MarineGirl411
New member
That really sucks. =( I am so sorry.
Alan's 300g Marineland DD Reef
- Thread starter alanmorehead
- Start date
BennyFrank
New member
When it rains, it pours I guess :sad2: Sorry about your fish loss Alan.
Andrew Henry
New member
You have a beautiful tank! I'm sorry about the loss of your fish 
alanmorehead
Member
Sorry, can't believe it's been a month :hmm4:
I haven't had as much time lately to work on the tank as I'd hoped. Maybe 5-10 hours in the last few weeks I did get a chance this past weekend to get some work done though. Here's the latest:
Skimmer issue:
I had some crazing issues with my skimmer chamber and collection cup. It has yet to touch water and needs to be replaced
The chamber doesn't have the crazing like the cup does, but it does have more severe cracking spots. I talked to Coralvue and they will replace the defective parts. I have to ship the skimmer back (at my expense), which I'm going to do tomorrow. Here are a few pics:
Fish:
I am about 1 month into the 2 month fallow period. I am considering getting fish soon, so they can sit in QT for a month and be ready when the DT is. I've changed the number of chromis to 5-6 and also considering a sohal tang in the DT.
Aquascaping:
I spent 3 hours the first night moving rock into the DT and trying to arrange the "M-shaped" layout that I had originally envisioned. I turned out looking too fake and didn't really emphasize the depth of the tank like I hoped. I ended up breaking down the right side of the rock work, tapering the rock wall down as it went to the right side, and building a more column-like structure in the right corner. It's not polished and still needs some minor rearrangements (is there such a thing?
), but I wanted to let it sit for a few days to make sure I liked it. I think I like it this way and it shows the depth a lot better. It'll also be a little more unique than the usual rock walls that I end up with. I can't really work on the aquascaping easily with the catwalk removed, so that'll have to wait until next week. Here is a (crappy) pic of the unpolished aquascaping. It's all I have for now. I'll take some better pics once it's finalized:
Other:
I worked out plans for my RO and water change containers. They are going at the end of the tank. I built a stand this weekend to hold both 100g rubbermaid stock tanks stacked on top of each other. The top one will be for RO and the bottom one will be used for water changes. Since both tanks sit above the sump, I'll be able to gravity feed them without having to mess with a pump. Water changes have always been a hassle, so anything to make the process easier will help
I got this stand painted with a first coat and should get the next coat on tomorrow night. I also detached the catwalk and got a coat of paint on it too. I mixed in the anti-skid additive for the catwalk and think it should work out pretty well. It has a texture similar to sandpaper.
I haven't had as much time lately to work on the tank as I'd hoped. Maybe 5-10 hours in the last few weeks
I did get a chance this past weekend to get some work done though. Here's the latest:Skimmer issue:
I had some crazing issues with my skimmer chamber and collection cup. It has yet to touch water and needs to be replaced
The chamber doesn't have the crazing like the cup does, but it does have more severe cracking spots. I talked to Coralvue and they will replace the defective parts. I have to ship the skimmer back (at my expense), which I'm going to do tomorrow. Here are a few pics:
Fish:
I am about 1 month into the 2 month fallow period. I am considering getting fish soon, so they can sit in QT for a month and be ready when the DT is. I've changed the number of chromis to 5-6 and also considering a sohal tang in the DT.
Aquascaping:
I spent 3 hours the first night moving rock into the DT and trying to arrange the "M-shaped" layout that I had originally envisioned. I turned out looking too fake and didn't really emphasize the depth of the tank like I hoped. I ended up breaking down the right side of the rock work, tapering the rock wall down as it went to the right side, and building a more column-like structure in the right corner. It's not polished and still needs some minor rearrangements (is there such a thing?
), but I wanted to let it sit for a few days to make sure I liked it. I think I like it this way and it shows the depth a lot better. It'll also be a little more unique than the usual rock walls that I end up with. I can't really work on the aquascaping easily with the catwalk removed, so that'll have to wait until next week. Here is a (crappy) pic of the unpolished aquascaping. It's all I have for now. I'll take some better pics once it's finalized:
Other:
I worked out plans for my RO and water change containers. They are going at the end of the tank. I built a stand this weekend to hold both 100g rubbermaid stock tanks stacked on top of each other. The top one will be for RO and the bottom one will be used for water changes. Since both tanks sit above the sump, I'll be able to gravity feed them without having to mess with a pump. Water changes have always been a hassle, so anything to make the process easier will help
I got this stand painted with a first coat and should get the next coat on tomorrow night. I also detached the catwalk and got a coat of paint on it too. I mixed in the anti-skid additive for the catwalk and think it should work out pretty well. It has a texture similar to sandpaper.
