Why isnt anyone posting.

[fkdenton]

Are you guys all mad at each other? Sick? Dead? Come on how am I supposed to read this instead of working if there is nothing to read.:D

[Benny Z]

i think all of the frequent posters have been driven away.

[redvipe2010]

fkdenton,

If your that bored at work you can help me design my closed loop for my 90 gallon.

Oh, and is it time to start harassing Henry for a meeting date yet? LOL

[fkdenton]

I am that bored, I say we start with a hammer and work our way from there.

[redvipe2010]

On my closed loop or Henry? LOL

[hcs3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7339077#post7339077 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Benny Z
i think all of the frequent posters have been driven away.

:thumbsup:

and no soap operas. coincidence? i think not!

[hcs3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7339342#post7339342 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redvipe2010
Oh, and is it time to start harassing Henry for a meeting date yet? LOL

i'm juggling my work schedule (spring wine tastings) and the DIY project to come up with a date. i think it will be the first or second weekend in june honestly.

[tcottle]

So do we having anything going in May?

[panaboy95]

It has setlled down around here. That is good. I am new at this and i do not need the drama just some people to help me when i need it. i thank all of you for that.

[LegoZ81]

well if more people lived in B-N I'd offer up my place but it is not worth it at this time (not even from Decatur), nothing to look at except the basic setup.
That and if you wanted to look at it and talk about where it stands right now there is my 125g progress thread.... ;P

I'll see where things stand in 6 months.

[Michelle L]

Well if the soap operas are gone, then maybe I can return?

I came today to ask people's opinion on setting up a tank. We are currently setting up a 125 reef, but I have learned of a 185 for $400 obo. Should I go for it? My husband says no. I say that we could just as easily use the 185 as opposed to a 125 since it isn't up and running yet. (I think he's more worried about who will help him transport it because it's so big.)

What would you guys do? We do have limited space to put it in. Would it really be much bigger dimension wise than a 125, or would it just be taller?

Thanks!

[brad23]

Michelle

You'd probably need a new stand and canopy unless it comes with one as I'm almost sure this tank will be at least 24 inches wide.

And it will also weigh alot, close to 300lbs. I don't know if two guys would even be able to move it.

[redvipe2010]

I would get the dimensions from the seller. Bigger tank would be nice, but means more salt, possibly bigger pump and lighting. Do you already have everything you need for the 125?

[Michelle L]

Yeah the tank comes with stand and canopy. I don't need the canopy though because we will be suspending MH pendants above an open top. I think the tank is actually set up as a freshwater tank right now. Not sure about that though.

We have everything for the 125, but since we are going from FOWLR to reef, I will have to buy new equipment. We are eliminating a wet/dry and have built a 55 gallon sump/fuge, and we are still in the process of buying equipment to set up the 125 as a reef but we haven't bought anything yet. I was actually planning a trip to Premium Aquatics to look at what they have in the next couple of weeks. We expect our metal halides to come sometime in the next week. That's sort of why I was debating just stepping up the size of the tank, while I am still in the purchasing phase.

But 300 pounds? Holy crap! I can help my hubby move the 125 over short distances as long as there are no stairs involved, but I could never think to budge anything that big. :eek:

[brad23]

A 180g is around a 100lbs more than a 125g. That is if they are both glass.

What MH did you buy?

[Michelle L]

We ordered two Aqua-Medic Oceanlight 24" pendants, 1x250 HQI with a T-5 combo. We also ordered it with an electric ballast as opposed to a magnetic.

Since I'm not a bodybuilder, I'll pass on the 185.

[tcottle]

When is doubt go with the larger tank - You will be happier in the end. Besides the 125 would make a killer sump (grin)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7358440#post7358440 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Michelle L
But 300 pounds? Holy crap! I can help my hubby move the 125 over short distances as long as there are no stairs involved, but I could never think to budge anything that big. :eek:

CIMA members have been known to help move tanks especially if it involves food + beer (and sometimes just beer)

[JazzMann2]

There are enough people around who will help your husband move the bigger tank. Go bigger!

[lglamb]

Run away from that big tank as fast as you can.

And, umm..., what's the number to call for it?

;)

Think about the space it's going in. It'll be a bit larger
than the 125, front to back and height(?). Maybe not
that much difference overall, just thinking how it might
fit your space. It'll also end up a bit heavier, but you've
already considered your floor support (right?)

Lowell.

Oh, and...

WELCOME BACK!!!!!!!
:dance:
:dance: :celeb1:
:dance:
:wavehand:

[Benny Z]

the 24" of front to back space will do wonders for aquascaping.

i know what i'd do.

[Michelle L]

You guys better quit it. :D I'm still working on hubby. Problem is, he wants to put it upstairs. I say no way. I don't want a 185 sitting on the roof of my TA in the garage downstairs!! :eek2:

[Michelle L]

Aw bummer. I heard back from the seller today and the tank is acrylic. I'm not interested in an acrylic tank.

If anyone else is, though, give me a holler and I'll PM the phone number of the seller.

