Tnt's 154 G SPS reef build

[sahin]

Looks great!

I cant wait to see the effect on coral colour once the tank is stocked with corals beyond the 6th month period!

Hurry up and get the work finished so you can get the tank wet. - maybe do some overtime work on the tank haha

[tntneon]

-Hihi , the tank will soon be wet no doubt about it .
I know that i'm slow , but i have 3 childeren ( one baby /one teenager and one in between ) and my wife and i both work ( i do in shift) , so you probably will believe me when i say that it is busy here

-After i finished the lightrack interior , i will probably do a big watertest outside on my porch.
And then it's just the rockwall on the back / electrical switchboard and woodwork finish that have to be done before moving indoors .

greetingzz tntneon

[sahin]

Originally Posted by tntneon

-Hihi , the tank will soon be wet no doubt about it .
I know that i'm slow , but i have 3 childeren ( one baby /one teenager and one in between ) and my wife and i both work ( i do in shift) , so you probably will believe me when i say that it is busy here

-After i finished the lightrack interior , i will probably do a big watertest outside on my porch.
And then it's just the rockwall on the back / electrical switchboard and woodwork finish that have to be done before moving indoors .

greetingzz tntneon

Was just joking about the overtime. I completely understand how these things can take a lot of time to get done. And you dont want to hurry things either. I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old and I know how much of my time they take. I only get to feed the fishes daily and do a water change every week.

I've automated everything else. Water change I've made as efficient as possible and I can change out 12% each week in about 15 minutes.

When you have children/work/other commitments you need to ensure that your tank is as automated as possible. This make the tank something that is a stress reliever at the end of a hard day.

You dont want the tank to add stress of become a chore.

Look forward to the progress of your tank.

[tntneon]

-I don't mind jokes , love them
Here you see the youngest , when i was DIYing the lightrack , i had to babysit , i came up with this ....



Nice to hear you have kids too .
Do they also like to watch your reef/fish ?

-My top off will also been done automated , toghether with Ca and Alk it will be dose with an 2 channel peristalic pump i got from work.
Wc i will do manualy weekly , always the first day of my weekend ( wich sometimes is in the middle of the week... )

-I'm already breacking my head , in how to cure the new tank and after wich time i could possibly put in my livestock.
I'm gonna use old nanotank water to fill the big tank toghether with some clean seawater.
Gonna use reefceramics rockwork in combination of with some live rock out of the nano tank.
I don't like the idea of having two reeftanks in the livingroom for too long.

greetingzz tntneon

[jbm421]

Nice setup that tank is amazing.

[Sonny408]

the set up look nice.. Great job on you diy setup.

[tntneon]

Thx guys much appreciated !!

-Ordered today some black pond foam and some dry rock , to DIY the backwall , only have to find the right epoxy coating to fix and gleu the sand to the foam ?
-Can't seem to find reefsafe epoxy here.
If any of you guys have a suggestion , feel free ....

greetingzz tntneon

[tntneon]

Hi reefers ,
Today i received the 48 X 3 W eshine fixture



The design and build quality are from a high level , two build in fans and a programble driver (sunrise)



Only problem i encountered is that they included the wrong electrical cable .... , meaning that i can't show off you guys with some bright shining leds



I mailed eshine about the problem , and they mailed me directly back with appologies and they assured me that they are gonna send me the right one t today to me , it will take about a week untill it's on my doorstep (due to DHL)...

Patience is a good deed .... (the say here in my country)

greetingzz tntneon

[tntneon]

Hi reefers ,

It's time to update again

-First i received 2 good powercords of eshine more then a week ago , tested the fixture and was very impressed about the build quality en how silent fans it had.
-The light is immense really SPS worthy .

-As promised i watertested the tank , finaly wet with all pumps on and the first time i've withnessed my BK skimmer performing superrr quit .
Really impresive !!!!!
I swear it almost maked foam out of fresh water

I had one minor very small hair leak on the return , on the elbow going thru tank.
I fixed it with industrial 2-comp. epoxy.

Here some pictures :

filling her up....



