Zap's 90gal Journey

[ActiveAngel]

Good to see you again Zap! I look forward to seeing which route you go with the fuge.

Aside from what’s already been suggested for the fuge; the only new idea that I have would be a display fuge sitting next to the display reef. One of my friends has this on his setup with 20-30 mangroves in a deep sand bed, and a chaeto compartment on the side.

Also, I may pick your brain regarding Solidworks.

 

[ZapataInc]

So Ive finally decided on what I am going to do about the doors and there was a re-design of the stand. I added 18" to both sides of the stand. So now it totals 7' wide. I did this so that I could put my 5 gallon bucket that I am currently using as my ATO reservoir in to one of the side cabinets so it is out of sight and on the other cabinet will be my storage/power/component cabinet. Also if I ever want to get a bigger reservoir ill have the space for it. Adding the extra on the sides also allows me to get a wider tank down the line if i ever want to upgrade to a bigger tank. And this gives me some counter space to put stuff on top like pictures (that made my wife happy). Happy wife Happy Reef. Am i right? The two middle doors are going to be barnyard style doors that hang on a track. When both are fully open I will have a 3' opening to my sump. I feel like that is plenty of room to work with. The side doors will be hinged. And i got lazy and didnt draw up the door panels or the end panels.

Here is the draw up of the re-designed tank.


Me and wifey sauce worked on the additions today. Almost done. Then some paint.

 

[ZapataInc]

Quick update.... Doors are done. The top has been installed. And the rest of the trim have been put on. The side doors have temporarily been installed just to test fit. Im waiting for my barnyard door hardware to deliver. So use your imagination on how it will look. Until they do Ill start to paint at some point this week.

 

[ZapataInc]

Another update for you guys and gals. I haven't gotten a chance to paint yet. I will do that tomorrow. But I did install the barnyard doors. And to my surprise when I open both doors I have full access to the sump area. I didn't think I designed it like that but what a great surprise!

 

[Shawn]

I was just thinking earlier today how this would be an awesome (and easy) way to access the sump area on the stand I plan to build. This is amazing!!

 

[ZapataInc]

I was just thinking earlier today how this would be an awesome (and easy) way to access the sump area on the stand I plan to build. This is amazing!!

My thoughts exactly. If you need help with planning, I got you. I already have this stand designed if you want the plans for it.

 

[ZapataInc]

Stand is done.


Now next is to get the tank on top of it and plumbed.

 

[york1]

The stand looks great.
Plumbing a tank is one thing I am not good at. Its funny, at work I can machine things within .0001 of an inch all day long no problem. Give me some pvc and its like im brain dead

 

[ZapataInc]

The stand looks great.
Plumbing a tank is one thing I am not good at. Its funny, at work I can machine things within .0001 of an inch all day long no problem. Give me some pvc and its like im brain dead

Thanks man. Yeah same thing for me. Solidworks is a perfect world. But I'm not a perfect cutter. So there are little flaws here and there but all in all I'm extremely happy how it turned out.

 

[ZapataInc]

Tank is on the stand. I used a yoga mat underneath the tank as the transition to the stand.

 

[Reefried]

Looks great when does it get some water?

 

[ZapataInc]

Looks great when does it get some water?

I have to get some plumbing for it. So hopefully by next week I can start filling it up.

 

[ZapataInc]

Worked on plumbing last night.



I went with a bean animal overflow.
Now it's time for some water tests.

 

[ZapataInc]

Everything has passed their tests. So it's WATER TIME!

 

[ZapataInc]

So McDonalds just came in clutch for me. So I was just about to buy a 7" filter media cup to replace my 7" filter sock. Before I decided to buy it I went looking around my house to see if I could find something that I could make one myself. So Remember back in the day during Halloween they would have Halloween baskets as part of their Happy Meals? Well it so happens that I had one. Don't ask why. And it fits perfectly in the opening. And Halloween is right around the corner. What a coincidence.


So the reason why I'm going with the filter media basket is bc I added a piece of acrylic to the sump to make my refugium. @ActiveAngel this is what I decided to do for my fuge. The media basket opens up room underneath it so that I can have a fuge.

 

[Rickdareefa]

So McDonalds just came in clutch for me. So I was just about to buy a 7" filter media cup to replace my 7" filter sock. Before I decided to buy it I went looking around my house to see if I could find something that I could make one myself. So Remember back in the day during Halloween they would have Halloween baskets as part of their Happy Meals? Well it so happens that I had one. Don't ask why. And it fits perfectly in the opening. And Halloween is right around the corner. What a coincidence.
View attachment 11711

So the reason why I'm going with the filter media basket is bc I added a piece of acrylic to the sump to make my refugium. @ActiveAngel this is what I decided to do for my fuge. The media basket opens up room underneath it so that I can have a fuge.

I love that! Awesome!

 

[Rickdareefa]

I've got a brand new box of the flat filter pads if you wanna cut it to size and throw it in the bucket. Bought it along time ago and never ended up using it.

 

[ZapataInc]

Just a quick update. Got water in cycling. Worked on the rock scape. The open area is for when i transfer over my old rocks from the 40g. I would love some feedback on how it looks or any suggestions on what you would do?

Added a LED light strip to the sump area for lighting when I need to do something down there and because it looks cool when i close the doors and there is that glow coming from the stand. I still have to do cable management and I need to finish my light fixture that I'm building to hang my lights from.

 

[ZapataInc]

Update:
The 90 gal journey has been up and running for about a month and a half. And I LOVE IT. I changed out my lights for some awesome AI Hydra 52s. I'm running the BRS settings for it. And do they put out some PAR. @jcook54 is an amazing guy. He came to my house with one of ARCs PAR meters and we went to work. He can attest that my PAR readings were bananas. The top of the middle rockwork was getting 600+ PAR but the crazy thing is the corals were living it and growing. But @ActiveAngel convinced me to lower it. So I did and everything is still doing great. So I will need to do another PAR reading. Here's a picture of the tank.



Also if you would like to watch, here is a short video of the tank.

 

[ZapataInc]

Wow it's been awhile. Well an update to the thread.

Bought a house at the end of April moved in in May and got the tank moved over a little bit later after we finished moving our stuff.

I hired a company to move the tank and set it back up at the new house. Well let's just say I dont have the best words for them. But that's for another post.




Here is an updated picture of the tank. If you look at the pictures of the scape everything is different. All the guy did was put the rocks where ever he wanted and didn't try to make it look the same.

The way it looks has grown on me over the past two months.

I will update more often.