chimera

Any ideas on how I can do this the fastest way possible? The water (collecting on Friday) need's heating from around 15 degree's to 25 degree's. There are 4 x heaters for sale on trade me, 2 x 100W and 2 x 150W's for $67. They are too small by themselves but if I used all 4 would this suffice? Any estimations on how long this would take to heat? Im collecting the water this Friday and want to get the tank running on Saturday. Its a shitload of water to heat in one go - I'm considering running a fan heater across the top of the water to help too and run an oil heater in the room as well!!! Alternately, anyone in Auckland got several aquarium heaters they could loan me for the day?!!!

the guy must have shares in the local power company,... i'd hate to think what it costs him in power every week...

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: whadda dreamer... someone tell him!

cavitation is a term used in liquids where tiny air bubbles will get trapped in the liquid which cause them to bounce about causing errosion on the pump they are passed through. its a term often used in boating when talking about outboard propellers - often requiring an anti-cavitation plate (i think thats what they're called?!) as cavitation can effect performance. Bill's theory is still correct though

nice tank, i think its time you had an upgrade though dont you think?

So much for keeping to my time frame and getting the plastering finished. Thats what happens when your mates have their 30th birthday and you're too hungover to move... The plaster got lightly sanded back and 2nd coated at least. I made a small reef rack for my skimmer to sit on in the new sump (as the new sump is deeper). I've added the last two tank valves to the back of the main tank and siliconed them in nicely - also realised Im one ball valve short after I used that one on the outlet for the sump :roll: Another purchase for Monday morning. Here's a shot of them hooked up: I started making the reef rack for the main tank, what a mission that is. Also tested the baffles hold water ok in the sump. There is a small leak through one baffle, so small and slow Im not even going to worry about it :-? I also (finally) got 4 x rotating flow valves in from the UK. They simply hook up to a powerhead nozzle (and come with 4 different sized fittings to fit various size nozzles) They are quite cool for creating random current. They simply rotate based on the flow of water through them. Will get some pic's up on a couple I chucked on my temporary powerheads in the 4 footer soon. Will post some new pic's tomorrow!

i ended up spraying the back of the tank with a clear satin coat of polyurethane. I highly recommend that anyone does this if they have painted the back of their tank. Water runs off the back nicely and it has made the paint "semi" scratch resistant - meaning its still able to be scratched off, just a slightly harder to do

nice work breakaway, see you can actually learn something at school

count me in

http://unclean.org/howto/led_circuit.html

ok, more photo's. here's about the most boring photo's you can get. angle brackets around wall screwed in and prep'd: first coat of plaster applied: Todo: Friday night = light sand back first coat and apply 2nd coat. Saturday morning = Sand back 2nd coat to finish and coat with gib sealer. Make hood for M/H's on a hinge type system. Create rack for skimmer in sump and flush sump out with water to rinse and test baffles (oh yeah, I'll post some pic's of the baffles too! What a mission that was) If time permits, start creating reef rack for main tank.

stop hijacking my post!!! sump room comments only

ditto. because the beach is so close to me (1 minute to the local, or 10 minutes to a beach thats more convenient for collection) NSW works out to be easy and one hell of alot cheaper than $30 for every 120 litres of RODI water,... not to mention the time it takes to make RODI in the first place etc.

i use NSW coz its easier. and re: ASW vs NSW and cyano, puh, what a crock that one causes it more than the other. there is no difference.

wood grain, ha haaaa! so it appears - but the "wood grain" you see is actually curtains about 2 metres to the side of it. nice illusion. the room will be pitch black in there and the m/h's will be pointing directly down over the tank. sure, a bitta light maybe dispersed out the sides but once i get mega corraline growth, i wont see it 8) anyways, im almost getting to a stage where im getting sick of this project. its f@#$ked me off one time too many and im losing patience. not a good thing. basically cant be screwed painting the sides more than anything else.

ease up! thats what im majorly afraid of, cleaning cyano out of this one would just be painful. im hoping like hell the extra water movement, lighting and sheer volume of water will help. perhaps the calcium reactor might help too!

Got studs running up to lintel nail platted tonight for extra strength. Got the gib cut and glued/screwed up. Put the intakes and outlet plumbing (spray bar) in the tank (temporarily) to show how it will eventually look (will be sitting under a reef rack) Cellphone is in bottom corner purely to give a size comparison (difficult to tell otherwise): Shot from sitting on couch (and having a bottle of red wine ) Started adding 90 degree angles around framing here: Tomorrow night will be finishing off the angles on the sides and starting the plastering. Im actually considering to pay someone to do the plastering as I want it done right first time (and I hate plastering, Ive done it enough to know I completely suck at it!!!) Designing the hood tonight for the metal hallides. Hopefully be able to make that this Friday night/Saturday morning. Hoping to be on target for a fish/corals/rock move by the following weekend (11th/12th Sept) Time to check the tides for then for a 600 litre NSW collection!!!

ha haaa! yeah, the whole lounge will be renovated after the tank is in. the wall to the left on the photo two up is being pushed out 1.5 metres and the whole room plastered & painted!

