A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build
- Thread starter Dustin1300
- Start date
woodnaquanut
Active member
No it's not boredom. More like awestruck! I'm sure there are many like me who read and have nothing substantial to contribute, other than the occasional 'Atta BOY' :thumbsup:
Keep up the good work!!!!!!
danfeig
.Registered Member
Dustin,
Your tank is looking beautiful! I love the way your aquascaping came out. It will look wonderful full of corals and fish swimming in and out of your caves/tunnels!
When my kids were infants and toddlers, we would place their baby swings in front of the tank and watching the fish would help them fall asleep! Kinda like a cat staring at its next meal! They/you will get great enjoyment out of that!
Your tank is looking beautiful! I love the way your aquascaping came out. It will look wonderful full of corals and fish swimming in and out of your caves/tunnels!
When my kids were infants and toddlers, we would place their baby swings in front of the tank and watching the fish would help them fall asleep! Kinda like a cat staring at its next meal! They/you will get great enjoyment out of that!
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
True Dat. True Dat.
Bello
New member
+1
And I love your aquascaping (for me, that's the number priority)!!
What's nice about it, is that you achieved a relatively minimalistic look, yet very natural IMO, and maintaining originality, while also achieving the goal of having minimal rock (the bases) resting on the sand
. Well done :thumbsup:
Lavoisier
Premium Member
Beautiful build. You are absolutely correct, the coral will mitigate that straight line. Patience....
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Will do. I'm about to just build it out of wood for the frame and just use slotted raceway on the top to organize the wires in. Panduit makes a nice one that could concel the wires and help my OCDness.
Much appreciated sir.
Thanks Dan! I'm happy with it and cannot wait for things to progress.
I'm looking forward to the kiddo enjoying it too. By the time he's able to hold his head up hopefully I'll have a good start with fish/coral in a couple months. First round of fish at the end of this week. Will just be chromis, three pairs of clowns, blennies. Next round will be the tangs and picking up a 125 gallon this week to build a bigger/better QT.
When you're rock coming in Wayne?
I'm happy with it, just hope I don't have any big problems because it's "permanently" affixed! I'm hoping the little amount of rock on the bottom will prevent build up. I want the tank to settle in and mature!
Thanks! Have you followed along? I've got some really good patience! Best tool in a reefer's tool box. I could have done things and got system live months ago but wanted to do everything right. When I get things done I'm going to have to find lots of projects to do!
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
It's alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Long awaited time has come, and flipped the valve open to turn tank on today and tank's birthday is now officially June 15th, 3:01PM!
:dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:
It's alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Long awaited time has come, and flipped the valve open to turn tank on today and tank's birthday is now officially June 15th, 3:01PM!
:dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Congrats Dustin. I am so happy for you. As for rock, I am waiting for a deal.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Thanks Wayne and cannot wait to see your system come alive too! It's a great feeling but another 600 gallons online also makes me that more nervous! The positive about adding all the pumps, my heaters are not kicking on much. Before my heaters (3 X 300 Watt) were on about half the day or more. Now I've replaced those with about 1 KW of pumps between the closed loops, returns, and skimmer and they are adding heat to the tank. Good or bad, we'll see as the summer progresses.
What can I say, I have a really corny/fake camera smile. Inside I was nervous that something was not going to work as I intended it to!
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Protein Skimmer Pimpin'
Protein Skimmer Pimpin'
Might as well share some new pics while I have a chance?! Decided I might as well get all the bells/whistles on the skimmer before the tank go-live.
- Exhaust for skimmer "built in humidifer" - CHECK
- Avast Davey Jone's Skimmate Superlocker - CHECK
- Avast Swabbie Kit - CHECK
- LaCl dosing feed - CHECK
Pimped out skimmer:
Swabbie Kit:
Installed!
Lower wiper fell aout 2" shy so Avast is building a custom wiper so whole neck gets cleaned. Should have that in next week! Great customer service!
Superlocker:
Timer will kick on Swabbie every 6 hours and Drew's Doser is currently set to dose 1.1 mL/hour of 1% LaCl Dilution. We'll see how phosphates go and increase as needed. I'm having a feeling I'll have to double/quadruple this amount to get my maintenance dose.
