Damsel13
Well-known member
Probably right there in front of the tank! 
It is looking FANTASTIC !
It is looking FANTASTIC !
Bloke's 180g - It was bound to happen...
- Thread starter Bloke
- Start date
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OK - the reflectors (Lumenbright), the Loc-Line, and the pocket-door tracking will all be here Friday. So I started the lighting rack tonight. It will hang directly above where it is sitting within pocket-door tracking allowing for it to slide back out of the way when accessing the tank.
Naturally, a reflector will rest along 3/4" angle iron over each third of the tank. I have been reading a lot about the differences between the Lumenarcs and the Lumenbright reflectors and have to carefully consider the height of the reflectors from the water line.
The Lumenbright reflectors have more facets and therefore send more light directly down versus the Lumenarcs with less facets which tend to cover a larger area. Therefore, since each bay of the tank is a 2x2 area, I need to make certain that I hang the light rack high enough to flood the area rather than spot the column directly under the bulb. That 2x4 you see on the right running parallel with the top of the tank sits 12" above the water line. That might be a good starting point, but I need to get the reflectors here to see how deep inside the reflector the bulb sits. Bogey positioned her bulbs 9" above the water line, but she is using Lumenarcs... not Lumenbright reflectors. I may need to position my bulbs even with the 2x4 which would put my reflectors a little cloer to the water line. I have read that some people suggest making the distance between the bulb and the water as far as 14" to get adequate spread. That seems high to me. Thoughts?
Thinking...measuring, thinking some more.
Naturally, a reflector will rest along 3/4" angle iron over each third of the tank. I have been reading a lot about the differences between the Lumenarcs and the Lumenbright reflectors and have to carefully consider the height of the reflectors from the water line.
The Lumenbright reflectors have more facets and therefore send more light directly down versus the Lumenarcs with less facets which tend to cover a larger area. Therefore, since each bay of the tank is a 2x2 area, I need to make certain that I hang the light rack high enough to flood the area rather than spot the column directly under the bulb.
That 2x4 you see on the right running parallel with the top of the tank sits 12" above the water line. That might be a good starting point, but I need to get the reflectors here to see how deep inside the reflector the bulb sits. Bogey positioned her bulbs 9" above the water line, but she is using Lumenarcs... not Lumenbright reflectors. I may need to position my bulbs even with the 2x4 which would put my reflectors a little cloer to the water line. I have read that some people suggest making the distance between the bulb and the water as far as 14" to get adequate spread. That seems high to me. Thoughts?Thinking...measuring, thinking some more.
bbehring
Well-known member
Man Bloke, love the tank. All looks like it's coming together nicely!
OK - I started the lighting last night. I finished the lower portion of the lighting rack measuring out to have a reflector over each bay of the tank.
The reflectors came with bare lead wires so I just bought 3 light duty extension cords (16g waire) to use as quick-disconnects.
Today I will get the ballasts wired in and get the tracks for the lighting installed. I should have the MH lighting complete before the days end. I will still need to install the T5 HO lighting over the weekend as well as get the sump filled and running.
Electricity and water... YEE HAW!
The reflectors came with bare lead wires so I just bought 3 light duty extension cords (16g waire) to use as quick-disconnects.
Today I will get the ballasts wired in and get the tracks for the lighting installed. I should have the MH lighting complete before the days end. I will still need to install the T5 HO lighting over the weekend as well as get the sump filled and running.
Electricity and water... YEE HAW!
Alright, pay no attention to the wires. I will dress them up later after I get everything functioning. On that note, I did finally get the light rack built, the tracking installed, and the three 250w MH lights hung.
Also, the sump is still a little shallow so there are a lot of bubbles in the sump. As a result, the return line is sucking in those bubbles making the tank look cloudy due to micro-bubbles. All will be fine after the installation of filter socks and the water levels rises.
I still have 4x54w T5 HO and Advance ballasts to install onto this light rack.
On a side note, my gravity & temperature have leveled out and my pH and dKH have fallen into range. I may catch a fish and toss him into this tank tomorrow along with some rock from the other 2 tanks!
Also, the sump is still a little shallow so there are a lot of bubbles in the sump. As a result, the return line is sucking in those bubbles making the tank look cloudy due to micro-bubbles.
All will be fine after the installation of filter socks and the water levels rises.I still have 4x54w T5 HO and Advance ballasts to install onto this light rack.
On a side note, my gravity & temperature have leveled out and my pH and dKH have fallen into range. I may catch a fish and toss him into this tank tomorrow along with some rock from the other 2 tanks!
Figured I would post another 3am shot here.
Spent the better part of this evening taking a lot of rock out of the 90g and drilling it. Live rock drills MUCH faster than base rock and if you don't slow down a little but, it will crumble right in your hands while drilling. My mother asked, "Are you gonna leave that white pipe in there?" I said, "Yes" and she gave me a nasty look. I don't think she realized that you will not see the PVC after the rock is in place.
