My Tnk Has Come :)

[robbhp]

yea the north west of engand just seem to be grey 360 days a year .out of the other 5 days ,two of those have slush (some call it snow, let me tell you it ant LOL) and the last 3 make up are summer, at which point we get a hose pipe ban !. yea got to love are little speak in the sea.

i lived in sunny California for over 5 years, it was great the beach the sun every thing, we lived just off the beach in a city called Dana point. but my dad sold his factory i finnished high school and then we came back . well i am comming up to finnishing uni soon so it wil be time to try to get back )

many thanks Rob

 

[robbhp]

well i fitted my overflow box today. i also made the plastic teeth thingy, and let me tell you dont try to do it if all you have is a dremel. it took so long and i am not that happy with the finnal pice. well what can you do . i am now on target for filling with water this weekend. the only othere jobs to do are find some foam for the sump to sit on, put the hood on and the hook up the FX-5 and the UV light. also i am going to have to run with out a check valve untill i can get one (don't think there is any chance of a snail getting in there ) . after the tank has ran for a bout a week with no problems i will empt out the water and add my ro (got to buy , but i did pull the kitchen apart tonight to fit he pipe work for it( my mrs love me )

any a few pics of the overflow box

many thanks ROB

 

[Matthew5664]

Comming along realy well!

 

[robbhp]

thanks mate

ok a quick Q, after i have filled and emptyed the tank (leak test) , and i am ready to fill with RO water, do i have to get every last drop of normal water out of the tank and the sump or will it be ok to leave a bit in there. sorry for the anal Question but it is somthing that has been bugging me for a bit now

hope you can help :good;
rob

 

[SkiFletch]

Couple drops wont be the end of the world. just drain it to as empty as you can get it and re-fill with RO and salt . Also remember when setting up, fill it with water, get the temp and salinity right. Then go get your LR, aquascape as you like. Then AFTER the rock formation is in place along with heaters, powerheads, you can put in sand around the rocks. You want your rock stack to have a stable foundation from which to work so that it doesnt settle in the sand over time

 

[robbhp]

many thanks, at one point i was going to use egg crate but the cost of it over here is just out of this world, i have also heard sme good and bad things about it . well i fitted my hood tonight and found that the leads on the maxijets dont reack the plug bar must be about a 10 mm off ;( , so i am going to have to run some short extention leads. not what i wanted to do but these things happen .

anyway lets await the till

many thanks ROB

 

[robbhp]

well the time has come and i now have water in the bath , very happy, now every thing works a treat! the UGJs do a good job too, if a bit on the loud side at the moment. they flow a nice amount of water around the tank and what is even better is the power they have at the jet heads. very strong flow that moves over the whole tank.

the ony thing that is not up and running is the FX-5 and the TMC 25 W UV, i have hooked them up but waiting for some silicone to set before a put water through them.

anyway as i was so happy to get the water in i made a small video of my tank running, the only down side to the video , other than not havng any cool coral/ fish in it , is that you will have to hear me ramble on about my tank . hope you all like .

this has been filled with normal water not RO as this is a test run only . also i still need to fit my mJ mods to the MJ1200. and turn the fx 5 on. aslo hook up the skimmer . i have also found out that the return pump from the sump is running to fast for the tank, so i will have to slow that down abit, going to run a t pice and run it back to the sump. also need a check valve for the sump return too.

vdeo edit, when i said i had turned both MJ 1200 on i hand not only one was pluged in . so apart from that and killing the first part of the video its all good hope you all like, any Q's or anything let me know

many thanks ROB

link to follow as it is beeing uploaded on photo bucket now 5 mins left

 

[Mr.September15]

You have an accent , I always wanted an english accent or an Australian. But noooo I just had to get an American one. Bummer. Anywho, I love the set up so far. So clean, just a few more days and algae will take over the tank

 

[cynos]

Excellent thread,
Getting loads of Ideas/tips for setting up my new tank
Good read

PS What type of paint did you use to paint the tank?

 

[SkiFletch]

Looks great Rob. Love the bright look of those halides

 

[robbhp]

many thanks lads. i felt a bit daft doing it but it came out ok.

the paint i used was just a plain black, for metal and wood. i first cleaned the back of the tank with a shammy(with nothing on it , just used it dry). then handed the brush over to my better half. she paintted the tank in thick coat. there was a few runs but notthing to call home about. my friend used a different method of painting and it seemed to go a bit wrong, but in the end he got it done with a few light coats of paint. not much to it really.

many thanks rob

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, make sure you use Latex based paint . Oil or stain based paint doesnt come off and is a REAL mess.

 

[robbhp]

had my first leak today went to turn on the fx5, and the couple on the TMC UV started to spray water . so i turnedd off the fx5 and closed the return valves to stop any more water comming out. also cleared out the exit pipe to stop the tank from drainnig over night well i will now have to find some proper rubber pipe 25mm in di. think they have some at the local hardware shop so i will bob down after work.

a note on the FX-5, this thing flows what looks like a very large amount of water , i am hpoing this will make a big impact on the water move ment inside the tank.

msnu thanks ROB

 

[maidenfan]

all i can say is wow

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, if memory serves I read about someone else having the exact same problem with their FX5