braydonosu's 40 gal

[braydonosu]

So as my rebuild nears completion I am thinking about my final stocking list. Let me know what ya think.
Have:
Six line wrasse
Firefish
Ocellaris Clown
Zebra damsel
Florida conch
~10 Hermits
Emerald crab
Zoas
Rics
Chalice
GSPs
I'm thinking about getting:
Another Ocellaris (different size and will add both at the same time)
a Manderin if I can find one that looks good and is eating prepARED foods
hammer
more zoas
more rics
bta
sun coral
a squamosa (sp?) clam - do you think I will be able to get away with the clam in a 16" deep tank with 6 39 watt individually reflected T5s?
I'm going to get some other inverts too, just not sure which ones yet.

 

[krazykarel]

Originally Posted by braydonosu
http:///forum/post/2900036
On a side note from this thread - 10 years ago the Nerf Bow and Arrow was the best toy I ever received for christmas. This year my cousin got this - It's a Nerf sniper rifle . . . this thing would kill my bow.

Dude that thing is scary! Hilarious!

 

[silencio530]

lol i know i talk about the reflectors but did they light up very good?...
the reflectors at my lfs would cost arround 25$ for double pais i have 4 tubes on my 90gal 54w each and ima ge tthe most out of all of them so i might pick up a roll of this stuff for myself to make the reflectors
setup loooks good
thanx

 

[braydonosu]

IMO they work just as well as the store bought reflectors at half the cost. The aluminum cost me less than $10 at lowes and then I used some screws to secure them to the hood. Getting the bends right was a major headache, and I ended up using duck tape and wrapping the cut pieces around a 2" board - I think you can see this to the side of one of the pictures above.

 

[braydonosu]

No new pics - i'll get some this weekend. The hood is 100% done and on the tank - looks great IMO. The reflectors seem to make it look a little brighter.
Little bit of a set back - plumbing the drain I realized that I could get away with a larger diameter pipe than I was using - unfortunately I had already cemented the parts together so I'm going to have to redo that.
I have to order a few more parts plumbing wise and put another coat of poly on the wood. Then it's aquascaping and adding sand. Hopefully I wont go through a big cycle since I have my rock in heated water with powerheards.

 

[braydonosu]

So I made some progress this weekend. My return plumbing is most of the way done and the canopy is done and in place. I know that my return lines are still white - what kind of paint is ok to use in our aquariums? I know that a lot of people have painted their returns - so help me out here.
Here are some pictures:
Open Canopy

It's missing 2 of the bulbs - they are over the 29 that all of my livestock is in now.
Closed Canopy

Plumbing Parts

UV and another power strip mounted

The return lines in the tank (dry fitting)

Hope you like - the end is getting close

 

[braydonosu]

Anyone know what kind of paint I can use? I know there are pwople out there that have painted their plumbing - what did you use? I'm not sure what I could search to find this info.

 

[braydonosu]

Nevermind - I found it - Krylon Fusion - Does this sound right?

 

[braydonosu]

Not much work to do in the office today - i'm avoiding studying for one of my SOA exams (if your thinking about becomming an actuary . . . don't. The money is great, but the continuing education exams suck)
I have a 22 gal oceanic cube with stand at home that I was looking to get rid of, but apparently there is not a single person in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky that wants the tank. I origionall purchased it on clearence to set up a dwarf lion tank. I am now thinking about a dwarf seahorse tank. This is crazy - i'm not even done with my reef and now i'm planning other tanks.

 

[braydonosu]

I think that I have finalized my stock list for this 40 gal.
Have:
Ocellaris Clown
Six Line Wrasse
Firefish Goby
Zebra Damsel
Want:
Another Ocellaris (will get different size)
Diamond Goby
Either a Yellow watchman or a royal gramma
For corals I have:
GSP's
Orange Rics
Zoas
Chalice
Want:
Colt
Hammer
More zoas and rics
Sun
Maybe a yellow gorg
I am debating on a squamosa clam.
For inverts I have:
Various Hermits
Emerald crab
A few snails
Brittle star
Want:
More snails and hermits
Skunk cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp
Porcelain crab
Does this stock list sound like it will work? too much?

