Pickupman66's 180 gal Glass box - Update for July 2013

reeron, they are shimmed pretty good so I dont think it will be an issue. I guess I didnt see how bad it was until I got the photos done.

 

well, thanks to the Wife and kids who finish salting the water and started the washing of hte used sand I got, we got all the sand in and the rocks piled. Im actually pleased with teh looks of it. I wanted 2 islands, but due to the center drain for the closed loop, and the ammt of rock I had, this is what I have come up with.

FTS

LEFT

MIddle

Right

Left end shot

Right End Shot


I know its cloudy, but not too bad considering I did all this since about 7 pm. the sump is being drained as we speak so it can be dried out and a new 2" bulkhead installed. once that is dried in, we can turn on the pumps, and get it all rolling! YAY!!!

Live is good.

 

Looks awesome.

I was wondering though, why do people drill their sumps apposed to having the OF drain into the sump from above?

Or did you mean a drilled sump for the bulkhead to the return pump?

 

Relaxing after hard work.




Taken this morning with the morning light. Amazing how much that rock filters the water.

 

Looking good I rellay like the black clown.

 

very nice, great job on the plumbing and aqua scaping.

 

well, I came home to a very clear watered tank. it looked absolutely awesome.. then I had to go and cloud it up by finishing the plumbing. no to worry, it will get better soon. im tired, wet and sweaty, but the tank is running. I have a gurgle issue with the overflows and had a drip in one of hte bulkheads, but overall, inside the house isnt bad. That said, the sump area is a different story. after being plumbed up, I turned the water on for hte pump and it leaked. I forgot ot tighten the housing bolts.. fixed that and then retried it. leaked badly. the seal is shot. guess im going to have to order a new seal for the barracuda. Fortunatley, I havent been able to sell the 2nd dart yet, so it is being used in its place. works perfectly.. and truthfully, provides a good ammt of flow for the tank. IDK what im going to do as of now. depends on the cost of a seal.

the last bit if bad news is the chiller is still not holding freon. it has held a charge and slowly leaked it down since friday. since I have a good ammt of stop leak in it and have figured out how to make it work. im giong to give one last ditch effort to seal it by getting a bit more freon in to circulate in the pipes. if it wont holdthat, then I guess the tank is going to run warm till the winter.

also, I dont have the skimmer in a seperate chamber so im getting a ton of microbubbles. I know if got soem configuring of the sump to deal with.

 

Update for today.. the chiller is Officially dead. leak cannot be repaired so the sump is turned off and we are just using the CL at this time.

I did get to see the other tank inhabitant. a Pink spot goby.



taken with the flash on and only the actinics since I wont be running the halides anytime soon.

I did get the water to to clear up a bit with a temp baffle in the sump, but I need to modify the MRC with a U tube to remedy the microbubble issue. it almost looks like skim milk pouring out of the valve it is so fine a bubble.

we are also going to redo the pumps. once fixed the barracuda will be moved under the house for the closed loop and I will use a dart for the sump. will also branch off the dart to run the skimmer and the chiller when I get a new one. just a slight modification, but another $30 worth of freaking fittings.

 

what halides are you gona run ? I love my 20k radiums, i have no need to actenic suppliment thus me getting rid of a ballast and bulbs to buy and replae... but I have no moon lights so i may do 2 power brites.