AquaticEngineer

I'm going to the coast on the morning of April 20th to go collecting for my coldwater tank. There is a -1.7 tide that morning at about 9am so it should be a pretty good day for collecting. I'll probably be near Garibaldi around 7am, so if anyone is interested give me a ring Or if you have any great spots for collecting that you can recommend (that aren't in marine gardens or research reserves ) let me know.

Pandora FTW. +1 for Vuze also.

Maybe have the May meeting there? Show some support for a local business with a reef

One of the owners came to my house and bought one of my stainless and black lobster tanks. They will definitely have very fresh seafood

Oh for sure, there will be many pictures Estimated shipping date says between April 6th and April 19th, so I got a little bit of a wait until I get to wire it up. I did however find a 12,000K 50w LED bulb on ebay for $48, this is the same spectrum bulb that Ecoxotic is using. http://cgi.ebay.com/HIGH-POWER-50W-12000K-WHITE-LED-4000-4500LM-24-26V-/390245307832?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5adc6ed5b8

I just purchased this from ebay as a test light setup: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330524311181&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT Along with this for the heatsink: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370494796097 They do sell optics for these lights on ebay, they sell 90 degree, and 60 degree lenses. I'm working on using an old lens from a surveillance camera as an adjustable LED lens. Here are the lenses from Ebay: [url=]http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=50w+led+lens[/url] Right now my total cost on the test light is $54.87, and my neighbor funded me $50 of it to buy one and test them out to see if he should use them over his reef he is building. Wish me luck and fast shipping

Thats exactly what I was thinking, lol. I emailed him a while ago about what thickness the acrylic was, its only 1/2" acrylic so it wont work for me as a coldwater tank.

Heres a pic of the new tank on the right next to the one of the tanks I had already. Anyone interested?

One of the reasons I was tentative to use concrete is the potential for leaching later down the road from concrete that wasn't exposed to water during the curing process that later may become exposed. I think adding lead to the tank in any form is just asking for trouble, especially in a coldwater tank that is more suseptable to metals in the water.

Any recommendations for local places to get fiberglass supplies? I think I drive by a place near 82nd and Otty Road on my way to work everyday.

I am leaning more and more towards fiber glass and resin. Anyone ever use fiberglass in their tanks? I know that people have made large tanks using plywood and fiberglass before.

I dont know that the pvc will have enough weight to counter the boyency of the foam. But thats something I will definately try out, I have a couple cans of the black pond foam in the garage still. I have been looking into using some kind of resin though, anyone use anything like that before?

The color additive will just be regular concrete dye.

Cure it for the sake of letting anything leach out first?

Wanted to get some of your perspectives on the use of quick setting concrete in marine tanks. I'm going to be coating large diameter PVC pipes in quikcrete with a dark color dye additive to make it look like wood. The end goal is to create some light weight, easily stackable, immitation pier pylons for my coldwater marine tank. Has anyone used quick setting concrete with a color additive in their marine tanks before?

Going to pick up another one today hopefully. So I think I am going to keep the stainless and black one that I had posted up for sale. That way I have a nice matching pair for the garage The one I am going to pickup later today is white and stainless I believe, that one I will probably refurbish and sell. Shoot me a message if your interested. I will post pics up as soon as I have it ready to go

Updated with a video of the tank for sale and my current tank that is up and running. http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg100/Stuwobbe/Coldwater%20tanks/?action=view&current=VID_20110228_221531.mp4

I'm tempted to just keep it honestly Only reason I'm selling it is because I'm fairly certain I can get another one to replace it later on, and I need the money for a monster acrylic tank that measures 60"x24"x48" I'm uploading a video of the tanks so people can better see what theses systems have to offer.

........after that you have to go to a non-photosynthetic coldwater marine tank. Its just the natural progression of things

I think I have some old top down photos I can post up real quick. The bat stars I feed small bay scallops every couple days or when ever I see them begging for food at the top of the tank The ochre stars get to cruise around the tank and eat snails as the find them.

Few more pics

Pics with the LED strip lights on the tank.

I need a big acrylic tank, with at least 3/4 inch or thicker sides on it.

Video of the tank, and my current one that is set up. Up on craigslist for a bit cheaper than the last one I sold. How about $450 http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/app/2233041158.html

Got another for sale if anyone is interested Up on craigslist for a bit cheaper than the last one I sold. $525 and I can help you load it or rent a truck and deliver it http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/app/2233041158.html