evolved's 190g Reef: Wrasse Retreat (Updated 2/6, Pg 33)

I agree. Seem our birthdays are not far apart; I'll be doing mine just a few days after my own.

:surprised Thanks Jerry.

Finding Nemo (2003) - Memorable quotes

 

I think it's amazing that some of us can think of no better B-day than spending time doing stuff with the hobby and the tank. LOL.

Boy Hunter, I have moved established tanks with big corals before. It drove me nuts because the corals dictate the scape. You start to position rocks and corals so they are getting the type of flow and lighting you think they prefer. Makes my head spin.

 

I won't lie, it makes me a little nervous. I had to get over some of that before I ordered the tank. I've been staring at my rockwork in my tank currently and re-arranging it in my head. The good news is, less then half of my corals are actually encrusted on the main rocks, so if I have to I can pop some things off and re-glue them elsewhere. I hope a little bit of luck is on my side however.


On the progress front, I got all 5 bulkheads installed in the overflow last night. Not very exciting, but now I can progress in plumbing. Sorry, no picture inside the tall boring black box.

 

JEALOUS!!!

That tank is SEXY! excellent choice on dimensions, and placement of the overflow, not to mention the starphire glass.

Very happy for you. I might need to hit you up on some contact info for DSA.

 

Awesome upgrade, I will be following.

 

Thanks Chris.

Unfortunately I don't really have any contact info; I went through my favorite LFS via their supplier, who I presume is a DSA distributor and is also local to me.

Thanks.

 

Sweeeeeeeeet! Congrats on the upgrade, totally subscribed.

 

PIA has a Bellae Flasher for $550

 

Update time.

Plumbing is finished as of yesterday. So tired of smelling the PVC cement too.

This took me longer than I anticipated, but I took my time with it all, making sure I was doing what I really wanted to be doing and carefully gluing every joint. Do it once, do it right.

Brainstorming some ideas on the table before I began:


Here's everything completed in the overflow box:


From the time I ordered the tank, I was only planning to use 2 of the drains and cap the third. Which is good since a stand brace blocked one of the drains anyway. : So the drain furthest on the right has been capped off.


The DSA overflow is designed to utilize loc-line on the returns. Note the U shaped cut in the ABS which fits loc-line perfectly:


And here's the majority of my weekend's time underneath the tank. 1" vinyl tubing from the return pump feed to 1" PVC which then supplies the 2 3/4" returns which poke up into the overflow. On the drain side, I plumbed in 2 hard line 1" PVC into the sump. Lots of fit checking here to make all the angles and lengths work.

I may change out the vinyl tubing for spa flex; I don't like the lack of rigidity the vinyl has in keeping its shape, especially where it wants to pinch a bit over that sump baffle.


Here's looking down from the top of the tank through the bottom. You can appreciate the angles on the drains a bit more here:


Lastly, you may have noted in some photos there will be a receptacle located behind this tank on the wall. Something else I'm doing in this build is trying to make everything as safe as possible, and this includes making all my electrical connections as isolated and splash proof as possible. I had a little electrical incident over a year ago with my current tank, and while I'm not sure if it was a result of splash or a cheap adapter I am very glad I was home at the time and smelled that characteristic hot electronics odor before I had a fire on my hands. So the receptacle behind the tank received this yesterday evening:




A simple outdoor weatherproof cover I picked up at Home Depot; a steal at $10 for insurance. It has a foam gasket on the backside which seals tightly with the wall. And yes, that door will be closed once everything is set up.

 

Looks great man!!!
Ever think of running that 3rd drain as a emergency drain? Might be better to use it that way instead of not using it at all.