hows everything comming along?

well, the electrical is done, the tank is 1/2 full of rodi and the plumbing is done for the closed loop. The pumps and overflow box should be here tomorrow. I ordered 50 lbs of lr last nite so it should be here wed or thurs.

I will be posting pic's soon

skinz78 wrote:I will be posting pic's soon

we heard this many times

Alrighty lady's, Adrian, and gents, the moment you have been waiting for. Some progress pic's.

This pic is where the tank will sit in relation to the 120g it is replacing, 120g to the left and 75g will be to the right. Notice I have done the electrical so I have a quad outlet down under the stand for the fuge and sump, and a quad outlet up high for lighting, interior pumps and so on. All GFCI protected from a different location. I am a licenced sparky so kids don't try this without at least the help of sombody who knows what they are doing.



This pic is my low budget version of a closed loop spray bar. My closed loop pump sits inside the tank as it is a glass tank and I am afraid to drill it. I plan on hiding the pump with a couple rocks. I went with the Ocean Runner 6500 with about 1750 gph output. I used grey 3/4" pvc piping hoping it won't be as noticeable in the live rock. I just capped each standpipe and took a 3/16" drill and put 3 holes in each standpipe. I made the end standpipes longer, I plan on aquascaping the lr higher on the ends and more open on the middle for a larger clam to sit and have plent of room in the center. Notice some of the stand pipes are at 90deg and some at 45deg. I did this to hopefully hold some of the lr out and create hiding holes for fish.



Now tank sitting in place begining to fill.



Tank almost full, and some sand, with pump installed temporarilly. I also have the hood on wich had 2x 175 mh. I ordered some new 14k bulbs and they should be here next week. I will also be adding 2 36" T5 strips that I have with atinic bulbs.



Here it is with almost all the sand, I used Tideline Natural Coral Sand for this and seeded it with about 5 quarts of my sand out of the 120g. I need about 10 more lbs to cover the spraybar bottom so I will be adding that tomorrow. From the seeding process I noticed I got a little blue legged hitch hiker. So naturally I needed to put a few rocks in there from the 120g for him to graze on.



I recieved my live rock today from http://www.liveaquaria.com and here is my curing setup at this point in my woodshed, lol smells like low tide in there. I just have a 20g rubbermaid tub with two powerheads, a 150w heater, a canister filter with zeolite crystals to help with ammonia. I plan on doing a 100% water change tomorrow nite and adding a skimmer.



I am very picky about my live rock, I ordered the stuff that live aquaria says is a must have. I got 30 lbs of the select lalo, I recieved 2 large 15lb rocks and this one is the most exciting of the two, it looks alot like the gulf rock that I just sold 100lbs of because I hated it. I was not impressed at all so I called them and they made it right with me. Their customer service gets two thumbs up!!



I also recieved 24 lbs of the tonga branch and this stuff looks like they plucked it from the reef this morning. It is awesome, I just picked some of the smaller pieces out for the pic. There are bigger one's at the bottom of the tub.



Well that is all that I have going right now. I expect a large drygood order on monday, plus another order of live rock next Thurs so I will do another progress post then.

looking good Skinz, keep the updates comming

You keep draggin' me along in these forums, don't you Skinz?! Must be a drug in the salt, indeed...

Way to be on your tank setup so far... hopefully the hood is to your liking (after your mods especially) and I expect that you'll be happy with the results of a larger refugium/sump... as I expect the clams will be too.

So far so good man... steady as she goes... let me know if I can do anything to help you out!

-B

Hi atlantisaquatic Welcome to Reef Aquarium Forum

Thanks Bill, you have been a huge help on building this tank and my others, I truely appreciate it. I can't wait till Monday till our drygoods are here.

I swear this is the best forum to participate in though, much more informative than the others. Chris is a wealth of info and I am also greatful for all the advice he has given me.

Since you mentioned my name so i have to respond you Skinz

Tank looking good man, so what is the expecting ETA we can see clam in this system mate?

Well I normally don't ever recommend placing a clam in a new tank before it has been set up for at least six months. But I am thinking I am going to try and push it and do it in a month, or if my old tank sells sooner I will do it asap. I am to the point where most of my clams are A grade showpieces so I gotta be careful.

I plan on placing quite a few sps's in there too, Bill actually is being kind enough to babysit a few for me right now. I don't want to put them through the stress of jumping from tank to tank at the moment.

Ok I have some updates to post now. I recieved one of my drygoods orders today. So I have new light bulbs on the tank, my overflow box and temporary sump, and my SCWD wave maker.

Here is a full tank shot. I ordered 14k bulbs and these look more like 20k to me. I am not happy with them, I have sent the seller an email but haven't gotten a response yet.



This is a pic of my reflector I made for the hood. I Built our house 2 years ago and we did some solatube skylights in it. I had a 3' long section of the reflective piping left over so I cut it in half and it worked perfectly for the reflector. It was an expensive piece at $160 and they wouldn't take it back so I had to find a good use for it. If you look hard enough you can see my ugly mug in the reflection



My CPR overflow box, I went with the CS100 for my application. I added a Aqua Lifter pump so it keeps it's prime. You can also see the Ebo Jager thermometer and one of the two return lines for the sump next to it. I plan on putting the thermometer in the sump when I get it installed. I went with a SCWD "switching current water director" for a wavemaker. It seems to be pretty cool, I am impressed.



And last is my make shift 5 gallon sump, I just did this to try out all my new dry goods that came in today. I should have my actual sump here tomorrow. I am expecting some more live rock on Thurs too, so I will do pic updates then.



Ah what the heck since I mentioned our house I will add a pic of it so you can see my digg's. It's the only full front shot of the house I could find, it was taken the first winter after construction.

Well I might as well add some pic's of my clams that are going to go into the tank.

Black and gold crocea 4"


4" maxima, well some say maxima, but I am thinking possibly squamosa still. We'll see if it gets huge or not.


From left to right, 3" lime green squamosa, 4" black and white maxima, and 4" black with lime green, and gold teardrop maxima


4" maxima


4" gold crocea


4" Maroon Maxima


4" black and gold crocea


3" gold maxima


I have more clams than this but these are the only clams I have decent pic's of.

Well I thought I would post a pic of the tanks creator, LOL notice the reef tee shirt too boot. I wired that house, supprized it hasn't burnt to the ground yet.
Yep I usually do have a big ol grin just like that, it isn't just a pose.

comming along nicely skinzs

i wouldn't worry about the color of the new bulbs just yet. after they burn in they will mellow some on the blue. keep us updated on how you like the overflow and pump you got.

Great home BTW. I always wanted to live out in the woods like you are . sending you an OT PM about your neck of the woods

you snuck the clam pics and your mug shot in whole i was posting great clams why have you been hiding them from me