The Punisher
New member
Nice looking scape, and great tank!
jb61264
New member
What kind of skimmer do you have Alan (I remember it being a really nice one but can't remember the brand)?...that is some serious crazing! What is it that causes this?...I can't believe a skimmer of that "quality" would do that...crazy crazingSkimmer issue:
I had some crazing issues with my skimmer chamber and collection cup. It has yet to touch water and needs to be replaced
alanmorehead
Member
Thanks
It's the Super Reef Octopus 5000 External. Here's what their site says about the crazing:
http://coralvue.com/troubleshooting/octopus-troubleshooting/
BennyFrank
New member
The crazing is interesting Alan. Was it like that when you first got it or did it just recently develop? Have you cleaned it with any chemicals or has it just been sitting in the open? It seems very odd that it would just develop out of nowhere. Not saying you're lying :lol: but just wondering if there may be a larger issue with some sort of outgassing of chemicals in your basement/home that may have caused it and could be connected to your recent livestock losses?
builderguy
New member
great tank, love the catwalk idea. I'll be setting up a 280DD custom soon so looking for ideas.
Gemini,
From what I know, David offered to replace Alan's affected parts, no questions asked. He shipped them back just recently. What happened with your skimmer?
From what I know, David offered to replace Alan's affected parts, no questions asked. He shipped them back just recently. What happened with your skimmer?
alanmorehead
Member
Haven't cleaned it with anything and it never touched water. I'm sure I would have noticed it when I first opened it, so I think the crazing developed while it was just sitting there. I've tried to think of any chemicals or anything that would be in my basement, but I really haven't done much on the tank since I got it. The only two things I can think of so far are bleaching the rock and priming/painting the stand (roll on/brushed, not sprayed). I don't think it relates to any losses in livestock.
Thanks. The catwalk works pretty well and I like the extra traction with the no-skid additive. The hinges allow me to keep that sump area lit when the catwalk is up and only drop it down when needed. I made the catwalk a little taller than my last one too. It keeps my waist above the top of the tank. That way can completely bend over and have better access with the deeper dimensions. I was originally going to build some type of catwalk or support so that I could access it from the sides, but this shouldn't be needed with the height of the catwalk on the back.
Sorry, I haven't had a chance to work on these. I need to check some other hardware stores and see if they have stronger corner pieces for the screen kits.
I talked to one of the reps at Coralvue and let them know what happened with the skimmer and they did replace it. I wasn't happy about having to pay $40 to ship it, but they did get a replacement out as soon as I forwarded my tracking number. I got it last week and I'm keeping it all sealed up, except for the collection cup lid, which I'm going to let sit in the fish room for a while. I've never had any issues with my other skimmers in the same environment, so it's very frustrating to even have to worry about these problems. I'm reading up on your posts now.
alanmorehead
Member
Time for a few updates...
Skimmer
Skimmer is still all sealed up, except for the collection cup lid. I have it sitting in the fish room, so I can test to make sure it will not have crazing issues. As soon as I get the skimmer stand built I'll double check the lid and set up the skimmer as long as everything looks good. The skimmer will go on the right side of the DT and I will need to snake the plumbing around the DT stand's leg a little.
Screen Guards
I didn't ever find any metal corners for the screens, so I just picked up some bulk screen metal and a few packages of the plastic corners. It must have been something with the first screen kit that I had, because these (from Lowes) work a lot better. Cutting the frames went pretty fast and I was able to take the pieces apart, unlike before. I started out with 0.125" spline, but it wasn't holding the material very well. I replaced it with 0.160" spline and it should be good. I have one almost completely done, but need to fix up the corners where it popped out a little bit. I'm not sure if adding a little superglue would help or not.
