Two Cats and Two tanks build up Meow!

[Mudbeaver]

I phone Concept Aquariums today about my problem with the sump size, and they suggested to take the trim off with a utility knife all around which will take a few milimeters off each sides of the sump, which is exactly what was missing, or should i say was in surplus. So it should fit now and if it doesn't they'll make me a new one, how's that for service. No worries.::banana:

[Mudbeaver]

Well yesterday i did a bit of foaming in the fuge i foamed my wall . I place temporarely my wall in my main tank to see what cut i would have to make. I say temporarely because we have to move that pig again to be able to slide my sump back into position again. Oh dear...... Anyway it looks nice .

I'll foam those in after the sump is put in.



I'll be putting resin and sanding the foam on the sculpure today 2 inch of sand will cover the eggcrate making my Tonga branch stand alone.



If you use any foam Acetone will clean out the spout very well and you can use your can and spout again and again. That stuff really strong .It also very good to clean your hands






The foam will be sand today and will be blend in. I don't want dirty water to be trapped behind those panels.







The foamed worked well it went right where i wanted and is blocking any entry spot.

[Mudbeaver]

A nice blade will get rid of the smudge.



Smelly cat, smelly cat, or is it soft kitty?







Cat alley......behind the scenes




They shouldnt mess with the plumbing right????



Thats how thick those stands are



What a line up!The 150 G backwall



Inside the $20 external glass Wavebox, i just bought the Tunze pump and voila. I bought the sponge too to house the pump.

[Mudbeaver]

The top of the panel will be siliconed on this one because foam swells too much . I don't want the foam blocking my teeth.




A lurker....



The next step is to foam in the seperation with rubbles and blend in the foam and rubble with resin and sand.Thats today; Foam and rubbles will help make and secure the screen. I thought that i wouldn't need silicone on the front glass, that it would be tight enough. WRONG i'll have to put silicone after all. Can't win every time .



On the left side will be the anglers, they don't need much swimming room they rather "walk" and stalk their prey. The right side will be the seahorses territory. The extreme right panel prevent the light from the window to go in the tank.



Before foaming i made sure that every panel was flush with the glass. As you can see they are very flat.





The bottom are also very flat and smooth



The rubbles for the screen

[Mudbeaver]

Ok well today was finishing the refugium decor, backwall , the separation and the substrates.


So i chose some rubbles to put in the larger openings and gaps between the separation and the ceramic panel, and then applied the foam.





I applied foam on both sides to make sure shrimps the smallest of the critters wouldn't cross over and be eaten by the anglers.





Now i didn't apply foam in the bottom like i intended to do because 3 inch of sand would help hold this as well. I just put rubbles to help lift the screen in place while the foam cures. after that i'll silicone the front edge to the front glass panel. I thought i wouldn't have too, but i have too.Their's a gap and i have to fill it.



Thats the silicone i used on top of the panels not block the teeth with foam, the same will be done for the screen.





I have 2 gallons of mud in the tank with the sand on top on one side, and on the other side its a bit mixed. The sand is Tropic Eden Tonga Reef Flakes and Tonga Reef mini-Flakes 2-1 ratio. I use mud for medicinal reason and nothing else, i still do my water changes , i do my own miracles......

[Mudbeaver]

The Anglers pen , 30 G



The seahorses pen 45 G





Oh yes i forgot i sanded my sculpture




I'll probably do a second coating






Don't forget to clean your spout with acetone to be able to reuse it

[Mudbeaver]

[Mudbeaver]

They're instances where i don't or wont do it. Like for my second sculpture, i wont. Because she'll be totally covered with zoa on one and by green star polyps on the other, so their's no need , in either case. The softies will take over quite quickly. In between the ceramic panel will depends if it will be taken over fast or if any creature can or will be a danger to the foam itself. The sea urchin is known to eat it. So a coating of resin and sand would stop that. But in the refugium i wont put an urchin cause it will eat all my Macro-Algae, and with all the algae present the foam will be hidden pretty quickly. That may change in the reef tank though....

[Mudbeaver]

Guess who i found spoiling my sand this morning.......what punishment should i inflic do you think. Bare in mind these guys already got castrated lol. Are they intitle to some mistchivism?????

