JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system - Page 25

rulesmith · #**601** 02/12/2006, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tony13
enamdjd

Sorry to go off track but how long did you have to wait to get your tank?, the reason I ask cause I'm going on four month's and still can't get a straight answer from them. I've been told this week three weeks ago but I've heard it before and am getting nervous.
Tony

I had great communication with James at envision. Try calling him. He gave me a date range and then confirmed the date with me a few weeks out and he stuck to it.

NexDog · #**602** 02/12/2006, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tony13
enamdjd

Sorry to go off track but how long did you have to wait to get your tank?, the reason I ask cause I'm going on four month's and still can't get a straight answer from them. I've been told this week three weeks ago but I've heard it before and am getting nervous.
Tony

You mean James at Envision? I first contacted him at the beginning of July and we spent all July working out the sump design. I ended up doing 8 revisions there. In August we worked out the tank design. In September James said he'd start building in October and he did. I received the tank on November 8th. Just phone him alot and get a definite timeline and he should stick to it.

Hop · #**603** 02/12/2006, 09:28 PM

Yeah he was actually a week a head of schedule on mine... Have you spoke to him personally on the phone? He only checks e-mails every so often. He likes to spend his time in the shop where the money is actually made

NexDog · #**604** 02/12/2006, 09:48 PM

That's true. He only checks his mail once or twice a week. Crazy as it seems.

tony13 · #**605** 02/12/2006, 09:54 PM

No I was asking enamdjd about AFY. Didn't mean to confuse everyone. I guess they're busy but I'm two months past the original due date, I'm wondering if this a "normal" thing for them.
Tony

ScubaCarl · #**606** 02/13/2006, 09:22 PM

Lawrence,

Love your setup !!

Do you have any pictures of your live-rock-base you created? Are you attaching the LR to this base ? or just piling up the LR?

NexDog · #**607** 02/13/2006, 10:32 PM

I'll be piling it up on top of those racks. And the flow through the rack provides some nice flow under there keeping that area free of detritus. Most of it blown out to the back where there is a 5" gap for easy siphoning.

I'm not buying ito the whole BB thing. I think you can have sand in your tank if you do it right. Problem with shallow sand beds is that most people build rock structures on top of them and all the detritus falls down in there where it can't be cleaned out. Steve Weast uses the same system as I've setup and I believe he devised it - I certainly used his setup as my inspiration.

But I won't be adding sand for quite a while as the LR will be shedding for quite some time. Also on this setup I've rigged up this Maxi-Jet that sits on a 1" pipe with tubing on the outlet. Can't really explain it but this MJ 1200 setup allows me to blow off the LR without putting my hands in the tank. Done something similar for siphoning too. Will post some pics one day.

Still need to finish my sliding light rack and the rear platforn that allows me stand behind teh tank but everything is progressing as fast as it can.

The corals that Matt send 30 hours ago still haven't arrived. Hope they'll survive.....

TheCoralReef731 · #**608** 02/13/2006, 11:41 PM

Hey NexDog,
I found your thread a few weeks ago, but it was pretty long, so I finally get to post (yeah

). I really like your design and how well planned out your whole system. The sump design is amazing, but I guess it still had a few kinks in it. Wow, talk about nice (and expensive). I can't wait to see it become an established reef tank. Keep up the good work.
Peter

melev · #**609** 02/14/2006, 01:41 AM

ScubaCarl,

[welcome]

NexDog · #**610** 02/14/2006, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TheCoralReef731
Hey NexDog,
I found your thread a few weeks ago, but it was pretty long, so I finally get to post (yeah ). I really like your design and how well planned out your whole system. The sump design is amazing, but I guess it still had a few kinks in it. Wow, talk about nice (and expensive). I can't wait to see it become an established reef tank. Keep up the good work.
Peter

Hi Peter, and thanks for reading the thread. I think the sump design is pretty good and has 3 sets of baffles. I'm certain that with some tweaking on the drains I can eliminate the microbubbles but I feel that feeding the drains into the skimmer is the best for so many reasons:

1) Maximises skimmer performance with raw overflow water.
2) Eliminates need for a pump.
3) Won't need to use filter bags on the drains.
4) Eliminates any microbubbles caused by the drains.

People might think it's dangerous because I'll only have one line into the skimmer and is a fish or snail got in there it would be bad news but I just ordered another float switch which will be going in my return section. So if something clogs the line the tank won't overflow as the float switch will turn off the pump (and also save the pump from burning out).

Going to do that as soon as all the rock is in the tank and it might be sooner than I though. Ammonia levels in the curing tubs is starting to drop dramatically. Going to change the water there again tomorrow and add more into the skimmer section and I reckon I might have it all in there by Sunday.

NexDog · #**611** 02/14/2006, 05:16 AM

I fixed my digital video camera. It's only 3.0 megapixels and I don't understand how to work it at all as it's all in Japanese but I'm hoping this means I can be a bit more prompt with taking pics. My office is a bit narrow and I might have to perch on my desk to get a full frontal shot but I just took this one. You can see the rock is starting to pile up now.

You can also see the big Deresa in the bottom right.

The light cracks from the access doors bothers me a little. Any DIYers out there have any suggestions in cutting that out?

NexDog · #**612** 02/14/2006, 05:21 AM

Here's a pic of that Deresa (it is a Deresa, right?):

akirasan · #**613** 02/14/2006, 05:28 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but i think that might be a T. Squamosa.