 

[braydonosu]

I am going to put in an order this weekend for the last of the things I will need for my tank. A refractometer, a viaaqua 600 gph main pump and a 370 gph closed loop pump, a few more plumbing parts, and a brine shrimp hatchery. Hopefully I'll have th etank up and running in about 2 weeks.
Does anyone have any feedback on the viaaqua pumps? I know that they are not Mag's or anything, but I don't need thousands of gph and I have used an odessy for 2 years now with no problems - plus they are under half the price of the mags.

 

[silencio530]

ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! lol so i decided to do my reflectors and my brother had a nano ...he has a cfl and he ended up using a single soda can as a reflector and that thing lit up up to ...hmmmmmm alot ...
so the idea was ....
ima use a 24 pac of shasta to make my 48 inch reflectors i know it might take me a while but hey im going green right?...or wait no hey at least im recycling maybe u might change ur reflectors to this i dont know but im sure it sounds like a good idea
that tank is coming out very good how long has it been cycleing for now?....how long ago did u started to add things?

 

[braydonosu]

That is the best recycling project I have heard of since my college roommate made a suit of armor out of natti light cans.
The 40 is still a few weeks away from completion. It was set up for almost a year, moved from columbus to cincinnati, set up for 3 months, then I overhauled it.
I'm going to put rock, sand, and water in there hopefully in 2 weeks and see if I can avoid a cycle (my rock has been in a heated rubbermaid container with 2 power heads. I do bi weekly water changes of about 50%)
Depending on the cycle, my fish and corals could go back in as early as 3 weeks.

 

[braydonosu]

So I ordered 2 pumps, a refractometer, some plumbing parts, and other supplies this weekend. I also got some krylon fusion dark blue spray paint to paint my plumbing parts. I decided to go ahead and paint the back too. Here is a pic of the painting process. I still need another coat or two. The online order should be here tomorrow. Another trip to Lowes for some hose and this baby should be ready for a leak test.

 

[braydonosu]

I'll probably have the tank totally plumbed together tonight. Hopefully I can get a leak test done this weekend - maybe when I start to fill this baby up my thread will start to get some interest. Might need 1 more trip to Lowes for some hose clamps, but other than that I think I have everything. I should have some pictures up tomorrow.

 

[braydonosu]

Got my order in yesterday - I am now the proud owner of a refractometer. I put the baffle in my sump that will help create a 4" deep sand bed. I also attached the stand pipe to the drain. All I have to do now is finish my custom overflow and attach all of the tubes together. Should be almost 100% done tonight - for the 1.5 people actually following this thread - cross your fingers. Here are a few pics from last night. I got in 2 new pumps too - I was a little upset to find that my 600 GPH main pump will actually only push out around 300 GPH at a little less than 4 ft of head. So the total 1480 GPH I purchased is more like 800 GPH. I knew that I would lose some flow, but almost 50% ?!?!? Here are some pics.
Main Pump and 2 Closed Loop pumps:

Stand Pipe:

Here is my Emerald crab turning white for some reason:

 

[braydonosu]

I'll get a few more pictures up tomorrow of the rest of the plumbing parts that I got in yesterday - and hopefully of the tank done.

 

[braydonosu]

So I took 1 step forward and 2 back this weekend. I am pretty much done with the plumbing, although I am thinking about switching some return lines around. I finished my custom overflow and should be installing it in the next few days. I also mounted my power strip somewhere a little better than before. Here are some pictures before I get into the bad news.
Overflow:

The two bulkheads are part of my closed loop system.
Side View:

Power strip attached under tank in stand:

Returns:

There is another return on the right side of the tank. The pipe comming in on the left is another part of the closed loop - will be on a timer for some wave action.

 

[braydonosu]

Now on to the bad stuff. I had to move the back 2 x 4 support over to accomidate the power strip. It got in the way of my drain line so I had to cut away some of the support - it is now a 2 x 2 for the top 4 inches. To move the support I had to lay the stand on it's side - I was not aware that I hadn't disconnected my fans from the powe strip, so when I layed it down it pulled my canopy down too - there went 4 bulbs. On the bright side I now need 4 new T5 bulbs. I have 1 10,000K Power Glo bulb and 1 Ocean Glo Actinic. I am looking at Giesemann and ATI bulbs - anyone have any suggestions what my layout should be for the bulbs?

 

[braydonosu]

Nothing new going on with the tank - waiting for some silicone to dry, and waiting for another pay check to get the rest of the stuff I need.