The Garden -- Rakies shallow SPS cube

[Janci]

Oops.
Well that is ho wlife works... lower your guard 1 minute from being totally busy, and a sneeky virus takes over.
I hope you are feeling better soon.
What would you fish if you went out?

 

[Rakie]

Oops.
Well that is ho wlife works... lower your guard 1 minute from being totally busy, and a sneeky virus takes over.
I hope you are feeling better soon.
What would you fish if you went out?

I live in Southern California, and I typically fish for saltwater bass (Calico, Sand Bass, Bay Bass). Right now the Yellowfin Tuna and Yellowtail are in from Mexico as well, so I was hoping to get an overnight to the islands for yellowtail and calico bass.

 

[Rakie]

Alright, took a ew top down pics today. Gonna be dipping in a little while, figured it was a good time to snap a few pix.

FHC ArchLight

Oregon Tort (went a lil green from dips?)

Wild Piece I've been Cooking

PC Superman

(Questionable) RR Strawberry Fields (i have red planet, this is more pink)

(Questionable) Angry Birds

"Rainbow" Hyacinth table

JF Fox Flame

JF Beach Bum

Jawbreaker

 

[bubbaque]

Corals look nice! I see what you mean by your pc Superman looks different. It seems branchy instead of tabling.

I received my first Jawbreaker today. How long have you had yours?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Hey I seen this tank before. Looking good.

 

[Rakie]

Corals look nice! I see what you mean by your pc Superman looks different. It seems branchy instead of tabling.

I received my first Jawbreaker today. How long have you had yours?

I cut the PC Superman off the rocks and mounted him like a traditional frag, so he's adjusting awkwardly.. Although he seems to grow like a mili-table. This is a good representation of how this variant seems to grow;

I've only had my Jawbreaker for a few months, got a nice large one at a good price. It's making a little baby right now too. It's a little more than 2" diameter, it has been growing like a champ.

 

[Rakie]

So I felt better for about an hour tonight, decided to play with the rocks a bit.

Just a taste of the first steps in cutting.


Masonry Cutting Wheel

Angle Grinder

Test Cuts

I'm having trouble holding the rock still unless I use the vice, which is placed in the garage. The rock dust is not appreciated... I'm thinking I may get a circular saw and a concrete saw blade to do the rest. It'll get much deeper than a 4 1/2" wheel also..

 

[Rakie]

Did a little more work on my structure too. Cutting rock is loud and dusty, and I didn't feel like taking a 4th shower... Besides, the structure needed some ... structure. You can tell it's 3am by my typing -_- ANYWAYS

So here's where it started tonight (except I added a T slot at the base section)

I did add a T slot for more structural support though.

Every joint cemented, then drilled and connected with zip ties

So it's hard to explain, but I've decided to go with the route that gives me the most surface area, and won't take a metric S-Ton of time to build. 3 tiered shelf

Yep, kiddie doodles. That's how you know I thunk up a good blueprint.

This thing will fill in pretty much the whole tank. There's gonna be about 4-6" of free space from the bottom shelf pieces to the glass.

 

[najer]

Can't wait to see this "rocked up"!

 

[Rakie]

Here is the most basic of visual ideas. I haven't cut up my rock yet so this is just my few practice cuts, and some shelf I had laying around

 

[GoVols]

Rakie,
This is so awesome!!!

Are you feeling better?

 

[Rakie]

Rakie,
This is so awesome!!!

Are you feeling better?

Eh, not really feeling better! I keep trying to do stuff haha and feel worse the next day.

Today the angle grinder broke after about an hour of work... I was about to head to the shop an buy a concrete blade for a circular saw and decided to nap instead. not great for progress, but good for the cold I've been harboring for almost two weeks now.

 

[GoVols]

Yeah,
The one that I caught this winter was a long haul to fully re-coop.
I don't know if it was the flu, but it was really a rough go.

Please take care of yourself and try not to over due it.

 

[Rakie]

Yeah,
The one that I caught this winter was a long haul to fully re-coop.
I don't know if it was the flu, but it was really a rough go.

Please take care of yourself and try not to over due it.

