My 400g room divider system (photo essay) - Page 4

gregt · #76 04/16/2004, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by steve68
Sweet very nice set up.
wish i had the room for a tank like that.

Thanks! The wife wasn't real fond of my destroying the living room for 6 months, but in the end she's very pleased.

gregt · #77 04/16/2004, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Q-ball
Very sweet Greg, nice job!

Thanks Q!

dkh0331 · #78 04/16/2004, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gregt

You ready for more pics yet???

Dang straight!!! That should be your #1 priority!!

David

gregt · #79 04/16/2004, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AuroraDave
Nice work on the tank, I am enjoying the pictures.

Can you give us another perspective of your overflow and maybe a short description?

It may be an optical illusion, but the top of the overflow (with the egg crate) looks lower than the rest of the tank. Is that because that is the height that the water will stay at?

Thanks! There will be a whole series of shots on the overflow coming up. Let me know if you need more after that.

The overflow is 1.25" below the top of the tank. With 2000 gph of flow through the overflow, the water level is 1" below the top of the tank. I could easily add another 1000 gph without overwhelming the plumbing.

gregt · #80 04/16/2004, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ksarauer
I would love to move to Tampa, So you can supply a house, tank, what about a job?

Kevin

gregt · #81 04/16/2004, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim in santa barbara
Great design..that shot of the clown swimming backwards is very funny...

gregt · #82 04/16/2004, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dkh0331
Dang straight!!! That should be your #1 priority!!

David

Whew. I think you're right. Let me figure out where I left off....

A Reef Scene · #83 04/16/2004, 07:53 AM

Great looking tank

gregt · #84 04/16/2004, 08:25 AM

Here's another shot of the roof of the canopy and wet room. The vent you see there was replaced by an icecap fan, and another fan was added in the middle of the canopy. Originally, I wasn't going to use a chiller and I had a box fan in the end of the canopy pushing air through the vent. It worked, but it made the great room too humid and warm.

I added a few more beams to the canopy. I was afraid that over time the drywall may sag in the humid environment.

The wet room is starting to shape up

SPC · #85 04/16/2004, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gregt
The worst part of the 150 mile trip was the last 30 feet....

After the last picture the guys realized they couldn't get the tank high enough to sit it on the stand. I had to toss down the camera and run in to help them out. At roughly 600 lbs and needing to lift in up 42" onto the stand, I wish I'd have enlisted another 2 or 3 guys to do the job....

Well seeing 4 men carry that tank sure does make me rest a bit easier in regards to my new tank. After reading the many posts on the reef boards about how heavy glass tanks are, one would be lead to believe that they need to rent a crane and a forklift

. I know that when I set up my 180, two men carried it in the house and set it on the stand.
Steve

gregt · #86 04/16/2004, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SPC
Well seeing 4 men carry that tank sure does make me rest a bit easier in regards to my new tank. After reading the many posts on the reef boards about how heavy glass tanks are, one would be lead to believe that they need to rent a crane and a forklift . I know that when I set up my 180, two men carried it in the house and set it on the stand.
Steve

Well, after that experience, I'd probably go with more mechanical help next time. The shop that built the tank used a simple wooden cart on wheels to wheel it right out to the van and slide it in. Something similar on the destination end would make the process very easy and much safer.

dkh0331 · #87 04/16/2004, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gregt
Well, after that experience, I'd probably go with more mechanical help next time. The shop that built the tank used a simple wooden cart on wheels to wheel it right out to the van and slide it in. Something similar on the destination end would make the process very easy and much safer.

Gotta love hindsight!! It's a marvolous thing.

So when you set up your NEXT tank, you'll know how to move it in.

David

gregt · #88 04/16/2004, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dkh0331
Gotta love hindsight!! It's a marvolous thing.

So when you set up your NEXT tank, you'll know how to move it in.

David

Yeah, I learned that next time I should not be present when it's done.

gregt · #89 04/16/2004, 10:38 AM

Most of the finishing work is done and there's paint on the walls and furniture back in the room!

Notice there's water in there too!

VegasMike · #90 04/16/2004, 10:47 AM

I know what you mean. I wish I wasn't there to see my tank unloaded.

I actually had to take a walk around the house when they were doing it so I didn't have to watch.

They were unloading my 8' tank which was in a 10' crate lengthwise with only 4' forks on the forklift. I still don't know how they did it.

Luckily that was just to get it out of the truck. Once out of the truck, he set it down on blocks so that he could get the tank from the side instead of the end. It was at that time we found out the crating was about 4'6" wide so he had to rig it once again and drive the thing about 200', over a curb and across my lawn. He then set it down on three furniture dollies which we rolled down the side yard (too narrow/uneven for the forklift) by dominoing plywood until we got to the back patio where the tank stayed for about six weeks. It was then just a matter of uncrating and rolling the tank (still on the bottom pallet) into the addition and 10 guys to lift, place and slide.

