600 gal display/900+ gal build thread in the Chicago 'burbs.
- Thread starter wmilas
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My GC is a control freak. He does 90% of everything by himself. Literally. The only thing he didn't do is the drywall, the insulation, the plumbing, and the concrete cutting. He did all the framing (with a helper), the electrical, the concrete pouring and leveling, the priming, the subfloor and the flooring and the tiling. He'll do the ceiling install, the cabinet install, possibly the custom wainscoating if the cabinet guy's bid is too high, the painting, and help on the granite install.
Yea I think the cones have a leg up. I talked to a guy that had the reeflo pro and put an atb medium on his tank and it completely shutdown the reeflo. Considering its just a medium, thats pretty impressive.
I'm 90% sure I'm going to go with the internal as it simplifies the plumbing and I don't ever have to worry about overflow issues. The ATB like all mesh and needlewheels don't have a sealed cup so they wont shut off if the collection container overflows. In theory this should never happen blah blah, but on a new tank of this size and with a skimmer of this size I could pump my sump dry pretty damn fast if I mess up.
I'm 90% sure I'm going to go with the internal as it simplifies the plumbing and I don't ever have to worry about overflow issues. The ATB like all mesh and needlewheels don't have a sealed cup so they wont shut off if the collection container overflows. In theory this should never happen blah blah, but on a new tank of this size and with a skimmer of this size I could pump my sump dry pretty damn fast if I mess up.
mcliffy2
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Nice choice on the ATB XL. I think the external would work better but both should suffice. I feel you on the plumbing...I've already blown the top off my reeflo 250 and it was a mess, so I can definitely see the allure of an internal.
miztic was by yesterday to pick up his cherub angel and telling me about your build, I'll have to make my way out to the burbs sometime to check it out...
miztic was by yesterday to pick up his cherub angel and telling me about your build, I'll have to make my way out to the burbs sometime to check it out...
Yea its a sacrifice of efficiency for ease of plumbing and reliability. If it was a pressure rated skimmer the external wouldn't matter. In all honesty from what I can tell I think the ATB XL is overkill anyways.
It looks like with the airstar it pulls about 1000 gph of water. I'm planning on pushing 1200-1300ish gph of water to the sump from the display to start and that should mean the majority of it will be taken up be the skimmer. I'll have another 200 or 300 gph flow through to the fuge and frag tanks in a slow flow to bring some of the nutrient rich waters their way. I'll try to closely match the total return of the display to the sum of these two intakes to keep it as equal as possible.
Not 100% as efficient as an external skimmer, but not all that bad I don't think.
Right now I've got a very large sump and two large water vessels crammed into miztics office waiting for the fishroom to be done as I can drag them home. I don't think hes happy with me
Anytime you want to stop by just PM me. Right now would be pretty pointless as nothing is up and running yet.
It looks like with the airstar it pulls about 1000 gph of water. I'm planning on pushing 1200-1300ish gph of water to the sump from the display to start and that should mean the majority of it will be taken up be the skimmer. I'll have another 200 or 300 gph flow through to the fuge and frag tanks in a slow flow to bring some of the nutrient rich waters their way. I'll try to closely match the total return of the display to the sum of these two intakes to keep it as equal as possible.
Not 100% as efficient as an external skimmer, but not all that bad I don't think.
Right now I've got a very large sump and two large water vessels crammed into miztics office waiting for the fishroom to be done as I can drag them home. I don't think hes happy with me
Anytime you want to stop by just PM me. Right now would be pretty pointless as nothing is up and running yet.
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