the wife is out of town, so I bought a tank...

[rgauvin]

With the wife out of town on a business trip, I decided to pull the plug on a used tank deal I thought was a good deal



38 gallon flat hex. Along with the used tank and stand, it came with a sump as well as a sunpod 150 (some of the LED's are burnt out ). because the LED panels are basically fried and I do not believe you cannot buy new ones, I am considering replacing the sunpod. Does anyone know if any local vendors or sponsor carry Aqua illumination lights?

On the way home tonite, I am hoping to pick up substrate (and a couple other minor goodies, I can't do too much tonite due to my schedule), and tomorrow, bring on the live rock (hopefully)!

[brotherluv]

Nice!  I have a FW tank very similar to yours which I've been thinking about adding some salt to.  Keep us updated.

[az]

nice loking tank, good chance she will like it too.

[delslo]

Nice looking tank, I love the flat hex tanks. The wife is going to love you when she gets home. As far as AI light fixtures, Ray carries them and has better prices than you can buy it for online once you add in shipping.

[salvini55]

sweet little deal ya got there. What do you plan on keeping? I would be in so much trouble if I tried a swanky maneuver like that  good luck!

[Darth]

sweet little deal ya got there. What do you plan on keeping? I would be in so much trouble if I tried a swanky maneuver like that  good luck!

My normal route is honey I bought this and it costs this much it will be here on such and such a day, and then judge her reaction, if she gets pissed I can say I was only kidding, if she doesn't say anything I am good to go and purchase it, I know its a dangerous game, but hey it works LOL

[Greatwhite]

I've always found that it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.  Get what you need, set it up, and "what?  I shouldn't have spent $800 on that??  well, I'm sorry - let me take you for dinner"  ALWAYS works.....

and then I wake up.

[delslo]

I usually just buy and hide, when she finds, "oh I got that ages ago, I told you, I guess you forgot"

[dakrazyone]

my wife never says anything, she loves the hobby.  But then again that can be a bad thing lol.

[delslo]

my wife never says anything, she loves the hobby.  But then again that can be a bad thing lol.

My girlfriend started me into the hobby and has since left, while I continue.

[jshchrtn]

My girlfriend thinks I'm crazy to like setting up tanks... But I buy her stuff she likes before going to the fish store usually, when we head into Ottawa I take her to lulu lemon lol then where ever else and stop at big ALS Kanata on the way back to renfrew! Lol.

Also great find btw hope you keep pictures updated on your progress!

[salvini55]

LOL im taking notes, please more ideas!

[rgauvin]

So things have progressed slower then I would have liked, but really, as long as I am happy, I don't care too much about the progress speed.

Taking inspiration from Errol I made myself a light stand. Grand total was 15$. It's basically a painted 5 foot steel pipe, a 45 degree connector on one end, with an 18 inch piece attached to it (sorry for the bad picture)



Then, I went about and cut the black egg crate I bought from acers. It was alot easier to cut well with wire snips then I thought it might be.



I am hreally happy with the egg crate It almost looks like I managed to do the entire top with one piece (I didn't) and it should definietly keep felines out of the tank. So really, I have nothing to complain about when it comes to the outcome.



I got the sunpod 150 hung. I desperately wanted a new light, but I just can't swing it into the budget right now .  The single support/hanger kinda made it a pain, but I made it work. I was a little concerned that the sunpod might warp the egg crate from heat, but after leaving the light on for 2 hours, the egg crate barely got warm.



Then I got the substrate I bought from Ray cleaned and installed. Works out to about a 2 inch thick bed. this is the view from my desk (or the "command station" as my wife likes to call it).



Any suggestions, opinions, concerns or feedback for me is appreciated. This is my first SW setup, and it has been a long time since I setup any tank.

[Hookup]

first of all, great start.  It really looks nice and clean.  I love the progress and the time you took to get the egg-crate looking profession, not "hack and slash" just puts polish on the entire project.

I cannot really make out the overflow and return, but if I'm seeing correctly, the return is 1/2 pvc on the left, with a 90* elbow and the overflow is maybe 3/4"pvc on the right.  Looks like a straight stand pipe for the overflow, but I cannot really tell.

How is your system plumbed (or how will it be plumbed if you're changing it)?

[rgauvin]

thanks

I haven't measured the return or the overflow and the tank was pre-drilled so I do not have the exact specs, but yeah, it looks like a 1/2 inch return to me (and it does indeed have a 90 degree elbow), the overflow is either 3/4 or 1 inch and is a straight pipe down.

If I understand your question correctly, right now, the overflow goes into a large diameter pipe which has a gradual 90 degree curve into a 90 degree fitting at the top of the wetdry filter in the sump.

When I drag out the SLR, I'll try to get a picture of the sump.

[Hookup]

if you have not done so already, i'd suggest you run some water thru your system as a noise test of that overflow.  If i've got it figured correctly, i believe that the water will overflow and "fall" down about 4 feet to the elbows and into the sump...

I think this will be very noise and you might want to modify the design for a more silent overflow that still skims.

T

[rgauvin]

thanks for the concern, I did test it out. I put a funnel in the overflow and passed as much water into it as I could and it was actually surprisingly quiet. I think this is due to the gradual 90 degree curve in the pipe leading to the wet/dry filter. The overflow water basically goes down about 22 inches before hitting this pipe. That said, water overflowing will behave (and realistically sound different) then water poured in with a funnel.

We shall see soon enough (hopefully tomorrow night)

[rgauvin]

if you have not done so already, i'd suggest you run some water thru your system as a noise test of that overflow.  If i've got it figured correctly, i believe that the water will overflow and "fall" down about 4 feet to the elbows and into the sump...

I think this will be very noise and you might want to modify the design for a more silent overflow that still skims.

T

Yeah, so I jinxed it. The overflow is noisy, but it isn't from the water falling and hitting the bottom, the noise seems to be coming more from as the water flows into the overflow. This ties in with the return pump being too noisy for my taste. The tank came with 2 different return pumps, a mag drive 3, and a mag drive 7. The mag drive 3 is the noisiest of the 2, so I am running the mag drive 7, but have reduced/restrictded the flow slightly.

The return pump being noisy, am I correct in thinking it most likely needs a cleaning (it came used like the aquarium) and baring that reducing the noise, I believe it most likely needs a new impeller drive, right?

[Hookup]

Sorry to hear about the noise...  Pumps are not my area so someone more experienced can help there.

Can you snap a photo or two of the overflow?  Maybe we can quite that up a bit if needed

[rgauvin]

I fixed it myself last night for a whoping 5$, I turned the overflow into a durso standpipe with a grand total of 4 parts from the local home depot (basically attached the parts to the top of the standpipe and VOILA. The tank is still in the process of cycling, so it is all good, I may try to put some sort of a screen into the inlet to prevent any critters from getting in there, but I may be over reacting and it might not be a real concern.

Now I'll have to figure out the pump, I think it is just louder then I want so I'll have o find something quieter for down the road. Hopefully I can get pictures this evening to update the build.

[rgauvin]

Ok, so updates. I managed to get some liverock in it last week. I am pretty sure I will want to add another rock or two, but I've got over 40 lbs in it right now. This was the basic aquascape I went with (still needs a little tweaking IMO).




After a week, despite the liverock being well cured,  I haven't managed to detect any major ammonia spike (2 VERY minor ones) so I figured I'd get a red legged hermit crab to help induce the cycle. If he lives, great, I wanted a couple anyways, if he dies, he wasn't expensive (yes, that's him chilling in the bottom middle of the tank in the above picture).





He's got a ton of character, I really hope he makes it...