Buffy's 1st Ever SW Build - Reef Tank

[Edro]

Black paint.... And a beer

Ditto......

 

[Edro]

My buddy bought the textured black spray piant from lowes kinda looks marbelized it looks phenominal after two coats. Added depth. Ice cold rolling rock and black paint, recipe 4 success!!!!!

 

[Buffy]

My buddy bought the textured black spray piant from lowes kinda looks marbelized it looks phenominal after two coats. Added depth. Ice cold rolling rock and black paint, recipe 4 success!!!!!

That sounds like it would be cool, I'll have to see if they have it in the good old bucket style.

Never heard of Rolling Rock, but Smirnoff works for me

Do you know if that textured has a gloss/shine to it?




Ohhhhhh I can't wait til tomorrow!!!!!! Well yes I can cause I've got the first time jitters. They say the 10th for delivery but who knows, it may be tomorrow, though I have been a day ahead in anticipation so much that I stopped at gas station on way to work this am and wrote the 9th on the check so tomorrow is the 10th hehehe LMAO.

Anyone care to hold my hand steady while I glue these things?? I really don't wont to drop any of them ANY MORE, thankfully they all survived my torture, LOL, I've been getting the shakes lately, of course it is only noticable when I NEED to hold still LOL.

 

[Edro]

That sounds like it would be cool, I'll have to see if they have it in the good old bucket style.

Never heard of Rolling Rock, but Smirnoff works for me

Do you know if that textured has a gloss/shine to it?

Ohhhhhh I can't wait til tomorrow!!!!!! Well yes I can cause I've got the first time jitters. They say the 10th for delivery but who knows, it may be tomorrow, though I have been a day ahead in anticipation so much that I stopped at gas station on way to work this am and wrote the 9th on the check so tomorrow is the 10th hehehe LMAO.

Anyone care to hold my hand steady while I glue these things?? I really don't wont to drop any of them ANY MORE, thankfully they all survived my torture, LOL, I've been getting the shakes lately, of course it is only noticable when I NEED to hold still LOL.

It is like a satin finish but it looks really 3d like. I use 5% limo tint on all 3 of my tanks . Looks good and is easy to do!

 

[JordanJ]

We painted ours probably 3 different shades of blue, then silver, before we finally decided on black. Good thing about paint, you can always take a razor blade to it! That color sounds awesome though, I wanna see!!!

 

[needmorecowbell]

I heard it was really easy to remove if you need to.

 

[Buffy]

Well so much for accomplishments today, got sidetracked and so far nothing is done. I was able to get to 2 stores today and stinks cause they didn't have any paint I wanted, so I figured I needed to get SOMETHING and after having been rushing around all day, I just got some semi-gloss glidden.

Just got home so still gonna try to get things accomplished.

Lowe's is about 35 miles away, so I will go there maybe Saturday if I can and see all what they got.

WOOHOOT...I gotta get busting it.....My order should be here tomorrow. Unfortunately I work nights and probably won't have time to do much before I have to leave if anything because they seem to deliver about 1/2 AFTER I leave for work lol. Either way, still can't wait and won't be doing anything with it til Friday afternoon at least anyway.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Well at least you got some stuff you can work with, it's not going to be too boring. What did you order?

 

[Buffy]

I ordered a few light bulbs, 2 led strips, disks and plugs for the corals, coral glue and the stuff to power up the leds.

I'm waiting for my lights to cool down a little so I can take them apart and hook in my stuff to hang. I'm still hoping to get it hung tonite.

Tank is clean. Found a few scratches inside, a few are a little deep cause I can feel them, so I did some research for the past 3 hours and "filled' the scratches is a little super glue so the scratch doesn't turn into a disaster.

As soon as I'm sure the tank is dry, I'm gonna start painting, I am soooo hoping I can still get the first coat on before I get too tired, but that will depend on how many times I have to go up and down the ladder yet.

I'm debating if I should try to lay the tank down while I paint instead of it being upright. Not sure if that will help the paint "spread" evenly and not have a "drip" lines.

 

[needmorecowbell]

I had mine laying down when I did it. I would be so nervous of putting superglue on my tank lol.

 

[carey]

If possible, I put the tank front down and paint the back like that. No drips and easier to work with in my opinion. I've also done it with the tank right side up and had drips, but when you think about it, who is really gonna see it? LOL

 

[Buffy]

I know no one's gonna see it lol, but I'll know and it would probably irrate me to death

As far as the superglue, it's the same stuff to glue corals so it's safe, I just used it as a filler so no fishies 'scratch' themselves. They are not deep to be dangerous but it still would weaken the tank, so the superglue IMO is gonna stop it from getting worse and put a protective covering.

Still no packages yet.

 

[Dary421]

I know no one's gonna see it lol, but I'll know and it would probably irrate me to death

As far as the superglue, it's the same stuff to glue corals so it's safe, I just used it as a filler so no fishies 'scratch' themselves. They are not deep to be dangerous but it still would weaken the tank, so the superglue IMO is gonna stop it from getting worse and put a protective covering.

Still no packages yet.

