45g Shallow Rimless Peninsula Aquacultured Sps Reef

[jroovers]

Long overdue update.

New pumps

Tank2015-1 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Lumber I'll be using to make a "beam" for my light fixture to be suspended from

Tank2015-4 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

LEDs hacked and modified into a square, soldered, refurbed and touched up

Tank2015-2 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Tank2015-6 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

MH pendant, stripped, sanded, re-painted

Tank2015-3 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

[/url]Tank2015-5 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Tank2015-13 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Combined with LEDs

Tank2015-8 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Tank2015-14 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

 

[jroovers]

Skin for the fixture...

Tank2015-10 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Tank2015-9 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Test staining

Tank2015-11 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Tank2015-12 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Couple coats to go

Tank2015-15 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

Back of tank painted
Tank2015-7 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr


Anyhow, things are heading in the right direction, just more slowly than initially hoped. Getting there though, once the light pendant is done, I'll be working on the stand, which I don't think will take too long to finalize, and then the tank will be ready to set up and get the plumbing going.

 

[chrisstevens]

Looking good

 

[barebottomcouple]

The goal of this tank is to grow an aquacultured SPS reef solely from frags sourced from other hobbyists. I want to minimize the impact of this reef, so no wild or mari-cultured frags or colonies. Only frags that have been taken from corals in other captive reefs. Where possible, I would also like to source my fish from other reefers who are getting out or who want to move in a different direction fish wise.

My thoughts are to run this as KISS. Heavy skimming, strong lighting, decent load, no GFO or pellets unless necessary. No supplements, additives, etc. other than 2-part dosing.

A+1 on the conscientious reefing plans and super + on a KISS system. mine is KISS also. 180 gallon refugium with a little filter floss, carbon, large skimmer, lots of macro and 6 inch sand bed and no dosing of anything except iodide 5 ml once a week for shrimp and crabs.
people seem to over complicate things and add a lot of gizmos .

 

[Big_Als_London]

I Have pieces waiting to be cut for you. Get some water in there before it starts growing too much.

 

[curiousphil]

Looking good Jordan

 

[heath]

its going to be beautiful, you commented that you might put a couple of fish in the tank, your clowns are still here if you are interested..

 

[teebone110]

good stuff Jordan!

 

[jroovers]

Looking good

Thanks!

A+1 on the conscientious reefing plans and super + on a KISS system. mine is KISS also. 180 gallon refugium with a little filter floss, carbon, large skimmer, lots of macro and 6 inch sand bed and no dosing of anything except iodide 5 ml once a week for shrimp and crabs.
people seem to over complicate things and add a lot of gizmos .

I agree, sometimes less is more

I Have pieces waiting to be cut for you. Get some water in there before it starts growing too much.

Lol, will do. Hoping to have the tank set up and cycling in the next four weeks. Not sure if that is realistic or not at this point, but going to give it a go.

Looking good Jordan

Thanks Phil. I accomplish in a month what you do in a day or two

its going to be beautiful, you commented that you might put a couple of fish in the tank, your clowns are still here if you are interested..

If you want to get rid of them when I'm up and running, I may take you up on that offer!

good stuff Jordan!

Thanks Tyler

 

[curiousphil]

Lol, I don't think I could accomplish nearly as much if I had a little guy running around the house. So I am trying to complete as many projects as I can before that happens!

I remember you saying a while back that you got a jar of Flexi-dip for painting something-or-other, and you wanted to know how it worked out for my light rack? It worked out horribly! The spray on stuff is garbage - it resulted in a paper thin dusting of white that just felt like a matte paint. Not the thick rubber coating that I was expecting at all. It wasn't even totally opaque, and it scratched right off when I placed a reflector into its seat. I think you made the right call getting the jar, I suspect you would just have to lay on several heavy coats to get the "tool handle" finish I was going for. Let us know how you like it. The light is looking really great in white BTW!!

For my light rack I ended up using the same Rustoleum Appliance Expoxy paint (in the non-spray variety!!) that I used on my stand. I'm really really liking this paint - but cleanup is a huge PITA because it's very very sticky and mineral spirits are required to rinse off your hands/equipment/spills (yep, I kicked the can... lol).

 

[jroovers]

Lol, I don't think I could accomplish nearly as much if I had a little guy running around the house. So I am trying to complete as many projects as I can before that happens!

Lol, that is good thinking!

I remember you saying a while back that you got a jar of Flexi-dip for painting something-or-other, and you wanted to know how it worked out for my light rack? It worked out horribly! The spray on stuff is garbage - it resulted in a paper thin dusting of white that just felt like a matte paint. Not the thick rubber coating that I was expecting at all. It wasn't even totally opaque, and it scratched right off when I placed a reflector into its seat. I think you made the right call getting the jar, I suspect you would just have to lay on several heavy coats to get the "tool handle" finish I was going for. Let us know how you like it. The light is looking really great in white BTW!!

That stinks, thanks for sharing that. I haven't cracked my can yet, but plan on doing so in the near future and will dip or brush on the stuff onto any exposed metal, especially on the inside of my stand. I will let you know how it goes, although I suspect brushing it on may not be as easy as it sounds!

The off white light will make more sense once my stand is finished. The plan is to do an off white wainscoting look, with stained wood trim. I'm hoping the light top will match the stand nicely. Once I get the wood skin on the light, you won't see the black part of the LEDs - all you will see is the stained wood and the white metal top, which I hope will result in some nice aesthetics overall.

For my light rack I ended up using the same Rustoleum Appliance Expoxy paint (in the non-spray variety!!) that I used on my stand. I'm really really liking this paint - but cleanup is a huge PITA because it's very very sticky and mineral spirits are required to rinse off your hands/equipment/spills (yep, I kicked the can... lol).

That sounds like a blast (cleaning up a spill). I will keep this on my short list in the future of things to use, maybe on the inside of my stand, which I hope to be working on soon!

 

[jroovers]

MH/LED Pendant Complete

photo 1-2 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

photo 2-2 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

photo 1 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

photo 2 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

photo 3 by UpOnTheRoof, on Flickr

 

[teebone110]

 

[curiousphil]

Nice!

 

[Kyle1970]

Looks good!
Shouldn't throw too much light into the room either.

 

[BIGSHOW]

Super nice work. Love the pendant with the LEDs. Can't wait for this tank to be running, your corals are always amazing and I love looking at the photos you take of them.

 

[jroovers]

Thanks guys.

Lol

Super nice work. Love the pendant with the LEDs. Can't wait for this tank to be running, your corals are always amazing and I love looking at the photos you take of them.

Thanks, nice of you to say. I can't wait for the tank to be running too!

 

[jroovers]

Going to try and stay on top of the updates as I progress, putting on the full court press to have this thing up and running sooner rather than later. Stand primed/sealed with two coats, urethane to go on top. 1 step closer. Baby steps!

 

[Zach]

Thats going to be a damn pretty system. Cant wait to see it up n running

 

[curiousphil]

Great progress Jordan. What other tasks are standing between you and getting this thing wet and filled with rock? (And are you even going to be using rock? )