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Oh I forgot the installed picture.

the chamber on the left holds the skimmer and is really just a settling area, later I added a small pump in here that draws the water for the U/V and Refuge.



This is the return area where the pumps get connected, there is also a media tray that I built in but should have added holes to it. I really don't use it for anything currently. I had a carbon bag in there but if my water level was to low the bag popped out of the chamber and started to go up the return pumps.



another water test, I found a couple of leaks this time. Not the end of the world I dried and cleaned the leak areas (there were 2) added some Number 4 solvent and later number 16 there were no issues (this was before my lesson in crazing.)



success at last and the final build product. For those that were curious the material cost in Florida was about 150.00 including the solvent and applicator bottle (buy more than one) I also requested the company to make the big cuts so they were nice and square (they did ok) but I don't have a table saw or table router so it was the only way to go. I made all the cuts for the weirs and the rest of the stuff.

Thanks for looking

Fred

Thanks, it has been a nine - ten month project and has come together well.

I had to go cheap with the finish cabinetry and use pine for the 1x4 and an oak veneer for the centers but it worked out ok. I installed some rare earth magnets (these things are great) they have helped to take out some of the warping in the pine. It looks good in the pictures I can pick out the flaws but I guess that is because I am really picky I just don't have the router table or the table saw to do a lot of the work.

The next one will be done with hard wood, and will be a 4x3x3 or bigger. I really have enjoyed the build and really like working with the acrylic I built my own sump after the first one cracked here are some pics. this sump was built two weeks after I put water in the tank because the glass tank I used to build the sump cracked from the vibration in the pumps. anyway here are the pics.




the first water test I thought I was good more on this later.



different angle



this is the drain end the large piece of acrylic with the big hole holds a filter sock.
the small box to the left is micro bubble settling chamber the return water from the skimmer has to escape from the bottom and hopefully not so fast that it takes the bubbles with (this actually worked better than I thought)

Oh and by the way, Very Nice Cabinet Work!!

Hey Fred, ya tank looks great! I like the way you use it like a room divider where you can see everything from three sides. Very nice! Keep coming with the picks.

Can you post a picture of the product you are using? I'd like to see it. You can edit your original entry above to insert it in the blog. (Move your mouse over the title to see a small pencil icon appear; click on that to edit)

Ok so I tested again at 1130 am the phosblaster dose was at 0700 pm with readings of .25 po4. at 1130 the test results were as follows:
Temp was 76.5
Ph 8.08 Lights are not on yet.
Mg 1350
Alk 10.6
cal 420
no3 10 ppm still vodka dosing at 1.8 ml last day need to raise dose tom. to 2.3 ml
PO4 was 0 there was no detectable hint of blue in the test vial again testing with elos test kit. I will be testing once per week for the next couple weeks to see where were at. so far so good.

good to know. there are no leathers in my tank. the tank it self is still in infancy at eight months old. there are some LPS some shrooms, zoa's, and star polyps, and one hitch hiker sps that is unidentified because it's only about the size of 1/2 a dime. and I can't a picture.

I will be curious to know how this stuff works for you. I tried using a liquid phosphate remover from another company and it didn't really work very well. If you have any leathers in your tank you may want to check the ingredients to see if it contains aluminum, as this can kill leathers pretty quickly, something I can atest to. If this doesn't help solve your problem I would run some GFO in a media reactor. I did this an my readings went from being about .25 like yours to about .04 over the course of a week. It has stayed in this range for about 2 months now. Can't complain about that!

st should be test (sorry for the typo) dam beer

Ok day one elso test revealed phosphate level at .25 ppm which is really good considering I have not tested for them before in nine months and also reveals why my cheato ball is not growing. I dosed about 35ml of phosblaster which when added to the tank looked like I added my morning dose of calcium there was a white cloud that dispersed after several minutes. I will test again tomorrow around 7 pm and post the results then according to the product I should see no phosphates tomorrow.

Please let me know what you think. I tried to take pics of the st but they would be subjected to what the white balance of my camera was and i just don't have those answers.

Fred

Most of the live rock was from my previous tank. I had a problem with aptaista and broke the tank down because we were going to be moving across the country to California. long story short we are still here in Florida. the rock sat dry for about 1.5 years I then bought some more from Craigslist and one piece from the LFS. put all the rock in large blue tubs with my protein skimmer for about three weeks to let it seed then in the tank.

I probably should have cured it longer but I was anxious to get things running plus my wife was coming back from out of town and I needed to get things picked up. there have been no ill effects from the early entry into the display. i had a very small hair algae and cyano bloom and then things calmed down and the tank settled nicely

Looks like a great set-up! Where did you get your live rock from - and what type was it? Also was it cured or did you have to cure it your-self ?

Originally Posted by melev

I like it Fred. Thanks for sharing - your woodwork looks good to me. For pump vibration, try putting some filter sponge material under the pump.

Thanks for the comments, I put some Styrofoam under the pumps the problem was that I plumbed it with ridged pvc instead of flex. I fixed that after I built the new sump.

I like it Fred. Thanks for sharing - your woodwork looks good to me. For pump vibration, try putting some filter sponge material under the pump.