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eranschau
Community Member
OMG. I had to bust out my old canister filter. Stuffed it full of carbon and am letting it run on the tub with the rock in it. It's been a whole 24 hours, and it's already become quite...fragrant.
220 Gallons of Pure Awesome
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- Thread starter eranschau
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eranschau
Community Member
So I had a little free time after finishing my yard work on Saturday, and decided to find out just what 2853 gallons per hour really looked like.
To back up a bit, I've been going back and forth for a while now on what type of return pump I wanted to put with a new tank build. I knew I wanted a controllable, DC pump, and I've been eyeballing the Ecotech Vectra pumps for quite a while. I pretty much fell in love with everting they do when I upgraded the controllers - specifically the circuit board component inside the controller case - for my MP40s and noticed and immediate and significant reduction in noise. A return pump based on the same technology seemed like a no brainer. That was until I discovered that the Vectra isn't compatible with the same Apex module that controls the MP series of pumps, making in incompatible with my aquarium controller. Bad move, @EcoTech Marine. Bad move. No amount of Google searching could convince me that they have any intention of changing that any time soon, so I was off to find an alternative.
After reading just about every review on @Bulk Reef Supply 's web site, I landed on the Waveline DC10000II Apex Ready DC pump. Sure, maybe it isn't as sleek as the Vectra, but it met the rest of my requirements; it operates on DC instead of AC power and is thus gobs more efficient, it's controllable via a connected module, and its Apex-ready meaning I can connect it out of the box to my aquarium controller and program it as I would anything else. Of the various models, I ended up buying the DC10000II as 2853 GPH seemed about the right amount of flow through the sump for the size of system I'm setting up, but all of them have great customer reviews.
Now comes the fun part. What does 2853 GPH look like? Well... This. I had an empty 40 breeder sitting in the garage so I filled it up, stuck the pump in and turned it on. (I put a piece of PVC I also had lying around on the end of the output just for grins.) The pump ramps up slowly from 0% to 100%, and empties that 40 gallon tank fairly efficiently even considering that half the water is falling right back into the tank.
The real lesson here? I should not be left alone, unsupervised particularly where water and electricity are in close proximity.
To back up a bit, I've been going back and forth for a while now on what type of return pump I wanted to put with a new tank build. I knew I wanted a controllable, DC pump, and I've been eyeballing the Ecotech Vectra pumps for quite a while. I pretty much fell in love with everting they do when I upgraded the controllers - specifically the circuit board component inside the controller case - for my MP40s and noticed and immediate and significant reduction in noise. A return pump based on the same technology seemed like a no brainer. That was until I discovered that the Vectra isn't compatible with the same Apex module that controls the MP series of pumps, making in incompatible with my aquarium controller. Bad move, @EcoTech Marine. Bad move. No amount of Google searching could convince me that they have any intention of changing that any time soon, so I was off to find an alternative.
After reading just about every review on @Bulk Reef Supply 's web site, I landed on the Waveline DC10000II Apex Ready DC pump. Sure, maybe it isn't as sleek as the Vectra, but it met the rest of my requirements; it operates on DC instead of AC power and is thus gobs more efficient, it's controllable via a connected module, and its Apex-ready meaning I can connect it out of the box to my aquarium controller and program it as I would anything else. Of the various models, I ended up buying the DC10000II as 2853 GPH seemed about the right amount of flow through the sump for the size of system I'm setting up, but all of them have great customer reviews.
Now comes the fun part. What does 2853 GPH look like? Well... This. I had an empty 40 breeder sitting in the garage so I filled it up, stuck the pump in and turned it on. (I put a piece of PVC I also had lying around on the end of the output just for grins.) The pump ramps up slowly from 0% to 100%, and empties that 40 gallon tank fairly efficiently even considering that half the water is falling right back into the tank.
The real lesson here? I should not be left alone, unsupervised particularly where water and electricity are in close proximity.
domination2580
Reef-a-nator
So I had a little free time after finishing my yard work on Saturday, and decided to find out just what 2853 gallons per hour really looked like.
To back up a bit, I've been going back and forth for a while now on what type of return pump I wanted to put with a new tank build. I knew I wanted a controllable, DC pump, and I've been eyeballing the Ecotech Vectra pumps for quite a while. I pretty much fell in love with everting they do when I upgraded the controllers - specifically the circuit board component inside the controller case - for my MP40s and noticed and immediate and significant reduction in noise. A return pump based on the same technology seemed like a no brainer. That was until I discovered that the Vectra isn't compatible with the same Apex module that controls the MP series of pumps, making in incompatible with my aquarium controller. Bad move, @EcoTech Marine. Bad move. No amount of Google searching could convince me that they have any intention of changing that any time soon, so I was off to find an alternative.
After reading just about every review on @Bulk Reef Supply 's web site, I landed on the Waveline DC10000II Apex Ready DC pump. Sure, maybe it isn't as sleek as the Vectra, but it met the rest of my requirements; it operates on DC instead of AC power and is thus gobs more efficient, it's controllable via a connected module, and its Apex-ready meaning I can connect it out of the box to my aquarium controller and program it as I would anything else. Of the various models, I ended up buying the DC10000II as 2853 GPH seemed about the right amount of flow through the sump for the size of system I'm setting up, but all of them have great customer reviews.
