Hello!

I built doors for it out of 1/4" oak paneling and panel molding and did not like them. They were too flimsy and a waste of time - and after a piece of wood flew off the table saw and caught me in the leg leaving a 4" scratch & bruise, it was a nice release to throw, kick, stomp, and tear up that first set of doors.

So, after my blood pressure leveled back out, I went back to the store, bought 1/2" 2'x4' oak and corner molding a little smaller than I used on the corners of the cabinet. The end result were doors which are much sturdier and worth attaching to a custom made cabinet.

Thoughts?



Next up, stain...

 

Well, not only did I stain the cabinet, but I also managed to cover my fingers in the stuff even though I wore gloves. I will touch up the stain tomorrow and prepare to seal it Friday or Saturday.

You'll notice that the trim on the right side of the cabinet has been removed. I will need to remove the entire side to get the sump into the cabinet because it will fit with about 1/16" on each side!

 

OK - the stand is complete! Built, stained, sealed, and caulked!
I will get the sump under it tonight and plumb it tomorrow. Thoughts?

 

Here is a picture of the sump in place. Paneling from the right side was made to be removed to that the sump could be installed or removed if needed. Like I said before, it fits like a glove.

 

Here is a picture of everything together. I painted the back of the tank with black Krylon Fusion spraypaint.

Also, notice the height - from the floor to the top of the canopy it's right at 72.5" or basically 6'. And being only 5'10", I will finally have a tank that I can view while standing, instead of assuming the umpiring position.

 

I got a lot of work done today, so here goes...
I got everything plumbed and filled the tank and sump with hose water. I started everything up and watched to see if there were any problems:

Once everything was good to go, I drained the 90g (this tank and stand were still in the garage, and began to take down the 55g in the family room. I started by removing the rock and then the fish and finally drained the water. I used the sand from this tank to fill the fuge of the new sump. Once it was finally taken down, I moved it out and brought the new stuff into the house.
I began by getting the sump filled with the sand and Fiji Mud from the 55g and slide it into place. I also glued all the PVC to finalize all the plumbing. The mud sure does make the water look healthy!

While I will probably use a little bit of the water from the 55g, but I made sure that I started to mix up saltwater a week ago making ready for this transition! Always plan ahead.

Here is the little princess modeling for her application for Future Reefkeeper of America!

 

I cut a piece of eggcrate to fit the bottom of the tank and began to fill it up. I am using Aragonite Special Grade for the substrate and will end up using about 80lbs. The DSB will be in the fuge and not in the tank, but I will add another 40lbs after the rock is in place.

The last thing I got done this evening is the line for the auto top-off. I drilled a small (1/4") hole in the baseboard and ran the line from the basement (where those trashcans full of water were) to the new tank and connected it to the float valve.

Tomorrow I hope to start the aquascaping, will connect the Coralife Turbo Twist UV after I get some 5/8" vinyl hose, and will pick up another 40lbs bag of aragonite. Whew... I'm tired. Oh, btw, the fish were moved to a precycled 29g tank where the Desjardin's Tang and True Percula Clowns have been. Hopefully I can get some of them into the tank by Saturday.

 

Well, I did not get as much accomplished today, but I did manage to fine tune a few things.

On the return line, I did not like the hole drilled in the 1" to 3/4" reducing elbow, so I replaced it. It was spraying water through that hole into the tank and making a lot of noise. I know the hole is drilled in the elbow to act as a back syphon, but the sump I am using was originally used on a 150g tank and even if the 90g does back syphon to the bottom of the locline, there will still be plenty of room in the sump in the event of a power outage. Oh, I also bought some new locline and swapped out the fan nozzels for straight nozzels. No pics.

Second, I bought some 5/8" vinyl hose and plumbed in the UV. I bought a Coralife 9w Turbo Twist. I can only guess, but I am running around 200-250gph through it.

Lastly, I managed to get 125lbs of rock into the tank. Don't mind the lights - that's 300w and will be replaced with the retrofits mounted into the canopy, but as you can see (barely) this round of aquascaping is done.


I have no doubts the look will change as I can see more clearly what is in there. I am not extremely fond of what I see right now, but you can only do so much with round Fiji rock. In any event, as the tank begins to clear I will continue to shift and shuffle the rock to get something a little more appealing. Oh - the MaxiJets are coming out too. They are there for circulation right now. I will be using two Koralia #3 pumps (850gph each).

I did manage to check the water and everything looks good. Every bit of the rock that went into the tank was cured and 75lbs of it came from the 55g, therefore, along with the sand and mud from the 55g, I hope to not have much of a cycle. I will add the fish slowly beginning tomorrow (maybe) and will use Seachem's Stability as I add new fish.

 

Well, I am not thrilled about the aquascaping, but I moved a few things around and tried to get things looking as natural as possible. It has always been my opinion that if you stack too much, it gives it less of a "natural" look and that is not my goal. For example, the top left of the rocks is BUGGING me! However, like I mentioned earlier, it is sometimes difficult to get something natural when all the rocks are round...

Anyway, here is Aquascaping Round 2. Rather than build a rock wall in the back like others seem to do, I tried to build depth to the rock. I like it to come towards the glass as well as have caves. Of course, when things get purple it always looks so much better



Any ideas or suggestions are definitely appreciated!

 

Well, today was dedicated to getting the lighting installed into the canopy. Again, I was planning for 4x54w Actinic T5 to supplement 2x250w 10k MH along with three 3" Sunon fans to keep things cool.

A friend offered his help and even though we started late, ate a liesurely lunch, made a trip to Lowe's and two trips to Home Depot, we managed to get everything working.

Here is a shot of the project once completed: