Ryan

I LOVE BORBS! Where did you get yours? I plan on a pair of them in the future!

Bob, I have a 12"x10" sheet of Enkamat. I would trade ya a frag or something for it... The stuff from HD is just gutter guard...

Was the water circulating the entire time, or sitting stagnant?

Here's mine:

I would rebuild your return pipe with 1/2", then set it up to 1" right at the bulk head.

The only problem with stepping the pipe size up is it increases the head pressure on the pump as the pump is having to move quite a bit more water. The total output of the pump will be significantly deceased.

Mick, I know it would cost more, but I would not make this out of 1/4". 1/4" kind of scares me for sumps. The extra cost would be worth the piece of mind. The extra thickness would also give you a larger margin of error on the seams. I would get your graph paper and ruler out and figure out how many sq ft you need, then call Tap plastics and get a quote. They will also cut the piece you need for little or no cost, you just need to give them a cut list. It would be a great DIY project!

Wow!!! VERY nice build!!! Can't wait to see the progress on tank assembly! I will be following this one!

Just a quick update! The tank has been running great. All of my corals are now in the tank and mounted on the rocks. I am still working on organizing/hiding all of my wiring. I was not happy with my first skimmer, so I upgraded to an ATB 840 v1.5 (thanks Barrier Reef). I am VERY happy with it. It has only been running for 6 days and it is producing nearly black skimmate! Unfortunately I neglected my old tank for the last 2 months while I was building the new one...Most of my corals lost their color, so I am working on getting the colors back. Everything already looks twice as good as it did in my old tank.

I sent Cy from Barrier Reef Aquariums a PM late Tuesday night asking if he had a very specific skimmer in-stock. I needed it by Friday, so it was a long shot. To my surprise, he immediately sent me a PM back saying he had one. I called him up at around 9:30am on Wednesday and payed over the phone for it. Knowing that I needed it by Friday, he immediately took it to FedEx for delivery. The skimmer was delivered to Portland in less then 24 hours!!! I am very pleased with my first experience with Barrier Reef! I cant wait until my next trip to Seattle so I can go visit!!! Thanks!!! (clap)

I have a few items for sale, I will get pics tomorrow... 1. 250 Icecap MH with high quality mogul base & simple white reflector. Includes a 9 month old Radium 20k & a 6 month old SPS 14k bulb: $150 2. 2 Workhorse 7 ballasts, 4 sets of waterproof VHO end caps & standoffs, 4 24" UVL Super Acticis (4 months old): $150 3. Pacific Coast Imports RPS-1000 skimmers. Needs new pump (about $40 directly from PCI: $70 I'll get pics tomorrow...

Well, my new tank is a Zeovit tank, so I add a lot of things on a daily basis. It seems like a lot of work, but it's not really, in only ats about 2 minutes of my time per day... Daily: .8 ml of ZeoStart twice daily (AM & PM) 2 dops of ZeoBac twice daily (AM & PM) 2 drops of Zeo Sponge Power twice daily (AM & PM) Pump Zeo Reactor twice daily (AM & PM) dose cal & alk (done with dosing pumps) Feed fish (alternate between frozen and dry food) Weekly: 4 drops of ZeoFood every Sunday and Wednesday Clean collection cup every Sunday (or as needed) Test cal/alk/mag every Sunday (adjust accordingly) Bi-weekly: 10 gallon water change Replace carbon in reactor (.5 liter of carbon) Monthly Replace ZeoStones in ZeoReactor (1 liter of stones)

I bought 3 blue chromis last Sunday for my new tank...All 3 of them were very healthy looking & very active. The first day they all schooled together and looked very friendly together. The second day they kind of swam around the tank on their own, then the third day, one began picking on the other two. The fourth day it got pretty bad, the other two were missing scales and pretty beaten up. Both have since died, whereas the other looks to be in perfect health. I have never had chromis before, so am not sure if this is normal behavior for them. I really like the movement they ad to the tank, but do not want fish that are that aggressive. Also, will they bother other fish as well?