I got the framing around the tank finished last night and the gib has been cut-out for around the tank. Just bought some 90 degree gib bracing (to secure the frame) which will go in tonight after the gib goes up. Got plumbing for closed loops installed in the tank. The inside is in desperate need of a clean out - amazing the amount of dust generated from such small cuts :roll: More pic's up tonight once the gib and bracing is up!

depth dictates thicker glass more than anything else. the deeper you go, the more pressure on the glass. Again, speak to Pies, right now both him and I are doing exactly what you are wanting to do (except his will be 2 or 3 times larger!) I consider a sump a must. Depending on your budget and how far you want to take it, see my project on my sump room here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=2902&start=0 If your house is the same, you could achieve the same results (without the worry of wet carpet every water change and a nice wee reduction in noise level in your house )

You need to talk to Pies (Mark) he is in Wellington and will offer you mega-advice (and is conveniently only 1 1/2 hrs away) Skimmer will be your #1 purchase. IMO, 900mm is way TOO deep, it will cost you massive $$$ on lighting and not to mention on you power bill!!! Try 700mm deep max. Send a PM to Pies.

Agree with the above, also dont forget lots more money compared to freshwater (in general) You can try diy and save $$$ but just be aware that if it doesnt work, you may need to fork out thousands to make up for it later on. Just like building a house, take the quote/budget you or someone else has provided and add at least 20%. Im not wanting to scare you off, but its effectively a tradeoff between money & time. The unfortunate thing I have found is that the more money you spend... the more money you spend! Its because you want to protect your investment. Say you've invested $4k on your tank so far and you find out that for an extra $500 you could have got tunze streams instead for better water flow and happier corals,... or if only you spent an extra $500 and got metal hallides instead of fluoros you would have healthier corals/been able to keep acro's,... or it hits summer time and you struggle to keep the water temperature down so you need to spend $1500 on a chiller,... or if only you spent $500 more on the next skimmer model up it would keep the water cleaner,... etc etc! I think you get my meaning. If you have researched like it sounds you have, you will do well. Also (perhaps generalising a little) the more $$$ you spend now (or at least budget for), the less you will spend later (not needing to upgrade for example) AND the less time you will need to put into it (all tanks need time assigned for maintenance, thats obvious) Most often than not, spending more on the right equipment the first time will save you alot of money, time and effort in the long run. Go 2nd hand whereever you can. PM Jetskisteve as he will be able to source you plenty of good gear (and right now, potentially some LR) FYI, my $4k budget went to $5k then $7k and now is around $10k (bear in mind however, that this included a tank upgrade (400L total to 1,000L total) and a specialised room for all the filtration equipment!)

the rest of the tank install didnt quite go as smoothly as the previous day. got the stand complete but never got as far as completely framing and gibbing (ran out of materials and places were closed ) I made my first screw up too - when we were moving the tank in to check for size, the front bottom edge of the glass broke off as it was lifted up on its edge. Luckily its fixable and not a major! Did freak out though at first. A little bit of silicon should do the trick. Next, we found because of the tank valves, the tank had to go in on an angle - and even worse, the lintel was 5mm too low :evil: Had to skilly that out. Finally the tank got put in though. Its nice to have it there, even with nothing in it. At least I know I can finish the framing around it and know I'll get it right! Some pic's: Back, new tank in: Front, new tank in (gib is just leant against the wall for now, but at the bottom of where it will be): and yes, i know it's fireline gib, its what i had left over from the fireplace!

now i have to post this AGAIN... i posted last night and it got deleted for some reason... about 16 power points were hooked up yesterday on a 20amp circuit to the sump room. the 4 foot tank, fish and rock, corals have been moved to the sump room yesterday, what a mission! the old stand's been ripped out and a new one put in (much stronger) here's some pic's: 4 foot tank removed, front shot: 4 foot tank removed, back shot: smashed out the gib floor to ceiling as i need to shift the lintel beam up: new stand being built: new stand almost complete big hole in the wall!!! (last weeks project in the background (fireplace) ) also shows 'pump' switch on the wall to the left. this is the master switch for the pump downstairs - just incase i need to switch it off in an emergency! 4 footer in sump room (cables just randomly plugged in at this stage!) framing needs completing today, then gibbed and plastered and finally painted. more pic's to come!!!...

have you never been kieing before ira?