220 Gallons of Pure Awesome

[Bronc]

Tomorrow is all about ordering plumbing from @BulkReefSupply!

With overnight delivery I hope.

I'd be chomping at the bit to get it going after the long wait.

 

[eranschau]

With overnight delivery I hope.

I'd be chomping at the bit to get it going after the long wait.

I'm lucky enough to live in Minneapolis so it's all overnight. O

 

[FlyinBryan]

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.

Thanks for sharing your build and really like that you're using Marinepure bricks! I have 2 going into a 90 I'm setting up as a temp tank as I'm getting ready to move soon. Your setup is going to look great!

Just curious about the carbon filter during the cycle process? I'd never seen and was just wondering if it helps with the cycle ? Or just to cut down on the smell?

Thanks a best of luck with the build!!

 

[mmw64]

Following!

 

[eranschau]

Thanks for sharing your build and really like that you're using Marinepure bricks! I have 2 going into a 90 I'm setting up as a temp tank as I'm getting ready to move soon. Your setup is going to look great!

Just curious about the carbon filter during the cycle process? I'd never seen and was just wondering if it helps with the cycle ? Or just to cut down on the smell?

Thanks a best of luck with the build!!

Thanks, Bryan! The plumbing parts all get delivered tomorrow. Can't wait to get that party started!

As a general rule, I think the more gross your water is during an initial cycle, the better. Dirtier water means more ammonia means a faster/better cycle in the end, right? I added the canister filter with carbon just to try and cut down on the odor - which was pretty awful - and added some GFO to try and suck up some of the phosphates that were leeching out of the rock.

 

[eranschau]

It's time to plumb this thing!

I took an educated guess at the parts I would need. Most ordered from @Bulk Reef Supply, a few from my neighborhood Lowe's, and one or two from my LFS. Trying to keep with the red/white theme, which will work for the most part. I glued up the overflow stand pipes last night then had to make myself stop before I started gluing other things before being sure they were actually going to fit.

The only thing I haven't really figured out yet is the return line from the sump. The tank is eurobraced, so a U-tube over the back is probably not going to work. The LFS recommended not drilling holes in the back glass for a return line - something about future maintenance - and while the overflow box has three holes in the bottom, there's no where to pass the third out through the box as a return line. [HASHTAG]#Stumped[/HASHTAG]

 

[d2mini]

That's a lotta pipe!

 

[d2mini]

Oh and my last tank was eurobraced. I had the returns coming over the top and ran Sea Swirls on them. They were awesome.
I had a canopy though so it hid the returns.

 

[eranschau]

That's a lotta pipe!

One can never have too much of a good thing..?

 

[eranschau]

Oh and my last tank was eurobraced. I had the returns coming over the top and ran Sea Swirls on them. They were awesome.
I had a canopy though so it hid the returns.

I was hoping to avoid it, but the more I think about it, the more I believe that some kind of canopy may be required. The tank's position and height relative to the nearby sofa means that anyone sitting/laying on the couch and trying to watch TV is probably going have aquarium LEDs shining in their eyes. A canopy would solve several problems at once.

 

[ksfulk]

Very nice tank - I agree with Dennis that using a pair of seaswirls and a canopy would be awesome in this tank.

 

[eranschau]

Well, the plumbing is done! Time to test fill and check for leaks!

 

[Bronc]

Excellent!!!

 

[Mcconathy]

Nice!!

 

[Detty140]

Following ! Awesome build, lolovthe mock up with PVC, great idea

 

[pdt7361]

Beautiful build so far.

 

[eranschau]

Leak test complete! Verified that...

• No leaks in any of the plumbing
• Able to tune primary overflow to full siphon
• Emergency overflow able to handle full water volume w/ pump running at 100%
• Sump able to handle back-flow from tank in the event of a power failure

Things I learned:

• Holy hell that pump moves a lot of water!
• 72" x 30" creates a heck of a lot of surface area. Even with a vent hole in the return line to prevent back-siphoning, A LOT of water runs over the overflow after the pump is turned off. This may require some adjustment down the road so I don't have to wait 20 minutes to start a water change.

 

[eranschau]

Well, I learned two things today...

1) Rock makes a glass box look like an aquarium.
2) I am in LOVE with that Vertex Alpha skimmer. *

* Literally, I plugged in the skimmer for the first time today, and the spent five minutes trying to figure out how I'd borked the programming for the Apex outlet it was connected to. Turns out it was running the whole time; it's just THAT quiet.

 

[dbl]

Looks great. I like the aquascape...nice job.

 

[Bronc]

Looks great!!