Now comes the fun part. What does 2853 GPH look like? Well... This. I had an empty 40 breeder sitting in the garage so I filled it up, stuck the pump in and turned it on. (I put a piece of PVC I also had lying around on the end of the output just for grins.) The pump ramps up slowly from 0% to 100%, and empties that 40 gallon tank fairly efficiently even considering that half the water is falling right back into the tank.
The real lesson here? I should not be left alone, unsupervised particularly where water and electricity are in close proximity.
U forgot one thing....me too be there and have as much fun!
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eranschau
Community Member
I'm not sure any amount of fun is worth that long drive down I-90.
domination2580
Reef-a-nator
I would have in a heartbeat if i had the cash to drive it. But i probably would have stayed the night and had more fun the next day [emoji1]I'm not sure any amount of fun is worth that long drive down I-90.
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eranschau
Community Member
You mean you'd have made a stop at Saltwater Empire and brought home a couple hundred dollars worth of coral.
domination2580
Reef-a-nator
That would be half of it lol.
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eranschau
Community Member
Not too much progress to report. The rock is soaking, the stand is being built, and the tank is on its way. But... Dad did show up this weekend with a few 2x4s so we could figure out how best to weld the final steel stand together in a way that would render it both strong, segmented in a way that would allow us to get it down the stairs of my older home. The end result is a wood mock up which is currently sitting in my basement. I grabbed my PVC tank mockup and stuck it on top and I'm finally starting to get a feel for just how big this beast is that I've ordered. OMG.
Oh, and yes, those are all Star Trek books in the bookshelf. Don't judge.
Oh, and yes, those are all Star Trek books in the bookshelf. Don't judge.
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eranschau
Community Member
I plan on adding two MarinePure blocks to the sump of my 220 gallon aquarium build to provide additional surface area for biological filtration. Already have one in my existing setup, so I ordered a new one which showed up yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how porous these things are!
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eranschau
Community Member
In an uncharacteristic spurt of energy, I got up off my lazy bum and moved my 75 gallon tank today. I took a stab at the best place to put it when I moved it in after I bought this house so that it would be visible, but out of the way when I got around to building the new, bigger tank I knew I wanted. Well, I picked wrong. After thinking about it I realized the best place for the new tank was right where the old once was sitting. It's possible I may be sore tomorrow in paces I didn't know I had, but after emptying the sump, taking about half the water out of the display and wedging some plastic furniture movers under the tank, I was able to slide it across the carpet to the adjacent wall.
Mission accomplished! The old tank is moved out of the way, and I'm starting to get a feel for what the new tank will look like in it's new home. Now, I wait. The stand should be done in another week or so, and the tank should be here by the end of the month......
Mission accomplished! The old tank is moved out of the way, and I'm starting to get a feel for what the new tank will look like in it's new home. Now, I wait. The stand should be done in another week or so, and the tank should be here by the end of the month......
FlyinBryan
Well-Known Member
Those things are the absolute best things you can put in you tanks! I pack my fuge in 29 bc and sump for 150. Amazing stability!
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eranschau
Community Member
Whelp... It's been this long and the tank still hasn't shown up. All they can tell me is "soon."
Up side is, at least, that the stand showed up today and it cost me all of $375! Even threw a couple of coats of varnish on the 3/4" plywood for me!
Up side is, at least, that the stand showed up today and it cost me all of $375! Even threw a couple of coats of varnish on the 3/4" plywood for me!
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eranschau
Community Member
Getting the new tank in from the manufacturer is taking much, much longer than I'd expected. To cure my itch to put fish in my new setup, I did this over the weekend...
You think she's too big for my setup?
You think she's too big for my setup?
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eranschau
Community Member
Today was a big day! After several weeks of waiting on the manufacturer, my new tank got delivered this afternoon!
After shopping around a bit online and not being completely sold on anything, I ended up going through my LFS (Saltwater Empire) and ordering a custom, eurobraced glass tank. It measures 72" wide by 30" deep by 24" tall; just large enough that it would still fit down the stairs into the basement. Now that I've seen the tank in person, I'm very impressed with the build quality, and that it came with an already black bottom and back panel will save me both time and money.
I can't thank enough the guys at Saltwater Empire for all of their help and advice, and the guys I hired to deliver it and get it into the house and onto the stand! Time to start buying parts for plumbing!
After shopping around a bit online and not being completely sold on anything, I ended up going through my LFS (Saltwater Empire) and ordering a custom, eurobraced glass tank. It measures 72" wide by 30" deep by 24" tall; just large enough that it would still fit down the stairs into the basement. Now that I've seen the tank in person, I'm very impressed with the build quality, and that it came with an already black bottom and back panel will save me both time and money.
I can't thank enough the guys at Saltwater Empire for all of their help and advice, and the guys I hired to deliver it and get it into the house and onto the stand! Time to start buying parts for plumbing!
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eranschau
Community Member
Tomorrow is all about ordering plumbing from @BulkReefSupply!
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