sidewinder770
New member
reefboy1 said:
I hear ya! Gotta love that huh
Let me know how the drillinjg of the ceramic goes- I'm interested to know if it's easy or not.
370G Tank Preview
- Thread starter reefboy1
- Start date
I hear ya! Gotta love that huh
Let me know how the drillinjg of the ceramic goes- I'm interested to know if it's easy or not.
sidewinder770
New member
reefboy1 said:
I've thought about it and it does look like a great idea. We have actually been messing around with making our own rock (just some base rock). We're still trying that and if that doesn't come out the way we'd like it the ceramic is definately a possibility. We will have at least 100 lbs of live rock but that still leaves a lot of room. I think I'll wait and see how your turns out first
. Should look great though and be sure to post some pics when you put them in.
Fliger
New member
I love the pillars. There is an old Bubble King thread that had some pictures of German tanks with corals growing on the pillars. It didn't mention they were the ceramic pillars but I remember seeing them long ago and liking them, then I saw your thread, then I recently saw the pillars again and it clicked.
Scott, I'm pretty sure I'm doing the ceramic walling in the back so you can check out mine when it's in. Someone mentioned that it can probably done with a kiln but that's over my head. I'll LYK when it comes in.
Scott, I'm pretty sure I'm doing the ceramic walling in the back so you can check out mine when it's in. Someone mentioned that it can probably done with a kiln but that's over my head. I'll LYK when it comes in.
reefboy1
Premium Member
Greg,
Thanks for coming over yesterday and chatting with me on my initial tweaking issues.
I decided to hold of posting pics until I get the aquascaping underway (this weekend) - otherwise it's pretty much just more of the same. I am pretty happy with the way all of the under tank plumbing ended up, it's neat and clean.
Art
Thanks for coming over yesterday and chatting with me on my initial tweaking issues.
I decided to hold of posting pics until I get the aquascaping underway (this weekend) - otherwise it's pretty much just more of the same. I am pretty happy with the way all of the under tank plumbing ended up, it's neat and clean.
Art
reefboy1
Premium Member
Finally - Progress
Finally - Progress
Well, finally after a month since the last set of useful pics I have something to report - Water and rock in the tank!!!
)
Most of the delays weren't my completely my fault:
1. Wrong plumbing fittings that took 2 weeks to reorder because they were backordered.
2. Leaky Ocean Motion (was very old). Paul at Oceans Motions took great care of me and fixed the problem.
3. Leaky Sequence Dart. MDM replaced the pump.
Anyways, now all the plumbing is complete and I'm pretty happy with it. Here are a few pics:
The Ocean Motion 4-way over a Sequence Dart. I originally had a version 1 drum, but the back pressure caused the magnets to slip occasionally (possibly because I reduced the output to 1" at the very end) so I modified the drum to a version 3 and now it works like a charm:
A pic of the drains, CL intake and one output as well as the back of the power panel:
The power panel under the tank. I still need to dress the cables:
After the freshwater wet test (only 1 leak I can call my own that was easily fixed), I filled the tank with natural Catalina saltwater - it took about 400 gallons for the whole system. I let the tank run for a week with no rock to give me time to install the skimmer (Grotech 300) and get the autotop off and other things in the sump ready.
The big day finally came on Saturday - Aquascaping! I started by taping out my tank dimensions on my garage floor and mocking up what I wanted there. This pic is pretty close to the final base, it gives a good idea of the available depth:
Once I got the mockup signed off by my wife, I tried my best to recreate it in the tank. I used acrylic rods and 1/2" pvc to keep most of the base pieces off the bottom. I was able to hide these in most cases, but their not intrusive for the most part. These pics were taken with the VHO's on (I apologize for the poor quality and many reflections).
Full frontal (hanging lights still askew as I haven't lowered them yet):
Closer pic of the ceramic pillars in front (you can see my wife peeking thru):
Full back pic:
Another pic from the back looking thru one of the crevices:
I'll take some pics of the sump and post them in the next few days.
The tank really surpassed my expectations on how beautiful it's turned out - even with no live stock (except a few disposable frags). It looks awesome from my dinner table
Left to do:
1. Cabinetry: measurements taken, just waiting for Greg to comlete.
2. Calc Reactor install: Got the Jetstream1 plumbed and ready to go, just need final adjustments.
3. Program Aquacontroller II: Need to read the manual.
4. Lots of clean up: reroute, and dress power cords, label things, etc.
Art
Finally - Progress
Well, finally after a month since the last set of useful pics I have something to report - Water and rock in the tank!!!
)Most of the delays weren't my completely my fault:
1. Wrong plumbing fittings that took 2 weeks to reorder because they were backordered.
2. Leaky Ocean Motion (was very old). Paul at Oceans Motions took great care of me and fixed the problem.
3. Leaky Sequence Dart. MDM replaced the pump.
Anyways, now all the plumbing is complete and I'm pretty happy with it. Here are a few pics:
The Ocean Motion 4-way over a Sequence Dart. I originally had a version 1 drum, but the back pressure caused the magnets to slip occasionally (possibly because I reduced the output to 1" at the very end) so I modified the drum to a version 3 and now it works like a charm:
A pic of the drains, CL intake and one output as well as the back of the power panel:
The power panel under the tank. I still need to dress the cables:
After the freshwater wet test (only 1 leak I can call my own that was easily fixed), I filled the tank with natural Catalina saltwater - it took about 400 gallons for the whole system. I let the tank run for a week with no rock to give me time to install the skimmer (Grotech 300) and get the autotop off and other things in the sump ready.