Ahhhhh,...as Carey said,..nobody's going to see it anyway,...if it were me,..I'd take out the trusty ol can of black spray paint and lightly dust a super thin layer of paint on it,...let it dry ..... Come back and add a little thicker second layer ....and then follow up with the third layer.... Probably the most critical thing to remember is not to knock over your beer while you're doing it....

 

[Buffy]

And now I know why I haven't painted yet. I can't have beer, cause I gotta go to work. I tossed and turned all night last night. Didn't finish the light as my fibro was in high gear and the ladder kicked my butt. Light is on the floor with the bulbs next to it. Hope my tank will be okay for a day or 2 without lights. When my fibro kicks in like this, I can barely move. So between this and work I'm out of the pic for a couple days.

Sucks too, cause UPS literally just "dumped" the packages at my door, rang the door bell and left. Grrr. I went to the door and he was already across the street, he carried them through the yard instead of pulling in driveway. I hope he didn't break those bulbs. Unfortunately I can't drag them in yet, so they sit outside my front door til my med can get me moving enough to lift them.

 

[needmorecowbell]

That really stinks, hope all is well.

 

[Buffy]

K so I opened the boxes and I am very very disappointed. I've sent an email stating my thoughts.

I bought 2 48" LED Stunner Strips and 2 Reflectors, NO WHERE in the description of the Stunner Strips nor the Refectors does it say the **** reflectors are only 12", and there are no "size" options. Needless to say I'm pissed and debating on sending all the LED stuff back and put the 300.00 back in my checking account. Bad enough, you gotta buy a splitter AND a power supply, so basically ala carta.

K I'll shut up or I will continue rambling. I leave with a Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

[Dary421]

K so I opened the boxes and I am very very disappointed. I've sent an email stating my thoughts.

I bought 2 48" LED Stunner Strips and 2 Reflectors, NO WHERE in the description of the Stunner Strips nor the Refectors does it say the **** reflectors are only 12", and there are no "size" options. Needless to say I'm pissed and debating on sending all the LED stuff back and put the 300.00 back in my checking account. Bad enough, you gotta buy a splitter AND a power supply, so basically ala carta.

K I'll shut up or I will continue rambling. I leave with a Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Ok..Deep breath... Now calmly., pickup the telephone and call them and CALMLY tell them that your order you just received was not what you had wanted..., give them a chance to correct it... There's plenty of time for nasty letters and grenades later.

 

[kurtyboh]

Ut when it is time dont forget to add a light coating of anthrax to the letter to let them know youre seriously pissed.

Also i dont understand what youre saying, the reflectors are 12" wide or long?

 

[Buffy]

@Kurtyboh - The LED's are 48" long. The reflectors are 12" long. So to have reflectors for the full 48" you need 4 reflectors for each 48" Stunner strip. I will need to purchase 6 more reflectors. Hope that makes sense.

I'm breathing, breathing, breathing. **** I need another cig. They have replied to my email (I don't do calls, I will definitely get riled then), least half the time I go back and delete 1/2 my message before I hit send LOL. Anyway they appologized for the confusion and offered me an RMA if I wanted to do that or free shipping if I want to order the others. I babbled as usual. Told them I didn't want an RMA but I also didn't know when I could afford to place another order yet.

Not a single friggen beer in this house, and I so want to call in so I can stay home and have that beer.

So I got the bulbs put in and they are turned on and on the tank again.
Looking from the front to the back (if that makes sense) here's the order I have them in.

2 Switches so I will label one switch a and the other switch b, so you know what goes on with what.


1. 54W Purple Plus - ATI -switch a
2. 54W Aqua Blue Special - ATI - switch b
3. 54W Blue Plus - ATI - switch b
4. T5HO 54W 12KK Power White - TrueLumen - switch b
5. T5HO 54W 460nm Actinic - TrueLumen - switch a
6. T5HO 54W 12KK Power White - TrueLumen - switch b

If you have any other suggestions which spots to put the bulbs in let me know. We'll even label the spots. (1-6) simple hehe

I must be in really tough shape, cause honestly guys.....I don't see a difference in lighting. Looks the same. Can't tell if it's bluer, whiter, brighter, duller or anything.

Thankfully the plant is offline tonite and I won't need to use my brain.

LED's are waiting to get put together. They won't get done til Friday.

I've got to get 2 holes drilled and 2 eyebolts/lags screwed into the ceiling then the light will finally be up, however I don't trust myself on that ladder right now so that can wait til Friday also. If I get enough sleep, I'm gonna put a coat of paint on the tank before work tomorrow.

@Darey I didn't buy spray. I don't live in CA anymore like you do and it's too dang cold outside to try to haul it out let alone paint it out there. Paint probably would freeze before I got it out of the bucket.

I don't feel like messing with the timer yet so the poor tank will only have about an hour of light today. I won't leave it on while I'm gone without the timer cause it will be on for 13 hours minimum then, if they have me mandatory stay, then 17 hours, can't do that to my tenants.

Hope I can sneak online with my phone at break. Have a great night ya'll. Thanks so much for helping me breath.

 

[Dary421]

....you know Buffy,....sometimes ya just gotta sit back in your old stuffed chair ,kick your shoes off ,pour yourself your favorite drink ,look at your tank and just chill out for awhile ,...as the old saying goes ".. You've come along way baby "
P.s. and thank you