[Mudbeaver]

Well the fuge is almost ready, the back plumbing has to be done. The main reef tank can't be done until the sump is put into place and for that we have to move the heavy 150G and i need at least 4 other guys, thats going to be next wekend. More over, the system won't be started until my air-exchanger unit is installed thats mid nov so yes mid nov about. The reason is the humidity level will rise and warm humidity on my cold winter windows will freeze on contact and my window frames will collect ice. Very bad for the integrity of the structure of the building. Hence the wait so sorry guys . But mid nov about in the mean time i'm continuying on other stuff.

[Mudbeaver]

Look at the picture, and envision a pair of Maspect Razors LED lights side by side and hanging there on top of that tank. Now i don't know if you've seen the Razor's profile but they're shaped like a nice walkway , and perfect for the cats to climb on unfortunatly. So i plan to hook from the ceilling , the same as the LED lights, a panel of plexiglas the lenght of the tank coming down behind the tank and cutting off access to the tank, so my feline friends don't hop on my warm LED's and plunge them into the water.





By the way while i was writing this one of them was talking, yes you know, the way they are in the morning lol. Anyway all innocent and climbing slowly up and acting all innocent and looking around and walking back and forth , pacing, if i hadn't been there , i know where he'd been going, lol and as soon as i leave i'll be going in , they're so deliberate, and anyone saying they're not intelligent are crazy, they choose their timing and act so innocently before ...grrr we love them so much don't we, i do.

[Mudbeaver]

Well , i've taken the trim off the sump.I shaved the silicone off the sump following the edge of the glass and taken mesurements; here's the mesurements i get so far;(all in inches)

The top of the sump; 19 7/8
Bottom of the sump; 20 1/16
Legs of the stand, bottom 19 15/16
Legs of the stand, middle 20
Legs of the stand top 20
Inside the stand 20 1/16

We are making the last attempt tonight.

You asked me if it will fit i d o n o t k no w snif :biga::biga:

[Mudbeaver]

We tried and its a missed sump. It doesn't fit between the legs and even if it did their's not room for a hair to move between the bottom braces for the sump. Concept told me they hadn't tried the sump under the stand before shipping it. OOPs not a good move. We tried removing the trim but ultimatly its no go. They said they'd build me another one if that solution didn't work, which i'm greatfull.After all sending the sump and the stand without seing if it fits, is kina strange.

[Mudbeaver]

If the weekend was disapointing it was still productive. I managed to installed some of my Maspect Razors light system, one was missing its hanging kit , which i'm going to claim at the store who sold it to me. It was a chore because living in a building with cement slabs 8 inches thick .....I had to drill that concrete! Those tanks will never go anywhere and certainly not those lights.








The hooks are good for 67 lb, the razors are 5.5 lb, i'm good.




When i chose the razors , it was suppose to be between two tanks; one on top of each other, the shape of the Razors made perfect sense at that time. The other factors were; at the time of the conception of the tanks, i had chosen a light to be just right for the dept of the tanks, 21". The Razor's PAR was perfect for that, plus , since it was suppose to be between two tanks i didn't want the heat to overheat the top tank above. Again the wing shape and design of the Razors proved to be perfect for it, even its operation, the fans only working when it becomes too hot made sense, still do. Yes they're still my choice even after the changes in the layout of my system; Razors Rule!!!!

[Mudbeaver]

I'm leaving the wall blank, to me it makes the room bigger and symbolises vastnest and makes the effect really interesting in the room

[Mudbeaver]

Ah HA ! Caught in the act this morning , laying on the beach......when he saw me he new he was in trouble he started to cry, the kind that make your blood ice cold, he was scared, so i went easy on him he was so scared he didn't want to come down from behind the tank, i found out later that Lulu was also there hiding terrified, lol so i took them down gently this time. They know when i'm not happy. I don't talk very loud only when angry and they know the difference.
I was quick with the cam yes lol. Don't know how i managed that,lol.









This morning feeling a bit better i took the ceramic panels that will be behind the primary sculpture out of the reef tank and cleaned up the space.





Now the inside of the tank whith is 22 5/8 , see the tape.....Remember when i said to wait to have your tank before making a sculpture , because it helps with the scale of your piece. I didn't have my tank when i started and this is the result. The sculpture is actually too big for my tank. Its still usable but it wont have the effect i was counting on or that it should have if it was in a ; let say a 30 wide tank. I have to stick it close to the backwall for it to fit because of the foward arm, from which the stalactite will drop.




As you can see the space between the sculpture and the backwall is very narrow, so much so i had to chizel some piece of the wall off. So i can lower down the sculpture without a hitch. Its a very snug fit.





I'm not sure about the waterflow of the tank anymore, because of those tight spots. In the original plan 2 tunze 6095 was enough but now , it may require a third we'll see.

