planning phase of a new 180 tank ???

cracker

Well-Known Member
Ok I think the tank is ready for a fresh water test run. I went with example B on the gate valve placement. I have all the corner brackets screwed on the frame . I made sure all the unions are tight. I double checked all "67" glued fittings. I found 2 that were unglued.
Also today I changed water in the cooking barrels. After 2 months of cooking, the rock is turning white the No3 & Po4 has dropped a little . Also there was considerably more crud in the bottom of the barrels then before. I found something interesting and ominous at the same time . After 2 months in pretty much total darkness, there are small clusters of tiny bubble algae. these weren't there last inspection. so they are still able to reproduce and grow ! That is some tough stuff. Bubble like all algae needs light and food to live so if I wait it out there is only one outcome. it will go dormant for 500 years and come back ! LOL
So tomorrow I will fill this tank with water and see how it goes !
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
I just realized its cutting through the middle of a room. Are you going to hang a false wall, or curtain behind the tank to block out the rest of the behind the scenes "fish room"?
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
OK , so 9 hrs and the stand hasn't collapsed and not one leak ! What's Your opinion on the clever center brace? The span is 30 ". Think it's too far of a span?

I don't know anything about DIY, as you know. I'm just posting to say it's fun seeing this coming along nicely!
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Hey Stir, There will be shelves on each side and doors on the bottom. also horizontal panels along the top to the ceiling. These sections will all be easy to remove . Thought about a curtain of sorts for the b ack pane of the glass. not sure how I'll do that yet.
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Today I fiddled with the height of the standpipes in this herbie bean overflow. The height of these standpipes (in relation to each other) can change how the water passes thru and how loud it is. Also the gate valve adjust to get it just right is very touchy. I slightest nudge of the knob can make a difference. I can't figure out the purpose and why's some use durso type U's on these pipes. I left mine open I could add strainers to keep any debri from clogging . I can't imagine anything large enough that could pass thru the slots in overflow. I also ran a couple of pump off/restart tests. The overflow works as advertised. so Now I just have fresh tap water circulating thru the tank. I have some old block looking dry base. It's looks a lot like this.
so I was thinking about just letting it soak in the fresh water for a while to flush out any whatever a freshwater soaking can get out. You think this is a waste of time?
I'll be starting on the shelves and doors Monday or Tuesday. I'm considering using plastic decorative window shudders as doors of the stand. I'm not sure how they would look. However they would let the tank breath a little better, be very light weight and wouldn't warp over the years like the last ones did. I have already been eyeballing the shudders around my windows for this task . I only need 4 and nobody see's the back of my place ! LOL
ps, I'm tired of watching my Gators whip these lower ranked teams. I'm ready for somebody who might stand a chance !
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
OK I was really bored today ! I have a good friend who has a knack for wood work , building the shelves and doors for the stand. I could do it my self but it will look so much better after he is done. so I started thinking about lighting for this Refugio. ( I just looked at the spell check . They say Refugio is the correct spelling so Refugio it is ! ) so I had these led strips from the scrubber experiment. I have 4. Each has 9 , 1 watt diodes. 8 are red 660nm 1 blue diode 460 nm, whatever nm means. so thate 36 total watts. Doesn't sound like very much does it ? These thing are bright believe me. I can't look right at them.
I built a simple frame to hold the light strips and ballasts. I want the thing to be 1 unit without a bunch of cords. This way I can just unplug the whole thing and move it out of the way. I'm not sure if exposing the ballasts to moisture is a good thing. The connections are not water proof but look well made and provide a good seal. What do You think? Strong enough Ya think?
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
I got these lighst plugged in ,not very bright I think. They look a lot brighter now it's dark. I supposed a par meter is in order. They do pick up red light don't they. Oh Boy more research waaaa!
 
Last edited:

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
I think they'll grow chaeto pretty well, 36w should be plenty.
Any reason you can't mount the drivers up out of salt creep's path, and run the wiring down to the strips?
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
I can do that no problem. was trying to avoid a bunch of wires hanging and such. I don't like it either. I'm glad Ya think the lights are strong enough. Matrox is using a LOT more over his ref.
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Ya I'm pretty sure he;s using MH lighting. I'm not ready to break out my old MH ballasts and hood for this ref ! One aspect I'd like to check is to out competing the display light. So the algae wants to grow where You want it. Just something I read.
I'm about to work on moving the drivers out from under the stand and still consolidate the chords . keep it neat and easily moved out of the way.
 
Last edited:

cracker

Well-Known Member
evening Folks, I placed the drivers out of the way of salt creep. I t's still under the stand and could be easily moved to a different spot. Nothing perm yet.
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
Thanks Squatch, that makes sense . So the past week I have been working on the shelves and doors. I hired a good friend who is very good at wood work. he works for a nominal fee .... beers mostly. So I learned that building cabinets, shelves and such isn't nearly a pain as staining and varnishing ! So I have a little foam roller in one hand and a paint brush in the other, thinking to myself there has got to be a better way.:dunno:
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
I got a new toy today! I managed to turn it on ! Also turn up the volume. Pretty cool pump however I think I'll need another at the other end . it looks a lot better than the huge koralia's I had and the cables are long enough!( short cables are a pet peeve of mine) :mad:
 

cracker

Well-Known Member
I get the 2nd gyre 250 tomorrow. This way I can get an idea how the two work together. I can get them to run in all kinds of ways. or I'm supposed to. Not sure how to do it yet! Also It's difficult to see just what is going on current wise as there isn't anything but water in the tank. I'm running out of things to keep me busy while this rock cooks. 3 months and still N03 and Po4 are way too high.' I need to seriously consider how I'm going to keep the rock above the sand bed. That means aquascaping. Prob is the more I plan the worse it looks. Usually looks best when I just stack it in the tank !
To keep busy Iv'e been working on the 75. I started dosing kalk last sunday so I need to check the Alk & Ca for comparison. So far so good on that. Thanks Stir for the thumbs up on the stand.
 
Top