I haven't been making a lot of progress with my setup, for a number of reasons, so I thought that tracking my progress here might help my motivation a little. It was gonna be all set up by MACNA....
My new tank was built by Glasscages to my specs. It's 65X30X25, with a horizontal overflow. It has 2 1.5" drains and a 1.5" return. The front and sides are low-iron glass. It's perimeter-braced.
When you get a tank and stand from Glasscages you have to finish the stand yourself. I used Minwax medium oak stain and Minwax wipe-on polyurethane, 4 coats and sanding in between each coat.
My sump and service equipment are going in the garage, so I have had to cut a number of holes in the walls of my house for plumbing. Plus more holes once I saw the 2X4s, conduit, etc. behind the first holes I cut. ??? What I am getting at is that I have had to slide the hole 400lb. shebang away from the wall a number of times. Magic Sliders are great, I used the BIG ones and they even sell a tiny little jack so you can get the sliders under the furniture.
Other stuffs I have done: I built an 8-foot long bench in the garage to hold the sump and everything else. I have been using this model:http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20.htmlBut it really costs more than $20 to build, unless you have free materials.
I got a free 50G tank from my neighbor to use as a sump. I have drilled it for the 2" bulkhead for my return pump. Something to think about--I drilled it from the outside, and ended up with chips on the inside where the bulkhead O-ring goes. I could have drilled it from the inside and had the chips on the outside! Durrrrrr. I have to drill a smaller hole for the skimmer pump, I'm going to try it from the inside. I'm gonna have to use some silicone on the chips or it will leak, even with the jumbo-size sched-80 bulkhead.
I have the drain plumbing mostly glued, but I need so run and glue some of the return pluming and design the manifold system. I got a trick manifold from Aquatic Eco, it's a bunch of valves glued together. Gonna plumb it off my return.
There is a Q-tank set up for the things I want to save from my old 55G setup, but I haven't moved anything yet. I'm gonna blast the livestock for flatworms before sending it to people to babysit. I need to set up a tub to cook the liverock, although it won't be going in my new tank, at least for a long time. I have a Rubbermaid tub where the liverock from my old 90 has been cooking FOR TWO YEARS. Still some stuff living on it.
So once the plumbing is glued, the next big thing is the leak test, got to run fresh water for a while and see if there are any kinks to iron out. I'm a little worried it will make a godawful flushing noise.
Going to need a little electrical work in the garage, I need some wall mounted outlet boxes rather than power cords all over the floor. It would be nice to have a transfer switch or at least a pigtail connected to the breaker box, ideally a small subpanel/transfer switch.
And so on, and so on.
My new tank was built by Glasscages to my specs. It's 65X30X25, with a horizontal overflow. It has 2 1.5" drains and a 1.5" return. The front and sides are low-iron glass. It's perimeter-braced.
When you get a tank and stand from Glasscages you have to finish the stand yourself. I used Minwax medium oak stain and Minwax wipe-on polyurethane, 4 coats and sanding in between each coat.
My sump and service equipment are going in the garage, so I have had to cut a number of holes in the walls of my house for plumbing. Plus more holes once I saw the 2X4s, conduit, etc. behind the first holes I cut. ??? What I am getting at is that I have had to slide the hole 400lb. shebang away from the wall a number of times. Magic Sliders are great, I used the BIG ones and they even sell a tiny little jack so you can get the sliders under the furniture.
Other stuffs I have done: I built an 8-foot long bench in the garage to hold the sump and everything else. I have been using this model:http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20.htmlBut it really costs more than $20 to build, unless you have free materials.
I got a free 50G tank from my neighbor to use as a sump. I have drilled it for the 2" bulkhead for my return pump. Something to think about--I drilled it from the outside, and ended up with chips on the inside where the bulkhead O-ring goes. I could have drilled it from the inside and had the chips on the outside! Durrrrrr. I have to drill a smaller hole for the skimmer pump, I'm going to try it from the inside. I'm gonna have to use some silicone on the chips or it will leak, even with the jumbo-size sched-80 bulkhead.
I have the drain plumbing mostly glued, but I need so run and glue some of the return pluming and design the manifold system. I got a trick manifold from Aquatic Eco, it's a bunch of valves glued together. Gonna plumb it off my return.
There is a Q-tank set up for the things I want to save from my old 55G setup, but I haven't moved anything yet. I'm gonna blast the livestock for flatworms before sending it to people to babysit. I need to set up a tub to cook the liverock, although it won't be going in my new tank, at least for a long time. I have a Rubbermaid tub where the liverock from my old 90 has been cooking FOR TWO YEARS. Still some stuff living on it.
So once the plumbing is glued, the next big thing is the leak test, got to run fresh water for a while and see if there are any kinks to iron out. I'm a little worried it will make a godawful flushing noise.
Going to need a little electrical work in the garage, I need some wall mounted outlet boxes rather than power cords all over the floor. It would be nice to have a transfer switch or at least a pigtail connected to the breaker box, ideally a small subpanel/transfer switch.
And so on, and so on.
