Buffy's 1st Ever SW Build - Reef Tank

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Words of wisdom from dary. I agree. Although it stinks, you've come a long way. And I'm not sure if the anthrax thing is a very good idea lol.
 
needmorecowbell said:
Words of wisdom from dary. I agree. Although it stinks, you've come a long way. And I'm not sure if the anthrax thing is a very good idea lol.
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Yeah, I don't think anthrax is a good idea, and I didn't even suggest it lol, so before I get in trouble for that too, we should drop discussion of it. I can see the headlines now "Beginner saltwater aquarium enthusiast goes postal - resorts to Anthrax" see page 23 for story lmao

Thanks everyone, sometimes things can be so frustrating. As I told Marine Depot, I like their company and didn't want to not order from them anymore. They have been very understanding and patient with my "rantings" I have suggested to them that they update their product descriptions to eliminate this type of confusion.

I will order from them again without hesitation, well, maybe I will ask questions to verify stuff just to be sure and not assume. I know they always answer as I have asked questions before. I just assumed on this one.

I am keeping the LED's and when I have the money I'm going to order the rest of the reflectors.

Went through work all night with a excruciating headache and I'll be darned if I woke up with it too. I have an hour before I have to leave for work and I'm going to try to get a coating of paint in on the tank.

Finally settled on an aquarium software program, since I don't have the desire to make something up. I need something to keep me organized and I could not for the life of me even make up a simple spreadsheet (that never used to be a problem), so I bought Aquarium Lab. Gathering up all my scraps of paper, notes jotted on envelops and stuff and gonna start entering info tonite at break. I know this organization will surely help me and keep me from going in circles so much.

Texted my daughter last night, and if her hubby is not working on friday, she is going to come over and help me put the 75 gal up on the new stand and try to get everything back in. I don't know how much we will get done because I said "come over to help me out and have a few beers", lol we may end up with more than a few beers and nothing else done since.......singing........"we deserve a break today so getting up to get away to....Buzzland". :whistle:
 
Lol I wish my family would come over and help me out, I could definitely use it. They just think I'm crazy for spending so much on it. But when they stare at it, it kinda shows them why.
 
I didn't say she was gonna for sure LOL.

I got a coating of paint on the tank before I left for work tonite. WOOHOO
 
Yes, it is starting to be opaque. I hope to get another coat on before I go to work, gotta wake up first.

Beer time .......probably bout 8p, that should be bout 6 for you Dary lol.

I started entering in some info in the program I got last night and I'm glad I got it, but now I'm kinda scared cause the cost is going up lol, not sure I really want to know how much I've spent yet.

So as to my next project after this tank is put up and back together.....

Should I try to make the sump serve as a sump, fuge, and algae scrubber?
 
Oh good Lord...don't add the costs all up. Stop now! Any good endeavor should be spared the sharp sting of the adding machine. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, even in this hobby of details.
 
Gregcoyote said:
Oh good Lord...don't add the costs all up. Stop now! Any good endeavor should be spared the sharp sting of the adding machine. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, even in this hobby of details.
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Amen to that! The number one question everyone asks me is "how much did you pay for that?"

My answer: Just enough to keep me happy until I go buy more stuff.

There are so many things I could spend money on, but providing a beautiful bio-environment for beautiful living creatures in my own living room is something I've found is hard to surpass.
 
TLTGF said:
Amen to that! The number one question everyone asks me is "how much did you pay for that?"

My answer: Just enough to keep me happy until I go buy more stuff.

There are so many things I could spend money on, but providing a beautiful bio-environment for beautiful living creatures in my own living room is something I've found is hard to surpass.
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+1 I agree. I'm not worried about how much I spend on my hobby, as long as I get my money's worth (meaning not cheap stuff that breaks in 2 seconds that you paid an arm and a leg for thinking is was good quality). But even with everything I have spent so far (and no I have not calculated it), I still have spent far more on my cycling, which sucks that last year (2010) I couldn't ride and this year (2011) I was so out of it from the surgery still that I didn't ride. I am so hoping this year is going to be better.

