Hop's 800 gallon rebirth - Page 11

jnarowe · #**251** 04/01/2007, 10:13 PM

very nice work. I hear you on the refuge issue. My fuge is too shallow to pop any full size fish in it.

Hop · #**252** 04/01/2007, 10:45 PM

Thanks! I hope the reasoning makes sense... Maybe it will even hold water

I guess we'll see on that later!

Figures, I don't have to work in the morning now... I could have kept working. Good thing they called before I took the ambien

melev · #**253** 04/01/2007, 11:21 PM

Looks good. You should do the water test elsewhere.

jnarowe · #**254** 04/01/2007, 11:46 PM

test it in the living room!

Hop · #**255** 04/02/2007, 12:17 AM

I was thinking somewhere on the second level to really up the anxiety level

divecj5 · #**256** 04/02/2007, 06:46 AM

Man Hop, every time that I come back to this thread after the weekend you have a TON more stuff completed. You are tearing through this build.

That's awesome about the zebra and the vermitids. Do you have a link or pic of your hermits? I just want to see if I might be able to get a few and see what happens as well. Although I have a couple blue legged (I think), I never see them messing with the tubes.

Congrats on all the progress Hop...things are looking awesome and I think this is going to be one awesome setup.

Adam

jnarowe · #**257** 04/02/2007, 10:17 AM

Adam: It could also be that there isn't much else for the zebra to mess with right now but vermetids.

divecj5 · #**258** 04/02/2007, 10:36 AM

That's true

Hop · #**259** 04/02/2007, 12:30 PM

divecj5: Thanks... We'll see how steady construction goes. I have a few odds and ends to finish up (getting the rest of the wallboard up, add the exhaust fan, new lights and connect the new electrical). But after that we might slow down quite a bit because I just priced the acrylic for the sumps and new display... OUCH!

I tried to get some pics last night of the extremely short and chewed up tubes for reference, but none came out the way I wanted. Maybe tonight...

Here is an old pic of the only SW creature I have ever named

This is Sammy the snail slayer, named for his appetite for any snail on the run, but now I think he's acquired a taste for vermetids too...

jnarowe · #**260** 04/02/2007, 12:32 PM

he's so cute!

what about doing a low-iron glass viewing pane? Maybe PVC bottom?

Hop · #**261** 04/02/2007, 12:37 PM

How about the wife working a little overtime to help pay for her tank

We may settle for a 180RR, rather than going with a custom acrylic... The extra 6" of depth would have been nice, but the stupid acrylic shipped to my door is ridiculous. Over 2k for the sumps and tank

jnarowe · #**262** 04/02/2007, 12:49 PM

find another way. you have a huge truck. make a deal with a supplier in Denver and go get it. There are major plastics suppliers in every major city just because of the shipping issue. And while you are on your way to Denver, stop in at Buffalo Bill's and have a burger!

While eating that burger, convince yourself that Starfire is the way to go!!

melev · #**263** 04/02/2007, 01:04 PM

I fear for you Hop. The power of suggestion is .... powerful.

Randall_James · #**264** 04/02/2007, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
I fear for you Hop. The power of suggestion is .... powerful.

You should see the power of "Visuals"

Note below image and the power it holds over any glass tank owner :evil laugh:

Starphire...../Not Starphire

jnarowe · #**265** 04/02/2007, 01:18 PM

Hit hm hard Randall!

Hop · #**266** 04/02/2007, 01:27 PM

LOL. You guys crack me up. When I set out on this build, I wanted to be able to say "I built it" to just about everything. But the more I price things, like phosreactors, the more I think, it would be much cheaper to buy it

I'll have plenty of thinking time today... I'm off for a couple MRIs. I'll let you know how my brain turns out later

Hop · #**267** 04/02/2007, 06:21 PM

melev: Yeah, I know. We'll see. I've elected to built the 370 and decide what to do with the second tank after the build dies down. The nice thing about the way the system is designed is that the second tank can be plumbed in at anytime, there is no rush and no demand for alternative equipment. Everything is oversized, even for 800 gallons of total water volume.

