Fillory's 55

[Reef of Fillory]

Thinking of setting up the two lights with my nanos 150w metal halide in the center. Any thoughts?

This would be the setup with the two 16" front to back with the 150w in the center

This is with the two 16" end to end

 

[count krunk]

pop that MH in there!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

I kept looking at the tank and light setup, and was worried that the back half of the left side of the tank wasn't going to get enough light due to the lights not being wide enough to cover from front to back.

I adjusted the support braces in the hood so that the LEDs could go front to back, and will probably throw the 150w MH in the center once everything gets transferred over.

The wife and I got the stand and canopy painted last night -

 

[Sipec]

Following

 

[ksfulk]

First, dont listen to anything that @Velcro tells you. He has no idea what he's doing (He's got most of my acros at the moment)

Second, something to think about - I would seriously think about cutting the drain/return holes in the stand much larger and a single hole. I have big hands, so its hard to get hands or tools around the bulkheads if you have such a tiny space. Unless you are thinking about going bare bottom completely, I'd suggest cutting that hole big enough to fit both lines and a wrench. It wont wreck the aesthetics of anything, and will prevent some creative swearing down the road.

Third, I like the idea of the MH in the canopy, but I'd be worried about the heat build up. Depending on where the MH fixture vents from, you could easily pop a hole in the back of the canopy and mount a cooling fan in there to draw in cool air (or vent out the hot air) which might help a bit. I dont think many MH fixtures vent on the top of them, so it might be worth a dry fit and check now while you dont have it all together.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

First, dont listen to anything that @Velcro tells you. He has no idea what he's doing (He's got most of my acros at the moment)

Second, something to think about - I would seriously think about cutting the drain/return holes in the stand much larger and a single hole. I have big hands, so its hard to get hands or tools around the bulkheads if you have such a tiny space. Unless you are thinking about going bare bottom completely, I'd suggest cutting that hole big enough to fit both lines and a wrench. It wont wreck the aesthetics of anything, and will prevent some creative swearing down the road.

Third, I like the idea of the MH in the canopy, but I'd be worried about the heat build up. Depending on where the MH fixture vents from, you could easily pop a hole in the back of the canopy and mount a cooling fan in there to draw in cool air (or vent out the hot air) which might help a bit. I dont think many MH fixtures vent on the top of them, so it might be worth a dry fit and check now while you dont have it all together.

I rebuilt the hood to hold the SBReeflights front-to-back and plan to pop the MH into the center due to issues with potential shadowing on the back half of the tank with the lights side-to-side. I'm likely only going to put a [removable] board on the top/back 6" of the canopy to prevent light leak to the wall behind the tank

I had considered whether or not I could get a wrench/pliars where the bulkheads are in case of needed repairs/changes. The current hole size was after widening the original holes that I made. I will check again to see if I need to re-cut that space [better to do it now than need to when there's water in it - like you said!]

My plan [if heat is an issue - but it hasn't been with the 150w over my 13 gallon, so i'm not anticipating any issues] is to cut a hole on either end of the hood and mount in some PC fans with some painted grills to hide the holes, and run a fan over the sump tied to either the light schedule, or temp prove [or both].

I appreciate all of the feedback everyone!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

This is what I am envisioning for the hood (painted of course) - just enough to keep the light from reflecting/shining onto the wall directly behind the tank, but not too much as to not allow plenty of air movement. @ksfulk

Next project with the lights is to wire them for the Apex control.

 

[Sipec]

I like the color of the stand

 

[Stonekeg]

Hot diggity dog, this looks fun. I'm following the thread.

Thank you for recommending the Novus method for buffing out the scratches in acrylic. I'll be giving that a shot soon. I'm about to drill my tank this weekend, and while it's empty I was looking to touch it up.

Good luck with the tank. It's coming along great so far!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

I like the color of the stand

That was the wife's choice - We're probably going to make some Vinyl templates for some type of beachy theme [shells, starfish etc.] and paint them in white on the stand. She's already planning to get some knobs from Hobby Lobby that are shell shaped too.

Hot diggity dog, this looks fun. I'm following the thread.

Thank you for recommending the Novus method for buffing out the scratches in acrylic. I'll be giving that a shot soon. I'm about to drill my tank this weekend, and while it's empty I was looking to touch it up.

Good luck with the tank. It's coming along great so far!

Thanks! I could have done a lot more on my tank, but I ran out of patience. I hand sanded [with a sanding sponge - not the best choice] a few spots, and after buffing with the power wheel I think they'll be fairly well hidden with water in the tank. I definitely could have done a better job with the buffing, and identifying scratches to work with sandpaper, but the wife and I were both fine with the condition the tank was in even before I started buffing with the Novus, so any improvement was just icing on the cake!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Moving the tank this Friday - Get the keys to the new apartment late in the day Friday after work.

Gonna be a long night - need to get the tank moved Friday, then doing the rest of the move on Saturday with help from dad/brother.

Plan for the move is to mix up around 20 gallons of water using red sea salt [blue bucket] in 5 gallon buckets, and transfer the nano to the 55 gallon using this 20-25 gallons + the nano's water. Will run the tank 1/3 full until I get a chance to make up some more water.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Here are some updates, everything still isn't set up but it's looking decently good!

 

[count krunk]

looking good!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Updated pics

 

[ksfulk]

Looking good

 

[Sipec]

Nice

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Wife and I have decided to break this tank down and take a couple of years break until we build into a much larger system.

If anyone local is interested in fish/corals, I have a posting on Craigslist. Search "Reef" or "Corals" on Grand Rapids Craigslist and you'll find the posting. Corals have all been fragged off of the rock and are ready to go.

Equipment will be for sale after livestock is gone [and will also be posted on the forums marketplace].

Thank you all!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Going the route of

5+ corals at $15/ea
10+ corals at $12/ea

All 30 remaining corals for $320

Fish will be next, then equipment. If you're local and looking to fill in a tank, or try out some new corals shoot me a PM or send me a text.

Someone keeps flagging my Craigslist post, so here's an updated link

https://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/d/wyoming-reef-tank-corals-fish-equipment/6794166338.html

 

[Sipec]

I might be interested, I have to get my kessil set up first though