Lunchbucket's 48"x48"x20" Reef - Page 5

Hop · #**101** 03/25/2007, 12:23 AM

Nice score! This is going to be a fun ride

melev · #**102** 03/25/2007, 12:35 AM

If that stand had be .5" taller, you'd have had problems with that camper shell. That was snug!

Lunchbucket · #**103** 03/25/2007, 02:23 PM

melev - we had to "shim" the toper up and rescrew it down

It needed an extra .5"

One question. I want to keep the stand and tank in my garage at my Apt. Is there any reason that it would harm the tank to go from 30's for the lowest at night right now to 60's durring the day? and then in the summer 50's to 90's?? I wan to keep the stand and tank together so I can slowly plumb it as needed. Otherwise the stand will have to stay in my garage and the tank in my bro's basement. Then I can't work on it.

Thanks
Lunchbucket

Goodwin9 · #**104** 03/25/2007, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lunchbucket
melev - we had to "shim" the toper up and rescrew it down It needed an extra .5"

One question. I want to keep the stand and tank in my garage at my Apt. Is there any reason that it would harm the tank to go from 30's for the lowest at night right now to 60's durring the day? and then in the summer 50's to 90's?? I wan to keep the stand and tank together so I can slowly plumb it as needed. Otherwise the stand will have to stay in my garage and the tank in my bro's basement. Then I can't work on it.

Thanks
Lunchbucket

I've been storing a 200 gallon sump in my garage since last August and doesn't seem any worse off. You might want to consider removing the protective paper from the acrylic. Can be tough to remove if left on too long.

makoJ · #**105** 03/25/2007, 03:40 PM

Just found your thread man haven't read much but will be following along for the ride!!

ok I'll go finish reading now LOL

melev · #**106** 03/25/2007, 05:11 PM

I think it will be fine in storage, regardless of temperature swings. You might check with James (Acrylics) to see if he knows of anything that might raise a concern.

Lunchbucket · #**107** 03/25/2007, 08:58 PM

Mako - Glad to see you here FINALLY

melev - I'll ask him

I'll get a few pics later

Lunchbucket

JG24 · #**108** 03/25/2007, 09:16 PM

Sorry Eirc, I got your message late. I don't think you'll have any ill effects, storing in a garage. Just so it doesn't get to hot. I know in gregs old garage it got hot enough one time to start melting the PVC stacked up. A long piece of 1 1/2" started to form a curve.

Lunchbucket · #**109** 03/25/2007, 09:31 PM

Oh wow. I don' think my garage gets that hot but I'm not sure

I HOPE not. It's just a normal garage. Maybe it was Gregg toys, saws, etc in there?? Thanks Bob

I need to now decide am I going w/ Sched 80 or Sched 40 bulkheads? If I go w/ 80's I'm gonna need to make the holes bigger. If I use 40's they are cut the right size. Opinions? Are 40's really that crappy or I mean 80's that much better

Lunchbucket

Lunchbucket · #**110** 03/25/2007, 09:52 PM

Unloaded it in my garage so that I have access to it to start plumbing it ASAP. I bought eight 1.5" True Union Ball Vavles from the guy when I picked up the tank. They are NICE. They have the Slip and threaded ends so that you can change them to a S x Thread valve. They probably run over 30 each. I paid 10 for EACH valve. So I bought everyone he had. It was made to be because he had 8 of them and I need 8. 6 for the back wall and one on the inlet and one on the outlet of the pump. So I save a bundle and one less thing to order or buy at Lowes. First purchase will have to be Bulkheads. I'll need 8 of them. 5 for the CL holes in teh back and 2 in the overflow. I'm planning on using both holes in the overflow for drains just in case one plugs for some reason. So I have to decided Sched 40's or 80's and cut bigger holes.

Oh anyone know the cheapest place to get Lumenarcs?? I think this is my best bet for the best distribution of light out of 2 bulbs on the tank.

Me and my new baby!!! I took the paper off and it came off easy THANK GOD. Wrapped it in shrink wrap and then sill foam and then shrink wrap again. It is spongy and doesn't rip so just in case something bumps it I'll be ok.

Top Down w/ Mrs. LB waiting for me to finish up and slide the tank fully on the stand.

Angled view. Those stands are NICE but too freaking big. I'm 99% sure no matter where we move we'll have to cut it down and reweld and coat it. Oh that is a 10gal tank sitting on the deep freeze

Oh the guy that worked at this store that closed out was a flipping moron. He siliconed ALL the bulkheads on the back side. Not sure why but he had all the gaskets screwed up too. Most were on teh back side by the nut so I'm guessing they leaked and he thought silicone would be a great idea to get them to seal. It was about impossible to get all the bulkheads out for transport. Finally I pulled out the trusty KaBar knife and started cutting off the threads all teh way around. then I was able to unscrew them WAY easier. So nowI have the pleasure of removing a lot of silicone

Any good tips on how to do it? It is on the back so I'm not too worried about scratching the back. Also they painted the back black and the wife wants it blue. Any tip to get that paint off easy w/out damaging the acrylic??

Also they make blue bulkheads right. I'm off to Aquatic Eco to look

later
Lunchbucket

cbui2 · #**111** 03/25/2007, 10:44 PM

soo nice love the square setup, hey bucket just removed the paint of the tank i painted and this is what i used, spray on let it sit for 2hrs, then scrap off with plastic blades or credit cards

hope this help and lumenarcs III
http://www.dtpetsupplies.com/catalog...oducts_id=6298

on the bulkheads i went with sch 80 heaty duty hardward

maxxII · #**112** 03/25/2007, 11:11 PM

Couple things I noticed....

1...your wife doesnt seem to have a head? Were you aware of this when you married her??? I'm sure you save money on groceries but its still gotta be kinda awkward when you're out in public....