I think the major word of that Friday afternoon was "RELIEF".

Great tank and setup by the way. How are you going to handle room temp and humidity? I spent a great deal of planning on that one issue.

Carl_in_Florida · #91 04/16/2004, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by VegasMike

They were unloading my 8' tank which was in a 10' crate lengthwise with only 4' forks on the forklift. I still don't know how they did it.

Mike, I'm afraid it's time for a webpage. Where are the photos?

AuroraDave · #92 04/16/2004, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gregt
Thanks! There will be a whole series of shots on the overflow coming up. Let me know if you need more after that.

The overflow is 1.25" below the top of the tank. With 2000 gph of flow through the overflow, the water level is 1" below the top of the tank. I could easily add another 1000 gph without overwhelming the plumbing.

I look forward to the overflow pics.

Determining the height of the overflow, based on where you want the water level to end up can be difficult. Is there a way to figure this out, or do you make an educated guess? (Which is what I did with my external overflow and the slot I cut in my tank)

gregt · #93 04/16/2004, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by VegasMike
I know what you mean. I wish I wasn't there to see my tank unloaded.

I actually had to take a walk around the house when they were doing it so I didn't have to watch.

They were unloading my 8' tank which was in a 10' crate lengthwise with only 4' forks on the forklift. I still don't know how they did it.

Luckily that was just to get it out of the truck. Once out of the truck, he set it down on blocks so that he could get the tank from the side instead of the end. It was at that time we found out the crating was about 4'6" wide so he had to rig it once again and drive the thing about 200', over a curb and across my lawn. He then set it down on three furniture dollies which we rolled down the side yard (too narrow/uneven for the forklift) by dominoing plywood until we got to the back patio where the tank stayed for about six weeks. It was then just a matter of uncrating and rolling the tank (still on the bottom pallet) into the addition and 10 guys to lift, place and slide.

I think the major word of that Friday afternoon was "RELIEF".

Great tank and setup by the way. How are you going to handle room temp and humidity? I spent a great deal of planning on that one issue.

I was pretty lucky to have a straight shot to the front door, the double entry doors, and a straight shot to where the tank was going to rest. It definitely made things simpler.

gregt · #94 04/16/2004, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Carl_in_Florida
Mike, I'm afraid it's time for a webpage. Where are the photos?

yeah, lets see it!

gregt · #95 04/16/2004, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AuroraDave
I look forward to the overflow pics.

Determining the height of the overflow, based on where you want the water level to end up can be difficult. Is there a way to figure this out, or do you make an educated guess? (Which is what I did with my external overflow and the slot I cut in my tank)

I went a little lower than my "educated guess" because you can always glue additions on to the overflow, but cutting a glass overflow is pretty much not going to happen.

I could have gone a bit higher, but I'll fix that by adding more flow through the sump.

gregt · #96 04/16/2004, 12:29 PM

Here's the box fan I was referring too earlier.

It fit perfectly

gregt · #97 04/16/2004, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Great tank and setup by the way. How are you going to handle room temp and humidity? I spent a great deal of planning on that one issue.

I missed this one earlier I think.

I removed the fan and have the chiller installed remotely. Heat and humidity really aren't an issue. It's a large room so the heat from the lighting is dissipated pretty easily.

gregt · #98 04/16/2004, 01:23 PM

Ok, how about a look see at the sump?

Here's the design, it's a classic settling tank style sump designed to catch detritus and not recycle it back into the tank:

I got the sump built to my specs at Fish and Other Icthy Stuff in Oldsmar, FL. I'm very impressed with the quality, and just as important to me it was built perfectly to my specs.

In place under the stand. The doors on the end of the stand allow me to remove the sump easily if I ever need too.

gregt · #99 04/16/2004, 02:26 PM

Here was something I missed in the design. I didn't think about the fact that you'd be able to see the wall framing through the tank. Easily enough solved with a piece of 1/8" black acrylic on the outside of the tank.

Finally got the Iwaki 100 in. Now I can start plumbing!

This is how I installed the skimmer. We'll get to the real pictures of that a little later...

VegasMike · #**100** 04/16/2004, 03:46 PM

The pics are all in this forum under the thread titled "450 progress". You can also do a search under my username and find them. It's about time to add some more pics. I did not take any pics of the unloading though, too stressful.

Nice sump by the way. I pretty much did the same thing, but my sump dims are 60"x24"x22" with the baffles done a little differently. I've got an MR-4 in my sump as you will see if you look at the above mentioned thread. Be prepared for some noise from that Iwaki 100, both pump fan noise and water movement noise.

I am using an Iwaki 70 for my skimmer and two Sequence 4600's for the CL and the sump return. I may swap out the return pump for a smaller Sequence pump and use the 4600 on another closed loop.

Oh, the fun.