is this tank big enough to dive in it ? :D

Thanks for the compliments! As for the generator, its not common but it should be since the are really very affordable! I got it for the tank but its really helping me everywhere!

Well I'm 6'2" so yes I could submerge...but its better for my little mermaid...pic to follow once she gets up.:biggrin:

Nice to see water in that bad boy, even if its just temporary. Sounds like you're getting real close (to actually working on the tank) now! :-)


______
Sent from the future on my iPhone 10 using Tapatalk

I am and the stress is mounting! After sitting on this for so long, now I keep wondering if I've thought of everything(of course I haven't and I know that).
My builder made a few mods to my stand design (cosmetic only) but they have created some issues for how my plumbing might go. I'm going over to the house today to see what new holes have to be drilled to fit my plumbing.

Well today was the big day! The tank got moved into the new house and onto the stand. I really wasn't sure how it would go but in the end it went pretty well. Between my builder and his crew and a couple friends, everything went well.

Here are some pics:

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-25164836.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-25164629.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-25165304.jpg

The stress over that move has been haunting me for a bit. Glad its over and now I can focus on getting the tank plumbed. Gotta wait a little still until the fish room is complete though.

Wow! That tank looks incredible inside that stand! Great job on the design and overall look.:biggrin:

Holee mackerel :lol:

Very cool dude :mrgreen:

:thumb:

Very nice! I love the peninsula room dividers, can't wait to see it filled!!

Wow, that looks hot and is going to be a KILLER room divider!

Seriously tight man. The epic wait and battle will have been well worth it!

Wow, Brett, so good to see you on here looking at my tank. I know I sorely miss looking at all the amazing things you've done with your tanks...in fact you inspired me into doing the auto light lifter.:biggrin:

Thanks to everyone for the comments. It's been so long in coming...now I'm almost vibrating with the wait I have in order to plumb this giant!

The gap you see above the glass will disapear with Oak trim. There will also be a 3" Oak ledge all the way around at the base. There is a 1/2" gap all the way around the tank in the stand with holes and lines running down to a drain if ever there is a leak (at least one that doesn't burst the tank)

They are placing the hidden sink in and putting in my light control boards above that sink either today or early next week. I will try to get some pictures of how the overflow goes through the wall and such later today if I get over to the house.

I know this has been going on so long that it's been hard to stay interested but I think the real fun is soon to start! :wink:

Wow, she's a beaut...

Looking good Mark! I'm looking forward to seeing this come together.

I saw your wife walking by with a bunch of empty boxes last week so I'm guessing you are starting to pack up? You must be itching to get into the house. It would be sweet if you are in by Christmas.

Looks amazing and now the real fun part begins...

Thanks for the great comments everyone! Moving closer each day!

Kevin, my wife is collecting boxes...we just haven't packed anything in them.:redface:

I promised some more pics...and here we go.

Here's a side shot of the cabinet where my overflow, plumbing, sink and LED control panels will end up. It's only partially done so far. You can see my plumbing from the fish room coming up from the bottom. That's the little bar sink which i will have available to save me from the wrath of my wife after using her kitchen sink for the last 7 years.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-26164118.jpg

Here is a closer shot of the overflow:
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-26164040.jpg

Because they changed my stand design, I had to think quickly and have them pre-cut some holes for where I might place Vortecs or Tunzes on that wall of the tank.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-26164049.jpg

And these little babies arrived the other day for my fish room. 100G each
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-26164604.jpg

Tell me more about your 100g water containers. Do the black tops? come off? Are they stackable?

The tops come off in two ways...If you look, you'll see a little break in the Handle on top...that is an "inner circle" that you can spin off, and then the large black circle is the "outer circle" that also comes off. They also have a bulkhead pre-installed on the bottom of the opposite side to my picture.

I don't think they are stackable...I got them from Corix and they are made in Vancouver. Really heavy duty. I was going for other ones from Andrew-Sherat but these were just way better built. Plus the shoulder of the tank allows me to put in some additional plumbing with uni-seals without having to worry about slopes (a straight spot to drill a hole)

They will sit side by side on the small stand you see at the back of my fish room in the pic below:
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...0-04161825.jpg

I wanted just enough rise that gravity would empty them. I plan to do a fully plumbed water change system to the sump which will sit on the stand to the left. There is also a dedicated drain over there in the floor that you can see (black pipe)

such attention to detail. The holes in the wood below your overflow are for MP40's i'm guessing?

How much were the containers from Corix if you don't mind me asking?

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express

How big are they? It's hard to get a sense of scale looking at them (actually what's really weird is the picture of your tank room, the wood grain makes it look like the inside of a tank stand - it's the other things like light switches and plugs that hint at it not being 30" from one side to the other :lol:) .. but those tanks honestly don't look that much larger than my 2 50g barrels. That's awesome. When I looked into water storage I settled on 50g's because of space considerations and anything with more capacity was just way too big).

Edit: Are these them? http://www.premierplastics.com/utility.htm

I'm loath to say that I'm not totally sure. I had some arranged from a Andrew-Sheret and then my builder got these (they were higher quality) from Corix. Retail I think they were about $150 each but I'm not sure what my wholesale price is yet...I haven't got the bill.:redface:

These are each 100G tanks. As you can see in the picture below, they fit on my small stand well and still allow me to build something above them and make the most of my space. I couldn't figure a good method to stack them without making it tough to clean them when necessary.

I'm not sure if that's the original supplier. I will look again at the labels and get back to you on that. I can say that they are really built well.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_1645.jpg

Here's my sink setup in the fish room. I chose an Acrylic sink...hoping it won't discolor too much over time. I know my cabinet doesn't match but I keep reminding myself that this is a working room and looking pretty doesn't make it work any better.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_1646.jpg

Lastly, we got a little closer to working on the plumbing of the actual display but finishing a little more woodwork.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_1649.jpg

Hey, I took this picture just for you!