The big day finally came on Saturday - Aquascaping! I started by taping out my tank dimensions on my garage floor and mocking up what I wanted there. This pic is pretty close to the final base, it gives a good idea of the available depth:
Once I got the mockup signed off by my wife, I tried my best to recreate it in the tank. I used acrylic rods and 1/2" pvc to keep most of the base pieces off the bottom. I was able to hide these in most cases, but their not intrusive for the most part. These pics were taken with the VHO's on (I apologize for the poor quality and many reflections).
Full frontal (hanging lights still askew as I haven't lowered them yet):
Closer pic of the ceramic pillars in front (you can see my wife peeking thru):
Full back pic:
Another pic from the back looking thru one of the crevices:
I'll take some pics of the sump and post them in the next few days.
The tank really surpassed my expectations on how beautiful it's turned out - even with no live stock (except a few disposable frags). It looks awesome from my dinner table
Left to do:
1. Cabinetry: measurements taken, just waiting for Greg to comlete.
2. Calc Reactor install: Got the Jetstream1 plumbed and ready to go, just need final adjustments.
3. Program Aquacontroller II: Need to read the manual.
4. Lots of clean up: reroute, and dress power cords, label things, etc.
Art
tang_man_montreal
New member
reefboy1,
Lookin GREAT! I like how those ceramic pillars look. How porous are they? I've seen them online somewhere but can't remember. Can you direct me to their site?
I'd be curious to see how they look with coraline encrusting them...
Lookin GREAT! I like how those ceramic pillars look. How porous are they? I've seen them online somewhere but can't remember. Can you direct me to their site?
I'd be curious to see how they look with coraline encrusting them...
swillydiver
New member
Hi! very nice setup, if i may suggest. You may want to move the stone towers a little off center. I think this would make your setup even nicer. (remember the golden ratio) Good luck!
Reefboy,
Great project, I had nearly forgot about this thread. Hope you don't mind but I may be grabbing a couple of ideas from your set up to solve a couple problems I forsee having. Anyway I don't know if I skimmed over the answer earlier, but it looks as though your home is constructed silimarly to mine.... What if anything did you do to support the floor to hold the excessive weight? I've got a couple ideas going for my set up, but was currious what you did... I see that you have 2x10s and the footer right there, but how did it run with the tank, perpendicular? Or did the tank wind up right on top of it? And lastly was it enough or did you add extra support?
Great project, I had nearly forgot about this thread. Hope you don't mind but I may be grabbing a couple of ideas from your set up to solve a couple problems I forsee having. Anyway I don't know if I skimmed over the answer earlier, but it looks as though your home is constructed silimarly to mine.... What if anything did you do to support the floor to hold the excessive weight? I've got a couple ideas going for my set up, but was currious what you did... I see that you have 2x10s and the footer right there, but how did it run with the tank, perpendicular? Or did the tank wind up right on top of it? And lastly was it enough or did you add extra support?
reefboy1
Premium Member
Thanks for the comments all.
Tang_man, you can see more info on the cermanic rock here www.captiveoceans.com.
Swillydiver, I did try to follow the "golden rectangle" when designing the tank with a nearly 2:1 ratio. I also have 3 architectural viewing panes from the front and structure the rock into 3 distinct areas of interest (when viewed from the front). I also did try to skew the main focal (the pillars) to the right a bit, but I guess it's not apparent If you look at the tank the overflow takes up 8" of room on the right - so the overall rock structure is already skewed to the left when viewing the whole tank. I may move the pillars over just a bit to break the symmetry. Thanks for the feedback.
Hop, I didn't do anything to improve the foundation under the tank. I was very lucky in that the area I picked was extremely well supported. The cement footer runs parallel and directly under the tank and the 2x10 joists radiate out perendicular and half of them are doubled or tripled up. I had originally planned on framing out the tank under the house and supporting it with pier blocks - but I didn't have to.
Art
Tang_man, you can see more info on the cermanic rock here www.captiveoceans.com.
Swillydiver, I did try to follow the "golden rectangle" when designing the tank with a nearly 2:1 ratio. I also have 3 architectural viewing panes from the front and structure the rock into 3 distinct areas of interest (when viewed from the front). I also did try to skew the main focal (the pillars) to the right a bit, but I guess it's not apparent
If you look at the tank the overflow takes up 8" of room on the right - so the overall rock structure is already skewed to the left when viewing the whole tank. I may move the pillars over just a bit to break the symmetry. Thanks for the feedback.Hop, I didn't do anything to improve the foundation under the tank. I was very lucky in that the area I picked was extremely well supported. The cement footer runs parallel and directly under the tank and the 2x10 joists radiate out perendicular and half of them are doubled or tripled up. I had originally planned on framing out the tank under the house and supporting it with pier blocks - but I didn't have to.
Art
Last edited:
tang_man_montreal
New member
reefboy,
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, I can only find some pics and pricing on the site. No description as to it's porosity and/or longterm reviews....
What sizes did you purchase?
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, I can only find some pics and pricing on the site. No description as to it's porosity and/or longterm reviews....
What sizes did you purchase?
RedEyeReef
Active member
reefboy1 said:
Do they sell in that states and any idea on shipping costs?
swillydiver
New member
Seems you got it all figured out Reefboy1, its nice to know that you got the dynamics of aquascaping right. With your setup, depth and texture will be very refreshing. Excellent work!
