Sorry this first post will be a bit winded...I wasn't going to do a build thread anywhere w/ this tank but decided it would be nice to have a record...
Back in December my wife decided she wanted a tank in our clothing store and I was able to pick up a (very) used 90 gallon Oceanic reef ready, stand, DIY canopy, dual PFO lighting 250W mh, VHO supp's, mag 9.5 return pump and an AC II w/ probes, x-10 transmitter and 8 modules, all for $175. The tank looked so rough I had the guy fill it with a garden hose and we let it sit for 2 days before I gave him a check. The only leak was from a cracked bulk head.
Here's how it looked the day we got it moved into our shop.
The next day I started the clean up. I don't have any pics of that process but it took about a week. I cut all the nasty 1/2" pvc out, cleaned the glass inside and out, repeatedly with water and vinegar until a white rag no longer came back with streaks on it. Then I took a refurbishing kit I got in a box o' crap from championlighting last year and dry polished the inside and outside of the front glass. That took another 3 or 4 days to get it to a point that satisfied me.
Next I went to work on the plumbing. This is where it begins to slow down because money is tight and every penny of this project has come from frag sales from my 46, chaeto, gracilaria and mangroves.
I built a durso out of 1 1/4" sch 26 and mpt reducer to fit it in the 1" bulk head. The cracked bulk head proved to be a bear because the previous owner had tried to stop the leak with some sort of glue which did no more than glue the threads shut so I had to cut it out with a dremmel. Sounds easy enough but I was by myself so I had to leave the tank on the floor, tip it over on it's face and lay down on my belly to work. I'm a BIG guy so...LOL
The whole time I was working on the bulk head I could see the crappy DIY canopy leaning against a table next to me and began to dislike it more and more. So I decided to build my own. I finally got the build ready to stain and will do that tomorrow. I have pics of the entire canopy build but will only show a couple to save bandwidth.
This past week was a good one for frag sales and today I was able to order 52 lbs of rock from Maloney (reefcleaners), all of the LOCLINE and a new bulkhead for the return, 2 Korilia EVO 1400's and a Hydor THEO 300W heater. I have another 50 pounds of John's rock just sitting in a box in my fish room.
I also discovered that the single Workhorse 7 I got wasn't powering 2 VHO's properly so had to order another. Luckily I was able to score a new one on eBay for $35 shipped.
Heres a couple random shots of the fans that will go in the canopy and testing the lights
A single UVL SuperActinic lit up on a WH7
The mh's with 10k Ushios. I'll be replacing them with 14K's when it goes on the tank
If all goes well this week will see the completion of the return plumbing, baffles in the 29 gallon Aqueon I'm using as a sump and begin plumbing the overflow. Plans for that part are a split to the intake and to/through a RSDB before dumping into the fuge. I'll have to take the rear brace off of the stand to get the sump tank in there but it will be a nice fit with room left to fit a 5 gallon bucket for the rsdb.
Back in December my wife decided she wanted a tank in our clothing store and I was able to pick up a (very) used 90 gallon Oceanic reef ready, stand, DIY canopy, dual PFO lighting 250W mh, VHO supp's, mag 9.5 return pump and an AC II w/ probes, x-10 transmitter and 8 modules, all for $175. The tank looked so rough I had the guy fill it with a garden hose and we let it sit for 2 days before I gave him a check. The only leak was from a cracked bulk head.
Here's how it looked the day we got it moved into our shop.
The next day I started the clean up. I don't have any pics of that process but it took about a week. I cut all the nasty 1/2" pvc out, cleaned the glass inside and out, repeatedly with water and vinegar until a white rag no longer came back with streaks on it. Then I took a refurbishing kit I got in a box o' crap from championlighting last year and dry polished the inside and outside of the front glass. That took another 3 or 4 days to get it to a point that satisfied me.
Next I went to work on the plumbing. This is where it begins to slow down because money is tight and every penny of this project has come from frag sales from my 46, chaeto, gracilaria and mangroves.
I built a durso out of 1 1/4" sch 26 and mpt reducer to fit it in the 1" bulk head. The cracked bulk head proved to be a bear because the previous owner had tried to stop the leak with some sort of glue which did no more than glue the threads shut so I had to cut it out with a dremmel. Sounds easy enough but I was by myself so I had to leave the tank on the floor, tip it over on it's face and lay down on my belly to work. I'm a BIG guy so...LOL
The whole time I was working on the bulk head I could see the crappy DIY canopy leaning against a table next to me and began to dislike it more and more. So I decided to build my own. I finally got the build ready to stain and will do that tomorrow. I have pics of the entire canopy build but will only show a couple to save bandwidth.
This past week was a good one for frag sales and today I was able to order 52 lbs of rock from Maloney (reefcleaners), all of the LOCLINE and a new bulkhead for the return, 2 Korilia EVO 1400's and a Hydor THEO 300W heater. I have another 50 pounds of John's rock just sitting in a box in my fish room.
I also discovered that the single Workhorse 7 I got wasn't powering 2 VHO's properly so had to order another. Luckily I was able to score a new one on eBay for $35 shipped.
Heres a couple random shots of the fans that will go in the canopy and testing the lights
A single UVL SuperActinic lit up on a WH7
The mh's with 10k Ushios. I'll be replacing them with 14K's when it goes on the tank
If all goes well this week will see the completion of the return plumbing, baffles in the 29 gallon Aqueon I'm using as a sump and begin plumbing the overflow. Plans for that part are a split to the intake and to/through a RSDB before dumping into the fuge. I'll have to take the rear brace off of the stand to get the sump tank in there but it will be a nice fit with room left to fit a 5 gallon bucket for the rsdb.
