my chiller just blew a connection, probably freon. if you can help please contact me at the store, maybe we can work out a repair / coral exchange
thanks
matt
Well we all know the story of how this had to be rushed due to a flood in the basement. So what I have now is a temporary set-up. Once the basement is re-constructed I will be moving this back downstairs and setting up the “fish closet”. But here’s the start"
Thanks to Al’s steady hand…and drill…and drill bit…we successfully drilled two holes for plumbing.
75 ready for painting - don’t know why I bothered with taping off the black trim, guess I didn’t want to get black paint on it lOl
The guy at HD insisted I use primer in order to get the latex paint to stick to glass…this is why I almost NEVER listen to the guys at HD.
Coat #1
Coats 3, 4 & 5
It’s not perfect. As it is temporary right now I plugged the holes for the over-flows and used a HOB filter. I couldn’t fill it all the way up as the plugs aren’t exactly water tight :-("
Obviously haven’t done much along the lines of aquascaping as it will all be torn down in about 3 weeks to be moved, but the inhabitants seem happy for the time being.
It’s a start. I’ll post the rest of the build thread as I move the tank and get everything hooked up properly.
Hey craig, is that small BTA the one you got from me? If so, thats the strangest thing because mine never bubbled.
Yeah that’s the one i got from you. It jut gt the bubbles with the move in to the new tank. I’s starting to open up more now as well.
That’s weird, I thought the bubbles were dependent on the DNA - - if the parent didn’t bubble then the frag wouldn’t either.
I thought they all had the ability depending on water quality, flow, light and of course flow. But it seems to me it is a reaction to needing more ballast to keep the tentacles afloat. I think everyone just think it looks cool. (Cause it does) Just my opinion…
no. i think craig is right. i dont think it has anything to do with the environment and everything to do with the individual BTA. thats why i thought it was strange that his bubbles and mine does not. Ive seen systems with mutiple BTA’s in the same system with some bubbled and some not. I think it may be possible that a BTA that has the potential to bubble will not bubble under the wrong conditions but mine thrives and has never bubbled once.
anywyas, that bta looks great. i agree with al, i think they look very cool with the bubble tips.
My RBTA (Upper right hand corner) bubbled when it was young, and occasionally a few tentacles will still bubble, but for the most part they just get longer. I really wish this thing would split. I figure at the rate it’s growing it will need it’s own 75g within 2 years.
You dont have sand in the bottom of your tank? May i ask y?
I think he doesnt have sand mainly because he has to move it again soon and just doesnt want to deal with it yet.
[quote=“icy1155, post:9, topic:621”]
I think he doesnt have sand mainly because he has to move it again soon and just doesnt want to deal with it yet. [/quote]
Thanks Icy - that is exactly why. it’s bad enough I have to move 70g of water, 100 lbs. of rock, the stand and at least 3 tanks. I’d rather not have to try and lug 40 lbs of sand along too.
Nice start! Glad to see my tank is finally getting put to some good use! How difficult was it drilling the holes? I am considering doing that to my cube so I can run an overflow. What do you plan to use for an overflow?
I found rilling it to be the easiest part of the whole thing…but that’s because Al did the actual drilling, I just held the hose >LOL<
Really it wasn’t difficult to drill, just time consuming. I think it tool about a 1/2 hour per hole, but if the bit was a little fresher it may not have aken so long.
As far as the overflow goes, I;m just going to run a 90 elbow on each hole and run PVC pipe down to the sump. Not really going to worry about a box or durso pipe, just a couple 2" drain lines.
Its probably going to be loud…
Coonsidered the noise factor. I think using a larger then needed pipe will allow soother flow of water, and with the sump being in the closet behind closed doors, noise should be cut down considerably.
Its actually pretty silent. If you use a pipe that is too small then you get a sucking noise. I didn’t put dursos on mine and it was very quiet. If I increased the flow from the sump it would make the drains pull more water in which case I could hear them.
Well we’re making progress…slowly but surely:
Ran the plumbing through the back wall behind the tank and over in to the closet using 2 X 1 1/2" drains and a 1 1/2" return gravity fed from the fuge. You can see the motor for the Wave2K here. Not as quiet as I would like but does a helluva job moving water.
Got the sump and fuge plumbed - unfortunately overtightened the bulkhead on the fuge trying to stop a slight drip - cracked the tank. Got to see the new ASM G3 in action (added the GV mod first)- talk about bubbles - holy crap
Started some rockscaping - almost got it where I want it:
Inhabitants are happy
More to come as I redo the fuge/frag tank and corals grow out a litle more.
man that looks really really good sir. It is nice. I think I am going to try and connect my gate valve just liek that.
I got the idea to do the gate valve like that from Al, just seemd much cleaner and easier given the shorter stature of the G3. Works like a champ, I can’t believe the amount and consistency of the crud it’s pulling out.
Next step is to figure how how to hook up an exhaust fan in the closet to pull the stinky skimmate smell out through the wall so it stops wafting in to the basement,
I’ve got an easier and cheaper mod you can do then putting in an exhaust fan. If you want to reduce the humidity put in the fan.
What is the diameter of the collection cup? I will try to get it made this weekend
Like the rock work!!! When you get some corals on there it will look really cool. I have some really small acrylic rod that you can use that allows you to “stick” corals hanging off the side of the live rock without the bother of gluing. Works well and you can mount to any hard coral. Also you can move them very easily if they need different lighting, flow, etc.