In Wall - going for it! - seeking your ideas/feedback/advice

[tamarindthai]

looks great ,,quite a project you got there

 

[class clown]

Thanks Dang..

And good to know about the cycle Paul. Any tips or "lessons learned" you might be able to share with me about your experience upgrading to a bigger tank?

 

[trido]

Boy, that sump sure cleaned up real nice. Looks brand new. Thats the way to start off ! Saturday was fun, thanks for having me over.

Next year maybe you'll have to help me set up a 350G in wall. In my dreams

 

[spongebob lover]

wwoouu it looks awesome dood .

 

[NC2WA]

Ben,

I did not have a cycle at all with my tank. I have close to 150lbs of LR. You should be fine with yours.

Kirk

 

[james734]

Looking good Ben, I've been waiting to see the progress. Busy with work?... What's up with that? You need to get you priorities straight.

Quick question do you have enough space in the sump to cover the drain back if you ever loss power or do you have some check valves in there some place?

 

[class clown]

Boy, that sump sure cleaned up real nice. Looks brand new. Thats the way to start off ! Saturday was fun, thanks for having me over.

Next year maybe you'll have to help me set up a 350G in wall. In my dreams

Good deal Duane - you can count on it when you get the 8 footer Giant. You gotta do it! It's destiny I say, destiny!

Ben,

I did not have a cycle at all with my tank. I have close to 150lbs of LR. You should be fine with yours.

Kirk

Thanks Kirk - that gives me hope at least!

Looking good Ben, I've been waiting to see the progress. Busy with work?... What's up with that? You need to get you priorities straight.

Quick question do you have enough space in the sump to cover the drain back if you ever loss power or do you have some check valves in there some place?

I tested it out and the answer is "I think so" . The durso's are pretty tall and once the water level in the overflow hit the top of the durso pipe inlet, it stopped.The locline seemed to break the syphon on the outlets, so I think I'm mostly good there too. However, the locline is really new and clean right now which means it hasn't had a chance to crust over with coraline or salt creep so it has some play and allows air to be sucked in. I'm hoping that even with time, it'll still maintain enough "looseness" to allow the siphon break in the event of a power outage.

 

[Snowboarda42]

I tested it out and the answer is "I think so" . The durso's are pretty tall and once the water level in the overflow hit the top of the durso pipe inlet, it stopped.The locline seemed to break the syphon on the outlets, so I think I'm mostly good there too. However, the locline is really new and clean right now which means it hasn't had a chance to crust over with coraline or salt creep so it has some play and allows air to be sucked in. I'm hoping that even with time, it'll still maintain enough "looseness" to allow the siphon break in the event of a power outage.

Guess You'll find out when you come home to a wet driveway and its still sunny outside

 

[DonW]

Definatly dont count on the fact that the lock line is going to break the siphon, that wont last long at all.

Don

 

[Frankie]

I have air line tubing running through the top of my stand pipes and going outside of the tank. With it this way i don't see how i could get any clog or salt creep.
I like the videos. Hearing the water drips made me a bit nervous though! lol. I am big on not hearing anything but my fans. So i was not prepared for the water drip sound.:shock:
I also never went through a cycle with this tank. I added 208lbs of Fiji to ro/di water with kent salt at the time.
I really like this tank. I can't wait to see how you scape it! Are you going to stay bare bottom?

 

[trido]

Definatly dont count on the fact that the lock line is going to break the siphon, that wont last long at all.

Don

My loc lines break the siphon on my returns. At first, I had them set deep in the tank and drilled 1/8" holes in the returns "just below the water line in the overflows" as recommended by sooo many reefers. The holes plugged in no time and when my power went out my display would drop over two inches maxing out my sump. I have since adjusted my loc lines right beneath the water line only deep enought to avoid a venturi. Now when my power goes out my display level only drops a quarter of an inch before the siphon is broke. There is no possible way a 3/4" locline pumping 400GPH is going to clog. IMO It will always break siphon in my display.