All runnig balanced and very quit , me so happy .....



ooopppps !!! ......



I couldn't resist to mount the half ready canopy on top of the tank to see some lights , this is with one 39 w T5 unit (bleu plus / 15°k) and the 48 X 3 W eshine fixture on , about 60% of the total amount of light....




After the watertest was done , i syphoned everything out clean and dried it again.
Now it was time for the backwall to be done ....

left piece backwall ....



foamed .....



two sides foamed ....




two pieces epoxy glued and sanded with 1 - 2 mm dead coral sand ...



Tommorow another layer of epoxy and sand and tey are done , then its just my overflow i'm gonna do.


greetingzz tntneon
But

[sahin]

Looking good with the progress. How much did that LED unit cost? Would you also be able to PM me the link please. Im thinking of having a mainly LED unit with ust a couple of T5's. It costs a fair bit to replace 5 T5 tubes every 10 months or so.

[tntneon]

Hi sahin ,

-The fixture costed me 385 $ (with controller w/o its like 295) but you have to pay 100 $ shipment cost and taxes at customs ( 50 $) and so you will end up around 500 $ or 385 € if you could group buy these fixtures it would be less per unit.
Also you can have brigelux LEDS who are a litlle bit cheaper then the cree's and they have more colors to play with (UV / red).

-I Was strongly considering to buy me a orpheck fixture , before i came across these fixtures , but i couldnt find any local dealers and when i found a dealer 300 miles from here it costed about 750 € per unit and this w/o controller.

For current prices you have to mail them personaly .

here's the link :

http://www.eshinesystems.com/

greetingzz tntneon

[tntneon]

-You may want to check this thread , it about the fixture i have ...


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2132715

greetingzz tntneon

[tntneon]

Hi reefers ,

Here i'm again , i took the time too finish the rock backwall.
And i have the real Oak panels that i'm gonna put togheter myself , the cutting was already done by wood supplier.
It was not an easy job i have to say , and i took allot of time to get it right.
Thank god i have vacation now ...
The panels where already cut at an 45° angle where 2 pieces would fit togheter , but due to the fact that it is real oak and not fineer it tends to bend real quik and fast when not treated .
I received the pannels in the evening and i had them resting for a night on my porch and when starting the job they already where a bit bend .
Making it even more difficult with the very limited tools i have ...



close up of canopy



a poor FTS of the canopy ...



A better side shot of the tank and oak ...



close up of the big (right ) asymetric door..



And after i putted the first layer of transparent silk gloss varnish i put these on for extra support , because these corners will have alot of stress on them.
When cabinet is clossed you won't see them.




It was a hard but very rewarding job doing the door panels.
Friday i 'm gonna fit the oak pannels onto the frame and install the hinges....

greetingzz tntneon

[10reefman]

good job!

[sahin]

Wow, those oak panels look quality indeed! The overall look is superb my friend!

[marcwake]

Ya very clean build. Love the look of the whole setup

[tntneon]

Thx , for the support guys

I'm trying to keep the modern look with natural (clasic)materials found here in the surroundings ( bleu hardstone , Oak & seawater )
Today i'm gonna install the hinges and fit the doors to the frame , also not a easy job i guess , will keep you guys posted ...

greetingzz tntneon

[tntneon]

hi reefers ,

-Yesterday and today i finished hanging the doors to the stand / frame , this was an very difficult job , as the "piano"-hinges have no adjustment screws
to hang it square or level .
All adjustment had to done with the other piece of panel (not the door but fixed side panel) that had to be screwed onto the inner woodwork.
The left door is hanging perfectly , the right one hangs for 95 % straight tried to shime it a bit out ...
This is the best i can get the doors hanging onto the frame.







-Now i have to finish the dry comparment of the stand and i also have to instal a gas piston to make lifting the lightrack up , a littlebit easier .
The light rack weights about 16 kg or 32 lbs. so a little help from a piston would be nice .

greetingzz tntneon

[tntneon]

hi reefers ,

At last some time to give you guys an update......
Due to the fact that my mother has cancer (terminal) and she's liying in the hospital i had no time to progress on my reef

I planning to empty my nano and relocate him at the opposite wall facing the place where i'm gonna put the 154 G.

I was thinking to remove All LR from my nano and put them in big bins (saltwater + heating + powerhead) , corals i'm gonna place on a temprorary frag rack in the nano (while the 154 G is cycling)

I don't know if it's a pro to use the old LR in my new system , but i'm gonna introduce them slowly to the 154g.
Also adding some new LR and some reef ceramics .
Also when 154g is cycling i'm gonna use old nano top off water to speed up cycling (i hope) + some fresh seawater.

Yesterday i already found some time to make a ramp , that i'm gonna use to move the 154g inside , to traverse the 6" wooden beams of my sliding window door .
Tommorow i'm gonna construct some "trolly wagons " ( don't know the propper englisch word) with caster wheels to make the move easy and smooth (hopefully) .

Pics will follow when the move is "on"

greetingzz tntneon

[sahin]

Originally Posted by tntneon

hi reefers ,

At last some time to give you guys an update......
Due to the fact that my mother has cancer (terminal) and she's liying in the hospital i had no time to progress on my reef

I planning to empty my nano and relocate him at the opposite wall facing the place where i'm gonna put the 154 G.

I was thinking to remove All LR from my nano and put them in big bins (saltwater + heating + powerhead) , corals i'm gonna place on a temprorary frag rack in the nano (while the 154 G is cycling)

I don't know if it's a pro to use the old LR in my new system , but i'm gonna introduce them slowly to the 154g.
Also adding some new LR and some reef ceramics .
Also when 154g is cycling i'm gonna use old nano top off water to speed up cycling (i hope) + some fresh seawater.

Yesterday i already found some time to make a ramp , that i'm gonna use to move the 154g inside , to traverse the 6" wooden beams of my sliding window door .
Tommorow i'm gonna construct some "trolly wagons " ( don't know the propper englisch word) with caster wheels to make the move easy and smooth (hopefully) .

Pics will follow when the move is "on"

greetingzz tntneon

Sorry to learn that your mother is so ill. My father died of cancer about 11 years ago.

Just take it easy with the tank build. You can "cook" your old rocks. Not cook with heat, but search the forum and there is a massive thread somewhere about "cooking Liverock". It will clean out the detritus from your rocks etc.

I used the method in the past and I can say that you'll end up with very clean rocks, but still with life on it.

Please update us when you can. Good luck with everything.

[tntneon]

Hi Sahin ,
sorry to hear that you've experienced the same isseus as i do now....

I was planing to bleach some rocks (the bad ones) , yesterday i've just came accros the thread you mentioned.

Can you tell me what kind of procedure you used ?
only bleaching and/or muriatic acid ?

greetingzz tntneon

[sahin]

Just going out soon, will come back later and describe the methods...there are two methods, one kills the liverock, the other the rocks stays live.

[sahin]

Here is the post about rock cooking without killing the life on the rock:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...7&postcount=11

And here is a more recent thread about cooking rock by bleaching and acid washing in Muriatic Acid to more to less clean the rock and rid of all pests etc. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2049855

Good luck with whichever method you decide to utilise.

[tntneon]

thx for the informatif links ,
I'm gonna go for the second method , as i don't wanna spill so much SW on WC during the proces.
Gonna need more then enough SW for the display and WC's
It's only 3 or 4 medium to small size rocks that i wanna bleach , they have a little bit of caulerpa on it , and the others have mayano's on them i wanna gid rid of.
Never measured PO4 in my tank so i think i'm gonna skip the muriatic treatment too .

I probably gonna seperate the rocks and corals tommorow.....
Wen i'm done my nano will look like a frag tank at the LFS

greetingzz tntneon

[Scej12]

Hi tntneon - I just returned to reefcentral after a couple of months off... just checked your thread first. Sorry to hear about your family situation. I can only imagine how hard it must be for you. Good luck with everything and enjoy the rest of the setup. I really like what you did with the furniture aspect of your build.

Regards,

Sheldon