600 gal display/900+ gal build thread in the Chicago 'burbs.

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More tank. Good gods its big. Looks odd cause thats a fisheye lens :)
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Fishroom. The floor has the initial pour that goes up and seals the drywall. Its 3/4" thick and its wide enough for all my equipment to sit on. The center part is going to be poured on an angle towards the drain so everything slopes down to it. No matter how messy it gets I can hose it down the drain!
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Mechanical room is a pigsty.
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Small office thats going to be my computer and digital photo studio.
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Firewood!
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The first coat of oil prime went on the fishroom walls today, the rest of the basement has a normal primer coat on. Tomorrow A second oil primer coat will go on the fishroom. I have teh 2 part wall epoxy ready to go. That will probably go in in a few days after teh the primer is good and dry. Its moist in the basement right now because I have all the mechanical turned off atm.

The tile is going to start to be cut tomorrow and laid for the bar area and the bathroom.

Btw if some of the lines don't look straight in the above pictures (like the drywall looks warped) its cause I was playing around with a really wide angled lens and it warps and distorts the lines... on the plus side you get to see a REALLY wide angle :)
 
This finished basement is going to be one sweet looking area to hang out in. Wish I was in Ill. to see this project unfold. Cant wait to see the finished product. I think you need to have a huge tank warming party where every one brings a frag or a fish for the tank. If you pay my airfare I'll be there. JASON
 
THe Photo documentation is awesome. Never seen anyone take so many photos of a project. That basements going to be incredible!
 
After more pondering I think I'm actually leaning towards a ATB XL internal. I called Victor at ATB and I guess there will be an internal and an external version. The external will be recirc.

Any input on the two? From what I can tell either are adequate. The internal has the added benefit that it happens to fit in my sump, and simplifies some of the plumbing. I'm not that worried about heat being its a really efficient pump and its in my basement. I am worried that the external might be "better" efficiency wise as its recirculating, although I'm not sure if it matters much on a skimmer design such as this. There isn't a lot of water to recirculate int eh reaction chamber to begin with. Its all under the defuser to begin with.

Any opinions?

Oh I ordered the Tamco Sump, freshwater, and salt mix containers. Sump is 48x24x36, fresh is 24x24x36, salt is 24x24x30. They shipped motor freight today so I should have them next week sometime hopefully.
 
Wow... sweet tank! I loved the "tank move documentation" definitely made it feel like i was there just watching.. not working :D

I hope you gave all the helpers a 6-pack as a consolation prize!
 
tagging along for the build - have learnt so much just reading up so far.
best of luck w/ the rest of the build and i can't wait to see you stock taht beast and settle in your basement. wow!
 
Tile is going in this week and most of next week. Tank has to stay covered so the wet saw particles don't get everywhere. After that The room will be epoxied, the floor will get another leveling, the floor to wall seal will go in, and I'll epoxy the floor. THEN I can get to work on the tank :)

Got news that the sump, and 2 water storage containers will be dropped off today.
 
I cannot wait to see this build finished I'm sure you feel the same..........LOL Just imagine sitting at your bar with a cold beverage and enjoying your tank.......very nice build.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12583255#post12583255 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmilas
Ryan, I read the thread where you had your tank build problem and had to take the ETSS. Sorry about that :(

I've looked at how to correctly plumb and ETSS and MRC and an MRC recirc.

ETSS: Have the overflows feed directly to your sump. Have your ETSS pull water out of the sump directly where the overflows dump. If you feed the ETSS directly you will have issues with water bubbles in the water column and you will have to T off and force water into the tank past the ETSS. What I mean is you have to have a little mini "sump" in your piping to bubble off the air and make sure that the water being pushed to the ETSS pump is bubble free and at a greater rate than what the pump ETSS pump can take. IMHO its easier to just dump to the sump and suck from right there.

The same plumbing idea for the MRC.

The MRC recirc is different. It has an inlet for raw water to be dumped to it. Its pumps pull water out of the bottom of the box just like a recirc needlewheel does and around it goes.

The part thats killing me about the recirc MRC is all that gunk eventually clogs the injectors. I hear they have to be cleaned at least once a month. On top of that every time you clean the cup and riser, you have to turn the air know completely off, then open it back up to get the right bubble rise. It sounds time intensive. Plus in the back of my head i'm still wondering if the longer dwell times of the needlewheels work better.
Click to expand...

I have an MR-3R that works pretty efficiently. It's rated for 600 gal. and I only have around 230 total volume. It doesn't pull out extreme gunk maybe because it's overated for my setup?? I use a mag 7 for the feed pump and a Iwaki 55 for the becketts. I also use a filter sock for my overflows. As a result my skimmer doesn't get too clogged or gunky.
 
I think after talking to everyone I've made up my mind to go with an ATB XL cone skimmr. The only question now is the internal or external. The external in theory will be better as its a recirc, but based on the cone design and monster bubble plate I don't know if it matters. Plus, the XL fits in my sump and would make plumbing a bunch easier :)
 
You're living my dream. I can't wait till the day that I have a basement with a bar, huge tv, fish tank and pool table.
 
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