Movie posters.com, decent prices and if you wait for a sale at Michael's you can get frames buy one get the second for a penny.

Woohoo! Way to go !! Another stellar rip! Nice one!

oh thanks. I'm working through a bit of back pain still. Trying to take it easy. You are going to pwn the month with your pace tho bro. Keep it up!

w00t! 5000 PB&J !! Congrats !!eleven!!!

Amazing build :) It looks perfect

I'm looking forward to transferring all of my valonia over to really add that finishing touch ;)

Seriously. What's going on? So bizarre...

Hey, so yesterday on my daily nooner I burned 404 calories!

lol note to self don't let kien use bathroom around noon

Haha. Everyone would be wise to heed this advice.

Picked up a few buckets of live rock tonight (thanks Andrew!). Time to let it percolate. This was a great chance to leak test half my sump I guess... until this morning I hadn't done so lol. I'm hoping the other side performs as well!

I've decided to compromise and do some dead rock as well since I landed a large quantity of live rock which should help settle the dead stuff. I'll see if I can snap any pictures through the front window of my mystery rock guy's place when I go pillage his secret surplus.

:pop2:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/rock1.jpg

My new pet arrived today! I want to thank Concept Aquatics for hooking me up with this big piece of sexy. It's the Deltec TC 2560. I'll review it once it's under a load... the new twin chamber design (hidden behind the bubbles) looks interesting.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/2560.jpg

I had to makeshift a valved end to cap the feed and toss a riser on the output so it didn't leak all over the place. I still made a nice mess before she was water-tight lol.

This is just a vinegar cleaning but the bubbles are tiny as FRAG. Can't wait to plumb this into my rock. My sump is going to be a self-contained (and over-skimmed) system for the next month or so.

Here's all the rock I ended up sourcing (about 250lbs no room for even one more piece in here).

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/rock2.jpg

Bazinga!

There's not even water in the tank yet and my envy level is maxed out!! Looks great!

Is that your son? Why isn't he wearing a child size fishbrains T?

Can't wait to see your tank in operation. Looking good so far.

that's brilliant. I'm really interested in the Deltec SC2560, I'm really interested in how the TC works out for you

I love that it looks like a doctors office back there.... And that skimmer..... wow.... Ive been following closely :)

Thanks guys =)

I think it's more hospitalish if that's a word. Put all the vinyl baseboards in tonight to complete that look lol.

First a shot of the canopy with the new doors on. These were painful to do since I had to scribe the profile of my hinges into both the canopy and the doors to achieve a flush-mount door and avoid seeing a hinge on the face of my doors. I then used wood-filler over the door side of the hinges and painted them up. My drop ceiling will cover the upper part of the hinges.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors1.jpg

Had to mount 2x4s to the door panels to straighten them out. The added weight causes the doors to hang slightly ajar which will actually be nice so they don't magnet shut until I want them to.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors2.jpg

Here are the push/release magnets that will allow the doors to shut flush:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors3.jpg

I measured the door cuts carefully to maintain the scribe-spacing. I will be installing an inner trim to the canopy frame behind the doors to block light from escaping.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors4.jpg

My blue mixing drum is currently upstairs next to my fridge to hold all my ro/di water for the current tank. The room on the opposite side of my basement is so full of junk I can't even walk more than 2 feet into it. I can access the two other stacked water drums on the other side of my laundry tub from that room and plumbing all that into the fish room has to wait until I clean and reno that side.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors5.jpg

My dry goods shelf and the dosing shelf. My profilux doser will sit on top. Space is tight in the room and I need some flat working space near my sink so I'll be installing a sheet of plywood that can flip up when not in use soon.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors6.jpg

Plumbing is nearly done. I need to grab some 3/4" pipe to install the 3 gate valves that will run my media reactors. There's also a line that feeds into where the rock is (my reservoir I'll empty for water changes) and a valved line off the drain that will feed my skimmer. You'll notice metal gear clamps on the rubber sleeve I used to mount to the silly adapter that come with all the laguna pumps. These won't be submerged as the water on that side of my sump will be quite shallow. If anyone knows where I can get plastic clamps though please let me know!

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors7.jpg

Looking down the back corridor again:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors8.jpg

Very simple returns! I have some sch 80 elbows to add on but I have no idea where my water level will be so those will go on once the tank is filled. They'll probably not be glued so I can aim or modify them if needed down the road.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/404/doors9.jpg

Okay I could be off the 404 bandwagon. This last group of pictures has brought to light a very serious issue that could bring into question the sanity of this whole build. How can a person feel at ease with all the designing and constuction of the tank and wonder if it will come to be knowing now, and don't try to hide it the proof is right there under your sink.... you drink PEPSI !!

