Gwen's 125g

[Small Fry]

Lol Its a race gwen, i just got a new tank for my fuge, so mayber that'll motivate me a bit

But yeah, if the people makin ur sub dont care, it will come out like garbage. Personally im scared of getting complained about (iunno why) so i make the best sub i can

But yeah, i hope i can find the time to finish my tank. I was almost dismotivated (yeah, thats right) when i went fish storing and saw all of the garbage LFS's in my city, but im going to finish and then get all my stuff from a great place in toronto (4 hrs away...)

[gwen_o_lyn]

Josh- I should flag down one of those snowbirds and tell them to bring some frags to Josh's house!! Might be a little better than the 4 hour drive.

So this weekend we had SWU- it was sooo awesome! I got to drive Bob Fenner back to his hotel after the Fri nite speaker party and I couldn't stop laughing- so funny!!! There were 5 of us in the car laughing our pants off!!

Saturday was ok... had car probems, car died in downtown atlanta on the lunch break... I was a little freaked out. I dont like driving in downtown at all. Thank god I had a reef buddy with me to help me out!!! I went home after that since I was very stressed and I just needed to get my car fixed. I missed the Tullio talk, but I'm told the podcast him and Jake recorded today will be the same as his talk that I missed.

Sunday was very good. Calfo gave us a wonderful fragging demo. Bob did his hilarious talk on catching fish, and Jake Adams was absolutely amazing with his talk on Atlantic corals!!! I really made out on raffles and I won an MR2- YAY BABY!! I won some other cool stuff too. It was my lucky day!!

I wasn't really ready for SWU this weekend, but it turned out ok. Winning the skimmer made up for a bad day on Saturday.

[cmay]

Hi

The tanks looks great especially the position (striking).. 125G if only……. Im not aloud a bigger tank until I get a bigger job

When I decided to use retrofit/DIY MH I wanted to use electronic Icecap ballast, unfortunately there hard to get in the UK and pricing over here is high.

Good luck with the tank, I look forward to the outcome.

[gwen_o_lyn]

Here is a pic of the skimmer in the sump- close fit. I gotta get a pump for it. BIL seems to know how to section/baffle it off. I want a spot for a fuge or at least a place to grow pods.

And some pics of the closet with a bunch of crap in it!! But this will soon be the fish closet. There will be a cool water change setup in here. Turn a valve and the water goes outside. Turn another and it goes in the tank.

BIL is coming in a few weeks for the setup - yeah!! I gotta get on with my shopping list. I'm buying bulkheads, pumps, and those plastic things that shoot the water into the tank.

[Small Fry]

Yupp gwen, if theres one piece of advice i can give u, its be prepared for the bill.

Like u may ave seen on my thread, i got 5 or 6 Bulkheads, 12 sections of locline, 6 flares, valves, 2 OF boxes, and lengths of piping and it run me (my dad, i was only expecting to pay $120 for the drilling job) about $1200. I have no idea if your setup is going to be as intricate (prolly not the right word) as mine, needing all the holes and bulkheads, but like we all know, save money where u can. And if you can't brace yourself.

I have a P.D day on friday so i'll have my tank up and running in a couple months (lol)

Skimmer and sump looks really good btw *thumbs up*

[Astrivian]

I know, i wish i were independently wealthy so i didn't have to schedule tank builds around my paychecks!

Wow, you say you won that skimmer in the picture? Very cool. now i am super jealous

[gwen_o_lyn]

Yupp gwen, if theres one piece of advice i can give u, its be prepared for the bill.

Which bill are you talking about? electric I assume?

Like u may ave seen on my thread, i got 5 or 6 Bulkheads, 12 sections of locline, 6 flares, valves, 2 OF boxes, and lengths of piping and it run me (my dad, i was only expecting to pay $120 for the drilling job) about $1200. I have no idea if your setup is going to be as intricate (prolly not the right word) as mine, needing all the holes and bulkheads, but like we all know, save money where u can. And if you can't brace yourself.

I have a P.D day on friday so i'll have my tank up and running in a couple months (lol)

Skimmer and sump looks really good btw *thumbs up*

The tank is already drilled and hopefully I will be adding 2 more Tunze 6100's to the system eventually. So for now, I will have 2 mag7's for the overflows and 2 - 6100's.

