Well no fire can keep me down!!

[forsaken541]

Awesome, the candy cane is the one I am missing the most.
We will just have to see about saturday, this weeks chemo treatrment was a rough on and I havent had any time to work on getting the stand done yet so I am thinking it wont be until next week for setup. I have some people to help me get the tank home on friday but I will let you know about next week.
Erik

 

[returnofsid]

Hi Erik,
Sorry to hear about your rough time with chemo!! I am sure that's gotta be very hard on you. Hopefully, less hard than the alternative though. Not sure if I'll be in town next weekend or not. Hope so and if I am, I'm more than willing to help out!!

 

[forsaken541]

Well I got the tank and sump from Kevin's today. Its a 120 gallon with dual overflows and t-d off returns which will be pushed with a Mag 12 each for flow. The sump is a 30 gal long, I will ge some acrylic and make up some baffled for the chambers. I hope to have the stand face and doors done tomorow so that I can stain and finish on Sunday and Monday.

Erik

 

[Velamondry]

If you need some help later on in the week moving it or anything lemme know I should be back from montana around thursday.

 

[jnarowe]

I had two fires under a QT tank this month! Both were when the power fluctuated and I assume caused a spike. My Tunze Nano cord melted, caught on fire, and so did the "high-end" power strip/surge suppresor. My wife called me and said the tank was on fire, and I told her to get off the phone and put it out.

Then I fixed the cord by splicing in a new one, and it happened again about a week later. I am just glad I didn't burn my house down!

 

[forsaken541]

Dude that sucks, This was my first fire but I am doing alot of things different this time around. My electrical will be one of the biggest. My plug in panel will be an outdoor waterproof plug ins.

I am looking at the placement of the drain holes and it looks like I will have to drill through the inside 1.5 inches of the 4x4 that I used for the frame. I dont think its going to make any difference in the sturdiness of the stand but what do you all think? This will still leave about a full 2 inches of wood for the rear top of the stand.
Erik

I had two fires under a QT tank this month! Both were when the power fluctuated and I assume caused a spike. My Tunze Nano cord melted, caught on fire, and so did the "high-end" power strip/surge suppresor. My wife called me and said the tank was on fire, and I told her to get off the phone and put it out.

Then I fixed the cord by splicing in a new one, and it happened again about a week later. I am just glad I didn't burn my house down!

 

[returnofsid]

I think 4X4 construction is plenty beefy enough that you should be able to drill out that portion and be just fine. Still unsure if I'll be around next weekend or not. I do know that Sunday morning, I will be driving to Utah for work and be gone for about a month. As I mentioned earlier, if I'm around, and not too busy getting ready for my trip, I'll be happy to help get the tank inside and on the stand!! If you happen to be ready sooner, just let me know and I'll hopefully be available!! Good luck with finishing the stand as soon as you're able.

 

[forsaken541]

Ok thanks Ill let you know.
Erik

 

[forsaken541]

Well here are some more updates on the stand. I got the face frame and the doors done along with the bottom trim. I am using a 30 long for a sump tank and even with no center brace it is still too long to slide it in from the front so I came up with a different solution. The panel on the left hand side is removable so that I can just slide it on in. I also got the holes for the overflows and returns drilled.
Also I got the doors finished with a dark red stain and a hand rubbed Linseed Oil finish. This gives a nice not too glossy finish but is totally water repellent.
I still have to do the last little bit of trim work around the top which I should have done by tomorrow.
Erik

 

[jnarowe]

great progress and a nice looking result.

 

[returnofsid]

It's looking awesome!!!

 

[forsaken541]

Well the stand is now ready to come indoors after it dries for a day. Here is a pic of the finish and one of the removable panel. Once its inside I will have a little more trim work to do but I didnt want to move it with the more fragile trim on it. But at least this way I can get the tank set up and water in it and start moving the inhabitants to their new home while I do the finish work. Enjoy!!
Erik

 

[forsaken541]

So I am reading the instructions on my bulkheads that came with the tank and it says to just clean and wet the O-rings and tighten. But I have heard of some people that use silicone on their bulkheads too. Should I just follow directions or what?

 

[jnarowe]

Silicone is a no-no for quality bulkheads. If you feel you need to use it, you may not be installing them correctly in the first place. Silicone does not adhere well for very long with most materials.

 

[forsaken541]

Great, thats what I was hoping someone would say. I like to follow directions when I can.

 

[jnarowe]

Love your avatar...reminds me of the Strait of Juan De Fuca!

If you have good quality bulkheads, the gasket will have ridges on one side. Those go against the tank wall.

 

[forsaken541]

Well the tank and stand are up and filled. No LEAKS!! and everything is working great. I never knew how nice a Reef Ready tank is. The Mega flow overflows are great and work perfectly. I have 2 Mag 12's running the T'd off returns for tank flow and water movement. The lights and Skimmer are still on the temporary tank where all my stock is. I ran out of enough salt to my salinity is sitting at 1.018 so until I can get some more I will have to hold up.
Question, how high or low do you all run your drain pipes for the overflows. I lifted mine up until there was no more rushing water noise from the overflow.

Here is what it looks like now, still a little trim work to do but Its almost there!!

 

[forsaken541]

Well here is the tank so far with all my rock,sand and other inhabitantss dooing well. Keviv that rock I got from you is on the left. Also I am noticing alot of microbubbles coming from my 4 returns. Is this a normal thing for new mipe setups or what. The overflow instructions did not say for me to glue the return lines in place which I thought was odd could this be the reason for the bubbles?

Erik

 

[mark peacock]

looking good so far keep the pics coming.

 

[forsaken541]

And for those of you who might have some extra frags lying around or some chaeto you may need to thin and your in the Spokane area let me know cuz it woul,d be nice to have a few things, the die off was a little worse for the corals than I had thought. Thanks for all the encouragement from everyone.
Erik