Anyway, there is still rock in the 90g awaiting my attention and I have not yet touched the 36g tank upstairs. However, I think things are coming together. Naturally, I will move stuff around a little and get it looking better when it's all inside the 180g, but this gives a better idea for what the pillars/columns/towers of rock will look like:
Oh, I tossed in 3 Yellow Tangs today. Big, bright, and fairly inexpensive fish that are easy to replace. I know most people toss in damsels to kick start their cycle, but... WHY? I don't want to have to catch 10 damsels to get them out. Tangs poop quite a bit (ammonia) and if these guys live, YEAH! I don't expect much of a cycle in that 200 lbs of LR from established tanks is going in this system. There is enough bacteria on this rock to handle the bioload, but I'll watch the water params since the almost all of the rock has coral attached to it.
Spent the better part of this evening taking a lot of rock out of the 90g and drilling it. Live rock drills MUCH faster than base rock and if you don't slow down a little but, it will crumble right in your hands while drilling.
My mother asked, "Are you gonna leave that white pipe in there?" I said, "Yes" and she gave me a nasty look. I don't think she realized that you will not see the PVC after the rock is in place. Anyway, there is still rock in the 90g awaiting my attention and I have not yet touched the 36g tank upstairs. However, I think things are coming together. Naturally, I will move stuff around a little and get it looking better when it's all inside the 180g, but this gives a better idea for what the pillars/columns/towers of rock will look like:
Oh, I tossed in 3 Yellow Tangs today. Big, bright, and fairly inexpensive fish that are easy to replace. I know most people toss in damsels to kick start their cycle, but... WHY? I don't want to have to catch 10 damsels to get them out. Tangs poop quite a bit (ammonia) and if these guys live, YEAH! I don't expect much of a cycle in that 200 lbs of LR from established tanks is going in this system. There is enough bacteria on this rock to handle the bioload, but I'll watch the water params since the almost all of the rock has coral attached to it.
I got the Ca Reactor in place and running this afternoon:
And there is still more rock inside the 36g and the 90g that I need to get moved, but drilling rock takes some time. There are pieces that I will NOT be drilling that I will use to fill in aeas between the columns. Rather than work until 3 am, I thought I would slow down for the night and post of apicture of the progress:
There have been several broken corals and therefore lots of frags. People buying equipment from the other systems are welcome to frags if interested.
And there is still more rock inside the 36g and the 90g that I need to get moved, but drilling rock takes some time. There are pieces that I will NOT be drilling that I will use to fill in aeas between the columns. Rather than work until 3 am, I thought I would slow down for the night and post of apicture of the progress:
There have been several broken corals and therefore lots of frags. People buying equipment from the other systems are welcome to frags if interested.
I finally got all the rock out of the two tanks upstairs. I shortened two of the pillars and topped them off with pieces of coral.
Whew... I think I have been up to my armpit in saltwater for 4 days. I will have to fine tune the aquascaping, but so far this works until I can get the other tanks out of the house. I will want to build up some of the rock behind the pillars a little to get a little more natural looking scape, but for today... I'm done.
Whew... I think I have been up to my armpit in saltwater for 4 days.
I will have to fine tune the aquascaping, but so far this works until I can get the other tanks out of the house. I will want to build up some of the rock behind the pillars a little to get a little more natural looking scape, but for today... I'm done.Well, I finally got EVERYTHING and everyone added to the tank. The last thing added was the carpet anemone and the two true percs. I placed the carpet right up front because it has tremendous color and the clowns love the thing. It's almost dirty watching them interact with each other.
So, here we are. About 200+ lbs of established live rock, 70 lbs of base rock, 120 lbs of substrate, ~ 200g of saltwater, and 12 fish (had 13 but the Purple Tang passed on).
Occupants:
Sohal Tang
Desjardins Tang
Chevron Tang
Regal Tang
Yellow Tang (3)
True Percula (2)
Flame Angel
Bicolor Angel
Coral Beauty
So, here we are. About 200+ lbs of established live rock, 70 lbs of base rock, 120 lbs of substrate, ~ 200g of saltwater, and 12 fish (had 13 but the Purple Tang passed on
).Occupants:
Sohal Tang
Desjardins Tang
Chevron Tang
Regal Tang
Yellow Tang (3)
True Percula (2)
Flame Angel
Bicolor Angel
Coral Beauty
roscoe
Well-known member
Man your tank is looking great!!!
matts125
Well-known member
the tank looks amazing!
great job and great aquascaping.....
Matt
great job and great aquascaping.....
Matt
Thanks guys! I'm just glad to be able to enjoy it finally... There's a lot of time and energy sitting within four panes of glass.
