Ibrahim
Aquarium Advice Addict
Your tank looks awesome. And wow the iPhone 5 camera is nice. I can't wait to get mine.
Benjamin's 75g Garage Build (FOWLR to Reef)
- Thread starter mrbee2828
- Start date
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Last weekend our local reef club had a tank crawl with 4 stops. I hosted the first stop and did an unreal amount of changes to my system... all knowing I shouldn't. However things are ok and despite the massive change nothing has died. The pool filter stand in the main display was syphoned out into the new 40g and I added 60# of live agronite fiji pink. I love the look now with the different grain sizes, shells and colors.
I plumbed in a new 40g holding/grow out tank. This has killed my flow so I ordered another 1260 which I'm adding in this weekend. 1 pump will power the chiller and right side of the tank, the other the left side. I have no idea if the equal level tanks below will be able to handle the drain flow without the gravity the full syphon has on the bean. We'll see... we're experimenting here.
I've also been experimenting with acrylic. This "coast to coast" here on the 40g is my 3rd overflow box now. I also combed the baffles on the fuge just to get more practice. I'm not quite ready to build a tank but the overflow boxes are a good learning project. The box is 1/4" black and the baffles are 3/8" clear. I' just experimenting with different thicknesses and went with a thicker baffles on the sump because the 1/4" I had before was bowing and I've already had 1 sump crack based on doing baffles wrong
The frag tank was a temporary setup for our frag raffle. The LEDs are chinese multicolor sold by our local lighting guy. I'm buying 1 for the lower tank and we'll see how it does over the next few months. I can't afford another radeon
I plumbed in a new 40g holding/grow out tank. This has killed my flow so I ordered another 1260 which I'm adding in this weekend. 1 pump will power the chiller and right side of the tank, the other the left side. I have no idea if the equal level tanks below will be able to handle the drain flow without the gravity the full syphon has on the bean. We'll see... we're experimenting here.
I've also been experimenting with acrylic. This "coast to coast" here on the 40g is my 3rd overflow box now. I also combed the baffles on the fuge just to get more practice. I'm not quite ready to build a tank but the overflow boxes are a good learning project. The box is 1/4" black and the baffles are 3/8" clear. I' just experimenting with different thicknesses and went with a thicker baffles on the sump because the 1/4" I had before was bowing and I've already had 1 sump crack based on doing baffles wrong
The frag tank was a temporary setup for our frag raffle. The LEDs are chinese multicolor sold by our local lighting guy. I'm buying 1 for the lower tank and we'll see how it does over the next few months. I can't afford another radeon
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Some iPhone shots from this evening. My Nikon has been at my sister's house for over a month I think.
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I hooked up a 2nd 1260 this weekend and my flow is great now. I have 1 powering the chiller on the right and the other going straight to the left. If I were to do this again I'd enlarge the 2 drains connecting the 40s or I would drill a 3rd hole. The full syphon isn't very powerful, just like if you tried to syphon out your sump with a bucket a few inches lower.
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I finally got my camera back and got some shots of the Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis). I have had trouble acclimating and getting these types eating well. This was my 3rd try since this summer and I finally have 2 females and a male that are happy and healthy.
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I picked up an MP10 a few weeks ago and just haven't had time to mess with it. It only took 5mins to install and maybe 10 to mess with the settings. I haven't programmed it to the lights yet, maybe this weekend. I can't imagine what a MP40 would be doing in here... the flow is insane. Detritus doesn't have a chance of settling on the cap there anymore. My plan is to move this into my upcoming 56g conversion starting next month.
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I had a small disaster this weekend. The center column gave way overnight and the surrounding ledges collapsed with it. Always learning I'm going back and reworking my tank as I get better so I employed an inner rod this time. The epoxy just*doesn't*hold after a*certain*amount of rock is piled up. You can see below how I drilled and added the rod in. I had to trim it a few times to get the top rock to fit well. Last 2 are the central column behind the torch and then a full shot with the new ledges on it. Not too bad... nothing hit the glass and only a few corals broke a bit which just means future frags
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Almost a year to the day...
1/6/2012
1/8/2013
2/2/2012
1/8/2013
1/6/2012
1/8/2013
2/2/2012
1/8/2013
TLTGF
Aquarium Advice Addict
Awesome.
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Same to you/your's Tim. I have been on here for almost 2 years and your tank has come so far as well.
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Dary421
Aquarium Advice Addict
Awesome job mr b !
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Starting a new build for my office here: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f71/benjamins-57g-rimless-reef-242282.html
Billy V.
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2013
- Messages
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That is sweet!!!
