Rebirth of an old 300 gallon

[khaosinc]

well... leaking is all fixed, return pump is plumbed in and the wall is installed. suppose I should finish painting that wall...

Not overly happy about it but I think it will be ok once it grows in. Think I may have scored some sweet eel mates as well. we shall see...

should start filling tommorow, then comes the fun of tearing the sump apart to try and get the eel out.

 

[khaosinc]

Also found a fun product because I can't resist things on sale..

its no good for deep scratches, but if you have a light haze on the outside of your tank, spray this stuff on, and rub it off with an old T shirt. not so sure about using it inside the tank though... this is the 12 year old acrylic stand I've been ising for a work bench for the last year...

and after. took about 5 mins.

 

[khaosinc]

Well, tank is filling now, should be just about done and mixed by tommorow afternoon and hooked to the main system by nightfall.

Had a little to much fun on the auctions, suppose I should rig up a frag wrack or 2.... I'm hoping the little breaks where sunlight gets in give a nice shimmer effect like deep in the reef... otherwise I'm going to just block out the windows.

when I get some more rock, there will be some vertical columns in there as well to break up the wall a bit.

doesn't catching an eel in here sound like fun?

 

[khaosinc]

LOL... no one is following this build besides Dave... Are they.

 

[Xtremedave67]

This Dave is , I am just back from a day of errands and chores myself LOL but scored off craiglist a bunch of tools I need if Im gonna attempt some future acrylic projects and tank stands

 

[khaosinc]

Fun fun. I like playing with acrylic. IF you want to start small and practice before a big order, I have a bunch kicking around. HWS has weld on 3 and 16 in the back.

 

[Xtremedave67]

That would be cool, I am actually thinking about practicing with making a little RO top off 3 gallon "tank" as a starter project LOL

 

[khaosinc]

If you come out for the sump teardown, I'll see what I have. I think I might have enough 1/2" to make a nice rimless tall one.

I have lots of weld on 3 extra think I'm out of 16.

Tank is a little over 1/3 full Dumped an entire bucket of salt in there so its cloudy. circulation is 2 mag 8's at the moment. still need to get some pc4s over the tank to control everything

 

[TJL]

+ 1 following along. If all goes to plan I'll be starting my dream build next summer (Honey-Do volume I completed first off) A 330g DT 72"x36"x30" in our family room on slab plumbed through wall down under house to future mechanical room which will house Lg sump, XL fuge/cryptic fuge, frag/growout tank and ATO system. All this tied into house plumbing and somewhere in the 600-800g system total range depending on what I build vs what deals I come across at the time of need.

As Dave stated its always great to see how some of the larger systems are plumbed out and especially see/hear first hand pros & cons of doing things a certain way. I'm looking forward to the progression of your build and when up near Canada again would love to stop by and check it out.

Todd

 

[khaosinc]

well it is up and running on the main system Took every last bit of salt I had to get it up where I wanted. hope I don't need some in the near future...

frag/grow out side just some old eggcrate things I built that I wasn't using. Make something proper when I have some more $$$

Eel side.. still not happy with the wall. hope I can get it to color up/grow stuff soon.

 

[Xtremedave67]

Wow so I take it you still havent tore down the big sump for eel?

 

[ntswift]

+1 on following your thread. I'm getting ready to setup my 265 here in about a week and like they were saying, seeing how the bigger tanks plumbing, stands, lighting are all hooked up really help with ideas and help me to spend more money! Its looking good though!

 

[khaosinc]

Glad someone is reading this...LOL. start to get worried when I post 4-5 times and don't hear anything. I need attention dang it.... j/k

Just starting on the sump now. got distracted burning stuff in the back yard last night. I can actually see the fence in the back yard for the first time in a couple years though.

Something is very off in my system or my test kit... one of the two. The kid across the street was over playing chemist and ammonia/nitrates are off the charts bad. I find it kinda hard to believe as I just added 300 gallons of new water, and all the fish are accounted for and the coral/shrimp and starfish look fine except the token SPS which is bleached, but I suspect that was more that the frag got knocked over about 20 times before I glued it to a bigger rock. need to find the new test kit and try that one. I remember buying it, but don't know where I put it last.

Need to get some more salt as well.

 

[Xtremedave67]

Hmmmmm on tests. Im certainly no pro lol. but yeah I get 300G of new volume wouldnt throw things off???
I gotta ask since ive seen the term "cryptic zone" twice now....what does that mean?

so you gonna knock out that wall you built for garage doors for your next tank??LOL

 

[ntswift]

I agree. Some of those test kits have a shelf life on them. I would check that if you can or just get some new ones. 300 gal is a lot of water but not if you're not adding a bunch of live rock too. Just more viewing space!

 

[khaosinc]

its just more veiwing space, but I have well over 1000 pounds of live rock in that system and less than 25 fish...

I went ahead and tore the sump apart mostly to confirm it wasn't the eel dead but he's fine. I was surprised. Only took me about an hour to catch him

got a couple cool pics from the cryptic zone as well...

Cryptic zone refers to an area of lower flow and very little light. Its the area alot of sponges and other things thrive. I figure it happens in the reef so I need in my system. I think it was Steve tyree that sort of pioneered the concept

some red tube and beige tube like sponge

yellow ball sponge (theres a bunch of these)

another shaped red one..

there was a bunch of white root looking stuff as well, but I was busy chasing this little guy at the time...

 

[DBM Reef]

This thing is coming right along ! I cant wait to see the end result .
Thanks for all the updates i like to see that someone actually updates
their thread unlike me LOL

 

[khaosinc]

so you gonna knock out that wall you built for garage doors for your next tank??LOL

Actually the fantasy is to knock out the back wall and attach my house to the shop...

 

[Xtremedave67]

LOL. Yikes you need a bigger sump LOL and I was amazed your sump is as big as a DT I want LOL

 

[khaosinc]

LOL... mostly I just don't like going outside to get stuff, and Tink would really like me to stop doing projects in the living room. Besides, there must be a couple hair brained ideas I haven't tried tieing in to this system yet.

My new toy is here... but I need a few more hours sleep before I try and figure it out..