Addiction wins, 450 gallon system begins

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Ok I'm posting this question on here as well as the MRC forum....

Since I have never messed with a MRC skimmer nor a pressure rated pump in regards to a skimmer... Here goes...

Probably stupid questions

Short story long but here goes...

I'm building my 450 gallon system and purchased an MR3 as my main skimmer (may be running a ASM in addition, but only if the MRC isn't enough) and I am getting the wetroom completed as we speak... So I have 2 questions.

1. I have the Gen X PCX55 and was wondering what the optimal distance from pump to skimmer would be... Will 3-3 1/2 feet (height) from pump to injector be OK or should I try to redesign the system to lower this distance.

2. Should I plumb from the pump to the injector with a hard line (pvc) or would a vinyl hose be sufficent to cut down on a couple PVC elbows.

Thanks in advance!!!!!
 
Nothing really to update this week. I did find out that the tank should be on my doorstep around the third week of August and the sump should be here in about two weeks. I really should have worked on the tank this week, but we wound up stumbling across a really good deal on a boat, so I spent the few days off I had playing around:D

I did snap a quick picture of the 125 in-wall that I am using to seed some base rock for future implementaion into the new system. Its amazing that I have around 135lbs of rock in this tank and it still looks like the tundra. This tank finally got over the diatom outbreak, cyano and hair algae issues. I have just a bit more hair algea, but it's almost completely gone now... Funny thing is that the tank only has four powerheads and a CPR bakpak for filtration, but it's working pretty well for it's purpose. You can't tell in the pics, but the coraline is really starting to take off on the base rock and the pods are going nuts. Obviosuly the tank is not set up to look great, but provide a home for a few fish, crabs, snails and shrimp during the seeding process.

At anyrate, I hope everyone has a good weekend!
DSC01072.JPG
 
Well it's official, I have not got a darn thing done in weeks:D

The sump is due in on monday and I'm taking a couple weeks off after that, so if all goes well I'll have all the plumbing done and the wetroom finished by the time I return to work.

I did manage to pick up a sink for the wetroom and got it stuck in it's new home. Too bad I was to lazy to plumb it today:rolleyes:
sink1.JPG
 
I've got the same sink only my is, um, a bit older looking...Didn't I see somewhere on RC that there are problems with Instant Ocean?
 
jnarowe said:
I've got the same sink only my is, um, a bit older looking...Didn't I see somewhere on RC that there are problems with Instant Ocean?
Click to expand...


Huh?
Hundreds of poeple here use IO and there is hardly ever a complaint. If there was something wrong with IO it would be all over the boards by now.....
 
Probably just a problem with my memory...I know one of the major brands has enough of a problem that I have seen posts about it...I just can't remember which. I thought it was IO.--J
 
jnarowe said:
Probably just a problem with my memory...I know one of the major brands has enough of a problem that I have seen posts about it...I just can't remember which. I thought it was IO.--J
Click to expand...

There have been posts about almost every salt having problems. Someone has a hair algae breakout and they blame the salt.... :rolleyes:

I have used IO and Oceanic and Reef Crystals and they are all fine. Some might have higher calcium or lower alkalinity or some other deficiency. None of them are really perfect. Just test what you are putting in and compensate for any deficiencies.
 
I've used IO and Reef Crystals for over a year and it has worked very well. I have to drive three hours to the closest LFS that carries anything other than the small bags of red sea salt, so when Dr. Foster had their sale(free shipping), I picked up a little over a years supply for the 450 which saved me nearly 200 bucks.

Been getting that excited feeling about the tank today, getting geared up for next week where all the plumbing and electrical should be done after the sump gets here. May even start cleaning out the room where the tank is going to go and begin tearing out the carpet and such. Otherwise I've been cruising trying to figure out what critters I want to put in the reef and in what order. Looking at corals and such and thinking about the woodwork around the tank when completed...

Currently the only livestock I've really thought about is:
8-10 blackbar chromis
a white cheek tang
Coral Beauty
and a foxface

Then the clean up crew I have now in the 125:
3 peppermint shrimp (might have some off spring in there now)
4 misc dwarf hermits (2 red leg and 2 zebra)
3 Margarita snails
then I have a slew of limpits and whelks that I'll need to scrape up and remove. Mostly they have been pretty good with what is in there now:D

So if any one is bored enough to throw out some other good choices, feel free. And yes I will have a bit of a sand bed because I like the sand sifting bottom dwellers. I'm planning on something like the Oregon reef in regards to how the sand in managed! The window shopping stage is a fun part right?
 
NeilPearson
I am sure your are right about that. I remember it being some kind of quality control issue and various posts chiming in on it. Is the 29g a "prison tank"?

Hop

I saw your earlier post about the free shipping, and immediately checked their site. The special they have going now is free shipping for live stuff, and explicitly marks salt as NOT part of the deal. Kind of funny, but I think you, and maybe others, ran them through the ringer on the free shipping deal. They probably forgot about the salt when they first set it up, and if anyone ordered gravel or sand for a large tank, someone probably got fired. hey, at least you got yours!

Window shopping is fine if you don't bring along a calculator...
 
4 crabs in a 125 and 3 margarita? Are you sure? How would you ever know :D

Looks good. How long has the 125 in the pic been up and running?
 
LOL, The 125 was set up about five months ago just to aid in the seeding process of 60-80 lbs of base rock with the 50-60 lbs of live that I had from my 55 gallon. It will most likely go back to a planted tank after the 450 is up and running. I treid to simplify things by playing musical tanks for awhile.

I did have 5 margarita snails, but one's shell was confiscated and one took the salty highway to the floor.
 
UnderwaterExotic said:
tagging along
Click to expand...

That's what the "subscribe to this thread" button at the bottom of the page is for.

Please be considerate going forward. Those of us that are subscribed to many threads don't appreciate having to open e-mail and log onto the internet when there have been no real updates to a thread.

Sorry that I wasted other's time with this post, but perhaps it will do some good.
 
Oh my, another large tank to drool over :)
Work looks very nice so far. I will be following along, really enjoy following these build logs.

:beachbum:
 
Thanks guys,

Hopefully I'll have some good updates over the next week. I work through Monday and then the sump should be in... After it gets here I've got some serious plumbing to do:D I'm hoping things go smooth and I can stick to a basic itin...Itiner...Itinerary... Ah forget it... Schedule:cool:
 
The sump came in today at almost 9:00pm. Didn't know the men (or woman in this case) in brown worked this late... Well I have to say that I'm very impressed by the quality of this sump by MRC. It's one tough peice of gear. I was a little nervous when I ordered it, but after I opened the box I was quite impressed. So tomorrow I am going to be knee deep in plumbing the wetroom:rollface:
newsump1.JPG
 
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