[Michelle L]

Okay, one more post. I don't post for months, and now I hammer the board in one day.

We decided to pass on the 185, but we did go this afternoon and bought a used 240 gallon. It's already drilled and ready to go, so we bit the bullet and bought it.

Anyone in the market for a 125, stand, and hood? :D

[seldon]

how much are you wanting for it and could you post some pics? Thanks

[Michelle L]

$350 negotiable...I can take some pics tomorrow and hopefully get them posted. If I can't post them I can e-mail some for sure if you're interested.

It's an oak finish All-Glass brand, about a year and a half old. It's just the tank, stand, hood, and light though...all of the sand and live rock got recycled into the 55 gallon quarantine tank that we have or will go back in the 240.

[Benny Z]

hey, did you pick up the used 240 from the mad reefer?

if so, i had to keep pulling myself away from it... :D

let us know if you need help building simple overflow boxes around the drain holes. if i remember correctly there are no boxes in that tank. right?

also, with that height of a tank, you should probably consider 400w halides over the 250w depending on what you plan to keep.

[Michelle L]

Ben, you're not the other guy who was thinking of buying it, are you?? If so, I'm sorry if I snatched it out from under you. :D . But, you don't see those everyday, and that one was right there in my face. The fact that it was already drilled did it for me. You're right, it doesn't have boxes in it, so we very well...I take that back, we WILL....need some advice in that area.

Unfortunately, we ordered the lights with the 125 in mind, and they are already on their way to us. I wonder if it's too late to change?

[JazzMann2]

My old man would like your tank. Let me know if its still Avail. and i'll see if he wants to start heading down here. (He lives 2.5 hours away)

[Michelle L]

Sure, it's available. Send me an e-mail address and I'll send pictures of it. Nothing much to see besides an empty tank, but it's in great shape.

It will need new plastic strips on the backs of the glass hoods because they have been cut to fit our equipment, and the inside floor of the stand has some saltwater stain from a wet/dry overflow incident (don't ask!!), but that can't be seen from the outside. We'll clean it up and it will look show room new when he gets here.

I'll be out of the house all day today for Mother's Day, but will e-mail you our phone number and photos when we get home tonight.

[JazzMann2]

Hey thanks, I sent you a PM

[Michelle L]

E-Mail and pics just sent!

[Benny Z]

no worries...i wasn't going to buy it. i don't think i was there when you were.

[Michelle L]

Okay, now I feel better.

[LegoZ81]

Michelle L if you want different holes for the overflows or redundancy at all let me know I can show you how to drill the holes.
I can also give you some pointers or give you a hand building overflow boxes if you want to go that route.

IMHO I'd look at a glass shop to cut some 1/4" glass and have them edge all of the top pieces so they are not sharp, this is what I did and IMHO it was worth it.

[LegoZ81]

Also check out LAU*** on EBAY they have all kinds of bits, you nee 38mm for 3/4" bulkheads (the lightweight ones) 45mm for 1" bulkheads
if you go 1" (I would) and you plan on doing more than 2 hole I'd get at least 2 bits as that glass on that tank is thick.

the bits are (if purchased one at a time) ~10 shipped and will take a week to get to you.

HTH

Lego

[Michelle L]

Thank you for the offer, Lego!! For now, I think we are OK. I really don't think I'd ever be so brave as to go near a tank with a drill bit. :eek2: I just don't have the guts to do it.

I'm still not sure what we'll be doing. I've been told by someone who knows what he's doing that we don't even really need overflow boxes. I guess we'll see.....what happens if I leave the bulkheads as they are and don't install overflow boxes? Fish get sucked up, rock gets sucked up, crabs get sucked up, or what??

[Benny Z]

the reason for an overflow "box" is to skim the surface of the water. ideally you want as much surface area for the box as possible. a long box going the entire length of your tank would be ideal.

this will feed your sump/refugium/skimmer the most nutrients.

this design would be a piece of cake to pull off. you just need two long pieces of glass and the hand of someone who has siliconed before. legoz did a top notch job on my box install. ;)

[hounddog01]

I would go with something that would let you place all your LR in the center with out it touching the back or sides. This way the fish could swim all the way arround the tank. would be a cool effect. I seen the tank also. Way Cool glad to know who got it. When did you buy it I was just there on Thursday.

[Michelle L]

I like the idea about the live rock arrangement. I also have always liked to place some closer to the front glass and create caves for the fish, because then they hide out closer to the front. I can't wait to get the tank home, but we are waiting on a stand to arrive for it. Should be here in another week or week and a half.

Ben, I'm not getting a mental picture of what you are describing. Do you mean that I should take two pieces of glass and silicone them into the shape of a conventional skimmer box in the back, or that I should take pieces of glass that run the whole length of the tank and silicone them in there?

Thanks!

[LegoZ81]

You might want to come take a look at my setup...
Also do some reasearch on linear overflows or do a post is Reef Discussions or something and ask what they this is better... Stand pipe in the tank or linear overflow, there is a reason RC has a linear overflow size calc.

