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ReeferFulton's most SPECTACULARLY AWESOMEST tank build(s) EVAHHH!!!!
Well Hello everyone
This will be my first time ever doing a build thread and posting pics. Little back story . My wife and I have kept FW tanks for the last 12 years . They were all below 75 gallons . We kept a cichlid tank for around 5 of those years . Our maintenance was very simple , weekly water changes and filter cleans .. thats it. I have never tested a single water peramater etc . Cichlids were having babies like crazy , and we never really lost any fish on any sort of large scale . Then one day in Calgary we noticed a small setup and running 12 gallon JBJ Nano .. Came complete with some coral and rock etc . So we scooped that up . Having no idea what we were doing , I took to the forums and learned what I could . I didnt get to serious into the SW hobby then. Again maintenance consisted of weekly 10 percent water changes.THATS IT. Never tested anything. My coral was growing out of control to i might add . GSP Basically took off lol . I kept that tank for about 8 months . then sold it prior to our move to Victoria BC.. here she is in here glory http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_2599.jpg with a close up http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_2592.jpg had a couple of clowns and a yellow watchman gobbie . going to end this post as a test to see if the pics worked .. more to come :biggrin: |
awesome pics worked , now I am motivated to keep going.
One thing I have come to love is viewing all the amazing build threads online. so i would like to share my simple one . Anyway . We sold off all our tanks and loaded up the uhall and headed out west to Victoria . We bought a house oct of 2011 . And life went buy . Then in late December of 2012 I got the urge to have another SW system . So on A tight budget i began scouring the classifieds. I came across 110gallon semi cube that had been converted into an all in one . http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...1222-00166.jpg this tank had on overflow built into it that was the width of the tank and 10 inches wide . inside that area was a 9" tall baffle for a skimmer , then a secondary area for whatever .then the return area about 7" tall , 4 " long .. Held about 1.8gallons of water .. In this return section there where also 3 holes drilled for 1" bulkheads :smile: http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0342.jpg so at this point the tank had usable area of 26x28x25h So with the tank came the following Mag 9.5 return older reef nwb-oct150 skimmer ( was very clean) hydro power head 2 1 heater and a lumentek 250/400 ballast and lumen max 2 reflector . with 250mh bulb Now I have never even seen a mh bulb up close .. Crazy big . I had also never heard of a skimmer lol But with the wife and myself convinced i had everthing i needed I told her it would be up and running in a matter of weeks ............ Thats when I jumped back online and began reading and reading and ...... To my surprise lol i realized the tank was not set up how i wanted it .. AND thus begins the tank build . I started with removing the existing in tank overflow and baffles . http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0349.jpg there ! one Big tank .. looks way bigger now . That took 5 hrs by the way ..... found out that the really small thin exacto blades work best . Took the previous glass wall down to the glass shop and had them cut to 10" wide peices for me .. and created this http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0106-00180.jpg was happy , started to look like a proper tank again . I was really pleased with my self. I let this cure for 7 days before filling it up and testing for leaks .. here we go no leaks woot http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0112-00194.jpg |
So when i maintained the JBJ in Calgary i was told by the previous owner to use only RO water from the grocery store .. AND I did religiously .
Yet somehow when I got this tank I totally forgot about that. Low and behold what is the first thing I read for newbies setting up tanks ....... GET AND RODI. Now this began a week long hunt and stress out over which one was the right one .. There is so many reviews and opinions on what one to get .. It seems there are too many options lol . I would have been so happy if someone had just said there is only one kind for reef tanks and this is the price . anyway . i ended up buying a MAXCAP 90. with dual TDS meters buy spectrapure. http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0108-00185.jpg showed up a week later and i could hardly wait to hook it up ! I wanted so bad to see what my tds was coming into the house lol .. Turns out that after all that my tds coming in is a whopping 17ppm... needless to say it is still a necessary step in the right direction so 17 in , 0 after RO , and 0,0 after DI . GOOD start . http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0108-00186.jpg All i can say is wow these things make water so slooowwwwww. |
forgot to add some info on the tank .