LaCl reservoir and air pump that injects into skimmer.
LaCl then drips to output of skimmer which is fed to my filter sock tray I built which houses 3 X 10 Micron socks.
It was good while it lasted but good bye SRO 3000!
I'll post more pictures as I gather them!
Protein Skimmer Pimpin'
Might as well share some new pics while I have a chance?! Decided I might as well get all the bells/whistles on the skimmer before the tank go-live.
- Exhaust for skimmer "built in humidifer" - CHECK
- Avast Davey Jone's Skimmate Superlocker - CHECK
- Avast Swabbie Kit - CHECK
- LaCl dosing feed - CHECK
Pimped out skimmer:
Swabbie Kit:
Installed!
Lower wiper fell aout 2" shy so Avast is building a custom wiper so whole neck gets cleaned. Should have that in next week! Great customer service!
Superlocker:
Timer will kick on Swabbie every 6 hours and Drew's Doser is currently set to dose 1.1 mL/hour of 1% LaCl Dilution. We'll see how phosphates go and increase as needed. I'm having a feeling I'll have to double/quadruple this amount to get my maintenance dose.
LaCl reservoir and air pump that injects into skimmer.
LaCl then drips to output of skimmer which is fed to my filter sock tray I built which houses 3 X 10 Micron socks.
It was good while it lasted but good bye SRO 3000!
I'll post more pictures as I gather them!
Wow, looks amazing!
I'd like to get 20-30 chromis in my 270, but we'll see. Looking into the black axil as well as the regular viridis.
Are you worried about precipitation of the LaCL inside the skimmer? Obviously with the volume shouldn't be a huge issue but still, with a skimmer that nice, would hate to damage it. Are you dosing into the reaction chamber or into the feed pump?
I'd like to get 20-30 chromis in my 270, but we'll see. Looking into the black axil as well as the regular viridis.
Are you worried about precipitation of the LaCL inside the skimmer? Obviously with the volume shouldn't be a huge issue but still, with a skimmer that nice, would hate to damage it. Are you dosing into the reaction chamber or into the feed pump?
david00061
New member
we have water!!!!!!
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
The LaCl is is actually dosing directly into the output of the skimmer so it is staying out of the skimmer and going about 10 feet through 2" pipe before entering the sock tray in the sump.
I know, about time....RIGHT?!
Thanks. It actually developed a descent head of foam today and kind of surprised. I brought other skimmer offline yesterday and this one will likely take a little bit of break in so the inside slimes up.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Thanks Steve.
First problem....Intake on the three closed loops will suck in air (Tornado from top of water surface) and then shoots a large burst of air bubbles throughout the tank. If I can clear these up I'll have a better idea of how I'm doing with bubbles. Know it can take a week or so for the slime to build up in the pipes but thinking that I might be good on microbubbles.
That being said, looking for some sort of intake that is 1.5" threaded/black and I can point downwards. If pointing downwards think I should have the bubble issue solved. Not a huge issue, but one that's driving me nuts and would like to order something tomorrow!
First problem....Intake on the three closed loops will suck in air (Tornado from top of water surface) and then shoots a large burst of air bubbles throughout the tank. If I can clear these up I'll have a better idea of how I'm doing with bubbles. Know it can take a week or so for the slime to build up in the pipes but thinking that I might be good on microbubbles.
That being said, looking for some sort of intake that is 1.5" threaded/black and I can point downwards. If pointing downwards think I should have the bubble issue solved. Not a huge issue, but one that's driving me nuts and would like to order something tomorrow!
reeftanknewbie
New member
Dustin,
You are now the proud father of an amazing setup....This is a great build. I would love to see a video of the whole system once it's up and running.
You are now the proud father of an amazing setup....This is a great build. I would love to see a video of the whole system once it's up and running.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Just recently got a descent HD camera for the newborn and could do this. Once I have everything getting squared away I'll try to do this. Don't think I'm a good narrator but we'll see what can be done.
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