Rick's 140g Tall Stone Creek Custom Build

[ReeFit]

i wondered if they would finally break down and give it away. even their asking price was a good price. but it was on CL forever.

[newfisher]

Whoa! if we had a " whats the best deal on a tank" thread, Rick would take the cake! Nice job Rick. I'm headed to the swap meet this weekend, can I borrow you and your skills for a few hours? LOL

[Rick]

Okay, Most of Wednesday I spent cleaning up stuff and doing the last of what needed to be done on the old tank which was picked up in the evening.

 

Yesterday I jumped in head first to get the lights reworked. Here is a pic of the upper cabinet before I started working on it. (Actually I had one of the MH lights pulled back out before I took this) The top of the cabinet inside is about 28" above the water. That's a bit high for the lights. so I wanted to get them lower. The only issue with that though was that I would need to work around them since the front is the only access and I almost need to climb in the thing to get to the bottom of the tank. Because of this I decided to do a floating frame that was mounted up on a set of cables with pulleys and counter weights so I could push the lights up and pull them down to get better access while still having the lights closer to the water. Having an idea of what I wanted I dug around to see what ideas I could come up with using stuff I already had. Here is what I came up with. (Turns out the 1x2's didn't get used).

 

Then I ran up to Lowe's to pick up the rest of the items I would need (Including both the framework and the wiring for the T5 lights). While I was there I also grabbed a couple of door props so I could keep the upper cabinet doors open without having them fall on my head every time I got in the tank. I installed them first as it made working inside the cabinet easier.

 

Next I started building the frame. I didn't get any pictures while I was building it but the idea was to use the 1" aluminum tubing with two long tubes on the front and back with three cross tubes above this and a 3" wide piece of flat aluminum above those to mount the MH reflectors. Under the long tubes I would put two more cross bars for four 4' long T5 lights. These were all drilled and tapped to hold them together using stainless steel screws. While I currently only have one pair of T5 lights I went ahead and drilled it for a second pair to be installed as well. The plastic caps were installed on the ends of the square tubing for a more finished look. That pretty much wraps up yesterday's progress.

[Rick]

Today I started out by installing all of the wiring and mounting the T5 ballast on the frame. I also rewired the reflectors for the HQI ballasts I am going to use. (I had them set up with a regular 175w PFO ballast temporarily) Then I installed the pulleys inside the cabinet and put the cable on the frame. (I chose the smallest stainless steel cable I could get at Lowe's)

 

After the pulleys were installed I partially dissassembled the frame and took part of the cabinet front off to be able to fit it in. Once it was in the cabinet I reassembled the frame. Next I grabbed some scraps of fabric and made two bags to hold sand for counter weights and added straps to them for attaching to the cable loops which I then added. For the sand bags I had preweighed the frame before I put it in the cabinet so I put an equal amount of weight in sand into the bags (half in each one). I then attached the bags to the loops. They are hidden on each side of the tank in the gap there (about 5" on each side).

 

Finally I ran all of the wires for the lights down behind the tank and installed the timer for the T5's. The MH lights have a built in digital timer on one of the ballasts so I didn't need to install one for them.

 

That pretty much wraps up the framework installation and todays progress. Now I can simply push the lights up to the top to gain access and then pull them down when i'm finished.

This is a pcture with them pushed up.

 

This pic shows them pulled down. The MH lights are about 8" above the water and the T5's are about 6" above the water.

[Rick]

Here's a pic of the sump. It's a bit cramped in there but it seems to be adequate. I think I have an eighth of an inch if clearance to pull the skimmer cup off. I'll be supplementing this with a remote deep sand bed in a bucket and the auto top off to keep the level steady.

 

[Rick]

Here are a couple of shots of the tank I took earlier with the new lighting.

[Smann]

The light rack/lift came out really good, what did you use for a stop when they come down?. Looking good so far

[Rick]

The light rack/lift came out really good' date=' what did you use for a stop when they come down?. Looking good so far[/quote']

Thanks, That has to be one of the best parts. I thought about it the entire time I was putting it together. I wasn't sure if I was going to need to put some sort of lock in to hold it either up or down. In the end the sandbags hold the cable out just far enough that it rubs the sides on the framework creating just enough friction to keep it at any height I want without needing anything else. I did mount the timer for the T5's in the back corner (It can be seen in the pic with the sandbag) so I can pull it down until it rests on top of it to have a consistent height.

[Rick]

Today I dug around to find a decent fan for the upper cabinet and managed to come up with this one. It's a huge 8" 3 speed PC fan. I also dug around and found this 12v power supply to run it. It will run several fans in case I end up adding more.

I then climbed up on top of the cabinet with the fan, a 1/8" drill bit, my hole saw kit, and a drill. First I laid the fan down where I wanted it and drilled 1/8" holes through the mounting holes for the fan and through the top of the cabinet. It was easier to do it from the top than to come up from underneath. Then I drew a line around the outside of the fan. This gave me the inner area where I could and did drill several large ventilation holes for the fan to exhaust air through. Once these were drilled I climbed back down along with the tools and the fan. I then mounted the fan underneath inside the cabinet and wired it up to the power supply and plugged it in. This was a quick and easy project for today.

[titus'reef]

WoW

 

you are pretty lucky you got such a deal.

very nice set up.

[Rick]

you are pretty lucky you got such a deal.

very nice set up.

 

Thanks.

 

Here are some more tank shots from over the weekend.

 

[CA2OR]

What? No spiral bulb for your display?

[Rick]

What? No spiral bulb for your display?

 

LOL, No, I don't think spirals are going to cut it here. They didn't do too bad for a 12" deep frag tank but the displays are too tall for them.

 

I did look at the LED spotlight bulbs a bit though. I.E. LED spotlights that use a regular light socket. If the cost comes down some on them you might see a new experiment in the works.

[ReefSafari]

Beautiful Pics, Love the new tank...(rock2) Sweet Lion too!!!:eek:

[Rick]

Beautiful Pics' date=' Love the new tank...(rock2) Sweet Lion too!!!:eek:[/quote']

 

Thanks, I got the Volitan Lionfish from Nick last week. Nick had it for around 3 weeks but hadn't tried frozen with it yet so I figured I would need to wait a week or so to get it eating frozen. On the second day though I dropped some silversides in for the carpet and the first couple never made it. I've fed it both silversides (it's favorite) and krill now. It also tried to eat a brass screw that fell in the tank but spit it back out after a minute. (I was starting to freak out)

 

Over the past week I've been slowly accumulating the stuff to finish a few projects which I've completed over the last few days.

 

First is the ATO (Auto Top Off) which I finished up yesterday morning. It's a simply gravity fed setup using a mechanical float valve. This makes a very reliable setup that I will not need to worry about. The ATO tank is about 14 gallons and I have enough room in the sump to take that much volume if the valve ever fails. (As long as the power doesn't go off at the same time I don't need to worry about it) 14 gallons should last for about a week.

 

ATO tank in the left upper cabinet.

 

Ball valve (in case I need to shut it off) and tubing through the lower left cabinet.

 

Outside of the float valve. I didn't have a 1/2" glass bit so I used a rotary tool with diamond embedded bits to painfully drill the hole for it.

 

Float Valve inside the sump.

[Rick]

Next up is the Remote Deep Sand Bed.

 

After reading a bit about this I decided to do a slightly modified version of the RDSB in a bucket setup. The beauty of this setup is how easy it is to take off line if it doesn't work very well. Having run a DSB in my sump for the last 1 1/2 years though I have high hopes for this. My custom version incorporates a plenum underneath to hopefully help the cycle to completely convert nitrates into oxygen and nitrogen. We'll see in a month or so how it's doing.

 

Bucket plumbed with Uniseals and 1/2" tubing.

 

Plenum set up in the bottom of the bucket.