[LegoZ81]

here is a step by step on how to do the holes:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=603816&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

It REALLY is so easy if you are careful.

[Benny Z]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7375459#post7375459 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Michelle L
Ben, I'm not getting a mental picture of what you are describing. Do you mean that I should take two pieces of glass and silicone them into the shape of a conventional skimmer box in the back, or that I should take pieces of glass that run the whole length of the tank and silicone them in there?

you would simply take two short tank-long pieces of glass and silicon them to the back of the tank in the shape of an "L" (viewed from the side of the tank). one piece just needs to be tall enough to cover the bulkheads in the tank (the tall piece) and the other piece just needs to be 2" or 3"...just enough to make the box wide enough to get your fingers into to clean it out as necessary.

make sense?

if not i'll see if i can draw something up for you tonight.

[Grace's Dad]

Pics of horizontal/linear/Calfo overflows are here:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=619976

[Michelle L]

Oh, wow, that's awesome. Thanks for the link, Grace's Dad. I've never seen that before. But, I'm not sure but I think the holes in the 240 are drilled pretty low. I'll have to go check out the tank again. (It's not delivered yet.)

Party at Lego's house!!!! J/K...I'd love to actually see some stuff in person. I get a much better idea if I can see pics or examples.

Gotta get back to work.

[schmoeger6]

I saw that tank last time I was there, very nice. It looked to me like the tank had been drilled for a closed loop. You could probably use those for your return lines, but would more than likely end up with plumbing inside the tank to get the flow where you want it, better yet I would use them for a closed loop with an Oceans Motions to get your flow, and do a more conventional slower return from your sump. . . .JMHO

[Benny Z]

i thought the same things. those holes were probably originally used for a closed loop. i'd do just that, use them for a closed loop, and then drill holes closer to the top and build overflow boxes around the new holes.

a trip to louis's house would be a good idea.

[Michelle L]

Ack! Information overload!! :( Yes, it was supposedly drilled for a closed loop system.

Now--sorry guys!-- I need more info about how a closed loop system works, and what the purpose is for using a closed loop system.

[Grace's Dad]

Ask and you shall recieve

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=520145

[Michelle L]

Oh, my head hurts. I'll have to come back to this thread tomorrow!!

Thanks again!

[hounddog01]

Just look at all the different systems and choose the one you like the best. I beleive even with a closed loop for circulation that you can not move 30-40x with it. that would be 9600 gph. There is not any way to do that with one pump. Maybe it is just me but I am sold on the wave box. I know they are expensive but a wave box and 2 6200 pumps would make some awesome movement. Not that is if you want that much flow. You never said what you want to keep in your tank. No matter what you keep the movement of the wave box is in a class by itself.

[Michelle L]

I want to keep it all!!

I'm only partially kidding...at this stage in the game, I am still in the dark about what livestock we may decide to keep. I don't know much about corals, sponges, or anemonies because I've never kept them. I've had saltwater *fish* for around 18 years, on and off, but never learned about reefkeeping because I thought it would be too difficult. My husband is the one who lit this fire under me, and he's only been into fishkeeping since last year when we set up the 125.

I do know that I don't want to be limited on what I can keep because my setup wasn't adequate enough. Right now the only thing that I know I want for sure, oddly enough, is a clam! :rolleyes:

The wavemaker is truly a great idea, however, don't you need to have those mounted above the tank? The place where we will be putting the tank has pretty limited options. Since it is so big and will easily weigh over a ton when full, it will have to go downstairs in the living room because there is no basement, and will therefore sit on a floor with a concrete foundation under it. The way the room is set up, it doesn't have a place where we can mount something above or behind the tank.

I think that we may go the way some members have advised....closed loop with separate plumbing to the sump. Now, if we install a horizontal skimmer box in the back of the tank, what happens if the water level drops too low due to evaporation (I won't be able to have an auto top-off right away), say if we go out of town or something? Won't that spell disaster because the water flow to the sump will stop? I'm not even sure this scenario could happen, but my mind is weighing all of the possibilites!

[Benny Z]

the evap will only affect the return chamber in the sump. the pump is constantly pumping water up to the display, so the water level will remain constant in the display. where you will see the water level change is in the sump's return chamber.

fwiw, i set up my auto topoff system for ~$50, including both the solenoid and pump. i purchased the sump autotopoff "kit" from www.autotopoff.com and an aqualifter pump from www.premiumaquatics.com . great little system for the buck. highly advised.

the tunze wavebox is mounted in-tank. no additional space above the aquarium is required. you're talking some serious $$$ for one, though. i posted a video of brad23's wavebox a while ago...you may want to search for it.

[hounddog01]

I guess you can always add internal pumps later. But the Wave box is something you will not be sorry you purchased. I know they are 500.00 but well worth it. At least look at one and leave enough space to put it. If you put the rock in the middle you can mount it in the back. Remember if your going across the back with the overflow do not go all the way to the ends. You may want to put something in the corners later.