Habitat - Indoor :: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

[Jaysea]

very nice so far! Also congrats on the baby and i love your crib

[theartbook35]

You are quite welcome. Valspar is pretty popular from what I have heard. Do you have a finisher you can put over the paint (assuming you will always keep this the black color)? I worry about the water getting through the paint, and Valspar is very poisonous, like almost everything these days.

So the bottom of the stand is finished in flat black by Aqueon. On some scrap wood, I tried flat black with flat spray poly as a top coat and it made a glossy mess. I ended up spraying a satin enamel over primer on a piece of scrap and that looked very close to the base but gave just a very little sheen which should help with water.. so that's what I ended up putting on the hood. If this were a stained piece I'd be much more worried about a top coat. I am a paint novice... if you have any suggestions as to a paint top coat I'm all ears. The last hood I built was also black enamel, but it was rustoleum and painted on via brush with no top coat. That has held up well for the last year or so.

You could go to your local art supply store (Or even Joann Fabrics for that matter) and buy a "varnish". The brand name won't matter. Varnish is typically used as a top coat for oil paintings. Varnish is very, very strong and won't get worn away by water or anything. Just remember, when you put it on, it never comes off, and you cannot prime over it.

[theartbook35]

This is 50 lbs of sand. Does it look okay or should I add more?

sand.jpg

You just gave me another idea... I think white aragonite sand (very fine calcium sand that turtles can eat, har har) would look really hot with all of the rocks and seashells we got for Sadie last time we went to the beach. I found her an empty clam shell too, which we keep closed on purpose and she gets a kick out of trying to open it up

[VeipaCray]

@jaysea thank you. We had fun picking out turtle crib accessories.

@theatrbook35. Thanks. I'll look into some varnish. I'm planning on making a trip over to my local woodcraft store as well. Maybe those guys can give me a tip or two on application. I have very fine white aragonite sand in my reef tank. I would not put that in with a turtle. The turtle will kick up a lot of sand as it moves around and you will have a sandstorm which isn't great for your filter. Aragonite is expensive. You can get white play sand which is silica based sand, and larger in grain size so it's not as prone to sandstorms.

[VeipaCray]

Sorry about the lack of updates. I'm filling the tank and my RO/DI unit makes about 6 gallons per hour, so this is taking a while.

[VeipaCray]

So the tank is full and a little cloudy from the fine sand that got stirred up during the filling process. After a few hours most of the sand settled but some of the very fine particles were still suspended in the water column. I decided to take out the old magnum 350 canister filter, pop in a new pleated micron polishing cartridge and let it get the water crystal clear. However I forgot exactly how terrible the magnum 350 is. After fighting with it for over an hour, flooding the wood floor in my home office, and making up a few new swear words, I could not get the filter to start. I ended up taking a fluval 305 and stuffing it full of filter floss and hanging it over the front rim of the tank. The water is clearing up, but the micron cartridge would have done a better job in less time.

[VeipaCray]

The tank is up and going. I need to clean up my office a bit and post some good photos. I caught Moe during his first basking session on his new ATBA. I got the rare photo... Moe is camera shy.

The cord in the middle of the photo is temporary and is for a digital thermometer. I was checking the basking platform to make sure I had his light at the correct height for temp. Apparently Moe is saying good job dad... this temp is just right for me.

[VeipaCray]

I ended up setting up the FX5 filter like this:

Top basket: One box Fluval BioMax, One 250mL bottle of Seachem Purigen in a Fluval Media bag, One Fluval FX5 blue fine filter pad on top

Middle basket: Two boxes Fluval BioMax

Bottom basket: Two boxes Fluval BioMax

[theartbook35]

@jaysea thank you. We had fun picking out turtle crib accessories.

@theatrbook35. Thanks. I'll look into some varnish. I'm planning on making a trip over to my local woodcraft store as well. Maybe those guys can give me a tip or two on application. I have very fine white aragonite sand in my reef tank. I would not put that in with a turtle. The turtle will kick up a lot of sand as it moves around and you will have a sandstorm which isn't great for your filter. Aragonite is expensive. You can get white play sand which is silica based sand, and larger in grain size so it's not as prone to sandstorms.

Ya know, I never thought of that... But, should Sadie ingest the play sand, would that be safe for her?

[VeipaCray]

There is a sticky sand thread on here. Seems that many are using playsand. It's a bit more coarse than sugar fine aragonite, but it doesn't have any pebbles.

EDIT: I just reread the first post in the sand FAQ, and quickcrere playsand that I used is one of the reccomeded sand types.

[Jaysea]

The tank is up and going. I need to clean up my office a bit and post some good photos. I caught Moe during his first basking session on his new ATBA. I got the rare photo... Moe is camera shy.

The cord in the middle of the photo is temporary and is for a digital thermometer. I was checking the basking platform to make sure I had his light at the correct height for temp. Apparently Moe is saying good job dad... this temp is just right for me.

firstbasking.jpg

Looks like a very happy turtle to me

[theartbook35]

There is a sticky sand thread on here. Seems that many are using playsand. It's a bit more coarse than sugar fine aragonite, but it doesn't have any pebbles.

EDIT: I just reread the first post in the sand FAQ, and quickcrere playsand that I used is one of the reccomeded sand types.

Okay, good to know Thanks man.

[sagoy]

Tank is looking awesome. Oh, and congrats on the new kid!

Looking forward to seeing the final results of the tank.

[gabloo]

Wow!! very nice build and very cute kid. Congrats. As soon as i got enough money and bigger apartment. I think i m going to build a tank for my two cute turtles too. Still not sure what we are going to name them. I am looking forward to it. Keep it up!!!

[VeipaCray]

Thanks everyone.

The tank is a bit more complete... no where near done yet.

Here's a full tank shot. Hood, MVB light, ATBA + ramp, water and turtle.

Here's the top of the tank. The white thing under the light is 1/2" light diffuser or eggcrate. The angle of the camera makes it look like a solid piece.

Moe hung his stocking out last night hoping St. Nick would come and visit. Dad came by last night and stuffed a bottle of turtle treats into Moe's sock.