 

Bucket filled with sand. The first 4" is some old sump sand (a mixture of oyster shells, play sand, and arogonite) followed by another 4" or so of larger aragonite filtered from my old display sand. This is topped with an inch or so of new white sand/gravel (calcium carbonate). Basically I used what I had on hand with as much calcium based sand/gravel as I could come up with here.

 

These last two picture show the RDSB installed and running. I'm using the Mag 2 pump I found in the overflow to feed it and then it just flows back into the sump.

[Rick]

Today I decided to go ahead and get the Crown molding reinstalled.

 

 

At the end of the day the SCWD showed up so I went ahead and installed it also.

 

While the sump is functional it's definately a bit crowded. I'll probably end up building a custom sump before too long.

[grassi]

Nice work with the DSB. Let me know about the plenum

[stylaster]

cool in Calfo's book coral propagation he talks about using a 5 gallon bucket filled full of sand for dsb. He didn't do the plenum on the bottom, but still a great idea, ill be interested to see how it works for you

[Rick]

Today I tested the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates to get a baseline to start with to see what happens with the remote deep sand bed. I also tested PH while I was at it.

 

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0.25

Nitrate: 20

PH: 7.8

 

PH tested a bit low however this is about where it normally tests. I did try something new though. I went ahead and ran a longer air tube to my skimmer and ran it outside the window that's behind the tank.

 

Tomorrow I'll retest the PH to see if this helped. I'll also test alk, mag, and calcium to see where they are.

[jayR]

Nice work Rick and great pics. My ph is also around 7.8. What does moving the skimmer airline outside do?

[Rick]

Nice work Rick and great pics. My ph is also around 7.8. What does moving the skimmer airline outside do?

Thanks.

 

Both our places are newer construction that don't let a lot of fresh air in. I.E. They are not drafty. This in turn causes the CO2 levels in the room to rise and the tank PH to drop. I have a ventless gas fireplace in the same room also which really drives it down if I use it. (I use to watch it close when I had a controller hooked up) By running the air line for the skimmer outside it forces the water to mix with fresh air from outside instead of the CO2 rich air from inside.

[jayR]

ahh makes sense. Might do that as well.

[Rick]

Thought I would throw up a quick update with some new pictures. Unfortunately due to the way the returns come out on this the SCWD just wasn't cutting it so I took it back put. Perhaps a bigger one with a larger return pump would have been better or if I was using the closed loop however I just wasn't getting enough variance of flow with the extra powerheads in the tank. There was some but it wasn't enough for my taste. Thanks to Mick I've added a small moonlight strip that sits on top of the aquarium. I also took the Volitan Lionfish out and reworked the Aquascape (Both occurred simultaneously (whistle)). The Lionfish ate a large diamond goby I bought last weekend and I was afraid it would eventually eat my Black and White Autralian Clowns. It's amazing how the tank dynamic can change so much by removing just one fish. Corals are starting to look really good too. In the time this tank has been set up the turbinaria has added a 1/4" of new growth and the Duncan has gone from 2 heads to 4. Both were quite a surprise. The only big change between tanks is the addition of the two T5 lights that run for about 11 hours each day. (The MH run for about 5 hours)

 

Full Tank Shot (FTS)

 

Getting some nice color I wasn't seeing before

 

Carpet Anemone and Clarkii

(The Clarkii does a great job of caring for this)

 

More nice colors showing up

 

RBTA with my Black and White Australian Clowns

Their not picky though and host the Torch below it almost as much as the Nem.

 

The small magnetic frag rack I whipped up is getting a bit full.

[Rick]

A quick update for those following the results of the remote deep sand bed.

On the 4th everything tested the same as the day before:

Ammonia - 0

Nitrite - 0.25

Nitrate - 20

PH - 7.8

 

I added the following tests though:

Alk(KH) - 10 or 170ppm

Mag - 1300

Calcium - 440

 

Today I tested the Nitrite and Nitrates again:

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - 20

 

As I expected the Nitrite dropped to zero. Nitrate is staying steady at 20 ppm at this point indicating that at least it is balanced enough to keep them from going up. It's too early to tell whether the rdsb is processing them or not though.