180G Office Reef Tank

[JDigital]

@#%^&**!!!!

Just finished typing up my update and accidentally switched to youtube to upload the video of the swinging light rack, and lost everything I typed!

So.. attempt #2.


Tuesday I got around to welding up my light racks using 1"x1" steel tubing. Sealed up all the ends to prevent salt creep and corrosion and finally finished with a few coats of black paint to tie them into the color scheme of the tank.



One issue I came to realize was that with the size of these Lumenbright Pendents, and the annoying glass brace (pictured above) it was going to be a bit MORE of a pain when it came to maintenance on this 30" deep tank. Thus I decided to make it super easy to swing these lights out of my way, freeing up the whole top of the tank for access (except for the brace).

Quick video of how simple it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzkff...ature=youtu.be

After that was done I installed the ballasts inside the stand, setup my timers and tested the lights. I gotta clean up the cables a bit.






And finally before leaving for the evening cut out and laid in my egg crate floor. I've never done this before in any of my previous tanks, but figured I would give a try with this, hoping that it provides a sold base for the rock to sit on rather that the smooth glass. We'll see how that goes tomorrow when I mock up an aquascape.




As much as I wanted to get the RO/DI flowing tonight and start filling, I held off as I wasn't comfortable leaving it running all night without being able to check on it. So I will be into the office bright as early tomorrow after Formula 1 Qualifying to start getting this tank wet!

[gridley]

Wow! This is looking very, very good. I really like what you have done with the lights.

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by gridley

Wow! This is looking very, very good. I really like what you have done with the lights.

Thanks gridley! That little trick should save me some pain during maintenance.