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
So I've had a LM3 sitting around for a few weeks now and have been going snowboarding a lot. I really needed to get this tank automated more. I didn't just want to throw it on the workbench and have stuff everywhere because I need to get things more organized so I can work better/safer/cleaner/faster. So I decided to make a holder/shelf for the pumps. I planned to make it out of wood scraps but after I started I was talking with my partner about making custom holding tanks for our inverts in our new spot.
I've only made overflows with black acrylic so I have never seen my seams so I decided to make this out of acrylic scraps and start figuring out weld techniques. Here are some pictures of the process. A lot of the acrylic was from old baffles that I cleaned up with vinegar later. I messed up on drilling the pump holes the first time around. You can see my first seam looks terrible but they got better as I went along. I imagine it's more difficult to get these looking good on smaller, lighter projects. I also didn't bother with routing the edges over or polishing anything here. Open to suggestions!
Configuration thoughts. Note that I took apart all 3 pumps and inverted the motors on each so they would face downward. I don't know if this will work or not honestly but I don't see why not nor do I see why they aren't like this by default.
I messed up on this piece. The bit drifted a bit.
Decided to make it taller and this one worked out.
My first seam was terrible. Spidered and air bubbles everywhere. With this being so small clamps seem to be the only solution vs. a large sump piece and it's weight on the weld.
.
Coming together. The seams got cleaner with clamps. A few measurement mistakes here and using what I had laying around. I cut holes for the controls up front.
The shelf for the rack.
Placing this out of the way between the rock tank and the sump.
Counter sunk and mounted to the shelf. Seam on the bottom was my first and the vertical one was probably my 3rd.
Perfect fit!
Everything is in place. I don't get why the LM3 uses guest connections on 1 side and zips on the other. Maybe to accept different input diameters?
Controls are easy to get to and I filed out a notch for the power.
Dosing will go from daily to weekly I'm guessing. We'll see. The tank is a KH draw over CAL. I got some small Rubbermaid containers and modded the tops.
Holes for hoses and vents to stop occlusion.
Ready to go! I'm only dosing 8ml of vodka a day at the moment so I went with a smaller container for some stupid reason. I should have gotten the same size just to keep it neat.
I've only made overflows with black acrylic so I have never seen my seams so I decided to make this out of acrylic scraps and start figuring out weld techniques. Here are some pictures of the process. A lot of the acrylic was from old baffles that I cleaned up with vinegar later. I messed up on drilling the pump holes the first time around. You can see my first seam looks terrible but they got better as I went along. I imagine it's more difficult to get these looking good on smaller, lighter projects. I also didn't bother with routing the edges over or polishing anything here. Open to suggestions!
Configuration thoughts. Note that I took apart all 3 pumps and inverted the motors on each so they would face downward. I don't know if this will work or not honestly but I don't see why not nor do I see why they aren't like this by default.
I messed up on this piece. The bit drifted a bit.
Decided to make it taller and this one worked out.
My first seam was terrible. Spidered and air bubbles everywhere. With this being so small clamps seem to be the only solution vs. a large sump piece and it's weight on the weld.
Coming together. The seams got cleaner with clamps. A few measurement mistakes here and using what I had laying around. I cut holes for the controls up front.
The shelf for the rack.
Placing this out of the way between the rock tank and the sump.
Counter sunk and mounted to the shelf. Seam on the bottom was my first and the vertical one was probably my 3rd.
Perfect fit!
Everything is in place. I don't get why the LM3 uses guest connections on 1 side and zips on the other. Maybe to accept different input diameters?
Controls are easy to get to and I filed out a notch for the power.
Dosing will go from daily to weekly I'm guessing. We'll see. The tank is a KH draw over CAL. I got some small Rubbermaid containers and modded the tops.
Holes for hoses and vents to stop occlusion.
Ready to go! I'm only dosing 8ml of vodka a day at the moment so I went with a smaller container for some stupid reason. I should have gotten the same size just to keep it neat.
Sniperhank
Giant Clam Addict
Man, that is really great work. I need to get you up to my place to do similar! And by similar, I would need a garage built first...LOL. But seriously, great job.
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Thanks, I wouldn't say it's "really great" but it was a fun learning project and organized it all neatly. I plan on making a small nano tank to practice seams again before we make our larger invert tanks next month.
Sniperhank
Giant Clam Addict
What kind of invert tanks are you making?
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
We're ging to store inverts above our coral tanks in shallow, compartmental tanks. They'll have removable combed dividers every 6" or so allowing us to change the space needed for new stock on an as-needed basis. Something like 8'x20"x8".
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mrbee2828
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I picked up a lens extension for my Nikon. Mounted with my 200mm zoom, it's a $20 macro lens until I can stop buying coral and get a real $500 version
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