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225 Build - Funky Style
Hey Everyone,
Due to unfortunate circumstances, Brett was forced to sell his system. Mine (and everyone else's) best wishes go out to he and his family! And thanks to Brett for everything! Im the one who bought the tank/stand/plumbing/sumps. A big thank-you to Brett for everything! This thread will cover my 'funkyfication' of the system to fruition. :razz: I have been considering a larger freshwater tank for awhile now. Have been looking at tanks in the 225-500g range. This one happened to be 30" front to back which 'fit' the situation. Its going to house some of my central/south american cichlids. Anyways onto the 'real work' and pics. Tank+stand came in the basement door up a 1ft lip and we just had to turn it sideways. Put the tank on some sawhorses before lifting it onto the stand. Even tough the stand is 45ft tall (actually pretty damn close, the tank sits 43.5" off the ground in the end), the tank lift went well - it was the stand that sucked coming in the door. That thing is heavy!:lol: Pics pics pics: My tired butt standing beside it as a height reference. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91216-0055.jpg Here is an 'outside shot' of my fishroom where the stand will be going infront of the window (about a foot away from the wall). The plan is to have the wall finished and painted by tuesday. You know your a fishkeepers when you have assorted tanks set-up before the room is anywhere near finished. :lol: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91217-0405.jpg I picked up some really small casters (1") and will install these on the ends of the 80+lb doors to try to reduce some of the stress on the slides. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91217-0402.jpg I dont know what was going on with the silicone in the sump, but for some reason it was sticky and much more flexible than the silicon on the resevoir, and the top 'bulkhead receiver piece' popped off, so i pulled out most of the inner seams and one spaces between the glass and re-did them with a different construction silicon. The resevoir is perfect so I have no idea why it felt weird? Picture of the sump with some of the silicon pulled out. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91217-0401.jpg Picture of the silicon I have around to use to do this stuff. I used the GE 1200 for the tank, black. I actually have no idea why I bought so darn much? I guess i've got enough for awhile, I only used 1/3rd of a tube on the sump. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91217-0408.jpg Spraypaint I'll be 'blacking out' all the white plumbing with, and also the big styrofoam backing im going to install behind the entire tank/stand because its going against a window. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91217-0409.jpg Here are some shots of the plumbing i'll be using or borrowing from to build the sysem. A very small portion of it is to add a drain line and feed line from my R/O system in the basement to service the tank. Water changes will be like Brett had it set-up, draining to the basement floor drain(though mine is piped horizontally on a downslope because im already in the basement. The supply will be from a mag pump in my R/O bin. Switches and valves baby! Thats how I do most of my waterchanges. Bought this: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91219-0218.jpg Had this sitting around: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91219-0218.jpg Cardboard box is stuff I already had around, styro is new stuff. Im going to try out this penductor (which already comes mounted on some locline with a threaded fitting). http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91219-0221.jpg Just an idea of the amount/variety of parts in the styro. And although I did get a massive pile of plumbing from Brett, I need a whole lot of couplers to put all the cuts back together, or there are some sections missing or I dont know how some of it fits back together. Hence the crazy amount of parts. I also tend to use more plumbing than necessary when I build a system. :silly: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91219-0238.jpg So the new silicon in the sump is now dry (did it a couple days ago) and I put it into the stand temporarily to start some of the dry plumbing. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91219-0217.jpg You can see the pump I'll be using, a GenX-PCX40, I had it sitting around for the next tank setup I got. It is basically a rebadged and re-painted Blueline NS 1100 pump (its not a common pump but they are amazing). The GenX is a more common version. It turns over 1190gph and handles 22ft of head. I'll be running it with a herbie overflow like Brett had and using 2 main center outputs on the tank and running a smaller volume through the outer lines. Lighting for this bad boy is still up in the air, im looking for less expensive (im a student with 0 available dollars, haha), but still bright enough to showcase the fish's colours. Any suggestions welcome. Im ok with asymmetric patterns or mixing lighting types. No halides though. This is where im at right now - dry plumbing and finishing the wall it is to go against. Any suggestions/questions welcome! Im hoping I have time to have this RUNNING before I go back to school Jan 4th but usually the holidays are more busy than schooldays. Im hoping this year is different! Also not sure how this is going to go cause my saltwater system was just completed about 2 months ago... and that was supposed to take 2-3 weeks. It took 3 years... haha. There will be LOTS of pics as I go! Next week should see lots of progress. Thanks again to Brett for everything, and for building such an awesome setup. Thanks for reading! Cheers, Chris PS. Sorry if any of the pics are poopy - Im taking all of them with my Crackberry's camera. And this post is way too long.. lol. |
Gonna be a sweet setup man. Jumping on..
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Lol now this is fun to watch.
And don't make my crappy job on the sump public man come on! Glad you got that giant lead-lined stand down there. Can't wait to see more! |
hey congrats man what about the drywalling of the house. you are going to start this tank with out doing the drywall.
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Hmmm....Im pretty sure this tank was only meant to be a reef. What is freshwater anyways?
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Yeah I wasn't going to say anything. Should have made him sign somethng! Once or twice since I began that build I considered cichlids too.
But temporarily ! |
I'd be all Amazon rays. :) Or one heck of a planted setup. Could you imagine a school of say 30-40 cardinals in that tank? Come on, that'd be pretty slick too. :)
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aww so your the lucky guy who got his tank
for sure will be watching this thread |
Its looking good. Keep up the good work
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Can't wait to see this one come alive...again :lol:
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Chris where did you buy the GE1200 btw? There was something weird about that silicone I bought off BRS...took forever to not be sticky and it seems some areas never properly cured.
FYI this was the stuff (I'll def be steering clear): http://www.icmarket.pl/images/illbru...1-icmarket.JPG |
I know he's not your fave person to deal with but the only place I was ever able to find some GE1200 was from Mitch.
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Mitch is... well, I'll leave those words for private conversations :P Brett, Quinn, Ed and I had a real nice chat about him while we were loading the stuff into the truck, haha. - oh I also want to thank my buddies Quinn and Ed, and also my Dad, for helping me get this bad boy moved!
Tony: Thanks for the comment! Brett: Haha, hey I never said it was your silicone job! I DID infact say that the resevoir is perfect! Lol. That silicone is weird stuff. Um, the GE1200 I got from aquarium illusions. I know people who have ordered it online somewhere and also through local plumbing or hardware supply places. If you want i can arrange to get you some if you need it for your next build, just PM me. Infact I'll give it to you. Man that stand was death. I actually ruined my back (well I totalled it moving a full tank alone the next night) getting that thing in the door. We had to do a really weird lift (well I did) to help get it in... and we probably should have opted for a different way lol. Mike: One of the walls (opposite the window) is actually finished and painted... im going to frame the far (left in pic) wall in and drywall the whole window bay and part of left wall by tuesday and have it painted. The floor will be finished after all the tanks in the room are set-up. The rest of the basement will come with time. We are still trying to landscape about 2 acres around the house and finish a workshop separate from the house... its comming along... slowly :lol: GSP/Brett/Tony: Haha thaaaanks guys... im actually quite proud of my collection of cichlids :P Lorenz0/Hillegom/rjengen: Thanks! Today's Progress I finally pulled my head out of the sand and figured out the darn plumbing to connect the union/ball to the sump. I didnt feel like 'emergency ordering' a TxT 2" bulkhead (lame I couldnt find any in town) so I got a shorty bulkhead and a coupler. I 'dry-fitted' the line from the sump to the pump. Got a few more plumbing parts and also picked up some Matala bio-media for the sump. I got some black sand the other day, but its way too fine. One of the bags also exploded in the back of my pathfinder. At least the stuff was CHEAP. Im going to exchange it for something thicker. Today was a bad progress day - had to work and then family is over right now. Just sneaking in some 'midnight canreef', lol. Will have more pics tomorrow! List to tackle tomorrow: -Work on some more plumbing, dry-fitting and glueing what I can -Try to get the gyprock up -Install a baffle in the sump (which I just realized means pulling it back out of the stand I just put it in yesterday? Lol, smart). -Spray the back of the styrofoam backing for the setup -Install (but not connect) new water supply line for the system. Cheers Everyone! And thanks for looking! Chris |
Also, again I welcome any suggestions for lighting (other than halides lol, though I wish I kept my lumenarc, yes, for a FW. Would have looked stellar!). I would like to get the lighting installed before I move this thing into position near the wall (still will have about 10-12" behind which is enough space for me to walk across behind it).
Thanks! Chris |
Robax Platinum (it's Ibuprofen based, or as I like to call it "vitamin I"). Forget the ASA-based Robaxisal and the acetametophen-based Robaxicet. And yeah, while I agree it sucks to "put your life on hold" for a bit, but with a wrecked back myself and not a huge fan of the random times it pops up and reminds me it's there, I do recommend slowing down just a titch until it settles a bit. The Robax *should* help unless it's really bad damage though... Good luck, you have my sympathies (there are probably loads of guys in the 30's right now nodding sympathetically .. all dating back to stories from when they were teens and early-20's .. :lol: ) Good luck!
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Sorry to hear about the back problems Chris. As bad as my posture is my back is ok. I think it's all the builds I end prematurely. You get bent over so severely when you sell that I think it stretches all the muscles in the back nicely haha.
Cichlids are the bomb man don't sweat it =) As for the GE1200...I'll have to order online or buy some of your extras. You forgot to give Ed's dad some credit. He sorta inspired us all a few times to focus more on the tank move and less on anything else :mrgreen: |
Sorry about your back Chris, I know the feeling.. I injured mine about 2 years ago, and it still bothers me to this day. Hope the pain goes down soon for ya.
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Tony: Thanks, I'll have to check it out! And yeah - my Dad is telling me I have to be careful because obviously runing my back at this age would be horrendous. Going to hit-up some doctors this week to see whats up. Its been bad for too long.
Brett: Yes I'll get you some of it. And LMAO about Ed's dad! At least my 'reefer's hop' got us off that topic. J: Thanks. And damn, that sucks. Best wishes for your's too! Progress update: (Pics necessary ofcourse) Did this in the middle of the night last night. Used newspaper and tape to cover all the 'key areas' that are for bonding/threads, and sprayed the plumbing black. Glued a couple sections together. This is how I'll be 'finishing' all the plumbing. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91220-1451.jpg Also: Darnit, I just realized I still have to move a stand with two tanks out of the way to start the drywalling (the 15 and 28g in one of the pics)... thats going to take 30-45 mins today so will slow progress. Will update with more later today. Cheers, Chris |
More progress:
Added a baffle to the sump. I'll have a 'media tray' ish thing in the sump, water will all be flowing through a few layers of foam and matala. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91220-1743.jpg Also got the gyprock up in the 'bay window' area where the tank goes. Stupid stores in Leduc/south edmonton closed early today so we couldnt get the corner jointing stuff for the mudding, and we also need to pick up some studs to finish framing in both sides of the walls adjoining the 'bay'. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91220-1948.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91220-1948.jpg I am a little worried about sanding the plaster in my fish room with tanks running where im working... but I usually mud fairly dry so I dont get much shrinkage, which means im hoping I can get away with two good layers and little sanding. Unfortunately thats all I got done today. Tomorrow the first layer of mud should be done and the supply line plumbed, though I just realized I might be out of 3/4" fittings for that line. Cheers, Chris |
deffinatelly cover the tanks prior to sanding!! I used plastic and seales them right off, got a bit of condensation under the plastic but kept the dust out!!
(turn off any mh's prior to plastic!!lol) |
wow.. you have a lot of tanks :-)
What's a cichlid and are they reef safe ?? And that 225g is going to be a massive freshwater top off reservoir!! |
Cuz: Yeah I guess I probably will toss some vapour barrier up around the tanks.
Kien: Workin on number 9 with this 225 haha :P And another plywood tank (100g) is also slowly in the works at the moment. And wow, your funny! Haha :P Actually im upgrading my R/O Resevoir system to 100g from 60g because of this new tank. It feeds my FW fishroom on one end of the basement and SW tanks in bedroom on other end of the basement. G'night. Chris |
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Then throw in a few indian flasher barbs and a school of lemons as well, then a few cool plecos, plants all across the bottom and a giant piece of driftwood, and it would look stellar! Haha.
Actually I will be getting a very large piece of driftwood for this thing hopefully! Today's progress: First layer of mud and some dry plumbing. Also got partial wall framed where it will connect to the doorway. Other side will get done later.... I need this tank running first. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91221-1803.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91221-2158.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91221-2158.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91222-0143.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91222-0143.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91222-0145.jpg To do tomorrow: - Try to find some Tahitian moon sand in town. Its black, and thats what I want. According to the 'technical specs', the copper slag sand I picked up should be usable (it does not contain copper), but many people (though without proof) are saying it shouldnt be used. I think its too fine for my tank and the next size up is too coarse. I also think these grains might be too sharp. - Pick up a bit a few more plumbing pieces I am still missing - Actually get the water supply line started this time - Second layer of plaster - More dry plumbing Hoping to have a pretty productive day but I have to squeeze my christmas shopping in tomorrow, haha. Oops. Thanks for reading! Cheers, Chris |
How fine or rough-edged is the Tahitian Moon? I have .. um .. I think it's called "Fluorite" in my FW, mixed with a couple bags of "Eco-Complete." I wanted a black substrate that was also good for plants, but it turns out to be way too harsh for my corycats. I want to find something finer but I'm having a heck of a time finding something suitable. Or is the trick maybe not going finer, but going smoother?
