Old build thread

[Scrubber_steve]

Awesome fish the Vlamingi, real characters.

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Awesome fish the Vlamingi, real characters.

Yes! my favorite for sure! If only they could talk haha

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Yes! my favorite for sure! If only they could talk haha

I know what they would be saying

"FEED ME,,,,,, MORE!"

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Whats up y'all! Figured it was time for a update as a few things have changed!

1.) After some fidgeting around, I was able to get the calcium reactor up and dialed in! Decided to go with the Kamoer peristaltic pump, carbon doser, reef octopus cr5000d 8" reactor. Took a bit to get it dialed in, but with the apex controlling the carbon doser Ive had good luck with internal ph of the reactor!

2.) I started building the frag troughs for the fish room! The main one (8ftx42"x17") is almost done and ready for coating! Hoping to finish that up this weekend! Ive been using my qt tank for extra coral and frags and such and I am just about out of room! So this is much needed!

3.) Acros and such are finally starting to color up and show some growth! Pretty happy to see that!

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Frag tanks getting there....3/4" plywood...fairly cheap and tbh probably the most sturdy, stable designs.

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Calcium reactor rollin! Amazing how much this has impacted coral...Almost immediately noticed stagnant corals encrusting and colors starting to come back!

Additionally, After having some early nutrient issues, the Refugium I implemented has done too good of a job! HA! nutrients have gotten dangerously low...no3 .75ppm po4 .03.....A little low for my liking but have been feeding like crazy...tangs don't seem to mind

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Finally some coral and tank shots! I am planning on starting a youtube channel to make these updates easier and more detailed! Lots of time on my hands these days with everything going on! Here ya go!...

Just realizing....MAN!!! MY PICS SUCK!!

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Ill Try for better pics/Video tomorrow!

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Well all this quarantine stuff gave me some free time to finally get around to getting this trough tank closer to finished!

I was originally planning on doing a "crossmember" Across the tank to prevent bowing. However, I came up with wrapping the top of the tank with a 2x4 brace and then using a series of 2x6 supports around the outside to form a support in the corners and the middles of each side. Then I used 1x4s for a ledge/Eurobrace and down the sides to make it look somewhat nice! I used self tapping screws for all of this and tbh this thing isn't moving.....beefy as could be! Happy with the results!

Took awhile filling in hundreds of screw holes.....but was able to do that, sanding the entire thing down, and get the first coat of pond shield on it today! Additionally, I got the bulkheads drilled in and fitted! Using schedule 80 2" bulkheads. Not exactly sure if Im going to make a glass overflow or skip that for simplicity sake. Still up for debate! But here is what it looks like!

 

[Brandon Pantzlaff]

Well all this quarantine stuff gave me some free time to finally get around to getting this trough tank closer to finished!

I was originally planning on doing a "crossmember" Across the tank to prevent bowing. However, I came up with wrapping the top of the tank with a 2x4 brace and then using a series of 2x6 supports around the outside to form a support in the corners and the middles of each side. Then I used 1x4s for a ledge/Eurobrace and down the sides to make it look somewhat nice! I used self tapping screws for all of this and tbh this thing isn't moving.....beefy as could be! Happy with the results!

Took awhile filling in hundreds of screw holes.....but was able to do that, sanding the entire thing down, and get the first coat of pond shield on it today! Additionally, I got the bulkheads drilled in and fitted! Using schedule 80 2" bulkheads. Not exactly sure if Im going to make a glass overflow or skip that for simplicity sake. Still up for debate! But here is what it looks like!

Are you putting one coat down and then doing your fiberglass seams? I seen a video that you can install the fiberglass by just putting a coat of pond shield down then fiberglass mesh and putting another coat over the top of the fiberglass mesh. Is that the proper way of doing it. I’m in the process of making a 4ft by 3ft by 1ft deep plywood frag tank. I plan to double up 3/4in plywood for all walls and bottom then build a stand for it. Would you recommend putting bracing on outside of tank also?

