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Rack Journal


stylez

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Hi all! :raisehand:

iv decided to do a rack journal this time round just so i can get everyone's honest thoughts and input on the whole thing. forgive me if i blab on in the process haha.

so i picked up a tank rack on sunday morning. robdog13 and i rented out a ute from budget rental and transported everything in less than 2 hrs in the pouring rain. up till now i havent done anything to it but i plan to start tomorrow. but first heres its history so far.

Richard's garage April 2007

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Robdog's garage December 2007

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My garage February 2008

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ok, so first i plan to start painting the tank's. im thinking of doing black for the base and a really really dark shade of grey for the back and the neighbouring sides. what does everyone reckon?

oh and Richard if your reading this, rumour has it that you have a set of lids for one of the tanks?? if so can i have it :lol4:

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As you can't see the tank bottom from anywhere except above it when it's full of water (due to reflection), why not go with something that will build confidence in the fish?

A black bottom may freak fish out, nearly as much as stark white. I'm only assuming here, but having a gaping black hole below a small fish in the wild would usually be cause for their concern.

If you must paint the tank bottom and not simply the polystyrene sheet, why not go with a random pattern of light sprays? Brown, green, red, yellow and black would work, or simply brown, yellow and green. It will give you an effect similar to a natural substrate.

Grey is aninteresting choice for the rear wall, but would probably look good. Just remember that any paint on the rear will look much lighter from the front than the back, so start with a darker colour than you wish to see.

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man these tanks really get around don't they I am starting to think they are "tanks of the Night" so to speak :zipit::lol4: . You can see my responses to robdogs or richards journal posts

cheers

rosco

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Andy,

interesting assumption that has got me thinking hahaha.

you got a valid point, ill try it out on the polystyrene sheet instead. It’s only for back-up as there will be a 1cm thin layer of sand/substrate.

Rosco,

LoL tell me about it. I got worried that it might be cursed. But yea iv been following those threads aswell since last year, useful tips for plumbing. I would most likely go the same way with the return hose/pipe through the middle. It looks like the most logical way to go without effecting head height too much.

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If you spray the polystyrene, just go easy. A few coats of very light sprays and not too close up. The paint will "eat" the foam if it's too heavy, but light sprays work fine.

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Thanks for the tip Andy.

i know i mentioned i was gonna start on the weekend but i had a sudden emergency with my male msobo that i had to attend to him. hes in a hospital tank at the moment, it looks like hes gonna make a full recovery as he is more active now.

Rob,

yea im not a fan of blue haha, seen so many with blue backgrounds i guess i want something different.

Anyways i got the paint already so thats locked in. i also picked up 6L of Eheim Ehfisubstrat for the Biological fitration and 20kg of coral bones for ph. i will get the seachem purigen sometime this week so that leaves me with mechanical filtration and pump to worry about.

wat do you guys reckon? am i heading in the right direction?

Pump will be a Laguna, just not so sure on the Lphr. is 10600Lphr too much? roughly 8 and 1/2 turns in an hour.

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I would think you may need to be careful with the 8 1/2 turns an hr as it would depend on the flow rate between top tank to bottom tank then from bottom tank to filter, It may fill the top one up before it manages to let the water out into the other tanks? Just some food for thought. Maybe something like that Laguna For sale on the classifieds would be better suited? Just looking at the specs on the reef shop has the max head height at 3.5m with 5900lph if you want some serious power.

Atm I have 6 standard 4fts running on a jebo wet/dry filter and i believe the pump on does about 3500lph and it does a good job but the tanks arent heavily stocked, they are well stocked but not over the top. Water changes every 5 weeks and everyone is happy. Could also depend on the type of fish your keeping in the tanks as well.

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i can understand if i was pumping into the top two tanks only that the flow rate will have a hard time keeping up and will lead to over flow but each tank will flow to the sump and each tank will get a return from the pump. so each tank will get an estimate of 2625L an hour, and with a 40mm sump pipe it shouldnt be a problem.

the pump that came with this rack is 8500Lphr. its just that i want to replace it coz its power hungry at 230W.

im considering the pump on the classifieds... just to trial it out, if not up to standards on this rack then ill use it on my bazrack.

thanks for the input MVP.

what is everyone else running on their rack?

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I run an 18000lph on my large rack (one 6x2x2, two 6x2x18's, four 4x2x18's) and it does a good job. As long as your overflows can easily handle it, do it. If they struggle, then one suddenly gets clogged up a bit with food or something in the tank, you'll end up with a very wet fishroom.

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or a very dry sump it is all about balance. From the time my sump starts up to the time the water flows back flully is around 30 seconds. You need to ensure that the sump has the capacity to handle a dely. In saying that I have 25 in and 25 out that in retrospect was a mistake it should have 32 out. ONe day I will change it or break up the system tinto 2 smaller components.

cheers

rosco

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  • 2 weeks later...

**UPDATE

First tank painted... paint still wet.

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2 tanks painted...

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3rd tank painted...

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all tanks painted =)

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old bulkhead and strainer against new bulkhead and strainer

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and in place..

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Rosco,

i prepared the surface first with E.S.P.

for the sides i used a water based acrylic paint. using a roller i done 3 - 4 coats with 24 hour intervals.

the base was epoxy enamel. 2 coats with a roller. this stuff is quick drying so i got this done in a day.

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  • 2 weeks later...

*update*

so plumbings all in place, just waiting on more filter media to come in from AOA on Manday and should be running Monday night.

pics to follow...

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Nice job. Taking your time and painting it properly will be more than worth it in the long term :thumb

Grey wouldn't have been my first choice, but I'll admit it looks very good :lol1:

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  • 3 weeks later...

thanks for the kind words guys...

i wanted a more darker grey but i was impatient and bought the closest grey off shelf. turned out well in my opinion.

grant, i keep the dems in the top right tank and guess what? i saw some courting amongst them on the sunday and now two of the females are holding hehe. hopefully they hold full term.

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