Everything in place, but sadly empty

After cleaning the sump and installing it in stand, some of the guys from work helped me move the tank onto the stand. So here it is, looking pretty good.

At the moment I am very slowly filling the tank with RO/DI water. At the rate I can produce it, it will take about 3 days. I'm not going all the way to the top just yet though. I'm going to fill about 125 gallons worth and use that to cure some live rock while I work on the plumbing.

Sump has arrived

The sump has finally arrived! It was packaged really well. It probably took a good 20 minutes to get it all out of the packaging. Once I did the first thing I noticed was the quality of the construction. Very nicely put together, very professional and worth the time and wait.

This weeks progress

Today I stained the canopy. Finally got sick of looking at the bare wood and gave it a good coat of stain. Looks good for a first coat. Not sure if I'll need a sealer on the outside, but I should try to find something for the inside where it can possibly be exposed to water.

Also, I did a lot of work on the moldings in the tank room as well as finishing off some painting. Luckily I was able to find some of the original white paint used in the house so I didn't have to buy anything.

The sump is on it's way from California, albeit slowly. According to the FedEx website it hasn't moved from Bloomington,CA since May 24th. As soon as that gets here, the fun begins.

I was thinking of a way I could cycle the live rock while building the plumbing at the same time. And I think I've got it figured out. If I fill the tank partially with salt water, I can isolate the water used for curing the rock from the water in the overflows. I just have to return the water that would normally be pumped back into the tank back to the overflows and they should be isolated. Once I get everything in place we'll see if I want to do this or just build and test then fill and cure.

Possible slow down due to lack of funds

My car is in need of some major work which is going to cost me a ton of money so I may not have the money to continue with this little project for a while :(

Started painting

After the reef club meeting, I started painting the new tank room. I was thinking of doing the wall the tank will be against and the opposite wall in the 'Paper Bag' color seen here, and it looks pretty good.

So far all I did was some of the bulk painting, none of the detail work. Couldn't do that with a roller. If I decide to stick with the two colors I'll have to do some masking and finish up the details.

The only time critical part though is getting everything behind where the tank will be done. So I have to get the edger and do the top against the ceiling and I have to work on the molding. Other than that, everything else can happen slowly as the tank is brought up to speed.

It's starting to look really good. And the sump is supposed to be shipped tomorrow. So since the tank is cleaned and ready, it could be moved in sometime during this week.

Tank cleaned

This morning I started out by taking some of the old equipment offline and got caught up in the moment and cleaned the whole tank. It was pretty nasty at some points, but a lot of that nastiness is now out in the back yard as lawn fertilizer :)

There's still some of the nasty hair algae stuck on the overflows, but I'm sure the exposure to the air will kill it. And if that doesn't, its in for a rough ride when I add saltwater and start curing the live rock.

After everything was cleaned I removed the old bulkheads in the overflows and found out the replacement ones I bought are too big for the holes. The current holes wont accept heavy duty bulkheads. Time to look for some standard bulkheads.

There was more work I could have done but I had to shower and get to the reef club meeting. I won a plating Montipora which is ironic because I was thinking about buying one anyway. It's only a frag, and not a great one at that, so we'll have to wait and see how it does.

... in with the new.

And here we are with the new laminate floor installed. That certainly was a fun experience. It looks REALLY good. I'm so happy with it. The flooring is by Dupont. Some really good stuff, heavier than any of the Pergo or similar brands that were at Home Depot. Sure it was more expensive, but it was worth it.

I tried to start painting the wall where the tank is going but ended up breaking a screwdriver trying to open the previous paint can. So on my third trip to Home Depot / Lowe's today, I bought another gallon of 'Paper Bag'. The paint guy who mixed the paint for me was wearing a Navy Chief's pin on his apron, so I asked him what he did in the navy. Turns out he's still in and working in Groton. Quite a haul for a weekend job, but he said it's paying for his Master's Degree. Sounds like he's had a fun career serving on some of the Seawolf class attack submarines.

Anyway, tomorrow morning I start painting.