330 gallon build.

[Giovanni]

Nice work, did the reseal project work out?

Tested the reseal job Saturday. Looks good, been sitting overnight with water in it with no signs of a leak. Where the silicone was overly thick I did notice it took some time to cure completely through. I let this one set for over a week!

 

[Giovanni]

The wife decided to paint the living room before we get water in this beast. So I spent some time painting the wall the tank sits on Saturday. If the paint looks a little green it is the reflection of the walls that are still green. The color is supposed to be toasted almond.

I did manage to get about 4 hours of time to buff out the last scratches from the inside. I will get the outside once the tank is cycling. All that is left is to buff with #2 Novus. I hope to get that done today.

I was going to do an LED DIY but got such a good deal on the AI Sol fixtures that it was not worth the extra effort. They will not be here till a week from Tuesday.

Sand arrives Monday. I wonder how to get the water in without those rings of sand fodder that always seem to be left behind when you fill a tank slowly? Fill it then put the sand in the bags and cut the bags? I sure don't want to scratch the tank after all this work!

 

[dave.m]

There will always be a bit of cloudiness when adding new sand. The bags of sand trick works when the sand is already wet (it should have already been rinsed out anyways). It is still the best method I have seen for keeping the degree of cloudiness to a minimum.

Dave.M

 

[Giovanni]

Polishing of the inside is done. Schedule 80 bulkheads are in. I will not be using the recirc system now so I have to put plugs in those. Plan on turning down some pvc plugs and cutting grooves for o-rings for this. Should make it easy to remove later and keep the sand out. Will also put threaded plugs in the bottom of the bulkheads. So maybe water test Monday or Tuesday night. Will start filling up the 125 G sump and 75G water mixing tanks with RO tonight.

Trying to decide weather or not to put the egg crate overhead light stuff on the bottom or not.

 

[todd rose]

When ya gunna get some water in that beast?

 

[deepstar]

I had noticed some crazing on the end of the top piece used for euro bracing. It appears that this crazing has migrated across the seam and into about 1/4 inch of the front viewing panel. Not sure what to do at this point!

Were you able to do anything with the crazing? I'd be curious as to what you tried and what may have worked.

-db

 

[Giovanni]

Were you able to do anything with the crazing? I'd be curious as to what you tried and what may have worked.

-db

I was advised to leave it alone as I would most likely make it worse. Looks to be in areas that were not fire polished properly.

 

[Giovanni]

Started filling the tank with RODI. The 2" bulkheads had a slow leak where the threaded plugs screwed into the bottom of the bulkhead. I purchased a couple of pvc plugs and cut them down so they would slip into the bulkheads on the inside of the tank. Then I cut a groove for an o-ring. After I put them in I was able to remove the threaded plugs and no leaks. They can easily be removed later and prevent sand from getting in the bulkheads.

Also noticed that the RODI water has a blueish color. Is this because the water is pure or do you think it is picking the blue from the back of the tank?

 

[bpcardona]

I will tag along....

 

[Giovanni]

Have to say I am disappointed with my salt choice. I went with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Clouded the water quite bad and left sludge on the surface of the water. I took over 24 hours to mix it all in and had 4 6055s going wide open.

 

[Reefnut2010]

A bit late now, but I would have had those joints with crazing strengthened. Basically you use a piece of acrylic pyramid cut shape and join between the old joint. This all for good measure and safety, although I doubt you'll have problems. Now,crazing will likely continue downward at a snails pace. Beautiful tank. Have fun with the build.

 

[bmullikin1]

Thats why I tried ESV salt, expensive, but mixes clear, no sludge, and you can use it almost instantly if needed, but im only doing 5g water changes on a 120.

 

[Conspiculatus]

You won't be able to buff of the crazing without removing a substantial amount of stock. A better option would be to round off the top edge of the aquarium with a router then polish it out by hand.

 

[bpcardona]

I may have missed it, but I would be interested in seeing your plans on the remote sump. Are you planning on making a "Fish Room"? Is that wall behind the tank the garage wall? If you have time show us your plumbing plans...

 

[Giovanni]

You won't be able to buff of the crazing without removing a substantial amount of stock. A better option would be to round off the top edge of the aquarium with a router then polish it out by hand.

At this point I am just going to leave it alone and pray.

I may have missed it, but I would be interested in seeing your plans on the remote sump. Are you planning on making a "Fish Room"? Is that wall behind the tank the garage wall? If you have time show us your plumbing plans...

Funny you ask as I have been working on that the last couple of days. The room behind my tank is the kitchen and then comes the garage where I am putting my remote sump area about 15ft away. The plumbing is run from tank area to sump area and I plan on finishing today. Photo to come tonight when I finish.

 

[Giovanni]

BTW my new RODI unit is advertised as 100GPD but during the fill produced around 146.4GPD. the pre DI water was 1PPM. Did not look at the efficiency. Needless to say I am very please and hope the rest of my equipment works as well.

 

[Giovanni]

I ended up starting with 240 lbs of carbisea select 0.5-1.0micron sand. I ran RODI into the bags and then place them in the tank which had salt water in it already. I cut the bags open and pulled out the bags. Once it settled enough to tell how much was in it, (12 hours), I added another 75lbs of carbisea seafloor which had been in a previous tank. This made the tank way more cloudy than it was with the 240 lbs of new sand.

I decided to go with a bean animal drain system. I am using three of the 4 drains in the overflows for that. I ran those three to a 2" drain that runs under the house to the garage. In the main drain that carries most the water, I ran the 1" pvc down inside the 2" to reduce noise. I ran a 1" line for a return and also 1 " line using only 45s to use as a wire conduit. I don't want to have to go back under the house to run a new wire later. There is some noise at the 90s where the drain drops through the wall and under the house at the. Sound a bit like the gutters when it is raining, very faint. This week I will build my sump stand etc... So for now I am cycling the tank through a rubber maid container to help clear it from the sand storm.

 

[Giovanni]

These photos show where the tank is in relation to the sump area in the garage.

 

[bpcardona]

Couple things:

1st: Is there something I am missing. How are your pipe ran? I see the exit your tank, go into a wall, then magically transverse space, and exit the garage. How is it going around the kitchen? Are you going up?

2nd: I have seen in some builds people plan there rock work at this point. It make a lot of sense, and wish I would have planned better. I have seen people place the egg crate style plastic down on the bottom to protect the glass/Acrylic. Have you considered this?

 

[Giovanni]

1 notice the stairs in the garage. It is about 30 inches below the floor of the house. The pipes go in the wall in the living room, down about 9 inches into the crawl space and then straight across and out in the garage.

2 I prefer to place my rock as I find pieces that I like rather than buy a bunch of rock and hope I like what I get and try to make them work. I like to let the tank evolve. I have done it both ways just not with a tank this big. Yea I have the egg crate stuff here and already cut out. I just decided not to use it. being acrylic and not glass I was not as worried and I figure it just adds pockets of dead space in the sand. Also I don't like if it gets exposed a little when the sand moves around.