sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
...Gimmito style! For those of you that don't know, that means no water in a tank (hell no tank) for a while now. More of a placeholder of a post to chronicle my plunge into insanity.
So what's the plan Stan?
So the idea is a full on fish room which has always been the plan but due to the baby in the house now I want everything stored away behind, there will be a lock on the door too, and while him wandering down there by himself isn't an immediate concern (he's 6 months old) it could be a future issue and if everything is already done then I don't need to hurry to get things fixed.
So tank as "in wall", one really long viewing window, and a shorter view on another side. In the fish room really want everything contained so that I hopefully don't need to leave the room for anything except maybe cleaning the front of the glass. So that means my 100g water storage container gets put in there, I figure the corner is a good spot, also will be a fully working sink, of which the actual placement may change due to where electrical outlets are (I really neglected to draw those in my picture).
The Tank
Don't know yet, but I did talk myself out of a 10 foot long tank, while it absolutely would fit there would be a little less than 6 inches on the far side, which means accessing anything there is not going to be possible. At 8 feet it gives me almost 2.5 feet of room which is a benefit.
Option 1: Reuse the 96"x36"x18" tank I already have, this is the "I can't spend any money" option, while the height is a bit limiting, especially as an in-wall style tank, the real issue is that it's acrylic. I absolutely f'ing hate acrylic I don't want to worry about scratching it if I sneeze too close to the tank, I want glass period because if I neglect the cleaning a few minutes with a razor blade scraper and all is in harmony again. Plus I need to put a lot of work into the tank to get it to a viewable state, this is time I quite honestly do not have.
Option 2,3,4,5,6,7: Glass. So MACNA gave me some inspiration for glass tanks, they simply looked the best out of tanks there, even with the cheap plastic coral inserts sitting in an empty tank. So what size? Not 10 feet that's for sure, I was thinking 8' long by 3' wide by 2' high, although looking at graph paper picture it leaves between about 24" to scooch by, which may be fine, but 30" wide is not out of the question.
So where to get a tank... that's the 64 dollar question, well WAY more than 64 dollars it turns out. On the low priced side of things is CustomAquariums.com they do a neat powder coated marine grade aluminum frame system for the bracing on the top rather than a glass eurobrace. A few people have threads going in the Large Tank section at ReefCentral and they seem pleased with it. This puts something in the $2k range.
Crystal Dynamics was one vendor at MACNA, and they basically look like Leemar tanks because apparently they poached the workers as Leemar was going under. Now they have listed as standard a 84" x 30" x 24" tank for a bit over $2k, 2.5 with starphire panels. However when I inquired about going to 8 feet long, they told me they had to go to 3/4" and the price went to $5600+... now I understand 3/4" cost more but that cost of the tank is not all about the glass. Needless to say this is well out of my price range.
Miracles was another quote too, for 8x3x2, 3/4", tempered back, with notches cut in for an external overflow (that looks slick as all hell) was $4k + shipping, but because they're up in Toronto I expect shipping to be a fortune. Plus $4k is really pushing my budget... even though it's a "I want it so bad" type of tank
I wonder if the price difference is due to location though, maybe the dollar is strong in Canada?
I even asked for a quote from A.G.E. for kicks and giggles but haven't heard back, I fully expect them to be the most expensive, but never hurts to ask. One of these days when I get some time I'll also swing by some of the not-so-local fish stores in the area and see what they have in stock. But $2k is probably around where I'm looking, I am willing to sacrifice on size a bit but hey who knows, maybe a store is looking to get rid of a display tank or something
The Equipment
This comes later
What am I doing now? Well I started with a garbage can full of dry rock, still with some algae clinging on. I also have a tank full of aiptasia coated rock, but I'll get to that after I process this stuff first
First the purification!
All algae turned white, and mostly disconnected which makes me happy. I even put in a very large piece that was coated in aiptasia from the tank and this seems to have done the trick.
Next up is the muriatic acid bath, I did a few pieces but I don't think I had enough acid, or there was too much fine dust/sand particles in there because it neutralized itself quite quickly. I'll chronicle more of that later, it's dangerous shit to work around, so I'm usually more concerned with not having splashes on me, or inhaling the vapors more so than I am about taking pictures... not to mention if the vapors get into the phone they could corrode it from the inside out.
