finalphaze987
Supporting Member
For the cutout itself, no. They just asked the precise location of the plank and they took it from there. Must be a common request from their customers, seeing how tight they were able to tool it.
Patrick's 81G - the last dance
- Thread starter finalphaze987
- Start date
MarcosD
Supporting Member
Ohh ok so they have the cutout dimensions already. I thought you gave them the dimensions and then they made you a CAD file. I want to get a lid made for my Fiji Cube 76 Shallow and after seeing yours I’m definitely going Kraken Reef
requiem
Supporting Member
Medical grade!
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
It definitely turned out better than I expected. I think it was $20 for the plank cutouts.
requiem
Supporting Member
Looks like something you'd see on a space station, super cool.
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
It sits flush the whole way through, no gap at all, even where they join in the middle. I cranked the gyres up to 80% to see what would happen..(normally keeping it at 40%)..water was pushed up against the glass quick but didn't make it out.
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
Thank you! There have been multiple points in my build where I wanted to say screw it, stock the tank and get the corals in already....taking a slower approach is definitely not as entertaining, but has saved me from jumping the gun and wasting money on things I don't need or end up upgrading.
Almost done with the biome building, so hopefully livestock phase comes soon!
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
Biome building (cont.)
Recieved a shipment from TBS today. Had me worried when I got home cuz I found the box soaked.
Luckily most of the water was still contained in the bag. The shipment came in an Insulated box with 7 lbs of sand and a 3lb bag of small rocks.
I threw the whole bag of rocks in and spread the sand evenly through my sandbed.
Upon inspecting the rocks, I found them to be relatively dense for their size. Nice coraline growth on some of them and a few specs of orange sponge on one. Other than that, not much in the way of hitchhikers.
The sand varied in grain size. Some really coarse shells to fine soot. 7 lbs was adequate enough to dust the entire bed of my 36x24 footprint.
I mixed up the top layer a bit to keep the fines from dispersing from the flow.
Overall, not bad. The rocks are nothing to be wowed over, but for the purpose I purchased it for, will get the job done.
Bacterial sources put in so far:
Hawaii - IPSF
Gulf of Mexico - Aquabiomics / TBS
Indo pacific- SWA
Aquacultured- PNS / Polyplab
More to come...
Recieved a shipment from TBS today. Had me worried when I got home cuz I found the box soaked.
Luckily most of the water was still contained in the bag. The shipment came in an Insulated box with 7 lbs of sand and a 3lb bag of small rocks.
I threw the whole bag of rocks in and spread the sand evenly through my sandbed.
Upon inspecting the rocks, I found them to be relatively dense for their size. Nice coraline growth on some of them and a few specs of orange sponge on one. Other than that, not much in the way of hitchhikers.
The sand varied in grain size. Some really coarse shells to fine soot. 7 lbs was adequate enough to dust the entire bed of my 36x24 footprint.
I mixed up the top layer a bit to keep the fines from dispersing from the flow.
Overall, not bad. The rocks are nothing to be wowed over, but for the purpose I purchased it for, will get the job done.
Bacterial sources put in so far:
Hawaii - IPSF
Gulf of Mexico - Aquabiomics / TBS
Indo pacific- SWA
Aquacultured- PNS / Polyplab
More to come...
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
They way the bags were sealed with zip ties may have worked if the box stayed upright during shipping, but were talking UPS here lol. I'm lucky there was still water in it at all.
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
Given that it's submerged in water, I could honestly say that TBS did the best they could. Sadly, some of the major shippers have a knack for F ing things up...
On the bright side, all the visible life on the rock managed to survive and is all slowly coming out
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
New shipment of rock came in today. This time around it's the Aussie rock from Aquarium specialty.
Packaging: well packed in an Insulated foam box. Nothing could be felt shaking around. Inside the foam box was stuffed with paper and an Insulated bag containing the rock.
Immediately upon opening the Insulated bag, I was greeted with an all too familiar smell...to put it in perspective, it's like walking into bath and body works and catching a whip of the scent of your ex girlfriend from the 90's....I was ecstatic...
Once I finished reacquainting with the bacterial musk, I peeled back the wet paper and was rather excited to find some pretty cool crap.
They sent branch rock, which is the look I preferred...and it was chuck full of all sorts of hot pink and purple entrusting algae. The macro algae growing on it still had spring to it and felt fresh, so I decided to leave it on. I laid out all of the pieces on a brute lid for scale. Total weight sold to me was 10 lbs. After weighing, I found it to be roughly 9.2
Packaging: well packed in an Insulated foam box. Nothing could be felt shaking around. Inside the foam box was stuffed with paper and an Insulated bag containing the rock.
Immediately upon opening the Insulated bag, I was greeted with an all too familiar smell...to put it in perspective, it's like walking into bath and body works and catching a whip of the scent of your ex girlfriend from the 90's....I was ecstatic...
Once I finished reacquainting with the bacterial musk, I peeled back the wet paper and was rather excited to find some pretty cool crap.
They sent branch rock, which is the look I preferred...and it was chuck full of all sorts of hot pink and purple entrusting algae. The macro algae growing on it still had spring to it and felt fresh, so I decided to leave it on. I laid out all of the pieces on a brute lid for scale. Total weight sold to me was 10 lbs. After weighing, I found it to be roughly 9.2
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
The growth on the rock did have some visible die off. I removed sponges that I knew wouldn't make it and cleaned out a couple bivalves with innards still present. Alot of cool macro algae growth tho. Hot pink to burgundy algae lined a few pieces. They felt rather light except for the biggest one. The shape is very similar to my current scape, and although I'd like to keep it all, will eventually end up selling some to clear up alot of the tank.
DaddyHook
Supporting Member
That is some good looking rock!
finalphaze987
Supporting Member
It definitely exceeded my expectations. While purchased for the bacterial value, it always helps when it looks good.
From the smell of it, I'm thinking it may be a while till I'm comfortable with adding the first fish in. But it's ok. I think this is part of the old school experience I was yearning for.
Just hoping the wife doesn't start complaining about the smell.