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_1674.jpg

Got some more things done in the house this week, including getting the Generator and the HRV functional.

Can't wait to get countertop on in the fish room and the floor epoxied!
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_1662.jpg

Haha, thanks! Man I guessed good. :)

We got some more stuff finished today on the tank. It seems like I only get work done on the tank 1 in 10 days...the rest are dedicated to the rest of the house.

The trim on the top and bottom got finished around the tank. I think it turned out great. Here are some pics.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-19153550.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-19153536.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-19153523.jpg

I also started doing some plumbing. The pics from my phone didn't turn out very well for this so i will try with my camera next time.

It's amazing how hard it is to find the plumbing parts I need in a town like Vernon...even from the plumbing wholesale stores. Sadly, some parts need to be ordered online and will take some time to get here.

Got going on some of the plumbing today...pictures aren't great as my phone is old and has no flash.

Everything is just dry fit while I try to figure out roughly what I'm trying to accomplish.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-23172847.jpg

Return plumbing on the eurobrace of the tank.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-23125055.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-23125114.jpg

I'm missing a couple key pieces to the plumbing until a shipment from the US arrives. Sadly this stalls me from glueing most things as I don't know exactly parts in transit will fit in.

Today I managed to get some more done on the build. I glued the plumbing that I had dry fit for the return over the tank. This went pretty well but I was reminded how rarely I do plumbing by how many times I had to fix little errors. It looks the same as above, just glued.

I also got to working on my water change station. Everything is dry fit (that's why it's looking a little off for fit, since the glue will allow the plumbing to sink a little further in each fitting than dry)

Here's a picture.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-25170809.jpg

The way that I've got it set up, I will be able to the do the following by select turns on the ball valves:

A) Transfer water between the fresh and salt tanks (right and left respectively)
B) Circulate the salt water tank (the pipe going up will enter a bulkhead on the top edge of the tank for this)
C) Complete a water change to my sump located on the bench to the left. (this pipe has not been completed yet but will be shortly)
D) Empty either or both tanks via the pump
E) Empty either tank via gravity.

The ABS pipe you see to the right is a drain that I will hook things up to for emptying via the pump.

The pump is a Blowhole 1450 so it will have plenty of power to do what I need it to. It's never been used yet but Reeflo already sent me the replacement bearing assembly that they've been updating these units with.

I am having a problem that I need advice on though. Here is another picture of my plumbing below my overflow.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...1-23171006.jpg
I have since moved the large 2" pipe in the foreground to the rear 2" outlet but for the purposes of my question, this won't matter as I'm only focused on the 1 1/2" pipes for the overflow.

My issue is that my three bulkheads are thread on the bottom, into which I put a MPT/slip adapter. Below that I was planning on a pipe to lead to the union on two of the pipes and a Gate valve then union on the other one. How do I put this plumbing together as even with a union, the slip fittings on top and bottom don't allow me to get the pipe high enough to get into the fitting and then align with the union? I know this may not make sense but basically, I need to slip up and slip down...but how to do both?

I'm hoping this is just a brain fart and that I'm missing something obvious.

Awesome build!

As for your question, I think I understand it.. I think.. haha

Could you not unscrew the union and glue your pipe into the half that comes off then slip into your MPT to slip adapter and screw your union back together.. Might take some precise measurements to get it to fit properly but i think it shoould be doable!

That's what I was thinking...but I was hoping I was missing something easier...Thanks for looking at thread.

Yup, undo the union, glue, twist, screw all in that order :). Nice build so far. I do not miss the building days when you have to wait for parts, trouble shoot, etc an fish stuff seems to be everywhere cause you can't put things away cause the project is not done. You will not regret the patience though. Patience and lambing ahead IMO is what makes a good build in the long run.

Thanks....I'm thinking now of putting two unions in each pipe...otherwise I won't have the vertical room to unscrew from the bulkhead above. If I have it measured so perfectly as to allow the one union to connect tightly, there will be no room for movement. Two unions costs me an extra $10 but then I can unscrew both, pull out the piece sideways and then unscrew from above for maintenance.

Any thoughts on this from anyone?

I'd almost consider going with flex PVC in the bit that comes out to give you some wiggle room that way.

After a visit to my local Andrew Sheret, I have come up with a solution. For about $30, I can put an extendable PVC joint into each line. This way I don't need to be exact with the measurements because I can extend it up to 3" in length. I will take a picture of the joint later to put on here. I chatted with a couple plumber friends of mine and neither had issues with these extenders leaking, so let's hope I can say the same.

Hey Mark, your build is looking FANTASTIC! I'm so happy for you that you're getting some great progress now, and it is all coming together for you so nicely. The stand and canopy are right classy. Soon the stress will be on to make the inside look as good as the outside! :lol:

Haha, Thanks Mindy. The stress of not yet being able to buy some of the frags I see on here from Snappy and others is almost as bad...so I'm hoping it will all balance out.

^^ That is the worst part about having an in-progress build - seeing all the stuff you badly want to buy or add, but can't.

How long are your US orders taking to arrive? Mine take about 3 weeks unfortunately.

Hey, sorry for the delay in answering...I was away for a bit.

My orders from the US average about 14 days...so a little faster than you apparently :) Got my stuff, now just to find the time to put it together. I leave for the Kootenay's on business for the next three days and my wife sure isn't doing the plumbing while I'm gone!

Anyways, here's a quick phone pic from today, the doors on my fish cabinet were going on. Simple and all solid Oak. The pic isn't great, I will take my camera if I go over tonight.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_2261.jpg

A few more pictures
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_8605.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/IMG_3237.jpg