New Tank!

[reefette]

I am so excited. I feel like I am graduating. I have a 14 gallon nano cube in which I have made lots of mistakes but also learned a ton. Last night my daughter (rosebud161616) and my son-in-law (kev2me) delivered my 60 gallon cube and did all the plumbing and helped me get the rocks into it. I made the rock arch the day before and thought it would be terrible but I think it looks awesome! The kids liked it too. Now just waiting for my RODI unit to arrive so I can fill and start cycling. Rosebud1616 said it correct last night when she said they are like drug dealers. This is definately expensive, contagious but lots of recreational fun.

Now the big argument in this family is whether or not this tank needs a background. I say no that it looks nice having it open. My daughter thinks it must have one and not let the wall show. What do you think? Take the poll.
yes, I need a background
no, I don't need a background

[zenpytho]

http://s1180.photobucket.com/albums/x405/eamoetoomey/?action=view&current=001.jpgI am so excited. I feel like I am graduating. I have a 14 gallon nano cube in which I have made lots of mistakes but also learned a ton. Last night my daughter (rosebud1616) and my son-in-law (kev2me) delivered my 60 gallon cube and did all the plumbing and helped me get the rocks into it. I made the rock arch the day before and thought it would be terrible but I think it looks awesome! The kids liked it too. Now just waiting for my RODI unit to arrive so I can fill and start cycling. Rosebud1616 said it correct last night when she said they are like drug dealers. This is definately expensive, contagious but lots of recreational fun.

Now the big argument in this family is whether or not this tank needs a background. I say no that it looks nice having it open. My daughter thinks it must have one and not let the wall show. What do you think? Take the poll.
yes, I need a background
no, I don't need a background
no in a year back could be covered in all purple anyhow less to scrape lol

[rosebud161616]

Coraline covered back tanks look messy and ugly! You need a background!!! :)

[jimsflies]

+1 on the background. I love the aquascape...you're off to a great start with some great helpers!

[marc49127]

Yes I think it needs a background but it should be black.

[Corvette Reefer]

i say its completely your choose you say no then no. iv never used a back ground then again iv been thinking about maybe doing one, but its preference of your if you want one or not.

[Sir Patrick]

I have always been a fan of a black background.

[tankdude]

Yes you need a background, I personally like the black or blue backgrounds.

[BikerBret]

black background for sure!

[CalmSeasQuest]

Your arch is beautiful - I'd use a dark background to eliminate anything that would detract from it. Choosing black would help hide your overflow and crate a perception of much more depth.

I also find that coral colors appear richer when viewed in front of an increased contrast/dark colored background.

[Heidi]

+1 for a black background. I didn't have on on the last tank (it was a hex so really where is the back??) But on my cube I do (150) It makes the tank look neater because you can's see my cords and what not back there/ plus the overflow blends and doesn't take away from the "depth" of the tank. I am letting coraline cover my background cause I like that look. The background on mine is not painted it is made from that black window tint stuff.

Beautiful rock work can't wait to see how you do this tank up it has some serious potential!

Heidi

[ZoanthKid]

+1 black background to add contrast to brightly colored fish and coral

+1 absolutely beautiful arch, can't wait to see water n some life in there!

[MizTanks]

I have a black background and it definitely adds depth and my power heads (all black) seem to blend right in.

IMO the open back showing the wall would take away from your beautiful rock work :)

[rosebud161616]

Well my mom has been working very hard on this tank for quite some time and done a really nice job. I have been taking care of her tank this week while she was out of town and took some video and put together this for her. It was taken on an iphone, so don't expect anything amazing:


http://youtu.be/-cQEN1uY3RE

To give you some background, her tank has now gotten to the point where it's using up more alk than the weekly 10% water changes are replacing. She has started making a kalk solution and weekly with the water changes raises the alk to 10dKh. It manages to stay above 8 until the next water change where she repeats. This is working for her until things get a bit bigger and start automating things.

The corals took a pretty big hit before she figured out that the alk was low, so many corals are still recovering. She puts her heart and soul into this tank and I think she's doing an awesome job!

I have some more pictures I took that I'll eventually get around to editing and posting.

[Sir Patrick]

Very nice!!!

[woods4542000]

I thought the video was nice, music was kind of sad tho lol.

[Sidewinder]

Very nice tank!

[bluwc]

Since its not up and running yet, I'd actually do a rock wall. The egg crate and foam with rubble rock,I think that would be awesome! I've read a lot of threads and that's my plan for my next tank. Your aquascape is great! Congrats on your new tank.

---------- Post added at 08:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 AM ----------

Oh lol I didn't read the date this was originally posted haha...but its looking good

[binford4000]

nice rock work,looks great and nice video :thumbsup:

[rosebud161616]

I thought the video was nice, music was kind of sad tho lol.

I was going for soothing, not sad. Oh well. I'm a huge Enya fan!

[MizTanks]

Love Enya and Loved your video! What is she using for lights?

[rosebud161616]

I modded out an old 24" Solaris i5 unit with some good LEDs. Back in the day those fixtures were awesome, but now it takes twice as many of their old LEDs to equal the newer ones. So I have 6 Blues/6 whites on either side for a total of 24 LEDs with 60* optics. It's powered by 2 dimmable meanwell drivers. I cut the back fin off of the heatsinks that were already in there and was able to sandwich the driver between the heatsink and the top of the Solaris fixture. I also replaced the 4 fans with much better ones. It's amazing how cool this fixture stays even with the drivers being housed in the fixture. Finally, I installed 2 potentiometers with the dials sticking out through the top so she could adjust the color temperature to whatever she wanted. I wish I took pics along the way so that this all would make more sense. I do have this one shot that I sent to her when it was "alive."

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/other/moms_light.jpg

[rosebud161616]

I found a few more pics of the light. Here is a side view of the original fixture with just one strip of LEDs removed. You can see the fin in the middle at the bottom of the picture (which is actually the top of the light) that I cut off to fit the driver right there.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/37_Build/LED_Light_03.jpg

I then took some aluminum strips and cut them down to the same size of the circuit boards that had the LEDs attached to them in the first place. I only used 2 or 3 LEDs per strip rather than 5 like the original light had since these LEDs are over twice as bright as the originals.

http://kevintoomey.com/reef/37_Build/LED_Light_06.jpg
http://kevintoomey.com/reef/37_Build/LED_Light_07.jpg

[reefette]

As you can tell, this tank would be nothing without all of my daughter's expertise and creativity. She saved me a bundle and got me a better light than you can buy by making this one. It makes the tank what it is.:highfive3::highfive3:

[TheLittleMermaid]

You have a beautiful tank! The video is amazing and turned out great. I could only imagine what it looks like in person! Great job and I love the aquascape!