MahnaMahna's Journey into the Reef - 55 gallon tank
CUT! Strike that!
MahnaMahna's Reef Journey - 90 Gallon Upgrade
Take 2! ACTION!
;) Yeah, I'm a dork, but I had to tie in the Muppet's and their movies somehow. :p
I had been on the lookout for a 90 gallon tank to upgrade to for awhile now. Ever since I started the 55 gallon, because I got a 90 gallon tank, stand, 20 gallon long tank for a sump/refugium, T5 lights and a bunch of other stuff along with rock that I bought. Yeah, I got the whole kit 'n kaboodle when I just wanted the rock. I got it all for $40. I was excited because I was able to upgrade! BUT - and that's a big but - the 90 came with a crack in the back glass on the bottom right corner. A crack that I couldn't live with without losing sleep and slowing slipping into madness. I gave the cracked tank to rininger85 and started my hunt for a new 90 gallon that didn't come with cracks and boogeymen that go bump in the night.
Here is the stand, 20 gallon long sump/refugium tank, and original cracked 90 gallon. That light is NOT the T5 light. It's just an extra regular hood light:
After many disappointing ends to my search for a new 90 gallon rininger85 sent me the link to the tank shown below and it is now in my possession! My husband gave me my upgrade by buying me this very nice and clean (and crack free!) 90 gallon for my Christmas/birthday present because my birthday is very close to Christmas. Yup, he's a keeper! :D This new tank came with some LED lights and glass covers. I don't think there are enough LED lights to support coral so I plan on making more to add to them.
So now starts my next journey - transferring my 55 gallon to this 90 gallon, rebuild the sump/refugium, make a diy overflow, and eventually make more LED lights to replace the T5 lights I have now. The refugium part will basically be an algae trap to keep it out of the display tank. I've had enough algae with my 55 gallon to last me a lifetime. :p LOL! I'm also toying with the idea of cutting a door in the wall behind the tank to make accessing the sump easier. The tank will be where the current 55 is, which is against a wall that has the staircase to the basement behind it. I can't obviously have the sump on it's own stand back there because of the stairway, but making an access door through it may be a good idea because the stand only has one access door in the front. Not sure yet.
I'm also toying with the idea of transferring over the 55 to the 90 before I make the sump and overflow. If I make an access door through the wall it shouldn't be too difficult to add the sump later. But then I think about how much easier it would be to wait until the sump is built to set up the sump and tank at the same time if I wait and just get it all done at one time. But then I think it would be nice to split up the time it would take to do all of this so it doesn't eat up an entire day. I'm so indecisive sometimes. :rolleyes:
Here is a pic of the 55 gallon before I got the aquascape the way I wanted it. It shows how it is in front of the wall that has a stairway going up to the second floor and a stairway going down to the basement. It's the wall I might put an access door into to get to the sump under the tank and in the stand.
The overflow that came with the original 90 gallon was busted (of course). I could fix it but I'd be constantly worrying if the fix would hold. I'm not into adding that kind of anxiety to my life. :p So DIY time is coming! :D I'm thinking of covering the diy overflow with cement to make it look like live rock, being careful to keep the attachment points able to be accessed if I need to tear it apart. Or I could paint it black with aquarium safe paint so it blends in with the black background like another poster has done. Or just leave it be and let algae cover the white PVC. We'll see how motivated I am. :lol:
Eventually we'll (read my husband because he's better at it, though I do help some) will build a canopy that will house the lights and add a finished look to the whole thing. I'd actually like a new stand too, but I think that's just being silly since I have a perfectly good one already. We'll see how it goes. (Which means we'll see if I can talk my husband into building me one. Perhaps enough puppy dog eyes and promises of cheesecake will work. :D )
I'd appreciate any suggestions and help on this. I'm open to any ideas! I've been doing a lot of reading on sumps and plumbing and I think I'm finally getting a handle on it all. Enough to make my own overflow and sump. :thumbup: It should be a fun experience.
