[dinor2]

Hey, I forgot to ask you what skimmer you're using... I'm looking to upgrade to a less bulky model but need a hang on one too. Yours seems to work pretty well...

[Jeremy0322]

It is called an Excalibur, I do not think they are very common though, i have never seen one atleast. It works really well, but now that its in my sump i had to extend the intake line and I do not know if the water line in the skimmer tube is high enough. I am going to keep an eye on it for a day or two though and see if it is just being weird because i unplugged it and stuff.

[dinor2]

Ya, I'd be interested to see how you get the water back into the tank from the skimmer. I'm debating whether or not I want to get a different skimmer or add a sump and put the skimmer i have under the tank in the skimmer. Please post a picture of how your protein skimmer is in your pump.

Thanks!

[Jeremy0322]

Alright, so my entire night has consisted of finishing this tank, and I am happy to say it is finally done(all the major work at least). I went to the drop ceiling section or Home Depot and got noise canceling tiles, which was only about 26 dollars for a huge box of them, which was way way too many, but whatever. I got the doors on, for the plumbing finally all finished, and I think everything that I will need for a while.

Here is the finished stand, as well as my "work area'..lol


And here is the paneling that I was talking about, it worked wonders. The difference was noticeable as soon as the stuff was on, definitely worth the 26 dollars.


Here is the paneling in the stand on the corner next to the wall.


And this is how it looks on the front doors..



by the way, the paneling is fire resistant, acoustically canceling, and mold resistant because of the "humid" environment that it will be residing in.

[Jeremy0322]

Some more pictures...

This is the paneling on the door on the side of the tank so that I can take the skimmer and fuge in and out easily..


And here is the sump/fuge in all of its glory. Nothing too complicated but it houses the skimmer, extra heater, and a refugium, as well as eliminating all the damn microbubbles that come from my skimmer..


Here is the final design of the vertical spray bar. It is working alot better now that i closed off the loc-line return i had set up, the distribution of the water was making them both pretty weak because the loc line was 3/4 of an inch and the spray bar was 15 inches long, but now that its just the spray bar it is working really nice..


And here is the overflow doing..what it does..

[Jeremy0322]

And here are just a few tank shots, because that is what its all about. Notice that Nemo is not in the tank like i had talked about, because when i put the sand in the fuge the tank got SUPER cloudy, and that was about 2 hours before i planned on putting him in the tank. Thank god i waited..

Full tank shot


Right side of the tank with the AWESOME cave. That one piece of rock was a godsend.


Left side of the tank, with two overhands, so my shrimp can pick whichever suits him best, and then something like a goby can call the other one home.


And as I was taking the pictures the daylights shut off and the actinics were the only ones on, so i figured why not get a picture of it.


And that is it, there will be more pictures as fish start to call it home slowly, but I am just happy the actual construction part is finished.

[Jeremy0322]

Also, i thought it would be a good idea to union every pipe going into the sump and fuge, so that on the offchance i had to take it out I didnt have to take all the plumbing apart. And the powerheads are not in their final positions, and there is still an aquaclear 70 to go in, but they are set up now to push the stuff off the rocks and i have just not felt like moving them in the last week..lol

[plecosword]

Its looking awesome Jeremy!

[e_baer]

looks good! may have to borrow your sound proofing idea

[aquasalt]

Great progress Jeremy! i like the sound-proofing idea as well. My only concern is that it would become damp and moldy with time as a result of the humidity from the sump. What's your take on that?

[Jeremy0322]

I said in one of my posts that the tiles i got were mold resistant because I had actually thought about that ahead of time. But if that is not the case and they do get disgusting i will just replace them, its not like i will run out any time soon with how much i had to buy..lol

[DEWAYNE]

jeremy, great setup, very creative, you wanna come over for a steak dinner, and landscape my tank, LOL

[Jeremy0322]

The landscaping was all the girlfriends idea. I had the idea for the cave but she was the one that made it look good. She would sit on the bed and say, move the big curvy one left or right and I would listen. The ledges were also her idea, because we needed a home for the "shrimper"..lol. But i do love steak

[DEWAYNE]

well my wife, loves to look at the tank, but soes not give her opinion when I do a major cleaning, but my 9 yr old daughter does ( do u c the problem here........LOL ) I really have alot more rock then it what the pics show, it's just a big ass tank, heck it is 5ft. long but it has a nice height to it as well, and is wide, I relly am considering getting a bigger tank. dude you are looking great, I really need to get onthe ball, I have been talking about a reef tank for too long. I found some good deals, just don't want to buy them seperate, guess with my continuos streak of bad luck, when I got it all together, it won't work. LOL

[DEWAYNE]

jeremy, if you look at the pics. the sailfin, about 3 months ago, had no fins, I mean none.......he has been healing great, NO MEDS. the lateral line is healing alot slower, he is a trooper.

[Jeremy0322]

I never thought i would get this tank done, but once you get moving it just seems to come together somehow. Its weird how it worked, but I am glad to say its done...lol. Now for the fun part.

[DEWAYNE]

that's tha' ticket, keep us informed, and good luck

[Jeremy0322]

Alright, so i came home tonight to find a tank that was almost 83 degrees. Some of it may have to do with the PC lights which are 5 inches off the waters surface, but i feel that alot of it has to do with the poor ventilation in the stand. What does everyone out there do to make it cooler down there, because I am assuming that would make it much cooler in the actual tank. I know some people use computer fans, but i would be confused about how to power them. I would also like the most quiet solution there is, since i sleep 10 feet away from the tank.

[Jeremy0322]

Temp is at 79 because I thought my room heater was off yesterday, but i dont think it was because i woke up this morning and it was pumping out some heat. I turned it down and let the tank go today,aswell as moving the lights up another 2 inches, and when I got home from school it was at 79, which is sweet. More good new i think, is that I got my Diaton bloom starting yesterday and its looking pretty gnarly today. I have a small clean up crew in the 10 gallon and with all the levels being 0 or close to it I was wondering if it is their time? It consists of 4 Astrae snails and 4 hermit crabs. I am going to get more tomorrow because i KNOW that is not enough, but its a start.

[Jeremy0322]

Just realized I committed sin #1 for saltwater forums, vague parameters..lol. Here is the list of what i just got done testing....

Temp - 79
Salinity - 1.025
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
PH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Phosphates - .1
Calcium - 400

The phosphates are a little high but i dont think thats anything to worry about,do you guys?