People that know me well understand that diet pepsi and myself are two peas in a pod. Go back through my builds the evidence is compelling ;) my mini fridge will likely go where that case is. Half for pepsi and half for frozen food lol. Although... So far that cold floor is doing one hell of a job!

Accepting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, be strong diet Coke will be waiting for you.

Why the Deltec Over A Bubble King ?? :twised:

I was originally looking into the skimz 302. All sorts of issues getting it here as it had never been imported by aquadigital and there were signs that maybe that particular model was not confidence-worthy in the end.

So I wanted a vertex alpha cone 300. No hard set date for those as they weren't even being produced at the factory when I inquired and after waiting a while I decided I'd had enough of that.

I had the option of getting a sm250 sooner but again no real idea there either of when. I also mentally didnt want to drop that coin for a skimmer I've already owned and lost my shirt on.

after doing some reading I liked what I saw in the new deltec line. Even more efficient than the red dragons and from what I read the bubbles and output were the same as the bk line.

Now I've got it and it's game on

Brett, you're doing an amazing job with this build. I'm so looking forward to seeing water in there.

Nice run yesterday, glad to see you back! Hope you're feeling better. xoxoxox

I should be paying attention in physics but your build is far too bad arse! Any idea on how you will prop the doors open while working on the tank?

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

All I can say is seeing tank builds like yours, seeing Tony's in person on many occasions, and others makes me want to sell the house, buy another and build the Tank Room of my dreams.

Great Work Brett! You are going to love the overall look, cleanliness and functionality of everything.

ok I just read this for the first time. nice build, not enough room behind the tank for my fat a$$ but nice all the same :mrgreen:

are you planning on building a platform behing there? that would allow you to run plumbing along the floor if you had to while protecting it with the walkway above. this would eliminate the need for a ladder to work on it.

Steve

Thanks man! I bought some eye-hooks that will mount to the bottom of the 2x4s that straighten the doors out. I have a hook latch thingy that pairs up with each that will screw into the bottom of the joists. Just flip the door up at 90 degrees and latch in place. These latches will stick thru the drop ceiling later too.

Thanks man. It's a tiny house but now that I have all my stuff in place I'm really happy with how I used the space. I have no doubt that the ease of access is going to result in better husbandry. I hope that reflects in my coral but who knows...

Thanks Steve. I actually describe a moveable platform near the beginning of the build. I haven't decided what that will look like yet but the ladder is temporary to allow me access into the tank for now (and because I had no room to store it anywhere else at times during the reno!). I can't wait to get it out of there! I have no need for additional plumbing. The walkway will give me access to the tank from behind and making the platform moveable will allow me access to underneath the stand. That's all storage for my salt and other larger dry goods. I'll be buying some larger buckets of chemicals too... TONS of storage under there.

Looks very good, nice work on the whole setup.

it is indeed looking really sweet mang......I cant remember whether or not I asked you this at the shop before or not.....were you building a "catwalk" over the sump?.....or were you planning on access for working on the tank through the front?

Thx guys.

Doug there is complete access from the back of course and then there are 2 doors in the front and one door on the end opposite the sump. I don't really think of the sump side as having access but I can sorta lean diagonally from front or back I guess and get to it...

Just read your whole thread. Amazing job so far! This is going to be my next tank size for sure! Loving it :lol:

Brett amazing job man , on the other note How is the misses doing.

Thanks mike she's doing awesome. Her biggest complaint these days is my build is taking too long. Tank transfer means she gets her sectional couch and Xmas tree with the new space. She always asks me what else I need for the tank. True love I tell ya ;)

and she is even trying to help you stuff the small tank a little more full.....btw, I was looking at a couple stock lists today, after you left and swallowtail angels were on it:twised:

:bananahuge:

Sound to me like a hidden agenda to me :lol:

Looks absolutely stunning Brett, great job all around.

looking awesome Brett, you have to give me a tour of your tank someday :-)

Thanks guys =)

Doug how much for a swallowtail pair out of curiosity?

You're all welcome for a visit anytime once I have stuff transferred and assuming I don't kill my stuff in the process lol.

I have the sump full now and the skimmer is breaking in on the rock. Time to play the waiting game!

What kind of swallowtail has caught your interest?

Haha getting close eh? This is the worst time, knowing it's all technically there but you have to fill it and wait for cycles and what not..