The build thread: 430gal. display

Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#262
#262
The installer came by today and finished the closed-loop plumbing and almost all of the plumbing in the fishroom! Woohoo! We're pretty much ready for a water test in the basement!!!

He's still going to extend the top and bottom loc-lines just a bit and we need to finalize intake strainers for the closed-loop, but it's close.





 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#263
#263
Ugh. I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the aquariums. Go figure. The aquarium builder gave me a freshwater test date of Dec. 1st weeks ago and then vanished. I found out yesterday that he went out of town and won't be back 'til Dec. 6. Oh, and I also found out that he doesn't really want me to to the freshwater test without him there. Grr. Bite me. He promised he'd have this freakin' thing done by the end of September and _I'm_ doing the damn cleanup at the end of November. But, we need to get the test done (and soon) so that we can finalize plans to finish the downstairs floors. So, on we go.

Anyway, there are still some areas that need cleaning, but I got the majority of it done. Good enough, anyway, that I'm not worried about large stuff getting sucked into any pumps.

***Self-portrait warning***

Me in the aquarium:

 
crisc

crisc

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#266
#266
Water!!!! Glad to see that you are getting there Andy. Sorry for all of the delays especially when you are getting so close. Hopefully you can get going soon. I was just noticing that I didn't see any unions on the plumbing, if that leak that is on the output of your pump doesn't have one you might think about installing one when he gets it pulled apart. I like true union ball valves even better, it really can help if you ever have to clean/replace the pump one day.

Good luck this week with filling it up! Thanks for keeping us posted.

Cris
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#267
#267
Thanks you guys!

I was just noticing that I didn't see any unions on the plumbing
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was noticing that, too, right after I noticed the leak. Hmm. :) Tons of unions downstairs, none on the closed-loop. How does one tighten the plumbing now? Cut.

Sorry for all of the delays
Click to expand...
Thank you. It's chugging along, though. The crew made tons of progress in the house today. Just no pictures yet. But, we'll get in there one of these days. ... Especially if we get the leaks fixed so we can get the floor guys in to finish up. ;)
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#269
#269
:) Yeah, I don't know about that.... I'm probably about 1/4" away from blowing up in the glass guy's face. I have a really long fuse--I probably haven't bee really mad in ten years--but I think he's used it up.

By the way, I just wanted to say that I don't blame the Aqua Imports guys for this at all. The whole debacle with Aquariums for You really put us into a tight place such that this local guy was close to the only option. And boy, has he milked that for all it's worth. But Mike's been great. He's here every time he says he'll be here and got all of his stuff done. And nicely, too. It's just a shame that we wound up having to rely on this guy who's, frankly, not very reliable.

But, more tank stuff:

____________________


Day 2 of the freshwater test:

The leaks upstairs aren't done yet, so I started sending water down the drainpipes to the basement.







I got up to this point before I noticed that one of the unions was weeping slightly:



So, that's the end of day 2.
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#270
#270
Water test, day 3. (Sorry, just phone photos).



Closed-loop pump #1:





Closed-loop pump #2:



From the top, completely full:



There were a few more minor, weepy leaks but nothing major. We drained the display tank back down and sent the water to the fishroom. Everything looks good there, too.

We can go ahead with finishing the floor!!!
 
F

Frankenpora

Cleaner Shrimp
#271
#271
I just caught on to your thread bud...
There are a bunch of things that I could say to describe your new tank, but
I'll use my favorite one.

::::: WOW :::::
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#272
#272
Well, thank you. That's very nice of you.

It's been a trying process. But it's getting there. And I didn't even yell at the tank builder today. :)
 
dxtr

dxtr

Copepod
#273
#273
took time a l.ittle time at work (lol, about an hour+) and got caught up on your build.

One word - Patience. You are the picture in the dictonary. Can't wait to see this project completed. house and tank! simply awesome!

Great Job.

B
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#274
#274
Thanks, B! I can't wait, either. I'm ready to move.

The tile guy came in on Saturday and finished up most of the bathroom and the cabinet guys was in, too, working on placing shelves in the boxes. The painter's being given control of the downstairs tomorrow. It should look quite a bit different this week.

Apparently there's a guy in Boulder who designs concrete work for zoo exhibits. Mike wants to get him involved to help hide the closed-loop intakes. We'll see....

Sorry, I got busy this week and didn't get any more photos taken. Soon.
 
dtech

dtech

Goby
#275
#275
I just want to say I've been readin this post since it began and it"s great. I think a lot of us are excited to see it going good and kinda livin through you. I check each week for updates and photo's. Great job and the house is lookin great too.
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#278
#278
Howdy, y'all! More tank photos!

The steel guys finished and installed the powder-coated stainless bullnose under the tank in the bathroom, so the tile guy could finally finish up the tile above the tub deck. In fact, I think he's pretty close to finishing off the bathroom, period.



Here's a close up of the bullnose:



The steel really gives it a nice, smooth, solid finish.

More house pictures here: http://www.ummfish.com/remodel.html
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#279
#279
Well, I got a wild hair and started putting together a BRT (= blue round tub, right? ;) ) this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day--no coat weather--and I was watching my kiddo in the yard. Tomorrow is supposed to get down to -5 degrees F. So, I needed to do _something_ outside.









I'm pretty much ready to slot the PVC overflow tubes, Krylon the whole shebang black, and add mesh screen to the tubes. Woohoo!

Well, okay, I still have to plumb the sucker, but it's a step.
 
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