The155BowFrontBuild

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
You can seal the stone where you can wipe salt creek off with a damp towel. Silane/Siloxane will keep moisture from entering, but can affect the look slightly.
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
Looks like I am getting a dino outbreak. Brown sludge with air bubbles in it. No stringy stuff yet, why I thought dino instead of diatoms (but it's been a long while since I dealt with either so I could have those bass ackwards). I'll check water params tomorrow, but wondering if it could be a mini cycle from the move/new sand/some new rock that was running in a bin for the last 18mos.

I can run some carbon and RowaPhos as well. Any other tips or tricks?
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
Any move will have a bit of a mini cycle. You are always disturbing some areas that used to be anoxic and creating some new ones... nobody can get the rock touching the sand and each other perfectly. I would just wait this out.
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
I got the supplies at Home Depot today to rock the stand. One picture with the Hardiebacker attached to the stand, and another of the “California Gold” stacked stone. Little bit of progress!






Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
All done with the stacked stone! I like it a lot, but more importantly the wife really loves it. The sections between the stone are for wood trim to break up the stone so it isn’t just a wall of rock. And then across the top will be a ledge...like a bar ledge to set glasses on.






Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
Nice work! What’s next?
Well, I think I need to decide on wood stain color and wood type. Then I can make the doors for the sides the trim down the front by the stacked stone, and the bar ledge. And then I need to think about my canopy. Right now it is just hanging lights, but there is a lot of light spillage into the room. When the lights shut off at night we spend 5 minutes talking about how yellow everything looks after having out retinas baked in blue light for hours! I might try to find something to make a valance or shade out of, maybe the corrugated roof that was mentioned in this post post #58.
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
I've also added a Calcium Reactor ($300). Been up and running for about 2 weeks. There have been several versions of it running since then, the regulator I received with the CarbonDoser unit was toast. So I ordered another regulator off of eBay($85). It arrived and worked well, had a solenoid and a needle valve that was really sensitive. But I couldn't stand staring at the CarbonDoser just sitting there like a worthless heap. After many, many, many conversations with @jda123 I took a calculated gamble on another regulator off of eBay ($55). This one is a Victor-450B that I believe was originally for an Oxygen tank. The first bit of good news was the CarbonDoser screwed directly into where the needle valve was, no adapter needed. I did need an adapter to the tank, but that was easily found on Amazon. I still didn't really know if the CarbonDoser worked 100%...so I held my breath and turned everything on, and it is perfect! I have been adjusting the seconds per bubble over the last few days, and at 5 SPB I am getting about 24 dKh effluent.

I do have the Apex monitoring the pH, but I fall into the camp that doesn't really trust the pH probe to stay accurate without constant calibration. So my plan is to monitor the effluent as primary means, and Apex pH monitoring as secondary means.

View attachment 14123 View attachment 14125 View attachment 14126
 

neil82

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
Your build is coming along nicely. I like how you designed the stand right down to the initial framing. The finish is looking great. Keep the pictures coming!
 
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