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Tony I've heard of that Eco-complete as a suggestion for the black as well. And from what I understand the Fluorite is a plant growth substrate. I think Fluorite is really 'mushy' and dirt-like? Too much for me anyways, but you'd know more you own it! Haha. I heard both Eco and Tahitian are about the same? I dont know if there is a difference in the grain-shape. Apparently fluorite is the most 'friendly' option but TMS is truely 'black' once in an aquarium. Eco sounds like it is in between?
I think smoother as opposed to finer is the key, because fish are going to come into contact with the grains no matter the size. |
Flourite isn't mushy, it's like little flakes kind of. It's hard. It comes in red or "dark", and is fairly heavy. Eco-Complete is mostly black, and the size varies a lot in a bag. It's fairly light-weight. You may get algae from using either substrate as both are used in planted tanks and are somewhat minor fertilizers, although out of the two I would think you would have better luck with the Flourite.
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At the risk of further derailing onto this tangent, Fluorite does come in black now. I had to switch to it because I gave up on Eco-Complete after nobody in Calgary could get me any, and the distributors (HI NATE) said they could get me some if I could commit to a whole pallet, which, for a 65g, might have been slightly overkill. :) I had gotten 2 bags but it was nowhere near enough to get the depth I needed in the tank.
Don't really have an algae issue luckily (although it's a heavily planted tank so that could be the reason), but it's literally wearing the mouths clean off from my corycats. They have no mouths left, just big gaping ulcers. :( Maybe I need to think about rehoming the little guys, but if this Tahitian Moon stuff would be better I'd be all for that instead. :) |
Tony if I get ahold of Tahitian or any other sort of black sand, I'll let you know how it works out. Im trying to get ahold of another type of 'marine' black sand, its some sort of coloured sand because it comes in black/blue/green/pink/white... says its marine and freshwater safe.
Myka: Like i said Tony owns the fluorite not me. The last few bags I touched I thought it seemed mushy but I probably wasnt looking closely enough, I just poked them. :P Wow awesome - I walked out of my bedroom today and straight to my fishroom (typical morning ritual) and found my Dad decided to gyprock that newly framed section of wall, plaster it and do another coat of mud on the whole room. Thanks Dad, you are awesome! Picked up more plumbing today, some eggcrate to add to 'guard' the overflow slot, a bin that I will effectively use as a drainage resevoir/sink for under the tank, and also some (a pail of) H2Ocean salt for my SW system! Woot! I'll try to get pics up at some point tonight. For now, off to play with some plumbing :) Cheers, Chris |
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:lol: anyway.. You're making wicked progress here. Wish I had that kind of time.. Envious! |
Ohhh.... my god... LMAO. You two are wayyy too funny.
Hey Brett at least you aren't 'my dad' like Ed seemed to swing :lol: And Thanks Kien! The joys of the HOLIDAY between school semesters... haha. I am hoping to have most of the tank's plumbing done tonight. Again i've managed to push back the plumbing of the supply line (I think because im going to have to climb around on ladders running piping through the ceiling for that one). The wall should be at least primed tomorrow. I think I MIGHT have to go buy more plumbing tomorrow... AGAIN, lol. (This would make the 10th time I purchase plumbing for this tank). Off to do more plumbing of the aquarium again. (yes, emphasis placed on plumbing an aquarium). Cheers, Chris |
Ok so tonight I ALMOST finished dry plumbing the whole tank (just had one line to connect a horizontal run to a long vertical) and I ran out of darn 1" pipe! That includes the stuff from Brett and the stuff I bought. Gah... Which means another plumbing shopping trip tomorrow. I still need a bit more 1" to finish the drain line from my 'waterchange bin' under the tank. I do however have a pile of 1.5" Pipe leftover now. Will use some on the next build once im done this lol. I have been trying to 're-use' most of the plumbing I got with the tank, hence the mixture of Sch40 and Sch80. I am starting to think it might take too much time to spray all the white stuff back. I dont think it looks all that pooey.