Very nice build you have started hope all goes well!

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Are you putting one coat down and then doing your fiberglass seams? I seen a video that you can install the fiberglass by just putting a coat of pond shield down then fiberglass mesh and putting another coat over the top of the fiberglass mesh. Is that the proper way of doing it. I’m in the process of making a 4ft by 3ft by 1ft deep plywood frag tank. I plan to double up 3/4in plywood for all walls and bottom then build a stand for it. Would you recommend putting bracing on outside of tank also?

Very nice build you have started hope all goes well!

Hey man! Appreciate the questions! Hopefully I can provide some insight that has worked for me and helped me in my experience.....

personally, in my opinion, if using 3/4” plywood, there is no reason to double up. Especially if only 12” tall. Plywood is extremely rigid the way it is once screwed together and braced properly.

I made the tank first with wood glue and SELF-DRILLING screws. That part is critical....if you split any plywood you have a mess....

I would do a brace around the top similar to what I did. I used 1x4s screwed into the top of the plywood. Making A ledge all the way around. Under that I used 2x4s to make a “brace” all the way around. I then screwed the 1x4 ledge to the 2x4 brace. That alone made it rock solid. However, I added 2x6 vertical braces around the outside of thetank and screwed them to the stand. Then used 1/2” plywood cut outs to screw the 2x6brace to the 2x6 vertical braces. That made sure the braces were straight. Once that was done, the tank wasn’t budging. And that’s on a 8ft by 42” tank....yours is roughly half that length wise. So if done correctly, you shouldn’t need a cross-brace.

for the coating....I didn’t use fiberglass on my plywood sump or on the trough. Reason being...the fiberglass is used to support the seams and add structure and rigidity. Because everything was so well supported and braces I didn’t feel that was necessary. So I simply used pondshield thicker in the seams. Then a silicone over the seams once done! Has worked well for me!

Goodluck on it!!

AK

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Well I suppose it's time for an update! Right after the last post the system went through a bit of rough patch....The sudden crash in nutrients spurred an onset of dinoflagellates...nasty things. I lost a decent amount of frags and decided to try and rebalance the system.

Actually perfect timing with getting the trough up and running.

DINO strategy that worked for me....

I did a 1 month complete blackout....Wrapped the tank in garbage bags etc.
The blackout killed everything algae wise and Dino wise. The death of the algae and dinos spiked nutrients pretty good...so lots of water changes and a small amount of gfo removed the access nutrients.

During the blackout I made the following changes

-Replaced hydra 26's over display with new radion XR30 PRO G4 Lights
-Got the Trough going (100 lbs of new Marco rock added to my additional live rock
-replaced Skimmer (upgraded to Reef Octopus internal SRO6000)
-Added a 20 gallon display refugium


I let the Marco rock sit in the trough with some live rock for 3 months before any lights were turned on. Here are the updated changes right around august.

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Welp dinos came back as almost expected....they always do! Believe my issue was a lack of bacteria colonies....environment wasn't diverse enough to battle away dinos, although the blackout did help....

Anyway after some fighting and bacteria bolstering they finally retreated and the system has been taking off ever since.

In the mean time of the blackout and the Dino battle, my colonies where kept in my qt tank...I have slowly transferred those back to the trough and started with mainly 1" frags in the display.

The got orphek Atlantik v4 G2 for the trough from a local friend. Radions seem to be rocking as well!

Have a number of things yet to do on my list but slowly but surely she is coming together.

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Some random shots from the display and the trough...apologize for the cell phone pics. Everything has been in the system for about 2-3 months. And also my working bees

 

[code4]

Quite the handy man. I am glad you did not drill the floor. Very impressive designs. I had not heard of pond shield. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[ReeferBud]

I have the same calcium reactor as you. How much flow are you running through it?

I have the line almost wide open, running odd my manifold, and it’s starting to struggle to Jew up on my 450 gal.