IT is half inch glass all the way around . with 2 panes on the bottom. 1" thick totall . Not sure why it was done this way . maybe someone on here knows. so afterI made the overflow around the three existing holes i started to research proper quiet drain setups and sumps.. again back online .. must have read 30 hours alone on drain designs !! What i decided was a Herbie design extactly . So i ordered 3 new double threaded 1 inch bulkheads. I wanted to be able to remove everything in the plumbing as I had no idea what i was doing. Okay i wont explain the herbie , but simply put . I have 1 drain 6 inches long straight up open ended . This goes straight into the sump. no bends or turns. It is controlled by a spears 1" gate valve ...(pricey little bugger.) second pipe goes right to the top about 1/4 inch below the bottom of the wier. this is the back up drain third is the return , with a couple of 45's and some flex makes its way to the tank and straight up and into a 3/4 loc line Y fitting . which splits into two 3/4 loc line runners into some flared nozzles . http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0204-00245.jpg and http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0204-00246.jpg. so i got this all fired up and tested to find out that i had too big of a weir in my tank . I could not raise the water level of the tank high enough with the output my pump was giving me . ( I had 20 inches of wier with 2" deep teeth). So I added some more acraylic behind the teeth to raise the water level . problem fixed . Now when the tank is running the water level is just above the start of the tank trim . Then flows over the weir and drops about 1/2 inch . and remains stable .. Super quit . i do not even hear the water at all ..! so far so good I am getting my build thread out of order .. doh ,, i will add the steps in a bit lol |
well since i decided to use the 3 bulkheads that meened i needed to learn about sumps .
What i found was a 36x16x16. previously a turtle tank with a ramp. I took the ramp out . peeled out all of the internal silicon and bleached the tank. then washed the tank with vinegar . then rinsed and rinsed . and rinsed http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0368.jpg I decided on a simple 3 compartment sump design .. tank drains into first section . with skimmer . then an over under over bubble trap . then a middle section and then a return section . I made the return section fairly large , as I learned with is where all the systems evaporation will be seen . http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0371.jpg Had the glass shop cut me all the baffles , i siliconed them in and resealed the inside of the tank .. 5 days later .. leak check time . I leack checked each individual compartment. all was good http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0378.jpg hope someone like this thread lol |
Wonderful build :D I should be able to learn about sumps from here :)
Keep up the elaborate explanations :D |
Welcome and it is nice to have another member on the Island. Tagging along to your build. What are your plans for the tank?
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another thing i wanted to do before i got this tank up and running was complete the stand the a presentable level for viewing in my house.
before http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...1222-00166.jpg basic simple 1" tube frame supported in all corners by little gussets. I wanted to add an additional vertical support on each side in the center. I aslo wanted to add a horizontal brace around where the holes are drilled through the tank. I am not sure if this was necessary but felt like doing it anyway. now Due to the fact that i have 22 foot high ceiling about the tank , i did not have the option of hangin my light from the roof . So I came up with my own light stand based on ideas i have found online . I went to the local metal shop and bought 9 feet of 1 1/4 inch stainless steel boat hand rail . Then i took this to a metal fab shop and hand them bend a perfect 90 degree bend on one end. what i did next was find some seamless steel pipe with basically the exact inside diameter of 1 1/4 inch . My plan was to weld a bracket onto the back of my tank what would except my stainless light holder into it . this would then give me the option to rotate the light stand 360 degrees if i needed . some pics http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0105-00172.jpg with light stand http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0105-00175.jpg http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0105-00176.jpg after then stand was welded up I screwed 3/4 plywood to the top and bottom of the stand. and proceeded to try and figure out how to wrap this metal contraption in wood lol |
sorry for the sideways pic..
Well I would like to do alot of LPS and softies and some fish etc . I have spent so much time building and researching the tank that i have not spent much time deciding what to put in it .. I do know that i want a minimalist look with a simple 2 island rock scape . I will be doing a thin 1 inch sand bed on the bottom . ( like the look) back to the stand I am not a wood worker ... lol I have a skill saw , compound mitre and a jigsaw ...and no skill .. I wanted to make the stand open up completely. I did not want to be hindered when trying to work in the sump . My thoughts where to have the sides hinge off the back 180 degrees . and the front to pop of with the use of magnets .. I Welded on a pair of hinges on each back side. to these i screwed 3/8 good one side pine plywood . . then i trimmed the plywood with 2 x 1/2 pine tight grain wood . Stained this all with ebony 1 step stain .. love the look http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0119-00216.jpg http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0119-00215.jpg some stain added http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0119-00218.jpg I added some generic magnetic latches to the ends that close . they are pretty weak , and would like to upgrade those in the future . For now the front section just pulls off and I move it aside http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0856.jpg http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0857.jpg 1 more we are really happy with the way the wood looks once it was stained ..Really though i just looks like a military crate lol should put a skull and crossbones on it . or a poison symbol http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0858.jpg |
Great job so far. Only thing I would have added would be a sheet of styrofoam under tank.
