kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[kien]

Originally Posted by Eb0la11

So Kien do you have live rock in that sucker now? Is it cycling? Done any aquascaping? I'm planning on filling this weekend and if somehow I have no problems then ordering some live rock from tampabaysaltwater (hoping they ship to canada), you want to do a group order? Not sure if its cheaper or not but Im thinking of ordering maybe 30 lbs or so.

Then once I get it Im gonna lay it out pretty far apart to try to determine if I have any critters I need to dispose of before I add my livestock.

I see you're asking Carmen for stars too, when do you think its safe to put them in the tank? I guess after the cycle or are they hardy enough to go in with the live rock?

Nothing in the new tank yet, but soon :-) I am targeting Sunday to move everything over from the 90 gallon to the 150. I think I have enough live rock for the new tank. The 90 was packed with rock and I want the 150 to look a little more open so I think I have just the right amount of rock for that.

I would consider the stars a part of your initial cleanup crew which you would put in after your tank has cycled. I'm hoping for little to no cycling since I'm just dumping everybody and everything from the 90 to the 150 and then topping it up with saltwater that I have premixed in tubs, sitting in my living room :-) If all goes well, everyone will just think it was a major water change and they magically have more room to swim. I will attempt to aquascape during the transfer, or the following day.

I got a message from Kevin with the tracking number for my new light fixture. According to FedEx it left Great Falls Montana a couple of days ago and should be here any day now! I wasn't expecting it so soon so this evening I scrambled to finish my canopy. The light fixture will sit on top of the canopy which will be 6 inches high.

I also redid a part of my return line. I got rid of the section with the metal clamps and made a new one with a couple of unions added.

Before.. and After..
..

Here it is hooked up and ready to go.




For flow I was thinking of getting a couple of Vortech MP40s but now I am leaning towards a couple of Tunze 6105s. I've read enough reports about the Vortech being noisy now so I am hesitant. Also, I have a Profilux on order which can control the Tunzes so I don't have to buy a separate Tunze pump controller. Well, that's all for now. Sunday will be exciting, or traumatizing..

[Coleus]

very nice build
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[Coleus]

update some picts pls
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[Lance]

Hmmmm. I have 2 MP40's and I don't find them noisy. Maybe a little at full throttle, but I run mine at about 75% in Reef Crest mode. I love them.


For flow I was thinking of getting a couple of Vortech MP40s but now I am leaning towards a couple of Tunze 6105s. I've read enough reports about the Vortech being noisy now so I am hesitant. Also, I have a Profilux on order which can control the Tunzes so I don't have to buy a separate Tunze pump controller. Well, that's all for now. Sunday will be exciting, or traumatizing..[/quote]

[kien]

So last Friday I finished up the canopy. Primed, sealed, painted, put on doors, cut out vents, etc. Everything was going swimmingly with my build.. then I went and slit my wrist. Not on purpose of course! Somehow I managed to brush my wrist across the end of my drill bit

Ouch!



Actually, I think it looks worse than it really was. Nothing a can of spray on bandage can't fix up.



Anyway.. enough of that. On with the show!

[kien]

Right, so the stand turned out pretty good. Well, at least I like it. I used the exact same plans as I did with my 90g tank. Basically we have 8 1x2 leg supports with panels attached to both of the short sides (overflow and return). Cutouts on both of those panels to support a fan cooling system (air in one end out the other to provide laminar air cooling if needed). The top rails are 1x4s for a frame braced by 1x2s running along the long edge. Pretty stiff and stable. The combo light fixture will sit on top of the canopy. nearly 6 foot long panels attached by hinges for access.

..



Both of the long panels on the canopy open for easy access to either side.



The 1"x3" panels that I used for the top part of the canopy was pretty flimsy so they needed some sort of support, especially for a 6 foot span. My original gut feeling was that I was going to have to put a leg or two in the middle on either side. I really didn't want to do this because i liked the clean wide open space that I had for working with. What I came up with was a brace using a 1x2 screwed into the 1x3 top panels. The 1x2 sits on its 1" side so it is nice and stiff. It really only needs to support the weight of the doors, which aren't that heavy. Even though the combo light will be sitting on top of the canopy the legs of the combo light actually sit on far ends which are supported by the legs, so no worries about sagging or stress on that long 6 foot run. You can see the brace that I painted gray just behind the doors.



And finally, a full tank shot from the living room.

[mseepman]

This is a great build. You've done a really nice job with that canopy.

Thanks for documenting so well, you've given me a few ideas on how I want to do things in my new tank.

[Dez]

Beautiful work there. Don' even need fish, I could stare at those pictures all day.....well maybe not all day, but you get the point.

Every build has injuries hey? I put a robertson #2 bit right through my thumb while building my stand.

[kien]

Thanks guys :-) I'm trying to document as much detail as possible just for that reason. Before I ventured into this build I combed through just about every build thread in the Tank Journal section. I have nearly all of your builds subscribed to and they all gave me great ideas for how I wanted to set up this tank. So really I'm just paying it back :-)

[JDigital]

Loving your build Kien... Mostly because of those excellent photos..