[Mudbeaver]

The forward shelves creating the arm and support for the stalactite , takes a lot of room and pushes the main body againts the wall, literaly, lol. It'll make a cool display when finished but some of the details will be lost because of the scale i used. so when you start your piece make sure you have your tank very important. I'll make my stalactite when the water is in the tank . This is for several reasons.




The pieces i took out off the wall;




My 2 pieces of plexiglass to support the sculpture should spread the load evenly over the entire area. The dam silicone; they sell that for aquarium tanks, white? Never paid attention when i bought it. Why white? For aquariums, can anybody tell me where in the world did you ever see white silicone in a tank? rant over...



Putting the ceramic panels on top of the plexiglass at precise markings, because the sculpture is 3 feet long and a few inches seperates it from the other set of sculpture, the Tonga Branch sculptures....

[Mudbeaver]

I'll be hanging a plexiglass from the ceiling , behind the overflow, effectively cutting off access to the tank. I just haven't around to it yet. Got my hanging kit, just want to wait i've finished all the plumbing . It wont be in the way, i'll still have access to the tank and overflow but not the cats lol. They'll be trapped behind and on their stairscase, lol.



The plexiglass will drop to the edge of the top of the overflow




They actually didn't do anything in the sand ....yet, lol

[Mudbeaver]

Concept Aquariums are building me a brand new Sump free of charge and sending it first thing next week, priority one, no charge for their mistake, they hadn't tried it under the stand before shipping it, and it didn't fit. Its going to be in two pieces so easier to install front loader no more moving that big 150G to fit it in . They're doing the new plans this weekend, building it and i should have it next week. Great service. So now i have a sump to sell; 48"X20"X16" . The new sump will have one piece of 32"X19"X16" and the other 10"X19"X16" .

The old one, or should i say the one that doesn't fit

[Mudbeaver]

Well my sculptures are in the tank, while i'm waiting for my new sump. Since Concept has built me a new one and shipping it this week it should arrive next week. Its in 2 part; part one, drains and skimmer; 32"X19"X16" and the reactors and return module 18"X19"X16" . Both part will be loaded from the from of the stand which will be more practicle actually, if i have to change, sump in the future... Done at no extra cost since they'd build it and not tried it under the stand before sending it, they stood behind their service . Extremely good service with that company.

Well here's my finished sculptures, in the tank and backwalls






One reason i said in my videos about having your tank when you do your sculpture is to have a better sense of scale. Well here's a good example of this. As you can see the piece is stuck to the backwall. The sculpture is actually too big for the tank; still usable but i made it without the tank and could ajust the scale correctly. Because of that its off center, and pushed back. It would be more at home in a 30" wide tank rather tank a 24". I'm still using it and happy about it, but food for thought.







Because i didn't have the tank the height as also been miscalculated. The plexiglass has risen the piece; replacing the 1/2"pvc with 1" pvc as well . So now the sculpture will be partly out of the water . It doesn't compromise its use but changes ; the lighting, the waterflow expectations, and the stalactite position and lenght as a result.



I plan to have little crab climbing outside the water onto those selves, got to find the species that does that lol. Some sargasum can grow near the surface as well.

[Mudbeaver]

The stalactite will still look cool there.



The waterflow has to go throught this now eeewweww grrrrrrrr





Two inch of sand will cover the plexiglass and the feet of the support structure. One inch will be clear for water to flow through and under . A cave will be formed with corals positioned around the feet and the structure hiding most of it.



The 2 " sand covering the eggcrates will make these branch rise from the sea floor and stand on their own, one covered with green star polyp, the other with zoas and keeping the shape of the branch will make a stunning effect.





The refugium

[Mudbeaver]

It made of an eggcrate core, with rubble rocks tied with zip ties, around the eggcrate, foamed between the rocks tied to a nylon rod , sanded with epoxy resin and sand and voila.

I have no word to describe how cool ...just check it out

[Mudbeaver]

Lulu was guarding it ....

[Mudbeaver]

Its better to have a thick resin because the sand stick to it much better so a 5min one works best, so don't mess around get going with it.







While i did the foam i sprinkled some crush coral on it , but be carefull on the edges otherwise it'll fall over,that technique is better just on the top of the stalactite .



After the sanding even on top of the crush coral









Always start at the end

[Mudbeaver]

My first one same process











I can't wait for the fish to swim around that and the gorgonians and the likes.


:wavey: