29G Biocube to 65G upgrade

Made some good progress, and also took a step back. I totally goofed on the return plumbing. I put my check valve right on top of my return pump, but I have tees above it. So if I don't break siphon up top in a power outage, the water will still flow back through the tee. So that needs some reworking to put the check valve right under the bulkhead.

Anyhoo, here are the progress pics....

Here is the ghetto canopy I made to hold the lights for the time being. I will be getting a custom one made, but not right away. This will do for now. The black box up top just brings all the fan/LED wires together.


The MH module of the fishneedit lights gets pretty warm, and people have reported the plastic warping on the sides. So I cut the grills, and mounted some fans that will blow air across the bulbs


Here's what it looks like


A few angles and top down shots of the aquascape. I used epoxy in key places to tie the rock together after my wife and I were happy with the results. We have a wall going up the overflow wil A LOT of little caves. Plus an island that has caves coming in/out from every side, and 2 little rock islands.






Filling RO water and checking for leaks as I go.





Some pics with the lights on. My wife's camera is terrible, so you can't really see the light output all that well. Let me tell you, these things are BRIGHT!




And finally finished all the electrical and cleaned it up. The 24vdc power supply stays on all the time, and runs the MH cooling fans and night LED's. One supply for both. I have 2 120v relays run by the timer that select when to fire the LED's and fans.



And finally, the T5 ballasts. Didn't want to extend the wiring, so just made a mount for them.


Plumbing should be done by end of this weekend. Hopefully she'll be up and doing a test run by Wednesday. I was also fortunate enough to score 2 controllable koralia 3's with the wavemaker 2 for $210 shipped, so that's what I'll be using for powerheads.

 

Very nice. Love your aquascaping! The equiptment is well layed out also.

 

Here are some long overdue updates....

Here's the sump. I have a lexan cover over the right side to stop bubbles from splasing salt all over the place.


Another shot. Yes the water is over the max, it's feeding time so the return pump is off. You can also see my refugium.


Skimmer working like a champ. It's the 220 model coralife.


Here's the frag rack I made. The tunze cleaner magnet was WAYYYY too strong, so I epoxied some eggcrate to it, and I have a nice frag rack. With the strong magnet I can really load this up.


Scored a used wavemaker 2.


Mounted under the tank on a custom extrusion shelf.


Bought a few nice coral pieces. They are in the 29G tank for the time being. The first has beautiful purple tips. The second one is more red than the pic shows. Also got an aussi hammer coral, but no pic.



This is the smaller island on the right side. Made from marco rocks. The brain coral is not doing too well.


This is the wall on the left, going up the overflow. Also marco rocks.


Bridge piece from my 29G tank.


Shot from the left side.


From the right side.


Marco rocks are starting to show nice coraline growth after about 2 months.


Full tank shot.


And finally my clowns still in the 29G along with they anemone. The are the last ones left to go in the big tank.



That's all for now.

 

im speechless. Looks like a lot of hard work that paid off. Job greatly done.

 

Very nice looking. i wish I could pull off that wiring. Are you worried about your sharp-nose puffer eating your coral and inverts?

 

Wiring is not that dificult as long as you have some knowledge of electrical. I've had the puffer for a few months now, and so far he's been good (knock on wood). I am going to start feeding him whole shrimp, shell and all, so he can wear down his teeth. Hopefully he stays well fed, lol.

 

Finally some LOOOOOONG overdue updates..... Don't have pics of ALL the corals and fish, but you get the idea.

Pic of my monti with actinics. I know, I'm not a professional photographer, lol.


The circled red is what the monti started as about 1 year ago. Crazy how fast it's grown, and it's been fragged already too.


Some shots of my 2 frogspawns.




My torch.


Coraline growth on the dry rock from marco rocks


This started as a 4 head frag. Now it's so crowded there's no room. lol. There's at least 20 heads on there now. Tang posed with it for pic.


Finger leather. Started out as just 1 of those fingers, lol, now it's a monster.


My true percs with their RBTA.






Flame hawk fish.


My watchman goby. This guy has been with me since day 1.


LOL! You know it's dinner time when....


And finally, a couple FTS.



That's it that's all folks.