monkiboy's 265g build thread

[buddy08]

awesome! In relation to its size, how heavy is that piece? Also; does the rock buffer PH like some liverock and aragonite sand?

 

[monkiboy]

awesome! In relation to its size, how heavy is that piece? Also; does the rock buffer PH like some liverock and aragonite sand?

around 10 lbs and it is around 12" tall and 10" wide 8" deep. no it does not alter water chemistry in any way. there's a ton of the details on their pages, check it out!

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

Bud, I was looking at there site. So far, I'm thoroughly impressed.

 

[monkiboy]

external overflow box went up last night!



taped up -

set to dry and cure -

now to wait for a few days and then i will install the glass triangle bracing. then remove the stand pieces and redgard them and reinstall. then...PLUMBING!

 

[Civicdemon]

Now im lost again, I tought it was going to go long ways out so you could use it for frags ???, are there going to be bulk heads in the middle conectiong the box and tank ???

 

[monkiboy]

Now im lost again, I tought it was going to go long ways out so you could use it for frags ???, are there going to be bulk heads in the middle conectiong the box and tank ???

don't want to make it too large making tank maintenance and moving around behind the tank difficult. i am going to have a separate large frag tank in the fish room behind the 265 plumbed into the system stacked below the large refugium and LR tank that will then flow into the sump.

there are not going to be bulk heads connecting the external overflow and tank. the external overflow does not have a pane against the back pane of the 265. image from above shows final external overflow box:

water comes out from back pane of 265 into external overflow box and out the bottom pane of the external overflow box via bean animal drains to sump.

thanks for the interest and questions!

 

[Civicdemon]

ahhh ok now I get it. are you going to use some type of stand pipe to keep the water levels a bit high in the box ??

 

[monkiboy]

ahhh ok now I get it. are you going to use some type of stand pipe to keep the water levels a bit high in the box ??

bean animal drain design

 

[Civicdemon]

ok ill look that up lol ..

 

[monkiboy]

redgard the opening above the tank...

 

[monkiboy]

decided to paint the back of the tank. i used plasti-dip for ease of removal.

the one pup was no help...

i really didn't like how it looked. it was uneven, black was just so...black. i need a different shade/color/idea/something. so off it went...



thankfully plasti-dip comes off much easier than it goes on. pulled it all off in less than a minute, haha.

thinking of going with a charcoal or grey/smoke vinyl or something along those lines...any ideas? maybe instead get some thin kydex sheets and silicone to back of tank? or inside of tank standing in place? with the textured side to the front?



need ideas - help por favor!

 

[Civicdemon]

I think it looked good with the plastic dip. So you removed it ??? Should have done the hole back end like that plus like you said its simple to remove later if you chose to.

 

[monkiboy]

I think it looked good with the plastic dip. So you removed it ??? Should have done the hole back end like that plus like you said its simple to remove later if you chose to.

yeah i did the whole thing and then let it dry and didn't like anything about it so i peeled it off in a jiffy.

thinking of doing a shadowbox instead. if i can work around the external overflow then it'll give me the depth i want and a much nicer finish.

any ideas?

 

[Inkwell]

need an underwater projector playing endless loop of scenes from Jaws, the Deep, etc on the backglass as a background. lol either that or mirror the back and install a sex swing to encourage propagation!

 

[monkiboy]

finally found a swell deal on a frag tank for the fish room. new to me frag tank -

old macro and live rock tank set up in fish room:

out it goes for cleaning and breaking down the old stand:

all out:

new stand construction for frag tank and macro/live rock tanks:

c'est fini:

tomorrow i'll redgard it up, drill some holes for the overflow drains, get it plumbed in hopes the existing bulkheads aren't leaking and won't require replacement and get this system flowing in anticipating of plumbing of the 265 in very soon (but won't be integrating the 265 until it is completely cycled).

 

[Civicdemon]

So is the 265 Cycling atm ?

 

[monkiboy]

So is the 265 Cycling atm ?

not yet. still waiting on the rockscape from cerameco. probably will be a couple weeks on it.

also, waiting to figure out the backing of this thing so i can do plumbing. thinking of something like this:

OR

inspiration at the moment:

 

[buddy08]

I did something like that with my cichlid tank before it became a reef tank. Not sure if you have seen it but I pm'd you the link to my 75g build. Look at the first photo of the fresh water setup and you will see the background. It goes from a dark navy blue and lightens up to a royal blue and tans. I know that sounds odd as for colors but It blended well and had a radiance about it. I loved that background to be honest. It was painted on acrylic cut to fit the back of the tank.

 

[buddy08]

this was my inspiration at the time when I did my background way back when. Sorry for the double post, meant to add that to the other.

 

[Civicdemon]

I like the second one if it was a bit brighter do.