CAreefer · #**614** 02/14/2006, 07:57 AM

I believe Squamosa also. Based on the fluted structure of the shell. The Deresa's have a smooth shell.

As for the light escaping around the doors, I used the self adhesive rubber weatherstripping and attached it to the doors. It is about time to replace it (2yrs) and I'm thinking of using the rubber and metal screw on weatherstripping. It's basically flat metal with a hollow rubber "rope". I will just screw it into the rails and stiles of the cabinet. Just like sealing a front door. I have a piece left over from the pack I bought for the house. I can post a pic if you need.

HTH
CAReefer

NexDog · #**615** 02/14/2006, 08:35 AM

Thanks for the correction. As you can see my clam knowledge is top notch.

Should it be that colour or will it colour up a bit?

Good idea on the rubber weatherstripping. I'll go to the hardware store tomorrow and see what I can find.

Bax · #**616** 02/14/2006, 09:33 AM

That's a big clam!

Rock looks great!

NexDog · #**617** 02/14/2006, 09:41 AM

Just read up on the Squamosa and seems it grows up to 15". The one I got is about 10" long so pretty big.

akirasan · #**618** 02/14/2006, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NexDog

Should it be that colour or will it colour up a bit?

I don't think they color up per se, but some nice ones have really cool colored 'trimmings' on the edge of the mantle. Then again, those are just the ones I've seen. Probably be nicer ones out there.

JayS · #**619** 02/14/2006, 11:59 PM

NexDog-

Been following closely, love your tank and journal. How do you like your Deltec 902 (is it connected to your return?)?

So if you had it to do over again you would have gone with glass? How about a updated full tank/room shot (or as big as you can get it)?

NexDog · #**620** 02/15/2006, 12:14 AM

It's not connected direct to the drains yet but will be once I've finished with curing the LR. The 902 is an amazing machine. Once dialled in it is really easy and reliable. Set it to wet or dry by adjusting the air valves and it works great.

I would have loved to have gone glass but I just couldn't. Couldn't find a builder that did for a good price and then there's explaining exactly what I needed which is tough due to the language and shipping one from abroad would have been too expensive. And then there's the earthquake risk. We had a magnitude 5 quake the other day.

I'll clean up my office and take a pic. MDP's corals arrived. Took two days and they aren't in very good shape. I've had them floating for a few hours and I'm about to open them and aclimatise. One frag looks to have shed its flesh completely.

NexDog · #**621** 02/15/2006, 06:39 AM

So I received a box of frags from Matt (MDP) this morning. He lives in Tokyo which is about 1000km away. Not sure why but it took over 48 hours for the box to get to me. Matt - next time lets use KuroNeko!

The Box:

Matt packed them well:

But as soon as I saw the bags I knew things were in bad shape:

This frag did particularly badly but I'm hoping to save it. Should I cut the skeleton off?

The Red People Eater was completely dissolved and the monti cap frags are completely bleached but time will tell. The clove polyps look to have made it and the metallic green digi frags look good. Many, many thanks Matt, it's very much appreciated!

I have them in the growout section of my sump. Here's a pic I took before inserting them. Has the freebie suncoral and acro colony and my remaining brain:

Also has 2 small anenomes that didn't do well in my old 50g. They've turned very bulbous now but I don't know if I will keep them as my big LTA is doing great under the new halides.

I'm going to cut the bottom off another beer crate and use that for a small stand for the frags. Maybe tomorrow.

NexDog · #**622** 02/15/2006, 07:00 AM

This is the acro colony I got free with the LR:

This is the suncoral. Unfortunately half of it bleached but I'm nursing it back to health. Note the yellow in it.

Here's the brain in the growout section:

And for JayS, here's the office taken from as far back as I can. Right side:

Left side:

And a straight on full frontal and yes, I did have to perch on my desk for this shot.

NexDog · #**623** 02/15/2006, 07:14 AM

Last few things for tonight. If you've followed this you'll remember that I had a major issue with power. Our 100v mains wasn't enough to fire up all the halides so I had to get some transformers custom made. They seem to have done the job for the most part but there are a few lingering issues. If I fire up the big Sequence pump one of the hal;ides goes out but does come back on. I've decided to leave the big Sequence on 24/7 now to work out any microbubbles in the new plumbing. I actually had to redo the plumbing on that pump completely due to major microbubbles there. It really does keep that area under the racks completely clean which I'm hoping will mean I never have a nitrate issue.

Anyhow, here is one of those transformers (I have 3 in total):

Here is a pic of my current fight with microbubbles. This is the baffle from the skimmer section to the fuge. You can see the bubbles streaming up the fuge side and overflowing into the fuge. There is one more baffle after this but I'm now convinced that these kind of baffles only really work when you have minimal bubbles at low flow....

H20ENG · #**624** 02/15/2006, 08:53 PM

Laurence,
PLEASE put an acrylic cover over those terminals on the transformer. I see there are some small ones, but those exposed terminals WILL bite you eventually.
Do you have the microbubble issue without the Sequence on? I know that sometimes a pump seal will leak and draw in air.
Looking good!
Chris

NexDog · #**625** 02/15/2006, 11:20 PM

Yes, been thinking about covering them so I'll get the done.

The microbubble issue is from the return mostly. If I turn the return off they decrease by 75% or so. The remaining coming from the skimmer.