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Operation Marine 2.........now 3

What a ball ache today was.

The tank is going against a wall that the dining room door opens out onto.........you can see what would happen there can't you!

So I decided to move the door so it opened outwards instead of inwards and therefore removing the smashed tank chance. Simple job i say to myself wont take long?..... :angry:

60's council houses do not hqve a straight edge in them so when i go to hqng the door it's completely out in bottom right corner. Lots of chisel and hammer action on the door frame for some "minor" adjustment ad a few hours later the door now opens outwards :good:
 
OMG that would be all you need is a smashed new tank :rolleyes:

Well, at least when you altered the door it was on purpose, not like when Ben altered a door frame :p

Seffie x
 
Would've been easier if I could have found my plane instead of the smallest chisel I own........got there in the end.

Funny bit is everyone trying to remember the door opens towards you not away like it did :lol:

Drawing up plans for the weir now. Deciding on a box in corner or a diagonal corner.
 
Yup Its completely the planes fault for putting itself somewhere so I couldn't find it again :lol:

Looks like cladding or plumbing the tank won't happen for a while as I'm still looking for work and finances are getting tight.

It will run sump less until I am working
 
Oh that is a pain, ben is using kitchen panals for his one, wonder if anyone round your area is ripping out a half decent kitchen?

Seffie x
 
I have worked out I can use 1 4ft x 8ft sheet of 9mm MDF to clad the front and both ends leaving the back open as it's a metal frame it doesn't need a back panel.

I was going to cover it in gloss black vinyl and attach using those magnetic door catches making all panels removable. The front would be in 2 pieces for ease of removing for access.

It's not too expensive for the MDF around £11.95 not priced up the vinyl yet, but I have Xmas to plan for and down what amounts as 1.5months money in the bank.....hence why I wont be doing it until i got a job. Just forked out on the tank connectors and n bucket of salt totalling £120 of non essential purchases, although the salt is essential to keeping a tank ticking over whilst not working.

Or I will buy panels from a manufacturer of tank stands, or go the kitchen door route if I'm working. Not essential to clad the stand as it wont be running a sump.
 
Hello all, long time no post.

Thought id update you all as to what's been happening....or not as is the case.

My metal stand arrived ages ago and has been sat in the dining room in position ever since with assembled salt buckets etc in it.

Tank has been ticking over since last post, although water changes have been hampered somewhat with my little staff chewing through both my heater and mixing pump cables destroying the 2 pin plug for the pump in the process. Got to find some way of sorting out to get water changes going again. Collecting that 4x2x2 from my mate on Saturday but still have nothing on top of my stand to allow the tank to get filled.

Found my juwel light unit not working on Monday tubes would go to fire up but not kick in and then go out so think a ballast has gone. Thankfully mate who's packed in has a Arcadia series 3 2x150w unit that i could borrow and have ended up buying, on a have now pay when working again basis. One of the actinic tubes doesn't work but that's not q problem and will sort at later date. I have never run actinic only on a tank and the fluro colours of some of my mushrooms and my soft coral is awesome.

It's resting on the tank on a couple block of wood as i have to sort the hanging cables out above the new tank position soon.

Have just managed to get some money together to buy 5litres of DI resin which will hopefully get me through until i can work again and i have plenty of salt so should be good there.

Fish are doing fine which is great, lost my mandarin found it stuck to a powerhead one morning and still not caught the big crab that's on there somewhere.

When the new tank is ready i will not be having sand in it as i cannot afford to buy all new if I'm honest so will be bare bottom for a few months.

It really is marines on a budget until i have passed my HGV licences next yr.
 
Bit of progress

I have now got 4x2 piece of plywood on top of the stand and also 25mm polystyrene.

Tank was not collected due to snow, and no idea when I will get it, roads are decent but it's the paths that are a problem on my estate. I don't want to risk slipping and tank being dropped.

I began to dismantle my old vivarium to salvage the back and bottom panels of 5mm glass. One piece will be cut to 2ft length and then in half, being siliconed together to become one 10mm piece. This will become a full depth (front to back) weir on the right side panel of the tank, just need to get 3mm blue acrylic to cover it.

Why the side panel you say and not full length or coast to coast weir or box weir. Well to do a box weir i need to buy glass as what i have is not enough also i would have ot allow the silicone to set for alot longer to make sure the weir does not give way as it would be emoty but holding back a tank full of water as k cannot afford the pipework for a sump to be installed. With the full depth weir i can install it and have it cure relatively quickly but more importantly i can control the level of the tank water to make sure there is no pressure on the new weir glass or over flow into the bulkheads whilst no pipework is attached. I have 40mm bulkheads to use for pipework to the sump and a 25mm spare bulkhead that i bought for a return before changing plans on my weir design.

Bought a new yellow watchman gob by the other day to replace my original one which died of old age i believe, never found the body so CUC did it's job.

So until i can get the tank its all stations stop

On a side note i did a large water change today using my electrical skills i resurrected the pump and heater to enable me to mix salt water again.

Oh and the Arcadia series 3 cost me, well my wife as it's a Xmas prezzie £50 bit of a bargain as most units of this age are still £150+
 
Another little update,

Got the pieces of glass i want free so now just need to clean them up ready to cut when i know what measurements are.

On bad note the melt water from the snow that was on the viv has warped my plywood sheet, I laid towels down but got distracted yesterday and it got left til today to finish so my own fault really
 
Collecting tank this evening......in the dark and icy conditions eek!

The drilling and weir will wait until I can get the pipework and return bought which will be months still. Wife wants her dining room back so a quick change over tanks and the rio will be consigned to the garden
 
Well that was a struggle but went smoothly enough. Tank is now sat in my lounge until tomorrow when it will be put in place on the stand.....need to recuperate as it's #40## heavy!

Also got a result in mate giving me his return pump a weir pro 6000lph which will run as a return and reactor feed eventually its a whopping 90w pump so may be changed for something lower in energy consumption in the future.

Tank needs a good clean out as does the sump as they have sat empty for nearly a year with just sqnd in the main tank.
 
Update again,

Tank is on the stand and been cleaned.

Painted the back and right side black and put it on the stand ply to notice it wasn't sitting level. It came with a brushed aluminium facia on the front which was severly corroded from slt creep so whilst it had 4" of water in it I got me chisel Stanley knife and some card and attacked it. Pleased to report tank is in one piece and sitting a lot better on the polystyrene now. I have a 5mm slope left to right I noticed when hue cleaning was done and the qater was sat in it. Nothing i can do about that but it wont notice and its towards the weir end anyway.

Tomorrow i have to clean the silicone off from where the facia was held on, empty the vinegar/water concoction and then dedcide when to drill it.
 
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