Lighting
I broke down most of my old light system. I need to get some 3' pieces for the deeper dimensions and added lamps, but I should be able to reuse the long pieces. I'm still undecided as to whether I'm going to partially stagger the lamps (3" offset) or fully stagger them so they go to the ends of the tank (6" offset).
Aquascaping
I did some revisions to the aquascaping last night. Most of the large rock structure was rebuilt and I used a plastic milk crate to form the base. This freed up a few decent-sized rocks that I used to rebuild the smaller structure on the right hand side. I'm happy with the larger rock structure, so I think it's done. I need to change the other side a little bit so the top half looks more balanced. Same look as before with the large rock structure on the left and small column on the right. I brought out the right side a little more towards the front and think this helps to show off the depth of the tank. It's definitely a lot trickier than a 2' deep tank.
Return Plumbing
I'm still working out the best way to plumb the return pump. I think I'm going to run the return pump along the right side of the DT. Both my calcium reactor and surge device will be on that side, so I should be able to add a T fitting with ball valves fairly easily. There will be a few things on this side of the tank (2" CSD output, 1.5" return feed, HK8 powerhead, and the webcam) vs the other side, which would only have a single HK8 powerhead. This should work out though, since the large rock structure takes up more space on that side.
I have most of the return pump (Reeflo Dart) set up with threaded adapters and union connectors. The output has a long sweep 90 elbow on it and I'll probably run 1.5" spa flex all the way up to the output (It will have a T fitting midway up for the reactor/CSD feed). For the over-the-top feed into the tank I'm planning on just using two 90 elbows. I have a pair of long sweep elbows, but I don't really want that plumbing to stick out that far into the display. I plan on painting the submerged plumbing with black Krylon Phusion. I can't really think of a better way to hide this.
The main issue I'm having with the return plumbing is that the bulkhead from the 300g sump is really low to the ground. I cut it out as high as possible with the existing factory hole, but it's still making the line from the sump to the pump difficult. Either the floor elevates a little or the stock tank's wall is not perfectly straight up and down, but the PVC coming out of the sump angles down and ends up about 1/2" lower than where it needs to line up on the return pump's intake. I picked up some 2" flex from TSC this weekend, but it doesn't fit very snug inside of the 2" fittings. Not like the other flex PVC that I've had. The inside diameter matches, but there is a 1/16" gap around the outside and I'm not sure if that will work or not. I put one end in a 2" coupler with extra cement to test it out, so I need to look at it tonight and see how solid it is. I haven't seen 2" flex PVC anywhere else. The other issue is that I don't have much room to make up that 1/2" difference in the elevation after adding the union valves and coupler. I need to figure out if there is a big difference between having 12" plumbing length on the Dart's intake vs something like 36". If not, I could rotate the return pump and get some more clearance.
CSD
I will probably spend a little time testing with a 5g bucket and still need to do more research, but I plan on doing a 15g surge. Built with a 15g or 20g tank, 2" PVC plumbing, and have a drop height of about 3'. I took out the Marineland standpipes from the overflow chambers, so that I could free up 10g of overflow capacity. The other 5 gallons of surge should only elevate the water level in the DT about 1/2 an inch. I'm not sure if any modifications need to be done to the teeth or openings in the overflow chamber for this yet. I think there is roughly 2" of height from the water level to the top of the tank, so I have some room to work with there.
Storage containers
The vertically stacked storage containers are in place and I got them plumbed with 2" PVC and ball valves. 100g RO storage on the top and 100g water change storage on the bottom. I need to pull the RO container down and drill a hole in the bottom to put a bulkhead in for my top off line. I'm considering doing the same at the top to make it easier to mount the float valve feed coming from the RO/DI unit.
I'll try to get some pics of the progess in the next day or so.
Skimmer
Skimmer is still all sealed up, except for the collection cup lid. I have it sitting in the fish room, so I can test to make sure it will not have crazing issues. As soon as I get the skimmer stand built I'll double check the lid and set up the skimmer as long as everything looks good. The skimmer will go on the right side of the DT and I will need to snake the plumbing around the DT stand's leg a little.
Screen Guards
I didn't ever find any metal corners for the screens, so I just picked up some bulk screen metal and a few packages of the plastic corners. It must have been something with the first screen kit that I had, because these (from Lowes) work a lot better. Cutting the frames went pretty fast and I was able to take the pieces apart, unlike before. I started out with 0.125" spline, but it wasn't holding the material very well. I replaced it with 0.160" spline and it should be good. I have one almost completely done, but need to fix up the corners where it popped out a little bit. I'm not sure if adding a little superglue would help or not.