CUT! Strike that!
MahnaMahna's Reef Journey - 90 Gallon Upgrade
Take 2! ACTION!
;) Yeah, I'm a dork, but I had to tie in the Muppet's and their movies somehow. :p
I had been on the lookout for a 90 gallon tank to upgrade to for awhile now. Ever since I started the 55 gallon, because I got a 90 gallon tank, stand, 20 gallon long tank for a sump/refugium, T5 lights and a bunch of other stuff along with rock that I bought. Yeah, I got the whole kit 'n kaboodle when I just wanted the rock. I got it all for $40. I was excited because I was able to upgrade! BUT - and that's a big but - the 90 came with a crack in the back glass on the bottom right corner. A crack that I couldn't live with without losing sleep and slowing slipping into madness. I gave the cracked tank to rininger85 and started my hunt for a new 90 gallon that didn't come with cracks and boogeymen that go bump in the night.
Here is the stand, 20 gallon long sump/refugium tank, and original cracked 90 gallon. That light is NOT the T5 light. It's just an extra regular hood light:
After many disappointing ends to my search for a new 90 gallon rininger85 sent me the link to the tank shown below and it is now in my possession! My husband gave me my upgrade by buying me this very nice and clean (and crack free!) 90 gallon for my Christmas/birthday present because my birthday is very close to Christmas. Yup, he's a keeper! :D This new tank came with some LED lights and glass covers. I don't think there are enough LED lights to support coral so I plan on making more to add to them.
So now starts my next journey - transferring my 55 gallon to this 90 gallon, rebuild the sump/refugium, make a diy overflow, and eventually make more LED lights to replace the T5 lights I have now. The refugium part will basically be an algae trap to keep it out of the display tank. I've had enough algae with my 55 gallon to last me a lifetime. :p LOL! I'm also toying with the idea of cutting a door in the wall behind the tank to make accessing the sump easier. The tank will be where the current 55 is, which is against a wall that has the staircase to the basement behind it. I can't obviously have the sump on it's own stand back there because of the stairway, but making an access door through it may be a good idea because the stand only has one access door in the front. Not sure yet.
I'm also toying with the idea of transferring over the 55 to the 90 before I make the sump and overflow. If I make an access door through the wall it shouldn't be too difficult to add the sump later. But then I think about how much easier it would be to wait until the sump is built to set up the sump and tank at the same time if I wait and just get it all done at one time. But then I think it would be nice to split up the time it would take to do all of this so it doesn't eat up an entire day. I'm so indecisive sometimes. :rolleyes:
Here is a pic of the 55 gallon before I got the aquascape the way I wanted it. It shows how it is in front of the wall that has a stairway going up to the second floor and a stairway going down to the basement. It's the wall I might put an access door into to get to the sump under the tank and in the stand.
The overflow that came with the original 90 gallon was busted (of course). I could fix it but I'd be constantly worrying if the fix would hold. I'm not into adding that kind of anxiety to my life. :p So DIY time is coming! :D I'm thinking of covering the diy overflow with cement to make it look like live rock, being careful to keep the attachment points able to be accessed if I need to tear it apart. Or I could paint it black with aquarium safe paint so it blends in with the black background like another poster has done. Or just leave it be and let algae cover the white PVC. We'll see how motivated I am. :lol:
Eventually we'll (read my husband because he's better at it, though I do help some) will build a canopy that will house the lights and add a finished look to the whole thing. I'd actually like a new stand too, but I think that's just being silly since I have a perfectly good one already. We'll see how it goes. (Which means we'll see if I can talk my husband into building me one. Perhaps enough puppy dog eyes and promises of cheesecake will work. :D )
I'd appreciate any suggestions and help on this. I'm open to any ideas! I've been doing a lot of reading on sumps and plumbing and I think I'm finally getting a handle on it all. Enough to make my own overflow and sump. :thumbup: It should be a fun experience.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire