Spring Break Projects

[CollegeReefer]

I am on my week long spring break and I decided to take the week to get many little (well kind of big) projects done. I will post pictures of what I have done this week when I get a camera (mine no longer works ).

1. Build new sump/fuge for 40 gallon tank
2. Build overflow box for 40 gallon tank
3. Hard plumb 40 gallon tank (first time for me)
4. Hard plumb 75 gallon tank(currently just flexible tubing)
5. Rebuild sump/fuge for 75 gallon tank (wasn’t planned well my first time doing it)
6. Drill out screws on aquapod light (rusted) and replace with stainless steal screws
7. Replace lights on Aquapod.

As you can see it is a very long list and well I got the first 3 done thus far. This was the first time I ever hard plumbed with pvc so it was a learning experience. Everything went well except one part, but that was easily fixed. When I turned everything on it worked perfectly which of course made me feel really good. Actually it got me really excited.

I build a new sump/fuge for the 40 gallon using a 29 gallon tank and glass baffles. After doing much more reading and well after being in the hobby for 2+ years I was able to create a much better design. However I did originally make a mistake which meant I had to remove a baffle. But hey it didn’t take too long because the silicone was still drying.

Removing and redoing the sump/fuge for the 75 gallon took a lot longer then I thought it would which just tells me and you that you should do it right the first time. I had to remove all of the sand, rock, and macro from the set up and put it into dishes until it can be placed back into the sump the next day. The second part that was a pain was removing the glass baffles. I did however learn that easy way to do this is to just take a hammer and carefully break the glass. This made it much easier to work with. Lastly cleaning all of the silicone, algae, and other things that are growing the tank was time consuming as well. However after it is all done it will improve the efficiency of my protein skimmer.

I haven’t started re-plumbing the 75 gallon tank as of yet but I do plan on starting it after I work tonight. My goal is to have everything done so that when the 24 hour curing process for the silicone is done I can get everything up and running again.

Lastly I am picking up a used Redsea aquazone deluxe 100 mg with orp probe for the 75 gallon tank which will be hooked up to the protein skimmer. This will make my skimming more effective and also help keep the tank in great condition. I got a steal on the system from a guy in our local reef club. As I stated above I will post pictures of what I have all done when I get my hands onto a camera.

[trashion]

Geez, all I'm doing this spring break is getting nostalgic by putting the entire collection of the original Sims on my laptop.

Kudos for your motivated spirit!

[it4lian]

Wow you gotta fun Spring Break, don't ya. Goodluck on these.

[CollegeReefer]

I still don't have any decent pictures of what i did. My girlfriend took some pictures but not what I wanted. I am eyeing a new camera. Spend that 600 dollars the goverment is throwing at me. I think might get a canon digtal rebel xt. Anyways here are the pics I have. Also one quick question. For my 40 gallon tank which will hopefully one day house aggresive fish i was thinking about adding this to my fuge area of my sump. Would that work? My 75 gallon tank i am adding ozone which has made my water as clear as RO/DI. My 40 gallon is well a bit yellow when i do water changes. I would like to change that.

On a diffrent note i decided to do away with my maxijets and pick up two hydro koralia nano pumps for my frag tank which is set up in a 29 gallon but it also has a plenum that raises the sandbed up a lot. The tank is tied into my main 75 display.

This is what my girlfriend has sent me.

This shows my area in the lab. The 75 gallon tank is tied into the first 2 29 gallon tanks.


This is the sump/fuge i built for the 40 gallon. I re made my sump/fuge on the 75 gallon display to match this one. It is hard to see but the water that is dropped from the overflow is split between the two sides.


I will try to get more pics. I might have to buy my camera before that check comes in the mail. My next project that i started today is to make some frag racks. I will be making a 1/2 inch frame using 3-way adapters that the egg crate will be tied into. I was also thinking about drilling holes into the pipe in several locations to allow water to fill the pipe so it stays submerged. I organlly thought about filling the pvc with sand and then sealing it so no water can get in but i am always trying to save money.

Lastly the flood lights over the fuge will be replaced with a flood light that has a 5600k-6500k reading. I got this idea from melvesreef. He has used the 2500k like these ones and has upgraded to the 5600k. I would have bought 5600k but noone caries them around here so i will have to order them online.