Yeah it's definitely a light cold but it's a little stubborn. And my least favorite, a dry cough. I don't usually mind a cough because it's productive -- Not so with a dry cough!

Ah well, the rocks can be cut another day. Not the end of the world. They're soaking in bleach anyways while waiting to get cut.

 

[Frizzles7]

Here is the most basic of visual ideas. I haven't cut up my rock yet so this is just my few practice cuts, and some shelf I had laying around

This looks so interesting. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!

 

[Rakie]

This looks so interesting. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Me too. First I need to be less sick so I can play outside with saws -_-

 

[Rakie]

Small update on little things!

Rocks -- Finally had a free moment to finish cutting up the rocks. So the rocks are done. I may do a little touch up or two.

The rocks had been soaking in bleach for about two weeks to kill off organics while I recovered. Now I need to soak them in some RODI for a bit to help remove some of that bleach, and then cycle/cure the rocks as one structure on the PVC.

Return -- I wasn't happy with my return, so I built a new basic "up and over" return for a VCA nozzle. It's 3/4" soft tubing with a 1/2" PVC to 1/2" nozzle. This will not only be much better, giving me more random flow, but I'll be able to dramatically increase my flow on the face of my corals on the new rock structure.

Due to my new rock structure design and placement, I'll have to move my powerheads. I figured the little VCA nozzle will add one more dimension to my flow, especially facing the front of corals, where we typically give them the least flow.

Pics?! -- I'll get some pics after I place the rocks on the structure. Due to how busy I am right now, and my rocks needing an RODI soak -- that might take another week or so.

 

[Rakie]

Did some scape-building today. So far it's looking good, sadly in natural light it just looks like a big beige rock. no shadows showing the structure... But I took pics anyways!

So here's what I'm talking about..

The first two layers in the shade;

In the Sun

All three rows, not done yet!

The white PVC will be covered up -- It's not quite done yet, needs a lot of little pieces to fill in gaps, and that purple rock on the front right needs something behind it so it can be secure and extend beyond the PVC.

 

[Rakie]

It still has some work to go, because I made an oopsie..

My problem right now -- I neglected to factor in the thickness of the top rocks, I also forgot to factor in the height added by the 5 layers of PVC connectors... This gives me a total height of about 18" right now, my water line is 17", I had planned for 13".

So my solution is three fold;
- Put a thinner rock on the top, lowering top rock from 3" to around 1" (+2")
- Cut a 1" chunk out of the top legs, lowering structure 1" (+1")
- Cut a 2" chunk out of the bottom legs, lowering structure (+2")

Doing this will give me around 5" more clearance, which should net me around 4" under the water. This isn't perfect.

I wanted it to definitely take up a lot of room, but I wonder if that top shelf will even be usable at 4" water clearance. That was my original goal at first, but seeing it in person makes a difference. I may need to take an additional step or two.. Otherwise, maybe I'll put a big table up there in the top back corner and let it cover that whole top rock by itself.


Anybody have any additional suggestions for lowering the structure height?

 

[SneakyTortuga]

It still has some work to go, because I made an oopsie..

My problem right now -- I neglected to factor in the thickness of the top rocks, I also forgot to factor in the height added by the 5 layers of PVC connectors... This gives me a total height of about 18" right now, my water line is 17", I had planned for 13".

So my solution is three fold;
- Put a thinner rock on the top, lowering top rock from 3" to around 1" (+2")
- Cut a 1" chunk out of the top legs, lowering structure 1" (+1")
- Cut a 2" chunk out of the bottom legs, lowering structure (+2")

Doing this will give me around 5" more clearance, which should net me around 4" under the water. This isn't perfect.

I wanted it to definitely take up a lot of room, but I wonder if that top shelf will even be usable at 4" water clearance. That was my original goal at first, but seeing it in person makes a difference. I may need to take an additional step or two.. Otherwise, maybe I'll put a big table up there in the top back corner and let it cover that whole top rock by itself.


Anybody have any additional suggestions for lowering the structure height?

I love this idea. I wish I would have thought of something like this when I did my scape.

I would shorten the distance between the levels. Especially the bottom level to the base of the tank .

Can’t wait to see how this turns out