I still want to get my dog, in the kid carrier, but the mutt fights me and jumps right out just about killing me in his desire to escape. I wonder how hard it would be to pull my aquarium instead LOL, they are calm at least.

My daughter should get here in a little over an hour. Corona Extra tops to be popped very soon after her arrival. Wish us luck we get something done LOL, supposed to be a tank moving night but we haven't sat around and shot bull and had a beer in well since before my surgery. Soooooo a 12 pack for 2, and I don't drink much. Thankfully I'm home :)

Cheers ya'll.
 
Pictures

Ok tank is in place, lights are hung. Before I add everything back I have some tweaking to do. I'll be tweaking forever BUT I want to make sure that I don't have to move the stand anymore.

Here is my pulley system, I'm going to be cutting and burning the top end pieces also. I decided on rope versus wire.

I'm having a problem because the light cord itself and it's stiffness is the driving force of the angling problem. I need to figure a way to take the cords, make them neutral to get them out of the equation. If the cords is in back of the tank, the front right is forward, & when the cords are on the left side then it shifts it back but pulls left side down shifts fixture to left. I never knew how off 1/2" or less would look.

Suggestions??? Thoughts????? Opinions?????? Corrections?????
 
Really nice. I fully approve of your light setup. It is able to get out of the way easily and can be varied in height to your whim. I like this better than the canopy system I developed. While I like the clean looks of the canopy, I like the flexibility of your light system. Good work.
 
Thank you. I just got home, been long busy day. Mr. X I'm not sure how that would 1. look (it's my living room) and 2. If I'd be able to raise it with the cords zip tied up because knowing me I'd forget to unzip them to raise it up. I am planning on putting the outlets inside the stand. So I don't know if they would be long enough to zip tie and raise.


@needmorecowbell----The last picture is a 55 gallon tank that I took out of "storage" so I could put my stuff from 75 gallon in while I changed out the stand and hung the lights. It's a few months old but to me it's still new and I'm a newbie.

@Gregcoyote. Thank you. This is much easier to pull than the wire was. I also added 2 more pulleys for the "block & tackle" approach to help with the distribution of the weight and force on the Lag screws. I have 3 rings positioned so that when the top one goes on the hook, it is in the raised position for me to get in the tank. The lower is the display height (which needs a little more tweaking) and the middle ring is for me to hold on to while I pull. My arm stretch isn't long, so when I'm pulling down I can't reach the top one to put it on the hook so the middle one is my handhold so the rope doesn't slip out of my hands while raising and lowering it.

I really like the rope better than the wire. I also am planning on using a few decorative knots to enhance the look.

FYI---My dog was instrumental in this fixture. I have struggled with getting the two ends together.....Well his choker chain gave me the idea. I used 4 14" dog choker chains to go to the first pulley. woohoot. Gotta love my pup. LOL

Now for some ice cream and sleep. First thing tomorrow, will be rinsing the sand and getting everything back out of my 55 into my 75. Then attach coral to disks. And when parameters are matched up, acclimate my corals to the display. This coming weekend I'll be acclimating the one button coral of the bunch that I qt'd separate (well sorta), he's with my encrusted horn which.............will be finally going back into the dt tank, he is almost back 100%, I didn't lose him after all even though he was nothing more than a skeleton, he came back. woohoo.
 
Do you really think you are going to be raising that up often? I mean, you can just shove it out of the way if you want to get your hand in there for something.
 
mr_X said:
Do you really think you are going to be raising that up often? I mean, you can just shove it out of the way if you want to get your hand in there for something.
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I'm hoping I'm only raising it once a week. I'm going to zip tie them to the lower chain which should allow me to raise and lower without unzipping and rezipping. I have time tied together already but hadn't thought of tieing them to the rope. That will bring them forward which should stop the angling. Thank you.
 
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