New 225 Setup with Aquascaping Focus - Page 3

sr3w · #51 08/13/2006, 07:10 PM

I guess just outright dissing on the looks of the tank is tantamount to calling someone's baby ugly, right?

But darn it, sometimes they just ARE.

Scott

gkarshens · #52 08/14/2006, 12:23 AM

Just found this thread and I am excited to see how your tank turns out. I too hate the wall of rock look. I like a lot more open spaces and rockwork that looks more natural. Here are a few pics of my aquascaping. Excuse the bad white balance setting i had just got the camera when I took these. I am also in the process of scraping the back glass as I decided I don't like the coraline on it.

andrewsk · #53 08/14/2006, 01:02 AM

Very nice indeed. I really like the rocks on the left hand side. The Overhang and the slanted piece are fantastic.

How did you do that?

I am currently making a huge ledge for my system, and some long branching arms, Ill post some more pics next week when it's done.

Jester · #54 08/14/2006, 07:44 AM

maybe its the rock shaped I've purchased, but I cant ever get mine to stand without touching the glass... I've tried a ton of times and they just wont be stable... i don't really want to epoxy or glue any of the rocks together... any suggestions would be appreciated... thanks..

Jester

andrewsk · #55 08/14/2006, 09:21 AM

Realistically you are going to have to do one of the following to get your rocks to not look like they are just stacked on top of each other.

Drill holes and use twist ties to hold them together.
Drill holes and use twist ties to hold them on to PVC.
Use Epoxy.
Use Glue.

I am doing all of the above.

thor32766 · #56 08/14/2006, 09:43 AM

wow thats a sweet tank, love the juvi orange shoulder

gkarshens · #57 08/14/2006, 10:13 PM

Thanks for the comments. I do have rocks leaning on the back glass. I didn't use anything to hold the rocks together though. Just lots of planning and restacking and wedging to get them to be stable.

I love my Orange Shoulder. He has so much personality!

andrewsk · #58 08/27/2006, 01:13 AM

Time for a new update. Sorry for the lack of posts but my dad is very ill right now and all of my spare time has gone to him.

Things have been going very quickly this last week. The wife has been on holidays and my new floor is installed. I am finally happy with the aquascaping but seriously think I will put a shallow layer of sand in since EVERYONE that sees the tank asks me about this.

Here is a pic of the new flooring with fish logo

And a few shots of my 80% complete fish room.

Aquatronica with only the heaters set up right now.

I now have the sump installed and after a few modifications, it is running well

andrewsk · #59 08/27/2006, 01:14 AM

Here are the last few customers in quarantine waiting to go into the main tank:

And last but not least, a few shots of the main tank.

Almost forgot. At the top of my tank I have a Mangrove growing from the rock. Not sure how this will pan out.

Let me know what you think. Ill post more now as more of the toys start to come online. Still TONS to do but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel. this week will be about placing corals and frags, getting the Aquatronica online and getting some sand in the bottom. The week after my huge ozonizer arrives from the states. Cannot wait!

JeBuS · #60 08/27/2006, 02:12 AM

very nice set up. ur aqauscaping is great love the open look and all the arches and overhangs..........

kroniclove · #61 08/27/2006, 02:33 AM

wow....very nice tank man....awesome....keep us updated...

crrichey · #62 08/27/2006, 02:52 AM

very nice, cant wait for everything to fill in!

King-Kong · #63 08/27/2006, 08:02 AM

You are going to love that open space once those big coral colonies start growing in

shullat · #64 08/27/2006, 08:24 AM

great start.......as the king said...will look great once the spaces start filling in. Good to see another island tank.

will be tagging along.......good luck

adddo · #65 08/27/2006, 10:45 AM

Very nice!!

Future TOTM?

chrismunn · #66 08/27/2006, 01:10 PM

how many years do you give the mangrove till it gets too big? i say you start a large laggon in the fish room dedicated to the mangrove! looks cool so far

vanmo92 · #67 08/27/2006, 02:32 PM

Beautiful. I bet you will win TOTM soon.

andrewsk · #68 08/27/2006, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vanmo92
Beautiful. I bet you will win TOTM soon.

Thanks to all for the compliments. I think I have a long way to go to ever equal any TOTM's though.

andrewsk · #69 08/30/2006, 12:23 AM

I recieved my Marine Technical Concepts "Pro-240 Ozone Reactor" today.

It is pretty intense!

Basically, the idea is to get a much longer ozone contact time with the water than a standard protien skimmer by using a combination of Air and Water pressure. The two smaller containers are carbon filters for the return water and return air.

Ill post either a video or more pics of it in operation as I have personally never seen anything quite like it.

bspete · #70 09/06/2006, 12:29 AM

Really interested in seeing what you think about this reactor. Seems quite difficult to locate O3 reactors anymore and I am looking at this one for possible purchase. let me know what you think when you get it hooked up please.

Bryan

andrewsk · #71 09/06/2006, 12:47 AM

Bryan,

I REALLY like the reactor now that it is hooked up. Very good workmanship as well.

The way this works is that the reactor is kept at a constant pressure of 2 to 5 PSI and is basically dripped down the media which appears to be a shaved plastic of some sort. Could be PVC for sure. Here is a closeup. You can see the Ozone being injected into the top chamber where all the bubbles are.

What happens is the water starts to run into the container and the Ozone is pumped in until it reaches about 5 PSI, then the water is flushed out and through a chamber (the larger on on the far left of the pics in my previous post) that holds carbon and back into the tank. The air then gets jetted out into the Carbon Air filter (The thin one in the middle of the pictures in my previous post). I am sure you know this but you have to run the air through carbon to remove the ozone from getting into our breathing air

Not only does the pressure increase the efficency of the Ozone but the contact time is MUCH longer than a standard skimmer.

I was listening to an article on Talking Reef about contact time of ozone to be REALLY effective and they said it needed to be much longer that what a standard skimmer gives you. This reactor solves the problem.

2 thumbs up

Behroz · #72 09/06/2006, 10:21 PM

hi.nice tank. I have 92gln and I am planning to change it to 150gln but I don't know how. Can You advice me how should I add extra water(100gln) to it? and any info or tips Please.
thanks
ben

fantastic4 · #73 09/06/2006, 11:05 PM

andrewsk, very nice. How do you get the bottom white cutting board cut just right for the tank?

bspete · #74 09/06/2006, 11:15 PM

Hi andrewsk

Wow that is interesting. So the reactor kinda fills and then "flushes" to the smaller container and then empties to the sump and starts refilling again? How long does the process take for it to fill and then flush? Sounds interesting and I thank you for the info

ReefEze · #75 09/06/2006, 11:35 PM

Cool.