Looks like you have another interesting project going on in your garage ? |
under the tank is a 1/4" thick yoga mat style of foam ..
you spotted my other passion which i have taken a 6 month break from My father and I are hot rodding A 56 chev big back window, Full accuair air ride suspension . chev 350 , front clip . lots of mods etc would like it to warm up outside so i can go work on it again .. here is a pic for you car lovers out there http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0428-00527.jpg |
You will have to update that one as well. Lol.
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Yeah we should change this title to include regular updates on the truck build as well!!
Very nice lookin truck.....and tank! |
thanks for the nice comments on the tank and truck .
i will keep some pics posted on both . Havent touched the truck in a while , but once this tank is up and running , i will head back out there . So basically the build is now up to current time . I have been for the last 3 days been adding rodi water to the tank .. Crazy slow process . lol I have begun researching quarantine tanks . I will do one . I would just like it to be real small . Any thoughts on a fluval edge 6 gallon ? would this house a very small tang for 8 weeks ? Also is it realistic that the QT tank also have rock and coral ? I mean if the fish show no issues for 8 weeks then there is no need for meds right .. anyway more reading to do on this here are a few more pics of the setup . I have 50lbs of dry ecco-reefer rocks in there ( aka think they are marco rocks) I did some simple rock scaping .Used some zip ties to hold together some pieces etc http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0202-00233.jpg http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0203-00237.jpg http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0204-00240.jpg think i have the system about 70 percent full right now . Was aslo thinking there there is barley any rock in there .. hmmm may have to order a bit more . I was planing on going all dry rock and sand . And starting the cycle with the old shrimp. Came to this decision after reading so many posts about unwanted critters .. guess we will see . slight sand skim will be on the bottom .. aragmax sugar sized . I still need to rinse this . I will add the sand after i have filled the tank with RODI and mixed in the salt . bye for now |
I think fluval edge would be way too small for the fishes to be in quarantine; especially since you have a big tank and will be buying some biggy fishes! I am no expert but I think for you tank size, you should atleast get a 20 long or possibly a 40 breeder as quarantine tank.
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Ya i think you are probably right .
I will probably try and find a 10 gallon at minimum . This project keeps getting bigger every time I turn around .. What a huge difference between the workload and system requirments of a freshwater tank compared to a salt water one .. Well this afternoon my Tank and sump will be entirely full of RODI water . My first stage sediement filiter (.5 micron) is very very yellow looking . It has passed about 500gallons through it.So I will be picking some of those up today. Luckliy there is a place in vic that stocks all sorts of RODI equipment. So tonight i can finally add the salt .. Damn near a whole buclket i might add.. I need to get a QT tank asap , so i can cycle it and get this party started. Tank details so far 36x28x25h tank , 110g 36x16x16 sump . 40g (2) eheim 150w submersible heaters new (2) hydro evo 750 gph power heads new reef octopuss nwb-oct150 skimmer used mag 9.5 return. couple of temp gauges vertex refractometer.. neet little trinket 1 250 metal halide setup .. ( likely need a new bulb ) mag float cleaner Wish list 1.Some sort of controller 2.Auto top off system 3.Build complete RODI / SW mixing and storage setup . 4.Purchase spare (salt, bulbs , return pump, and test kits) 5.LED lights one day 6.Generatot or battery back up one day And of course stock the damn tank lol |
I think for the tank size you have, an ATO is a must! Or you would have to run around with maybe 5-7gallon bucket filled with rodi to top off the tank everyday :P
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Nice build thread. Welcome to canreef. Keep those updates coming.
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Things are looking great. Also great to hear you're doing your research into everything. I look forward to the rest of this build
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hey thanks guys !
nice to see people posting in your thread .. let you know someone is reading :biggrin: well finally got the tank full with rodi .. its running with my rock in there now , I am currently trying to add my salt . But it seems to just be sitting on the bottom . I never anticipated this . This is the first time i have had to add salt into a tank . Especially this much at one time . Will it eventually dissolve on it own ? or do i need to get in there and stir up the bottom . i figure tomorrow i will add a raw shrimp and get this started |
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i have both power heads runnning plus the return pump and skimmer . But when you dump a cup in some sink straight down .
I have my rock in there , so i was thinking i dont want to get ahead of myself and end up with salt hiding under the rocks or something i dont know lol guess it was a simple oversight . should have mixed it all in a 5 gallon buckets and poured it in that way |
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Yah mixing would have been easier in a separate bucket. Maybe use the powerheads for a huge turbulence? :D One shooting at the bottom and one shooting at the top! |
ok , stopped adding salt that night .