Randall_James: Thanks for reminding me

I've seen the difference. As I noted quickly before I left for the imaging center, the only reason I was entertaining acrylic on the second tank in the system was to say I built it... But after much debating, I've elected to go ahead and get the first tank up and running. Take some time off of building and regroup for the introduction of the second tank. Who knows, I may build one, I may find a used RR tank or go ahead and get a custom one made with starfire... The second tank will be FOWLR, with the emphasis on the fish, so the second tank really is simple.

jnarowe: Yup, there are many options. My estimates on the build were just a few K off

For some reason the price of the acrylic jumped recently, plus delivery added about 40% more than I had thought out originally and I started to rethink myself. But I'm trying to stay focused on the fact that time is not the issue on this build, rather durability, safety and ease

I'm going to try to draw up some plumbing plans here before too long for some thought/suggestions along with an equipment list and see if anyone has any thoughts that stray from my plans... Definitely going with a GEO 824 Ca reactor and a GEO Nielsen reactor

Phishy just e-mailed me to let me know that the 824 is inbound to his store... Now I have to decide if I should wait until I have room for it, or grab this one now and find a place in the house to start storing stuff

Pretty stupid that I'm running out of space to store things during this build!

jnarowe · #**268** 04/02/2007, 08:17 PM

well, I am a fan of Geo products even though I don't own any!

Hop · #**269** 04/02/2007, 11:25 PM

I can't complain about GEO... I had problems with a pump and he drop shipped me a new one the same day

That's the only negative I've had with the skimmer. Otherwise it truly has been a set it and forget it skimmer and it pulls out some serious funk!

I water tested the frag tank today

No leaks, no popping and no bowing. I did it outside at first, but the weather gods were not on my side, so I moved it inside for another test. It looks much bigger with the protective paper sheets off of it and full of water~

Onto the vermetid pic. you can see here that the tubes have been broken off and so far, I have yet to see anything pop out the end of any of the broken off tubes. So I can only assume that the crab eats the snail from the inside and moves onto the next one. Someone asked how I knew it was the hermit that was snacking on them and I can only say that I've seen him break one tube and then discard it. He then started snacking out of the hole. Hopefully I can catch him with a camera one of these days.

jnarowe · #**270** 04/03/2007, 01:17 AM

that's tripping dude. what kind of eel is that in the frag tank??

Hop · #**271** 04/03/2007, 01:45 AM

It's a rare fresh water variety. As you can see I should have built a cover for it!

I got bored tonight staying up, so instead of cruising the net, I started wrapping all the exposed wood. Might be done by 4am.

divecj5 · #**272** 04/03/2007, 09:14 AM

That's awesome about the snails Hop

Glad to hear that it looks like you've finally found something that takes care of these little bastards. Thanks for including the pic...now I might have to see about getting a couple more hermits.

Adam

Enderrea · #**273** 04/03/2007, 03:13 PM

so the price of acrylic is based off the price of petrolium, when gas prices go up acrylic goes up

.

Hop · #**274** 04/03/2007, 04:50 PM

divecj5: Hopefully! I'm thinking of taking a small piece of rock out of the display, scraping any snail remnants off of it and putting it in my 100 gallon rubbermaid fuge with about 100 lbs of rock I dried out and killed. Let it go for a few months with some waterchanges and then inspect the rock. Maybe add a couple hermits and then essentially seed the old rock for when the tank goes up. Otherwise I'm going to order about 40lbs of live rock and start seeding the old soon anyway. I'll have to see which way I go here in the next few weeks. I would like to get the rock cooking going soon

Enderrea: The shipping charges definitely are. Anything over 24"X48" has to go via motor freight. I'm not sure on the acrylic itself. I know that the price went up about 40% total since I laid out the plans and a spread sheet a few months ago. There is over $400 difference in the sheets alone. It was cheaper to have them shipped to my door, but now I may re-price ordering sheets from the glass shop in town and see if it's cheaper that way now.

Enderrea · #**275** 04/03/2007, 05:11 PM

was talking to my wife about it, it has to do with some of the chems used to produce it....and ship it. i should of gotten my sheets last month.......i'm afriad to ask my wife what the cost is now ........ as the price is updated through truevalue .....damn it :P