It's like watching turtles sleep...

Lol, I said it would take longer than Nick's, so its not too surprising.

Water is in the tank! Working on the worlds longest leak check.
The pipe from the right was about a half inch too long, so I am going to cut it down. I wasn't paying attention when I cut it.

dwolson2 wrote: I wasn't paying attention when I cut it.

You need to slow down a bit, you're going way too fast.

I figured i would get that comment from you, I even debated about not putting it up. I just plain forgot. I measured to have it in the correct section, but forgot that I had the 3/4 dry drain coming straight down.

sisterlimonpot wrote:It's like watching turtles sleep...

sisterlimonpot wrote:

dwolson2 wrote: I wasn't paying attention when I cut it.

You need to slow down a bit, you're going way too fast.

make up your mind!!!!

I have been working on it every morning before work, but last night I got about an hour to finish up the plumbing. My little "helper" lily was out there trying to "fix" my portal.

Fixed the pipe that was too long, installed the brs reactor, mp10, and mp40. The mp's aren't running, just want them to be in place. Working on wiring everything in.

I guess you don't need any water then? I just did a big 150g water change and will probably do a 200g one next weekend befoer I leave again. Let me know if you want some of the water.

Crusty Old Shellback wrote:I guess you don't need any water then? I just did a big 150g water change and will probably do a 200g one next weekend befoer I leave again. Let me know if you want some of the water.

Edit, I think I will be ok without water for now. I still have to drain it, and add a baffle, which I don't think will be done before you go. Also, I could just make the water, cost me about 30$ which is almost gas

Installed an EB8, Vortech battery backup, and wxm today. No pictures of that though.

put in the second eb8, and installed the apex. I put the apex through my netbook to turn it wireless, but the connection isn't the greatest.

wiring is a mess right now:

I thought you painted the stand? or is this a picture of before you painted the inside?

I couldn't get to that stuff with the roller, so after I finish I am going to touch up those areas. I already hit a few spots and chipped off wood, so I have to repaint anyways.

Not planning on painting the underside of the top, you can't see it unless you look for it.

As long as it's sealed from the moisture, it's just that since you have the time you might as well take care of the finer details. Make this thread live up to it's title.

Def, I am going to touch it up afterwords. The bottom is pretty well sealed up, I tried to put a thick coat of paint on when I painted it. I may buy another can of paint and put a second coat while I have the sump out to add the baffle. I have to wait to verify the skimmer will work where I want it to before I go that route though.

More painfully slow work done this morning. I put in the mounts for the t5 lighting in the sump and mounted the breakout box for the apex. Also wired in one endcap.

sisterlimonpot wrote:It's like watching turtles sleep...

That's how I feel watching the tank fill with rodi water.

here the rock is in, but I need to move the left tower more right and add more rock. I want to make the right one taller with it coming more towards the left, in a trailing towards the front manner.

I am about two or three hours away from having the tank and sump filled. I stopped for tonight, and will fill it tomorrow. Here is the tank nearly full. This is the normal pump off water line:


Skimmer plumbing is nearly done, I will post up pictures later tomorrow. Also need to build a stand for the skimmer. Going to try putting it where the chaeto was last time.

Oh and I have the mp40 on the left and the mp10 on the right.

Skimmer is in and running, however the flow is still too much even with it running the brs reactor, so I am going to re plumb it to add a valve. Its going to be pulling out some wet skimmate until then though.

Running two hours,

and counting..

Ok here was at 8 this morning, so about 10 hours later.

a little update:
Got my apex fixed(firmware problem wile updating it) with the newest firmware.
Also, put in the mp40/10 drivers in the correct location. They are velcro'd then strapped in since the velcro always gave way when it was on my 75. Also, this is on the top(kind of ceiling) of the stand:


Walked in the house yesterday and saw this, thought it was funny:

so i did the math and the tank is 135gal not a 150, so I am going to have to change the title.

Also, I went out and looked at the tank temp and it was at 87deg!

^^^ don't forget to edit your signature as well.

should be fixed now, although technically is after rock with the sump it still is about 150 gallons

I saw the title change and I thought you got a new tank hahaha

coryg wrote:I saw the title change and I thought you got a new tank hahaha

That would kinda stink, put all this work in this tank not to even see it set up!

Many people have done that. You read all the time in the FS threads that, "I had intentions of setting this tank up but my life's priorities has changed and need to sell this tank"

Yea, I forgot about those. I think if you don't get started, its just sad to look at. I know I wish my lights were done so I could at least look in the tank. I thought about putting a fish in there, but with the crazy temp swings, I think it would be torture.

Working on the mock-up for my LEDS here is what I have so far:


3-5w LED's with 2)50W multi-chips on the ends.
The outside black boxes are heat sinks. 2- 6X9 and 1-6X20 from rapid LED
I plan to have fans(5) cooling the heat sink. The triple puck kits are the triple pucks from rapid led, I bought a kit from them already.

added more rock...thanks nick!

still have to play around a bit, I feel like its a little to fat down low on the right. The right stack is about 4 inches from the top of the water.

I still have a 1/4 bucket left, which will go in my sump, but I ran out of room for water. I have to wait a bit for some water to dissipate, or I may flood

Cant u just drain some water out?

I could, but my salinity was low anyway.

Oh. Speaking of wich you dont have my refractometer calibration fluid do u?

i thought we went over this already, I gave it back to you a while ago...lol, I will look here just to make sure though

Did we? Oh sorry lol i cant find it anywhere

look in the boxes you picked up.

My skimmer is going nuts again since I put that rock in. How long was it sitting out drying? There was more crap on that rock then mine!

Oh and I put some vodka in the tank to try to help and pull nutrients out of the water, but I did that before i put the rock in(over the last 4 days) so now there is a ton of nutrients for bacteria to eat

Like 3 weeks. Did you rinse it off at all?

nope In a few weeks I will run the last of my carbon and GFO to clean the last of it up.

That probbly would have helped

redone, I think I will add a strip of blue and RB on the back down the road. Here is what I have on hand aside from the 50W ones:

I don't think I ever put this up but its a diy skimmer muffler

So after looking around more, I think I am going to go with a 30K white(for the 50W). I looked at a lot of peoples opinion, and I currently have the design to have about a 14K for my 3/5w leds(with full power), so I am going to want to be more on the blue side. I don't want a straight blue LED, and the 30K are a little bit more for the chip(40$) but I think I will be happier with them. IF they come out too blue, I will have enough white in the 5w chips to whiten it up, it its still too white(which I doudbt) I will add a strip of 12 blues to the back side of the fixture.
Here is the 30K led:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50W-Power-LED-30000K-White-4500LM-30-35V-1-5A-Aquarium-Plants-/390410942926?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae64e39ce

and someone using them:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2206012

I pm'd the guy on rc, and he said it was very similar to a 20K metal halide. I have heard a lot of chatter about the "20K" leds looking more like 14K" and to go with 30K's

I have my radions set to 20K and I really like the color as well as the coral growth. by supplementing the other lights you will be able to dial in that 20K look or whatever color config you're going for.

From what I've read the multi chips, or leds in general are not accurate compared to metal halide in the Kelvin scale. Ecotech more than likely made the programming mirror what we are used to seeing in metal halides. So to get a 20k multi chip led, I have to order a 30 k, its going to be easier to over power blue with white than white with blue anyway.