So what's the plan Stan?
So the idea is a full on fish room which has always been the plan but due to the baby in the house now I want everything stored away behind, there will be a lock on the door too, and while him wandering down there by himself isn't an immediate concern (he's 6 months old) it could be a future issue and if everything is already done then I don't need to hurry to get things fixed.
So tank as "in wall", one really long viewing window, and a shorter view on another side. In the fish room really want everything contained so that I hopefully don't need to leave the room for anything except maybe cleaning the front of the glass. So that means my 100g water storage container gets put in there, I figure the corner is a good spot, also will be a fully working sink, of which the actual placement may change due to where electrical outlets are (I really neglected to draw those in my picture).
The Tank
Don't know yet, but I did talk myself out of a 10 foot long tank, while it absolutely would fit there would be a little less than 6 inches on the far side, which means accessing anything there is not going to be possible. At 8 feet it gives me almost 2.5 feet of room which is a benefit.
Option 1: Reuse the 96"x36"x18" tank I already have, this is the "I can't spend any money" option, while the height is a bit limiting, especially as an in-wall style tank, the real issue is that it's acrylic. I absolutely f'ing hate acrylic I don't want to worry about scratching it if I sneeze too close to the tank, I want glass period because if I neglect the cleaning a few minutes with a razor blade scraper and all is in harmony again. Plus I need to put a lot of work into the tank to get it to a viewable state, this is time I quite honestly do not have.
Option 2,3,4,5,6,7: Glass. So MACNA gave me some inspiration for glass tanks, they simply looked the best out of tanks there, even with the cheap plastic coral inserts sitting in an empty tank. So what size? Not 10 feet that's for sure, I was thinking 8' long by 3' wide by 2' high, although looking at graph paper picture it leaves between about 24" to scooch by, which may be fine, but 30" wide is not out of the question.
So where to get a tank... that's the 64 dollar question, well WAY more than 64 dollars it turns out. On the low priced side of things is CustomAquariums.com they do a neat powder coated marine grade aluminum frame system for the bracing on the top rather than a glass eurobrace. A few people have threads going in the Large Tank section at ReefCentral and they seem pleased with it. This puts something in the $2k range.
Crystal Dynamics was one vendor at MACNA, and they basically look like Leemar tanks because apparently they poached the workers as Leemar was going under. Now they have listed as standard a 84" x 30" x 24" tank for a bit over $2k, 2.5 with starphire panels. However when I inquired about going to 8 feet long, they told me they had to go to 3/4" and the price went to $5600+... now I understand 3/4" cost more but that cost of the tank is not all about the glass. Needless to say this is well out of my price range.
Miracles was another quote too, for 8x3x2, 3/4", tempered back, with notches cut in for an external overflow (that looks slick as all hell) was $4k + shipping, but because they're up in Toronto I expect shipping to be a fortune. Plus $4k is really pushing my budget... even though it's a "I want it so bad" type of tank
I wonder if the price difference is due to location though, maybe the dollar is strong in Canada?I even asked for a quote from A.G.E. for kicks and giggles but haven't heard back, I fully expect them to be the most expensive, but never hurts to ask. One of these days when I get some time I'll also swing by some of the not-so-local fish stores in the area and see what they have in stock. But $2k is probably around where I'm looking, I am willing to sacrifice on size a bit but hey who knows, maybe a store is looking to get rid of a display tank or something
The Equipment
This comes later
What am I doing now? Well I started with a garbage can full of dry rock, still with some algae clinging on. I also have a tank full of aiptasia coated rock, but I'll get to that after I process this stuff first
First the purification!
All algae turned white, and mostly disconnected which makes me happy. I even put in a very large piece that was coated in aiptasia from the tank and this seems to have done the trick.
Next up is the muriatic acid bath, I did a few pieces but I don't think I had enough acid, or there was too much fine dust/sand particles in there because it neutralized itself quite quickly. I'll chronicle more of that later, it's dangerous shit to work around, so I'm usually more concerned with not having splashes on me, or inhaling the vapors more so than I am about taking pictures... not to mention if the vapors get into the phone they could corrode it from the inside out.