Congrats on the payday coming soon.


Well tonite I cleaned out the closet and did some mud & tape. I might do sheet rocking one more time, sand it down, and then paint. I figure I can always go back and fix imperfections after I have painted. I think once I get the paint on the wall, it won't look so bad.

As far as the skimmer, yes I did win it- big score!! I do have to buy a pump which is not a problem! The plan was to use my 2 skimmers on my current setups, but this is much better!

[gwen_o_lyn]

My BIL has been drawing pics of what he plans to setup when he gets here in a few weeks.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[sscheitel]

slight changes on the sump design.

Any suggestions or improvements would be greatly appriciated.

[Astrivian]

What is the wye on the intank for? I noticed you had a T on it gwen. What does it do? Oh wait, is that to break a siphon?

[gwen_o_lyn]

I don't understand your question... and which pic are you referring to?

Are you talking about the sideways T where the water overflows down to the sump?

[Astrivian]

Photoshop is so cool I circled the part i was wondering about.

[sscheitel]

That is a "reverse" durso to vent any excess air from getting into the fuge. It "should" cut down on the bubbles that flow through the pvc down to the fuge. I will not glue any items until everything is tested.

[gwen_o_lyn]

My 2 boxes have arrived so we have almost everything we need to get started. I'm sure we will make several trips to HD. I haven't ordered the lights yet...

The 55g sump is being leak tested. I have it sitting on the kitchen counter collecting RODI water.

[Larry Copperband]

Hi Gwen,
Wow.To say I'm Impressed would be an understatement.The largest tank I've ever had was a 90g,which wasn't drilled.I still have it,with the old style Iron stand.
Very Reluctant to set it up again.Looking at yours,I can see why. The heartbeat of a successfull system really is "behind the scenes"planning,and you seem to have that down pat.
I read where your dismantling your other tanks.Currently I have 4 tanks up & running.At the time,I convinced myself it would be nice to have diversity among tanks,and at times,It's worked that way.But honestly for the most part,It's almost like having a second job,keeping up with them all.Heck,I go through 4 test strips just to do one water test!
Congrats,and I'm dyin' to know what your plans are for stocking that beautiful tank.

Larry.

[Danamck]

Looking good Gwen. Setting up a new tank can be stressful and fun all at the same time!

[V]

That is a "reverse" durso to vent any excess air from getting into the fuge. It "should" cut down on the bubbles that flow through the pvc down to the fuge. I will not glue any items until everything is tested.

what flow rates are we talking into the fuge?
biggest thing going for this design is releaving any potential backflow, used the way your refering, these only work 100 effectively when the end pipe is submerged and the water level within the tube allows for it

[sscheitel]

doing 200-300 in the fuge...

I am not going to glue anything until all has been tested. If the reverse durso does not allow for enough air to escape I will come up with something else.

Any suggestions on improvements?

[gwen_o_lyn]

Well the tank is up and running and a lot has happened!! Matt's bro (sscheitel) and their dad came down about 5 days and we got everything up and running. Steve did A LOT of work and the end result is amazing! Steve enjoyed doing this since it was practice for his 250g plus aquarium he will be starting next year.

Let me try and dig up some photos....

[thesaent14]

we need some pics sooooooooooon

[gwen_o_lyn]

ok let me see if I can dig some up....

[gwen_o_lyn]

Ok here's the story...

I have always wanted to knock out the wall in the small coat closet and see what's back there. This closet is under a stairway so there must be wasted space. My dream was to plumb a tank in there.

Back in the fall of '06, I decided it was time to see what was behind the wall. My neighbor, Robert, is quite the handyman. I asked him to help me with this project.

Here is a photo of Robert after we took out the shelf where we hang jackets.

[gwen_o_lyn]

wow look at all that space!!

[gwen_o_lyn]

Here are the guys cleaning out the closet.

[gwen_o_lyn]

Robert and I took a trip to HD for some sheetrock, nails, mud, and tape. Here is a picture with the first piece of sheetrock in place.