New FOWLR

[amdninjaboy]

Cant wait till friday, my new 90 gal tank and some accesories are gonna be delivered.. 90 Gal tank, skimz skimmer, filter floss, couple water circ powerheads and 150lbs of sugar size arrogonite sand.. Picked upsome other parts already, pvc pipe and fittings, bulkheads, strainers, heater, drill bit to drill tank, silicone and have a 35 gal tank for a sump. Stand is being built along with matching canopy to match our existing furniture.. Cant wait to get it up and running, will post progress and pictures along the way..

Shane

 

[scottayy]

Oh wow, that sounds impressive!

 

[needmorecowbell]

Can't wait for pics

 

[amdninjaboy]

My light fixture finally made it last night. Its a Coralife Aqua Lunar, 48" 4 tube t5ho with moonlights. This thing is bright, and the moonlights are adjustable so you can aim em where you want them.. Hopefully it works as good as it looks. Will get pics of stuff this weekend..

Shane.

 

[amdninjaboy]

Here are some pics of my stuff so far..

New stand and canopy should be ready next weekend.. Having a friend build them for us to match our other furniture he has built.. The canopy will be lined with white arborite for moisture resistance and increased light reflection..

 

[amdninjaboy]

one more...

 

[amdninjaboy]

Got the holes drilled today, worked great and took about 3 mins a hole.. I used a plywood drilling guide and a piece of plywood inside the tank to try and lessen the glass chipping as the bit cut through. Picked up more fittings for the sump drain and return piping.. Also grabbed a can of Valspar 'Ocean Blue' paint for my background...

. Got the glass ordered for the sump, that will be ready on Tuesday..

Shane.

 

[CaptainAhab]

Can I ask why you decided to drill at the top and not the bottom? What type of overflow are you going to use?

 

[amdninjaboy]

I cant drill the bottom of the tank because it is tempered glass.. I dont want it drilled at the bottom anyway because I think they waste alot of room, I was looking at buying a reef ready tank with the overflow already built in but as I said it wastes alot of space and they want an extra $150 for the RR tank. Drilling this one cost me $13.50 for the drill bit and took barely 10 mins.. I plan on running the overflows like the LFS does with just and elbow and a strainer.. If its too loud I may also try a setup I saw where you connect both overflows with a piece of PVC tubing and either drill holes in it to let the water overflow or Ive seen it with a strip cut right out of the PVC pipe so it resembles a trough.. Also with the holes drilled near the top if the bulkheads ever leak it wont drain the whole tank..

Shane.

 

[CaptainAhab]

I hope that's one big sump with lots of free room because when that return pumps shut off....

The other thing to keep in mind, if you use the strainer method, is to keep it clean. As it becomes clogged with algae, snails, whatever the flow will decrease while your pump keeps on a pumping.

You'll notice at the lfs they are all bare bottom

Good luck

 

[amdninjaboy]

Oh ya, with the strainers right at the top it will be easy to clean them weekly during routine maint..

 

[amdninjaboy]

Just an update, ordered some final stuff for the tank yesterday, refractometer, Tunze ato, hand tds meter, some 1.5" pvc caps, mod kits for MJ1200, and some garlic extreme.. everything but the ATO and MJ1200 mod kits should be here today, those are on backorder and expected in 1 week. Hitting the LFS (well not so local,1 hr away) for some Marco base rock and might get a few pieces of live rock too..

Shane.​

 

[amdninjaboy]

Got some more work done this weekend.. Painted the back of the tank, Deep ocean blue looks really nice.. Siliconed the baffles into the sump tank and hit my LFS(localish) and picked up 100Lbs of Marco dry rock.. That stuff looks amazing.. Heres a few pics..

Shane.

 

[amdninjaboy]

One more..

Shane.

 

[amdninjaboy]

Picking up the stand later today, pics will follow..

 

[Greenmaster]

My tank is only drilled at the top as well... but I still have a larger area that can strain into the overflow. Still all and all it looks like a good start.

 

[amdninjaboy]

Ok heres the pics of the stand, tank and canopy...

Shane.

 

[amdninjaboy]

One more...

 

[mandy2936]

Awesome! I love the stand!

 

[amdninjaboy]

Thanks.. A friend of my wifes has a woodworking company and we had him build it to match the tv stand and end tables he has already built us.. Same style doors and stain.. He does awesome work, hes not cheap but its real wood not particle board and the stain is a custom color he made for us.. You could park an SUV on top of the stand and it will hold it, there are 2 solid Ash wood rails under the top and they are 3"X4" and the sides and back are 1 3/4" thick...

Shane.