Also, got some white egg-crate cut to size, sprayed black, and siliconed into place in the overflow, and finally put in the little stand and drilled the bin and stand for the bulkhead for the drain. Part of the drain line (outside the stand) for this is plumbed. On to the pics: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91223-0203.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91223-0200.jpg (I know it looks like theres a gap in the silicone behind the overflow/just under the eggcrate, but I figured out that it is just my clumsy smearing of silicon on the front of it causing a reflection. Will clean that up tomorrow.) http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91223-0201.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91223-0159.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91223-0159.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91223-0201.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91223-0202.jpg So thats where im at. Tomorrow - I have plans but during the morning will squeeze in some work on the wall (maybe primer?), get the rest of the plumbing (hopefully the last! :razz: ), and finish the dry-plumb later tomorrow night. Also, spray (black) the styrofoam backing I will be installing across the entire back to provide some insulation from the window (although these new triple pane windows are unbelievable, such little temp loss!). Im just worried about drafts hitting the back of the tank. It will be about 12" from the window's wall in it's final position. Thanks for looking! Cheers, Chris |
Wow you've been busy! So the manifold now controls your 4 returns?
I see the 10 gallon never made it into the plans. Was it too STANK to both cleaning up? I forgot about the 30 feet of 1" pvc in my basement. oops! Road trip? |
Yes, the manifold will control the 4 returns (heres hoping my pump can actually push that! :lol: ). The Tee almost right off the pump in the stand will empty water into buckets or into the white bin to drain if I wish to drain from the sump (Which I probably will do, cause then I can clean all the media out in the sump which would be awesome!
The 10 gallon... :( ...during the unloading process someone unclipped a strap around the sliding doors and they both crashed down smashing into the plumbing sticking off the 10... exploded the front of it. I was more worried the tile doors broke... but holy damn Brett... those 9000lb doors are bullet proof! Unfortunately the 10g was not. Lol. I'll get a new front for it sometime, but I'll have to re-drill holes as well. Haha no man keep it for your next build! Today... 0 progress... I slept in, then spent 2hrs plowing the driveway cause of last night's beautiful snowfall, lol. After that I already had plans in town. Merry Christmas to everyone! (since it is now technically Christmas Eve!) PS. Sorry the plumbing looks so ugly. Nothing is exactly lined up (no glue yet, still have to 'slide' (more like kill-self-while trying to slide 800lbs, will need help) the system into place. I think the 'contents' will probably move so I dont want to commit yet. Also, I am now unsure of whether I want to spray all the white stuff black or not. Its going to be a pain. Thanks for looking! Chris |
I wouldn't bother painting the plumbing. Yeah, it looks cool, but usually the focus of the tank shouldn't be the plumbing anyhow. I guess if you have an open top tank in a display area like Brett had it's one thing to not have it stick out but if the pipes are hidden from general view then I wouldn't sweat it. Just my $0.02 though..
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Yeah.... Tank will be 12" from wall though so we'll see. I may spray some of it, the stuff flanking the edges.
The wall is primed, woot! :) Will be doing more today! Cheers, and Merry Christmas! Chris |
Okie dokie... I think I've delayed enough! Happy New year to everyone (since this is an 'old news' thread now, haha).
I really haven't accomplished much since Christmas. Relaxed, visited family, did fun stuff like this: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91230-0034.jpg Over the break I did slide it 'almost' into place as well, and the wall did get finished. Baseboards later after we get a floor. I'll let the pics do the talking. And since two people cannot move this thing alone... I hope you like what I decided to do with the floor to move it :P Im including a picture of what krylon spraypaint does to styrofoam. http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91225-1540.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91224-2225.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91224-2225.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91227-2028.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91227-2003.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91227-2003.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...91227-2028.jpg Since the pictures, I put the doors on and have slowly been spraying and glueing plumbing. I'll have to get some more pics (and progress done) soon. Once the plumbing is all glued and styrofoam back installed... I have to slide it back 10", level it, and start fillin'! Thanks for looking, Chris |
Looks interesting will be watching
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Wow great idea! Not quite as impressive as my seated legpress into the wall but cool all the same. So are you flooring around the tank or lag bolting into the ceiling and lifting that pile of sexy?
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