It was late and was not the right way to do it . So the next day i turned off the pumps and removed 1 gal at a time and mixed in about 2 cups of salt mix , then added that to the tank . Kept doing this until SG came up . I let that circulate for an hour or so , then added my rinsed sand. which apparently could have been rinsed more . http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0207-00249.jpg looks like in the end all i added to my tank was around 30lbs . I am happy with the look , its just under an inch thick . Does anyone see a problem with a sandbed that thin ? my next concern was my .5 micron first stage sediment filter of my RODI . My pressure gauge on my maxcap new read about 62 psi . now after passing around 400 gallons through it was down to about 57 and the fist stage looked like this http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0207-00248.jpg so i panicked and removed it and added a 1 micron that i picked up as some spares. So i took it too the kitchen sink to investigate , and It is only just the outside layer . literally just 1 millimeter in and its pure white filter again .. o well How much pressure drop is common before you decide to change out your filters ? Will after the dust settled , and i cleaned the clay mud out of the neck of my skimmer the tank looks like this .. no light on http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0209-00258.jpg Then finally came the start of my cycle :biggrin: http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0207-00252.jpg some for me , 1 for tank lol http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0207-00253.jpg |
so once I got that little prawn tossed in the tank i decided to try my hand at doing my first ever water tests ......
I had picked up an API saltwater master test kit . So this would be my first test for practice , and I guess set my starting point out . i know in the beginning there isnt much to test , but wanted to try anyway results http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0209-00259.jpg I guess those are all par for the course 1 day after tossing in the prawn lol .I then went down to the local industrial plastic store to look at foodsafe storage bins .. for my mixing area . And i wanted some acrylic to make a cover for my overflow area. What i soon learned was 1. food safe bins are not cheap .. 2 . neither is acrylic . Luckily they had an off cut 1 foot square. so i took it home and cut this little jobber to fit http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0208-00255.jpg Then finally yesterday I went to the hardware store and picked up a 20 gallon brute trash can to serve as RODI storage . I rearranged my little utility room and came up with this http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0208-00257.jpg notice my LED lighting lol . those came with the tank as moonlighting , but figured they would serve me better in here ... haha |
Looks like you've got everything under control here. Looking good!
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Looks good I love cube tanks! Keep in mind when only using dry rock it takes 6months to a year before starting to become live and honestly if you don't have any live rock to seed it with, it will probably be over a year before you get beneficial bacteria growing in/on the rock. The rock acts as a biological filtration system, before beneficial bacteria builds up in the rock, it's the same as always having "new tank syndrome".
I highly recommend adding a few pieces of live rock to seed the dry rock with. Even then go very slow with adding livestock. Basically if you have 20 pounds of live rock then stock the tank how you would stock a tank with only 20 pounds of live rock for the first year. I know a lot of people who have had lots of problems from using mostly or all dry rock. Basically (over the 1st year) every time they added anything to the tank an algae bloom occured and often they noticed ammonia outbreaks which killed a few of the fish they tried adding. Now I will say I've never started a tank with mostly dry or all dry so I don't have first hand experience but I have had several people who did complain to me about all the problems they had with their tank. Now that being said I've heard there is a way to add beneficial bacteria to your tank and "cheat the system" so to speak, but (from what I understand) it was an involved process that can go badly if you don't know what you're doing. Here is some science links Albert shared about it http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/1...urnalCode=ecol http://jb.asm.org/content/85/6/1413.full.pdf http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4656 Here is what Albert said about the process Quote:
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Very nice build. Give me a kick in arse to get mine done
I agree with Laurie. If you can find some live rubble even to put in sump would be benifical. I too used dry rock but filled sump with live and used water from other tank to fill current one I prefer to find some from another reefer rather than lfs. Chances of bad hitch hikers would be greatly reduced |
ok , thanks for the posts .