Can't wait to see pics!!! Is this the envision cube that Bob won at the 2008 Christmas party, then sold to Doug? It will be nice to finally see water in it!

I'm sitting in the Market St. McMenamins right now, but I don't see a reef tank....which on has a tank?

Thanks guys! The seaswirls have been going strong for 2 weeks now! I finished the Zeovit reactor today, and started the zeovit cycle. I'll be adding the first fish in 10 days, and first coral in 14 days. I can't wait!!!

I thought about the humid salt water air issue, but after thinking about it, it's no different then having your ballasts mounted in you stand above your sump... As for fans, I will be running 4 120mm 12v fans. All four will be mounted on the back of my canopy. 2 will be pushing air at the end caps of the lights, and the other 2 will be pointed at the ballasts.

I am usually able to get my finger nail under the base of xenia and peal it off the rock (not ripping, cutting, or tearing it...), then simply glue it where you want it to be. It works well, and does not grow back where it was pealed off of. I too started with one stalk, now its spread all over the place, and started growing up my back glass...its covering close to 25% of my back glass!!! Im planning on giving it all away when I move everything over to my new tank. No more xenia for me!

I finished my lighting rack today, it consists of the following: 2- Icecap 660 Ballasts 8- T5 bulbs 8- AquaIllumination T5 Relectors I am running the following bulbs from front to back: Front ATI Blue Plus ATI Aqua Blue ATI Blue Plus ATI Aqua Blue ATI Blue Plus KZ Fiji Purple ATI Aqua Blue ATI Blue Plus Back I am running all of the Blue Plus bulbs on one ballast, and the Aqua Blue and Fiji Purple on the other ballast. Here are some pics: It was hard to get a good picture that actually represents the actual color. The pics look very blue (I think from all of the spill over), but it is actually a VERY crisp white with a hint of blue. I like it A LOT!!! The T5's are VERY BRIGHT!!!! The legs on the lighting rack are temporary. The whole rack will be mounted in my canopy after I build it.

I know :-( Im not looking forward to it. Im sure the Zeovit cycle wont help either... Andy, Huskerduck, & Garrett thanks for the comments!

A lot of progress this week! The tank is filled, sand is in, salt is in (1.025 sg), the water has cleared, and the rock is now it. Im very happy with the tank so far! Heres a vid of the DIY seaswirls: Heres what the tank looks like after I put the rock in this morning. The water is still a bid hazy.... What do you think? I pretty much just threw the rock in there in the "island formation." It will probably stay in 2 different islands, but I will probably end up adjusting it a bit.

Amazing tank, Roy!!! I didn't realize you have been doing this for so long! When did you get your first SPS?

I finally finished up the plumbing today! I cut these brackets to support the return lines. They are cut out of 1/2" acrylic, and cemented to the inside of my sump: Return Line w/distribution manifold: The bottom valve will go do my Zeovit Reactor, the middle will go to my carbon reactor, and the top will be a spare (probably used for my chiller in the summer). All said and done (well kinda): I decided to mix the salt water in the tank. I was going to borrow someones 55g drum to mix the water in, but this will work just as well. I have been trying to "clean" the sand for weeks now, hopping to avoid the cloudy water. I don't think its possible. I used a fine mesh called "tulle" from a fabric store to do the initial rinse. I did a couple pounds at a time dipping it multiple times in clean RO/DI. Then I put it all in a 10g Rubbermaid container and replaced the water EVERY day. I never got it to run "clean." oh well, it should clear up in a couple days. Once the tank is filled with RO/DI, I'll throw my Vortechs in then add the salt. After the salt is mixed for several days, I'll add my rock that has been curing for 6 weeks. I'll be able to start the Zeovit cycle once I finish the lighting, then I'll be adding my first fish in 10 days & coral in 14 days.