2...Unless I'm mistaken, the 1.5 inch TUBV's you bought will be smaller inside than 1.5 inch. I think they constrict down to 1.25 inch. Hate to say it, but you might seriously consider seeing if he'll take them back, and go to Lowes and buy 1.75 inch TUBV's...cause I think thats the right size. I noticed when I did my plumbing that it seemed to be running about 0.25 inch smaller than the stated diameter....IE...1 inch TUBV/union was only 0.75 inches internally where the O-ring sat. Because of this, I went larger on my TUBV/unions to compensate.

Sorry to throw that at you, but I felt it best to bring it up now....

Also, unless you're gonna place the tank where kids can come and use the rear of your tank as a jungle gym, I think you'll be fine w/ the Sched 40 bulkheads. If they were really craptastic, very few people would use them...

Nick

Hop · #**113** 03/25/2007, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cbui2
soo nice love the square setup, hey bucket just removed the paint of the tank i painted and this is what i used, spray on let it sit for 2hrs, then scrap off with plastic blades or credit cards

hope this help and lumenarcs III
http://www.dtpetsupplies.com/catalog...oducts_id=6298

on the bulkheads i went with sch 80 heaty duty hardward

OMG! Please tell me that you didn't spray that on an acrylic tank

cbui2 · #**114** 03/25/2007, 11:59 PM

yep came out nice, not even a flaw after I finished scraping it off all I did was wipe it off and acrylic has no blur or defects at all. I made sure before to try out a little spot in the corner just to make sure everything was ok, than went ahead did the rest of the tank without any problems. here's the link, what materials to use for removing paint on plastic, wood, metal and etc.
http://www.paintingclinic.com/clinic...vingpaint1.htm

Hop · #**115** 03/26/2007, 12:02 AM

Yet

You do realize that acrylic can/will pull that stuff into it's pores and degrade the acrylic over time. It may not show now, but may haze the tank, cause crazing and possibly weaken the acrylic over time?

This is why you can't use windex and the like on an acrylic tank. Just for safety sake, I would PM James (acrylics) with a breakdown of the active ingredients of the easyoff and see what he has to say. Could be nothing, but could have ruined your tank all together.

petedoc · #**116** 03/26/2007, 12:11 AM

Hey Hop, what is recommended for cleaning and polishing acrylic? I have used spray furniture polish it seems to work OK.

Hop · #**117** 03/26/2007, 12:16 AM

I use RO/DI 90% of the time. The other 10% I use Kleenmaster Brillianize. This was recommended by James at Envision and I took his advice

But honestly after a coat of the brillianize the RO/DI water works perfect with a soft baby diaper for about 3 months or so of cleaning

cbui2 · #**118** 03/26/2007, 12:33 AM

i guess i will find out in time if anything happened, tank was built with 1" all around

Hop · #**119** 03/26/2007, 12:36 AM

OK, I found that the active ingredient in easyoff is monoethanolamine. Looks like bad stuff and I'm certainly not a biologist/chemist. But the biodegradation of the product alone goes through stages of ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, acetic acid and ethylon to name a few. It's also been shown in studies to cause asthma (not that that matters for your tank

) and I found an article on how to remove baked on plastic from inside an oven with the stuff

Kind of scares me

cbui2 · #**120** 03/26/2007, 12:39 AM

push comes to shove, i guess i will have to build me another tanks, lol. thanks hop

Hop · #**121** 03/26/2007, 12:45 AM

Just so you know, I wasn't trying to be an a**. It just made me nervous. It could be nothing, but until we know for sure, I would hate to have the information get out there as it being acceptable and later cause major problems

Let me know if your going to ask acrylics so we can find out a definite on whether it's acrylic safe.

cbui2 · #**122** 03/26/2007, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hop
Just so you know, I wasn't trying to be an a**. It just made me nervous. It could be nothing, but until we know for sure, I would hate to have the information get out there as it being acceptable and later cause major problems Let me know if your going to ask acrylics so we can find out a definite on whether it's acrylic safe.

yeah I know no harm was taking, but I guess if something do happen in the future that I have enough tanks to hold all my livestock just in case of emergency..thanks

kevinpo · #**123** 03/26/2007, 08:20 AM

Hi Eric,
I have about 25 schedule 40 bulkheads in operation currently they are 4-6 years in operation. I have never had one crack or leak. So IMHO don't think it's worth the extra cost. I had one 1" union nut crack on me that was it over the years.

To keep the gasket soft I use a very small amount of silicone grease on them, that way they can be resused if needed. Even after a few years they look like brand new when removed.

HTH,
Kevin

hypermikie · #**124** 03/26/2007, 09:11 AM

As far as cleaning... Novus makes an acrylic safe cleaner. I used thier three step polish/cleaner to re-surface my 70g acrylic.

Mike

Lunchbucket · #**125** 03/26/2007, 07:34 PM

maxxII - Always a wise guy huh

Great the 1.5's restrict. Guess I could have looked closer. But even then 1.25 isn't too bad for my outputs. I really don't think it will be that big of a deal IMO. So maxx, kevin, and others vote sched 40's. Guess I'll order some. Savko.com?

kevinpo - Thanks for the vote. I'll try just a touch of the silone grease I have laying around on the gaskets. Again thanks for the opinion.

hypermike and others - I have access to some Novus so I think I'll use that. We use it on the acrylic on our tanning beds at work.

I pm'ed Acrylics and he said that if It doesn't freeze (the tank) It will be a-ok in the garage. That is good to hear. This way I can leave it there and work on the plumbing since it is across the apt's parking lot and not across town. And the stand AND the tank fit in the garage.

later
Lunchbucket