chiller and RO lines.
But the tank will look better there.

As for the tank, so far, one week in and everything is doing fine. Some loss of color on a couple pieces, but photoperiod has been around 4hrs/day. Slowly ramping that up to 7 over the next few days.
No NH3 buildup, so the foam block trick worked well. No algae sprouting anywhere yet, so hopeful it doesn't (ever).

Not much to take pics of this week, but should have the tank moved soonly.

Before and after drywall replacement photos :biggrin: show us your handy work ..
I went through the same thing with my upgrade but I added to the entire aquarium room with white plasti sheets over my drywall to keep things clean.

Ya, right. Of all my "handy" skills, drywall is my second worst. In hindsight, I should have added a plastic sheet behind the tank. The new one will have this handy feature :)

As I was sitting looking at the mess, I wondered what a contractor would cost to come replace the wall -lol

I'm also kinda screwed as I can't sand anything with my daughter in the house.

Also, I'm just dumb. I'm trying to make a jug of RO water and nothing is coming out my feed line. Weird. Then I realize I have a loose RO end (behind the drywall - duh) and I've probably just filled a gallon or so into my wall.

I'm really just about done with this project....

Lol..If you where any closer I would give you a hand..for the dust get dust free drywall mud.
And if you are really that bad with drywall ...Make it a 2nd feature wall using plaster or stucco mud to give it character and paint it differently.
Now I really want to see photos:biggrin:

Honestly, this should become "Brad is an idiot" thread. No pics. Seriously. Looking for drywall contractor now :)

No way. If so the rest of us are really in trouble. :lol:

Could always do the drywall and hire someone to tape and mud. In the end it will be nice. :smile:

That's where it all went wrong :) Drywall was the easy part, it's the (not) taping and mudding that gets ugly. :biggrin:

Ooops? Man I suddenly feel a LOT better about how my builds usually go. :-)

I second the notion of just getting up the drywall yourself, and then maybe look on kijiji for a drywall guy to do your taping/mudding/sanding... It's one of the least rewarding things to DIY!!

Sanding drywall mud is one of my most hated jobs. I avoid it whenever possible!!!

Did they not tell you that's why they invented corner and crown moulding. ;^P

Another option is beadboard which comes in 4 x 8 sheets. Paint it with a good oil based paint and you should be good to go.

For filling nail/screw holes in drywall with out making a sanding mess you can always use a damp towel on a sanding block. If you don't overdo the mud it works great and no dust.

take a pic of the area and send it to me to look at brad. contractor is going to make dust also, there are ways to keep dust down.

Steve

With this heat, my priority is now getting the tank in place so I can get the chiller connected. Elise is away again in August so the wall will have to wait until then.

If you can wait till Aug, I may be able to run down and fix it for ya.

How does Aug 8 -10 work for ya? :)

I can probably make that work. I have a buddy who lives like 2 blocks from ya that we always stay at when we're in Vic. Give me a day or two to confirm the schedule.

Thanks Dom

Tank has been running hot, so added a fan last night. That seems to help, but I'm taking the day off Friday so I can plumb my chiller to the new location. RO line has to follow, and a bit of paint on that wall will mean I can move the tank into place over the weekend. I hope.

Notice some of my frags browning out, not sure if it's the reduced photo period or too much light, but I'll give it time to see. Slowly ramping up time, but have to be careful of ramping up the heat as well.

Thinking of building a matching side cabinet to house the Ca reactor and electrical bits, unless I can find a prebuilt something that kind of matches.

Turns out I own a label maker, so after 15 years of reefs, I'm going to label all my cords. lol