No we are hanging the lights over the new tank already. Well the new tank is not here yet until Saturday but we are getting everything ready so I can start the transfer right away. So we have the stand in place and hung the lights but my fiance, brother and I all kind of though they looked bad. Even when imagining the tank in place. My brother and I went across the street to HD to look for a solution and found the conduit. So we made the most basic arms we could. Just a long piece of the pipe, bolted to the back of the stand with a 90 degree fitting at the top and another length of pipe that extends out over the tank. Drilled a few holes in it to hang the reflectors from. Thats it. Nothing to it and its nice to hide the wires in the pipe.

The plan is to paint the whole thing black BUT I am going to wait until the tank is in place and see how it looks left in the raw grey. The wall behind the tank is exposed concrete, so it may work as is.

ooooooooooooooh I get it. There was a tank of the month on RC that used a similar idea...I think. Then again, I could be totally wrong. My brain is about to explode trying to get the perspective of this drawing to where I'm happy with it....blaaaaaaaaaah

So here is a little preview of the stand/lights. Just primed so far, still needs to be painted. MOst likely will stay white I think though. The tank is being picked up today and once its on the stand, we will decide on what color the stand will be. The doors are on drawer slides like "lastlight"s stand...Love this idea. May need to add a few small handles but not sure yet if we want to.

The lights didn't really work exactly like I wanted but close enough for now I think. They will work anyways :) They are relatively easy to adjust for height. I just need to find some caps for the ends of the arms...Also might still drill the conduit and run the wires down through it but I doubt the wires will even be noticeable once the tank is on there. Looks like one light is higher than the other in the picture but they are actually level. And ever so slightly angled back to help with glare when looking at the tank sitting down.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000034.jpg

And look! Safety! Switched one of the outlets behind the tank to GFCI for some equipment. Not all will be on the GFCI because I have had them trip before and shut down the whole tank for hours while I was out. Don't want to have that happen ever again. Some of the low wattage powerheads will stay on a regular outlet.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000031.jpg

Also...pretty much zero cyano today in the tank!

Love the way the stand worked out. And I like the white too! My vote is to keep it that way.

Yeah I think it is going to stay white...the room is black and white, so maybe the white stand and black trim of the tank will work nicely. We'll see. I will post pics this evening of the tank on the stand.

The final finish (whether white or black) will have a slight gloss. Would have preferred to have the panels all sprayed but just didn't have time really. I don't want to fill the tank until the stand is completely done inside and out. Should be the end of the weekend though.

Heres a question for you guys...

The floor slopes about 1/4" from the wall to the front of the tank. So it leans forward a 1/4". What would you use or how would you shim it? I have 1/4" plywood that would work but then not the entire frame of the stand will be sitting on the ground anymore since the front would be raised up and the back on the floor. The floor is exposed concrete if that makes any difference.

Looks Great. So.... It's 3:30 you should have had the thing filled with water by now???

Ha!

Not for a few days. I want to do all the plumbing and everything before filling this thing. Man it was heavy...Jack wasn't kidding when he said it was overbuilt! I think the double laminated bottom pane is the killer. Makes it about 3/4" thick.

The tank is in great shape though, I couldn't be happier.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000035.jpg

That's a great size. So If you want to do all the plumbing first then what your saying is there will be water in it Tomorrow :)

J

Actually yes! Well, maybe...

The plumbing is as simple at taking the "herbie" drain from my old tank and then reducing it down 1/2" to fit this tanks bulkheads. Jack was nice enough to give me some of his plumbing for the tank. And the return pump is very simple to plumb, so...should be done tomorrow but we all know it never works that way ;)

I have to level the stand too. Not sure yet how I should make up the 1/4" it slopes forward.

Originally I wanted to actually paint the stand too before filling it but now that I have it, I doubt I can wait a few days to fill it up :D

Hey.
how is the bottem of your stand built? Is it sheeted flat or are there 2x4's under it?

the black trim of the tank and the white of the stand are perfect.

Nice house!

Very chic with the concrete walls.

Just 2x4's if I understand your question right. There is no plywood on the bottom of the stand. Just 2x4's right on the concrete floor. Do you have shim ideas?

Yeah I think so too ;)

Yeah its a nice place. Very small condo but we fell in love with the building and this is all we could afford. We love it though! It actually doesn't seem that small because its all open space (no walls dividing rooms) and 14' ceilings. Kind of makes it feel big.

How are you with a skill saw? you could cut shims 1/4" to nothing over the length of the bottem supports. 1 for each support. If you want to wait untill tues. I could do them for you. I work in Richmond.

sorry you would need 1 across the front aswell

Those drawer slides worked well for you I see =) How far does each door open? Stand looks killer in white I'd definitely leave it that way. I also think the light hardware should stay silver. Looks great as is!

As for the shimming I'm not too sure...

If you'd copied how I built the REST of my stand you'd see how it shimmed at the top =) Tagging along as I really like how this is coming together.

I may take you up on this...

Not sure when I can make it out to Richmond but this is not something I can do myself.

Apparently my contractor step father also has an idea though...just that he is always SOOOOOO busy, so getting him to help may take forever :)

Yes they did...thanks for the inspiration/idea!

They open a total of 48" but the doors also come right off easily. So for day to day stuff, just sliding them open works but if I needed to take them off for any reason, it not hard. I will post some pics tomorrow of how they look open.

Our tanks are very similar, so its kind of cool to see what your doing with yours :) I would love to have the external overflow like yours.

Holy crap Justin, that thing looks amazing! Nice work on the stand. Finish it with high gloss paint, that will make it really "shine" :D

Looks very nice indeed :mrgreen: The stand looks great. Did I read in another post that you may be headed back to the US :frown: ? That would be a shame.

Hey I am actually coming down mon night. Then on tues I have to be at the airport for 1 ish. I will be staying in coquitlem mon night. If that is closer for you. Is your tank level left to right? Is it actually 1/4" out? How many 2x4s are under it? I could cut them up today and you could pick them up anytime. If that is the route you want to go. I have to tear apart my basement suite today anyway so I will have tools out.

Thanks. I don't know if we are going with a high gloss but maybe just a slight gloss. Not sure yet.

Possibly. But not for at least a year and it would most likely be a few years from now. I really don't know but I am going to be doing everything I can to stay here and not have to go back. Not just because of the tank (although that will be a huge reason) but also because I just really prefer living in Canada :)

OK, thanks for the offer...The problem is, I am so busy the next few days and I am not sure about how I would find a lot of time to get out there (I don't have a car anymore). I will have to see check today exactly where the tank is not level. I think its fine from right to left but its just the 1/4" from front to back.

I have shimmed tanks before with primed wood shims but its such a pain. I may end up doing that again here though, so I can do it myself when I get a chance (which would be today). I will let you know.

Thanks again for the offer though, its very kind of you :D

So I checked again and the tank is actually not sloping forward like I thought. Its actually level when I place the level both in the tank on the bottom glass and on the top rim. When I had checked the stand, I had the level in the foam top and thought the stand or floor was sloping 1/4" from back to front. Not sure what to think of this.

The tank is about 1/8" off from right to left though, so I am just going to use the wood wedge type shims to deal with that. I figure they should be fine since its only 1/8".

Thanks for the offer again but I should be fine. Have a great time in Mexico and have a margarita on the beach for me :razz:

The external overflow is nice in a way but it also means the tank eats up an additional 6 inches of my livingroom. I was originally planning on a 36" wide tank but after we moved in I realized with the overflow in as well...well the wife would have started asking questions =)

thanks I will! The shims will hold indefinetly. I shim up entire 6 plexes 2 or more inches in the air (to compensate for bad concrete finishers) The shims are fine. They compress quite a bit but you have to think of the weight of a 3 story 6 plex. After I build the building, crews come in and grout under the walls to permenently support it. (just because if I don't say it some one will make a comment:biggrin:)

Ok, thanks. That certainly makes me feel better about the whole thing. Since this is not a huge leveling job, I am going to use them.

Yes...I actually never really thought of that.

One of the nice things about this tank is that it can be right up against the wall. Well about 3/4" from the wall because of the conduit for the light "arms".

Hey Justin,
Where did you get the poles for the lights? I need something like that for my 45G cube.

Home Depot. Should be in the electrical section. Just ask for conduit piping and fittings. Make sur eyou get a pipe cutter too ;) Or you can borrow mine if you like. I think they are only about $12.

I have decided to try an HQI ballast with my 400 watt 20K's instead of the regular ballast I have been using. Should burn the bulbs a bit whiter.

