[organicreefer]

well shes ready for a water test,everyone keep youre fingers crossed for me thought id post a pic of my progress

[organicreefer]

my closed loop

[organicreefer]

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[organicreefer]

kinda hard to see whats going on in there (very crowded)so ill try to explain a little:the tank has dual over flows,one goes into the refugium(30 tall),one goes into the sump(30 reg).the refugium has dual overflows also,one goes to the skimmer,one staright to the return pump.the ten gallon tank is my top-off,it connects to a kent float valve.the skimmer is an etss with a beckett mod run by a mag 18(skimmer is about 34 inches)the return is a dolphin dp1200dthat is split to both returns(might upgrade pump to two later).the closed loop is my ampmaster 3000 on two sea swirls.

[Ironreef]

Man looks good but how'd you get all that in there?? I was lazy and drilled a hole into the wall and use the garage.

[organicreefer]

Originally posted by Ironreef
but how'd you get all that in there??

months of planning.i dont have the luxery of an "equipment room",the tank sits against an outside wall on the other side of the house.still need more room really ,but i was able to fit quite a bit of equipment in there so im relatively happy

[Ironreef]

ahh I don't have an equipment room but the spot in the garage was enough for a refuigum and cal reator and top off. i guess a spot 4'wide by 3' long does give alot more room than a stand. But I still keep my sump under the tank. I wish I had an equipment room for multiple tank/refugiums ect... but maybe in the future.

[Aragorn]

Very nice system design. My compliments.

[obring]

A couple of months ago I went to Cape Canaveral... their space things look simpler than that thing up there!....sorry.... I am just having a headache cause I want to do the same thing! LOOKS GREAT!

[organicreefer]

aragorn ,obring ,thank you very much for youre compliments

ive spent the last couple days de-bugging the system trying to get it quieter.here is a couple pics of the water test in progress,as well as a "sneak preview" sshhhhh........of my almost done stand canopy.still needs some sanding and priming/painting...

[organicreefer]

as you can see the canopy is a four door,and it gives pretty good tank access.the stand has no center brace and excellent sump access.dont have the halides wired yet,lighting in the pics is 2x110w vho actinics.

[organicreefer]

check out what i did to the refugium.ive had one of these "rio motion" things (i think thats what its called)laying around for a couple years and just messing around i decided to put it on the overflow from my tank going into the refugium.i thought it probly wouldnt work,but it works beautifully alot of bubbles but that shouldnt be a problem eh?the refugium is 24" tall,im thinking 8' dsb,no live rock for maximum sand bed surface area=more diffusion.lighting is a 65 w loa.

[Aragorn]

Lookin' very nice.

[BigLar]

Do you have the plans for your canopy? I need to make one and like yours a lot!

[GregD]

Great setup organicreefer! Thanks for the pics.

I too would like more information about the canopy, especially the lighting that you have. Is that a flood lamp fixture on the right wall of the canopy?

Greg D.

[Crutziel]

I am liking tank and canopy very cool dood! I cannot do somthin as good as creativity as the tank, it's nice. thanks for picture of setup. I wanting to maek one sumday to.

[organicreefer]

thanks guys, i appreciate the compliments i spent the last 6-7 months working on this setup and im pretty proud of it
as for plans for the ,well anything i cant really help all that much,i didnt write anything down and just sort of built it as i went
the construction is all pretty simple the canopy is basically a plywood box,at the top there is a frame made if 2x2s.its all then trimmed out with some molding from HD.the doors are all plywood too,i put some ply cap around the edges and glued a peice of 1/4(8?)veneer with some molding around that for a "raised panel" look.if you want ill take some more closeup pictures of the contsruction,and moldings used.
the canopy still isnt completely done yet,i still need to wire the 400w iwasaki and mount the moonlight(25w blue incandescent).i also need to build the screen for the back and the top(both are open to let the heat out,need screens to keep the fish in, and dust and whatever out)here is a pic of the inside of the canopy so far,the lighting is 2x110w vho actinics on an icecap 660,2x175w ushio 10ks and a 400w iwasaki,all halides on spiderlights.there are 2 4" radio shack fans mounted in the back blowing in.

[BigLar]

Yes, please post more pictures.

How tall is it? How high are you MH bulbs off of the water? How thick is the wood you used?

The main thing holding me up right now is choosing the kind of wood to use. I wanted to use Oak, but it's so expensive. I'm now thinking about using 3/4" Oak plywood.

[organicreefer]

ok im gonna take some more pics this afternoon.first i thought id start off with a list of tools/materials i used:

circular(skill) saw/straight edge.(you can have HD make almost all the big cuts for you ,they have a large table saw (i dont have a table saw if you do never mind)standing on end thing that makes good straight cuts,all you need to do is give them the measurements,for the hood you need four sides say 14 inches tall,you could have them cut a peice of 4x8 ply into a bunch of 14 inch strips that you could cut to lentgth when you get home,sam with the doors they will all be the same size-)

scroll saw.i used this to cut out the door openings,the holes for the fans etc.

miter saw. this is probably the most important tool.there is alot of mitered edges (45 degree cuts) in the trim work.it also helps with the framing .

hand tools : hammer ,screw gun(drill),files , sand paper,etc etc.

i used deck screws, finish nails,elmers waterproof(exterior)wood glue,liquid nails panel glue,wood filler, etc etc.

i think i started with the ply(i used 1/2 oak) at 14 inches,the trim will make it taller,and the halides are almost ten inches from the water.

i was going to use all oak too,but when i started adding it up,it would have cost about 350 bucks....... just for the trim (hood and stand)
so i alread had the ply, and i switched to the cheapy pine trim and decided id paint the stand /canopy.

like i said pics to come,im about to take the hood off for the transfer.....after im done with that ill get some good pics up for ya.........wish me luck,this is an all in one day swap,hope i dont lose any fish /corals............

[arcab4]

just curious, i noticed that it's tightly packed in there. how do you get into the tanks? oh yeah..was it expensive to get the glass drilled? today is sunday and all the glass shops around here are closed.