90 Gallon Wave Front Build (A LOT OF PICTURES)

Thank you.

 

Update

Well I was able to get some more stuff done this last weekend and still need to finish some stuff up starting tomm like finish painted the frame of the stand white.

Here is what I got done last weekend I was able to get the siding and the back all painted on the side that is going to be facing inside the sump I used Kilz 2 primer to help resist mold and moisture issues.

Pics of the painted process.









Inside and drying.





I was also able to return some stuff I wasn't using to home depot got $20 bucks back so I could buy some fittings to make a union connection on the stand pipes. This way they can fist through the opening in back easier and they can be taken apart for a good cleaning if ever needed. Also this way I can twist the bottom portion of the standpipe to fit the sump just perfectly.



All glued up.



I still need to thread seal the fittings and attach the unions then the frame painting this weekend as well as hopefully finish up the return pipe plumbing.

 

Update!!!

Well I had bought a light from current a nova extreme 6 bulb fixture and within the first six months of me having it I had to replace the same bulb 4 times. After this happened I had started my upgrade on my 90 gallon and put the 55 gallon out of commision and the light was waiting for water in the 90 to get started up again. I then started to think my warranty is almost over in October and I don't want to get my 90 gallon going and get stuck with bulbs going out all the time so I contacted Current and got some GREAT customer service. I explained the situation and said I didn't want to be stuck with a light that is defective after I get my set up back running again they assured me it was not a ballast issue since it is only one bulb going out and said it seemed to be a freak situation I said I would like to see if you could extend my warranty to cover me incase the problem persists after I get my system running after october they said they could not do that because their parts are supplied by many different manufacters so yea.

But they did do the next best thing which is they offered me free bulb just in case the same issue came up again. Which is nice and since they are different brands that should have a better quality to them. I got a 420nm bulb it is like a purple/blue and a 12k for free from them! I also asked them if they thought it might be the light sockets and they said maybe so I asked for them to send me some light sockets and they sent me the whole light socket row with bracket very genrous all for free.

I must say current is doing a great job with customer service and I am very happy with them.

Onto the good stuff though here are some pics of the old bulb set up. I am going to change out the two center bulbs.





Here is the new bulbs installed for some reason the purple came out kinda funky in the picture but looks great in person.





And back to the stand I was also able to get the frame painted this weekend and what a pain I had to wait till sunday afternoon to do it since it was couldy for most of the start of the day. And it took about 2 hours to do so many nooks and crannies pain in the butt.

Here is the end result.







I will get some pics of the side panels on as well next step is to do staining but yet again I have run out of money so that will have to be put off until a later date.

Maybe when my birthday comes around on the 26th of september you guys can all chip in for a nice birthday present for me?!?

 

Nice and smooth. I am diggin that stand.

 

Thanks it has been alot of work.

 

Well I have yet again been able to get a few more things done on the aquarium.

I started off by getting all the siding back on so I can see what the white paint looks like on the inside and I have to say it looks really good since my wife seems to think I have a small case of OCD the nice clean and kept up look of the white really finishes off the inside.

Pictures with out the bottom board.



With the bottom board and sump in place



I was also able to finish up painting the stand pipes since for some reason the flat black kylon fusion is being taken off the shelfs at least that is what it seems like I must have tired 6 different stores that normally stock it with no luck so I special ordered it from my work at napa. I got two cans and was able to finish painting the new unions and redid some touch up on the old paint.





I had to re-work some of the back board since the holes were not large enough for the stand pipes I some how cut them about 1" to short and they were rubbing the top of the opening in back so I used the jig saw again and opened it up somemore. No worries on the stand pipes being to short I made them longer when I first glued them together just for this kinda of problem. I also had to open up the hole for the fuge pipe to come through since I had to move the pump over from where I thought it was going to sit in the back of the tank the pipe would have hit the board so a little more jig sawing and the pipe fits through easy now.

All fitted up.



Stand pipes on and unions connected.



I was trying to get the return plumbing done since I now have the pipes going through the back board again I am using spa flex tubing to make the connection from the sump to the return pump. I only have about 7" of space so the spa flex isn't to much of a help I have had to create a PVC fitting to bring the street elbow out enough to line up with the return pump inlet I got it all fitted up here.





It didn't quite fit right it was stitting to low so I grabbed a piece of scrap wood I had been using for PVC gluing and cut it to size with the jig saw and sanded off all the PVC glue and screwed it on.

With new wood.





I got it to line up pretty good and will finsih up the return this weekend maybe if I can find time between family visiting and my birthday party.

 

Those little ball valves in front of the stand in the above pictures I was going to use as a mainfold set up off the return pump incase I wanted to add anything later like reactors off the system or something but I got to thinking that will a 1200 gph pump and 5' head loss and 300 GPH gong to the fuge there really isn't much left and decided to leave it the same. So I will return those later to home depot.

 

Scott, what's going on brother. Wow what a crazy Summer, been super busy... Your setup is coming together nicey. I have been following your progress with emails being sent to my phone. I agree with you on Current's great customer support. I had 2 sockets on my T5 that melted & they sent me a complete set for all of them free of charge, even though I didn't have a receipt.

Just one thing your plumbing looks great, but your going to get vibration noise with ridge PVC direct to the pump. I had this same problem. Use flexible PVC (SPA-FLEX) on both ends of the pump. One it cuts the vibration noise. Two it's more forgiving when you need a little flexability on connections. Three since the flexible PVC is taking up the vibration, your unions or bulk fitting won't vibrate loose.

Just food for thought buddy. I don't what size PVC you're using on the return, but I still have a ton of 1" flexible PVC. I ordered 30' when I did mine. If you need some, I'd be happy to give you some.

Keep up the great work!

 

This is such a cool build thread.. Wave fronts are pretty cool..

 

I am using spa flex on the pipe going from the sump to the pump but ridgid on the return like back to the tank. I am going to get a mouse pad to bolt the pump to it should help with vibration. Thanks for the compliments I am hoping to get it started by the end of October but IDK money is tight again since my wife needs to get a root canal and no insurance means large medical bills.

Soon enough though it will be running... I am plannning on purchasing a RO/DI unit from Spectrapure only $145 for a 90GPD unit pretty good deal.