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Pixel's 65 Gallon

Tomorrow I'm picking up my new tank and cabinet. I'm buying it from a coworker who no longer has time for the hobby.

Specs:
65 gallon glass tank (36" wide, 24" tall, 17" deep)
cherry cabinet
25 gallon acrylic sump (24" wide, 15" tall, 17" deep)
250 watt metal halide
EuroReef RS-180 Skimmer

I plan to:
Sand and refinish the cabinet. Replace hinges and add handles.
Remove old overflow box, drill two additional holes for flooded overflow and return
Install VHO supplemental actinics
Make DIY Concrete Rock
Finish the DIY Controller for at least lighting, temp, pH, and salinity with data
logging over TCP and warnings sent to email and phone

I'm excited!
 
Some photos! It's got some scratches, hence the refinishing, and it's not quite plumbed the way I want it, but it's got good bones, as they say.
 
Nice setup.. The only thing I don't like is you can't remove the canopy.. ...edit: nevermind.. I open the pics and see the scratch :D
 
[quote author=Elite link=topic=4551.msg55366#msg55366 date=1221325502]
Nice setup.. The only thing I don't like is you can't remove the canopy.
[/quote]

Yeah, I don't really like that either, but I think I can live with it. I'm actually thinking about cutting the canopy off since I'm refinishing it anyway. Then the canopy could sit on top with little dowels to keep it from sliding or I could toss it and do a pendant light.

Anyway, I got all this (including pump, skimmer, and lights) for $600. At that price I can deal with the hood one way or another. :D
 
If you can, cut it.. It's hard to reach in to do anything when that thing is on the tank. The doors/holes are not big/high enough. If you install 2MHs with 2 T5s, you will probably have less than 5" gap to work with..
 
Didn't I see mention of a light mover in someone's tank journal? Ah, there it is... it's Jeremy's. Jeremy, is that something that raises and lowers the lights? Maybe I'll cut off the canopy, make it so it can set on top, and then rig up something that raises and lowers it.
 
[quote author=pixelpixi link=topic=4551.msg55376#msg55376 date=1221329307]
Didn't I see mention of a light mover in someone's tank journal? Ah, there it is... it's Jeremy's. Jeremy, is that something that raises and lowers the lights? Maybe I'll cut off the canopy, make it so it can set on top, and then rig up something that raises and lowers it.


[/quote]Mine has a rail that moves the MH side to side to cut down on power consumption.

Personally I wouldn't touch the setup, I like the framed look. With mightymagnets.com you can clean around the trim without having to get in there with a scraper. Plus, if you do the rockwork before the tank is installed into the stand, the framing really won't limit you once the tank is setup. I will say you really scored on the setup, and I think it's gonna be an amazing setup once it's finished, congrats.
 
Thanks! I got it all hauled back. My friend also threw in every other bit of aquarium stuff he still had, which included another sump, a 20 gallon tru-vu tank, an extra bulb (Iwasaki 6500k), tons of plumbing parts, and some books. There may be some stuff I end up not needing. I'll throw it up on here for free or cheap if that turns out to be the case.

Turns out that the doors in the canopy provide plenty of room for accessing the tank. I can easily reach most anywhere in the tank, with the exception of maybe the far back corner. Structurally I'm going to keep it as is. I just need to sand and refinish it and replace all the hinges.

The canopy also has big braces that support the top. He used to keep the 20 gallon up there. I might do that too and set it up as a 'fuge.
 
Erin ......if only i could have started reefing with a set up like that...i know we had talked about you getting a set up but ...WOW....beautiful stand/canopy....this is going to great reef set up. let me know if you need any help.
 
Thanks, Sergio! Yeah, I'm super lucky to find this setup, and at such a bargin too.

I just scrubbed down the tru-vu tank. I'm going to use it as a quarantine tank for now and take down my other two QT tanks for the time being. (the coral one is mostly empty now anyway) Speaking of QT tanks, though, I have a question for you guys:

I've been treating my clownfish for ich using hyposalinity for about a week. I don't see any more signs of ich on the fish. I think that rather than treating them with hypo for a whole month I'll just put them in the clean QT tank and scrub down the old one. It seems like if ich is not on the fish and nothing else goes from the old QT tank to the new one then the ich will be gone. Is there anything wrong with that plan?
 
i hate ich...
let me know if you need any help with the setup.
yayyyy today is the day for me n john to go to the academy for the member's preview! ive been waiting for this day for years!
 
Yeah those hinges are a pain, a word of advise, coat your hinges in a varnish or something to give them a seal, because they will rust out very quickly, those nice "European style" flush mounts (or any hinge for that matter) most likely won't be made out of stainless.
 
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