Need advice

[Raptor]

Hello everybody!
Cubes are very nice, But ones under 48 inches are equipment nightmares IMO (Because its an awkward shape for sumps, and having your ballasts and such undr the tank) Unless you have a remote sump somewhere else.
My dream tank is a 6 ft by 6ft cube.
I'll have it built into my next house, and have it go to the basement sump/frag tanks in a couple years.
I still havent se up my new 180, Marvsreef i bet thinks i am taking forever. LOL
I have, But equipment for a 180 sps tank is expensive. LOL

 

[mschriskim]

Oh, I taught you are in CA I guess I got confused with other person : ) coralnutz

Thanks everyone and Karen : )

Still learning how this board is structured and so on what thread goes where....

 

[ecotoxlady]

Looks like you're getting the hang of it Chris

Creetin, I'm really glad you found the place alright! I invited Creetin over here Coralnutz so hopefully you can help set him up here on the site

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Heya Karen,

I have a 72 bowfront right now too. The layout of the tank is not very good. The center overflow takes up too much good space.

I'd go for a 24x48 tank about 20 or so tall. I have 2x250 MH, and that would make best use of the lighting. Plus it has lots of room for rock and corals.

If you want to keep the noise down, do a low turnover between the sump and tank, and do extra water movement in the tank with powerheads or closed loop.

Keep the 55 for a sump and put it all together with a custom stand. Worse come to worse, you could stack up concrete blocks, 2x4s, and plywood. One benefit of the concrete blocks is that it dampens all the equipment noise.

 

[ecotoxlady]

Cool, thanks for the advice...I have a lot of pricing out to do and my husband and I are looking at houses tomorrow

 

[jessiesgrrl]

My hubby built my 56 column reef stand out of wood from home depot, a Fairfield door, and that fancy moulding that is really meant for kitchen cabinets. He could probably do it again in a day for you (He'd do it for the cost of the stuff to make it I bet) but the shipping might be bad to get it to you.

Laurie

 

[ecotoxlady]

Wow, thanks Laurie! Perhaps a trip up to Maine would be in order if I go that route

 

[jessiesgrrl]

A friend in need is a friend indeed, hey? LOL Of course you are always welcome to stop by. Maine is super this time of year, much cooler than the rest of the continental US. I was telling MarineFlora that up here, when it hits 85-90, Mainers are all lying on their kitchen floors where the tiles are cool...

LOL
Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Hey Karen, I posted a pic of the stand/hood he built on RC in the Zoanthid forum under full tank shots.

Laurie

 

[ecotoxlady]

Cool! Thanks for letting me know...I'll check it out

 

[ecotoxlady]

Took a look at the stand....all I can say is wow! Tell your husband he did an excellent job with that stand!! I'm actually pondering the following: my husband seems satusfied with my tank using up about 4 foot of space but not much more. My sump which is plumbed outside the stand is a 55G sump with partitions built in by the previous owner. If I were to have someone build me a stand that would fit the sump my problems would be solved since both the tank and the sump are four feet long. That would save lots of money on buying a new tank and makes a lot more sense to me. Does that sound like a plan?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Hi, Karen!

Sure!

I will talk to him tomorrow when he gets home from work. He likes to build stuff like I like to put together the tank, and we both like helping other people.

He said earlier tonight (I showed him this thread) that he can make anything as long as he knows "what dimensions she wants, and where any stuff has to go that you have hanging off the tank". I think he's proud that I liked it so much I showed it off and someone else would want his help. He can be really cute at times.


Laurie

 

[ecotoxlady]

Well he did a fantastic job on it! I'd have to see the dimensions of my sump as that will determine a lot given my skimmers are tall. I'm not sure how we would work this out though because financially I'm not in the best position (I'm finding out this week if I'm accepted into the Biochemistry PhD program at Maryland and if thats the case it means continuing to live poorly for another 4 years *sigh*).

 

[jessiesgrrl]

YYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! Congratulations!!!!!! That's awesome- I bet you worked really hard for that.

No problem- it should be a happy thing. Do it at your own speed- it's not like we are going anywhere, although it would have been cool to meet you in person.


Laurie

 

[ecotoxlady]

Well, thank you Not sure if I should be celebrating just yet...got my letter of acceptance into the program under the condition I take Calculus and Physical chemistry...two courses I have avoided like the plaugue....I'm pretty scared now! I will be starting in the fall though and have been offered a full assistantship with a $21,000 stipend and full tuition remission which certainly isn't anything to scoff at.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Not at all. I can help you with the physical chem as much as I can. And for the record, I am always game to help research/look stuff up. or proof papers. Man, I am the QUEEN of the thesis. No joke, there were classes I refused to take until I got a instructor that had a paper in the syllabus. Always gave me a buffer to dork something else up and still come out good gradewise.

Lots of people have helped me over the years after all.

And of course you should celebrate. 1) They said they want you, 2) It's what you worked for, and 3)Lots of folk don't get even that far. Be proud of yourself, and happy you got in! Fear is for people who don't know any better.


Laurie

 

[ecotoxlady]

Thank you! I am very excited about this opportunity and nervous about it at the same time. There are so many things to get organized! I can tell already it's going to be a rigorous program but I'll finally get to work in a field where I have the prospect of working corals into it. That was my devilish plan afterall Mwahahahahahaha. I want to go into naturally derived pharmaceuticals and where better to look than corals. James Reimer gave me a paper discussing a prostaglandin found in zoanthids that worked similarly to Taxol, a chemotherapeutic agent so theres proof already that corals may unlock the cures for cancer.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

*COMPLETELY understand*

Not only that but also the palytoxin itself. If people are already using Botulinum toxin for basically the same purpose. It would be interesting to see if palytoxin was a safer alternative to Botox, imo.

Laurie