 

[trido]

I have air line tubing running through the top of my stand pipes and going outside of the tank. With it this way i don't see how i could get any clog or salt creep.

You'd be surpised where that salt creep will end up. IME you know when your stanpipe holes are clogged with salt creep when the durso starts to surge from the siphon. Then its time to do some cleaning.


Ben, before you get that baby fired up and running for good Ill come back over and we can share some more ideas and review the hole system one last time. Ive had my share of floods and accidents. betweent the two of us Im sure we can get a decent handle on such a small tank like this one.

 

[class clown]

Ben, before you get that baby fired up and running for good Ill come back over and we can share some more ideas and review the hole system one last time. Ive had my share of floods and accidents. betweent the two of us Im sure we can get a decent handle on such a small tank like this one.

Don't have to twist my arm too hard on that one - sounds like a plan

the tank is filling with RO water now. I've got her about half way full and it's been going for about 1 1/2 days. I've been adding salt periodically too so should have her completely filled with salt water in another couple days.

I've been working on building the lighting rack for the last couple days. So far, so good. My neighbor and I welded a couple wrong turns after a few too many drinks the other night, but it shouldn't be too difficult to fix. Yesterday I took a flapper grinder to the welds to make it looks trim and slick, but in the process, I took a nice chunk out of the top of my index finger :shock:. I couldn't help think of the scene in the movie called "There's something about Mary" with Ben Stiller --- "We got a bleeder!!!":lol:

I also learned, I'm not a natural born welder as I blew a few holes and left a couple good puddles of molten aluminum on my welds. Needless to say, after my lame attempts, most of the welding was left up to him.

 

[Damsel13]

Wow, Reading this thread is soooooo fun! I can't wait to see each set of new pictures. Even with the time lapse photography it is so obvious how much WORK you and co. have put into your baby. I remember when you had a piece of paper taped to the wall where the tank was going. I wonder if your wife remembers?

 

[Snowboarda42]

Ben,


Lets See the New Dry Bar!!! (that I'm going to come use!)

 

[spongebob lover]

well that's good it was just a little index finger instead of a hand .

Lets See the New Dry Bar!!! (that I'm going to come use!)

me wants to see too !!! .

 

[trido]

I took a nice chunk out of the top of my index finger

Im sure glad Im not the only one who is going to bleed for your tank. JK I do vaguely remember getting a sliver though. Dont forget to cover it well and rinse after working on the tank with RUBBING ALCOHOL. Yes alcohol, it stings but peroxide is not nearly as effective. Four years on a fishing ship in Alaska. Trust me there. It may save you a case of blood poisoning.

 

[jezzeaepi]

Wow nice progress Ben! Lookin good! Are you happy with the flow? I checked out the video but its kinda hard to see the "flow" We need some bubbles or some flake food floatin around in there. I like the idea of splittin the closed loop to do have semi-fixed and the rest chaotic. I think I might do that too if I ever get my project rollin here.

P.S. Just tonight when cleaning the tank, I noticed the coral I got from you last mini-swap(purple tipped nana) had a hithiking green monti with it! It must have been only a speck when I got it because now its about the size of a nickle. Was facing the back side of the tankt hough so I never noticed it before. Thanks for the combo pack =)

 

[Snowboarda42]

Ben,


Lets See the New Dry Bar!!! (that I'm going to come use!)

 

[class clown]

sorry, been busy working to try to get things finished off with the tank... Here are a couple fun pics to make up for lost time.

We really like our new dry bar...

doors closed:

doors opened:

and now onto the tank...

first things first, I got the tank filled w/ RO water (it took a good 3-4 days), I got the salinity and temp dialed in, and plopped some live rock in the tank for fun...

a big lessoned learned is that I certainly should've glued down the starboard. it floated up several times, and I now have some debris underneath there (arghh). I also got a couple of the rock rack rods stuck underneath.. what a pain...


we also got the lighting rack welded up, grinded (no more injuries thankfully), test hung, and I'm planning to drop it off at Ken's house today to have it adonized (SP) so that It doesn't corrode over time. Good times, good times: