I got me a WOODY

So what is going on with this build????? we need updates!!! haha. Come on Brian, your laggin on this.......

Yeah sorry Juan, dropped the ball big time. I've been busy with renovations around the house and then Christmas popped up kinda unexpectedly. Plans have changed a little, this tank will end up being in the living room wall once I get around to making a hole in the wall. I changed my mind on the rock and will be ordering some from Marco rocks next month. Changed my mind on pumps to, I'll be picking up a couple Laguna's as well. Still need to finish plumbing but since it will be in the office the stand won't have to be furniture quality. I promise I will be posting updates.

So life kinda got in the way of this build. I was in a nasty car accident, wife laid off, kids, job etc. So let's bring everyone up to speed. I have learned that the epoxy is not as bullet proof as I had hoped. I was using a router table and the bit grabbed the wood and shot it at the back of the tank. No big deal right? Well as it turns out, the small dimple on the back outside of the tank translates into a 18" crack on the inside. I was pissed. Combined with not having fully recovered from the accident, I walked away and left 8t to sit and colleagues dust.

Late last year I got tired of moving it around and decided it was time to fix my mess. I ground the crack out, drilled a tiny hole at each end to keep it from running and poured more epoxy. Doesn't look at pretty as before but I'm going to do a rock wall anyway so it doesn't matter. Then I started thinking about all the holes I drilled for the closed loop. All on the bottom made me nervous. A sheet of 3/4" plywood and some more epoxy and she's all sealed up again. I became management around the same time so once again the tank was put on the shelf.

This weekend I moved it out onto the back patio and filled it up to the top for a leak test. It's been 2 days not, 0 deflection on the front and back, no creaking or leaking. My first shipment of pukani rock from BRS will be here today. I have heard the tend to leak phosphate so I will be soaking them for several weeks while I do the leak test on the tank. After that, rock wall construction will start. Lighting will still be a diy led setup. The skimmer however I will probably buy. If anyone has one rated for 300+ gallon preferably recirculating please let me know. More update will come as I progress.

And a bad shot of my current 55g

very nice havent seen a wood tank in a long time

Hey man glad to see this is back on track. Hope you have recovered well! Let me know when your ready for some coral. If you're willing to make the drive I'll get a package together.

Definitely will Andy. Thank you

Got my first order of pukani rock yesterday. Very impressed with how light it is. Not so impressed with how dirty it is. I rinsed it off with the hose. I was going to throw it in an old tank with ro water to soak while I was leak testing the tank. I have read an muriatic acid bath will destroy the rock but vinegar is ok. Anyone have any ideas? Maybe hit it with a pressure washer and leave it in ro water?

Picked up a skimmer today. Coke can for size reference.

Nice recirculating skimmer. What happened to the water jug?


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A killer deal came my way. The pump I was going to use for the water jug grenaded as well. Just about done withe the water test. Hopefully start the rock wall next weekend

Not much of an update but is stated the groundwork for the foam wall. I am going to use a mag 18 for the CL for now. When I upgrade to a larger pump, I'll run pipe around the top of the tank and tie into what I already have.

Pic of tank laying on its back, I'm going to regret making it 30" tall.

Rough draft of the rock lay out. Not a great picture but it was 4:30 this morning

Started foaming today. 4 cans did a little more than half.

Rock salt to give it texture and help get rid of the pillow appearance

Going to get some more foam tomorrow. I'm going to coat it in z poxy and crushed coral and sand to help hide the foam.

Some more progress today. All of the foam has dried and I was able to prop everything up to get an idea how it would look. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I carved out a couple of caves in the rock before I foamed everything. I also started a rock pillar as well. I need to order some more rock to build another pillar for the other side. So far I've used 8 cans of foam and I'll probably need 2 more. Going to see what the BRS black Friday deal is on rock and get some more coming.

Zpoxy should be here tomorrow. I'm going to try and get the salt washed off by Thursday so I can epoxy and put crushed coral on to cover all of the foam.

Nice!


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Got them siliconed in today. Ordered MORE rock from BRS yesterday as well. After everything is in and plumbing done I'm going to fill it back up with water a let it soak for another week or two to let anything leach out that needs to.

This is going in a wall, guess I should start on that too. I'm in need of a sump, anyone have an old tank laying around? 50-75g?

Lots of pictures today. Still have a little epoxy work to do but this is what it's going to look like.

I also took all the rubble and made some arches

I'd like some feedback before I make the pillars and arches permanent.

I'm going to get started on the plumbing next. I have 2x250w I may use for now and switch over to led later but I'm not sure yet

Thats slick man! I dig it.

Thank you.

I'm brain storming again. I am going to have closed loop outlets in the front corners, I was thinking about foaming them in with some more rubble to hide them.

Looks awesome!

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