So I picked up the same ballast today (PFO dual 400 watts) but the HQI version. I will see if I am able to get good pictues of the difference when I get home.

Anyone else running 20K SE bulbs on an HQI ballast? I am curious to know what you think.

Haven't hooked up the new ballast yet to check the color difference but I have started the transfer :)

Just took the sump off line from the old tank and got it under the new stand. Then I was able to put in the vertical center support of the stand and start to fill the tank up. For now I have about 30G from the sump in the new tank and about 20G of new water. I also have added the "new" LR that I had been cycling for the past month. Tomorrow I am going to go ahead and move everything else over and hopefully get the sump hooked up. Might be Friday though before everything is running properly...I have a lot of work to catch up on :D

One thing I wasn't sure what to do with was the ZEO reactor. So I have it in a rubbermaid of tank water and a bit of LR. Its just turned on for now. Is this a good or bad idea? I figured I should keep it going to preserve the bacteria colonies in the rocks until I get it hooked back up in the new sump.

I won't be able to take pics for a few days except with my Camera Phone since my fiance is down in LA for work again and took the camera :(

On a side note though, she is doing the make up for a Calvin Klein shoot! I am very proud of her :D Its kind of the first real big time freelance job she has had outside of working on TV shows or movies.

:laluot_02:

:bananalama:

:Banane24: :Banane22:

:focus:

Anyone know why the XM 20K bulbs are getting such LOW PAR ratings on Sanjays charts??? I was told they are one of the better 20K bulbs all around. Well them and the Radiums but after checking what they are putting out with my ballast (or any ballast on the list), I am finding them to be incredibly low. The Radiums would have been a much better choice :(

Some room and tank shots from this morning. Lights don't come on until 3pm though :) The blue light is just temporary for the pics, so you could see something at least. Everything is done including sump and plumbing but I still don't quite have enough water made to run the sump yet :( I was able to test the system and had no problems but the sump still needs about 30 more gallons or so. Otherwise its loud and filled with micro bubbles. I will take some pics of the sump later today.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000001.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000004.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000005.jpg

Thats Home Depot you see across the street. The windows you can see in the home depot building are about 20' up and people are not able to look right into our place :) I was looking at this last picture and though it looks like we have a building across from us that look directly in...that would SUCK. Its just windows to bring light into Home Depot. Actually I think maybe those windows are for Home Sense or Winners...Hmmmm...either way people don't use them :D

Looking good! I LOVE your pad and furniture (that's right, I called it a pad). I might have missed it, but are you runnig zeo right from the get-go on this one?

Thanks!

Yes I am. But I guess since everything is already transfered over, I am still not starting from the beginning with ZEO. I would love to do a ZEO tank one day where I start from the cycle with it. It would be interesting to see how that would go.

I have ZERO cyano now (will take some shots soon as the lights come on) and will dose coral snow and lots of BAK right away this time. I am going to do my best to make sure I don't get cyano this time.

I have been reading on the ZEO forum about how NOT to get cyano and it seems that starting with the snow right away and going really easy on the ZEOstart works. Because I have also noticed that for most people running ZEO, its not easy to rid the tank of cyano after its started. I was able to do it a few weeks back with the old tank but I don't know if I would get that lucky again. One of the things that I think helped was that I stopped feeding greasy foods like mysis (which is apparently just like candy to the fish anyways). I just feed fresh clams, prawns, mussels, squid all blended together, as well as pellets and nori.

I do have to feed some mysis again though because I picked up a new copperband from a Canreef member that is eating mysis. I also have a new Orange spotted goby that only seems interested in mysis.

Not that much to see under the stand. Its a real mess of cords right now but here we go:

The doors slide on drawer sliders like I said earlier. Thanks Lastlight for this idea!

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000007.jpg

The right side. Plumbing, skimmer, ZEO reactor...thats it.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000010.jpg

The left side. Ballast with fans, ATO can and my controller will be somewhere in that mess.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...0000000011.jpg

The nicest thing about ZEO so far has been the lack of equipment :) I have only run ZEO a few months but its the best thing I have done for my tanks. Obviously it has helped the nutrient levels in the tank and colored up the corals nicely but as an added bonus, it eliminated so much equipment from my sump! Its nice not to have to worry about much.