[flamingo]

Nice!
Argh, I hate trolling these forums... everytime I log off, i'm always wanting to try more projects xD

I think your next tank should be for seahorses, but, that's just me

Oh, and if your going the route of a DSLR, i'd suggest looking at Nikon instead. I'm currently using a Canon Rebel on loan, and while it's, ok, it's still not something i'd personally dish out 600$ on...

[CollegeReefer]

Originally Posted by flamingo

Oh, and if your going the route of a DSLR, i'd suggest looking at Nikon instead. I'm currently using a Canon Rebel on loan, and while it's, ok, it's still not something i'd personally dish out 600$ on...

It is funny you say that because my sister who is majoring in photo jounlism has a nikon d50 and suggested I go with the canon. The problem with the nikon is i don't have as much control with white balance which is key for tank shots. Also the nikon doesn't have the autofoucs driver built in to the body which means you need to buy lenses with autofoucs built into them which does limit what you can get.

[guppyart]

yes but white balance can be changed if you shoot in raw and edit them using photoshop or other programs that allow custom white balance and colour temp manipulation.
oh that and autofocus doesn't work that well most of the time with tanks I have found,,, manual focus ftw

canon is nice but people complain about a softness to photos,, nikon puts out some amazingly crisp and colourful photos,
pentax is slowly breaking into the market but has problems with lowlight photos with noise in the photos.


oh and awsome projects these make me want more reef tanks

[CollegeReefer]

Well I pulled out my old camera and picked up some rechargeable batteries for it because it goes through a set in a day. Here are the pcitures I have been meaing to post for the last several weeks.

First pic is just one of the ball valves I installed. I orginally had all flexible tubing and replaced with pvc


New toy from from a member of the reef club i am part of. Not sure if the probe is reading right for it has only peaked at 320. I will be testing it this weekend.


The overflow is split with a T. Water goes to the left side which is where the skimmer is located and some water goes to the right side where the refugium is located. The center has the return pump.


This shows a picture of the refugium side. I currently have a 2500k bulb but will replace when i get 5600k bulbs in madison next week. The pvc u on the front right of the pictures is hooked up to a maxijet 900 that pumps water into my frag tank next too it. The clear u-tube on the back right side siphons the water back from the frag tank to the refugium.


While shopping I saw the union valves and realized i almost forgot them. First picture is from the 75 gallon that has ozone injected into it. You can kind of see that it is clearer then the other pump which is tied to the 40 gallon tank.




i made new racks for the frag tank. I constructed the frame using 1/2 inch pvc and fittings (3 way?). This allowed fore a frame with legs all tied together. Much better then my old system of just using pvc with elbows. Made two to stack on top of eachother.


This is my DIY overflow. I used 3 inch pvc that i cut grooves into for inside the tank and i drilled an old broken hob canister fillter and installed bulk head for the part outside the tank. I am using 1 1/4 flexible tubing for now to bring water over the tank.




40 gallon display with only inverts for now. Might either be an aggresive tank with snowflake eel or seahorse and pipefish tank.


40 gallon skimmer which isn't making much microbubbles. Not sure what is up. It is a coralife needle wheel 65.


75 gallon display left, center, right






That is all I have. Thanks for looking and any comments are welcomed of course.

Zachary

[Scuba Kid]

Looking good!

As for the Coralife skimmer, try cleaning out the air intake tube, the little vent hold on the air intake "silencer" (i think that's what it is...the little plastic thing the tubing connects to..) and the the vent old on the outtake. You can use a needle to clear them out; sometimes they get clogged with saltcreap and I've noticed that this impedes on microbubble production.

[CollegeReefer]

Originally Posted by Scuba Kid

Looking good!

As for the Coralife skimmer, try cleaning out the air intake tube, the little vent hold on the air intake "silencer" (i think that's what it is...the little plastic thing the tubing connects to..) and the the vent old on the outtake. You can use a needle to clear them out; sometimes they get clogged with saltcreap and I've noticed that this impedes on microbubble production.

Thanks Scuba! I will clean the air hose but then again the unit is only a month old. Hopefully this will help.

Today my items from drsfostersmith.com came today. I installed the t5 10000k bulb to repalce the one i broke, installed two hydor koralia nano's to repalce my rio and mj in my frag tank. Wow are these things small. Lastly I added a Marinland Magnum Canister Filter to the fuge side of my sump on the 40 gallon. It is filled with carbon and I am hoping this will help clear up the water. It pushes out 240gph which is a little to much flow for that little section but hopefully all will be well because i don't have room to fit it on the display. I will post pictures sometime this weekend.