Lighting
I broke down most of my old light system. I need to get some 3' pieces for the deeper dimensions and added lamps, but I should be able to reuse the long pieces. I'm still undecided as to whether I'm going to partially stagger the lamps (3" offset) or fully stagger them so they go to the ends of the tank (6" offset).
Aquascaping
I did some revisions to the aquascaping last night. Most of the large rock structure was rebuilt and I used a plastic milk crate to form the base. This freed up a few decent-sized rocks that I used to rebuild the smaller structure on the right hand side. I'm happy with the larger rock structure, so I think it's done. I need to change the other side a little bit so the top half looks more balanced. Same look as before with the large rock structure on the left and small column on the right. I brought out the right side a little more towards the front and think this helps to show off the depth of the tank. It's definitely a lot trickier than a 2' deep tank.
Return Plumbing
I'm still working out the best way to plumb the return pump. I think I'm going to run the return pump along the right side of the DT. Both my calcium reactor and surge device will be on that side, so I should be able to add a T fitting with ball valves fairly easily. There will be a few things on this side of the tank (2" CSD output, 1.5" return feed, HK8 powerhead, and the webcam) vs the other side, which would only have a single HK8 powerhead. This should work out though, since the large rock structure takes up more space on that side.
I have most of the return pump (Reeflo Dart) set up with threaded adapters and union connectors. The output has a long sweep 90 elbow on it and I'll probably run 1.5" spa flex all the way up to the output (It will have a T fitting midway up for the reactor/CSD feed). For the over-the-top feed into the tank I'm planning on just using two 90 elbows. I have a pair of long sweep elbows, but I don't really want that plumbing to stick out that far into the display. I plan on painting the submerged plumbing with black Krylon Phusion. I can't really think of a better way to hide this.
The main issue I'm having with the return plumbing is that the bulkhead from the 300g sump is really low to the ground. I cut it out as high as possible with the existing factory hole, but it's still making the line from the sump to the pump difficult. Either the floor elevates a little or the stock tank's wall is not perfectly straight up and down, but the PVC coming out of the sump angles down and ends up about 1/2" lower than where it needs to line up on the return pump's intake. I picked up some 2" flex from TSC this weekend, but it doesn't fit very snug inside of the 2" fittings. Not like the other flex PVC that I've had. The inside diameter matches, but there is a 1/16" gap around the outside and I'm not sure if that will work or not. I put one end in a 2" coupler with extra cement to test it out, so I need to look at it tonight and see how solid it is. I haven't seen 2" flex PVC anywhere else. The other issue is that I don't have much room to make up that 1/2" difference in the elevation after adding the union valves and coupler. I need to figure out if there is a big difference between having 12" plumbing length on the Dart's intake vs something like 36". If not, I could rotate the return pump and get some more clearance.
CSD
I will probably spend a little time testing with a 5g bucket and still need to do more research, but I plan on doing a 15g surge. Built with a 15g or 20g tank, 2" PVC plumbing, and have a drop height of about 3'. I took out the Marineland standpipes from the overflow chambers, so that I could free up 10g of overflow capacity. The other 5 gallons of surge should only elevate the water level in the DT about 1/2 an inch. I'm not sure if any modifications need to be done to the teeth or openings in the overflow chamber for this yet. I think there is roughly 2" of height from the water level to the top of the tank, so I have some room to work with there.
Storage containers
The vertically stacked storage containers are in place and I got them plumbed with 2" PVC and ball valves. 100g RO storage on the top and 100g water change storage on the bottom. I need to pull the RO container down and drill a hole in the bottom to put a bulkhead in for my top off line. I'm considering doing the same at the top to make it easier to mount the float valve feed coming from the RO/DI unit.
I'll try to get some pics of the progess in the next day or so.
Greenmaster
New member
One thought... I don't know how long you let the silicone cure before adding the water but I would wait 2 weeks for the cure... if you are still running the same water that you had then with minimal water changes I would add fish slowly to see if it is still toxic... (if it was ever toxic) I don't know just a though.
