Alex K's 175 Bowfront Setup Thread

[AlexKilpatrick]

I've always enjoyed the long tank setup threads on reefcentral, especially when they have lots of pictures. I always learn something. I thought I would start one here. I excpect it to keep updating it every few weeks for about 6 months to a year. I'm hosting the pictures offsite, so I won't be using any of MAAST's bandwidth for pictures.

Anyhow, I am starting with Alex W's old 175 bowfront. Deliveryman Pete delivered it to my door today, and he carried it is in with just himself and one other guy. That means he was carrying about 190 lbs just by himself. He is an animal! I highly recommend his moving service. :)

Here is a shot of the first water test:

http://binaryduck.com/tadpole/Images/Aquarium/tank.jpg

You can see Alex thoughtfully left me some muck. Thanks, Alex! :)

Here is a shot of my skimmer, in the sump Pete built for me:

http://binaryduck.com/tadpole/Images/Aquarium/fuge.jpg

Before this point, I wasn't absolutely sure it was going to fit. It was a relief to see that it did. I did have to take off the back brace to get the sump in the stand. The skimmer is a My Reef Creations MR2, with a GEN-X pump they sell as a combo with it. For some strange reason., the pum has about 20' of cord on it, which is highly annoying.

I have an Iwaki 70 return pump, which is going to sit next to the sump.

Here is a shot of the separate refugium:

http://binaryduck.com/tadpole/Images/Aquarium/sump.jpg

This allows the refugium to have slow flow through it. I think it is a really neat design.

Tonight, I drilled the sump and added bulkheads for the drains and the pump. Tomorrow I am hoping to have all the plumbing done.

Alex

[NaCl_H2O]

Have fun! Looking forward to watching the progress ;)

[dan]

really looks good. i know your going to have fun filling it up. keep us posted

[JeffCo]

Looks good, remember to take lots of pictures as you progress.

[AlexKilpatrick]

Some more pictures. Work has been busy, so I haven't been able to do a lot of work on the tank.

I filled the tank with tapwater so I could test the plumbing. The pictures below are over the span of a week. It took a long time for the tank to clear. I think this shows some of the gunk that is in regular tap water.

http://www.binaryduck.com/tadpole/images/aquarium/Murky1.JPG
http://www.binaryduck.com/tadpole/images/aquarium/Murky2.JPG
http://www.binaryduck.com/tadpole/images/aquarium/Murky3.JPG

It is pretty hard to take pictures of plumbing. I had some difficulties with the plumbing. I use slip bulkheads because I want the joint to be as solid as possible. But this time I had a leak on the elbow right after the bulkead. So I took iit out (which breaks it). When I was replacing it and gluing again, I got an accidental gush of water which prevented the cement from setting properly. So I had to do it a third time. Argh! But it all seems to be working now.

My Iwaki 70 pump seems too powerful, though. I have it throttled about halfway. (not shown here)

http://www.binaryduck.com/tadpole/images/aquarium/Plumbing1.JPG

Of course, this is always important:

http://www.binaryduck.com/tadpole/images/aquarium/Level.JPG

And, an aerial view:

http://www.binaryduck.com/tadpole/images/aquarium/Aerial.JPG

Hopefully, I will have better pictures later.

[Ram_Puppy]

when you say your iwaki is to powerful, is that because it is blowing your substrate around our because it is outpacing your overflows? if it's the first, why not go to a larger gauge return pipe, this should lessen the intensity of the stream.

[Gator]

i have the same pump on my 175 bow front and it is almost to powerful for the little returns. i used 2 inch pipes for my silensers and they have seemed to help, i just turned it up all the way and it has been fine, i have to keep my teeth on my over flows clean from coraline or it slows down the return and starts to go over the top

[AlexKilpatrick]

I am planning to go bare-bottom, so I'm not worried about the substrate. The pump is too fast for the returns. I have 1 1/4 " Durso standpipes connected to a 1" return. That's about as big as I can fit in the overflow, and even then it is leaning a little to fit in.

I don't have any strong desire to run the pump all out. I just got it because it was a good deal.

[::pete::]

How are things coming along Alex?

[dan]

need more pics. need more pics. need more pics. :-D :-D :-D

[AlexKilpatrick]

Sheesh. You guys must have a lot more time on your hands than I do. :) I would post another pic of it sitting there full of tapwater, but I think that would be kind of boring.

Right now, the plumbing is done, so I have to vacuum up all the sand and gunk at the bottom, in preparation for my bare-bottom. Then, I have to re-sand and paint the canopy. After that I have to install the lights. Next, I fill it with RO/DI water and salt. After all that is done, I can actually test my skimmer.

That is about a month's worth of work to me. Once all that is done I can start curing live rock, which will probably be another 2 months.

Pretty boring, I know. :(

[::pete::]

Pictures of the aquascaping are always nice and how you fixed the canopy ;) .

[NaCl_H2O]

Take it slow & do it right - ignore all these clowns (me too) pushing you for progress & pictures :-D

[AlexKilpatrick]

My latest work was getting some HDPE from Austin Plastic Supply. It was actually cheaper than I expected at $50 for 2 sheets that are 2'x3'. The wouldn't cut to my pattern made out of newspaper, so I am going to have to cut it myself. It was really difficult making a pattern for the bow part, and I am still not happy with it. The only way I can make it is from working on the inside of the tank. I can't trace anything to get the pattern. What I really need is a long piece of semi-rigid plastic that I can bend to match the bow, and have it keep it's shape. If you knoe of somehting like that, let me know. I haven't seen anythng like that anywhere.

I haven't been able to do any painting on the canopy because it has been raining everytime I have time to work. :-(

It looks like my setup is going to stall for a little longer than I planned. I found out I have to go to Jordan at the end of the month, and I don't want to leave a brand new setup for my wife to deal with while I am out of the country.

[AlexKilpatrick]

Well, I got a good deal on some live rock from Tim Marvin, so I was forced to set everything up. It took 3 days for my poor RO/DI unit to fill up the tank, and for the last 20 gallons or so I had to remove the RO membrane just to get done on time.

I dumped in pretty much an entire bucket of Oceanic salt in order to get my salinity up. And then when I added 150 lbs of live rock, I had to take 15 gallons back out.

Pete is going to build me a new canopy, so I just slapped my lights in as a temporary measure for the next few weeks. There is no actinic, so it is a little yellow (10K light)

Anyhow, here is is, in the ugly stage. There are a couple of huge flat pate rocks there.

http://binaryduck.com/tadpole/Images/Aquarium/rock.JPG

[::pete::]

It coming together ... ;)

[NaCl_H2O]

Looking good! I see you scrapped off the "little extras" Alex left for you on the front glass :roll

[cpreefguy]

lol...but you still have the 'ole alex wolf aquascaping :lol