I will just slowly keep going until I have caught up to recent pics.

This summer has been slow, but I have some changes planned for this winter, so stay tuned!

Not a huge amount, but a bit. It is when I have 30 people in my house that the difference is noticeable.

BTW I wouldn't recommend piping in fresh air from outside, the temp swing can really cause your skimmer to be unstable, and we all know how hard it is to get your skimmer running 100%. Air right after an HRV seems to work fairly well.

Thanks.

Once I get up-to-date I will try and show progressive growth shots.

Holy Crap!! 17 pages and the 1st of seen of it lookin awesome !!! Is your rock against the back wall or just down the middle?

That stand is kinda what iam trying to do. All from scratch by myself. Looks good , The only thing you are missing is a cowfish:biggrin:

No rock touches any wall. I have read a few of Calfo's books and he recommends for best water flow (detritus suspension) to have everything free standing. Unfortunately some tanks make this hard to accomplish.

That is why I (and almost all experienced reefers) recommend custom made tanks that are as deep (front to back) as you can go. it just works soo much better!

Then buy one when your tank is going! Post pics as your construction begins.

I have learned much from others posting about their tank builds, so I am trying to pass on what I have learned.

Very nice tank, Now i want to see a full tank shot.
Also maybe i missed it or somthing but if you could let us know if you use any additives and how you due your cacium, also maintnece that you do.

Some full tank shots will come.

As far as maintenance goes:

This thread details how I do water changes with adding magnesium and calcium to my IO water.

I use a calcium reactor and a kalk reactor for my set-up. Both are huge, and pics for both will follow as well.

Who want to see a movie?





















Water movement is always good! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee, says the flame and clown.

Like an Amusement Ride for fish! My Lawnmower Blenny does that in my Tank, but I don't have enough flow to even phase my Flame Angel. How much are tickets? Can I bring my Angel there for a few rides?:lol:

Bring on over, you will never be able to catch him to get him out!

The tank has less flow now with all the SPS taking up real estate.

One more flow vid.

Nice to have a little bit of euro bracing to stop the flow from splashing over the tank sides.

Vid

Pic of my skimmer waste container, IO 200 gallon pail.

I have a toilet plunger inside that has some styrofoam attached to it to allow auto-shut-off. This worked well, but if the skimmer ever filled the pail the shut-off would cause soo much back-pressure on the skimmer that it would lift up and move everything in my frag section of my sump.

The solution was to add a 10 inch long pvc pipe to the input of the pail. Once the pail was filled 65% of the way the pipe would be submerged and cause the skimmer to slow down considerably, but not stop. Then the fuler it gets the slower the skimmer goes, so it hasn;t been a problem now for over 2 years.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...5/IMG_6538.JPG

What is this, new pump?

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...5/IMG_6543.JPG

Yep for a calcium restor.

This calcium reactor!

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...5/IMG_6549.JPG

For perspective I had a male model stand beside it.:wink:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...5/IMG_6551.JPG

Always need a livestock shot.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...5/IMG_6476.JPG

Want natural light?

Does the sun stand sill?

Sunlight Supplies Linear Light Mover!

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...8/IMG_6575.JPG

When installing the light mover I set the 250 watt (actually 300+ watt overdriven by mag ballast) halide fixture on my 1/2 inch by 12 inch brace.

Bad, bad idea!

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...8/IMG_6589.JPG

The crack I heard just about caused a heart attack!

I managed to get a new piece of glass (this time not Starphire) and clamp the top of the tank together (it bowed by over 1/4 inch) and get it all fixed.

Can you tell which brace is not Starphire?

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...8/IMG_6595.JPG

is that tank in your garage?

It was for initial testing. The above pic was taken in my house. The tools in the reflection are on my dining room table.

Pretty amazing tank (and thread) - best thing about this thread is the ability to read through and see your progression without dozens of spurious posts in between all the great pictures. :biggrin:

That pic of your tangs on page 11 is killer. Looking forward to seeing that blond Naso grow up in there - I used to have one that would dash the length of a 6-ft tank in about, oh, 1/10 of a second... :eek: Maybe streamers will slow him down a little? :mrgreen:

Thanks for the effort on this - very thorough, informative, entertaining.

One question - does Bow Valley use PPG Starphire(tm) brand glass, or another manufacturer's low-lead equivalent?

good looking setup man. i've been following this from the beginning. when is the full tank pic coming?

Thanks for the kind words.

Mitch (from Bow Valley, who cannot help but lie) swears he uses PPG, but others say no. I have compared mine to others that for sure are and I couldn't tell the difference.

It will come, but will be an old full-tank shot. It will be at least a month or so for a current tank shot.

Can't spoil it for you!

lol, guess we'll have to wait.

Top down view of one of my clams.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...0for%20web.JPG

Yikes! That's gorgeous - and I don't normally even like clams much...

OLD FULL-TANK SHOTS!

Moon-light, which looks waaay diffeent in person.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/.../moonlight.JPG

Actinics (two 160 watt 6 fot URI VHOs)

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...29/actinic.JPG

+ T5s (3 foot & 4 foot 11K T5s + 3 foot & 4 foot Blue+ T5s)

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/Apr%2029/T5.JPG

+ 3 10K halides (10K ushio, 10K AB, 13K Geissman, all 250 DE)

All look almost exactly the same, even though the Geissman is a 13K.:rolleyes:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/...l00028crop.jpg

:confused: Um, can you bring us up-to-date?

Patience, patience.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bkotrla2/May%202/Monti.JPG