Wrasse Retreat 2.0: Evolved's 270g Peninsula

evolved · Dec 9, 2016

mdbannister said:

hybridazn said:
Oh snap!

Paul87 said:
How's the tank and everything doing? Get any photos off that DSLR yet? [emoji6]

shadow1013 said:
Any updates?

mdbannister said:
@evolved you should check out this build thread! I think you'd really like it!

revhtree said:
This is more like the Evolved Retreat from reefing! LOL!

Alright, alright all you hecklers! Yeesh!!!

Let's be clear before I go any further - THERE ARE NO PHOTOS IN THIS UPDATE.

(Wow, it just got empty in here)

Now, the tank is fine - things are progressing quite well. Which you will see in photos, someday. I have the build shots off the DSLR now and into lightroom, so that's a start.

In short, I need a third day in my weekends. Can someone do that for me? As you know, we moved mid August, so the first month was chaos all around. Then we had a house warming late October, so the next month after the move chaos was in prep for that. Then we had more furniture to buy before Thanksgiving, prior to hosting Thanksgiving. And now it's December, and I still need to start the Christmas shopping I haven't started yet. Oh, and there is literally twice as much work as people at my employment right now, and that's going to be like that all of next year too. So short of work and life right now, I just barely have enough time to maintain the tank. This post will have to do for a while longer.

What's really at the top of my reefing priority list right now is getting a headshot of myself and getting a good bio together, because the MACNA 2017 crew will be wanting it soon along with my signed speaker agreement.

Happy holidays folks.

FoD · Dec 9, 2016

Well that was underwhelming.

Daniel@R2R · Dec 9, 2016

FoD said:
Well that was underwhelming.

LOL! (I need a popcorn emoticon)

exactlyobp · Dec 13, 2016

Hey Hunter! Keep us updated when you have a chance

fragit · Dec 13, 2016

:mad:

evolved · Dec 13, 2016

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...eds-270g-peninsula.256483/page-9#post-3366366

evolved · Dec 16, 2016

Maybe this will hold some of you over?
I took this in early October for a work show-n-tell. The inside of the tank has surpassed this ugly phase now. The picture was intended as a "big picture" kind of approach, shown to those who know nothing about what's inside of it anyway.

If all goes well, I'm hopeful I can get some shots within the next week, and then take some time over the holidays to get everything processed and finally update this thread was some real shots from Aug to now.

(no promises)

bknapp · Dec 16, 2016

evolved said:
Alright, alright all you hecklers! Yeesh!!!

Let's be clear before I go any further - THERE ARE NO PHOTOS IN THIS UPDATE.

(Wow, it just got empty in here)

Now, the tank is fine - things are progressing quite well. Which you will see in photos, someday. I have the build shots off the DSLR now and into lightroom, so that's a start.

In short, I need a third day in my weekends. Can someone do that for me? As you know, we moved mid August, so the first month was chaos all around. Then we had a house warming late October, so the next month after the move chaos was in prep for that. Then we had more furniture to buy before Thanksgiving, prior to hosting Thanksgiving. And now it's December, and I still need to start the Christmas shopping I haven't started yet. Oh, and there is literally twice as much work as people at my employment right now, and that's going to be like that all of next year too. So short of work and life right now, I just barely have enough time to maintain the tank. This post will have to do for a while longer.

What's really at the top of my reefing priority list right now is getting a headshot of myself and getting a good bio together, because the MACNA 2017 crew will be wanting it soon along with my signed speaker agreement.

Happy holidays folks.

Another reason for me to make my first MACNA!

nervousmonkey · Dec 16, 2016

mdbannister said:
LOL! (I need a popcorn emoticon)

Ortho281 · Dec 17, 2016

Not sure how I missed this one? Loving the excellent planning and craftsmanship that went into this build!

anarchy · Dec 17, 2016

Can't wait for updates

Paul87 · Dec 17, 2016

How you liking the new home?

mmw64 · Dec 17, 2016

Waiting!

evolved · Dec 19, 2016

Paul87 said:
How you liking the new home?

It's really great; very pleased with our decision.

evolved · Jan 2, 2017

Happy new year everyone! Let's start this one off right!

First, let's cover the build pictures I've left on the DSLR until now. Then, I'll have some photos that I took on Dec 20th.

I only have 12 photos to show here, but I hope you will find them to be a helpful look behind the scenes.

Here is the stand all put together, with the stand divider and stand bottom in place. The large, black box you see on the front side of the divider here serves two purposes: 1) the front surface is the panel I mounted my electronics to, and 2) the inside of the box acts as place to stuff cords and DC power supplies.

More of the same, but here is a side view of the above. You'll also see the two power circuits on the wall (separate, 20A circuits). Both outlets have outdoor covers on them to protect everything in the wall from splashes and salt.

A true side view. Note that the stand was not yet set in its final place; it is a bit far from the wall yet in this shot.

With the front panel open on the electrical box:

And here we are with the tank and sump set on the stand. There's a 3/4" piece of plywood (with a finished edge) which was placed on top of the stand prior to the tank being set. And a whole mess of equipment waiting for me up against the exterior wall.

Crystal clear acrylic:

Now the stand is set in its final resting place. A good view of the sump too.

A closer look at the sump. The filter sock compartment is nearest you, on the left. Skimmer section is on the right.

A top down look at the sump, from the other side. The return pump chamber is nearest you on the right. The two holes above that are the drains, which spill into the filter sock chamber on the far side. That's just a probe/tubing holder on the front left.

The top center of this photo shows how/where I pass all the cords through from the wet to the dry side. I am literally just using the inside of the 80/20 corner gusset to do that. You will also see how I cut the stand divider to allow for this, and if you look really closely you'll see that lip on the stand divider is trapped or inserted into the 80/20 frame on the top and side edges.

This photo probably doesn't offer anything more than what you've already seen:

evolved · Jan 2, 2017

And now for the good stuff.

It's been some time since I've edited photos taken under LEDs though, so I'm sure I'll get better at this as we progress here.

Looking down the tank:

From the right side:

Still on the right side, from the back towards the front. And with the ugly frag tank poking through.

Unless I get a different lens, I won't be able to take a shot straight on from the right side; I can't step far enough away without running into the wall.

The left side:

Left side again, but with the flash on so you can actually see the stand!
A few inquired earlier what I was doing with the space between the tank and wall. You can see how a single reclaimed board covers that all up. Those are on lift off hinges too, so they can quickly/easily get out of the way when needed.

More of the same:

Left side, back half:

Left side, middle:

Left side, front half:

Looking down the tank again:

Right side, front half:

Right side, middle:

Right side, back half:

Here's the dry part of the stand, with all the equipment in place. Everything is mounted and easily accessible. And no, I didn't take a picture with the equipment board opened up; it's really just a mess of cords and DC power supplies in there.

Here is the right side of the stand, wet area. ATO tank on left, with the calcium reactor in front of it. That's the Titan Aquatics reactor there in the middle, in front of the skimmer. Vectra and ATO floats are on the right. This also is a decent look at the plumbing; the three drains come down from the top left. The one in the middle and then turning nearest you is just the emergency and is intentionally plumbed into and above the return chamber - in the event of an emergency drain it gets very noisy - a good thing! You can also see the tee off of the return line which, left to right, manifolds the calcium reactor, the media reactor, and the third valve for water changes (it has a quick disconnect male fitting on it). I have the Neptune feeder above the return pump; the pellets are easily sucked up by the return pump at feeding time.

If you looked carefully at the last photo, you probably noticed the wiring duct in the background. 80/20 sells these as well, and I made good use of them on both sides of the wet side of the stand. All the wires run up under the top rails and are then routed though the openings in the stand divider you saw in the prior post. One last thing to point out here is the 20 foot LED rope I have tucked up above the wiring ducts which runs all along the inside of the stand. You can just see a piece of it on the top left of the photo. I tried to get more of it in the shot, but the camera sensor doesn't much care for all those diodes shining into the lens. There are door switches on all 5 of the stand doors so the rope light comes on whenever a door is opened up. You can see a door switch on the top left here too, just below the rope light.

A closer shot of the media reactor in service; GFO on the left, carbon on the right:

Here we are looking from the left side of the stand, into the wet area. There's an Avast K1 kalk stirrer on the right; the ATO is piped through it. Mesh filter socks are on the left, and the awesome Reef Octopus skimmer is here in the middle (I am really pleased with it - most consistent skimmer I've ever owned). You can see the wire ducts at the top of the photo on the other side of the stand, and there's the LED rope near the top right passing through the stand divider hole along with the wires on that side.

Last shot; here's looking down onto the overflow, with about an inch to spare from the wall. I opened up the reclaimed board against the wall a bit for this shot too. That is a return line passing through the tank here, and I intentionally plumbed them away from the back panel so I could still mount the dry sides of the vortechs where ever they worked best. Lastly here is a peak at the custom screen tops that Titan Aquatic also made for me. They are cut to fit into the top tank brace (there's two of them; another near the front).