this has triggered another hour of reading the forums in search of ways to cycle the dry rock in my tank .. few questions . in tank now . is 50 lbs dry , 1. Would you recommend adding say 5 pounds of live rock from the bins at the local fish store ? If so add it to the DT or the sump ? 2. If i add 5 lbs , do i still need to cycle with the shrimp . 3. Is there actually anything Beneficial ..(inverts etc) living on the live rock that fish stores have sitting in the big black bins soaking .. Or is this just rock that is soaking that they call live .. Ex . Do they feed there live rock typically ? I am confused all over again lol .. Seems the internet has way to many opinions . and that there is so many schools of thought on how to establish a SW tank. I need to set up the beneficial bacteria chain in my tank , From what i have learned the only way to do this using dry rock is to introduce ammonia . and wait . Now if i say spend 50 bucks and go buy some ready to go live rock . I transport it in sw and shove it in my tank, I will have very little die off on that lr . essentially that one peice of rock ( if they have been feeding it ) should have no cycle .. So my point is . what did the LR do for my tank at all ? other then introduce microorganisms or whatever people are always talking about . Or is this LR piece (rubble ) intended to merely seed the other rock .. Seeding is different then cycling i think .. errr brain hurts |
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2. You would still need to feed the cycle. By adding LR, you are introducing bacteria in the system which will need food to multiply. Without the initial LR (called seeding), you would be starting the system without any bacteria and hence the bacteria will take much longer to appear in your system. 3. LR is only LIVE because of the bacteria. There will possibly be other living stuffs (algae, hitchhiker, pests, etc.) but basically, LFS keep LR connected to their systems to keep them live (generally, not all I guess). SW do have many schools of thoughts but only few of them are correct. Sometimes, you just have to read through all and be the judge of the correct one yourself. If you read "LR is bad" and another article says "LR is good", be our own judge to see which one sounds "right". If you transport cured LR from LFS to your home, you will basically have NO dieoffs and the bacteria will be living on it. Uncured ones will have a different stories and I am not too familiar with it. So when you put it in your system, the bacteria will spread over your macro rocks and thus seeding takes place. And then you start cycling with some sort of method (like shrimp) and the bacteria, which is already there, will multiply and BAM! You will have bacteria all over your rocks in....oh well....due time. :) Tried my best :D |
well i went to the LFS and picked up 3 whopping pounds of LR
i asked a few questions about it . they had it sitting in black tubs . I asked if they feed it . I was told no . die off from new rock into that holding tank kept the rock going . there was one pump in the tub which seemed to provide some circulation. we choose a few small peices that looked brown , had some coraline on them and didnt smell http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0210-00262.jpg placed them in my tank http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...0210-00263.jpg . kept the shrimp in there as well . The shrimp still looks eatable lol no signs of decay thus far . I had to add about 1.5 gallons of top off water yesterday , and again today . I will see how that trend continues , as i dont even have the lights on yet. I am quickly see what all the hype is about in regards to ATO units . I am not in a rush to start this cycle . would be nice to have some CUC in there in say 3 weeks , but will see |
Well my add for some live rock worked out . I met an Awesome local Reefer
RICE REEF. It was great , looked over his amazing tank ( i mean drooled over ) for at least an hour . I picked his brain and he was happy to try and help answer my newb questions . He had a few small pieces of coralline coated rock .. ANd the came with a few surprises attached to them . hope they make it http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0880.jpg http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0881.jpg http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0882.jpg Man ontop of that he grabbed a couple bristlestars for me too .. I placed everything in the tank . turned on my lights and all sorts of stuff started appearing .. Now i see why people say that live rock is worth the risk . So many things to instantly look at .. No idea if they are good or bad mind u . Also nabbed up some http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_0883.jpg at the advice of some people . Applied the normal dose for starting up a tank . Turned off the skimmer like it said too . So i guess now i will run my lights from when i get home from work till bed time . see if any of these corals make it through . Today I also realized why going Bare bottom is so nice , 1. i dropped a power head and created a sand storm . 2 i can see some areas on the bottom that have crap settling .. not good . anyway Rice Reef gave me a peek into the local group of Reefers , and all i can say is ..... I think i want in lol gnight |
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Glad to hear Rice Reef was able to help you out. There are a lot of good reefers out there that enjoy helping others, it is a wonderful community to be involved with :biggrin: |
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You should drop by for a visit, I'll give you a whole bunch of pointers on what not to do. lol
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sounds like a plan :mrgreen:
learning from others mistakes is always easier then from your own .. and less costly lol |
well I told myself it would never happen to me lol hahaha
Let me RODI run today with a timer to remind me to turn it off .. ran about 15 minutes onto the floor under the stairs ... o well So . things on my wish list . 1.Auto top off 2.Apex controller 3. Auto shut off .. need to research this 4. LED's one day 5. Better knowledge of what I am doin :smile: |
It happens to everyone. To this day, I still just fill containers in my laundry sink to minimize problems.
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