Short video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/u1ldwc-vhwQ
Short video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/u1ldwc-vhwQ
LOL - come hang out. I am certain there is something I could have you do.
Well, I got the T5 HO wired and mounted today. I only ran two of the four bulbs due to the demand for real estate on the lighting rack. I did not want to take up space under the MH reflectors. If more blue is needed, I will go with a 12k instead of a 10k bulb.
I also finished plumbing in the skimmer. It will take a few days for it to "kick in" but this is an ETSS 600 XR skimmer and is powered by a Gen-X Mak5 pump. Once it gets broken in, it's going to do a great job. I have a 5g bucket for a skimmate collector.
Well, I got the T5 HO wired and mounted today. I only ran two of the four bulbs due to the demand for real estate on the lighting rack. I did not want to take up space under the MH reflectors. If more blue is needed, I will go with a 12k instead of a 10k bulb.
I also finished plumbing in the skimmer. It will take a few days for it to "kick in" but this is an ETSS 600 XR skimmer and is powered by a Gen-X Mak5 pump. Once it gets broken in, it's going to do a great job. I have a 5g bucket for a skimmate collector.
apollothesun
Well-known member
wowza wowza. nice wiring backboard.
I think I finally got the Ca Reactor dialed in to stabilize water parameters as well as figured how to get the skimmer to produce muddier skimmate. I think over the course of this week I will be catching at least two of the yellow tangs so if anyone is interested, let me know for they will need a home.
So, here we are:
So, here we are:
Alright, well I went by Star on East Central as well as HD this evening. After looking at all the fancy trim, I went back home and looked at the carpentry throughout the house and I think a lot of fancy stuff would look out of place and I would REALLY like it to look similar to the rest of the house. That of course was the reason for painting the basement the same macadamia color, using the same bullnose corners on the drywall, and paying extra for the knockdown. I've already planned on using the same type of doors as upstairs including the same base trim so it only makes sense to model the tank's trim after the house too.
Therefore, I looked a lot at the fireplace in the living room and decided that I would simply copy it on a slightly modified scale. The fireplace sits directly above the tank and for those who've been to the house, I think it will look more visually appealing when walking from the family room into the living room or the basement to see similar trim.
So, enough confusing rationale... here's a picture of the fireplace. I plan to mess around with Google's sketchup this evening to get something closer to scale for me to look at and will post pictures of the drawing as I complete it. Basically, if you look at the larger square sections of the picture below, imagine those the same width but only 12" tall with the tank sitting between them and the bottom ledge and that's what I had in mind. This middle section would be a liftable door for front access to the tank. Let me know your thoughts:
Therefore, I looked a lot at the fireplace in the living room and decided that I would simply copy it on a slightly modified scale. The fireplace sits directly above the tank and for those who've been to the house, I think it will look more visually appealing when walking from the family room into the living room or the basement to see similar trim.
So, enough confusing rationale... here's a picture of the fireplace. I plan to mess around with Google's sketchup this evening to get something closer to scale for me to look at and will post pictures of the drawing as I complete it. Basically, if you look at the larger square sections of the picture below, imagine those the same width but only 12" tall with the tank sitting between them and the bottom ledge and that's what I had in mind. This middle section would be a liftable door for front access to the tank. Let me know your thoughts:
Alright, so something along these lines. In the columns and within the center rectangles the carpenter used a sort of door molding to accentuate the recesses as well as the addition of crown molding at the top and under the ledge which I am going to copy, but not going to spend the time to draw.
For the most part, this gives a visual a little closer to scale:
For the most part, this gives a visual a little closer to scale:
Here is a picture of things before I started cutting:
In order to mount the columns to the wall, I first secured a few 2x4 nailers to which the columns would later attach:
With the nailers, all I had to do was use a level to make sure the columns were adjusted to the right height and attached them with 2" nails:
After the columns were attached, I cut a 1x4 to run between them at the top. This will also be where the front access panel will attach. I also managed to mount the ledge under the tank along with a 1x3 under it for both support for the occasional leaning as well to act as a nailr for me to later attach a 1x4 and crown molding:
In order to mount the columns to the wall, I first secured a few 2x4 nailers to which the columns would later attach:
With the nailers, all I had to do was use a level to make sure the columns were adjusted to the right height and attached them with 2" nails:
After the columns were attached, I cut a 1x4 to run between them at the top. This will also be where the front access panel will attach. I also managed to mount the ledge under the tank along with a 1x3 under it for both support for the occasional leaning as well to act as a nailr for me to later attach a 1x4 and crown molding:
Crown molding can su^* my @$%... I think I wasted at least 12' of it and still have to buy some more to finish. Therefore, I set it aside and took a break to start on the front access panel:
I still need to nail on the oak backing and interior trim molding, but at least this gives me a closer look at a finished product.
I still need to nail on the oak backing and interior trim molding, but at least this gives me a closer look at a finished product.
